Fusing Approaches in Educational Research: Data Collection and Data Analysis in Phenomenological Research

One of the aims of human sciences seek to understand the essences and meanings of human experiences by focusing on philosophical, epistemological, methodological, and linguistic principles through transcendental phenomenology and hermeneutics, two philosophies and research methodologies central to qualitative research. Therefore, fusing approaches provides a space where both epistemology and methodology within both traditions can merge to yield meaning and understanding, and at the same time, offer a new approach to dealing with data collection and data analysis without neglecting or distorting original leading concepts. Fusing approaches comes into being as the merging of overlapping and deferring epistemological, methodological, and rhetorical assumptions that a researcher brings into play and actually puts into practice sustaining a purposeful and explicit sense of neutrality to assure methodological trustworthiness. Moved by my sensitivity to lived experience, in this paper, I explicate in a step-by-step fashion the combination of Moustakas’ modification of Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen method of phenomenological analysis and Van Manen’s (1990) hermeneutic approach to phenomenology in data collection and analysis. In fusing approaches, I encourage researchers to generate knowledge and show understanding emanated from both transcendental phenomenology and hermeneutics sustaining a deep sense of neutrality, co-creation, thoughtfulness, and rigor.

The Role of Social Work in Residential Aged Care Facilities: Evaluation of a Pilot Program in Australia

In some international settings, social workers are employed within aged care settings. However, in Australia, social workers rarely work in residential aged care facilities. In an innovative program, an Australian health network employed a social worker in an aged residential care facility from 2010 to 2011. In this research we examine and evaluate this program. Qualitative semi-structured interviews with nine key stakeholders and data extraction from medical records were conducted. Data from medical records and interview transcripts were coded and themes extracted using thematic analysis. Thematic analysis identified five key themes reflecting the roles performed by the social worker. These were: (1) The importance of having an independent third party, (2) The provision of emotional support to residents, carers and families during the transition period, (3) The importance of role clarity, (4) The provision of family-centered care, and (5) Social work responses to potential difficulties which were preventative rather than reactive. The move into residential aged care can be an overwhelming, and in some cases, traumatic transition for residents and families. Results identified that timely and expert social work intervention can improve the transition process through the provision of counselling to effectively manage grief, loss, and psychosocial issues.

Nudos, tensiones y desenlaces de los trabajos maternos: capturas desde los contextos digitales

La mayor incorporación de las mujeres al mercado laboral desde mediados del siglo XX, derivada de las conquistas feministas, no se ha dado en condiciones de igualdad con los hombres; por el contrario, es un escenario en el que se reproducen las disparidades de género, de manera naturalizada y subrepticia, en especial si se es madre. En la contemporaneidad, las mujeres se han apropiado, cada vez más, de las herramientas y los escenarios digitales como parte de sus mundos cotidianos, de allí que los análisis sociales sobre los trabajos maternos deban acoger el estudio de estas nuevas matrices relacionales que las mujeres habitan y transitan. A partir de una etnografía digital y los aportes de los feminismos y las ciencias sociales, busco aportar a la comprensión de las subjetividades que configuran los discursos hegemónicos desde los trabajos dictaminados para las madres, los cuales pueden ser capturados en las interacciones que despliegan siete madres blogueras colombianas y las comunidades que las siguen en sus trayectorias. Los resultados muestran que las mujeres a través de las mediaciones digitales entrevén los nudos y las tramas que el sistema patriarcal y capitalista les imponen a las madres para ingresar, sostenerse y desplegarse en el ámbito laboral por fuera del hogar, y cómo se ingenian maneras para conciliar sus trabajos remunerados y no remunerados desde sus alcances individuales, omitiéndose las estructuras que subyacen. En estos intentos de conciliación se inscribe la generación de contenidos en las plataformas digitales como una forma de trabajo por parte de las madres blogueras; sin embargo, estos discursos también son cuestionados y resignificados por medio de las narrativas y las prácticas digitales lo que posibilita la emergencia de otras subjetividades y devenires maternos.

Qualitative Research in Nursing: Bibliometric Study

In this study, we explored the production of qualitative nursing research in program repositories evaluated by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel in Brazil, with concepts six and seven. We utilized a bibliometric study in which we considered Brazilian theses and dissertations with qualitative methodology published in 2018 and 2019 with qualitative methodology. In the 100 papers, 79 theses, and 13 dissertations, we identified that the types of studies that stood out were phenomenology, the wording of the objectives predominantly used the verbs “understand,” and “analyze,” and the instruments and techniques used were semi-structured interviews which present the analysis technique of the author Bardin, highlighting publications on public health. We conclude that our study evidences the importance of using a qualitative approach in nursing and emphasizes the need to pay attention to the theoretical framework, as well as analysis aspects adopted in different types of qualitative studies.

Conducting a Qualitative Document Analysis

Document analysis has been an underused approach to qualitative research. This approach can be valuable for various reasons. When used to analyze pre-existing texts, this method allows researchers to conduct studies they might otherwise not be able to complete. Some researchers may not have the resources or time needed to do field research. Although videoconferencing technology and other types of software can be used to reduce some of the obstacles qualitative researchers sometimes encounter, these tools are associated with various problems. Participants might be unskillful in using technology or may not be able to afford it. Conducting a document analysis can also reduce some of the ethical concerns associated with other qualitative methods. Since document analysis is a valuable research method, one would expect to find a wide variety of literature on this topic. Unfortunately, the literature on documentary research is scant. This paper is designed to close the gap in the literature on conducting a qualitative document analysis by focusing on the advantages and limitations of using documents as a source of data and providing strategies for selecting documents. It also offers reasons for using reflexive thematic analysis and includes a hypothetical example of how a researcher might conduct a document analysis.

Constructions of Artistic Creativity in the Letters of Vincent van Gogh

Artistic creativity is presently considered to be a multidimensional phenomenon that unfolds over time and is in constant conversation with the social and historical context of the artists, as well as their personal life experiences. This article adopts a narrative perspective and explores Vincent van Gogh’s understanding of the constructs of creativity as reflected in his letters to his brother Theo, friends, and other family members. To inquire into van Gogh’s correspondence, narrative thematic analysis was employed. Findings highlight the artist’s constructs around creativity, which seem to depict elements of both modern and post-modern views of creativity. Major themes include creativity as (a) a developmental, dynamic learning process characterized by dedication and persistence; (b) a relational process in the context of people and nature; (c) an embodied action; (d) an oscillation between asceticism and socio-cultural participation, (e) suffering, and (f) a larger-than-life force. With this study, we join the conversation of scholars around recent developments in the field of creativity, calling for a variety of perspectives and methodological approaches to this complex and multifaceted construct. Moreover, we hope to move beyond the ‘mad genius’ stereotype and myths around psychopathology and artistic creativity, as exemplified in the present analysis of van Gogh’s correspondence.

Sign Language Interpreter-Mediated Qualitative Interview with Deaf Participants in Ghana: Some Methodological Reflections for Practice

Qualitative research is adventurous and creative, and committed to understanding unique human experiences in specific cultural ecologies. Qualitative interviewing with Deaf participants is far more challenging for hearing researchers who do not understand sign language, and for this reason such interactions may require the use of a sign language interpreter to facilitate the interview process. However, the quality of sign language interpreter-mediated interactions is likely to be compromised due to omissions, oversights, misinterpretations or additions that may occur during translation. An unthoughtful and poor interpretation of a communicative event by a sign language interpreter during a qualitative interview with Deaf participants may lead to an imposition of the interpreter’s or the researcher’s realities on Deaf participants’ lived experiences. It is thus important that qualitative researchers who conduct sign language interpreter-mediated interviews with Deaf participants employ practical and flexible ways to enhance such interactions. To understand the everyday realities of Deaf people amid the Covid-19 pandemic in Ghana, and document same to inform policy and practice, we conducted qualitative interviews with Deaf participants in Ghana. In this article, we draw insights from our data collection experiences with Deaf participants in Ghana to offer some useful methodological reflections for minimizing omissions in sign language-mediated qualitative interviews and thereby enhancing qualitative data quality. We particularly discuss how qualitative researchers can use language flexibility and post-interview informal conversations with a sign language interpreter to create a natural non-formal interactional atmosphere that engenders natural conversational flow to minimize interpretation omissions and differential power relations in sign language interpreter-mediated qualitative interviews with Deaf participants.

Exploring Students’ Experiences in Occupational Therapy Education: A Phenomenological Study of Professional Identity Development

The existing literature on professional identity enactment and development, subscribes to students’ socializing in a learning environment, where they regularly encounter practicing professionals throughout their education period. However, in most countries with less resourced occupational therapists like Ghana, education in occupational therapy is fraught with inadequate number of same professionals to mentor undergraduate occupational therapy students. The students are thus faced with serious dilemma regarding their professional identity which tends to elicit a bleak perception of their chosen career. The present study was therefore envisaged to interpret and analyse the students’ lived experiences, with the view to capture the process of constructing and developing professional identity. The study focused on purposively sampled group of nine undergraduate occupational therapy students during their practice placement education, and their learning styles on didactic lectures. A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was adopted for the study. The students were followed up throughout their four-year study program for data collection, using one-to-one semi-structured interviews each year. With reference to the threshold concepts, transcribed interview data were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological procedures. The study established a transformational development of professional identity from the novice stage into graduate professionals, amidst complex interaction of co-constructed themes which included: personal knowing, professional knowing and experiential knowing.

Qualitative Virtual Team Research as Training Method in a Postgraduate Program in Administration

This study is a retrospective review of methodological strategies employed during a virtual team-based training qualitative study about the emergent process of adapting to remote education among students and professors from a Master Management Program. The aim of this study was to test the technique of collaborative research as an educational and training strategy for Ph.D. students of management who are inexperienced in qualitative inductive research carried out in a virtual environment. A professor and eight Ph.D. students formed the research team and applied a qualitative inductive approach. As a result, 18 methodological steps emerged, which required just over one hundred hours of work. We describe advantages and challenges faced during the process, including greater credibility and validity for the results, technical and interactional difficulties of the virtual research environment, and difficulty reaching consensus in the data analysis stage. The findings also highlight the importance of coordination, active participation, and continuous assessment as Ph.D. educational and teaching strategies. Qualitative Virtual Team Research has proved to be a potential training tool for beginning researchers. We also contribute to the body of research on Ph.D. education and teaching by detailing the procedures used to coordinate the project and clarifying details regarding the strategies used to reach consensus in data analysis development.

A Journey of Hidden Outburst of Anger Shackling a Person with Schizophrenia: The Indonesian Context

Shackling a person with schizophrenia violates human rights. This process is often carried out when the person has committed acts of violence and hostility. In this study, we focus on considering the shackling of a person with schizophrenia in Indonesia’s context. We used grounded theory (GT; Charmaz, 2011) with 23 participants located in the East Java Province, Indonesia. The participants consisted of people with schizophrenia who were shackled by their ankles, families treating people with schizophrenia, the cadre volunteers, prominent figures, and nurses. We used in-depth interviews using semi-structured questions. We identified five phases associated with the process of shackling a person with schizophrenia: (a) distress signal, (b) high demand for treatment, (c) a change of positive convictions, (d) loss of confidence and capability, and (e) restrictions. Understanding the process of shackling people with schizophrenia will help the Indonesian government prevent people with schizophrenia from being shackled by their ankles.