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The Qualitative Report An online journal dedicated to qualitative research since 1990 Volume 12 Number 2 June 2007 http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR12-2/index.html |
| Ronald J.
Chenail, Ph.D., Sally St. George, Ph.D., Dan Wulff, Ph.D., Maureen
Duffy, Ph.D., and Laurie L. Charles, Ph.D., Editors ISSN 1052-0147 |
A Hierarchy of Medicine: Health Strategies of Elder Khmer
Refugees in the United States (pp. 146-165)
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Denise C. Lewis
Abstract: This study addresses ways Khmer refugee elders utilize traditional herbal medicine with Western biomedicine in the treatment and prevention of illnesses. Methods include semi-structured and informal interviews with elders and family members, semi-structured interviews with local health care providers and Khmer physicians, and participant observation of everyday life and actions specific to health beliefs and behaviors. Data reveal a reliance on traditional medical ideology for understanding and treating illnesses. Utilizing a traditional ideology, Khmer elders rely heavily on traditional treatments and use Western biomedicine as supplements or adjuncts to traditional preventive and curative practices. This research has important implications for health care providers who treat SEA elders, especially for diet and treatment of chronic illnesses often associated with aging populations. Key Words: Aging, Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Diabetes, Hypertension, and Southeast Asian
Two Autoethnographies: A Search for Understanding of
Gender and Age (pp. 166-183)
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JoAnn Franklin Klinker and Reese H. Todd
Abstract: The authors describe a project that illustrates the use of autoethnography as a research methodology to better understand their decisions to become professors. Strangers to one another, both authors discovered common motivations to make mid-life changes in opposition to cultural expectations. A review of the literature on epidemic theory, creativity, the womens movement, role change, and life stage theory offer insight into the experiences that motivated them to reject their traditional cultural roles. Both also found a shared unwillingness to accept invisibility, a common aspect of life for women over 40. Key Words: Autoethnography, Mid-life Changes, Feminism, Ageism, Creativity, and Epidemic Theory
Mixing Research Methods in Health Professional Degrees:
Thoughts for Undergraduate Students and Supervisors (pp.
184-192)
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Sophie Anaf and Lorraine A Sheppard
Abstract: This commentary considers some of the challenges of applying mixed methods research in undergraduate research degrees, especially in professions with a clinical health focus. Our experience in physiotherapy academia is used as an example. Mixed methods research is increasingly appreciated in its own right as a third paradigm, however the success of educating novice researchers in mixing methods requires reflection on a range of theoretical and practical issues. We explore some of the under-reported features of mixed methods on a theoretical level, including the use of terminology, and the challenge of research labels, and on a practical level, the benefits of including mixing methods in clinical research and the issue of appropriate examination. Key Words: Mixed Methods, Student Research, and Qualitative and Quantitative
Implementing a Critically Quasi-Ethnographic Approach
(pp. 193-215)
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Lisa Murtagh
Abstract: This paper provides an account of the methodological approach of a study designed to address some fundamental questions relating to formative assessment. The paper reports on the use of a critically quasi-ethnographic approach and describes the practicalities of adopting such an approach. The validity of the study is also considered, reflecting on Tricoglus (2001) protocol for practitioner research in education. Key Words: Qualitative Research, Ethnography, Critical Research, Research as Praxis
First-Year Teachers and Induction Support: Ups, Downs,
and In-Betweens (pp. 216-237)
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Sara Winstead Fry
Abstract: Novice teachers often struggle during the transition from being students of teaching to teachers of students: Consequently, high attrition rates characterize the first 3 years of teaching, underscoring a need to provide better support for beginning teachers. This investigation sought to answer the following question: How are 1st-year teachers supported during induction and how do they respond to this support? Four 1st-year elementary teachers participated in a year-long case-study investigation: Primary form of data collection was monthly semi-structured phone interviews. Participants faced similar challenges, while adjusting to their new profession, but received varied, often inadequate, forms of support during their 1st year. The results suggest that rather than identifying the prevalence of induction support, future research should endeavor to assess program quality and guide educators in the provision of valuable induction for new teachers. Key Words: Induction, Beginning Teachers, and Case Study
Sampling Designs in Qualitative Research: Making the
Sampling Process More Public (pp. 238-254)
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Anthony J. Onwuegbuzie and Nancy L. Leech
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to provide a typology of sampling designs for qualitative researchers. We introduce the following sampling strategies: (a) parallel sampling designs, which represent a body of sampling strategies that facilitate credible comparisons of two or more different subgroups that are extracted from the same levels of study; (b) nested sampling designs, which are sampling strategies that facilitate credible comparisons of two or more members of the same subgroup, wherein one or more members of the subgroup represent a sub-sample of the full sample; and (c) multilevel sampling designs, which represent sampling strategies that facilitate credible comparisons of two or more subgroups that are extracted from different levels of study. Key Words: Qualitative Research, Sampling Designs, Random Sampling, Purposive Sampling, and Sample Size
Reconciling Dichotomous Demands: Telemarketing Agents in
Bangalore and Mumbai, India (pp. 255-280)
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Ernesto Noronha and Premilla D'Cruz
Abstract: Though outsourcing has created enormous employment potential in Indias information technology enabled services/business process outsourcing (ITES/BPO) sector, the implications for employees remain to be understood. The present paper describes employee experiences in telemarketing outbound call centers in Bangalore and Mumbai, India. Following van Manens (1998) hermeneutic phenomenological approach, data were collected through unstructured conversational interviews with 18 telemarketing agents identified via snowball sampling and were subject to holistic and sententious thematic analyses. Reconciling dichotomous experiences at work was the label used to capture participants core experiences and indicated that while participants simultaneous positive and negative experiences contributed to a sense of concomitant stress and well-being, they employed various strategies to maintain a balance between positive experiences/well-being and negative experiences/stress. Key Words: Stress, Well-Being, Telemarketing, Call Centers, and India
A Typology of Mixed Methods Sampling Designs in Social
Science Research (pp. 281-316)
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Anthony J. Onwuegbuzie and Kathleen M. T. Collins
Abstract: This paper provides a framework for developing sampling designs in mixed methods research. First, we present sampling schemes that have been associated with quantitative and qualitative research. Second, we discuss sample size considerations and provide sample size recommendations for each of the major research designs for quantitative and qualitative approaches. Third, we provide a sampling design typology and we demonstrate how sampling designs can be classified according to time orientation of the components and relationship of the qualitative and quantitative sample. Fourth, we present four major crises to mixed methods research and indicate how each crisis may be used to guide sampling design considerations. Finally, we emphasize how sampling design impacts the extent to which researchers can generalize their findings. Key Words: Sampling Schemes, Qualitative Research, Generalization, Parallel Sampling Designs, Pairwise Sampling Designs, Subgroup Sampling Designs, Nested Sampling Designs, and Multilevel Sampling Designs
Research, Narrative and Fiction: Conference Story (pp.
317-330)
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Jonathan Wyatt
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to contribute to the discussion concerning the value and validity of fiction, and arts-based approaches more broadly, as research. I offer this contribution through a narrative: Conference Story. The narrative involves its characters, in an Oxford pub, debating the merits and otherwise of Peter Cloughs (2002) book, Narratives and Fictions in Educational Research. The form, fictional narrative, performs and personifies this discussion. The article considers Cloughs purposes in undertaking and presenting his research in this form, the philosophical position(s) that underpin(s) it, the extent to which his narratives are indeed research, and how such research might be judged. Key Words: Fiction, Narrative, Arts-Based Research, Performance, Paradigm, and Criteria
Action Research as a Qualitative Research Approach in
Inter-Professional Education: The QUIPPED Approach (pp.
331-343)
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Margo Paterson, Jennifer M Medves, Christine Chapman, Sarita Verma, Teresa Broers, and Cori Schroder
Abstract: The Canadian government supports the transformation of education for health care providers based on the recognized need for an inter-professional collaborative approach to care. This first paper in a series of papers demonstrates the credibility of an action research approach for the promotion and understanding of inter-professional education (IPE). Located in the critical paradigm, this action research project is concerned with creating an educational environment that enhances the ability of learners and educators to provide patient-centred care through inter-professional collaboration. The QUIPPED project has invited various stakeholders (faculty and learners from various disciplines, consumers of health care, university administration and clinicians) to participate in the collaborative transformation of the educational culture and the co-creation of a shared knowledge for IPE. Key Words: Inter-Professional Education, and Action Research
