Coupled ethical-epistemic analysis of public health research and practice: categorizing variables to improve population health and equity

The categorization of variables can stigmatize populations, which is ethically problematic and threatens the central purpose of public health: to improve population health and reduce health inequities. How social variables (e.g., behavioral risks for HIV) are categorized can reinforce stigma and cause unintended harms to the populations practitioners and researchers strive to serve.<p></p> Although debates about the validity or ethical consequences of epidemiological variables are familiar for specific variables (e.g., ethnicity), these issues apply more widely.<p></p> We argue that these tensions and debates regarding epidemiological variables should be analyzed simultaneously as ethical and epistemic challenges. We describe a framework derived from the philosophy of science that may be usefully applied to public health, and we illustrate its application.<p></p&gt

Qualitative archives and biographical research methods. An introduction to the FQS special issue

The use of archival materials as a point of departure when designing and launching social research takes for granted that a culture of archiving (for sharing and re-use) has rooted time ago in our complex societies. This mentality and research practice first flourished and is fairly well installed in the case of statistics, surveys and certain other primary or secondary documents. On the contrary, it is less frequent and certainly not a routine activity for qualitative data. Only some of the raw and elaborated materials gathered during qualitative research become part of an archive for further reanalysis. These can include the backstage practices and experiences of a project, raw materials such as field notes, audio and visual recordings, and other documents produced during the research process. This issue presents a colorful range of articles that deal with experiences, challenges and opportunities of archiving and re-using qualitative material, particularly under the umbrella of biographical and narrative research. It aims to raise awareness of the importance of archiving in qualitative social research and highlights some of the new methodological reflections and approaches that have been and that are being developed within the European landscape. We hope that the articles in this issue will help promote further communication and exchange among qualitative archival practitioners from different countries and with different sensitivities and conceptual horizons. © 2011 FQS

Grounded Theory Methodology (GTM) and CAQDAS: an exercise of autobiographical research and methodological reflection

'In the first part of this paper the author examines how a need to study the intellectual roots of Grounded Theory Method (GTM) emerged out of reflecting on the authors personal GTM reception. In the process of this the author becames more and more methodologically aware of the nature, that is, the genesis and development, of GTM. Following this, he argues that a similar process of 'becoming aware of GTM' can be traced in the writings of Glaser and Strauss. At the same time, the whole paper is in itself an attempt at practicing GTM, conditioned by the published versions of GTM and the process of reception in his case. The author tries to gain awareness of both the intellectual roots of GTM and the process of his reception of this methodology. In this paper the author traces for the reader about the processual and contextual character of his GTM reception. The author shows how he finally reach the conclusion that the methodological principles of GTM existed before this approach was developed: they were not invented by the coiners of GTM. Moreover, he emphasises the existence of both professional and more private personal experience roots in the explicitation and genesis of GTM. In the second part of the paper, the author explores the conceptual trace and historical-biographical depth of the more comprehensive debate about the particular relation between GTM and CAQDASI. His main attention is the case of Glaser's posture as the 'epicenter' of the debate. The author shows the reader the way he proceeded in generating typologies of basic cases and processes to give context to Glaser's posture. This contribution is composed from an autobiographical point of view and style of research throughout.' (author's abstract

Archival and Biographical Research Sensitivity: A European Perspective from Spain

Diese FQS-Schwerpunktausgabe zum Thema Archivierung und biografische Methoden bietet einen wichtigen Anlass, über eine europäische Initiative  zur Förderung qualitativer Sozialforschung zu informieren: EUROQUAL, gefördert durch die European Science Foundation, hat gerade die vierjährige Projektzeit (2006-2010) abgeschlossen. In diesem Beitrag werde ich einige Überlegungen und methodologische Reflexionen präsentieren, die aus dem Euroqual-Workshop "Archives and Life-History Research" erwachsen sind, der vom 21. bis zum 23. September 2009 in Madrid veranstaltet wurde. Im Besonderen geht es mir um ein Phänomen, das ich als Sensitivität für Archivierung und biografische Forschung bezeichnen möchte. Es ist essenziell wichtig mit Blick auf Forschungsqualität, Forschungsökonomie und auf ein Verständnis von Forschung als einem bewahrenswerten Gut. In diesem Zusammenhang werde ich einige Beispiele aus europäischen Ländern hinzuziehen,um die besondere Situation in Spanien zu verdeutlichen.URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs110327Este número especial de FQS, sobre archivos y métodos biográficos, es una ocasión especial para informar y debatir acerca de una iniciativa europea de promoción e intercambio de experiencias de investigación cualitativa en ciencias sociales. El projecto general se diseñó como un programa de cuatro años (2006-2010) de la Fundación Europea de la Ciencia conocido por el acrónimo EUROQUAL.En este artículo se pretende aportar algunas ideas y reflexiones metodológicas surgidas en el Taller sobre Archivos e Investigación de Historias de Vida celebrado en Madrid (21-23 Septiembre 2009).  El meollo de la cuestión puede resumirse con la expresión sensibilidad investigadora de archivo y biográfica. Tiene que ver con los aspectos de calidad y economía de la investigación, así como con la concepción de la investigación social en tanto patrimonio. Se hace una aproximación al paisaje europeo también para perfilar la situación en España.URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs110327This FQS issue on archives and biographical methods is a special occasion to inform about a European initiative for the promotion and exchange of experiences of qualitative research in the social sciences. The whole project was designed as a a four-year (2006-2010) European Science Foundation program known by the acronym EUROQUAL. This article intends to provide some ideas and methodological reflections arising from the Madrid EUROQUAL-Workshop on Archives and Life-History Research (21-23 September 2009). The key point concerns what I suggest to name archival and biographical research "sensitivity." It has to do with the issues of research quality, research economy and the conception of social research as patrimony. Approaches in the European landscape also serve to highlight the contrasting situation in Spain.URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs11032

Metodología biográfica y experiencia migratoria : actualidad del enfoque de los testimonios anónimos y de autor en el legado de Juan F. Marsal

La celebración del IX Congreso de la FES, en Barcelona, ha sido una ocasión especial para rendir tributo a la figura de Juan F. Marsal Agelet. Nace en dicha ciudad en 1928. Emigra a Buenos Aires («por más de veinte años») a comienzos de los años cincuenta, donde publicará su célebre Hacer la América (1969), la historia de vida de un emigrante español que representa el contramito del indiano. Marsal retorna a comienzos de la década de 1970, llamado por la UAB para organizar el Departamento de Sociología, y es el primer director de Papers. Aunque su paréntesis vital se cierra prematuramente en 1979, deja un legado sociológico relevante, teórico y metodológico. Aquí se aportan nuevas reflexiones metodológicas, ligadas a la práctica investigadora actual sobre la inmigración en España. Al hilo de la fase cualitativa de un proyecto I+D sobre la medición de la xenofobia en España (MEXEES), se razona el enfoque (auto)biográfico practicado. La actualidad del legado de Marsal se halla en su transición metodológica y en aportes teóricos como el que relaciona la visibilidad del inmigrante con la integración de éste. El método de los testimonios, de los investigados y del investigador encierra una propuesta tradicional e innovadora a la vez de oficio sociológico. Y apunta a una tarea individual y colectiva por hacer: la de archivar y promover el conocimiento de la experiencia vivida.The 9th FES Congress in Barcelona has been a special opportunity of homage to Juan F. Marsal Agelet. Born in that city in 1928. Emigrates to Buenos Aires («for more than twenty years») at the beginning of the 50s, where his well-known Making America (1969) is originally published. The life history of a Spanish emigrant that represents the indiano counter-myth. Marsal returns in the early 70s to help settle down the Department of Sociology in the UAB, becoming the first director of Papers. Although his life comes to an end suddenly in 1979, he left a relevant sociological legacy, both theoretical and methodological. This paper brings new methodological reflections, related to a recent research practice on immigration in Spain. Along the qualitative phase of a project about measuring xenophobia in Spain, the (auto)biographical method practiced is reasoned. Marsal's legacy is considered of present day importance, both his methodological transition and his theoretical reasoning related to the visibility of immigrants and their integration. The method of testimonios, those given by the informants and also by the researcher, involves a traditional and modern proposal of sociological craftsmanship. And it aims to an individual and collective task under way: archiving and promoting the knowledge of lived experience

Fluctuation Effects in High Sheet Resistance Superconducting Films

As the normal state sheet resistance, $R_n$, of a thin film superconductor increases, its superconducting properties degrade. For $R_n\simeq h/4e^2$ superconductivity disappears and a transition to a nonsuperconducting state occurs. We present electron tunneling and transport measurements on ultrathin, homogeneously disordered superconducting films in the vicinity of this transition. The data provide strong evidence that fluctuations in the amplitude of the superconducting order parameter dominate the tunneling density of states and the resistive transitions in this regime. We briefly discuss possible sources of these amplitude fluctuation effects. We also describe how the data suggest a novel picture of the superconductor to nonsuperconductor transition in homogeneous 2D systems.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Collapse of the Cooper pair phase coherence length at a superconductor to insulator transition

We present investigations of the superconductor to insulator transition (SIT) of uniform a-Bi films using a technique sensitive to Cooper pair phase coherence. The films are perforated with a nanohoneycomb array of holes to form a multiply connected geometry and subjected to a perpendicular magnetic field. Film magnetoresistances on the superconducting side of the SIT oscillate with a period dictated by the superconducting flux quantum and the areal hole density. The oscillations disappear close to the SIT critical point to leave a monotonically rising magnetoresistance that persists in the insulating phase. These observations indicate that the Cooper pair phase coherence length, which is infinite in the superconducting phase, collapses to a value less than the interhole spacing at this SIT. This behavior is inconsistent with the gradual reduction of the phase coherence length expected for a bosonic, phase fluctuation driven SIT. This result starkly contrasts with previous observations of oscillations persisting in the insulating phase of other films implying that there must be at least two distinct classes of disorder tuned SITs

The Upper Critical Field in Disordered Two-Dimensional Superconductors

We present calculations of the upper critical field in superconducting films as a function of increasing disorder (as measured by the normal state resistance per square). In contradiction to previous work, we find that there is no anomalous low-temperature positive curvature in the upper critical field as disorder is increased. We show that the previous prediction of this effect is due to an unjustified analytical approximation of sums occuring in the perturbative calculation. Our treatment includes both a careful analysis of first-order perturbation theory, and a non-perturbative resummation technique. No anomalous curvature is found in either case. We present our results in graphical form.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure