2008 AQM: Advances in Qualitative Methods: Conference Abstracts

A Heuristic Approach in Understanding Learning Experience of Family Members of Cancer Survivors

Jane Teng Yan Fang

Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Malaysia

Khairuddin Idris

Universiti Putra, Malaysia

In this paper the authors describe the creative process of doing a qualitative research. The researcher reports on a heuristic inquiry research approach used in a study investigating the learning experience among family members of cancer survivors.

The researcher briefly narrates the research itself as the study was an experiential and reflective exploration with her participants that has placed their therapeutic relationship at the heart of the study. She shared her feelings in using the conversational-style interviews in data generation. She talks about focusing on the voice of “me” in the text. She narrates the process of creative synthesis writing style in reporting. She concentrates on explaining the nature of heuristic inquiry, which has both strengths and weaknesses. She also describes the heartbeat of heuristic inquiry, which has had a significant impact on her personal growth as a researcher.

The researcher also examines the dynamism, power, and unexpected outcomes of the immersion in the 4 years of study, research, and writing that the researcher gives to her doctoral investigation. She attempts to bring the reader into the process and phases of heuristic inquiry and asserts that heuristic inquiry could be fruitful as a way of self-inquiry and dialogue with others aimed to finding the underlying meanings of important human experiences.

An Exploration of the Experience of China-Educated Nurses Working in the Australian Health Care System

Yunxian Zhou

Queensland University of Technology, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Australia

Carol Windsor

Fiona Coyer

Karen Theobald

Queensland University of Technology

Transnational nurse migration is a growing phenomenon, yet relatively little is known about the experiences of migrating nurses and particularly about non–English-speaking background nurses who work in the more economically developed countries.

Informed by a symbolic interactionist and constructivist framework, this research explored the experiences of China-educated nurses working in the Australian health care system. Through a modified constructivist grounded theory method, data was produced from 40 face-to-face in-depth interviews with 26 Chinese nurses in two major cities in Australia.

The constant comparative method of analysis revealed that the experience of the participants was essentially defined by a sense of disappointment in response to the “unexpected” of living and working in Australia. The encounter with the unexpected is reflected in the following properties: this is the western way, it is not just language, this is your own business, caught between two identities, and it is hard to go back. The process that gives overarching meaning to these properties is that of Reconciling Different Realities, the core category of the study. The reconciling process is lengthy and painful, and for many is ultimately an experience of living a Chinese life overseas.

The results of this study are of value to Chinese nurses who are seeking employment in Australia. The results will also contribute to the knowledge of Australian employers and nursing colleagues. A more informed understanding of the processes whereby China-educated nurses move into the Australian health care sector will engender a more effective multicultural health care system.

Challenges and the Importance of Sustaining a Mindful Presence when Engaging Children with Cancer in the Qualitative Research Process

Roberta Woodgate

University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada

In this paper I focus on the challenges that I have encountered when engaging children with cancer in the qualitative research process. My talk is framed around a collection of research studies I have conducted over the past 8 years that were concerned about gaining an understanding of the childhood cancer experience from the perspectives of children and their families. Although providing valuable insights of childhood cancer, the transitions experienced by children and their families throughout the cancer trajectory in combination with the research methods used, necessitated my attending to a number of challenges along the way. The challenges that required my attention included the potential for intrusion into the child's world, interference in the child-family relationship, harm to the child's physical and psychological sense of self, and, finally, the potential for misrepresentation of the child's voice. Although these challenges in and of themselves were not strictly ethical in nature, there was the potential for them to develop into ethical dilemmas. However, if the researcher sustains a mindful presence throughout the research process, challenges need not transpire into ethical dilemmas. Moreover, children are more likely to view their experience with research as positive when a mindful presence is sustained.

Choice of Case Study as Qualitative Research Strategy

Patricia Brown

University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada

In outlining my qualitative research strategy in my doctoral research proposal, I quoted Merriam (1998): “This research will be undertaken as a descriptive case study” (p. 50). My committee challenged me to justify this choice, and in response to the challenge, I explored in depth the rationale for case study as my research strategy. As part of this exploration, I reviewed the extensive literature of case study research. This presentation provides the results of this literature review. The presentation initially identifies my rationale for case study as a choice of research strategy, supported by my research paradigm and theoretical framework. I then focus on the positions of Merriam, Yin (1981, 1984, 1994, 1999, 2003a, 2003b, 2005), and Stake (1978/2000, 1994, 1995, 2005, 2008), whom I consider to be foundational writers in the area of case study research. The presentation identifies a range of voices in the debate related to case study research and its position as a research methodology in both the qualitative and quantitative paradigms.

Continuity of Care and Health Care Transformations: A Social-Historical Analysis

Karine Aubin

Clémence Dallaire

Université Laval, Québec, Canada

Continuity of care (COC) is a concept widely studied and used in health. Currently, none of the researches have established a concrete definition of what it is exactly. Scientists, professionals, and policymakers are using this concept in their work even if no consensus exists about it. The recent decades have seen an integration of COC to justify some health care system transformations. This study aims at examining COC development and conceptualization in the interdisciplinary literature, retracing the social-historical evolution of this concept, and identifying the challenges at the origin of COC and their effects on healthcare system development and its actors. The theoretical approach is inspired by sociology, linguistics, and philosophy, which allows considering discourses as the source of social-cultural changes in society by linking discourses, power, ideology, and hegemony. The main hypothesis is that discourses structure society as much as individual subjectivity and contributes to a social identity and a way of being in society. An instrumental case study based on a depth-hermeneutical approach including a conceptual analysis, a social-historical analysis, a critical discourse analysis, and a cross-sectional analysis is used. Data have been collected from scientific, professional and official literature between 1970 and 2007 inside the Quebec's health care system. Results will show the sociohistorical evolution of the COC in the Quebec's health care system. This example could provide new insights on how health care system transformations result from discourses.

Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM): A Research Framework

Lydia Forsythe

OSF Healthcare, Rockford, Illinois

The Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM) is a theoretical and practical application as a research framework using a social constructionist approach to knowledge development. CMM views the social experience as an emergence. In viewing the constructionism as a discovery, CMM is a container without boundaries in that the method defines fluid and emergent concepts in the ontological sense of distinction making as an unfolding of the social experience.

Within the notion of emergent concepts and social unfoldings is the current reality of hybridity or what is to be considered as boundaryless states of reflexive action. In this boundaryless state the analytic work of a qualitative researcher is deeply interpretive. In using CMM the social experience unfolds within the researcher's reflexive thought process. Thus, CMM encompasses consideration for the notion of hybridity and or multiple meaning making potentials within each situation as a constructionism of what was, what may become, and what could be as the future. Therefore, it here within the context of past, present, and future that CMM can be used as a fourth-dimensional space to explore the potential tension between all three spaces.

Using CMM the researcher has the flexibility to develop a sensibility related to the abstractness of time within the context of social relationships, and within the context of CMM as a research framework individuals and groups are viewed as an ephemeral social construction within a particular environment, which lends appreciation to potential implications for practical change in the form of new positive constructions.

Disrupting Descartes: The Potential of Attending to Intercorporeality and Creativity in Qualitative Inquiry

Kelly Clark

Appalachian State University

A well-established literature base exists on the methodological influence of human subjectivity and intersubjectivity, on how these spheres of influence proliferate, enrich, and confound qualitative inquiry practices. What is less examined is the status and function of researchers' and participants' corporeality, intercorporeality, and embodied creative practices during and after research encounters. Such an investigation begins to surface how the valorization of linguistic expression throughout interpretive inquiry leads to absenting bodies, thereby reinforcing the gendered and separatist nature of research itself, including many forms of feminist method. Placing philosophical and theoretical perspectives of embodiment and creativity alongside the author's feminist methodology in practice, this paper will bring readers/listeners into experimental contact with arts-informed processes and products that disrupt enduring humanist and dualistic conceptualizations of interpretive inquiry. The ideas raised in this paper presentation are intended to expand theoretical perspectives about the role of bodies and creativity during the social scientific process generally and about identity research specifically.

Doing Qualitative Research Using Your Computer

Christopher Hahn

Qualitative Research Coding and Analysis

Data collected using respected qualitative methods such as grounded theory, ethnography, phenomenology, case studies, and focus groups can be organized and analyzed using everyday software, including Microsoft Word, Excel, and Access. Step-by-step techniques described in Doing Qualitative Research Using Your Computer (Sage Publications) will be presented by author Christopher Hahn, PhD, MBA.

A researcher's first pass through raw qualitative data can be done with remarkable efficiency using standard features of Microsoft Word. The paper/session demonstrates how interview transcripts, field notes, and memos can be efficiently processed in a Microsoft Word “code document” that is structured to (a) receive and store first-pass qualitative codes and memos, (b) label (with row numbers) the important blocks of data that led to the creation of the level 1 codes and memos, and (c) preserve the raw data in situ for later examination.

The use of Excel or Access to create a database of qualitative codes facilitates a clear and efficient view of emerging categories, themes, and (if desired) theories. Higher level coding with either Access or Excel is accomplished during repeated passes through earlier codes, memos, and the raw data.

The techniques presented in the paper/session will help researchers achieve more defensible conclusions from their qualitative data while retaining their preferred qualitative research methods. A great deal of efficiency and insight can be gained by working intelligently with readily available software to arrange, systemize, and control qualitative data.

Becoming a Social Justice Activist: Exploring Personal and Political Engagement

Darren E. Lund

University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada

Rachel E. Evans

University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada

Maryam Nabavi

University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

How does one become a social justice activist? What formal and informal experiences and education has brought each of us to this point? How does one learn about advocacy and community action in dialogue with another, and through dialogue, how does one change? Experiences with creating collaborative narratives will inform this session, as each of the presenters has engaged in duoethnographic inquiry. The topics explored have included activism around issues of sexual orientation and gender identity, and collective antiracism work with youth. Through a dialogic engagement across differing identities and life experiences, the participants will offer their insights and analyses on this emerging methodology and the benefits of applying it to research on social justice issues.

The Curriculum of Sexual Orientation

Rick Sawyer

Washington State

University Vancouver

Joe Norris

St. Francis Xavier University

The two intertwined stories from their personal and educational histories that—through their juxtaposition—create a complicated commentary on the appearance of dominance and subordination within schools and society in relation to conceptions of sexual orientation. Through the juxtaposition of their stories they problematize the notion of cohesive and predictable curricula. Instead, their narratives act as mirror images of each other in relation to notions of heterosexuality and homosexuality. Their narratives suggest that a curriculum that alternately vilifies or denies the existence of homosexuality (or “the other”) creates a shifting landscape of fear, longing, desire, and ultimately alienation. The argue that the absence of verbal recognition and discussion about a topic in schools does not lead to the topics lack of existence, obviously, but rather this lack of discussion supports a hidden curriculum rich in personal projections, longing, and anxiety. They complete their paper by discussing the need for a curriculum of meaning and tolerance, both for individuals as well as for society.

In their presentation and paper, the two take turns telling their stories. They never address each other; instead, they each in turn deliver a series of soliloquies about their lives. Their stories are highlighted by the projection of photographs of individuals and paintings, as well as sounds, from their pasts. Stories always beckon others stories and it is anticipated that these narratives will evoke strong conversations on how sexual identity is informally taught.

Duoethnography's Tenets

Rick Sawyer

Washington State University, Vancouver

Joe Norris

St. Francis Xavier University

Drawing on Currere, Pinar (1975); storytelling; Reason and Hawkins (1988) autoethnography; Ellis, (2004) and Bochner and Ellis (2001); and Bakhtin (1981), duoethnography disrupts the metanarrative of a solitary voice by having two disparate people in dialogue around a given topic. They tell stories, tracing their histories of how they have learned their attitudes and behaviors about the topics that have included beauty, reading, writing, sexual orientation, political activism, and colonization/decolonization.

Created by Norris and Sawyer (2004, 2005) duoethnography seeks to create a dynamic, layered, and critical form of self-understanding of self in relation to the topic and others. Its tenets, while remaining flexible, do frame the method. The research is expected to take a temporal perspective documenting one's story over time. Such stories should be analytical, critiquing previous stances based upon reflection and conversations with the research team. Such changes are part of the text. Rather than cutting to the conclusion, readers witness changes in the researchers within the writing. As Oberg (2002) recommends, the researchers are the sites, not the topics of the research and through the juxtaposition of stories, the texts avoid alignment with any one point of view, making them dialogic (Bakhtin, 1981).

Other tenets to be included and expanded are storytelling as data generation, the act of self-examination, the importance of difference, the role of the OTHER, writing styles, the role of artifacts and photographs, and use of the “literature.”

Getting to the Research Question: Focus Groups and CBPR in a Tribal Community

Janet Katz

Washington State University Intercollegiate College of Nursing

Robbie Paul

Washington State University

Finding the research question is fundamental in designing all research projects. Typically, researchers from an academic institution develop questions and methods before they enter the community to recruit the study sample. In a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach the community directs the research questions, the methods, and dissemination of results (Mosavel, Simon, van Stade, & Buchbinder, 2005). This presentation describes a partnership between university researchers and a tribal community in the Northwestern United States and how that partnership developed a research agenda to promote adolescent health through community focus groups. Data analysis of the focus group interviews was done with community members. The implications of using focus groups in CBPR includes the challenges of moving from data collection to analysis to grant writing with actual community participation.

Hospitalized Patients' Experienced Suffering in Life with Advanced Cancer: Toward a Praxis Theory of Suffering

Susan Rydahl-Hansen

Bispebjerg Hospital

Background: The concept “suffering” is central within WHO's definition of palliative care. Empirical studies about the phenomenon as experienced by patients is limited.

Primary objective: To describe the characteristics of a group of hospitalized patients' experienced suffering in life with incurable cancer.

Participants: 12 patients with a life expectancy of minimum 2 months.

Design: Semistructured interviews were done during week 1, 2 and 4 of the hospitalization period. Participant observations were done the day before the interviews. Peirce's theory of signs was used to identify which potential signs of suffering that appeared within the observations. The identified signs were used as themes in the interview.

Method: Giorgi's phenomenological- hermeneutic method was used to identify and describe the characteristics of the phenomena, and the relations between them.

Results: The phenomenon is by 12 patients described as: “The experience of living on the edge of an increasingly unpredictable existents at the mercy of the body, the consciousness, the illness, the death, the treatment, the professionals, one's articulateness, the past, the present and the future, influenced by increasing powerlessness, increasing loneliness and isolation, and the experience of existing in an persistent, and with time, unconquerable struggle to maintain and regain control”.

How Are Verbal Cues and Signs of Suffering Expressed and Acknowledged within Palliative Nursing?

Susan Rydahl-Hansen

Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital

The recognition of the advanced cancer patient's suffering forms the basis for the nurse's ability to acknowledge and alleviate suffering. But little is known about how this is practiced.

Using Peirce's semiotic and phenomenological grounded theory of potential and actual signs, passive and descriptive participant observations were performed focusing on the verbal incidents that took place in a palliative care unit. Giorgi's phenomenological method has been used to describe the typical structures of the signs of suffering, which were:

The study calls attention to the problem that although suffering is produced collectively, it is rarely expressed, perceived, attached importance and meaning to, lived, or prevented in this space. This is because it typically was conceived as a mute, intrapersonal—and not interpersonal—or collective phenomenon. Focus will be on the use of Peirce's theory in participant observations.

Institutional Ethnography and Genealogy: Approaches for Critical Studies in Policy Research

Brenda Spencer

Shirley Fredeen

University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

In this paper the authors describe the methodology of two studies of the texts and local experiences of educational policies that directly affect students for whom English is an additional language. The first study focuses on one public education policy, the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test, and its implementation in a linguistically and culturally diverse urban high school. The second study focuses on postsecondary education admission policies in one major Canadian university and the ways in which these policies affect the lived educational experiences of international students.

To examine the microphysics of power and of the effects of the interactions between power and knowledge in the social-material practices of the education, we draw on approaches of genealogy (Foucault, 1984; Tamboukou, 2001) and institutional ethnography (IE) (Smith, 1987, 1990) as an orientation to the document analysis, observations, and interviews of our studies.

By using examples specific to the text-based discourses and practices that are the focus of our research, in this paper we first explain how genealogical and IE strategies help us to understand how texts operate as technologies of “truth,” organize what can and cannot be said and done, shape social relations, and regulate the way students, as subjects, become constituted and understand themselves within particular power/knowledge formations and extended relations of ruling. Second, we demonstrate how this unique methodological combination can help to reveal the ways in which, through education policy, systems of classification, differentiation, and privilege are reinscribed, with uneven effects, in the everyday rationalities and practices of education.

Improvisational Theory as a Framework for Analyzing Collaborative Problem Solving

Jo Towers

University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada

Lyndon Martin

University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom

Collaborative problem-solving is a phenomenon that has received increasing interest in recent years. Although research exists that attends to the importance of the collective nature of learning, the field still lacks fine-grained theoretical tools for interpreting and analyzing group learning. In this paper, we present an innovative approach to qualitative research that deliberately applies and develops theory across disciplines. We introduce the use of improvisational theory, drawn from the domains of jazz and theatre (Becker, 2000; Berliner, 1994; Sawyer, 1997, 2003), as a means to interpret and analyze group activity in collaborative problem solving. Taking mathematical problem solving as an example and using brief examples of classroom video data, we explore some central concepts of improvisational theory and discuss how we use these in data analysis in an effort to better understand the phenomenon of collective action in learning. We focus particularly on the notion of improvisational coaction, revealing the ways in which we have extended this theoretical construct and distinguished it from the more general notion of interaction. The theoretical distinction provides a new set of constructs that can be used to identify, characterize, and trace collective action in classrooms.

Making it Work: Challenges to and Strategies for Engaging Youth in Qualitative Research

Roberta Woodgate

Jennifer Leach

University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada

In this paper we present our reflections and responses to a research study that seeks to understand how youth frame health within the context of their life situations. The study, which is in its second year of data collection, uses the qualitative research design of ethnography. To date, 60 youth from diverse socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds and ranging in age from 12 to 21 years of age have participated in the study. The research primarily takes place in boys' and girls' clubs. In addition to traditional ethnographic methods of interviewing and participant observation, the innovative approach of photovoice is being used. Through an ongoing and careful examination of the research process, we will share our reflections on the methodological challenges to engaging youth in research. We reinforce that to be successful in engaging youth in the qualitative research process, researchers need to view the collection of data as a work-in-progress that constantly needs evaluating and refining. Strategies that focus on enhancing the overall data collection process as well as strategies specific to the art of interviewing are discussed. Emphasis is placed on how one can best promote a youth-centered participatory approach to qualitative research.

Managing Methodological Choices in Qualitative Research Metasynthesis

Alyssa Weiss

Ronald Chenail

Nova Southeastern University

Qualitative research metasynthesis is a process and product of scientific inquiry aimed at systematically reviewing and formally integrating the findings of completed qualitative studies. It encompasses both an interpretive outcome and the analytic procedures by which the findings of studies are integrated, compared, or combined and offers an ideal method for integrating the findings of the research literature. Similar to a systemic approach, the use of metasynthesis creates a product that is larger than the sum of its parts. Researchers wishing to conduct this form of scholarly inquiry face several choices regarding implementation of the methodology, inclusion and exclusion criteria for qualitative research studies, data preparation and analysis procedures, and presentation of findings. The focus of this presentation is to discuss the approaches to conducting a metasynthesis and ways to manage the process. The presenters will share examples from their completed and in-process qualitative research metasyntheses to illustrate the process and outcomes of these management choice points.

The Foundation of Research Design for the Social Scientific Research

Hossen M. Anwar

The University of British Columbia, Okanagan, and the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh

Social research is one of the foundations of social sciences in general and particularly for sociology. The social scientific inquiry of an event is the main purpose of sociological research. Research design helps different disciplines to explore the different social issues that are grounded in epistemology. For this reason, researchers mobilize ideas, concepts, variables, experiences and observations from his/her own surrounding environment. For the selected research issue, a researcher can use the different types of research design. The orientation of the research, qualitative or quantitative determines the design that will be applied to a given issue. Thus, the orientation is focused on how individuals and groups view and understand the world and how meanings are constructed out of life experiences. Whatever the research design, the validity and the reliability of the research outcome should emphasize the epistemological imperative, which is the contribution that made to the accumulated body of knowledge on the subject. Incorporating all of the dimensions of a research project, I developed a research design, which I will analyze in my present paper.

The Meaning and Structure of Phenomenological Reduction as a Research Method in Health Care: Investigating “Phenomena” for Essential Human Understanding-

Kayoko Ueda

Hajime Sakugawa

Rena Yamamoto

Graduate School of Kawasaki University of Medical Welfare

One of the most important missions of phenomenological health research is to attain intimate understanding of phenomena that participants have experienced. Phenomenological reduction is considered an indispensable method for this mission.

Ordinarily, we would see a person with superficial features of his or her explicit phenomena (e.g., statements, actions, and expressions). In comparison, in phenomenological research, it is necessary to recognize implicit “existence” of the objects through the phenomena. Existence could be defined as an attitude by which a person wants to achieve his or her purpose and worth in life, concretely explained with the two elements embodiment and desire. Embodiment represents the participants' situations, which bind them physically, socially, and mentally. Desire represents what the participants want to acquire or to become. By reflecting the embodiment and desire of the participants, the reduction enables us to clarify the existential meaning of the phenomena.

In our previous study, students' perceptions of their volunteer experiences were clarified with phenomenological reduction. Through supporting vulnerable people, students might achieve the awareness of equal importance between self and others while discovering a new side of themselves and recognizing the necessity of caring for others.

This method is, however, not just a one-way interpretative technique to disclose existential meaning based on embodiment and desire. Although we could achieve a profound understanding of the existential meaning of phenomena, we could also attain better recognition of objects' embodiment and desire. Thus, phenomenological reduction would be a fundamental principle to bring holistic human understanding, through mutually cultivating phenomena and existence.

The Person with Diabetes: Of the Therapeutic Approach to the Existential

Aracely Diaz

Facultad de Enfermeria, Universidad Autonoma de San Luis Potosi

The present study aims to throw a light on the meaning of the diabetic person from the standpoint of individuals who lives that situation. Therefore, the author went to look for the experiences these people, those living with the disease. Grounded in the theoretical-methodological reference of phenomenological research, the researcher looked at people the disease and obtained narrative interviews, starting with a question: Could you describe for me ¿What is this, to be a diabetic person?. In the quest for subjectivity to exist of these people, the study suggested a movement analysis of the experiences of diabetes mellitus, from the standpoint of an event into a phenomenon. Data collection was held in the city of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, the Mexican Institute of Social Security, “Francisco Padron Poyou,” with patients participating in a support group. Data analysis was performed according to the fundamentals of phenomenology, thereby enabling the construction of thematic categories that enabled the researcher to get to the essence of the meaning of living with the disease. The findings offer prospects for change in several areas of assistance to these individuals, who allow the rescue of subjectivity, or rethink the training of health professionals as well as a more effective care and construction of health policies.

The Power of Voice: The Use of Narrative in Presenting the Lived Experience—Narratives of Cancer Survivors

Gerard Tobin

University of New Hampshire

This presentation will offer an alternative perspective on presenting textual data. The presentation draws from a doctoral study that explored the giving and receiving of a cancer diagnosis. The phenomenological study used unstructured interviews, as the main data collection tool. Recipients (people who received a cancer diagnosis) and significant others (identified by recipient) were invited to participate.

For the purpose of this presentation, the focus will be on the narrative of the recipient and the power of voice in giving meaning and context to their story. The power of their stories and the insightfulness of their narrative provides a rich tapestry from which healthcare providers and researchers can gain insight.

There is potential for the transcription of interview data to decontextualize the interactions and rob the participant of their true voice. Today, with rapidly changing multimedia technology the challenge is to create meaningful presentations that can prevent the decontextualizing of narrative, offer voice, not just text, and provide meaning and not just data.

The presentation will utilize the voice of recipients and cancer images identified by participants to offer a multidimensional connection with the lived experience of the participants.

The presentation aims to create a form for open discussion between presenter and audience on emerging technologies and how they challenge traditional modes of presenting qualitative research. The images chosen by the participants and their narrative voice are very powerful and may make people feel uncomfortable – yet to sanitize the narratives is to demean their lived experience.

The Research Interview: Beginnings, Continuing, and Endings—Utilization of Digital Recording to Capture the Multidimension of the Interactive Process

Gerard Tobin

University of New Hampshire, Durham, USA

This presentation explores the art and skill of interviewing within qualitative enquiry. As one of the most frequently used data collection tools within social science research there is a need for researchers to remain cognizant of the complexities of the interview as a connective interactive process between two or more people.

The presentation suggests that researchers address five specific challenges when undertaking qualitative interviewing: finding suitable interview venues, commencing the interview, continuing the interview and ending the interview. Self-debriefing following the interview is suggested as an integral part of the interview and not as a “post interview activity.” Rewriting the story heard in “free flowing text” can assist the researcher to examine their own reactions during the interview and reflect upon their own understandings emerging throughout the process. The potential for the transcription of interview data to decontextualize the interactions is recognized and the challenge to utilize modern digital recording devices to create a means of recording non-verbal communication as a component of the interview process presented.

Lack of recognition of the interview as a skilled interaction may negate the powerfulness of the tool and render the process to a one dimensional verbal snap-shot. If unaware of the complexities of the interview, the researcher may miss the nuances of language and the non-verbal richness of both researched and researcher. Careful attention to detail, preparation and execution are vital if health care researchers are to extrapolate not only the verbal utterances but the richness of the spoken and unspoken narrative.

The Results of a Qualitative Study Can Offer “Scientific Evidences” Generalized Theoretically by the Structural Constructivism Perspective

Hirofumi Takagi

Toho University

In a qualitative study, we usually make a series of texts obtained by the interview or other appropriate methods. We try to label the various codes from the text, and try to extract some core categories and construct a conceptual model of an interest phenomenon. At that time, our main issue is the generalization of the results as scientific evidences, even though the analytical generalization can be always done as Yin (1994; Case Study Research: Design and Methods, London: Sage) pointed out.

The credibility of the text interpretation and the model construction depends on two issues; that is (a) a recognition issue, i.e., “Can an informant tell us exactly about what she/he wants to tell us?”, and (b) an issue of understanding the meanings, i.e., “Can the researcher interpret exactly the informant's discourse?”

By the use of the general language proposed by Saussure, we could explain a solution of these issues rationally by the concept of structural langue system constructed in an individual brain but structured though parole determined by social rules.

Finally we could indicate that a qualitative study can give “scientific evidence” from the results obtained even by only one case study.

The Screen behind the Mirror: Hypnosis as Method in Qualitative Research

Gregory Szarycz

Wilfrid Laurier University

Hypnosis finds mention in the world of psychiatry, medicine, and forensic sciences. However, this method has thus far received scant attention in the social science literature outside of the current predominant quantitative approach to the analysis of hypnotic experience. In this paper the author discusses the merits and challenges of a qualitative approach to researching hypnotic experiencing in an effort to move hypnosis more securely into the mainstream of qualitative research practices.

From a qualitative researcher's point of view, hypnotic techniques allow access to an informant's subconscious. In a conscious state, an individual recalls an incident, whereas in hypnosis he or she relives the moment. Thus, instead of articulating their experiences directly, individuals project their feelings on to the researcher, thereby circumventing some of their rational defenses.

Besides bringing new dimensions to the content gathered, hypnosis aids the research process. Since the focus is driven inwards, a person under hypnosis is not distracted by external stimuli and not consciously aware of the time elapsed. Thus the quality of responses does not deteriorate with lengthy conversations. Moreover, it can help individuals understand their own thought patterns better and be an enriching experience for both parties involved with the research process.

In sum, the author argues that although hypnosis is a powerful tool in the hands of the qualitative researcher, the need for proper training cannot be overemphasized. It is suggested that hypnosis be used ethically only to understand the informant's thoughts and not plant suggestions or otherwise manipulate the data.

The Six Pixels of Separation: Social Software Application Approaches to Scholarly Writing and Dissemination

Gregory Szarycz

Wilfrid Laurier University

One of the “complaints” leveled against academia is that it is very conservative and a late adopter of new technology and, in fact, discourages faculty members from using new technology, such as social software or social media. A large part of that discussion is trying to figure out how social media would fit into the very traditional approaches to academic review and assessments of scholarly productivity. In recent years, blogging, a contraction of the term Web logging, has proliferated in academic circles, and increasingly, university faculty are blogging about their disciplinary specialties, research activities, and teaching. Many blogs, in addition to their capacity for engaging people in collaborative activity, knowledge sharing, reflection, and debate, have large and dedicated readerships, and blog clusters have formed linking fellow bloggers in accordance with their common interests.

The ongoing debate over the role of blogs in academia is both illustrative and confounding. Fundamentally, blogs are communication tools, ones that when used in context become powerful tools for digital learning. Increasing numbers of participants in academia have effectively leveraged blogs to share their work and connect with students and colleagues, all the while spurring conversation and research. In this paper, I highlight the significance of the “blogosphere” as a new addition to the qualitative researcher's toolkit, and discuss some of the practical, theoretical, and methodological issues that arise from this unique electronic medium. I conclude that blogging has the potential to be a transformational technology for teaching and learning.

Cross-Country/Cultural Comparative Case Studies and Interview Analysis

Amee Barber

University of Alberta, Mennonite Centre for Newcomers Edmonton, Canada

This presentation will address the cross-cultural issues involved in evaluating the prostitution policy making processes in the Netherlands and Canada and their outcomes with reference to the normative model of deliberative democracy. Using a most similar system research design, I will look for connections between sex workers and policy reform efforts, hoping to discover the ways in which the sex workers themselves engage policy makers (or do not) in both countries. Through the use of longitudinal policy analysis and interviews conducted in both countries, I hope to determine the variance in sex workers' access to the policy making process and levels of ‘felt-inclusion’. In particular, I will focus on the employment of the interview method, which is one component of my overall methodological approach. From this focus, I will address the methodological difficulties of conducting and interpreting interviews with marginalized populations in different national contexts. I will also discuss the utilization of interview data in a systematic and rigorous cross-country comparison, including the issue of conceptual stretching and the difficulties associated with coding interview data gained from within different national parameters. I will address the following questions: What are the unalterable markers that will emerge from the interviews and that qualify for a high probability of inclusion in policy discussions (if any)? What are comparative indicators of marginalization and what are the markable deviations in the situations of SWRA across countries? Must the interviews be considered only in light of macro-level comprehensive studies and their country specific application?

To Transcribe or Not to Transcribe: Using Digital-Editing Software in Data Analysis

Genevieve Thompson

CancerCare Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada

Verena Menec

University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada

Harvey Chochinov

CancerCare Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada

Conventional analysis of audio-recorded data involves transcription of the data into text. Some argue that by converting audio into text, aspects of the conversation are lost (Hutchinson, 2005; Halcomb & Davidson, 2006). Moreover, with focus groups, it may be difficult to accurately transcribe conversations involving multiple speakers (Krueger, 1994). To address these limitations, we used digital-editing software to analyze data collected in a sequential, mixed methods study conducted to examine the quality of dying in LTC facilities using family informants (n = 87). In phase 1 of the study, quantitative data were collected using a validated tool (Teno, 2004) to measure the relationship between the needs, perceptions of care, family/resident and system characteristics, and satisfaction with care provided at the end of life. In phase 2, family informants were invited to participate in focus groups where significant results obtained in the first phase of the study, and aspects of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with end-of-life care could be explored in more depth. Three focus groups were conducted, one with family members expressing dissatisfaction with care (n = 6) and two with satisfied family members (n = 8). Digital audio-recordings of the focus groups were analyzed based on a case-oriented approach using content analysis (Morse & Field, 1995).

To assist in the coding of digital data, audio-editing software that allowed for the precise selection, copying, and saving of segments of the audio recording was used. The purpose of this presentation will be to discuss the utility of this technology, and its methodological and practical challenges.

Using Embedded Case Study Methods to Explore Problems in the Implementation of Policy

Mary Cooke

Ciaran Hurley

Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, United Kingdom

Background. Ethical first-principles expect decisions about an individual's healthcare to be taken jointly between patients and health personnel; this ought to be recognized at all levels of healthcare policy. The primacy of this concept is relatively recent. Our paper explores a case study whereby an elderly man was re-referred to an acute care provider. On diagnosis he requested palliative care but the system could not respond appropriately.

Aims. We identify tensions between policy and ethics in resource allocation when patients cross boundaries between primary and acute healthcare sectors.

Methods. Investigation of such cases is fraught with complexity due to the variables & their influences. Scholtz & Tietje (2002) describe a case study method that facilitates structured examination of multiple influences. Their approach to analysis explores the object from all relevant perspectives, each combining to form a unique understanding. The varying perspectives are refracted through a lens, together forming a composite image (or understanding) of the case. This method allowed us to perform a simultaneous analysis of the case using apparently disparate frameworks; Beauchamp & Childress's Principles of Biomedical Ethics, the Royal of College of Nursing's Policy Analysis Framework and local patient-transport policies.

Findings. Patients in transition from acute to primary healthcare sectors may find that models of care delivery (care-bundles) result in gaps in service provision. Inflexible application of local or national policy can lead to apparently inhumane decisions being made by healthcare workers whose role ought to be more nurturing and supportive (Cooke & Hurley 2008: JClinNurs 17(10)1371–1379).

Using Group Dynamics as a Qualitative Measure

Leehu Zysberg

Tel-Hai College, Tel-Hai, Israel

Group dynamics and simulations are frequently used in both clinical and industrial-organizational settings for diverse purposes. The presentation will focus on the application of group dynamics in qualitative psychological research, harnessing its high reliability and validity established in adjacent fields of study and practice.

Group dynamics create a microcosm of social, emotional, and interpersonal pressures or challenges, which, beyond the specific content-area, elicit genuine and indicative responses from individuals, serving as basis for inference regarding themes and concepts one may be after. This, combined with methods emphasizing interrater reliability, brings into the world of qualitative research attributes that are essential and much needed.

Evidence gathered from two studies utilizing this method support its applicability and added value:

A few suggestions for future developments will close the presentation.

Using Qualitative Methods in Understanding Local Communities: Some Strategies for Community-Based Research

Uma Acharya

University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

Yogendra Prasad Acharya

York University, Toronto, Canada

This community-based study was carried out to understand the attitudes and perceptions of local people in Nepal. In it we explore the viewpoints of wide range of stakeholders involved in community forestry program through qualitative inquiry. With a constructivist research approach the qualitative research method was used to collect and analyze the data during several field visits and interactions with the research participants. In this paper we intend to describe the use of methods and techniques such as grounded theory, focus group and individual interviews to depict the perceptions and attitudes held by local communities and indigenous peoples about biodiversity conservation in community forests. The analysis captured a broad range of understandings and concepts associated with the term biodiversity among different members of the community. We argue that the theories, tools, and techniques offered by qualitative method made such a complex community-based research possible. The analysis of the study revealed different perceptions and concepts as they exist out there in the field among community members and came up with four categories of understanding of the term biodiversity.

Validity and Voice: Enhancing Research through Rapport

Martha Ann Carey, PhD

Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, California

The planning and management of complex, community based research programs is crucial to obtaining credible and useful results. A clear and systematic approach is important in developing consensus on goals, resources, roles and responsibilities, and communication systems for all participants. Adapting qualitative methods to the opportunities and limitations of the community setting is a challenge that needs to be addressed within established research standards, professional ethics and community members' values, program and funding requirements, and community needs. Recommendations will be discussed from experiences in using focus groups, key interviews, patient advocates, and community advisory boards in the development and refinement of protocols, the review and revision of instruments, and evaluation planning for the promatoras community health education program.

Giving Voice for the Secretly Suffering: Safety and Women Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse

Karla Richmond, PhD, RN

Research concerning childhood sexual abuse (CSA) of women who are currently in perinatal settings involved unique methodological and ethical issues. Due to the scarcity of research, a grounded theory method was used to examine their experiences. A unique methodological issue was the difficulty in identifying research participants and establishing rapport and trust. Establishing trust was especially in important because of the very sensitive nature of the topic and the trying experiences of the women, occasionally including their experiences with previous difficult perinatal care. Women stated that beyond not being asked about CSA, their experiences when disclosed were often actually “brushed aside.” They were eager to work with the nurse researcher because the women want their stories told. Therefore, the researcher has an ethical imperative to disseminate this study as this is the only way that the women's voices can be heard.

Because I Am Cherokee: Autoethnography, Family Stories, and Rhetorical Analysis as Tools in Cultural Social Justice

Lynda Dixon

Precious Yamaguchi

Bowling Green State University

Autoethnography as a qualitative method is a possible effective tool to effect social change. My identity as a Cherokee discussed in this ethnography presents a display of the possibilities with the methodology. In this article, my identity as a Cherokee is revealed through lived experiences and my family's stories. My story, like those of many other Indians, illustrates the effects of cultural genocide policies by the federal government. In the 1980s, I consciously chose a path to a fuller understanding of me as a Cherokee, my Cherokee family, and the Cherokee Nation. Throughout my childhood, my family and I identified ourselves as Cherokee. My children and I have always been Cherokee. Throughout my taken-for-granted Cherokee life, I was isolated from Cherokee culture through geography and my family's continued fear based on family stories. Although I was not raised around Cherokees, I discovered that my family and I lived an unconscious Cherokee culture that was woven closely and permanently into our lives. This study chronicles my identity journey through my story and the family stories. I used autoethnography as my tool that can be used alone or with other historical methods to bring attention to and justice for American Indians. I posit that the combination of autoethnography and rhetorical analysis of family stories handed down through generations is an effective use of qualitative methods.

An Investigation of Identity Using Collaborative Autobiography and Montage

Judith C. Lapadat

Marja Burrows

Anne Hill

Susan Greenlees

Jean Alexander

Naseeb Marcil

Lorna Nelson

Louise Ormerod

Debbie Rendell

Lisa Schmidt

Susan Viveiros

Cindy Sousa

Niels Hansen

University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, Canada

In this study, a group of eighteen counselors and educators examined the nature of self-identity as related to our professional roles and contributions to our communities. Our approach pioneered the use of collaborative autobiography, an autoethnographic approach to inquiry that involves writing autobiographical pieces and sharing them with the group. We employed qualitative data analysis software to conduct multiple thematic analyses of the set of autobiographical stories. Then we compared selected analyses for similarities and differences in our identity themes, and developed metaphors such as potluck, Etch-a-Sketch drawings, doing the laundry, and crystals bending light to characterize the deeper meanings of the data. In keeping with our analytic method, we co-wrote our paper as a polyvocal montage.

Therefore, in addition to providing an opportunity for counselors and helping professionals to reflect on the nature of identity and role, our study combines new approaches to qualitative inquiry: working with autoethnographic stories as a collaborative, using thematic analyses contrastively, and writing collaboratively via montage.

Conversations about God: Spirituality and Qualitative Research Approaches Not So Strange Bedfellows

Marie-Therese Proctor

School of Psychology and PASS Research Concentration University of Western Sydney Australian Centre for Studies in Spirituality The School of Spirituality, Australian College of Ministries Life-Limiting Conditions Project, Oncology Dept, The Children's Hospital at Westmead

Exploring the trans-discipline construct “attachment to God” (a variable with links to theology and psychology) to tap its experiential richness and depth presented some methodological challenges. This paper reviews predominately qualitative approaches were utilized to investigate the construct. Thirty-one predominately Christians ranging in age from 18 to 77 years participated in in-depth, semistructured interviews (God Attachment Interview Schedule (GAIS), responding to questions about their retrospective and current relationship with God.

Data analyses involved three phases. An initial a-theoretical thematic analysis approach helped identify general attachment themes within participants' broader relationship with God experiences. This established the prima facie validity of the construct. Stage two analyses included the development and application of a theoretically-derived classificatory (profiling) system, operationally defined as a set of coding templates. Stage two analyses provided support for hypothesized secure and insecure ‘attachment to God’ profile (relational) indicators. Thereafter, conversational discourse guidelines were developed and operationally defined, these forming phase three coding templates. These were used to assess the overall discourse coherency (or lack thereof) of each GAIS narrative transcripts. Data was managed using NVivo, a qualitative data management program (QSR International). Methodological challenges in working across disciplines, accessing qualitative training and experts, working in the absence of a qualitative supervisor and dealing with and interpreting the resulting output are among issues reviewed. While frustrating the thesis journey nevertheless ‘converted’ a previously quantitatively-oriented researcher to the merits of using qualitative approaches, especially in a conceptually rich area such as spirituality, religion and psychological health.

A New Approach of Making and Monitoring Public Regulation on Disease Awareness Communication (DAC)

Suntharee Chaisumritchoke

Chulalongkorn University, Bankok, Thailand

Disease Awareness Communication is a strategy of pharmaceutical companies to increase their pharmaceutical product sales through motivating patients or consumers' awareness to their health. The problems arise when patients' or consumers' awareness are excessive, which leads toward irrational use of medication, taking medication in spite of its unnecessary, ineffective, or possibly serious adverse effects. Therefore, the Food and Drug Administration of Thailand has a challenge to propose a new regulation to monitor activities on disease awareness communication promoting to public. In this paper the author proposes a new approach using to make and monitor public regulation which is based on collaboration of three parties—pharmaceutical industries and advertising agency, patient and consumer groups, and a government unit—instead of making and announcing the regulation by the only government unit as usual. There are three steps this time. First, the regulation in terms of guidance is drafted based on situations and problems emerged in everyday life. Then it is presented to all parties to collect comments and possibility to implement in terms of monitoring. Thus, after finalization of the regulation by the public procedures as the second step, the third step put forward involves inviting all parties to monitor activities promoting disease awareness communication toward to the right direction as stated. The findings are on the way of interpretation and conclusion; however, each meeting shows that the patients and consumers have increasingly learned to understand the real objectives of disease awareness communication organized by the pharmaceutical companies.

Constructions of Poverty in Alberta's Welfare-to-Work Policies: Exploring the Use of Critical Discourse Analysis in Policy Analysis

Hannah Goa

University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

Policies are developed to address policy problems. How we address these problems, however, depends largely on how we understand and construct them. How do we get at the underlying assumptions about these policy problems once the meetings are over and the policy is made? Using the poster format, I will demonstrate how critical discourse analysis (CDA) can be used to explicate underlying assumptions and constructions of poverty in Alberta Works welfare-to-work policies. Understanding power relations as socially and historically situated and as part of the discursively constructed reality, CDA as a methodology works to reveal the constructed nature of these power relations. Poverty has a long history of being understood, in part, as powerlessness—the pauper of the ninth century's foil was the potens, the powerful, and not the wealthy. In what ways do welfare-to-work policies construct welfare recipients as powerless? To what extent are dominant power relations entrenched or subverted in welfare-to-work policies? CDA is particularly applicable to the research questions at hand because of its nuanced understanding of language as constitutive and because of its methodical approach to textual analysis. Using a sample brochure published by Alberta Works and through the medium of a poster, I will explore the strengths and limitations of CDA as a methodology to explore constructions of poverty within Alberta's welfare-to-work policies.

“Dancing Is a Verb!”: A Sociophenomenological Narrative of the 2008 Canada Dance Festival

Chantale Lussier-Ley

Mariette Theberge

The University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada

The purpose of this study was to understand the significance of emotions and the body in the lived creative experiences of participants at the 2008 Canada Dance Festival. This participatory study was carried out using a confluence approach (Sternberg & Lubart, 1999), blending sociophenomenology with ethnographic methodologies. In this inquiry, I situated myself within the literature on aesthetic theories as understood by Dewey (1934) and Greene (1986; 1995), notions of embodiment as envisioned by Merleau-Ponty (1962), embodied understandings of emotions as voiced by Damasio (2001; 2004), and history, and culturally sensitive notions of art as reflected on by Vygotsky (1971). As Dewey suggested, creativity was examined as an experience, resulting from the fusion of sense perception, emotions, and meaning, providing the backbone of this study's conceptual framework.

By engaging in participant observation, collecting festival artifacts, attending live(d) dance performances, participating in post show Dance Dialogues, and interviewing dance artists and audiences alike, I was able to explore and understand what it was like to create in and through dance, what it felt like to participate in the 2008 Canada Dance Festival and what it ultimately meant to be participating cultural members of Canada's contemporary dance community.

Written and visual narrative will be used to explore the spaces-in-between what is unique to the individual and to the collective, the psychological and the social, the spoken and the embodied lived experiences. Preliminary analysis along with lessons from the field will be explored from a qualitative methodological perspective.

Developing Multimodal Participant-Controlled Qualitative Research

Jane Richardson

Janet Grime

Bie Nio Ong

Keele University, Staffordshire, United Kingdom

This presentation arises from ongoing research exploring the meaning of wellness and resilience for older people with osteoarthritis. The research aims to explore how and why some people describe themselves as healthy while also reporting musculoskeletal pain, and how this links to the concept of resilience. What does resilience mean for people who are not always “living with” the condition? Is it the notion of resilience that enables people to describe themselves as healthy, or is it something in the nature of the chronic condition itself? Previous work has linked the concept of resilience with transitions, which may be a useful model for some types of condition, but one which does not reflect the experience of living with uncertain and fluctuating chronic pain in which transitions may happen daily.

To fully explore these daily transitions, we have chosen a qualitative longitudinal approach, using multimodal participant-controlled methods: Participants initially take part in an in-depth interview, after which they are sent a monthly diary “prompt” sheet, asking them about changes in their daily life (home and work), relationships, health, pain, and disability. Participants can then choose whether to share their experiences in more detail, selecting from a list of possible methods with which to do so. These methods include face-to-face interview, telephone interview, e-mail conversation, writing (including diaries, poems), audio recording, photography, and art/craft work. The presentation will focus on the development of these methods from a researcher and participant point of view, and including practical and ethical issues.

Employment of Emotion as a Basis of Epistemology in Qualitative Research Endeavors

Jean Clarke

Dublin City University, Ireland

Ethnography is a dual process of both method and experience (Williams, 1993), though some writers contest this, noticeably Hammersley (1992), who questions the validity of experience over method. In this paper I will discuss how I engaged ethnography to direct my research activities toward the improvement of patient care in a hospital in Ethiopia. Although change was the focus of my work actions, the focus of my research activities involved developing an understanding of the reality of my experience, the experience of a breakdown in caring. The dual understanding of ethnographic inquiry did allow me to engage in a conversation with myself towards connecting and reconnecting with the everyday world of my experience in Ethiopia. I drew heavily on Jagger's (1989) debate on emotion as necessary to “reliable knowledge.” My engagement with the concept of emotion as a vehicle for knowing allowed me to generate problematics from my own experience, toward providing an account of “reality” rooted in an awareness of myself and my understanding of the researched, or what Gouldner (1971) describes as a “discreet obituary and celebration for some social system” (pp. 46–47).

Ethical and Research Issues in Interviews with Famous People and Their Family Members

Bosmat Shallom-Tuchin

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel¹

The lecture addresses ethical and research issues in a study titled “Combining Work and Family among High Achieving Women from Three Points of View: The Woman, her Husband and One Child.”¹ The research examines the factors that enabled women who are married and have children to obtain high positions, from their own and their families' points of view. Qualitative research is used, combining life stories with half-structured interviews. So far, 21 interviews have been conducted with high-achieving career women, their husbands and children (all above 18 years old). The women interviewed work in diverse fields: business, nonprofit organizations, academics, and politics.

The researcher faced a number of challenges: how to identify and then initiate contact with the women, how to interest them in participating in the study, how to preserve confidentiality between members of the same family, how to protect the anonymity of these famous women and their at times famous husbands while maintaining the authenticity of their personal accounts without compromising the integrity of the data, how to handle participants' time constraints; the use of a recording tool necessary for collecting data accurately, and the availability and readiness of the researcher to conduct interviews even on very short notice. Suggestions for overcoming these obstacles are presented in the lecture. In addition, the lecture presents a model of principles and values that could be used in future research.

Explicating the Experience of a Preverbal Client in Music Therapy

Helen Shoemark

Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia

The issue of privileged voice is exemplified in the investigation of interaction between therapist and client. An investigation of significant events in music therapy for the medically fragile newborn infant was not methodologically supported by prevailing methods in the literature which focus on interview. An emergent design respected the implicit privilege of the research process from intervention protocol through to interpretation of findings.

Raingruber's (2003) video-cued narrative review provided a basis to both promote the experience of the infant and illuminate the therapist's processes. Four experts analyzed the video footage of a significant event in music therapy with three infants and then engaged in a facilitated discussion with the therapist to clarify her experience of the interplay. With an awareness of privilege underpinning the process, the transcribed video analyses and discussions were analyzed to explicate previously glossed terminology (Denzin, 2001). Both articulated and inferred behaviors of infant and therapist (Morse, 2006) were used to build thick descriptions to engage the reader in the shared experience of music therapy with the medically fragile newborn infant. A thematic analysis of those thick descriptions provided markers of interplay between the music therapist and medically fragile newborn infant.

The inquiry promoted not only the voice of the participants but also the key elements of a therapy that elevates the role of the infant as an active partner in the process.

Exploring Students' Nonconsumption Practices

Emily Huddart Kennedy

University of Alberta

Consumer behavior is of great consequence to both environmental and social systems. Social scientists have explored consumption as an area of inquiry for decades: from Karl Marx's work on commodity fetishism and Thorstein Veblen's theory of competitive consumption to Mary Douglas's writings on identity construction and Jean Baudrillard's “consumer society.” Clearly, social inquiry has been extensive and diverse. However, much of the focus on consumption in sociological literature solely explores the role of consumption of goods and service; little research has explored nonconsumption. Using Garfinkel's ethnomethodological framework, I explore what Thomas Princen has termed nonconsumption practices. Nonconsumption incorporates actions and practices that satisfy wants and needs without involving purchase of material goods. I conducted in-depth interviews with a purposeful sample of students living in university residence. The findings demonstrate how nonconsumption is structured by and structures norms in student life. I discuss the implications of nonconsumption on quality of life.

Exploring Young Adults' Experiences of Life-Threatening Illness Using Participant-Employed Photography

Meridith Burles

University of Saskatchewan

Little research has focused on young adults' experiences of life-threatening illness, suggesting the suitability of exploratory approaches. Qualitative methods involving participant-employed photography (PEP) are thought to be useful in the investigation of under-researched topics because they give primacy to participants' experiences and generate data that otherwise goes un-accessed (Samuels, 2007). PEP provides participants with an active role in research and encourages the elicitation of new perspectives and explanations (Hurworth 2003). This poster will describe a study being carried out with young adults with life-threatening illnesses which seeks to understand the lived experience of illness during young adulthood. The study, drawing upon a phenomenological perspective, utilizes PEP and qualitative interviews in order to explore how meaning is given to illness by young adults. Participants are being provided with cameras and asked to take photographs that highlight significant aspects of their experiences of having a life-threatening illness. In-depth interviews are then being carried out, which give participants the opportunity to talk about their experiences and reflect on the photographs they have taken. The main focus of this poster will be on the benefits of using PEP in conjunction with qualitative interviews, as well as the limitations and ethical issues associated with the use of PEP in social research.

General Empirical Method: A New Way of Doing Qualitative Research

Russell Sawa

Hugo Meynell

Ian Winchester

Debbie Zembal

Robbi Motta

Nancy Doetzel

Santosh Dubey

University of Calgary

A new method of interdisciplinary qualitative research has been devised on the foundation of General Empirical Method. This method has been devised by Bernard Lonergan, a Canadian philosopher, and it is based on his cognitional theory. In his philosophy, knowing facts results from attention to all the pertinent data, intelligent derivations of hypotheses based on the questions which arise from the data, and a reasonable selection of the most likely hypothesis. As new questions arise, this process continues, leading to new hypotheses, with the eventual development of theory. This is, in effect, how science proceeds. Unlike natural science, this method is not restricted to sensible data, but uses human reason as its criterion. The method will be illustrated by a discussion of this research project, which uses it. The project has been undertaken by a multidisciplinary team from the University of Calgary and Mumbai, India. We ask, What is spirituality?’ How is it related to healing? We will illustrate how a theory of spirituality and health develops through this method. The study involves interviews of 25 spiritual healers from the entire spectrum of cultures and religions.

How Can We Tell?: Anonymity and Disclosure in Multimode Discourses

Diane McCarthy

Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology and University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

In this poster the author considers data-gathering and ethical challenges presented in a research project on the persistent problem of recruiting and retaining women from diverse sociocultural backgrounds into information and communication technologies (ICT).

The participants are located in two polytechnics, institutes of technology (ITPs), in the South Island of New Zealand/Aotearoa, some 225 miles apart. The participants are diverse, from first year to final year students in diploma and degree courses. Ages range from 19 to 60 years, and ethnicities include Ukrainian, Pakistani, Malay, and Japanese, from non-English speaking backgrounds. Some are parents, and they have a range of experiences of schooling and ongoing paid employment. The graduates are located in five different cities.

The challenge was to provide a cost-effective means by which these distributed and diverse participants could interact and discuss how they experience their training and work as ICT professionals in masculinized training settings and workplaces, and suggest future possible strategies, using a mixed method research design and a technofeminist poststructuralist framework.

In this poster the author considers the strengths and limitations of gathering data through face-to-face and telephone individual in-depth interviews, face-to-face focus group interviews, and online chat in Moodle. She examines the relative richness and depth of the discourses generated in these modes, in the light of ethical requirement from one ITP that participants could choose complete anonymity in the online setting; and the extent to which obscuring one's identity empowered disclosure or limited it, and the ways this affected the facilitation of the sessions and interaction with other participants.

Interviewing the Investigator: Strategies for Addressing Instrumentation and Researcher Bias Concerns in Qualitative Research

Ronald Chenail

Nova Southeastern University

Instrumentation rigor and bias management are major challenges for qualitative researchers employing interviewing as a data generation method in their studies. A usual procedure for testing the quality of an interview protocol and for identifying potential researcher biases is the pilot study in which investigators try out their proposed methods to see if the planned procedures perform as envisioned by the researcher. Sometimes piloting is not practical because researchers do not want to lose limited research participants and their valuable information to a pilot study database not used in the study proper or the researcher does not want to take up participants' valuable time with underdeveloped questions. In such cases an “interviewing the interviewer” technique can serve as a useful first step to create interview protocols that help to generate the information proposed and to assess potential researcher biases especially if the researcher has a strong affinity for the participants being studied or is a member of the population itself (e.g., nurses studying nurses). In the interviewing the interview approach the researcher assumes the role of a study participant and enlists a colleague to conduct the interview. The interview is recorded and the researcher reviews the contents to see what information was generated via the questions. The researcher can also use techniques such as journaling or interpersonal-process recall to examine thoughts and impressions that surfaced during the interview which might bias the analysis of the “real” interviews of the study. Examples and variations of the technique are shared.

Managing Qualitative Data in a Digital Age: Reflections on Framework as CAQDAS

Matt Barnard

William O'Connor

National Centre for Social Research

In this paper the author explores insights into managing qualitative data that have been gained through using the Framework software package. Framework was initially developed as a paper-based analytical tool in the 1980s, and this year has been released as computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS). The author will use as examples two studies that are among the first that employed the software as the project's main data management tool. The aim of the first study was to identify the factors that underpinned different drug treatment outcomes among chronic drug users in England. The aim of the second study is to understand the process of implementing a national program for promoting health through schools. The presenter will reflect on how using the software to manage data in these projects highlighted the importance of two elements of the Framework approach, first “chunking” (dividing data into smaller units) and, second, synthesis. The author will discuss how the nature of the information technology being used affects and interacts with these cognitive processes, and the differences and similarities between carrying them out using generic technology and the bespoke Framework software.

Mapping Participant Experiences: Techniques to Facilitate Participant Engagement in Qualitative Inquiry

E. Anne Marshall

Francis Guenette

University of Victoria

In-depth interviews are the mainstay of data collection in qualitative inquiry. A number of researchers have called for varied and creative approaches instead of or in addition to interviews to better reflect the multidimensional aspects of participants' experiences. Methods involving art, poetry, video, photographs, timelines, role playing, graphs, metaphors, writing, and mapping are examples. Several advantages to using these techniques have been identified. Most researchers report a greater level of participant interest and engagement, which, in turn, can result in richer and more extensive data. There is also much less emphasis on verbal language skills, which we have found to be of great benefit when working with children and adolescents, or with participants of varying language or cultural backgrounds. Because these types of techniques often involve a high degree of participant input, their use can facilitate truly co-constructed interpretations of participant experiences. In this paper, we describe several mapping techniques that can be used in data collection, analysis, and dissemination. These include conceptual mapping, thematic depictions, historical timelines, story maps, photo maps, and possible selves maps. Specific examples from several of our qualitative studies with Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal participants will be used to illustrate the mapping elements and processes. Success with mapping techniques has inspired our research team to incorporate them into all our research projects.

Measuring Validity: An Introduction to the Coding Analysis Toolkit

Stuart Shulman

University of Pittsburgh

Tools for reviewing, coding, and retrieving text found in qualitative data analysis packages carry with them no particular attributes for ensuring the reliability or validity of the recorded observations. It is preferable to speak of the reliability or validity of the results from a particular set of observations, rather than of the tool itself, the coding system, or its developers. The Qualitative Data Analysis Program (QDAP) lab at the University of Pittsburgh uses a suite of custom-built Web-based tools formally known as the Coding Analysis Toolkit (CAT). CAT enables the project manager to measure coder reliability on the fly during pioneer pretests. CAT's core functionality allows for the adjudication of coded items by an “expert” user (or users). The system keeps track of which instances of a particular code are scored valid and which coders assigned those codes. This information provides a track record of coders for assessing coder validity over time. It also allows the account holder to see a rank order list of the coders most likely to produce valid observations, report the overall validity scores by code, coder, or entire project, and end up with a “clean” dataset consisting of only valid observations. This presentation will demonstrate the ways in which the CAT is used in a variety of multidisciplinary research projects.

Methodologically Impure but Analytically Fertile: Walking a Dialogic Line between Theory and Method

Stacy Carter

University of Sydney

Kathleen Montgomery

University of California, Riverside

Miles Little

The University of Sydney

In this presentation I will lay out the messy praxis of a qualitative study. My story will particularly attend to the theory-method relationship. This relationship can be effectively mediated by methodological tradition (Carter & Little, 2007). However, the study discussed here, of autologous stem cell transplantation used to treat relapsed or refractory lymphoma, was not designed along traditional methodological lines. When I joined it as analyst, 69 detailed interviews had been created over 32 months with ten patients and their lay carers. We transformed these 69 long interviews into theoretical models using coding strategies shaped by pragmatism and interactionism, recent microsociological theories of agency, and actor-network theory. In so doing we conceptualized the situation as a dynamic network of twelve actants (sometimes acting together, sometimes becoming one another's objects) in four locations: the health system, patients' everyday worlds, patients' and carers' selves, and patients' bodies. We were thus able to progress theories of agency in relation to illness experience, sociology and bioethics. Formal methodological tradition can make a study stronger, iteratively influencing objectives, research questions, and study design, connecting it to theory and discipline, and guiding method. However, in this messy research story, a reflexive, recursive dialogue between extant theory and interview data had its own analytic fertility which may have arisen, in part, from its methodological “impurity.”

Mixed Method Research: Questionnaire, In-Depth Interview, and Telephonic Focus Group Discussion

Jeanne Madison

University of New England

Seventeen (of 300) registered nurse (RN) questionnaire participants had sufficient interest or experience to volunteer for in-depth interviews regarding sexual harassment in the Australian health care workplace. This mixed method approach to the issues concluded with a 2-hour telephonic focus group discussion of available interview participants to confirm the research findings and conclusions.

The telephonic focus group approach had unexpected and significant strengths. With relatively low population numbers in Australia, anonymity was important. For the purposes of the telephonic focus group, participants were identified only as RNs; location, specialty and other identifying characteristics were not available to the other participants. Body language was lost; however, anonymity was protected because participants were “invisible.” The organizing telephone conference company recorded the discussion for a nominal fee. Access, convenience, and cost were big and positive factors in this method of data gathering. A robust, confirmatory triangulation of findings occurred.

Since publication of this research sexual harassment has a greatly diminished capacity to provoke researchers and research interest. Pervasive research and media interest ostensibly has either worked to reduce sexual harassment in the workplace or forced it further from view. By revisiting the original 17 participants (after a significant lapse of time), through telephonic focus group discussion, I will explore how sexual harassment may have evolved over time into other equally difficult to document negative workplace behaviors, such as discrimination, intimidation, and bullying. The third research strategy, telephonic focus group discussion, with experience-based modifications, will be the method of choice and focus of this paper.

Mixed Methods: Subverting the “Qualitative Handmaiden's” Role

Rosaline Barbour

University of Dundee

In this presentation the author explores the role of exploratory quantitative research as a precursor to designing qualitative studies. Although qualitative methods (especially focus groups) are frequently used during the development phase of quantitative studies, qualitative researchers have been relatively slow to harness quantitative methods in a similar way. Indeed, at times, some qualitative researchers employ a version of ‘grounded theory’ that they use to try to absolve themselves from reading previous quantitative papers. It is argued that much is to be gained through carrying out preparatory or scoping quantitative work, particularly when researching topics where little research has so far been carried out. The main advantage is the potential to develop more relevant and sophisticated sampling strategies, allowing us to “power” our studies to carry out more rigorous comparative analysis. Examples are provided of current and recently completed work, including the use of a large database to define parameters in relation to postpartum psychiatric illness and, thereby, to inform design of an interview study.

“On the Outside Looking In”: Reflections on Working with Vulnerable Populations and with Challenging Topics

Marie-Therese Proctor

School of Psychology and PASS Research Concentration, University of Western Sydney Australian Centre for Studies in Spirituality

The School of Spirituality, Australian College of Ministries Life-Limiting Conditions Project, Oncology Dept, The Children's Hospital at Westmead

Undertaking qualitative research within vulnerable populations presents challenges and opportunities for exploring how to sensitively gather information ethically, effectively, and responsibly. It affords remarkable opportunities to explore/examine sensitive, difficult and emotive human experiences in situ, akin to opening a window to let the sun shine into a darken room. This “illuminating” process can significantly aid health care professionals working with vulnerable persons. Dealing with sensitive topics has its own challenges. Combining a vulnerable population and a sensitive topic requires the researcher demonstrate patience, compassion, a capacity to connect with another inside their story and an underlying willingness to sit with their and sometimes one's own discomfort.

This paper is a review of one researcher's journey, presented in first person and from the perspective of one who has personally gathered narratives from families caring for children and adolescents with life-limiting conditions, including the ill child/adolescent, families of young people with chronic fatigue, and Christian adults' narrative accounts of their relationship with God. As a parent (with a deceased child and two disability-affected children) whose personal life has been lived on the “inside looking out,” now a psychologist-qualitative researcher “outside looking in,” in the paper I document a range of challenges faced in working with both vulnerable people and emotively topics. Decisions associated with “interpreting and implementing” project objectives and ethics, supporting families/individuals throughout the research process whilst caring for the self as interviewer, and benefits of being the interviewer with respect to the data analysis process are among issues discussed. Memorable moments and lessons learned are also noted.

Phenomenology as Both an Epistemological and Methodological Approach to the Study of the Lived Experience of Lesbian Women of Irish Health Care

Mel Duffy

Dublin City University

This paper is set against a study which investigated lesbian women's experience of Irish health care both as service users and as service providers in their capacity as nurses. The epistemological and methodological framework used for the study derived from hermeneutical phenomenology using Heidegger and Sartre. Heidegger's (1962) concern with being in the world, offered a theoretical framework whereby lesbian women are constructed in the research as active participants in the world, creating understanding and meaning to their existence. Sartre (1969) offers us a lens through which we can examine how lesbian women experience the self. It is this capturing of life as it is lived, that frames the articulation of understanding and meanings that lesbian women derive from the situations they find themselves in, in this case health care. The ways in which interpretative phenomenology shaped and framed the study will be investigated in this paper. Specifically, the process of analyzing the data will be described to illustrate how a hermeneutical phenomenological study can be useful in seeking an understanding (thinking about thinking) of the lived experience of a minority group that has hitherto remained hidden.

Picture the Process! Becoming a Qualitative Researcher through Photovoice

Rita Hamoline

Roanne Thomas-MacLean

Kara Schell

Alana Ferguson

Jennifer Shea

University of Saskatchewan

The aim of this presentation is to highlight the symbiotic potential of innovative teaching techniques to enhance not only the learning experience for students but also to increase of sense satisfaction and accomplishment for instructors. Graduate students enrolled in an advanced qualitative methodology course of a mid-sized university in western Canada engaged with photovoice as part of the course requirements. This assignment led to the explorations of the multilayered experiences of being a student, researcher, participant, data analyst, and knowledge disseminator. Students “learned to see” by using photographs as knowledge creation and dissemination tools. The class instructor was able to “witness” the strides that students made in completion of this assignment and gained insight into the learning process itself. Using photovoice as a tool allowed students to acquire a depth of understanding regarding research ethics and protocol, the demands and rewards that participants face when asked to share personal information via a qualitative format, and the challenges of presenting a polished version of their work to an audience. In short, students began to identify themselves as qualitative researchers. The learning process had the unexpected benefit of enhancing instructor fulfillment as well, but the most beneficial aspect of the Photovoice assignment for both students and instructor was an increased collegial connection that transcended the traditional limitations of those roles to become co-producers of knowledge and experience.

Public Involvement in Decision-Making Processes: Innovative Methods for Promoting Informed Deliberative Debate

Cindy Jardine

University of Alberta

The need for effective public participation in decision making and policy development is well supported in the literature and within deliberative democratic theory. However, there is still some skepticism about the utility of public participation processes in practice. The public are frequently frustrated by either limited opportunities for participation or processes in which their input is ultimately ignored in decision making. Institutional decision makers are equally frustrated by processes that seem to be dominated by the “squeaky wheels” and remain skeptical about the capacity of the public to participate meaningfully in complex policy matters. In recent years, several innovative methods have been developed to overcome these concerns by promoting informed deliberative debates on specific issues. These include methods such as citizen juries, consensus conferences, scenario workshops, deliberative polls, and citizens' dialogues. Applications of these methods, and their strengths and weaknesses, are discussed. The key conditions for successful public consultation and public participation are also outlined.

Reducing Health Inequities for Aboriginal Women Leaving Intimate Partner Violence

Donna Hill

Vicki Smye

Colleen Varcoe

Denielle Elliott

University of British Columbia

Background and purpose/objectives. Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pressing issue facing Aboriginal people in Canada today (Lane et al., 2003; LaRocque, 1994). Rates of spousal violence are higher against Aboriginal women than Aboriginal men or non-Aboriginal people (Statistics Canada, 2006). Given the sociocultural, historical, political, and economic context of Aboriginal health and well-being, understanding the notion of “leaving” from the perspectives of Aboriginal women who are in the process of leaving and/or who have left IPV is critical to the development and redesign of accessible, culturally safe, health and social services, and supports. Therefore, the purpose of the study being discussed is to explore Aboriginal women's experiences of “leaving” intimate partner violence to inform an understanding of what constitutes appropriate, safe health and social services and support for Aboriginal women and families (CIHR funded, 2007–2010).

Methods. A qualitative design that uses ethnographic methods of in-depth individual and focus group interviews, photovoice, and naturalistic observation is being conducted. Study participants are primarily Aboriginal women who have left intimate partner violence, providers working in those agencies and a small sample of Aboriginal men.

Findings for research and policy. In this paper, we present an overview of this study and discuss our experience working in partnership (Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal researchers and Aboriginal community members) to enact research that draws attention to health inequities and is effective in shifting the status quo. We draw on preliminary insights from data collected in the first phase of this study to explore the policies and practices that place constraints on women's choices about leaving, and their access to needed services.

Te Whakamâramatanga: Developing a Midwifery Research Model in Aotearoa, New Zealand

Christine Kenney

Massey University

Partnership is integral to midwifery practice within Aotearoa, New Zealand. Professional ethics and legal competencies require that such partnerships be characterized by continuity, equality, shared responsibility and decision making, and mutual respect and trust. New Zealand is culturally and legislatively a bicultural environment and the cultural safety of MāBori (indigenous peoples) are prioritized. MāBori, women, and midwives share an oral culture that values narratives as facilitating the constitution of identities, creation and transmission of knowledge, and the development of social relationships. I have developed a qualitative research methodology that draws on narrative research theory, kaupapa MāBori research methodologies, and midwifery philosophies and theoretical concepts. This methodology/method was trialed within the field of miscarriage; a significant practice issue for midwives in New Zealand. Research participants were recruited via word of mouth and snowballing. Women's and midwives' stories were shared using a dialogical approach to interviewing, which recognized the co-construction and exploration of knowledge. Ethical tenets associated with researching indigenous and/or vulnerable populations resulted in extensive, ongoing consultation with MāBori, midwifery, and local communities. The research analysis has drawn on the narrative analysis concepts of Margaret Somers and Arthur Frank, and the kaupapa research concepts of whakapapa (continuity) and whakawhanaungatanga (developing relationships). Thematic, conversational, and whole narrative analyses have been developed that draw on the theories of Pierre Bourdieu, Bruno Latour, Paul Ricouer, and Rom Harré. My development of a multicultural midwifery research methodology informed by multidisciplinary theoretical approaches is innovative for midwifery research and theory, and potentially other health disciplines.

“The Book Enters the Core of My Life”: Artifact as Storytelling Medium for Meaning Construction

Li-Chuan Kao

Taipei Physical Education College

Artifact can take varied of information and manifest itself as research evidence in qualitative empirical studies, its concrete, interpretative, and contextualized, yet attainable, concept provides with a well-grounded symbol for metaphoric structure. The richness of its interpreted nature with regard to material culture helps generate narratives that are not only the way individuals understand their experiences and identities but also the ways they construct meanings for ongoing life. Artifacts can be objects remaining from a historical period, but artifact also refers to something characteristic of human institution, period, trend, or individual. This study was aimed to explore how narrative meanings were constructed via using individual artifacts. There were 20 artifact narratives collected in the qualitative research classes at an urban college in Taipei, Taiwan, during 2007 and 2008. Using artifacts belonging to them, 20 graduate students majoring in dance, sport science, or sport pedagogy were asked to tell stories about themselves. On obtaining their consents, these narratives were audiotaped, transcribed fully, and member-checked. Through the researcher's use of narrative analysis, the findings showed that the artifact usage worked well as way of self-narrative telling, a facilitator of communication, and a medium of meaning construction.

The Evocative Power of Projective Techniques for the Elicitation of Meaning

Guendalina Graffigna

International Institute for Qualitative Methodology

Caroline Porr

University of Alberta

Maria Mayan

Edgar Ramos Vieira

Sarah Wall

International Institute for Qualitative Methodology

A unique investigative approach was undertaken by pre- and postdoctoral students and their mentor to explore their experiences as participants in a qualitative research training program called EQUIPP (Enhancing Qualitative Understanding of Illness Processes and Prevention). The students from diverse backgrounds in health and social sciences (rehabilitation medicine, sociology, public health nursing, psychology, and organizational studies) employed projective techniques from marketing research to metaphorically capture their learning experiences. The meaning of engaging in qualitative research training was embedded in images and metaphors such as: puzzle, jungle, diamond, and explorer, which were subsequently consolidated thematically and then portrayed symbolically by a newly constructed logo with the assistance of a professional graphic designer. Projective techniques proved to be a powerful, evocative tool in terms of eliciting meaning and translating concrete experiences into visual discourse. The objectives of this presentation are to discuss (a) how the projective techniques were operationalized within the investigative process, (b) reflections related to participant reactions to the use of metaphor for meaning-making, and (c) the import, advantages and implications of projective techniques for qualitative methodology.

The Reality of Using Focus Groups in Research with Vulnerable Populations

Nicole Snow

Centre for Nursing Studies

Once primarily used in product marketing, focus groups are widely utilized in health and social research to explore various phenomena with diverse groups. In this presentation the author will discuss the strengths and challenges of using focus groups with vulnerable populations. These considerations will be exemplified through the presenter's experiences in conducting a qualitative study that explored the realities of single mothers who were full-time university students. As the author was designing this study, the literature supported the advantageous nature of collecting data through focus groups. They have the potential to facilitate simultaneous discussion of various participants' perceptions and feelings, thus allowing for the collection of rich data (Thornton, 1996). Although this open discussion and meaningful understanding were achieved, many practical challenges were encountered. The goal is not to deter the use of focus groups with vulnerable populations; on the contrary, this presentation will highlight their usefulness. However, there is a need for researchers to be well prepared and thoughtfully consider these challenges and how to cope effectively with them before engaging in focus group research

Transformative Phenomenology: A Methodological Pathway for Scholar-Practitioners

David Rehorick

University of New Brunswick & Fielding Graduate University

Valerie Bentz

Fielding Graduate University

The conception transformative phenomenology springs from our extensive and long-term teaching and research experiences with phenomenology and hermeneutics under the qualitative research methodology umbrella. We ask what methodological mix attracts and sustains the interest and commitment of practitioners who return to scholarly pursuits and mid-career research toward the Ph.D. We show how the thought of Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Alfred Schutz, and Hans-Georg Gadamer has captured the interest of new learners.

In this presentation, we display how a special blend of phenomenological scholarship engages practitioners in a way that leads to personal and professional transformation. Our conceptual commentary is illustrated through examples drawn from thematic topics such as illness and personal trauma, changing corporate lifeworlds, acknowledging cultural identity shifts, helping artists to work better, and the experience of magic moments in jazz improvisation.

Using Occupational-Life Event Calendars to Obtain Historical Data on Employment

Lorna Porcellato

Liverpool John Moores University

Fiona Carmichael

University of Birmingham

Claire Hulme

University of Leeds, Leeds Institute of Health Sciences

Barbara Ingham

Arvin Prashar

University of Salford

We report on the use of occupational-life event calendars in conjunction with semistructured interviews with 56 people between the ages of 50 and 68 years. The research was undertaken to further understanding of the relationship between age and employment and the constraints faced by older people in the U.K. labor market. Occupational-life event calendars were used to collect retrospective information about previous employment experiences and enable a comparison of perceptions relating to past and present labor markets.

Retrospective methods of data collection are often criticized for lack of reliability and recall bias. In this research, the calendar provided both visual cues and historical markers to facilitate the recollection of occupational history in a sequential manner. Significant life event data including personal and demographic information were initially recorded using relevant markers. Work histories on a job-by-job basis were subsequently recorded in reverse order from present day to first-ever job. Participants were then asked a series of additional open ended questions about their experiences in the labor market, the influences on their participation over time, and their views on current anti–age discrimination policy.

The use of occupational calendars was found to aid recall and facilitated the collation of detailed employment histories. The process of working back in time also provided respondents with opportunities for reflection, enabling them to open up and discuss their perceptions regarding age and employment in ways that we had not expected.

Visual Arts and Adults with Developmental Disabilities in the Community

Sara Lige

University of British Columbia Okanagan

This case study concerns “visual arts and adults with developmental disabilities in the community” from an interdisciplinary viewpoint (social sciences, fine arts, and critical studies), and comes out of my experience as both an artist and a parent of an adult son with a developmental disability. From a perspective of emancipatory research informed by poststructuralism, feminism, and critical theory, this project will add to the minimal amount of literature addressing developmental disabilities and the arts, other than from a therapeutic point of view. Research goals are to empower artists with developmental disabilities by validating their art-making experience and to provide accessible information to disability groups, the arts community and the public. Data collection will start in September 2008 and will include videotaping artists engaging in the art-making process as well as participant observation. The videotapes will be then be viewed in unstructured interviews to stimulate discussion and elicit response from the participants. The experience of the artists' art-making process is the text in this project; the finished artwork itself will not be examined. Dissemination is crucial to this project and includes an art exhibition with an accompanying exhibition catalogue, informative signage at the exhibition, and an edited video containing documentation of the research process and information concerning disability arts. All content in this process will be accessible and in “plain language.” This dissemination will situate the artists as authentic members of the greater arts community, serve to educate the public, and give voice to people with developmental disabilities.

Duoethnography and its Advances

Joe Norris

Duoethnography is a research genre in which two or more researchers working in tandem critically juxtapose stories from their lives in relation to a similar phenomenon creating a process of interrogation of personal critical sites or socially relevant issues. Early studies that pioneered the field assisted in the definition of the method and an articulation of its basic tenets. Two researchers wrote in dialogue, with each voice distinct, as in a play script and the team were adults. This session will first define the early stages of duoethnography and then present some variations of method that extend the genre.

Duoethnographies of Social Justice

Joe Norris

St. Francis Xavier University

Prejudice, sexism, bullying and other unjust exclusionary or violent acts against another are learned behaviors and attitudes. In keeping with Denzin's recommendation that qualitative researcher recognize the political dimensions of their work, these duoethnographic studies make social justice their overarching theme. In a forum of critical self-reflection, the researchers examine how their environments first taught them some of these negative characteristics and then how they relearned to transcend them. Through conversations the researchers highlight the implicit ways social values are imparted and the difficulties of relearning. Collectively the presentations reinscribe their stories as they reconceptualize their stances.

Post-Colonial Education: Duoethnography as an Act of Decolonization

Rick Sawyer

Tonda Liggett

Washington State University Vancouver

In this paper, the critically reflect on their own educational histories, both as students and teachers, in order to construct and deconstruct their socialization into colonial teaching perspectives in language arts. In a critical dialogic relationship with each other, they share and contrast educational incidents that have contributed to their notions of colonization. In so doing, they analyze the insights that have emerged from their dialogic interactions, which reveal a dynamic, layered, critical, and ultimately democratic form of self-understanding, not only in their relation to each other but also in the ways they conceptualize diversity and connect it to their teaching. Through their dialogue, the discover that the insidious and complex layers that have constructed their colonizing underpinnings are deeper than they had imagined.

Duoethnography in the Curriculum

Joe Norris

St. Francis Xavier University

Although duoethnography considers all life's lessons as an informal curriculum, its lens can be turn on schooling examining how people have cognitively, affectively, and physically learned a concept and or subject. By tracing the differences of two or more people, learning differences can be made explicit and assumptions about teaching and learning interrogated. These three studies examine not only what and how we have come to know, but also the null and hidden curriculums within the learning. The political dimension of schooling cannot be ignored when one looks at her/his educational history. Through the writing of prose, poetry, and fiction, the curriculums of mathematics, writing and the hidden curriculum will be conveyed.

The Curriculum of Writing

Joe Norris

St. Francis Xavier University

Jim Greenlaw

University of Ontario Institute of Technology

While writing plays a major role in the lives of academics, not all come to it readily. These two professors examine their writing histories within and outside the classroom, integrating the internal and external factors the call a person to write. For one, writing was an external demand. He wrote for others and considered writing a chore. Only when he found a source of inspiration did writing become a pleasure. The other grew up in a storytelling environment, and documenting his grandfather's stories was one of his outside of school writing experiences. While different histories both believe that the ability to beckon the muse is vital to the writing process.

As former English teachers and now teacher educators, they also examine their own teaching practices, questioning the past and projecting to the future as a result of the insights gleaned from the study. Extending the research tradition of proposing future studies they propose future practices, making duoethnography a genre of praxis.

Research Positioning Turned Inside-Out: A Poststructural Approach to Researching as an “Insider”

Mary Kjorven

Rachelle Hole

Kathy Rush

University of British Columbia Okanagan

Concerns that insiders are inherently biased, that they are too close to the culture to ask critical questions, and that participant/researcher relationships are problematized have historically been argued regarding “insiders” conducting research within their own culture. On the other hand, being an insider may mean easy access to the population of study, reflexivity to ask more meaningful questions and read nonverbal cues, and, most important, the opportunity to project a more rich, truthful, and authentic understanding of the field of study. A poststructural approach to research suggests that instead of positioning researchers in the positivist paradigm as “insiders” or “outsiders,” researchers should be positioned in terms of shifting identifications amid a tapestry of interwoven communities and relations of power. This paper focuses on the dialectic experience of positioning self as researcher within the nursing culture and practice of caring for patients with postoperative delirium (POD). As a Clinical Nurse Educator engaged in the study of delirium and recognized as an expert, conducting research within the facility of practice was bound to raise issues including initiation, benefit, representation, legitimacy, and accountability. Using a Foucauldian lens, the framework for this study was constructed drawing on aspects of poststructuralism/postmodernism, feminism, and critical discourse analysis. From this perspective, issues regarding the positioning of the researcher were turned “inside-out” during the planning and process of the study in order to illuminate great systems, good theories, and vital truths.

An Exploration to the Psychological Adaptation for Taiwan's Hurdle Athletes before Games

I-Ting Yeh

Li-Chuan Kao

Suh-Jun Tai

Taipei Physical Education College

In Taiwan there are generally two types of athletes called “practicing” and “competing” ones. The major differentiation on these two lies in their psychological status on the sport performance. Therefore, the psychological adaptation for athletes before games plays the key role in athletes' best performances. This qualitative case study aimed to explore the psychological adaptation of Taiwan's college hurdle athletes in the preparation for the 2008 National Intercollegiate Athletic Games. Four male, three female hurdle athletes, and one male, two female coaches were chosen as the research participants from three different locations in Taiwan. The data were collected from March 27 to May 15, 2008, mainly via everyday online communication systems. Additionally, 1–2 in-depth open-ended interviews for each participant, and training/competition observation were also applied to have a comprehensive understanding towards hurdle athletes' psychological adaptation before games. The validity of the analysis result is verified through the methods of member check, peer examination, and crystallizations. By using narrative analysis, the initial results showed three metaphors: calm sea, spring, and flowing river. The sea metaphor means those who could overcome the negative psychological status, like “competing” athletes. The spring implies the athletes whose psychological statuses were obviously different before games, and concentrated more on training. The last metaphor, river, indicates athletes who did not easy overcome the negative psychological status, and often were affected by the external business.