Qualitative Methods

Behind supervisory doors: Taught Masters dissertation students as qualitative apprentices

by Alasdair Gordon-Finlayson

Maunder, R.E., Gordon-Finlayson, A.R., Callaghan, J. & Roberts, A.  (2012).  Behind supervisory doors: Taught Masters dissertation students as qualitative apprentices.  Psychology Learning and Teaching, 11(1), pp.30-38.

In this paper we explore the supervision of Masters students undertaking qualitative research dissertations.... more In this paper we explore the supervision of Masters students undertaking qualitative research dissertations. Specifically, we present a model for theorising the nature of the supervisory relationship established with students who are relative newcomers to the qualitative research community. By drawing on reflections from our own practice and situating this within a broader context of the Community of Practice approach to learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991), we argue that the supervision of qualitative Masters dissertations can be seen as an apprenticeship into qualitative research, whereby students begin to take on the identity of a qualitative researcher. Adopting such a model requires that we re-conceptualise how supervisors work with their supervisees, how we prepare students for the requirements of the dissertation, and develop strategies to facilitate their transition from novice to expert. In this paper we explore how we might integrate theoretical and practical concerns in applying the apprentice model to Masters dissertation  supervision, considering the advantages and limitations of such a model.

Definizione e metodi di stima della qualità nei servizi: il caso dei trasporti

by marcucci edoardo

Social psychology and the empirical body: Rethinking the relationship

by john cromby

Although social science work on the body has demonstrated its thorough socialisation, social psychology has barely... more Although social science work on the body has demonstrated its thorough socialisation, social psychology has barely recognised the mutual interdependence of the physical body and the social world. Accordingly, we propose that social psychology might be enriched and extended by detailed investigation of changes in the activity of the empirical body alongside processes of meaning-making during social interaction. We illustrate our proposal with a case study of changes in blood pressure during conversation, explored in conjunction with analyses using four discursive frames: gaining voice; identity negotiation; joint action/knowing of the third kind; positioning theory. We argue that this approach challenges the artificial separation of social psychology from other sub-disciplines, might inform social psychological analyses of emotion and belief, and allows it to address substantive topics, such as psychopathology, which it typically largely excludes.

Turning Points in Identity and Theology: Bisexual Women Choosing Between Monogamous and Polyamorous Relationships

by Margaret Robinson

This study contributes to the development of nascent bisexual theology by examining bisexual women’s lives in relation... more This study contributes to the development of nascent bisexual theology by examining bisexual women’s lives in relation to the stereotype that bisexuals desire concurrent male and female partners.  Building on qualitative email interviews with forty bisexual women in the Greater Toronto Area, this thesis finds that monogamy and polyamory function as strategic identities.  If bisexual theology is to speak authentically to the needs of bisexual women, it must provide a critical analysis of these identities, understand and respond to their role in shaping communities, moral agency and theological knowledge.

Chapter One sets the conflation of bisexuality with polyamory in its political and theological context.  Four characteristics of Catholic sexual ethics—their foundational, sacramental, social, and moral character—frame this investigation about bisexual women as subjects of theological enterprise.  The conflation of bisexuality and polyamory is posed as the key challenge for both secular politics and articulating a bisexual theological perspective.  Chapter Two provides a methodological overview of the qualitative research project using voice centred relational analysis (VCRA) as an appropriate tool to conduct and analyse the interviews in their social context.  Chapter Three summarises the results of the VCRA analysis and highlights key themes from the interviews.  Chapter Four relates the results of the primary research to the theological writing of Robert Goss and Marcella Althaus-Reid by examining five common elements in their work to assess how their work meets the challenges raised by the interview analysis.  The final chapter relates these common elements in the work of Goss and Althaus-Reid to the four characteristics of Catholic sexual ethics outlined in Chapter One to emphasize the importance of building bisexual women’s communities and how this relates to the development of bisexual theology.  The thesis concludes with concrete recommendations for bisexual women’s community building and offers directions for further bisexual theological work. 

Mixed stories, digital lives: Travelogues as method & narrative

by Tamara Peyton

Co-authored with Victoria McArthur, Jennifer Jenson & Suzanne de Castell for the 2012 Eastern Sociological Society conference

With the rise of the Internet and of digital modes of interaction, a variety of new research concerns  have... more
With the rise of the Internet and of digital modes of interaction, a variety of new research concerns  have emerged, particularly around the management and presentation of digital selves. At its core, digital research into virtual worlds is about understanding the interactions of real human beings in digital spaces through the hearing, crafting and retelling of their narratives. Understanding avatar creation and management is a central issue in this research vein.

Avatars in virtual worlds and massively multiplayer online games represent far more than a communicative tool or device. Early accounts of avatars lauded the limitless choices avatars offered players, allowing digital inhabitants or ‘netizens’ to be almost anything but their ‘real selves’ (Turkle, 1995). More recently, relying on survey-based self-report data, quantitative studies of players and avatars claim that netizens most often craft avatars and back stories that are significantly different than their real selves (Bessiere, Seay, and Kiesler, 2007; Ducheneaut, Wen, Yee and Wadley, 2009). Qualitative approaches that build on individuals’ accounts of their own meaningful interactions and choices also find that players represent themselves very differently (Meadows, 2008; Taylor, 2006).

Drawing from a mixed-methods, multi-site study of virtual worlds, the digital travelogue instrument we have developed demonstrates a way to stretch the methodological limits of participant self-report or researcher observation. Using interviews, surveys, videos of recorded play and our travelogue tool, we explores gaps between how participants tell stories about their digital avatar choices and what the travelogue’s visual records tell us about their digital activities and personas. We identify the primary ways player/avatar similarities are evidenced, and we organize our findings by player gender, age, and level of expertise. We discuss possible reasons for this under-reported gap between stories told and stories shown. In the process, we highlight the need for a stronger understanding of the narrative work done by players around their digital selves.

Community Psychology

by Scotney Evans

2007. In D. C. Willig, & Stainton-Rogers, D. W. (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research in Psychology (1st ed.). Thousand Oaks, Ca: Sage Publications.

Authorship: Carrie E. Hanlin, Kimberly Bess, Patricia Conway, Scotney D. Evans, Diana McCown, Isaac Prilleltensky

Co-designing and Co-teaching Graduate Qualitative Methods: An Innovative Ethnographic Workshop Model

by gianpaolo baiocchi

Please cite as: Cordner, Alissa, Peter Klein, and Gianpaolo Baiocchi. (2012) Co-designing and Co-teaching Graduate Qualitative Methods: An Innovative Ethnographic Workshop Model. Forthcoming in Teaching Sociology. Available online: April 25 2012.

This article describes an innovative collaboration between graduate students and a faculty member to co-design and... more This article describes an innovative collaboration between graduate students and a faculty member to co-design and co-teach a graduate-level workshop-style qualitative methods course. The goal of co-designing and co-teaching the course was to involve advanced graduate students in all aspects of designing a syllabus and leading class discussions in a required course for first-year graduate students. The authors describe the multiple stages involved in designing and teaching the qualitative methods course and discuss the challenges of this type of collaborative teaching. This type of collaboration builds on the existing strengths of workshop-style methods courses to improve student learning by providing opportunities for grounded engagement with epistemological topics and ample opportunities for feedback, discussion, and reflection on the research process. This collaborative teaching model, although difficult and time-intensive, provides measurable improvements to existing qualitative workshop courses by overcoming some of the limitations of workshop courses and providing significant benefits for graduate students in the class, the student co-teachers, and faculty.

The Qualitative, the Quantitative, and the Creative

by Allison Mickel

Mickel, Allison. 2012. "The Qualitative, the Quantitative, and the Creative." Anthropology News 53(5): 11.

Contribution to the Anthropology News issue on Methods. Contribution to the Anthropology News issue on Methods.

Performance management in primary healthcare services: evidence from a field study

by Paulino Silva

Co-authored with Aldónio Ferreira published in Qualitative Research in Accounting and Management

Purpose – There is a growing interest in research focusing on performance management practices in the public sector,... more Purpose – There is a growing interest in research focusing on performance management practices in the public sector, but research is still limited with regards to public primary healthcare services (PHSs), which play an important role in national healthcare systems. These organisations are frequently criticised for alleged poor performance management practices and misuse of resources, though such claims are not always substantiated. The purpose of this study is to examine performance management practices in public PHSs.

Design/methodology/approach – Three case studies of PHSs organisations were conducted resulting in interview material and archival data. Otley's performance management framework was used to examine the data.

Findings – It is found that the performance management systems of the studied PHSs were disjoint and lacked consistency and coherence. Lack of direction and motivational were key issues in PHSs. Furthermore, the observations indicate that vertical controls between PHSs and parent organisation were weak and accountability poor.

Research limitations/implications – Generalisability of findings and social desirability bias are the important limitations. A key research implication is that the conceptual framework adopted can be meaningfully used to generate insights into performance management issues in public sector healthcare organisations.

Practical implications – The study highlights the implications of the poor design and use of performance management systems and highlights areas for improvement in the organisations studied, and potentially across the sector.

Originality/value – This study is the first to draw upon Otley's performance management framework to examine performance management practices in PHSs and to demonstrate its usefulness in this context.

Abstract, Dedication, and Acknowledgments for the Hobbs (2011) dissertation published by SAS.

by Robert Dean Hobbs

The Hobbs (2011) doctoral study is published in the ProQuest Dissertations and These database, UMI No. 3484309

The purpose of the qualitative research was to assess models of education developed for the study to investigate how... more The purpose of the qualitative research was to assess models of education developed for the study to investigate how and when to incorporate second and third languages into the curriculum to improve language acquisition. Research indicates that L3 enhances and reinforces L2 and L1. The stratified systematic grounded theory study explored the perspectives of neurolinguists, psycholinguists, sociolinguists, and interdisciplinary education researchers to derive variables for constructing a new model of education. The outcome of the Internet survey revealed that 100% of the participants agreed that education must change and that teacher training must improve. Variables from the cross-disciplinary data contributed to the construction of an integrated model of multilingual education consisting of four primary models and other models to serve as tools for designing curriculum, instruction, and assessment as well as determining demographics and student meta-analysis of language abilities and storage in the brain. The first model emerged from the data to offer multilingual principles of education. The other primary models are macro, meso, and micro models. The macro model represents schools, instruction, assessment, and the curriculum cycle. The meso model depicts the developmental domains of the individual learner and includes a cyclical equation. The micro model delineates multilingual processing in the brain based on neurolinguistic research, variables from the current study, and Kees de Bot's bilingual adaptation of Levelt's language processing model. Recommendations include the incorporation of notional-functional pragmatic-aesthetic concepts as depicted in the models developed for the study and enhanced by input from published researchers with unique language and research repertoires who were located on four continents.

Exploring culture and collective identity with the Radio Ballads

by Stephen Linstead

Ch. 14 In Pullen, A. Beech, N. And Sims, D. (2007) Exploring Identity: Concepts and Methods London: Palgrave Macmillan pp 251-73.

The understanding of culture depends on the dynamic understanding of cultural processes, not on their abstraction and... more The understanding of culture depends on the dynamic understanding of cultural processes, not on their abstraction and rationalization – on those things that, precisely because they are intuitive, unconscious and taken for granted, respondents cannot always readily make available for discussion. In this chapter I explore how one form of performance ethnography – and the methods it used - can be applied to hold up a mirror to organization as a means of facilitating more sensitive understandings of culture, identity and change. I introduce the Radio-Ballads as a dramatic form that draws upon ethnographic research and presents ethnographic data in a powerful and compelling way. Drawing on writings by Ewan MacColl and Charles Parker that discuss their methods, and on some transcriptions from the programmes, I will discuss five of the most salient aspects of this work for the study of collective identity – recording the background culture; listening to language (rather than discourse); intermittent interrogative methods; collective identity and narrative myth; collective self-discovery and catalytic interviewing. I will conclude by addressing some potential criticisms of the approach.

Creative Qualitative Inquiry: Innovative Graduate Level Pedagogies Shaped by Educational Technologies

by Thalia Mulvihill

co-authored with Dr. Raji Swaminathan in the Journal of Educational Technology, Vol. 8, No. 3

This article describes and analyzes the experiences of two tenured university professors at two different US... more This article describes and analyzes the experiences of two tenured university professors at two different US universities
located in the Midwest as they collaborate to design and carry-out innovative pedagogies related to teaching doctoral level qualitative research methods courses. One of the primary elements of the innovations under examination is the
form and function of educational technologies (ETs). ETs are understood to be tools for data collection, data analysis and
data display, as well as conceptual conduits for understanding socially constructed knowledge. The authors also argue
that ETs have epistemological histories (and futures) and innovative pedagogies for graduate education ought to
include robust experimentation with multi-genre/multi-modal texts (Bakhtin, 1981; Bochner and Ellis, 2002; Janesick,
2010; Willis, 2008) that use ETs. Blogs that include audio and visual data representations, social media tools for
communication and collaboration, as well as iPad and iPhone technologies are all ripe for experimentation as they relate
to creative qualitative inquiry (CQI) and the creation of new innovative pedagogies.

Keywords: Qualitative Inquiry, Innovative Pedagogies, Graduate Education, Multi-Modal Texts, Multi-Genre Texts.

Sheridan, J., Chamberlain, K., & Dupuis, A. (2011). Timelining: Visualising experience. Qualitative Research, 11(5), 552-569.

by Kerry Chamberlain

doi: 10.1177/1468794111413235

This paper discusses the uses and benefits of an innovative method of graphic elicitation; timelining. The method was... more This paper discusses the uses and benefits of an innovative method of graphic elicitation; timelining. The method was developed in the context of a narrative-based research project on fatness and weight loss. Participants’ weight over time was plotted on a graph, informed and elaborated by a variety of material objects such as photographs, diaries, and medical records. The timeline provided a focus for participants and prompted their stories of weight loss experiences over time. While initially intended as a simple heuristic tool for eliciting talk, over the course of the research the process of timelining became a central feature of the project. Timelining is a subtle and malleable research method. While keeping time in view, timelining documents, records, extends and deepens understandings of participants’ past experiences. It encourages the construction of rich temporal narratives. It also provides opportunity for deeper researcher-participant relationship to develop. This form of graphic elicitation has particular value for narrative forms of research.

Sheridan, J., & Chamberlain, K. (2011). The power of things. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 8, 315-332

by Kerry Chamberlain

DOI:10.1080/14780880903490821

Qualitative research extensively utilises interviews to gain insight into the intricacy and texture of lived... more Qualitative research extensively utilises interviews to gain insight into the intricacy and texture of lived experience. However, there is growing recognition of the limitations of interviewing as a data-gathering method. Popular alternatives include a move to visual methods, such as photo-production, to enhance the interviewing process. In this paper we argue for the power of materiality in this process. We propose that material objects, such as photographs, items of clothing, personal journals, and such like, have power to simultaneously provide proof of the past, produce increased narrative depth, force change in narratives, and also change the interview process and the relationships caught up within it. We illustrate these issues by drawing on data from a research project about weight loss, We conclude by considering the implications and value of using material things in research.

How to make qualitative research more popular and public

by Phillip Vannini

Introductory chapter for the book published in 2012 by Peter Lang

See the book's website at: See the book's website at: http://www.popularizingresearch.net/

Evaluating an interpretive account

by Martin Packer

Packer, M. J., & Addison, R. B. (1989). Evaluating an interpretive account. In M. Packer & R. B. Addison (Eds.), Entering the circle: Hermeneutic investigation in psychology (pp. 275-292). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

"The royal we": Gender ideology, display, and assessment in wedding work

by Áine Humble

Humble, A. M., Zvonkovic, A. M., & Walker, A. J. (2008). "The royal we": Gender ideology, display, and assessment in wedding work (PDF- 109 KB). Journal of Family Issues, 29(1), 3-25. doi:10.1177/0192513X07305900

Family rituals provide a rich context in which to study the relation between ideology and action. Guided by the gender... more Family rituals provide a rich context in which to study the relation between ideology and action. Guided by the gender perspective, we analyzed the experiences of wives and husbands from 21 newly married heterosexual couples who described how they planned their weddings. The interplay among gender ideology, gender display, and gender assessment differed across three types of couples: traditional (n = 6), transitional (n = 10), and egalitarian (n = 5). An examination of gender assessment in transitional couples illustrates how holding competing ideologies contributes to the reproduction of hegemonic gendered work patterns within wedding planning.

The second time 'round: Remarried couples' gender construction in wedding planning

by Áine Humble

Humble, A. M. (2009). The second time 'round: Remarried couples' gender construction in wedding planning (PDF- 139 KB). Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 50(3/4), 260-281.

Humble, Zvonkovic, and Walker (2008) studied division of labor in first-time marriages, finding a range of gender... more Humble, Zvonkovic, and Walker (2008) studied division of labor in first-time marriages, finding a range of gender construction. The present study applied their conceptualization to remarried couples, for which little is known about division of labor or wedding experiences. Fourteen couples in which at least one spouse had recently remarried were interviewed about their wedding planning. Data analysis consisted of direct content analysis, rank order comparison, and matrix analysis. Contrasting Humble et al.’s findings, traditional and egalitarian couples were more common than transitional couples. Although remarriages tended to involve smaller and less complicated weddings, the majority of the couples replicated gendered patterns from their first weddings in subsequent weddings.

Wedding work

by Áine Humble

Humble, A. M. (2009). Wedding work (Method in Practice Report #9). [On-line supplement to Sage Publications' Companion Website to L. Richards' Handling qualitative data (2nd ed.).

In this paper, I describe in detail the method behind a study I did on remarrying couples' wedding planning. Topics... more In this paper, I describe in detail the method behind a study I did on remarrying couples' wedding planning. Topics are (a) setting up the project, (b) creating data, (c) working with the data, (d) analysis, and (e) reporting the data.

This is one of 10 on-line "Method in Practice" reports associated with Lyn Richards' "Handling Qualitative Data" (2nd ed.) book, and it was posted in 2009.

Technique triangulation for validation in directed content analysis

by Áine Humble

Humble, A. M. (2009). Technique triangulation for validation in directed content analysis (PDF- 208 KB). International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 8(3), 34-51.

Division of labor in wedding planning varies for first-time marriages, with three types of couples—traditional,... more Division of labor in wedding planning varies for first-time marriages, with three types of couples—traditional, transitional, and egalitarian—identified, but nothing is known about wedding planning for remarrying individuals. Using semistructured interviews, the author interviewed 14 couples in which at least one person had remarried and used directed content analysis to investigate the extent to which the aforementioned typology could be transferred to this different context. In this paper she describes how a triangulation of analytic techniques provided validation for couple classifications and also helped with moving beyond “blind spots” in data analysis. Analytic approaches were the constant comparative technique, rank order comparison, and visual representation of coding, using MAXQDA 2007’s tool called TextPortraits.