Fear and Safety: Students use qualitiative methods to explore the meaning of fear and safety among the University of Pennsylvania community

Each student in the Qualitative Methods Research Class (SW781), Spring 2015, recruited a study participant (n=25) (undergraduate students, graduate students, staff, and faculty from across the University) and trained them in the appropriate and ethical use of this method. Study participants were asked to define and explore the meaning of “fear” and “safety” in their daily lives and were instructed to use their phones to document their exploration over the course of one week. Using the participant-generated photographs to guide conversation, each member of the research team conducted an interview with a participant. The topic for this project was determined using nominal group technique (NGT). NGT is a structured small-group discussion approach used to reach consensus. A moderator (in this case the professor) asks the group a question and gathers the responses (in this case potential project topics) from each group member. Once all potential topics are shared with the entire group, each member of the group prioritizes the topics. This process prevents one person from dominating the discussion, encourages all group members to participate, and results in a set of prioritized topics that represents the group’s preferences. The class, by way of NGT, decided to investigate how the University of Pennsylvania community perceives fear and safety.https://repository.upenn.edu/showcase_posters/1025/thumbnail.jp

Life with Technology Among University of Pennsylvania Students

Each student in the Qualitative Methods Research Class (SW781), Fall 2015, recruited a study participant (n=26) (undergraduate and graduate students from across the University) and trained them in the appropriate and ethical use of this method. Study participants were asked to define and explore the meaning of “life with technology” over the course of one week using their phones to document their exploration. Using the participant generated photographs to guide conversation, each member of the research team conducted an interview with a participant. The topic for this project was determined using nominal group technique (NGT). NGT is a structured small-group discussion approach used to reach consensus. A moderator (in this case the professor) asks the group a question and gathers the responses (in this case potential project topics) from each group member. Once all potential topics are shared with the entire group, each member of the group prioritizes the topics. This process prevents one person from dominating the discussion, encourages all group members to participate, and results in a set of prioritized topics that represents the group’s preferences. The class, by way of NGT, decided to investigate how University of Pennsylvania students perceive life with technology.https://repository.upenn.edu/showcase_posters/1027/thumbnail.jp

Penn and The Surrounding Community

Photo-elicitation was first named in a paper published by the photographer and researcher John Collier (1957). It involves a qualitative interview stimulated and guided by participant-generated photographs. This method can help break down barriers between researchers and participants and can promote rich and collaborative discussions (Harper, 1994). Each student in the Fall 2016 Qualitative Methods Research Class recruited one study participant (n=25) (undergraduate and graduate students) and trained them in the appropriate and ethical use of this method. Study participants were asked to explore the meaning of “Penn’s relationship with the surrounding community” over the course of one week using their phones to document their exploration. Using the participant-generated photographs to guide conversation, each member of the research team conducted an interview with a participant. Additionally, each student investigator recruited five members of the Penn community (n=125) and asked them to answer a free-listing question designed to help us explore perceptions of Penn’s relationship with the surrounding community.https://repository.upenn.edu/showcase_posters/1028/thumbnail.jp

Pressure: Students use qualitative methods to explore the meaning of pressure among graduate students here at the University of Pennsylvania

Each student investigator (n=14) in Qualitative Methods Research Class (SW781), 2014, recruited a study participant (graduate students from across the university) and trained them in the appropriate and ethical use of photography in this context. Study participants were asked to define and explore the concept of pressure in their daily lives and were instructed to use their smart phones or digital cameras to document their exploration over one week. Using participant-generated photographs each member of the research team conducted a photo-elicitation interview with a participant. Additionally each student investigator recruited between 3 and 5 members of the Penn community (n=75) and asked them to answer 2 freelisting questions designed to help us explore the meaning of pressure. Preliminary review of the audio recordings from the interviews resulted in the identification of several themes. Examples include time, health, money, depression, sleep, and self-care. Here, we share with you a sample of these themes through participant generated photos and associated quotes. Additionally, we share the preliminary analysis of freelist data.https://repository.upenn.edu/showcase_posters/1026/thumbnail.jp

Qualitative Research Interviews

After presenting a brief overview of the complexity of the qualitative interviewing process used by psychotherapy researchers, the authors discuss some of the major ideas that psychotherapy researchers using such interviews must consider both before and during the interview process. They then offer thoughts regarding approaches to strengthen qualitative interviews themselves

Qualitative Research: Methods and Methodology

This entry provides an overview of qualitative LGBTQ research. It begins by mapping out the qualities and character of studies that use this approach with particular attention to psycho-social research. It then highlights how reflexivity, the iterative process of self-identity making, has informed qualitative research, influencing both understandings of sexualities and also the underlying methodologies and research methods used. Finally, it considers how “the everyday” and a practices approach have generated significant insight on the materialities (lived experiences) and emotionality in qualitative research on LGBTQ lives

Consensual Qualitative Research: An Update

The authors reviewed the application of consensual qualitative research (CQR) in 27 studies published since the method’s introduction to the field in 1997 by C. E. Hill, B. J. Thompson, and E. N. Williams (1997). After first describing the core components and the philosophical underpinnings of CQR, the authors examined how it has been applied in terms of the consensus process, biases, research teams, data collection, data analysis, and writing up the results and discussion sections of articles. On the basis of problems that have arisen in each of these areas, the authors made recommendations for modifications of the method. The authors concluded that CQR is a viable qualitative method and suggest several ideas for research on the method itself

Qualitative research methods in psychology

In the scientific community, and particularly in psychology and health, there has been an active and ongoing debate on the relative merits of adopting either quantitative or qualitative methods, especially when researching into human behaviour (Bowling, 2009; Oakley, 2000; Smith, 1995a, 1995b; Smith, 1998). In part, this debate formed a component of the development in the 1970s of our thinking about science. Andrew Pickering has described this movement as the "sociology of scientific knowledge" (SSK), where our scientific understanding, developing scientific ‘products’ and 'know-how', became identified as forming components in a wider engagement with society’s environmental and social context (Pickering, 1992: 1). Since that time, the debate has continued so that today there is an increasing acceptance of the use of qualitative methods in the social sciences (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000; Morse, 1994; Punch, 2011; Robson, 2011) and health sciences (Bowling, 2009; Greenhalgh & Hurwitz, 1998; Murphy & Dingwall, 1998). The utility of qualitative methods has also been recognised in psychology. As Nollaig Frost (2011) observes, authors such as Carla Willig and Wendy Stainton Rogers consider qualitative psychology is much more accepted today and that it has moved from "the margins to the mainstream in psychology in the UK." (Willig & Stainton Rogers, 2008: 8). Nevertheless, in psychology, qualitative methodologies are still considered to be relatively 'new' (Banister, Bunn, Burman, et al., 2011; Hayes, 1998; Richardson, 1996) despite clear evidence to the contrary (see, for example, the discussion on this point by Rapport et al., 2005). Nicki Hayes observes, scanning the content of some early journals from the 1920s – 1930s that many of these more historical papers "discuss personal experiences as freely as statistical data" (Hayes, 1998, 1). This can be viewed as an early development of the case-study approach, now an accepted methodological approach in psychological, health care and medical research, where our knowledge about people is enhanced by our understanding of the individual 'case' (May & Perry, 2011; Radley & Chamberlain, 2001; Ragin, 2011; Smith, 1998)