Qualitative Research

Le choc des images : l’usage de la vidéo en études et recherche marketing

by Delphine Dion

Book chapter  dans Marketing - Nouveaux enjeux, nouvelles perspectives, Eds. G. Cliquet, Presses Universitaires de Rennes.

Dion D. (2012), Le choc des images : l’usage de la vidéo en études et recherche marketing, dans Marketing - Nouveaux... more Dion D. (2012), Le choc des images : l’usage de la vidéo en études et recherche marketing, dans Marketing - Nouveaux enjeux, nouvelles perspectives, Eds. G. Cliquet, Presses Universitaires de Rennes.

A Review of the Relevant Merits and Disadvantages of the Current Assessment Methods used in the Photography BTEC Extended Diploma Course

by Ben Macloughlin

This paper explores the current assessment method used in a Photography BTEC course. It reveals the role of formative... more This paper explores the current assessment method used in a Photography BTEC course. It reveals the role of formative and summative assessment methods in Photography. It identifies the differences between the use of sketchbooks, PowerPoint and blogs to track learner progress and for receiving feedback. The research takes into account the views of the learners and their tutors and offers an insight into teaching and learning styles. The aim of the paper is to discover which assessment method best suits Photography and can possibly raise the standards of teaching and learning in the UK.

Researching Reproduction:Reflections on Qualitative Methodology in a Transforming Society

by Kammila Naidoo

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.

Qualitative investigations of mega-sport events: Exploring individual, group-based and collective emotions in response to elite athletic success

by Gavin Sullivan

Sullivan, G. B. (In press). Qualitative investigations of mega-sport events: Exploring individual, group-based and collective emotions in response to elite athletic success. Qualitative Methods in Psychology Section Bulletin.

Mega-sport events such as the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Football World Cup and the... more Mega-sport events such as the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Football World Cup and the Olympics are occasions when winning and losing create intense emotions in participants and observers. The wealth of existing theoretical and empirical material produced by social and psychological researchers on these topics might appear to reduce the potential for qualitative researchers to contribute to and even lead further research efforts. This paper introduces three areas in which qualitative psychology can contribute to understanding events during the 2012 Olympic games and their impact: individual pride and related emotions experienced by elite athletic performers; explorations of the diverse forms of viewer impact and possibilities for group-based emotion; and instances of collective emotion (e.g., such as widespread pride, patriotism and nationalism in the host nation). Examples of projects that could be conducted before, during and after the Olympics are provided. An overarching framework is presented for qualitative research that engages with and critiques relevant quantitative research findings, establishes links to existing qualitative research results, and is reflexive about issues such as methodological plurality.

Exporting anti-Zionism: The delegitimization of Israel in the Iranian Press

by Rusi Jaspal

**FOR A PDF OF FULL PAPER, E-MAIL ME**

Jaspal, R. (under review). Exporting anti-Zionism: The delegitimization of Israel in the Iranian Press. Submitted to Israel Studies.

Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Anti-Zionism has remained an important ideological building-block of the Islamic... more Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Anti-Zionism has remained an important ideological building-block of the Islamic Republic of Iran. This paper examines the manifestation of anti-Zionism in the English-language Iranian Press in order to elucidate how this ideology is ‘exported’ to an international readership. The paper presents the results of an empirical study of two leading English-language Iranian newspapers: The Tehran Times and Press TV. The study uses critical discourse analysis and draws upon tenets of Social Representations Theory and the notion of Delegitimization from social psychology. The following themes are outlined: (i) “Problematizing Israel’s right to exist”; (ii) “Unveiling the global Zionist conspiracy”; and (iii) “Leading the global anti-Zionism – the declining ‘Zionist regime’”. Both anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic representations are observable in the corpus. The paper identifies three key components of the delegitimization process in textual representations of Israel, and discusses possible implications of outgroup delegitimization for identity, emotion and action.

Keywords: media representations; Iran; Israel; anti-Zionism; prejudice; social representations theory; critical discourse analysis; qualitative; social psychology

Between Researcher and Researched: An Introduction to Countertransference in Qualitative Inquiry

by Marco Gemignani

Comparative "Research": A Modest Proposal concerning the Object of Ethics Regulation

by Rena Lederman

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. 

The use of semi-structured interviews in qualitative research: strengths and weaknesses

by Nigel Newton

Short essay exploring the nature and value of semi-structured interviews in educational research

What needs to be considered before collecting data through semi-structured interviews? How does thinking about... more What needs to be considered before collecting data through semi-structured interviews? How does thinking about analysis before questioning help or hinder interviewing practice? How should the strengths and weaknesses of the method be evaluated?

Turkey's Ministry of National Education Study-Abroad Program: Is the MoNE Making the Most of Its Investment?

by Servet Celik

Children as Researchers in Primary Schools: Choice, Voice and Participation

by Sue Bucknall

Published by Routledge on 24th May 2012

Children as Researchers in Primary Schools is an innovative and unique resource for practitioners supporting children... more Children as Researchers in Primary Schools is an innovative and unique resource for practitioners supporting children to become ‘real world’ researchers in the primary classroom. It will supply you with the skills and ideas you need to implement a ‘children as researchers’ framework in your school that can be adapted for different ages and abilities. Children in primary schools are accustomed to being set short-term goals and are often unaware of long-term aims or of the connections between the concepts and skills they are learning. In contrast, this book demonstrates that children engaging in the research process have authentic opportunities to apply invaluable personal, learning and thinking skills while managing their own projects, making their ‘voices’ heard and experiencing increased levels of engagement and self-esteem.

Based on the author’s 4-year research study exploring the experiences of young researchers and teachers in primary schools, and on her considerable experience of training young researchers, this book also contains:

    the history and theory behind ‘children as researchers’ initiatives;

    a model for good practice based on successful real life case studies;

    questions for reflective practice;

    practical examples of research in the classroom;

    photocopiable resources;

    opportunities for self-evaluation.

This comprehensive resource will be appeal to primary teachers, educational practitioners and students on CPD and ITT courses. It will also be of interest to teacher trainers, to academics involved in teaching and research and to all those interested in promoting children’s voices.

Knowing, Not Doing: Modalities of Gameplay Expertise in World of Warcraft Addons

by Tamara Peyton

Co-authored with Victoria McArthur, Jennifer Jenson, Nicholas Taylor & Suzanne de Castell for the CHI 2012 conference in Austin, TX, in the alt-CHI stream.

In this paper, we consider the impacts of game addons on conventional notions of game-based expertise in World of... more In this paper, we consider the impacts of game addons on conventional notions of game-based expertise in World of Warcraft, through the analysis of 37 travelogues - a data collection tool designed for use in MMOG research. We adopt a multi-faceted definition of gaming expertise as described by Taylor, Jenson, De Castell and Humphrey [33] and we apply their categorization of expertise modalities to the addons named by our study participants. We find that the most commonly understood expressions of expertise in games (time investment and skill) are less represented in the addons reported by our participants.

Collecting student perceptions of feedback through interviews

by Marie-Emilie Masson

Teachers and students make up the two major actors in classroom environment. How these two interact will largely... more Teachers and students make up the two major actors in classroom environment. How these two interact will largely determine the amount of learning produced. Of the many forms of teacher-student interaction, such as instruction, social interaction, and discipline, the research indicates that feedback is one of the strongest predictors of positive learning outcomes (Hattie, 2009). While research indicates that in order for feedback to be effective, it needs to be timely, appropriate to the students’ proficiency, and formative (Kluger & DeNisi, 1996), teachers’ awareness of that alone is not enough to ensure successful learning outcomes. In fact, regardless of the quality of feedback produced by one teacher, if students do not believe the feedback being delivered is beneficial to reaching their goals, its effectiveness will be greatly diminished. It is therefore necessary to overcome any form of cognitive dissonance between teacher and student about useful feedback before the learning process can begin. Determining what types of feedback students believe are important will allow teachers to address these beliefs and re-align them with what research has shown to be the most beneficial. This research aims at answering two questions: 1) What feedback do students deem relevant? 2) What forms of teacher feedback do they perceive in the classroom? After introducing the background for the research, the presentation will examine the data collected through interviews with students in their native language, the methodology used to gather such data and the results from this preliminary study. This research is based in the foreign language classroom setting of a private Japanese university. Given the limited number of classes available during one academic year, teachers and students who are in accordance in their beliefs will benefit from a powerful learning environment. Raising teacher and student awareness of classroom practices and beliefs will not only promote student motivation and learner autonomy, but also the creation of
this positive learning environment.

Organizational culture in the adoption of the Bologna Process: A study of academic staff at a Ukrainian university.

by Marta Shaw

Co-authored with David W. Chapman and Nataliya Rumyantseva

Studies in Higher Education 39(1)

The growing influence of the Bologna Process on higher education around the world has raised concerns about the... more The growing influence of the Bologna Process on higher education around the world has raised concerns about the applicability of this set of reforms in diverse cultural contexts. Ukraine provides an instructive case study highlighting the dynamics occurring at the convergence of the new framework with a state-centered model of higher education. The goal of this study was to examine the professional identity of faculty at one Ukrainian university and their perceptions regarding the implementation of Bologna at their institution. We found that
instructional and institutional innovations were successfully implemented only to the extent that they were integrated with the existing pattern of values and beliefs held by faculty. These findings provide insight for how other countries may approach Bologna compatibility in the presence of social and cultural forces divergent from those in which the Bologna process originated.

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

Keeney, H. & Keeney, B. (2012). Recursive Frame Analysis: Reflections on the Development of a Qualitative Research Method. The Qualitative Report, 17(2)

by Hillary Stephenson Keeney

Exploring the impact of the introduction of new EFL textbooks on teachers' practices and attitudes at a technical college in Japan.

by Simon Humphries

Ph.D. Thesis (2011) Macquarie University

Although the Japanese government has introduced policies to try to encourage communicative learning in Japanese... more Although the Japanese government has introduced policies to try to encourage communicative learning in Japanese schools (MEXT, 2002, 2003), studies have shown that English teachers have tended to continue the traditional yakudoku (grammar-translation) style of education (Kikuchi & Browne, 2009; O'Donnell, 2005; Sato, 2002; Wada, 2002). The pressure to prepare students for the grammatically oriented university entrance tests has often been cited as the cause for this phenomenon (Gorsuch, 2001; Sakui, 2004; Watanabe, 2004). The influence of the government-authorised textbooks seems to have been under-researched. Therefore, this study explores the effects of ELT textbooks on teaching attitudes and practices in a Japanese Kosen (engineering college).
After studying the equivalent of three high school and two tertiary-level years at a Kosen, the students can transfer into the third year of a university course without taking an English test. This situation creates the opportunity to implement learner-centred communicative approaches. To maximise this opportunity, the author’s college replaced some of the traditional textbooks with learner-centred conversation course books. However, well-meaning policy change does not automatically equal shared ownership and adoption by practitioners (Fullan, 2007).
The author analysed the textbooks using an approach described by Littlejohn (1998). Subsequently, he observed and interviewed four teachers, who used both the traditional transmission-style and new learner-centred conversation textbooks, to analyse the degrees of implementation and acceptance.
The researcher analysed the observation and interview data using constant comparison (Corbin & Strauss, 2008). Two main areas of interest arose from the data: (1) the teachers’ control of the activities; and (2) the students’ low levels of participation.
This study indicated that teacher and student freedom led to a culture of uncertainty in the Kosen that the researcher termed the driftwood effect. A culture of collaborative professional development ought to be developed to facilitate the capacity for change.

Representing the 'Zionist Regime': Mass Communication of anti-Zionism in the English-language Iranian Press

by Rusi Jaspal

**FOR A PDF OF FULL PAPER, E-MAIL ME**

Jaspal, R. (under review). Representing the 'Zionist Regime': Mass Communication of anti-Zionism in the English-language Iranian Press. Submitted to Mass Communication and Society.

Anti-Zionism constitutes an important ideological building-block of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI). This paper... more Anti-Zionism constitutes an important ideological building-block of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI). This paper provides insight into the mass communication of anti-Zionism in the English-language Iranian Press in order to examine how this ideology is ‘exported’ to an international readership. The paper presents the results of an empirical study of two leading English-language Iranian newspapers: The Tehran Times and Press TV. The study uses critical discourse analysis and draws upon tenets of Social Representations Theory from social psychology. The following discourses are discussed: (i) Resisting social representations of Israeli statehood; (ii) Constructing threat: The Zionist regime as a terrorist entity; and (iii) Responding to threat: Anti-Zionism as a religious duty for the Muslim Ummah. As a ‘mouth-piece’ of the IRI, these outlets adopt and encourage a fervently anti-Zionist stance by refusing to recognise the statehood and civilian population of Israel and by constructing the ‘Zionist regime’ as a terrorist threat which should be mitigated collectively by the Islamic Ummah. Implications are discussed.

Keywords: media representations; Iran; Israel; anti-Zionism; prejudice; social representations theory; critical discourse analysis; qualitative; social psychology