Ethical Issues in Conducting Qualitative Research in Online Communities

Increasingly, psychologists are extending their research to include online methods of data collection. Psychologists’ use of qualitative data obtained or generated online for research purposes poses unique challenges because of the “traceability” of quotes, often sensitive content of data and potential impact on both individuals and online communities. In this article, working within a framework that goes beyond “procedural ethics” to examine “ethics in practice,” ethical issues associated with conducting qualitative research within online communities are identified. These include tensions over public/private space, authorship versus human research participants, informed consent, anonymity and pseudonymity, covert research, deceptive research identities, reactions to being researched, and the quality of data obtained. Prior to conducting qualitative research in online communities, researchers have an ethical obligation to identify and weigh possible risks and benefits to both the community and community members. Sensitivity to the specific online community and continued ethical consideration throughout the conduct and reporting of the research are required

Personality and Work Situational Predictors of Exit, Voice, Loyalty, and Neglect: An Interactionist Perspective

The present dissertation investigates the degree to which personality and work situational variables are related to how employees respond to dissatisfaction in the work place based upon the EVLN (Exit, Aggressive Voice, Considerate Voice, Loyalty, and Neglect) model. On the basis of previous research and the underlying dimensions of the model, it was hypothesized that four personality variables (i.e., self-control, extraversion, proactive personality, and positive affect) and six work situational variables (i.e., prior job satisfaction, investment size, quality of job alternatives, leader support, perceptions of procedural justice, and perceptions of distributive justice) would be significantly related to the five responses to job dissatisfaction as proposed by the EVLN typology. Additionally, it was hypothesized that the personality predictors would explain incremental variance in the EVLN response categories beyond what could be attributed by the situational factors alone. The participants consisted of 156 professionals from a wide variety of industries (e.g., business managers, lawyers, teachers, nurses). Using an online survey, this study investigated the relationships between these predictors and the five EVLN response categories utilizing correlations, hierarchical multiple regression analysis, and importance analysis. Both the personality and work situational variables demonstrated several significant hypothesized relationships with the five response categories. Furthermore, the personality predictors significantly explained unique variance in four of the five EVLN response categories beyond what could be attributed by the situational factors alone. Moreover, the personality predictors were better predictors of aggressive voice, considerate voice, and neglect responses, whereas the work situational predictors were stronger predictors of the exit and loyalty responses. Practical implications, potential limitations, and future directions for research are presented

Hypertension in pregnancy : gaining insight into women's mental health and birth experience 6-12 months postpartum

University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Health.Pregnancy and childbirth, while usually joyful experiences, can be traumatic leading to depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Women may be more prone to psychological morbidity following a complicated pregnancy and/or birth. Hypertension in pregnancy (HIP) is the most common medical complication of pregnancy. Women diagnosed with HIP require more intensive monitoring, antenatal admissions, a longer postnatal stay that may include acute care, and some give birth to a preterm baby requiring time in a nursery. There are reports of the short and long term health risks following HIP, particularly cardiovascular health, but there is limited knowledge about the impact on mental health, birth experience, and whether the care received influences women’s experiences. The aim of this study was to investigate the mental health (depression, anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder) and childbirth experiences at six to 12 months postpartum in women who had HIP and those who had normal blood pressure (normotensive) in pregnancy. This was a longitudinal prospective observational study using mixed methods. There were two phases: 1) the mental health of women and their birth experience following a normotensive pregnancy or one complicated by hypertension, using a quantitative design; and, 2) the experience of women who had HIP, using a qualitative approach. At six months postpartum, women completed four screening instruments: the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression (EPDS), General Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Posttraumatic Stress Diagnostic, and Maternal Infant Bonding (MIB) scales. Birth experience data were collected using a seven point Likert Scale and two open ended questions. The qualitative component used individual, face-to-face, semi-structured interviews with a subset of 20 women at 10-12 months postpartum. Descriptive statistics, univariate and multivariate logistic regression and ordinal regression analyses were conducted on the quantitative data, with a thematic analysis undertaken on the interview transcripts. There were 237 women in the normotensive (NT) group and 84 in the hypertensive (HT) group. Both groups had similar demographic characteristics. Compared to the NT group, the HT group experienced more interventions during labour and birth, with the HT group having higher rates of induction of labour (70% versus 29%, p=<0.001) and caesarean sections (43% versus 18%, p=<0.001) compared to the NT group. Women in the HT group recorded significantly higher mean EPDS score (p=0.03) and more scored above the threshold for possible depression (p=0.03) compared to women in the NT group. There were no differences in anxiety, PTSD or bonding scores between groups. The proportion of women who identified their birth experience as traumatic was greater in the HT group (p=0.006). The strongest predictor of possible depression in the whole cohort was being a first time mother (AOR 5.03; 95% CI 1.19-21.3), and for PTSD it was having a preterm baby (AOR 7.46; 95% CI 0.61-91.17). Women in the NT group were three to five times more likely to respond positively to the birth experience questions. The qualitative study identified the themes: reacting to the diagnosis, challenges of being a mother, processing and accepting the situation, and moving on from the experience. Mediating factors that improved the women’s experience were: feeling safe and trusting the care providers, continuity of care and carer, and valuing social support from partner, family and friends. Although the results showed more depressive symptoms in the women in the HT group and more reported their birth as a traumatic event, the prevalence of depression and PTSD was less than that previously reported in the literature. In an effort to further improve social, emotional and mental health outcomes for women, four elements of care are suggested. These are based on the quantitative and qualitative findings and current evidence: providing continuity of midwifery care in a collaborative model, facilitating social support for the woman, prevention and early identification of poor mental health, and keeping mother and baby connected. Women have profound experiences after the diagnosis of HIP. They face challenges for months after the birth of their baby. It is essential for women to have access to appropriate multidisciplinary collaborative models of care, prompt referral to mental health services, and social support following a pregnancy complicated with hypertension. Furthermore, it is essential that maternity care providers keep the woman and her baby connected despite the physical separation that sometimes occurs

Who wants to be able to do reference properly and be unemployed? STEM student writing and employer needs

The issue of graduate writing is one that has attracted much focus and debate in higher education, particularly around maintaining ‘academic standards’ at a time of expansion in this sector. The need to develop academic skills, including writing, for higher education study has increasingly been linked to the skills that graduates need to gain employment (Davies et al., 2006). This raises the question of whether the type and purpose of writing within university programmes is different to, and possibly in tension with, writing required for employment after university. This is a point raised by recent research (Day, 2011) which shows that students studying STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths) subjects are more confident with oral rather than writing skills. The material discussed in this article is part of a two-year mixed method study looking at literacies, including writing, which undergraduate students develop at university, and the relationship of these literacies to employability. This article focuses on six first-year STEM students studying Forensic Science and Computing Science within the larger study. The qualitative data, gathered through repeat interviews, is discussed in relation to a small sample of employers and alumni working in science-based industries describing writing for transition into work and for on-going employment. The project therefore provides a useful Appleby et al. Who wants to be able to do references properly and be unemployed? student insight into writing, comparing this with employer expectations and the experience of alumni who have made the transition into work. What emerges from our study is the need to see writing at university as part of a wider communicative repertoire supported by a social and cultural approach to situated writing. This approach is more than simply skills based and is one that encourages and develops social as well as academic learning. We argue that such an approach, added to by technical skills support, enables greater engagement and success with learning in addition to enhancing employability

Public Attitudes towards Penalties for Sexting by Minors

Current child pornography laws in Australia extend to cases where minors transmit sexually explicit material of themselves or others via digital communication (‘sexting’). This is the first study examining attitudes of the Australian adult public regarding criminal laws that can apply to sexting by minors. A sample of 285 Australian adults completed an online questionnaire that presented a scenario concerning adolescent sexting. Participants completed measures of perceived responsibility and deservingness of penalty for both the sext sender and recipient who, in some cases, also forwarded the sext. Overall, support for legal penalties for adolescent sexting was low, except in the case of non-consensual distribution of sexts. The results highlight the public’s concern with the non-consensual forwarding of sexts, providing support for calls to distinguish between consensual and non-consensual sexting in legislation and educational and public campaigns

Commentary: Is it possible to bring the emancipatory practice development and evidence-based practice agendas together in nursing and midwifery?

Imagine a future where evidence-based practice and emancipatory practice development work together in a way that is so seamless we don’t even have to think about it. Can you? This is the vision as described in the article by Fairbrother et al., published in the IPDJ in 2015. In a bold move, the authors invite the reader to contemplate ‘the birth of a new healthcare phenomenon’, that of evidence-based emancipatory practice development (EBEPD). In the article, the authors offer a robust case for building momentum towards achieving a mutualised, evidence-based emancipatory practice development platform for knowledge and development in contemporary nursing practice. With detailed reference to a range of well-known, and often epistemologically polar opposite philosophical positions, the authors invite us to put aside our differences and work together to build a stronger evidence-based platform for emancipatory practice development work. In a creative and interesting manner, the authors refer to the yin and yang philosophy to illustrate how two opposites can complement each other, and they offer a diagram to illustrate the desirable fusion of EPD and EBP, working together and nestled within the concept of embodied integrated knowing

Advocacy Corner: The Value of Middle Grades Licensure on K-12 Mathematics Achievement (pp. 31--36)

The authors provide an overview of teacher licensure with a focus on the importance of middle grades licensure. Given the recent trend in reorganizing schools to serve more grade bands, there isconcern that Ohio will move to re-implement a K-8 teaching license. The authors address this issue and provide recommendations to policy makers, teacher preparation programs, and school administrators to help maintain mathematics achievement in Grades 4–12

"Having to shift everything we’ve learned to the side”: Expanding research methods taught in psychology to incorporate qualitative methods

In Australia the tradition of conducting quantitative psychological research within a positivist framework has been challenged, with calls made for the inclusion of the full range of qualitative and quantitative methodologies within the undergraduate psychology curriculum. Despite this, the undergraduate psychology curriculum in most Australian universities retains a strong focus on teaching quantitative research methods. Limited research has examined attitudes toward qualitative research held by undergraduate psychology students taught within a positivist framework, and whether these attitudes are malleable and can be changed through teaching qualitative methodologies. Previous research has suggested that students from strong quantitative backgrounds experience some cognitive dissonance and greater difficulties in learning qualitative methods. In this article we examine 3rd year undergraduate psychology students’ attitudes to qualitative research prior to commencing and upon completion of a qualitative research unit. All students had previously completed two 13 weeks units of study in quantitative research methods.At Time 1, 63 students (84.1% female) completed online surveys comprising attitudinal measures. Key themes to emerge from student comments were that qualitative research was seen as an alternative approach, representing a paradigmatic shift that was construed by some students advantageous for meeting future professional and educative goals. Quantitative measures of attitudes to qualitative research were associated with general attitudes toward research, and psychology-specific epistemological beliefs. Changes in attitudes following completion of the qualitative research methods unit were in the hypothesized direction, but non-significant (small effect sizes). The findings increase our understanding of psychology students’ attitudes toward qualitative research and inform our recommendations for teaching research methods within the undergraduate psychology curriculum

Qualitative research in psychology: Attitudes of psychology students and academic staff

Qualitative research is experiencing a resurgence within the field of psychology. This study aimed to explore the range of attitudes towards qualitative research in psychology held by students and academics, using the model of attitudes by Eagly and Chaiken as a framework. Twenty-one psychology students and academics were interviewed about their attitudes towards qualitative research. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. While qualitative research was described as inherent to the psychology profession and useful for generating rich data, some participants felt that this approach was not well respected or considered as legitimate as quantitative methods. Reflecting common misperceptions about qualitative research, participants also expressed concerns that qualitative research was too subjective and had limited generalisability. Furthermore, some participants felt that they lacked the skills and confidence necessary to conduct qualitative research. Large investments in time and resources were identified as barriers to undertaking qualitative research. Identifying attitudes towards qualitative research provides a basis for future work in dispelling myths, promoting attitudinal change and increasing both the use and teaching of qualitative approaches in psychology