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

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

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

Qualitative accounts of urban commuter cycling

Purpose ‐ The purpose of this paper is to explore the live experiences of urban commuter cycling (UCC). Design/methodology/approach ‐ In semi-structured interviews, participants described day-to-day experiences of UCC in a single English city. Verbatim transcripts were coded using the themes of time, space, body and human relations, and interpreted through the principles of hermeneutic phenomenology. Findings ‐ The nine participants (seven males, two females) were aged 27 to 54. Each regularly commuted by bicycle at least three times per week for "18 months" to "27 years". Strong influences on commuter cycling included the weather, daily tasks, cycling infrastructure, driver behaviour and the value of cycling for physical and mental well being. The contest for space was central to the UCC experience, with UCCs sensing they lacked respect despite feeling that they were "embodying citizenship" by enacting public policy. Due to their regular negative experiences, many UCCs were now willing to quit cycling and commute by car. Research limitations/implications ‐ Findings are limited to regular commuter cyclists and do little to describe the passage into regular cycling. Practical applications ‐ This paper highlights that cycle promoters and health educators may profit from focusing on road user interactions during the rush hour. Originality/value ‐ This paper addresses the untold day-to-day experiences of UCCs

Qualitative and Qualitative Longitudinal Resources in Europe

In April 2009 the UK Timescapes Initiative, in collaboration with the University of Bremen, organised a residential workshop to explore the nature of qualitative (Q) and qualitative longitudinal (QL) research and resources across Europe. The workshop was hosted by the Archive for Life Course Research (Archiv für Lebenslaufforschung, ALLF) at Bremen and funded by Timescapes with support from CESSDA (The Council of European Social Science Data Archives, Preparatory Phase Project). It was attended by archivists and researchers from 14 countries, including ‘transitional’ states such as Belarus and Lithuania. The broad aim of the workshop was to map existing infrastructures for qualitative and QL data archiving among the participating countries, including the extent of archiving and the ethos of data sharing and re-use in different national contexts. The group also explored strategies to develop infrastructure and to support qualitative and QL research and resources, including collaborative research across Europe and beyond

Qualitative Viscous Cosmology

The Full (non--truncated) Israel--Stewart theory of bulk viscosity is applied to dissipative FRW spacetimes. Dimensionless variables and dimensionless equations of state are used to write the Einstein--thermodynamic equations as a plane autonomous system and the qualitative behaviour of this system is determined. Entropy production in these models is also discussed.Comment: 13 pages, REVTeX, accepted for publication in Physical Review

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