Experience and Meaning in Qualitative Research: A Conceptual Review and a Methodological Device Proposal

Die Anerkennung der Relevanz von Erfahrung und Bedeutung stellt eine gemeinsame Basis vieler qualitativer Studien dar. Allerdings wird die Verwendung dieser Begriffe zunehmend trivialisiert, und sie werden bei der Datenanalyse oft mechanistisch genutzt mit der Folge des Verlusts des aus den theoretischen Wurzeln abgeleiteten ursprünglichen Reichtums dieser Konzepte. In unserem Beitrag greifen wir auf diese Ursprünge zurück, indem wir theoretische Postulate aus phänomenologischen und hermeneutischen Traditionen sichten und ihre Konvergenz in einer ganzheitlichen Perspektive vorschlagen. Die Herausforderung besteht darin, die lokalen Quellen von Bedeutung zu finden, um von hier aus die Erfahrungen von Menschen verstehen zu können. Dies ist Grundlage für den von uns vorgeschlagenen Ansatz des "Encounter Context Themes" (ECT), der das Hauptgewicht auf die Untersuchung von Erfahrung und Bedeutung als Teil eines größeren Ganzen legt: der Lebenswelt der Teilnehmer/innen. Mittels ECT wollen wir vorhandene qualitative Verfahren ergänzen unter Rückgriff auf bereits verfügbare theoretische Grundlagen, statt unabhängig hiervon eine neue Methodik zu konzipieren.The relevance of experience and meaning in qualitative research is mostly accepted and is common ground for qualitative studies. However, there is an increasing trend towards trivializing the use of these notions. As a consequence, a mechanistic use of these terms has emerged within qualitative analysis, which has resulted in the loss of the original richness derived from the theoretical roots of these concepts. In this article, we aim to recover these origins by reviewing theoretical postulates from phenomenological and hermeneutic traditions and to propose their convergence in a holistic perspective. The challenge is to find the local source of meanings that will enlighten on how to understand people's experiences. This discussion is the basis for the encounter context themes (ECT) methodological device, which emphasizes the importance of studying experience and meaning as part of a larger whole: the participants' life-world. Hence, ECT seeks to complement the available methodological tools for qualitatively-oriented studies, recovering—rather than re-creating—a theoretical discussion useful for current qualitative research practices

Understanding Complexity

{Excerpt} In development agencies, paradigms of linear causality condition much thinking and practice. They encourage command-and-control hierarchies, centralize decision making, and dampen creativity and innovation. Globalization demands that organizations see our turbulent world as a collection of evolving ecosystems. To survive and flourish they must then be adaptable and fleet footed. Notions of complexity offer a wealth of insights and guidance to 21st century organizations that strive to do so

Contemporary Topics in Graduate Medical Education

Graduate medical education (GME) is a continually evolving, highly dynamic area within the complex fabric of the modern health-care environment. Given the rapidly changing regulatory, financial, scientific and technical aspects of GME, many institutions and programs face daily challenges of "keeping up" with the most recent developments within this ever-more-sophisticated operational environment. Organizational excellence is a requirement for the seamless functioning of GME programs, especially when one consider the multiple disciplines and stakeholders involved. The goal of the current book cycle, titled Contemporary Topics in Graduate Medical Education, beginning with this inaugural tome, is to provide GME professionals with a practical and readily applicable set of reference materials. More than 20 distinguished authors from some of the top teaching institutions in the US, touch upon some of the most relevant, contemporary, and at times controversial topics, including provider burnout, gender equality issues, trainee wellness, scholarly activities and requirements, and many other theoretical and practical considerations. We hope that the reader will find this book to be a valuable and high quality resource of a broad range of GME-related topics. It is the Editors' goal to create a multi-tome platform that will become the definitive go-to reference for professionals navigating the complex landscape of modern graduate medical education

Metaphysics, Function and the Engineering of Life: the Problem of Vitalism

Vitalism was long viewed as the most grotesque view in biological theory: appeals to a mysterious life-force, Romantic insistence on the autonomy of life, or worse, a metaphysics of an entirely living universe. In the early twentieth century, attempts were made to present a revised, lighter version that was not weighted down by revisionary metaphysics: "organicism". And mainstream philosophers of science criticized Driesch and Bergson's "neovitalism" as a too-strong ontological commitment to the existence of certain entities or "forces", over and above the system of causal relations studied by mechanistic science, rejecting the weaker form, organicism, as well. But there has been some significant scholarly "push-back" against this orthodox attitude, notably pointing to the 18th-century Montpellier vitalists to show that there are different historical forms of vitalism, including how they relate to mainstream scientific practice (Wolfe and Normandin, eds. 2013). Additionally, some trends in recent biology that run counter to genetic reductionism and the informational model of the gene present themselves as organicist (Gilbert and Sarkar 2000, Moreno and Mossio 2015). Here, we examine some cases of vitalism in the twentieth century and today, not just as a historical form but as a significant metaphysical and scientific model. We argue for vitalism's conceptual originality without either reducing it to mainstream models of science or presenting it as an alternate model of science, by focusing on historical forms of vitalism, logical empiricist critiques thereof and the impact of synthetic biology on current (re-) theorizing of vitalism

Insights Into Global Engineering Education After the Birth of Industry 5.0

Insights Into Global Engineering Education After the Birth of Industry 5.0 presents a comprehensive overview of recent developments in the fields of engineering and technology. The book comprises single chapters authored by various researchers and edited by an expert active in the engineering education research area. It provides a thorough overview of the latest research efforts by international authors on engineering education and opens potential new research paths for further novel developments

Collective and Individual Rationality: Some Episodes in the History of Economic Thought

This thesis argues for the fundamental importance of the opposition between holistic and reductionistic world-views in economics. Both reductionism and holism may nevertheless underpin laissez-faire policy prescriptions. Scrutiny of the nature of the articulation between micro and macro levels in the writings of economists suggests that invisible hand theories play a key role in reconciling reductionist policy prescriptions with a holistic world. An examination of the prisoners' dilemma in game theory and Arrow's impossibility theorem in social choice theory sets the scene. The prisoners' dilemma epitomises the collective irrationality coordination problems lead to. The source of the dilemma is identified as the combination of interdependence in content and independence in form of the decision making process. Arrovian impossibility has been perceived as challenging traditional views of the relationship between micro and macro levels in economics. Conservative arguments against the possibility in principle of a social welfare function are criticised here as depending on an illicit dualism. The thesis then reviews the standpoints of Smith, Hayek and Keynes. For Smith, the social desirability of individual self-seeking activity is ensured by the 'invisible hand' of a god who has moulded us so to behave, that the quantity of happiness in the world is always maximised. Hayek seeks to re-establish the invisible hand in a secular age, replacing the agency of a deity with an evolutionary mechanism. Hayek's evolutionary theory, criticised here as being based on the exploded notion of group selection, cannot underpin the desirability of spontaneous outcomes. I conclude by arguing that Keynes shares the holistic approach of Smith and Hayek, but without their reliance on invisible hand mechanisms. If spontaneous processes cannot be relied upon to generate desirable social outcomes then we have to take responsibility for achieving this ourselves by establishing the appropriate institutional framework to eliminate macroeconomic prisoners' dilemmas

Systems Modeling As A Means Of Building Accuate Mental Models Of Physiology Core Concepts In Undergraduate And Graduate Health Sciences Students

Accurate medical and health sciences problem solving relies upon a solid foundation of basic sciences content knowledge, primarily physiology. Yet, due to its nature as a dynamic system of interconnected, networked, concepts, physiology is often difficult for students to master. The three studies in this dissertation explore the use of a cognitive tool, systems modeling, to facilitate the development of an accurate mental model of physiology content knowledge in undergraduate and graduate physiology students. In the first study, undergraduate physiology student participation within online asynchronous peer group systems modeling activities was associated with progressive improvement on multiple choice question answer accuracy in the modeling condition versus the written discussion post condition. In the second study, graduate physician assistant students ranked systems modeling to be the top strategy for learning physiology content in the basic sciences year of study and the second to top strategy for retaining that content into the clinical year. In the third study, graduate physician assistant students demonstrated increased use of integrated core concept terms, after systems modeling activity participation, when describing the pathophysiology threshold concept of inflammation in writing. Together, these three studies provide evidence that the systems modeling strategy is an effective cognitive tool that contributes to improved student learning and retention of physiology content through visualization and subsequent refinement of the learner’s mental model of the problem space

An Instrument to Assess Individual Capacity for System Thinking

The purpose of this research was to develop and deploy a new systems thinking instrument to assess individual capacity for systems thinking using an inductive research design. While technology has been increasing exponentially, the corresponding methods to harness those technological advances, and the problems they have spawned, is lagging. While there is a broad collection of systems based methods, techniques, technologies, and tools that can be used in dealing with complex problems, these are predicated on an individual\u27s capacity for engaging a level of systems thinking commensurate with their effective, deployment. Research based methods to determine individual capacity for systems thinking were not found in the literature. This research addressed the literature gap by developing an instrument to determine the individual capacity for systems thinking. To establish the characteristics for systems thinking, over 1000 systems based articles were analyzed and coded. Following grounded theory, as articulated by Strauss and Corbin (1990), a rigorous methodology was executed to inductively build the framework for systems thinking characteristics. Specialized software to support grounded theory, Nvivo (QRS International, version 10, 2014) was used to navigate and manage the large amount of qualitative and quantitative data for the research. A mixed method approach was used to collect and analyze qualitative and quantitative data in the initial instrument development. After deriving the set of systems thinking characteristics, a non-domain specific systems thinking (Sc) instrument was constructed to capture and measure the state of systems thinking at the individual level. The instrument consists of 39 binary questions with fourteen scored scales to measure seven main systems skills preferences. Following a pilot study for application of the instrument, it was administered to 242 participants. To establish validity, multiple validity checks including face validity, internal validity, conclusion validity and content validity were performed. Reliability testing was also conducted, including Cronbach\u27s Alpha Test and Parallel Test, with excellent results. The results of the research show significant promise for the instrument to capture the capacity of individuals to engage in systems thinking. The document concludes with directions for future research and implications for practitioners related to the capacity of individuals for systems thinking

Moving towards public policy-ready science: philosophical insights on the social-ecological systems perspective for conservation science

The social-ecological systems (SES) perspective stems from the need to rethink the ways humans relate to the environment, given the evidence that conventional conservation and management approaches are often ineffective in dealing with complex socio-environmental problems. The SES approach conceives non-scientific and scientific knowledge as equally necessary in the process of management and public policy formation. Thus, the adoption of the SES approach must also serve to make better decisions about what kind of science and technology would be ‘public policy-ready’ (as well as also ‘policy-relevant’); that is, a science oriented and conceived to provide concrete solutions to societal needs and demands. Here we review and reinterpret the SES perspective as a real paradigm change for conservation science. Under the lenses of philosophy, we try to untangle some weak points of the SES approach in order to advance to a conservation science closer to the process of science-based public policy creation and to enhance the intertwining with other types of knowledge. In this sense, we discuss how co-production of knowledge and decision-making process under the SES perspective are a huge step forward towards fulfilling the need to bring increasingly closer the spheres of science and policy, narrowing its interface.Fil: Sala, Juan Emilio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Instituto de Biología de Organismos Marinos; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia "San Juan Bosco"; ArgentinaFil: Torchio, Gabriela María. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Instituto de Biología de Organismos Marinos; Argentin