International Journal of Qualitative Methods: ARCHIVE
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Comparative, Feminist, and Qualitative: An Uncommon Perspective on Cross-National Social Policy Research
No full textIn this article, the author reflects on the comparative, feminist, qualitative research process based on cross-national doctoral research recently undertaken on child care policy in California and Australia. This type of comparative social policy research is still in its infancy and poses methodological and conceptual problems not present in other types of social research. Examining these implications and problems, as well as the outcomes and benefits of feminist, cross-national social policy research, contributes to a methodological framework that promotes qualitative welfare state theorizing in complex international contexts
Using Videorecording to Enhance the Development of Novice Researchers\u27 Interviewing Skills
No full textLittle has been written about how to teach novice researchers about qualitative research interviewing. In this article, the authors recognize qualitative research interviewing as a practice that one develops through reflexivity. They propose that novices can develop a reflexive interviewing practice by using a guided framework to review videorecords of the interviews they conduct. The authors discuss the framework and illustrate its use with an exemplar derived from the experience of a novice researcher. They conclude with a discussion of the need for further research about how best to enhance the development of novice researchers as qualitative research interviewers
Dancing with the Wind: A Methodological Approach to Researching Women’s Spirituality around Menstruation and Birth
No full textResearch into spirituality is by definition problematic. In an evidence-based culture, how is a concept like spirituality defined and measured? Through her doctoral dissertation, the author seeks to illuminate dimensions of female spirituality connected with the processes of menstruation and birth. In Western industrialized culture, these processes are regarded as medical concerns. Reframing the spiritual significance of menses, the author explores the links between attitudes toward menstruation and spirituality, and women’s birth experiences. The lack of research and literature about the spirituality of menstruation, or the spiritual care of the birthing woman denotes a vacuum in both theory and practice. The author presents her methodological approach to resolving the dilemma of how to research the elusive concept of female spirituality—an endeavor akin to attempting to lasso the wind! Through a combination of autoethnography, focus groups, and in-depth interviews, she takes up the challenge of expanding the qualitative research frontier
How to Get Focus Groups Talking: New Ideas That Will Stick
No full textIn this article the authors outline an innovative way of using sticky notes such as Post-its within focus groups to help facilitators stimulate discussion, draw out reluctant participants, structure information, and help produce a group outcome that all members feel they own. They outline how sticky notes can be used to generate information, check for understanding, and group and sort ideas
Internationally Educated Female Teachers Who Have Immigrated to Nova Scotia: A Research/Performance Text
No full textThis research/performance text emerged from a study involving internationally educated female teachers who have immigrated to Atlantic Canada. The text features the words and artwork of the research participants as well as excerpts from newspapers, academic writing, and documents about immigration in Nova Scotia juxtaposed so as to foreground the complexity of the women’s immigration and integration experiences. Introductory comments provide contextual information about the research project, the participants, and the evolution of, as well as rationale for, the text as performance piece
A Scheme for Analyzing the Results of Focus Groups
No full textIn this article the author presents a scheme that can be used to evaluate the results of focus groups. The novel feature of the scheme is that it involves the situational factors in the analysis: interactional factors, the environment, time factors, the content, personal characteristics of the participants, and the characteristics of the moderator. The author argues that it is worth taking these into account in making an analysis. If the analysis incorporates recognition that the data used are not independent of the concrete situation but are to be seen in context, the conclusions can be richer and more useful
Arthur W. Frank: Interview by the International Institute for Qualitative Methodology EQUIPP Students, November 16, 2005
No full textArthur W. Frank is author of an illness memoir, At the Will of the Body (1991, new edition 2002); a study of illness narratives, The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness, and Ethics (1995); and an argument for the possibility of actual dialogue in health care, The Renewal of Generosity: Illness, Medicine, and How to Live (2004). He is currently writing a book about how stories make experience possible and make life social. His longer term research involves changes in the narrative resources that shape illness experience. Dr. Frank is an elected fellow of The Hastings Center, a preeminent bioethics center, and an elected fellow of The Royal Society of Canada. He is professor of sociology at the University of Calgary and lectures internationally
A Personal Experience of Working with Classical Grounded Theory: From Beginner to Experienced Grounded Theorist
No full textIn this article the authors offer an example of the application of principles of classical grounded theory (Glaser) in data collection and analysis and present how they generated a substantive grounded theory named Preparative Waiting for patients who underwent the diagnostic phase at a gastric ward. They demonstrate how patients’ main concern emerged by constant comparison of data in open coding and how the core category of the theory and related concepts developed through selective coding. The authors offer examples of memos, the fitting of concepts to their data set, and the process of theoretical coding to illustrate how three different models were generated to improve fit, relevance, and workability of their grounded theory. They also discuss when and how to search and read the literature during a grounded theory study
Exploring the Gendering of Space by Using Memory Work as a Reflexive Research Method
No full textHow can memory work be used as a pathway to reflect on the situatedness of the researcher and field of inquiry? The key aim of this article is to contribute to knowledge about the gendering of space developed by feminist geographers by using memory work as a reflexive research method. The authors present a brief review of feminist literature that covers the local, and global, symbolic meanings of spaces and the power relations within which space is experienced. From the literature they interpret themes of the interconnections between space, place, and time; sexualization of public space; and the bodily praxis of using space. Our memories of gendered bodies and landscapes, movement and restricted space, and the disrupting of space allow us to explore conceptualizations within the literature as active, situated, fragmented, and contextualized
Study of Errors among Nursing Students
No full textThe study of errors in the health system today is a topic of considerable interest aimed at reducing errors through analysis of the phenomenon and the conclusions reached. Errors that occur frequently among health professionals have also been observed among nursing students. True, in most cases they are actually “near errors,” but these could be a future indicator of therapeutic reality and the effect of nurses’ work environment on their personal performance. There are two different approaches to such errors: (a) The EPP (error prone person) approach lays full responsibility at the door of the individual involved in the error, whether a student, nurse, doctor, or pharmacist. According to this approach, handling consists purely in identifying and penalizing the guilty party. (b) The EPE (error prone environment) approach emphasizes the environment as a primary contributory factor to errors. The environment as an abstract concept includes components and processes of interpersonal communications, work relations, human engineering, workload, pressures, technical apparatus, and new technologies. The objective of the present study was to examine the role played by factors in and components of personal performance as compared to elements and features of the environment. The study was based on both of the aforementioned approaches, which, when combined, enable a comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon of errors among the student population as well as a comparison of factors contributing to human error and to error deriving from the environment. The theoretical basis of the study was a model that combined both approaches: one focusing on the individual and his or her personal performance and the other focusing on the work environment. The findings emphasize the work environment of health professionals as an EPE. However, errors could have been avoided by means of strict adherence to practical procedures. The authors examined error events in the administration of medication by nursing students during 1999-2006 using narrative analysis and the qualitative triangulation method. The findings result in a recommendation to reconsider the mode of approaching errors in educational processes, the handling of errors in the clinical field, and improvement of the safety climate. [Full text only in Hebrew