Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) : a qualitative methodology of choice in healthcare research

This paper focuses on the teaching of the qualitative method, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), to healthcare professionals (HCPs). It introduces briefly the philosophical background of IPA and how it has been used within healthcare research, and then discusses the teaching of IPA to HCPs within received educational theory. Lastly, the paper describes how IPA has been taught to students/trainees in some specific healthcare professions (clinical psychology, medicine, nursing and related disciplines). In doing this, the paper demonstrates the essential simplicity, paradoxical complexity, and methodological rigour that IPA can offer as a research tool in understanding healthcare and illness from the patient or service user perspective

What Difference Does ADR Make? Comparison of ADR and Trial Outcomes in Small Claims Court

This study compares the experience of small claims litigants who use alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) to those who proceeded to trial without ADR. ADR had significant immediate and long-term benefits, including improved party attitudes toward and relationship with each other, greater sense of empowerment and voice, increases in parties taking responsibility for the dispute, and increases in party satisfaction with the judiciary. Cases that settled in ADR also were less likely to return to court for an enforcement action within the next year

Portfolios as developmentally appropriate assessment in early childhood education

Traditional use of formal assessment techniques in early childhood education is not congruent with the knowledge and philosophies that have begun to guide curriculum and practice. The discontent with current assessment approaches has created a need to develop alternate assessment methods. The practice of portfolio assessment is posed as a developmentally appropriate alternative in this thesis. Current literature on portfolio assessment related to kindergarten/first grade setting supports portfolio assessment in both theory and practice in early childhood education

The Restorative Workplace: An Organizational Learning Approach to Discrimination

On the fiftieth anniversary of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, many employers continue to search for ways to implement the law’s antidiscrimination and equal opportunity mandates into the workplace. The current litigation-based approach to employment discrimination under Title VII and similar laws focuses on weeding out “bad apples” who are explicitly prejudiced. This “victim-villain” paradigm may fail to correct the complex, nuanced causes of workplace discrimination, or exacerbate the problem. This article explores an alternative approach—restorative practices—that may integrate the policy goals of antidiscrimination laws into the practical realities of managing an organization. Restorative practices engage everyone in the organization with a sense of ownership in and commitment to the mission of building an inclusive, egalitarian workplace. Merging research from the fields of employment law, organizational management, and cognitive psychology, this article analyzes how restorative practices can facilitate an organizational learning approach to workplace discrimination. Proactively, restorative dialogue helps to build social capital, reduce explicit and implicit biases, and cultivate a shared commitment to egalitarian norms. Reactively, restorative practices can manage defensive routines often triggered by discrimination complaints and provide a process that can transform conflict into greater understanding and change. A restorative approach makes it more likely that the individuals involved—and the larger organization—can repair the harms caused by discrimination, correct systemic issues underlying the problem, and learn to prevent inequities in the future