Abstracts,Oral,and Symposia Presentation for Qualitative Methods Conference,2018

The PCAP Women’s Quilt—Mothering, Quilting, and Healing

Dorothy Badry, University of Calgary

The Parent Child Assistance Program (PCAP) Women’s Quilt Project was completed in Alberta, Canada, in 2015 and is a reflection of the work of 30 women participants who mostly parent their children and are supported in long-term intensive mentoring relationships. The PCAP program works with vulnerable women who struggle with addictions and have given birth or are at risk of giving birth to a child born with prenatal alcohol exposure and often receive a diagnosis of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). FASD is a disability that comes with many challenges and mothering work requires perseverance and support. The use of visual methodology combined with narratives of women’s lives effectively worked to support women who gathered together across rural and urban locations to create a quilt square reflecting the meaning of their experience in the PCAP program, and particularly, their one to one work with a mentor over 3 years. Images were colorfully hand drawn by women on quilting fabric and then transformed as a collective quilt by a master quilter who also offered some interpretative reflections. Women were provided a framed photograph of their quilt square and a photograph of the entire quilt post project. Key themes included mothering, security, and hope. The use of qualitative research and visual methods in particular holds great value in working with vulnerable and marginalized women. The PCAP women’s quilt is a powerful reflection of hope, healing, and transformation.

Is a Picture Worth a Thousand Words? Exploring the Effectiveness of Photo-Elicitation to Research Body Image

Aly Bailey, Brock University

Lindsay E. Cline, Brock University

Wellington Dufferin-Guelph, Brock University

Kimberley L. Gammage, Brock University

Body image is a sensitive topic of discussion, particularly for older adult women whose bodies have changed with age. Photo-elicitation may be a useful method for older women to more easily discuss the complex and sensitive nature of their body image experiences; however, this method has been seldom used within body image research. As part of a study exploring the effectiveness of using photographs to elicit body image conversations with women (55+), we investigated how photo-elicitation may facilitate or hinder discussions about body image. For instance, photographs were used to express symbolic representations of the body and how these experiences were complexly intertwined with changes in function and appearance from aging and disability. This finding was unique compared to previous interview studies about body image, demonstrating added depth this method may provide to a body image study. In addition, participants became more aware and critical of their habitual thoughts about their body through the process of collecting photographs. Therefore, the photo-elicitation method had positive body image benefits outside the original intent of the study. The challenges of using photography to capture body image will also be discussed. Although photographs allowed the women to delve into intersectional experiences, they also described feeling overwhelmed by the task of finding images that could capture such intricacy. Since body image is complex, future body image researchers using this method may want to explore a more focused research question, so participants are less daunted by the task of finding photographs.

Getting to Grips With Social Reality: Using an Inductive/Deductive Balance to Navigate Between Social Constructionism and Positivism in Qualitative Research

Matt Barnard, National Centre Social Research

The philosophical stance a researcher takes has a real-world impact on their methodological approach and their interpretation of findings. Social constructionism, where reality is seen as constructed by the individual without reference to a “real” social world, has long dominated qualitative approaches, typified by the focus on “induction” within analysis. However, for researchers engaged with real-world issues, particularly within an applied setting, social constructionism poses profound challenges in terms of the applicability and generalisability of the research. At the other end of the spectrum, qualitative research directly derived from a quantitative or “positivist” paradigm (which can be characterised as placing an overemphasis on numerical findings, the accessibility of social “facts” and the lack of awareness of richness, complexity, and individual experience within the social world) can impose methodological strictures on qualitative research that undermines its core strengths by using a determinist “deductive” framework to guide data collection and analysis. This presentation will explore these issues and illustrate how framework analysis, set within a critical realist philosophical paradigm, uses a self-conscious balance between induction and deduction in order to generate findings that have real-world applicability without sacrificing the traditional strengths of qualitative enquiry.

Researching Across Two Cultures: Shifting Positionality

Rachel Barnard, University of London

Madeline Cruice, University of London

Julia Jones, University of Hertfordshire

The research was conducted on three stroke wards in the United Kingdom, between 2015 and 2017, with the aim of understanding how speech and language therapists and nurses share information about patients. Researcher clinicians have reported on the challenges involved in conducting research within their own profession, balancing the advantages of familiarity with the need for analytical distance. My interest in the liminal space between two distinct professional cultures meant that my position was in constant flux between inside, outside, familiar, and distant. Managing acceptability to each profession resulted in personal dissonance as well as moments of insight, both for the research and for my clinical self. Findings from reflexive practice at all stages of the project, from negotiating access to writing up, will be presented to illustrate how the research was both facilitated and obstructed by my professional and personal history. I will draw on Bourdieu’s concept of habitus to argue that as the life world of nurses became more familiar to me, my own habitus underwent a process of change. I will discuss how incorporating this insight into the analysis enhanced the rigor of the ethnography and increased its potential to influence clinical practice.

Opportunities and Challenges in Using Qualitative Research Tools in Impact Assessment of Social Programs

Prema Basargekar, K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies & Research

Impact assessment of any social program is a challenging task due to various reasons. Firstly, it involves understanding the perception of the beneficiaries of the program about the benefits which many a times are intangible. Secondly, many social programs like microfinance focus on empowerment of women coming from weaker section of the society which itself is a bottom-up approach. In such case, the researcher needs to understand the impact by going through the beneficiary’s own expressions and thought process. Thirdly, the traditional quantitative methods such as use of Likert-type scale or selection of answers from various options given have limitations in capturing such nuances of the development process. Qualitative research instruments such as focus group discussions, case studies, and individual narratives play an important role in going deeper in understanding various layers of the development process from the beneficiary’s own point of view. The challenge is in deciding the weightage of these tools so as to relate it to the entire population of the beneficiaries. The paper will discuss the opportunities and challenges of using some of the qualitative tools used by the author in her earlier research in assessing the impact of social programs with particular reference to India.

Working Towards the Promise of Participatory Action Research: Learning From Ageing Research Exemplars

Tanya Benjamin-Thomas, Western University

Colleen McGrath, Western University

Ann Marie Corrado, Western University

Carri Hand, Western University

Participatory action research (PAR) embodies a commitment to equitable collaboration of researchers with community members in all phases of the research process with an intent for social transformation. While there is increasing utilization of this approach, there are demonstrated inconsistencies in how its key components, namely, participation and transformation, are enacted. We conducted a critical interpretive synthesis (CIS) of PAR studies with older adults identified using a systemic search across several databases. Enactment of the concept of “participation” ranged from collaboration of community members in all research phases to involvement of community members as simply participants for data collection. “Action” was also enacted along a continuum, ranging from the authors solely describing research implications to the involvement of community members in facilitating social change within institutions, programs, or policies. The aim of this presentation is to critically discuss PAR by drawing from 14 key exemplars of this approach with older adults and to critically evaluate how and to what extent the principles of PAR were enacted. Through critically analyzing and discussing these exemplars, we will highlight a critical appraisal guide developed, as well as display key components to enacting the full commitment of PAR and some strategies that researchers have used to address this commitment. In turn, we hope that the guide and findings provide useful directions for researchers who desire to more fully embrace PAR and demonstrate a full commitment to enacting the promise of PAR for equitable collaboration and social transformation.

Better by the Least Amount of Damage: Critical Ethnography and an International Teaching Practicum

Rogerio Bernardes, Nipissing University

Glenda Black, Nipissing University

James Otieno Jowi, East African Community

Kevin Wilcox, Nipissing University

Critical ethnography begins with an ethical commitment and responsibility to try and make the world a “better place” by addressing processes of unfairness and oppression within particular lived domains. Yet the challenge is fraught with philosophical, relational, and practical concerns. When is studying and (re)presenting different people and situations an act of domination, an imposition of the outsider’s worldview? Is a better place always defined by greater freedom, equity, and more choice? And, who gets to decide? We use the example of a critical ethnographic study our group conducted on an international teaching practicum in Kenya. In the research, we attempted to (re)present the experiences of Canadian teacher candidates and the host Kenyan community. Looking back with the benefit of hindsight, and forward with a vision to a more equitable future, we explore both philosophical and practical aspects of the research: the conceptualization/design of the study; the quest for funding; researcher positioning and collaboration; institutional and logistical frameworks; practicum organization, implementation, and follow-up; data collection; data analysis and write-up; and dissemination of findings. In ethnographic research, it is not enough for researchers to state their positionality—they need to reflect how their positionality influences their paradigms, authority, moral responsibility, representation, and interpretation. We look at how systems of whiteness and institutional power influence research right from the type of questions one can ask to the dissemination of findings. In particular, we explore ways in which White researchers might “trip up” their own positions of power in intercultural settings.

Reality Between Self-Experience and Online Representation: Ethnographic Strategies for Reconstructing Fitness Lifestyle

Tim Bindel, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz

Fitness culture describes a temporary research field that calls for ethnographic approaches. From rites to artifacts, values to social orders—fitness is a complete world on its own and the idea of change in order to achieve success seems to be one of its central aspects. Research approaches thus have to consider changing behaviors of their subjects’ progress toward a fitness lifestyle.

In the Department of Sport Pedagogy in Mainz (Germany), two major qualitative approaches have been used to investigate this phenomenon of change: autoethnography(Adams, Jones & Ellis, 2015) and netnography. For the past year and a half, the central aspects and practices of fitness have become the foreground activity of the Mainz researchers. Their findings have been translated into field notes, documented by video and photography, and published in a blog to be discussed among a specific group of friends, students, and colleagues. In addition, netnography has helped to identify the major incentive for subjects’ “hanging on”: that is, popular role models who are able to transform restrictive behavior into fun by using distinct pictures and commentary. In this lecture, the intensive and productive work of the autoethnographic project and the methods of ethnographical research via the Internet will be presented. This investigation leads to a philosophical question about qualitative research: How do we discuss (social) reality in the contexts of self-experience and online investigation—two approaches that seem to be very different?

Listening to Experience: Audio-Journals as Texts in Hermeneutic Research

Galicia Blackman, University of Calgary

In this presentation, I discuss some of research processes involved in a 2017 hermeneutic study of classroom talk, which sought to understand students’ experiences of classroom talk in language arts. Some concepts in philosophical hermeneutics influenced the research process and the decisions to use interviewing, classroom observations, and audio-journals. These concepts include interpreting and understanding participants’ lived experiences, dialogue as a means of arriving at understanding, and attention to language and text in the research process. There are many academic texts on how to conduct interviewing and observations in qualitative research, but few, if any, on the use of audio-journals as a feasible research method. In this presentation, I describe my process of coming to use audio-journals as a sound research method. I summarize the available literature on related methods (audio-diaries, audio-interviewing, and participant diaries), and then I examine the shortcoming and limitations, as well as the strengths of audio-journals. Then, I describe how I collected and analyzed data using audio-journals, and I consider what I would have done differently, knowing what I know now. As I prepare for other research, I can say with confidence, based on the failures and strengths of using audio-journals in the field, this research method can serve some research topics well. My presentation closes with a look at the kinds of studies which could benefit from this method, and the methodological and ethical cautions to attend to if it is a method you might consider for your research.

Spiritual Exchanging: A Methodological Approach for Creating Better Stories

Victoria Bouvier, University of Calgary

Jennifer MacDonald, University of Calgary

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) Final Report (2015) has called for the renewal of Indigenous–Settler relations which has subsequently become a locus of research across disciplines. Our work is inspired by the TRC and a desire to contribute to “stories and mythologies that teach us how to be good relatives with all our relations human and more-than-human” (Donald, 2016, p. 11). As doctoral students, we have been challenged by methodologies that continue to privilege a cognitive way of sharing together. As a Michif-Metis woman and a White settler, we share in a layered dialogue a “spiritual exchange” (Ghostkeeper, 2007) situated within ethical relationality (Donald, 2016) that centers embodied spiritual ways of knowing. Our research method was brought to life by everyday moments of enchantment, “something that we encounter, that hits us” (Bennett, 2001, pp. 4–5). Honouring these moments of enchantment, we iteratively captured photographs and wrote coinciding reflexive text entries to each other in order to examine our narratives. The praxis of our responses opened up spaces for us to “see what we have not dared hitherto to look at, unmasking the journey of a phenomenon coming into being, and engaging ourselves in imagining its passing out of being” (Maracle, 2008, p. 232). Through this innovative research process, we engaged across a cultural divide to better understand each other and collaboratively create better stories on how to be good relatives. Our presentation will illustrate our methodological process of using photographs and dialogical text to create spaces for enriched and meaningful dialogue.

Living Resilience: Aligning Academic Conceptualizations of Resilience With Lived Experiences

Jessamyn Bowling, University of NC at Charlotte

Kendra Jason, University of NC at Charlotte

Resilience is a burgeoning focus in health research, yet researchers have varying conceptual and methodological approaches to understanding resilience in vulnerable populations. Further, we argue that marginalized voices are not being authentically captured; researchers apply traditional conceptualizations of resilience that may not reflect participants’ lived experiences. Academic understandings may be subsequently limited, but interventions to support resilience may fail to include participants’ sense of themselves or their reality. To analyze how resilience is defined in the current literature, we reviewed articles focusing on resilience in two predominant qualitative journals (Qualitative Health Research Journal and International Journal of Qualitative Methods) from 2007 to 2017. In this presentation, we will discuss the various terms used to describe resilience (e.g., coping, thriving) and their implications. We will present a typology of approaches used to operationalize resilience in qualitative resilience research. This presentation will also introduce a theoretical framework to better capture the lived experiences of resilience as presented by the study population. We will demonstrate the utility of the framework using findings in the authors’ interdisciplinary work with diverse populations (age, race, gender identities, and health status).

Challenges of Using Participatory and Creative Approaches Within Qualitative Research

Nicole Brown, University College London

In recent years, research articles highlight the benefits of participatory and creative methods in yielding richer data and in better addressing the power differentials between researchers and the researched. However, reports on problematic issues in relation to the introduction of creative, participatory, collaborative elements are less prominent. In my paper, I explore the challenges and less successful aspects of the making processes and creative methods. My research relates to the construction of identity of academics diagnosed with fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia is a complex, contested syndrome characterised by widespread pain, chronic fatigue, sleep problems, psychological disorders, and cognitive dysfunctions and is on the cusp of the physiological, psychological, and somatic. To encourage participants to reflect on, make sense of, and express their experiences, which are usually difficult to express in words, I use making and doing. Participants complete an identity box, which requires them to find objects representing their responses to questions such as “Who are you?,” “What affects you?,” or “How do others see you?.” Interestingly, academics are reticent to embrace creative methods and approaches. This experience of academics struggling with the participatory elements as research participants is in stark contrast to the increased trends towards these approaches. Additional challenges for using creative methods are issues around time and commitment leading to high dropout rates, which is also due to the disabling and unpredictable nature of fibromyalgia. Drawing on my research data and experience, I will conclude with reflections on the difficulties relating to the analysis of nontraditional, “messy” data.

Weathering the Storm: Assessing Go-Along Interviews With Formerly Homeless Older Adults in a Winter City

Victoria Burns, University of Calgary

Natalie St-Denis, University of Calgary

Although research on older homelessness is gaining traction, narrow theoretical and methodological designs have been unable to contextualize older adults’ experiences in the diverse places in which they live. Drawing on a critical gerontological place-based perspective, this project uses go-along interviews to explore how sense of place is created by a diverse population of formerly homeless older adults in Calgary, Alberta. Go-along interviewing is a participatory approach that involves participants guiding the researcher on their natural outings. This innovative mobile approach is particularly fitting for place-based research as it provides a vibrant and revealing source of insight beyond traditional sit-down interviews. This presentation will consider some of the challenges and opportunities of conducting go-along interviews with formerly homeless older adults in their home and surrounding communities. Specific challenges related to logistics, ethics, mobility, and winter city navigation will be highlighted. Overall, this presentation aims to shed light on the potential of go-along interviews as an empowering, participatory-research approach, particularly with vulnerable populations.

Self-Study? When Does It End?

Tim Buttler, Burman University

I am using the Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices methodology, to examine my practice as a science teacher educator. In the process of data collection and analysis, I discovered that my teaching philosophy (beliefs) do not align well with my teaching practice (pedagogy). I realize my epistemological stance is moving from a traditional, positivist stance to more of a constructivist stance. This is creating somewhat of a crisis for me as the researcher. I want to change some of my practices immediately, but how do I do that in the middle of my study. Based on this living contradiction, I am somewhat stymied to know how to proceed with my research. I want to be true to my beliefs, but I am also afraid that starting to change my practice will extend my research process substantially. How does one study a changing self? When the self-study method uncovers such a conundrum, how does it end? My presentation will focus on how I am learning to deal with the tension of wanting to bring closure to my self-study while at the same time wanting to tell the story of my growing alignment between beliefs and practices.

Researcher Roles and Reflexivity: Challenges and Implications of the Nurse Researcher

Shelley Canning, University of British Columbia

Alison Phinney, University of British Columbia

Older adults living with advanced symptoms of dementia in long-term residential care homes have complex cognitive, communication, and functional deficits. They are frail with multiple care needs and present a range of ethical and methodological challenges to researchers. For example, while informed consent is obtained from substitute decision makers, assent and dissent require the researcher to recognize participant’s expressions of well-being and ill-being. Similarly, data gathering methods must be tailored to the participant’s ways of communicating and interacting. In the face of the obvious frailty and care needs of research participants with advanced dementia, nurse researchers are influenced by both their clinical and research lenses. Thus, the extent to which the researcher’s clinical role and expertise influences the research process must be interrogated. My dissertation research involves participants with advanced dementia and I am keenly aware of my expertise as both a clinician and a researcher in the research process. As a nurse, my comfort and familiarity in the clinical setting positions me as an “insider” within the unit during participant observation. My practice skills support my ability to seek assent and gather data with participants who communicate and behave in challenging ways. Through my researcher lens, I observe my participants engaging in meaningful activities and relationships; but, through my clinician lens, I observe their comfort and safety. This poster presentation explores the challenges and implications of these at times competing roles and the importance of self-reflexivity as an ongoing process throughout the research process.

A Guide for Autoethnography Appreciation

Ronald Chenail, Nova Southeastern University

Crafting autoethnographies involves qualitative researchers making many choices across the three primary elements of the method: the autobiographical, the ethnographic, and the graphic. Traditionally, guides to creating and critiquing autoethnographies have had a tendency of embracing either an evocative or an analytical perspective which may present an overly simplistic operationalization of quality and sometimes an overly hostile critical reaction to stylistic differences and values. Regardless the researcher’s orientation or the reader’s response to the autoethnographic ingredients, an appreciation of autoethnography qualities can be understood by utilizing nine interrogatory “P’s”: Person: Who is writing the autoethnography; Populace: What is the social group to which the person is identifying; Position: What is the person’s relationship to the populace; Problem: What is the challenge experienced by the person/populace; Purpose: Why is the person writing the autoethnography; Perspective: What is the person’s lens; Plan: How was the autoethnography created; Product: What is the autoethnography; and Praxis: What are the implications of the inquiry? Implications of this autoethnographic appreciation will be illustrated through a careful reading of a published autoethnography and a suggested template for conceiving and conducting an autoethnographic project.

Cultural and Personal Meanings of Seeking Social Support: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

Alexander Choy, University of Calgary

The purpose of this pilot study is to present an idiographic, in-depth examination of the experiences of Chinese Canadian postsecondary students in seeking social support using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Chinese Canadians and Americans face culture-specific challenges and barriers to accessing mental health services. Social support in the form of informal helping relationships represents an alternative avenue of addressing the mental health needs of Chinese Canadian students. Three Canadian-born Chinese students from a Western Canadian university were recruited to participate in semistructured interviews consisting of open-ended questions about cultural and personal factors related to experiences of seeking social support. Interviews were conducted, audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using IPA. Results reflect participants’ shared and unique perspectives on cultural, personal, and developmental influences on experiences of seeking social support. Participants also understood effective social support as a sense of family, validation, trust, belonging, and being authentically seen. This study demonstrates how IPA may be used in qualitative research of cultural and personal understandings of experiences related to mental health and seeking social support.

Theoretical Sampling Online Survey Data in a Grounded Theory Study: An Exemplar

Ylona Chuntie, James Cook University

Karen Francis, James Cook University

Melanie Birks, James Cook University

Grounded theory is a flexible methodology when little is known about a substantive area of inquiry. However, determining if a topic is significant, particularly if it is potentially controversial and has been widely investigated is a challenge for researchers. Using an online survey in initial data collection, while not a traditional approach in grounded theory, is a creative method to confirm the need for a study. Moreover, theoretical sampling from survey data can inform the direction of a grounded theory study. This technique was used to gauge the need for a study that aimed to explore how internationally qualified registered nurses and Australian qualified registered nurses adapt to working together in the Australian health-care system and develop a theory that explains this process. Responses to the online survey (n = 182) indicated sufficient interest in the topic to proceed and analysis of the survey data realized key areas to guide theoretical sampling for further data collection. The use of theoretical sampling in the second phase of the study resulted in recruitment of 15 participants for interview. A semistructured interview schedule informed by the survey data was developed and guided conversations with the participants. A grounded theory that describes the process by which internationally qualified nurses adapt was achieved that identifies critical points during the trajectory from recruitment to employment at which interventions to facilitate integration of international nurses within the Australian nursing workforce should be implemented.

The Central Role of Theory in Qualitative Research

Christopher S. Collins, Azusa Pacific University

Carrie Stockton, Biola University

Qualitative research may be criticized for the ways in which subjectivity produces capricious variability. Two cornerstones of qualitative methods have served to reinforce legitimacy within social science research. The first is the rigor and application of various approaches, including narrative, phenomenology, case study, grounded theory, and others. The second is in the acknowledgement of the role of the researcher. An essential acknowledgement and exposition of the role of the researcher enhances the clarity and rigor of qualitative research. Furthermore, there are key ways in which the researcher as an instrument of data collection can evolve and refine the craft (e.g., emotional intelligence in the interviewer in Collins & Cooper, 2012). This presentation makes the case for another cornerstone to bolster the qualitative approach by recognizing and advancing the use of a theoretical framework. Our project builds on the arguments that epistemology and methodological rigor are essential by adding the notion that the influence of theory permeates almost every aspect of the study—even if the author does not recognize the circumstance (Anfara & Metz, 2015; Glesne, 2011). Compilers of methodological approaches have referred to the use of theory as a coat closet in which different items can be housed (Maxwell) or a lens through which the literature and data in the study are viewed (Creswell). In this presentation, we offer a quadrant for evaluating the use of theory, and a diagram of the qualitative project that points to the central role of a theoretical framework.

Creating Patient Engagement Through Innovative Methods

Karen Cook, Athabasca University

Kim Bergeron, Athabasca University

Patients, researchers, and health-care providers must actively collaborate in health research to create meaningful outcomes for patients and build sustainable programs. Our study demonstrates the effectiveness of Concept Mapping™ to generate engagement across patients, health and community providers, and researchers. A growing number of young adults with life-limiting conditions require a palliative approach to eliminate barriers to education, funding, and community living supports that currently preclude their opportunities to achieve their goals in their shortened lifetime. Concept mapping is an ideal strategy for these young adults who depend on technology, are geographically dispersed, have limited mobility, fatigue easily, and require flexible options for participation. We joined young adults, their parents, and health and community representatives in an online concept mapping process to determine their priorities for a palliative approach to care. Both themed (qualitative) and statistical (quantitative) methods and analysis were used to capture, organize, group, and rank descriptive and conceptual data from the participants. This presentation will describe the three-phase concept mapping process we used to determine the participants’ priorities for a palliative approach to care, the unique attributes of the qualitative and quantitative components of the study, and our key outcomes. These outcomes include actions to improve programming and funding and create a continuum of care. Implications for practice and future research endeavors will also be discussed. To our knowledge, this is the first Canadian study to engage young adults, their parents, and community providers to develop a palliative approach to care.

Using a Critical Thematic Analysis to Facilitate Change in Students’ Mental Health

Meghan Corbett, University of Guelph

Society and research are facing changes. There is an increasing focus on social justice and challenging the status quo to facilitate change. Postsecondary students in Canada are experiencing high rates of mental health difficulties and continually increasing demands for services. Clearly, there are unmet mental health needs among Canadian postsecondary students, and yet mental health research is neglecting to listen to student perspectives and is neglecting to use a critical framework to facilitate real change. Thematic analysis is often used to explore assumptions and implications—key tenets of critical psychology—but is rarely explicitly labelled as part of critical psychology. This study uses an explicitly labelled critical thematic analysis to explore the assumptions and implications of student conceptualizations of mental health. This is done with the goal of bringing attention to the need for critically based research done from students’ perspectives in order to produce real change in meeting students’ mental health needs. This study uses semistructured interviews and a critical thematic analysis to explore (a) how students conceptualize mental health, (b) their assumptions regarding the nature of mental health and the perceived consequences of having or not having mental health, and (c) the implications these assumptions hold for students’ mental health. Participants were 20 upper-year university students from a variety of programs at a mid-sized Southwestern Canadian university. Results will be discussed.

Data Analysis Types in Education Through the Use of Software: The webQDA Case

António Pedro Costa, University of Aveiro

Maria Cecília de Souza Minayo, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation

The analysis of qualitative data in education tracks different paths, exploring various techniques, such as content analysis, discourse analysis, thematic, and narrative analysis. On the other hand, the use of Computer Assisted Qualitative Data AnalysiS has been increasing in terms of demand but also in the solutions available to researchers. The current scenario places these tools as essential, not only because they provide accuracy and systematization to research projects but also allow to reach results that otherwise wouldn’t be possible. In this context, software packages incorporate features that allow them to adapt to different techniques of analysis. In this study, we aim at understanding the pathways that researchers in education follow when using qualitative analysis software. To that end, we applied a questionnaire survey and conducted evaluation workshops for webQDA users—www.webqda.net (Souza, Costa, & Moreira, 2016)—in the area of Education. Results indicate that the most used technique is Content Analysis. Considering the steps defined in the e-book “Content Analysis in seven steps with webQDA” (Costa & Amado, 2017), most users don’t explore all the proposed steps, staying with the interpretive/inferential coding. We conclude that there is no knowledge or concern in the search for patterns, which can be achieved, for example, through the creation of “Matrices.” Although the technique most applied by users of webQDA in Education is Content Analysis, in the open answers (analyzed using webQDA), respondents propose functionalities that also allow exploring other techniques, such as social network and sentiment analysis.

Ethical Challenges in Navigating Access to a Research Site

Sherry Dahlke, University of Alberta

Sarah Stahlke, University of Alberta

One of the essential elements of conducting qualitative research is gaining access to participants, which often involves organizational gatekeepers. Researchers rely on gatekeepers for access to the study site and its community of stakeholders, opportunities to communicate the study to potential participants, and, at times, meeting and interview space. Recently, we conducted a focused ethnographic study in a health-care organization. Our goal was to recruit, interview, and observe staff members from across the institution and from a range of occupational groups to explore their experiences of teamwork and the impact that their work relationships had on their job satisfaction. Managers in our study setting were highly enthusiastic about our study, which, although providing much needed support to our study, resulted in our growing concern that workers might have felt inadvertently coerced to participate in our study. In this presentation, we discuss how we identified and navigated the ethical issues that arose from the helpfulness of our gatekeepers. We share the ways in which our notions of research ethics were challenged and discuss how we managed aspects of the research process, such as information sessions, snowball sampling, and consent, within this positive but complicated research context.

Addressing Social Justice Issues: Critical Constructivist Grounded Theory

Carolyn Daniels, CQ University

Kylie Radel, CQ University

Wendy Hillman, CQ University

This paper focuses on the development of a new methodology, critical constructivist grounded theory. The research instigating development of a new methodology began as a constructivist grounded theory study exploring how Australian women navigate and experience career transitions, specifically the transitions to higher education and the workforce. During data collection, two distinct groups emerged: Group 1, mature age students on entry to university, and Group 2, those who had transitioned from high school directly to university. Social justice issues emerged during the iterative processes of constructivist grounded theory, particularly for Group 1 women. Many of these women experienced an up to 5-fold burden of time as they juggled work, care, study, domestic responsibilities, and small business administration. They shared their stories about the lack of family and partner support, of time and sleep deprivation, and for some, domestic violence, domination, resistance, and abandonment while studying. Concurrently, many experienced “pressure,” “guilt,” and “stress”; changed; and broken relationships and financial insecurity. These social justice issues prompted an exploration into including a critical perspective to the research design. Reviewing and juxtaposing constructivist grounded theory with critical theory revealed their shared commensurable, axiomatic elements making adaption, and concurrent practice of both possible. Central to the new methodology are critical colors analysis processes enabling systematic examination of the social, political, cultural, economic, structural, gender, and historical forces impacting women’s lives. The methodology provides a multiprismatic view of the data, pinpointing underlying power and structural inequalities. Critical colors analysis methods are adaptable to other axiologically commensurate methodologies.

Narrative Approach to Qualitative Data in Complex, Multisite, Evaluation of Intervention Research Program: An Insightful, Iterative and Efficient Approach to Qualitative Data Analysis in Health Research

Emilie Dionne, McGill University

Cathie Scott, PolicyWise for Children and Families

Jeannie Haggerty, McGill University

Narrative approach in qualitative research is gaining more attention in health research. Narrative approach provide key insights into participant’s experiences and subjectivity. It also supports impactful intervention design in health-care research. This presentation provides an overview of the methodology that was designed for the qualitative data collection and analysis of a mixed-methods evaluation research project in the context of a 5-year, multisite, international research program that aims to improve access to care via organization changes in primary health care (PHC). The final research stream of this research program pertains to the implementation and evaluation of an intervention in PHC settings. For the evaluation, the team opted for a mixed-methods research approach, and it relies on two theoretical frameworks: Levesque et al. (2013)’s conceptual access model as well as the research program’s logic map. Using a combination of tape-based analysis, narrative approach to data collection and analysis, coding templates for interviews, and an iterative approach to analysis, the Canadian qualitative team designed a unique and rigorous approach to qualitative data that we argue is especially suited in the context of conducting a multisite evaluation research protocol. This method was designed through a close iterative process with the research program’s three Canadian sites in which an impact intervention is implemented. To assess the rigour and qualitative strength of this methodology, the three remaining sites for the implementation of the intervention used a traditional approach to data collection and analysis. Combining tape-based analysis and a narrative approach to qualitative evaluation research provides an insightful, participatory, capacity building, and innovative approach to health research and intervention design.

Faith and Black Caribbean Immigrants: A Heuristic Study

Sandra Dixon, University of Lethbridge

Despite the crucial role that faith tradition plays in the lives of many Black Caribbean Immigrants, the merits of their faith have been underrepresented within the multicultural counselling literature. With a greater need for religious inclusivity in counselling practice, Black Caribbean Immigrants are a nondominant group within Canada’s multicultural society whose voice need to be heard on a broader counselling platform that values faith-based practices. Utilizing the qualitative methodological framework of heuristic inquiry, a recent study was completed on a subset of Black Caribbean Immigrant populations: Jamaican Canadian Immigrant Women. Results of this study revealed the relevance of faith in the unique immigration experiences of these coresearchers (i.e., Jamaican Canadian Immigrant Women). Heuristic inquiry, a methodological approach that allows for the researcher’s passion and subjective experience, is underdeveloped in the field of multicultural counselling. This presentation will demonstrate how passion, mutual respect, and faith can intersect while preserving the quality and ethical integrity of the heuristic methodology.

Using Ketso and Appreciative Inquiry in Educational Research: Promoting the Feel Good Factor

Dianna Douglas, University of Strathclyde

Paul Adams, University of Strathclyde

Kate Wall, University of Strathclyde

While the use of visual methodologies and appreciative inquiry have been increasingly used in educational research, combining both approaches in the same study appears to be under developed. As a novice researcher, Ketso, a visual research methodology offered a systematic way to run interactive focus groups and interviews. Using reusable colored shapes on a felt workplace, this interactive tool was used to promote active learning by helping participants connect their ideas and understanding of collaborative classroom teaching and learning. Collectively and individually, the Scots are often seen by themselves and others to lack self-confidence. An appreciative inquiry approach was used alongside Ketso to generate an understanding of what strengthens the potential of collaborative teaching and learning activities. Intentionally shifting the focus from problems or limitations associated with collaborative classroom activities to what works well was seen to be a more potentially rewarding approach for participants. This is because focusing on, for example, the positive past and looking for what works well may promote the feel-good factor and may be more likely to inspire, enthuse, and motivate people to promote meaningful change.

This presentation will discuss the rationale underpinning the use of Ketso and appreciative inquiry within a Scottish university. In particular, the linkages between the methodology and social constructivism will be made explicit. The study explored the relationship between Year 3 undergraduate nursing students and nurse lecturer’s conceptions of the pedagogies associated with collaborative teaching and learning and their contribution to professional practice.

The Government of Child Culture: The Construction of the “Good” Child(hood) Through “Mommy Blogs”

Erin Duebel, University of Alberta

Shanon Phelan, University of Alberta

“Mommy blogs” are an emerging online text in which mothers write about their personal experiences of parenting, family life, and raising children. These texts (re)produce discourses of the “good” mother and the good child(hood), which in turn shape how mothers interpret their role, and the role of child culture, in constructing the ideal child. Informed by feminist theory and the new sociology of childhood perspectives, a critical discourse analysis of Mommy blogs was conducted to examine discourses shaping the construction of the good child(hood) and the governing effects of such discourses on child culture. An analysis of 16 blog entries from 16 separate blogs involved ongoing engagement and abstraction with good mother and good child(hood) discourses and their potential effects through the process of reading, coding, interim analysis, and reflexive dialogue through regular team meetings. We asked the following questions of the data set: How do mommy blogs represent the good child(hood)? and what are the governing effects? Analysis generated three themes representing the good child(hood): (re)production of the moral child, the skillful child, and the future adult. Mothers are tasked with the responsibility to teach and monitor morality of their child and prioritize educational activities above child-driven initiatives, in the interest of creating a foundation for becoming a good or “successful” adult. As a result, these texts (re)create discourses that have a governing effect on parenting and ultimately on children’s opportunities to fully participate in cultural life.

Borrowing Concepts Versus Reinventing the Wheel in Grounded Theory (GT) Research Studies

Mohamed El Hussein, Mount Royal University

Jim Rankin, University of Calgary

Karen Then, University of Calgary

Grounded theory (GT) is an inductive research method used to understand what is occurring in a specific social context derived from the perspective of individuals in that milieu. The objective is to generate an organizing concept or theory. The pressure on GT researchers to find “something new” leads to overuse of description and generation of redundant findings where authors describe similar processes yet give them different names. Failure to organize similar processes (GT material) under one concept results in losing track of the generated knowledge. If GT researchers “borrowed” validated concepts, knowledge generated will become organized and structured providing better access to GT researchers who are exploring similar processes. Thus, GT material will act as a springboard from which to launch new studies and provide researcher with an opportunity to discover new concepts. We conducted a literature search using “dissertation and thesis” database. The term “grounded theory” was used as the key word and the search filter was set, so that the key word appeared in the abstract. The initial search generated 11,596 hits. The authors narrowed the search criteria to include only dissertations published in the last 5 years in the discipline of nursing yielding 230 theses. A random sample of 25 theses were obtained and we studied the generated concepts in those theses to discover overlapping of processes and undergeneration of concepts. The purpose of this presentation is to propose a novel approach to GT research in an attempt to ensure the discovery of new knowledge.

Integrated Participatory Data Analysis (IPDA) in Community-Based Research (CBR): Demystifying the Research Process

Josephine Etowa, Yvette Yende Ashiri University of Ottawa

Bagnini Kohoun, Yvette Yende Ashiri University of Ottawa

Solomon Lome, Yvette Yende Ashiri University of Ottawa

Eno Akan-Essien, AIDS Committee of Ottawa (ACO)

Meaningful engagement of a research team in all phases of the research process is an integral aspect of community-based participatory research. This paper presents the process of integrated participatory data analysis (IPDA) employed by our team. IPDA is a lively and didactic process of meaningful community engagement with a goal of collective immersion in and interrogation of qualitative data. First, it involves engaging in community conversation to review the “story line” and its context informed by the study’s theoretical framework and research question, purpose, and objectives. Various stakeholders including policy partners and community members participated in the process fueled by a wealth of passion and expertise. This community conversation ended with coding 101 seminar. Team members then work in pairs to identify ideas and codes in each data set or transcript. Focused conversation for interpreting key patterns was carried out as members shared and checked codes. The next group meeting involved collective interrogation of the sets of data for areas of commonality. We refined, defined, and named common themes. Finally, a group conversation was held to synthesis the patterns into logical combinations of themes, which formed the basis of a code book for further coding of all study transcripts using NVivo computer software. The use of this participatory process to data analysis ensured groundedness in the study context and the people impacted by the issue being studied, thereby establishing quality and relevance of the findings. The paper concludes with some of the transformative impacts of this meaningful community engagement.

What Makes You Say That? Towards a Discursively Informed Phenomenology

Sarah Feige, University of Guelph

Phenomenology, conceived as a human science, concerns itself with the meanings of phenomena as they are experienced by subjects. Associated research methods rely on the reflexive practice of bracketing, which makes them particularly well suited to exploring domains that are heavily loaded with a priori interpretations. Given the orientation to description, which aims to behold the subject’s perspective at face value and in the singular terms of the individual lifeworld, phenomenological approaches have been criticized for their insensitivity to discourse. Specifically, it has been argued that phenomenology does not engage with the symbolic order of socially shared meanings that structure experience itself. Using the example of a hermeneutic phenomenological study, I am conducting about university students’ experiences with student debt, this presentation will explore how phenomenological research can take account of historical and discursive contexts to explore the question: what does discourse mean for experience?

Describing Aajiiqatigiingniq: An Inuit-Specific Consensus Approach to Developing Community Wellness Indicators for a Prospective Nunavut Wellness Court

Priscilla Ferrazzi, University of Alberta

Shirley Tagalik, Aqqiummavik Society

Joe Karetak, Elders’ Advisory Committee

In the mainly Inuit territory of Nunavut, helping people affected by mental illness and addiction typically relies on non-Inuit conceptions of mental health and rehabilitation. In this community-based research project, a collaborative Inuit-and-non-Inuit research team asks how a Nunavut community can independently gauge its ability to help people achieve wellness in culturally appropriate ways. Understanding this ability is important to the likelihood of success for a Government of Nunavut prospective “Wellness Court” intended as a rehabilitation intervention for people with mental health and addiction issues. The study, involving focus groups and interviews with Inuit, will use a research method grounded in the Inuit concept of aajiiqatigiingniq, one of the eight guiding principles of traditional Inuit knowledge (Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit or IQ). Aajiiqatigiingniq is an Inuit consensus process and method of decision-making and is central to Inuit notions of wellness in the context of community harmony. Aajiiqatigniingniq will guide and inform the development of an Inuit-developed wellness indicator framework enabling a community to assess its capacity to provide Inuit-defined consensus-driven therapeutic support to a prospective Wellness Court. This research reclaims cultural systems for addressing health issues important to Inuit, empowering Inuit to shape policy and change practices that improve wellness, mental health, and addiction issues in their communities.

Using Vignettes to Learn About Contemporary Inuit Conceptions of Rehabilitation in a Canadian Arctic Justice Context

Priscilla Ferrazzi, University of Alberta

Shirley Tagalik, Aqqiummavik Society, Nunavut Ontario Justice Education Network

In the mainly Inuit territory of Nunavut, cultural stressors, such as the presence of Western Institutions and values, have been linked to crime rates 5.5 times higher than the rest of Canada and to disproportionate numbers of Inuit caught in the justice system. Young males, in particular, are vulnerable. While Nunavut criminal courts routinely apply Supreme Court of Canada decisions and criminal code provisions directing a different approach to aboriginal sentencing and include elders’ panels at sentencing and Inuktitut interpretation, they are considered cultural stressors themselves. The goal of this study is to create knowledge to inform a more culturally responsive court model for Nunavut, incorporating for the first time Inuit values in a predominately Western criminal court. The methods use an interview technique that introduces contextualized vignettes derived from past reported criminal cases from the Nunavut Court of Justice to prompt responses to interview questions from young Inuit men. Vignettes elicit perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes from responses to stories and encourage reciprocity in communication. They are well aligned with oral traditions. This study uses vignettes to explore contemporary Inuit ideas about rehabilitative approaches to young male criminal behavior; the potential for revitalization and/or adaptation of historical rehabilitative approaches to community transgressions that have been displaced or replaced; and protective factors that enhance resilience in the face of rapid cultural change that has been linked to crime. The results will help to answer, in part, the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s call to reduce aboriginal imprisonment.

Families Are Socially Constructed? What This Means for Qualitative Researchers

Lawrence Ganong, University of Missouri

Caroline Sanner, University of Missouri

Marilyn Coleman, University of Missouri

Qualitative scholars have paid heed to the notion that the boundaries of family membership are socially constructed. This phenomenon has been central to our research, but socially constructed relationships and family identities create challenges for us as qualitative researchers. In studying postdivorce families and stepfamilies, we have found that kinship is truly “in the eye of the beholder,” and we are aware that researchers’ definitions of family positions and relationships often differ from those held by family members. The ambiguity surrounding family language and labels, particularly in complex families, creates obstacles for recruiting participants and has demanded that our recruitment efforts are clear, yet flexible—precise, but not restrictive. For example, in recruiting individuals who self-identify as stepgrandparents, stepgrandchildren, half-siblings, or stepsiblings, we have learned that these familial labels can be restricting, as some individuals who technically fall into these categories are sometimes resistant to (and even defensive about) labels that suggest (to them) the relationship is anything less than fully familial. In other studies of former stepparents and stepchildren, we were challenged to make it clear what we meant—there are no widely accepted terms for “ex-step-relationships!” As qualitative researchers, we want to be respectful of the socially constructed kinship of the family members we study, while also exploring the research questions about families we find compelling. In this presentation, we examine the challenges of conducting qualitative research about ambiguous family relationships and we share our successful, and sometimes less-than-successful, efforts at addressing them.

Toward an Understanding of How Addiction Splices Poverty in Everyday Life: Fusing Narrative and Discourse Analytic Strategies

Amber Gazso, York University

This paper engages in the exercise of combining narrative and discourse methods to produce understanding of how addiction intersects with experiences of low income. To so, I draw from a qualitative study of the everyday life experiences of persons living with addiction while also in receipt of income support benefits from Ontario Works, Ontario’s social assistance policy and program. Notably, this study combined critical discourse analysis with in-depth interviews to explore the ideas and discourses that inform how persons living with addiction are conceptualized as eligible and then experience income support. In this paper, my specific purpose is to apply narrative and discourse analytical strategies to the interviews with 28 participants (15 women and 12 men) and reflexively consider the findings produced. The usefulness of this article’s exercise is suggested by the apparent differences in method and the knowledge promised by them. While narrative analysis invites deep exploration of how stories reflect participants’ meanings, perceptions, and experiences, discourse analysis asks us to consider how identities and subjectivities are shaped by discourses laden with power and productive of ideological implications. Considering these analytic strategies through a paradigm of constructionism anchored in realism and acknowledging the tensions therein, this paper ultimately argues for a fusing of narrative and discourse analytic strategies in the qualitative production of knowledge about social inequality.

Using Social Media for Participant Recruitment in the New Technological Era

Julia Goyal, University of Waterloo

Ellen MacEachen, University of Waterloo

We live in a world wherein technology touches almost every facet of our lives. Contemporary research is no exception as it is increasingly engaging with digital media forms. For my graduate thesis research, I employed qualitative research methods to capture and explore the experiences, risk perception, and risk management strategies of Airbnb hosts and guests. Participant recruitment is often the most challenging aspect of conducting a qualitative study. Since Airbnb has a very strong digital presence, I used popular social networking websites, including Facebook and LinkedIn, to connect with Airbnb hosts and guests, gauge their interest in participating in the study, as well as establish a rapport with participants before conducting semistructured interviews. Drawing from my experience, I will add to the existing literature on the potential role and value of social media in recruiting participants and better situate the recruitment process within the modern social media landscape. Using social media in this context provided me with an inexpensive and accessible line of communication with a quick turnaround time as well as the opportunity for follow-up. This use of social media as part of an effective recruitment strategy appears promising, as it would also extend well to other domains of qualitative research.

Babies, Culture, iPhones, and Images: The Ethics of Photo-Voice in an Online Digital World

Julian Grant, Flinders University College of Nursing and Health Sciences

Visual images are no longer tucked away in a hard copy photo album, only to be viewed at the photographer’s discretion. In a digital online environment, images can be taken and shared at any moment in time and reshared without permission. While this opens many opportunities for the use of imagery in research, it also poses questions around the ethical conduct of that research. This presentation explores the challenges of working with photographs of babies, in research exploring the cultural safety of pepi pods as safe sleep, alternative spaces for Aboriginal families living in metropolitan South Australia. Framed as interface research to balance indigenous and academic methodologies, the study used photo-voice to actively involve participants in the coconstruction of research data. To mitigate risk, participants were all given Instamatic cameras and asked to take images of their use or nonuse of the safe sleep alternative space. Researchers and families then yarned about the photos’ content and meaning. While this sounds good in theory, the experience of application was perhaps unsurprisingly, complex. In a time where popular culture invites risk through indiscriminate posting of images of infants and children, how do we ensure that in testing the safety of a sleep space, we don’t jeopardize safety of identity?

The Use of Video Teleconferencing as a Qualitative Method of Data Collection

Lisa Gray, Athabasca University

Gwen Rempel, Athabasca University

Gina Wong, Athabasca University

As new communication platforms proliferate in our 21st-century age of digital technology, the ways in which qualitative researchers generate their data are evolving. Whereas in-person interviews are still the mainstay of data generation in qualitative studies, video teleconferencing programs, such as Zoom Video Communications Inc., may provide qualitative researchers with a reasonably cost-effective and convenient alternative to in-person interviews. The uses and advantages of face-to-face interviewing are well-documented (Opdenakker, 2006; Dicicco-Bloom & Crabtree, 2006; Gill, Stewart, Treasure, & Chadwick, 2008); however, utilizing video teleconferencing as a method of data collection, specifically Zoom, has not been examined. We share experiences of utilizing Zoom to conduct in-depth, rich qualitative interviews with mothers participating in a study about parenting. Overall, participants reported positive experiences regarding the video teleconferencing interview. Participants appreciated the following about video teleconferencing: (1) convenient and simple to use, (2) enhanced personal interface in seeing the interviewer while discussing such a personal topic as parenting, (3) option to choose the device (i.e., phone, tablet, and computer) to participate in the interview, and (4) time saver in not having to travel to participate in the research. They reported that video teleconferencing meant more time available for their family. Using video teleconferencing software, such as Zoom, could help researchers keep research costs low and enable them to gain access to larger and more diverse participant populations. Advantages and disadvantages, as well as recommendations for best practices and future research, from researchers’ perspectives, will also be discussed.

Multiple Online Formats: Simplifying or Confounding the Interview Process?

Cheri Gregory

For many researchers, the face-to-face interview is the quintessential method for qualitative inquiry, the gold standard against which all other techniques are measured and judged to fall short. However, in my research, I discovered that the face-to-face interview was not necessarily the format of choice. In-person interviews are frequently impractical, even downright impossible, due to financial constraints, scheduling conflicts, and mobility issues. This presentation will explore four virtual interviewing methods that involve synchronous versus asynchronous, voice versus text, and offer explanations of why my informants chose alternative methods. I was not treating them all exactly the same way. The theoretical and practical advantages and disadvantages of conversing via Zoom (synchronous voice), Voxer (asynchronous voice), chat (synchronous text), and e-mail (asynchronous text) will be explored, using examples of interviews I conducted while studying successful women bloggers.

Lessons From the Field: Best Practices When Conducting Health Behavior–Related Focus Groups

Katherine Gregory, New York City College of Technology/CUNY

Deploying best practices when conducting health care–related focus group research can be a challenge for those new to the method. But like all methodologies, the focus group has its strengths and limitations as a method for data collection. With 20 years of experience as a qualitative methodologist, the author spent many years working as the media evaluation researcher at a large public health organization where she managed and (co)designed hundreds of focus groups for concept testing, as well as for applied and exploratory research. As a result of these experiences, the author has acquired a knowledge and foresight about the method. During this session, she will share key protocols that will assist qualitative methodologists when designing and moderating focus groups with vulnerable populations.

Unpacking Heideggerian Phenomenological Analysis: A Case Study in Being-Towards-Death

Janice Gullick, University of Sydney

Phenomenology is a commonly utilised qualitative approach in health and social research. With strong traditions in both descriptive and interpretative paradigms, phenomenology has seen diverse developments in both philosophical underpinnings and analytical methods. Later, phenomenological approaches (e.g., that of Colaizzi and Georgi) have clear analytical steps that make these methods more accessible and, as such, their modifications have been widely adopted. Heideggerian phenomenology, on the other hand, is rarely chosen and often shallowly applied; perhaps because of the depth of its underlying philosophy and opaqueness of its analytic structures. In his seminal work, Being & Time, Heidegger explains, “The question of existence never gets straightened out except through existing itself. The understanding of oneself which leads along this way we call “existentiell.” In this presentation, one of Heidegger’s existentiell structures, Being-towards-death, is deconstructed to reveal people’s understanding of themselves in their Being-toward-the-end. Using examples from published research on the lived experience of serious illness, an analysis of Being-towards-death as a vital structure of existence is explored as nonrelational (cut off from relationships with others), not to be outstripped, and certain yet indefinite.

By taking a single, existential element of Being-in-the-world as an analytical lens, and exploring the back-and-forth nature of hermeneutic interpretation, this discussion may provide researchers who are contemplating this rich methodology, some guidance in the practical application of Heidegger’s hermeneutic method and existential philosophy.

A Methodological Approach for the Study of Military Culture: Understanding Gendered Experiences

Krystal Hachey, Department of National Defence

Karen D. Davis, Department of National Defence

The experiences of military members are influenced by military culture, including formal and informal codes of conduct and social worth, as well as customs, traditions, rituals, ceremonies, and displays of etiquette. This presentation addresses a qualitative research project that was undertaken to better understand how members of the Canadian Armed Forces experience these and other aspects of military culture, including related impacts on member commitment and identity. To ensure the inclusion of diverse experiences, the research design emerged from a constructivist paradigm with particular emphasis on the integration of Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) in the data collection process. GBA+ is an analytical process that assesses the possible differential impacts of policies, programs, and legislation on diverse groups of women and men. Within organizations, the GBA+ model has been predominantly applied to the development of human resource policy and practice, and almost exclusively to initiatives related specifically to the status of women and related dichotomous sex-based categories. Given the increasing importance of understanding the intersections of social diversity, including gender diversity, GBA+ was applied to this research as a lens through which diverse gendered experiences would be accessed and included in the research in a meaningful way. This presentation will focus on the methodology of the project, with particular emphasis on the impact of GBA+ on the sampling strategy. Overall, the results of this study contribute to enhanced understanding of the inclusion of gendered experiences in social science research.

“Just a Little Bit”: A Television Media Analysis of Alcohol Consumption During Pregnancy

Kelly Harding, Laurentian University

Shelley L. Watson, Laurentian University

Pregnant women, their partners, and women of childbearing age frequently report obtaining information about alcohol use during pregnancy from the mass media. Trusting mainstream media sources (e.g., television) can be problematic when information is inaccurate, contributing to inconsistent messages about “safe levels” of alcohol consumption during pregnancy. The present study aimed to explore television portrayals of alcohol consumption during pregnancy in mainstream prime time television programs (n = 26). The following inclusion criteria guided program selection: (1) top 100 shows on cable/streaming services for women aged 18–49 and (2) shows suggested by targeted social media posts. Using ethnographic content analysis (Altheide & Schneider, 2013), the content and role of television media narratives in the social construction of alcohol meanings concerning the safety of prenatal alcohol exposure was explored. Preliminary results indicate misrepresentations of the safety of alcohol consumption during pregnancy (e.g., How I Met Your Mother, The Mindy Project), the commonality of drinking alcohol prior to pregnancy recognition (e.g., Chicago Med) or while trying to conceive (e.g., Friends From College), and difficulty keeping a pregnancy private when not drinking socially (e.g., Friends, The Office). The results demonstrate a need to provide clear, consistent messaging about the risks of alcohol use during pregnancy, as mixed messages from television can be an additional source of misinformation. Recommendations for messaging in light of these findings will be discussed.

Narrative Inquiry in Nursing Research: Tensions, Bumps, and the Research Puzzle

Gunilla Haydon, University of Newcastle

Pamela van der Riet, University of Newcastle

Kerry Inder, University of Newcastle

Narrative inquiry (NI) has traditionally been used in social science and education research and increasingly used in health research. It is well suited to health research, and nursing research in particular, as it focuses the inquiry on the person’s experience of their illness—“what matters” from the person’s point of view. NI explores the narrative from a temporal, social, and place point of view, providing a holistic approach to the persons’ illness experience. The adaptation of NI to nursing research can create a tension in the nature of inquiry as a result of the differences between NI and more traditional qualitative nursing research. NI data collection is characterised by multiple meetings, a relational aspect between the researcher and participant, the presence of the researcher in the findings, that sets NI apart from other more traditional explorations and expectations within nursing research. The unique way in which NI presents findings in addressing the research puzzle. The depth of analysis that accrues from the multiple levels of inquiry can result in tensions with the more traditional methods of qualitative research. Findings bump and collide as NI presents longer and relational narratives. This presentation will use the experience from a NI study of how seven survivors of cardiac arrest and how they have adapted to their new reality of self-surveillance (embodiment) and existential discourse. It will do this presentation from the inquirer’s perspective and elaborate how temporal, social, and place frames the inquiry process and presentation.

Using Qualitative Research Methods in Cross-Cultural Groups: Epistemological, Ontological, and Philosophical Considerations

Saras Henderson, Griffith University

There is a dearth of information on how to conduct racially, culturally, and linguistically responsive research. Problems can occur when the researcher and the participants come from different cultures as values, beliefs of epistemology, ontology, and philosophy differ between the researcher and participants. Some key areas of concern include ethics, participant recruitment and retention, data collection and analysis, situating the findings into context, recommendations, and dissemination of findings. Using the example of a participant action research I conducted to explore the use of health services among four different cultural groups, this paper will show the many challenges I encountered and the strategies I used to mitigate these challenges. Specifically, the epistemological, ontological, and philosophical aspects will be highlighted. Sharing my authentic experience with other researchers will assist them to add to the already existing strategies that can used by researchers intending to do cross-cultural research.

Heidegger’s Dwelling: Translating Phenomenological Insights Into Health and Social Care Language

Ken Hok-man Ho, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Vico C. L. Chiang, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Doris Leung, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Hermeneutic phenomenology is highly interpretive, so much so that it discloses the possible nature of human existence in various relationships and situations. The concept of being in the world assists health and social care researchers to understand the importance of both technology and the humanistic arrangement of “care work.” Heidegger’s philosophy lays a pathway to developing self-awareness of “lived experience.” This provides access to multiple realities, drawn from concepts, such as dwelling, equated to being at home. Dwelling is a state of harmony, experienced by one who finds a “clearing” (space) alongside technologically standardized thinking. In doing so, one may rediscover other possible ways of understanding (being in) the world. Translating phenomenological insight into health and social care language is challenging because one must reestablish the connection between philosophy and science. One’s capacity tends to be entrapped in the “scientific” environmental milieu rather than cultivated to achieve a state of harmony or form a peace of mind. Using an example of a hermeneutic phenomenological study that the first author conducted with foreign domestic helpers (FDHs) in Hong Kong, this presentation will demonstrate how the concept of dwelling allowed the researcher to uncover FDHs’ psychological burden in their caregiving of older people. By illuminating the philosophical insights of Heidegger’s dwelling, health and social care professionals may be supported to translate the natures of human existence into scientific understanding, no matter they are providing care for their clients in the community or institutional settings.

Client Experiences Accessing Outpatient Mental Health Services: Methods to Effectively Identify and Engage Focus Group Participants

Claire Hoffman, Abt Associates

Jenna T. Sirkin, Abt Associates

Meaghan Hunt, Abt Associates

Many individuals searching for mental health services in the United States confront barriers to successfully connect with effective, affordable, and equitable outpatient treatment. As part of a mixed-methods study, we conducted four focus groups with clients in Massachusetts seeking outpatient mental health services to examine factors contributing to access disparities and wait times. While designing the study, we used a framework based on Penchansky and Thomas’s concept of access to health-care treatment. This framework defines contributing factors to access: availability, accessibility, affordability, and acceptability of care, as well as accommodation of client needs. We will present how the framework informed participant selection for the focus groups, the development of the focus group guide, and the grouping of participants. Additionally, we will discuss methods to effectively recruit individuals navigating the mental health system who may be hesitant to share experiences regarding a stigmatized topic. The team made adaptations to the recruitment strategy to successfully recruit individuals; for example, the team initially posted flyers in community spaces and health centers, but when this only garnered modest interest, modified our approach to use web-based platforms, such as listservs. and social media, to greater success. We also added a public transportation voucher to our incentives for participation and worked closely with participants to schedule the groups at a mutually convenient time. With increased attention on improving health-care delivery and providing patient-centered care, researchers must use a rigorous and adaptive study design to engage clients in research about potentially sensitive topics.

A Critical Evaluation of Three Member-Checking Procedures

Nicholas L. Holt, University of Alberta

Tara-Leigh McHugh, University of Alberta

Member-checking may implicitly or explicitly be used as a means of establishing the “truth” of knowledge generated from qualitative research (Smith & McGannon, 2017). Lincoln and Guba (1985) argued that member-checking is “the most crucial technique for establishing credibility” (p. 314). Others have disputed the value of member-checking (Barbour, 2001; Thomas, 2017). In fact, Morse (2015) asserted that “member checking as a strategy is not recommended” (p. 1216). The purpose of this presentation is to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of three different member-checking procedures. Thomas (2017) categorized several potential uses of member-checking, which included the concepts of participation, representation, and change. In our presentation, we will critically evaluate three member-checking procedures using examples from our previous research. These member-checking procedures are (a) engaging participants in a second interview (participation), (b) an e-mail procedure for gaining participants’ insights about results of initial analysis (representation), and (c) engaging participants in collaborative approaches to interpret findings (change). We will demonstrate that member-checking procedures can be strategically implemented to engage participants in ways that are congruent with the objectives, design, and philosophical orientation of a particular study. We will also highlight how factors such as limited participant engagement, dealing with new data, and power relationships can be obstacles to the use of member-checking procedures.

An Application of Hermeneutic Methods Within Clinical Research

Julia Imanoff, University of Calgary

Graham McCaffrey, University of Calgary

Cynthia Mannion, University of Calgary

Hermeneutics is an effective method for exploring complicated issues in clinical practice as historically and socially situated topics. Direct patient care often includes multiple perspectives from the health-care providers, patient, and family to take into consideration. Based in the dialogic philosophy of Hans George Gadamer, hermeneutics can provide a means to explore such issues while holding multiple points of view in tension. Sometimes, hermeneutics is perceived as highly philosophical, circuitous, and nonspecific which can be a deterrent to its use in clinical research. I challenge this assumption. I used a hermeneutic approach to research the experience of women who chose to give birth by caesarean section and developed a rich interpretation of the importance of women’s choices, and the historical context of choice, in understanding the topic. As an example of its application to clinical practice, I will review three principles of Gadamerian hermeneutics: attending to history, conversation and questions, and phronesis (practical wisdom). This exploration of Gadamerian principles in clinical research highlights one approach to apply hermeneutics. By understanding the philosophical principles of the method, this highly philosophical research method becomes more tangible, thus increasing the accessibility and use of hermeneutics as a methodology.

The Development of an English and Brazilian Portuguese Simulation Debriefing Tool Aimed at Nurse Educators

Deirdre Jackman, University of Alberta

The purpose of this presentation is to describe an international study which culminated in the development of an English and Brazilian Portuguese Debriefing Tool aimed at nurse educators incorporating research-based simulation pedagogy. The study followed three phases: an integrative literature review, tool development, and review by a panel of nursing experts. The literature review indicated gaps to formal pedagogical preparation and no one comprehensive tool was found to assist the educator in the debriefing process. The authors proposed a comprehensive formative/summative holistic debriefing tool. In Page 1 of the tool, the authors provide visual- and evidenced-based written guidance on how to conduct debriefing and outline suggested time lines for prebriefing and focused/formative/summative debriefing; the second page is dedicated to guidance question exemplars. Evaluation and redrafting of the debriefing tool was undertaken a total of 3 times to attain congruence between authors and expert researcher/educators in the field of simulation and nursing education scholarship. This study provides an overall picture of the development process to promote best pedagogy in simulation within nursing education. The development of a sound formative/summative debriefing tool could contribute to formal nursing simulation education, attending to how to best practice pedagogical teaching, and learning within the parameters of debriefing and simulation.

Constructing Meaning From Context: Using Situational Analysis to Compliment Constructionist Grounded Theory Method

Angelique Jenney, University of Calgary

Situational analysis (SA; Clarke, 2005) can be used as a complimentary tool with Constructionist Grounded Theory Method (Charmaz, 2008) as a means of deepening analysis within a particular context. The process of SA can be helpful in drawing out information/assumptions involved in one’s research topic and understanding the context of the data as collected. It also provides an opportunity to consider the potential “sites of silence” found in data and explore ways in which these may be articulated. Using the framework of a study examining risk assessment and safety planning processes in child protection work with domestic violence cases, this presentation will illustrate the mapping process of components that contextualize the situation of the research such as individual human elements/actors (CPS clients and workers), nonhuman elements (concepts of risk and safety), collective/organizational/institutional elements, and discursive elements (dominant discourse) that influence research context. Situational analysis draws attention to aspects that may need further exploration including those areas that are part of the researcher’s frame of reference, rather than in the data itself (such as larger sociopolitical discourses), which require consideration as the analytical process unfolds.

Who Am I?: The Challenges of Multiple Positionalities in Nursing Research

Jane Jervis, Keele University

Sue Read, Keele University

Michael Murray, Keele University

A participatory action research (PhD) study was conducted to critically explore the issues surrounding children and young people visiting acutely ill patients in a large UK hospital. A continuous reflexive analysis of the researcher’s positionality and values enabled self-study of both clinical and research practice, locating the researcher as an insider for the duration of the study. During this reflexive analysis, it was evident that the researcher had experienced multiple positionalities. Within the hospital, the researcher had been positioned as an insider collaborating with other insiders to an outsider collaborating with insiders. When working with local college students, the researcher had considered herself as an outsider collaborating with outsiders, whereas the college students may have perceived the researcher as an insider collaborating with outsiders. It became evident that the positionalities of the participants were also affected by the multiple identities they associated with: the professional identify of a nurse or the personal identify of a parent, child, sibling, patient, or relative. During the research, these multiple positionalities allowed for in-depth discussion and the challenging of personal and professional values. This presentation will describe the analysis of the researchers and participants multiple identities and positionalities, and the effect these may have had upon the research process, a posteriori knowledge. It will explore how these identities and positionalities seemed to underpin the values and attitudes of the participants and the researcher, resulting in a reimagining of professional identities.

Words and Pictures: Visual Data Production as an Adjunct to Interview Methods

Pam Joseph, University of Sydney

The production of data through interviews is a well-established method in qualitative research. Despite researchers’ efforts to build trust and rapport with participants, however, the interview process may be an uncomfortable or even alienating experience for participants. Interviews can inadvertently reinforce power imbalances between researchers and the people they interview, particularly when participants lack skills or confidence in conveying complex concepts in the language of the researcher. This presentation draws on visual and verbal data produced in a doctoral study exploring 27 parent carers’ understandings of their relationships with service providers across multiple sectors. During interviews, parents used a whiteboard, pens, and customized magnets to create a concept map of their service systems. Directions were kept to a minimum, to encourage parents to use the tools in whatever way they found helpful, which resulted in diverse representations of service system structures and relationships. The presentation illustrates both advantages and limitations experienced when using an unsophisticated visual data production tool as an adjunct to semistructured interviews. It discusses the relevance of such techniques to research that seeks to engage people who may be reluctant to participate in interview-based methodologies and makes suggestions for adaptations to suit different contexts and participant groups.

Qualitative Analysis of Cross-Cultural, Dual-Language Data: Lessons Learned

Youngjin Kang, University of Illinois

Ashton Chapman, Iowa State University

Kwangman Ko, University of Missouri

Cross-cultural research promotes understanding about norms, values, social change, and other factors on relationships within—and between—a variety of social contexts. Conducting cross-cultural research is particularly difficult, however, when languages between cultures differ. Cross-cultural collaborations are complicated by few methodological studies of multiple-language data analyses and little consensus on procedures to be used by researchers who speak different languages when interpreting, translating, and analyzing data. An absence of “best practices” in cross-cultural data analysis also inhibits researchers’ abilities to validate the quality of translation and subsequent data analysis, procedures critical for ensuring rigor, and validating equivalence of the meaning of data obtained in different languages. This study draws upon data from a cross-cultural, mixed-methods study of South Koreans’ and Americans’ attitudes about fathers’ child support payment in an effort to promote understanding of the procedures and challenges in cross-cultural data analysis. Data collection occurred in participants’ native languages (English or Korean). Four researchers, two native English speakers and two native Korean speakers, coded the qualitative data from participants’ open-ended responses using a multistep process. Initially, researchers followed recommended practices for coding qualitative data using a thematic approach, but challenges such as a lack of software to support coding in multiple languages, uncertainty about the timing of language translation (i.e., when in the coding process should translation occur), uncertainty about data triangulation and other rigor “checks,” and approximating meaning in participants’ responses across two different languages warranted a different approach to coding. Findings have implications for future cross-cultural research.

Advancing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis: Using Focus Groups to Understand an Individual’s Lived Experience

Krista Kezbers, University of Oklahoma

Bridget Miller, University of Oklahoma

Jamie Clark, University of Oklahoma

Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) research seeks to understand an individual’s lived experience within a particular group. One-on-one interviews are the preferred data collection method in IPA, but the utilization of focus groups with certain populations is gaining traction in the scholarly literature. During an international conference for swim coaches, six focus groups were conducted to gather individual’s lived experiences of health and well-being in relation to sports coaching. The majority of swim coaches are former athletes, creating a phenomena of individuals that share a common background and now share a professional career choice. It was important to place the coach’s experiences within the context of the coach’s lifeworld, including social, personal, occupational, and environmental components. This study looked to challenge the limits of the preferred IPA approach in order to best serve the coaches and their preferred setting for speaking in-depth about health and well-being. The focus group setting aligned well with this population due to the close group bond created when a swimmer retires and turns to coaching as a career. In this way, the focus groups provided a certain level of social support to speak in-depth about individual’s lived experiences of health and well-being that may not have existed during one-on-one interviews. While the research question for the current study sought to explore the health and well-being of sport coaches, the unique method of answering that question advanced the application of IPA to a focus group setting without losing the integrity of the IPA approach in qualitative research.

Constructivist Grounded Theory: Its Appropriateness to Understanding Care in Traumatic Brain Injury

Stephen Kivunja, University of Sydney

I am currently developing the methodological underpinnings for my doctoral research, which seeks to understand the giving and receiving of care in traumatic brain injury (TBI). My recently published literature review suggests a mismatch between nurses, people with TBI, and families in the perceptions of what constitutes person-centred care in TBI within hospital and rehabilitation settings. Understanding the discrepancies and discord in the relationships among these key stakeholders, as well as the institutional practices and social factors that shape TBI care, requires a method that can reveal the complexities of the care setting, the culture of care, and the personal experiences of patients, families, and nurses. This presentation will explore the appropriateness of grounded theory, within a social constructionist framework, to generate insights into how TBI care is constructed and received. I will also explore strengths of this method as it applies to this project in comparison to other possible methodological choices, in particular ethnography and phenomenology. The overall aim of this talk is to invite constructive discussion and debate that will inform the choice of method for understanding the possible mismatch in perceptions of person-centred TBI care among key stakeholders in health-care settings.

Fitting Relationship Between Grounded Theory Methodology and Social Worlds Theory

Maria Kondratjuk, University of Magdeburg

The presentation deals with the adjustment of grounded theory methodology and its extension through situational analysis with social worlds theory as heuristically concept. Experiences based on an empirical research combined with strong theoretical work are the source of the presented thoughts and findings. Grounded theory methodology and the social worlds theory have the same origins in symbolic interactionism and pragmatism. Both are focusing the basic social process. While using grounded theory as research attitude and the social world theory as the theoretical framework, researchers are able to get results of the examined social reality in-depth. The supplement of the situational analysis with its mapping strategies and integration of discourses allows a wider view of the research in its entirety. The presentation will boost the potential of the interwovenness of grounded theory methodology (and its extension through situational analysis) with social worlds theory.

Hollow From the Inside: Constructivist Grounded Theory With Racialized Immigrant Fathers When a Child Dies

Linda Kongnetiman, University of Calgary

This qualitative research examines the experiences of racialized immigrant fathers who experienced the death of a child. Charmaz’s constructivist grounded theory was the methodological approach in this research and was applied to develop the theoretical framework grounded in this research: Hollow from the inside—the death of a child served as a reinforcing process for ongoing loss linked to racialized immigrant fathers’ experience of immigration. Constructivist grounded theory calls for the participants and the researcher to construct meaning together about the specific experience under study. It is an appropriate approach to assessing and developing theory. This research focused on lived experiences, interpreted meanings, sensemaking, and action. There were several key findings: Firstly, this study tapped into the sense of loss these fathers feel as they have risked and sacrificed a great deal immigrating their family to Canada just to have that situation compounded by an unanticipated death of a child, a child who embodied hope for the family in their new land. This sense of emotional/psychological/spiritual “pile-up” of losses is crucial to understanding the immigrant father’s situation. This presentation will explore how the researcher constructed meaning with the fathers while a constructivist grounded theory was developed. This presentation will demonstrate how constructivist grounded theory has supported in bringing forward the voices of racialized immigrant fathers whose child has died by utilizing a set of theoretical vantage points from which the life experiences and health-care experiences of grieving immigrant fathers was interrogated.

Use and Perceptions of On-Farm Emergency Slaughter for Dairy Cows in British Columbia, Canada

Katherine Koralesky, University of British Columbia

David Fraser, University of British Columbia

For injured dairy cows, some jurisdictions allow the option of “on-farm emergency slaughter” (OFES), whereby veterinary inspection and slaughter occur on the farm before the carcass is taken to a slaughter plant for processing. A better understanding of the use and perceptions of this controversial practice could provide recommendations for OFES. A mixed-methods approach used document analysis of 812 veterinary inspection documents for OFES dairy cows, plus applied thematic analysis of 25 interviews and 3 focus groups with 40 dairy producers, veterinarians, and other professionals in British Columbia, Canada, which allowed theme development and triangulation of findings. Interviews showed that participants valued cow welfare but disagreed over whether OFES quickened or delayed death for injured animals. Document analysis showed that 63% of animals were nonambulatory after either a sudden injury or a chronic condition such as lameness. After an injury, OFES was often used promptly (within 1 day), but cows with chronic conditions were sometimes nonambulatory for 2–6 days before OFES occurred. During interviews, participants expressed concern that OFES was inappropriate for nontraumatic conditions. While participants appreciated that OFES prevented inhumane transport of injured animals, others saw it as a short-term solution to the larger issue of compromised cow management. Consensus-based recommendations for OFES include (1) more explicit guidance on acceptable delays between injury and OFES, (2) clear guidance on which health conditions are acceptable for OFES, and (3) more emphasis on proactive culling of dairy cows to reduce the need for OFES.

Breaking Out of the Academy: Developing Qualitative Research Best Practice Guidance for Public Sector and Voluntary Organisations

Mehul Kotecha, NatCen Social Research

Jane Kerr, NatCen Social Research

At one time, methodologically robust qualitative research was presumed to be the preserve of specialist researchers working within the academe. Qualitative research was shrouded in a mystic within which its practitioners were figured as possessing a privileged set of skills and knowledge that was unavailable outside the confines of the ivory tower, to such an extent that it was perhaps not even possible to fully elucidate its practices and principles to the uninitiated. However, partly as a result of the success of researchers in promoting the relevance and usefulness of qualitative approaches, organisations working to address social problems have become increasingly interested in not only using and commissioning qualitative research, but in understanding how their own staff can carry out high-quality qualitative research and in what circumstances it is appropriate to do so. This presentation sets out the challenges of developing guidance in undertaking qualitative research for two organisations in the UK. The first is Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, a public sector organisation with responsibility for independently assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of police forces and fire and rescue services. The second is the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, a charity that provides a 24-hr lifeboat search and rescue service and a seasonal lifeguard service. The presentation will set out the needs of the organisations, the approach to developing guidance, the challenges in understanding and tailoring the guidance to the organisations’ context, and the intended use of the guidance.

The Effect of Individual Interviews and Focus Groups on Self-Disclosure

Louis Kruger, Northeastern University

Rachel Rodgers, Northeastern University

Stephanie Long, Northeastern University

The advantages and disadvantages of individual interviews and focus groups in qualitative research have been debated for more than 30 years. Some researchers have argued that focus groups can facilitate the sharing of information, whereas others have asserted that groups can inhibit comments that are perceived to violate the group’s norms. Most of the research, which systematically and directly compared focus groups and individual interviews, has focused on the efficiency and number of themes generated by these two data collection methods. In contrast, our study focused on the effect these two data collection methods had on the disclosure of personal reactions, such as feelings and thoughts about one’s body image. These data were collected as part of a larger study examining the perceived effects of an intimate apparel company’s advertising campaign on college-age females. The participants in our study were female undergraduates (M = 19.5 years) from a large, private university. They were randomly assigned to either individual interviews (n = 33) or focus groups (n = 32). After controlling for the difference in total verbalizations between individual interviews and focus groups, we found that participants in individual interviews shared significantly more personal reactions than those in focus groups. In addition, the participants in individual interviews perceived the climate of their meetings as being more conducive to disclosing their personal reactions. This poster session will address the implications of the findings for qualitative research.

Visual Sociology: Seeing Everyday Life and the Role of Reflexivity

Kazuyo Kubo, Lesley University

Visual sociology has arguably expanded analysis of the social world with its examination of what is seen, visually illustrated, photographed, and videotaped rather than more traditional depictions represented by text and numbers. Thus, social observation of visual material uncovers social realities that are not necessarily captured by conventional empirical research. As reflexivity is a crucial element of qualitative methodological analysis, visual sociologists must reflect upon their identities and subjectivities as they “see” the social world through their own visual lens. “Seeing everyday life” requires researchers to dig deeper into the meaning of variant social positions and identities such as gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, and abilities. To carry out such work, I draw on examples from an ongoing project, which is an undergraduate travel course to Japan I lead every year. I will present how visual sociology allows individuals to examine their own cultural identity and how it impacts what they see. Thus, the study offers an opportunity to explore social identity and the relationship between a viewer, an image they observe, and the significance of this relationship.

Linked Coding in a Realist Evaluation: What Is Its Value When Comparing the Same Intervention in Different Organisations?

Jan Lecouturier, Newcastle University

Realist evaluation (Tilley & Pawson, 1997) is a theory-driven model of evaluating social interventions. The focus is to explain “what works for whom in what circumstances” (Tilley, 2000); this knowledge can inform policy makers how to replicate the findings in other settings. Three key areas of investigation are context, mechanisms, and outcomes. After data are analysed thematically, the themes are categorised into separate context, mechanism, and outcome components and compiled as Context Mechanism and Outcome (CMO) configurations.

In their paper, Jackson and Kolla (2012) describe and evaluate a “new” method of analysis within a realist evaluation. Rather than follow the process described above, they coded CMOs as linked dyads and triads to uncover the links that interviewees make between context, the intervention, and outcomes. Their study focuses on an intervention in one setting. In this presentation, I will describe the utility of this linked coding method and explore its value in a realist evaluation of a single intervention implemented in two National Institute of Health Research organisations, each with a very different remit.

Where Are the Boundaries Around Research?

Jennifer Leigh, University of Kent

Embodied and creative research methods provoke honesty, emotion, and vulnerability in participants, which add to the richness of the stories they tell and are willing to share. The positionality of the researcher is less of “interviewer” and more “co-producer” or participant in a dialogue. Visual and creative approaches invite participants to share in ways in which they are not able or willing through words alone. The data and outputs they produce, with film, art, or objects, can in turn affect those who see it more than written text and need to be analysed and disseminated along with more traditional transcripts, articles, and presentations. In the context of investigating sensitive issues such as those around embodied identity, these methods, which use embodied methods to explore embodied research questions, may feel the most appropriate. These approaches lie along the boundary of therapy and research, asking much of researchers who are unlikely to have received therapeutic training or ongoing support. Due to this deficit, the researched may find that their experience is not held or contained in a way that the content would demand. Similarly, the data themselves lie on the boundary of art and research, in that they can be seen as more than a tool to facilitate reflection, but as artifacts in their own right. What are the implications in this scenario? Where should we position ourselves and our work along these boundaries? Who holds the space for the researcher and the researched if both are made vulnerable?

Back to Basics: Photovoice as a PAR Method

Linda Liebenberg

The use of photovoice with marginalised populations—youth in particular—has become increasingly popular over the past two decades. This is in large part as a result of the growing call in fields such as the sociology of childhood, to include and respect those voices that have for so long been marginalised and silenced in research and related policy and programing discourses. Despite this increase in the use of photovoice, there is a lot of ambiguity regarding the differences between this method and others such as photo-elicitation. Similarly, when photovoice projects are reported on, there is often a lack of information regarding the ways in which the method was implemented throughout research projects. This ambiguity and lack of clarity is disconcerting especially if we as researchers are to further the need for inclusion of marginalised voices in development and allocation of support resources and services. In this presentation, I will review the theory and process of photovoice. I will begin with a review of PAR as the theory underpinning the method. I will then review the theories that give shape to photovoice, namely, feminism, Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogy, and the principles of photography. Finally, after setting out the photovoice process as established by Wang and Burris, I will briefly review how it is different to other qualitative visual elicitation methods.

A Discourse Analysis of Cultural Brokering in Cross-Cultural Couples’ and Immigrant Parent–Child Brokers’ Relationships

Sofia Lopez Bilbao, University of Calgary

Jaqueline Amorim Webb, University of Calgary

Tom Strong, University of Calgary

With the increase of multiculturalism, new questions are emerging on how we adapt and function as a society. One such question is how individuals negotiate cross-cultural differences among themselves. One of these strategies is through cultural brokering, in which a person acts as a bridge or mediator between two cultural groups. Through discourse analysis, this study combined the data from interviews conducted for two separate projects that explored cultural brokering between cross-cultural couples (couples with a Canadian and an immigrant partner) and between immigrant parents and child brokers. Both sets of participants faced unique challenges due to their cultural differences, which, in turn, brought about the adoption of creative strategies in negotiating and overcoming these challenges. Discourse analysis helped to identify key elements in cultural brokering and the different discourses participants used in describing those elements. The goal of this presentation is to open up a conversation about how discourse analysis can be used to help us understand the influence of culture in individuals’ worldviews and how these views play a part in our most important relationships.

Critically Considering Collaboration in Indigenous Environmental Education Research

Gregory Lowan-Trudeau, University of Calgary

Collaborative approaches to qualitative research conducted with Indigenous peoples and communities are increasingly well-established and promoted as respectful and responsive strategies to incorporate participants’ voices and perspectives. Collaboration may range from in-depth member checking to collaborative collection, interpretation, writing, and presentation of findings and, even, artistic creation. As a Métis scholar of mixed Indigenous and European ancestry, I have considered and struggled with participant collaboration; over time, I have incrementally increased the level of participant collaboration in my studies, but still wonder if and how more can and should be achieved. In this presentation, I will expand upon such experiences and questions while sharing examples of participant created visual artwork from a recent study into Indigenous and non-Indigenous educators’ experiences with incorporating consideration of Indigenous environmental issues and activism into their teaching practice.

Reflexive Inquiry and Researcher Consciousness as Rigour

Ellyn Lyle, Yorkville University

Throughout their critique of quantitative approaches, critical qualitative scholars have underscored the centrality of acknowledging how individuals affect all aspects of inquiry. Many of these researchers, though, have rejected the traditional qualitative agenda that resides in paradigmatic ideology. Instead, they favour a reflexive methodology informed by ontological and epistemological considerations. By interrogating how researchers and participants create their realities as they study them, reflexive inquiry requires that researchers address critical questions about the essence of reality, the construction of knowledge, and the ways they engage with each other and society. Beginning with a discussion of reflexive inquiry and its roots in critical qualitative approaches, this paper discusses both the epistemological merits of reflexive inquiry and its capacity to strengthen rigour in autoinquiries.

Use of Ecomaps in Qualitative Research

Veena Manja, McMaster University

Susan Jack, McMaster University

Lisa Schwartz, McMaster University

Harriet MacMillan, McMaster University

When using semistructured interviews in the conduct of descriptive qualitative research, language is the medium of creation and communication of knowledge. However, experiences are multidimensional and using language alone may not capture the full extent of the experience. There is the potential for interview data to be augmented through the construction of visual tools. Ecomaps are an example of one elicitation strategy in qualitative data collection. Ecomaps are diagrams that provide a visual summary of either (1) an individual’s perceptions about his or her social supports and social stressors or (2) a depiction of individual and organizational ecology.

Building on experiences of using ecomaps, as part of a mixed-methods process evaluation to document how the Nurse–Family Partnership home visitation program was implemented and delivered in British Columbia, the objectives of this presentation will be to (1) summarize synthesized findings from a literature review of the use of ecomaps in research; (2) outline applications, methodological issues, benefits, and challenges of using ecomaps; and (3) review ethical issues. Modifications and variations of the ecomap to accommodate the evolving needs of researchers and participants will be reviewed.

The Application of Qualitative Synthesis in Quantitative Health Outcomes Research—A Case Study in Burns Treatment and Rehabilitation

Jonathan Mathers, Joanne Trevor

Qualitative research approaches have increasingly become part of the landscape in health research. Traditional quantitative research techniques that underpin the evidence-based medicine movement focus on quantitative outcome assessment and causal inference. In a time of change, qualitative research is increasingly being utilised to examine issues related to health outcome selection and construction, so that quantitative evaluation research can lay claim to being patient-centred and capture the outcomes most important to patients. Often this is based on primary qualitative research studies and data collection, although methodological reflection in this field is somewhat lacking.

This project is testing out the application of qualitative synthesis techniques to inform quantitative health outcome selection issues. The presentation will consider some of the issues emerging from this work, including the translation of qualitative health research studies into a quantitative health outcomes context. It will consider whether qualitative synthesis can provide novel “outcome-focused” interpretive insights that are informative for health outcomes research. Burns treatment and rehabilitation research offers a useful case study for this type of work. It provides an existing body of qualitative research that is amenable to review and synthesis. It also provides examples of primary qualitative research undertaken within a health outcomes context. The presentation will consider emerging insights from this ongoing research project.

Initiating a Participatory Action Research Process With Older Adults Experiencing Vision Loss

Colleen McGrath, Western University

Tanya Elizabeth Benjamin, Western University

Ann Marie Corrado, Western University

Debbie Laliberte Rudman, Western University

Participatory action research (PAR) involves engaging participants as coresearchers in a cyclical process of reflection, conducting research, and implementing results as a means of promoting change in the lives of a group of persons facing shared socially shaped challenges. Few PAR studies have been conducted with older adults, particularly those with a sensory impairment, such as age-related vision loss (ARVL). In this study, eight older adults and three researchers initiated a PAR process, which took place over three half-day group meetings. The focus of the meetings was to identify a set of research priorities regarding environmental (physical, social, institutional/political, and cultural) influences that shape participation in daily activities for older adults with ARVL. Through this process, the older adults and researchers collaboratively identified four research priorities and for each priority, established possible research questions and methods of data collection, as well as began to identify relevant stakeholders needed to move the priorities forward. Each older adult also engaged in a one-on-one interview, where they discussed their experiences of this PAR process, highlighting both successes and challenges of this approach. These early development phases of PAR, where priorities are set, are essential to ensure that future PAR research is grounded in the lived experiences of the population of interest. As such, sharing our process for engaging older adults with ARVL in a collaborative PAR initiation process, including a discussion of supports and barriers faced, will be helpful to researchers who are considering using this research approach with older adults.

Grounded Theory: The Initial Literature Review Conundrum

Shahneela Memon, University of the West of Scotland

Glenn Marland, University of the West of Scotland

Helen Walker, University of the West of Scotland

The place of the literature review in grounded theory is contentious. While engagement with existing literature before data collection is characteristic of most qualitative research designs, the originators of grounded theory explicitly advised against it. It was seen as potentially stifling the development of theory and detracting from the originality of the research. Subsequent modifications to grounded theory have shown flexibility; however, practical guidance on how to go about it is seldom discussed. Preliminary literature reviewing can provide rationale and justification, help orient the researcher, gain theoretical sensitivity, and avoid conceptual and methodological errors. Also, funding bodies and ethics committees require the researcher to demonstrate knowledge in the research field. The use of reflexivity in preliminary literature review can provide awareness of the ways the researcher reflected in the literature. Reflexivity is the self-awareness of the researcher to the context of knowledge construction at every step of the research process. It assures the credibility of the research outcomes by identifying how researcher’s preconceptions are present in the research. However, guidance for reflexivity in preliminary literature review is not always clearly articulated. This presentation will explore the debate about preliminary literature review in the context of various grounded theory traditions, strategies to reflex on researcher’s preconception will be described. It will also be discussed that reflexivity in preliminary literature reviewing ensures that it is well-grounded in evidence; is subject to further investigation, revision, and refutation; and does not compromise the inductive-deductive interplay of grounded theory.

Participatory Qualitative Research With Inuit Communities in Nunavik: Shared Learning

Caroline Moisan, Linda Shipaluk Youth Training Program

Calvin Jeannie, Linda Shipaluk Youth Training Program

Richard Bélanger, Université Laval

To increase the likelihood of research success, a widely acknowledged approach is the involvement or engagement of local inputs. Such inclusion improves communication between communities and researchers and facilitates knowledge exchange, data validation, and interpretation of study results. Even if the need for involvement of Indigenous communities in Canadian research is put forward by the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS2), few projects include them in every aspects of a project. The Early Pregnancy Study is nested in Qanuilirpitaa?, which is a health survey conducted in the 14 Inuit communities of Nunavik on-board the icebreaker Amundsen during fall 2017. This study aims to examine individual, social, and cultural factors influencing early pregnancy among young Inuit women. Inuit community members were involved in every steps of the research process, namely, during the consultations to identify priority research topics, in the development of the research design and procedures, and in data coding and interpretation of results. Most of all, two young Inuit women were involved in the qualitative interview grid revision, data collection, triple coding, interpretation and validation of results, scientific communication, and results dissemination in Nunavik. The value of this method will be presented from the researcher’s and from the two Inuit research assistants’ point of view. This study was supported by the Nunavik Nutrition and Health Committee and funded by CIHR (fellowship to C. Moisan) and the Kativik School Board—Youth Training Program.

Understanding the Technology Adoption Patterns of Older Adults With Age-related Vision Loss (ARVL): Using Home Technology Tours and the Go-Along Method

Monica Molinaro, University of Western Ontario

Elena J. Sheldrake, University of Western Ontario

Colleen McGrath, University of Western Ontario

For older adults with age-related vision loss (ARVL), the use of technologies, including low vision assistive devices, has the potential to enhance personal safety, promote social and community involvement, and support the performance of everyday occupation. However, despite their availability, many older adults decide to either never acquire such technologies or abandon them shortly after purchase. Although addressed sparingly within the literature, some research suggests that the preservation of “self-image” is an important factor in this decision-making process. As such, this critical ethnographic study, theoretically framed by identity theory and critical gerontology, will explore how the decision-making processes of older adults with ARVL, as it relates to technology adoption, is influenced by the negotiation of identity. Two novel methods will be used to accomplish this goal. The first method will involve a video-recorded home technology tour, which focuses on learning how older adults with ARVL make decisions to use technology within the private sphere of the home. The second method will involve accompanying participants in their local environments with an audio recorder, using the “go-along” method, in order to better understand how technologies are used in public spaces; how older adults decide to use technology, which occupations are supported by technology use; and what challenges are encountered in the absence of technology use. This study will make important methodological contributions by combining innovative research methods that aim to understand technology adoption patterns in both private and public spheres, while also placing senior’s decision-making processes within the broader social context.

Qualitative Analysis in Online Forums: Analyzing Distress in Military Relationships as a Methodological Case Example

James Kale Monk, University of Illinois

Bryan Abendschein, University of Illinois

Erin Basinger, University of North Carolina

People are increasingly going online to share their experiences. Thus, online social spaces provide a promising context for engaging in qualitative inquiry. Online forums may be particularly useful because they allow users to gain insight from others with or without engaging in the discourse, and anonymity provides the opportunity to disclose private, intimate information that may normally be perceived as risky to share. This presentation will discuss the process of engaging in online qualitative inquiry from identifying rich, in-depth data, to analytic strategies and articulating the procedure in scholarly publications. In addition, the benefits (e.g., naturally occurring interaction) and limitations (e.g., potential lack of probing for in-depth follow-up) of this qualitative research process using online forums will be described. To illustrate the usefulness of online forums as a tool for qualitative research and the process of using this tool, this presentation will describe a study that explored relational and psychological distress in military forums as a methodological case example. Despite intense, stressful experiences, many military families are reluctant to seek services or engage in traditional research. To access these experiences and understand the social process of distress in the context of the military, we used a grounded theory approach to analyze descriptive narratives in 37 online forums. In addition to this case example, other scholarly studies using online forums will be described briefly as additional exemplars.

Short-Term Employment-Related Paternal Absence and Childhood Lived Experiences: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

Wendy Monks-Janzen, Athabasca University

Simon Nuttgens, Athabasca University

For many Canadian families, having a parent work away from home for extended periods of time has become an accepted way of life. This employment arrangement is especially prominent within Canada’s resources extraction industry. However, despite work-related parental absence being experienced by thousands of Canadian families, very little research exists that examines the effects on the children involved. We sought to address this research gap by conducting a qualitative research project that looked at the experiences of young adults who grew up in families where the father worked away from home on a short-term rotational basis (e.g., 10 days on, 10 days off). We sought to gain a better understanding of these experiences through the use of interpretive phenomenological analysis. In this presentation, we provide a summary of our thematic analysis along with recommendation for families, health-care workers, and future research.

Like Selling Poutine in Death Valley: Promoting Qualitative Program Evaluation to Numbers People

Andrea Moore, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Gary Uhl, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Gene Shelley, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

It is often difficult to communicate the value of qualitative methods to stakeholders who are “numbers people.” This is further complicated in the current era of constrained resources where collecting quantifiable indicators is often seen as the simplest, most valid, and most cost-effective method of program monitoring and evaluation. However, evaluations limited to quantitative indicators often overlook the contextual factors that drive program performance and reveal where to focus efforts to improve the program. This presentation includes an interactive discussion on strategies for engaging stakeholders that are hesitant or resistant to employing qualitative methods, including how to communicate about rigor and potential methodologies. We will also describe a successful collaborative initiative between quantitative and qualitative researchers in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention. This initiative used interviews and novel town hall-style focus groups to rapidly assess how policy change affected HIV prevention planning and HIV service delivery by CDC-funded health departments and community-based organizations. We will explore how this methodology fostered stakeholder buy-in, encouraged project ownership, and ultimately increased data use and informed program design.

Utilizing Multiple Modes of Thinking: A Dynamic Approach to Data Analysis

Rhia Moreno-Kilpatrick, The University of Georgia

In qualitative research design, researchers often choose one methodological approach to data analysis. However, numerous scholars in the field suggest expanding analysis in innovative and dynamic ways beyond the steps of just one approach to allow for greater complexity and quality in data analysis (e.g., Maxwell & Miller, 2013; Smith et al., 2009). This present study employed an innovative combination of analytic styles to gain a deeper understanding and interpretation of the data. In addition to using interpretative phenomenological analysis as the methodological framework, this study iteratively revisited the data through four different “modes of thinking” as recently presented by Freeman (2017). Each round of analysis reviewed the data categorically, narratively, poetically, and diagrammatically (see Freeman). This presentation highlights a unique approach to data analysis through the examination of how new doctoral students experience their transition into graduate education.

Iterative Thematic Inquiry: A Method for Analyzing Qualitative Data

David Morgan, Portland State University

Themes play such a central role in the presentation of qualitative research results that it makes sense to pursue analysis methods that are guided by their development. Iterative thematic inquiry (ITI) does this by using pragmatism as a theoretical basis for linking beliefs, in the form of preconceptions, to actions, in the form of data collection and analysis. As a method, ITI relies on four basic phases: assessing beliefs, building new beliefs through encounters with data, listing tentative themes, and evaluating themes through coding. This process has several notable contrasts to existing methods for qualitative data analysis, such as thematic analysis, grounded theory, and qualitative content analysis. Overall, the two most notable features of ITI are that theme development begins as early as possible, through an assessment of preconceptions, and that writing, rather than coding, serves as the primary procedure for generating the results.

Using Intersectionality as an Analytic Framework for Understanding the Experiences of Mental Health Stigma for Racialized Men

Marina Morrow, York University

Rod Lal, York University

Cindy Jiang, Simon Fraser University

Peter Hoong, Simon Fraser University

Although intersectionality has a long and rich tradition grounded primarily in the work of Black and Indigenous feminist activism and scholarship, it is only more recently being taken up broadly as an analytic method in the fields of health and mental health. In this paper, we explore the use of intersectionality as an analytic framework for interpreting focus group data emerging from a study which tested two workshop-based interventions—Acceptance Committee Training and Contact Based Empowerment Education—for their ability to reduce internalized and social stigma about mental illness among Asian men in Vancouver Canada. Our data consist of material gathered from 12 focus groups that occurred prior to the interventions and 12 focus groups that occurred 6 months after the completion of the interventions. Emerging from the focus group data are a set of findings that speak to the ways in which men understand and experience stigma as inextricable linked to their social locations related to time of migration, age, race, ethnicity, and masculinity. As such, the study highlights the ways in which mental health stigma cannot be understood in isolation of other social and structural barriers and has pertinent policy implications for how mental health stigma should be addressed in racialized communities. In this paper, we reflect on the use of intersectionality as an analytic framework for interpreting focus group data and argue for its wider uptake in mental health research.

“I Don’t Think It’s Bad, so Why Can’t I Talk About It?”: Self-Censorship, Irony, and Ethics in Learning With U.S. Abortion Providers About Stigmatization of Their Work

Molly Murphy, Medical College of Wisconsin

In 2015, a U.S. anti-abortion group illegally made and released videos of abortion doctors discussing donation of fetal tissue for stem cell research in blunt, clinical terms. Widespread backlash to abortion providers ensued. The event illuminated the power of rhetoric and context where abortion is concerned, and how providers are made vulnerable by frank, unapologetic discussion of their work. In this context, I conducted interviews with 31 abortion providers about the most stigmatized aspects of their work and reactions to their stigmatization. Despite knowing me as ardently pro-choice, the providers and I constantly confronted ethical and practical predicaments of speaking and writing feely about the most stigmatized aspects of abortion. Various methodological processes were implicated in these conflicts, including what constitutes meaningful consent when surprising topics come up in interviews, how much members of a small group can be protected from within-group exposure, how to work for a metabolic balance between advocate/researcher and insider/outsider, and, most importantly, how to handle strong quotes about stigma in a way that addresses the stigma head-on while still protecting the participant. My roles as researcher and advocate were often at odds, as were the providers’ aims to speak proudly and openly about their work, while knowing that their words may be manipulated or misunderstood. This presentation will provide case examples of the ethical and practical issues entailed in conducting research with stigmatized groups in turbulent sociopolitical contexts. Stigma silences the stigmatized, but qualitative research should struggle to counter that.

Exploring Lived Experiences Is Key to Inform the Development of Self-Management Intervention for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in Primary Care

Oladapo Ogunbayo, Newcastle University

Sian Russell, Newcastle University

Eileen Kaner, Newcastle University

In evidence-based medicine, many complex health-care interventions are informed by experimental and observational quantitative research methods. Hence, drawing on the richness of human experiences often seems secondary to a focus on objectivity and generalizability. Qualitative inquiry purposefully seeks to understand subjective meanings and beliefs held by key individuals within specific contexts. As health policy advocates a shift to shared decision-making with “expert” patients, it seems essential for their perspectives to be placed at the centre of care. Our research utilised predominately qualitative methods to explore experiences and perspectives of practitioners and patients living with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) to inform the development of a self-management intervention and how it might be facilitated in a primary care setting. Numerous systematic reviews and meta-analyses have demonstrated the effectiveness of self-management interventions, but many fail to achieve these benefits in real-life practice. We utilised pragmatic qualitative approaches to develop a prototype COPD self-management intervention via the following process, identifying the evidence base using a qualitative meta-synthesis of the literature, developing a theory by exploring barriers and facilitators with key informants via interviewing and participatory/co-design workshops, and modelling the process and outcomes via a qualitative feasibility evaluation of the prototype intervention. As well as outlining our findings, this presentation will reflect on how reflexivity and rigour were built into the process, the practical and ethical challenges encountered, and approaches taken to improve the internal and external validity and credibility of the data.

Using Results From a Focused Ethnographic Doctoral Research Study to Build a Predictive Analytic Tool (Simulation Model) for Decisions Regarding the Environment to Improve Safe and Quality Care for Patient, Families, and Caregivers

Susan O’Hara, Clemson University

This presentation extends initial research results presented at IIQM (Quebec City, October 2017) on the effect of the health-care built environment on macrocognitive interactions between interprofessional team members. This research will be published in January 2018. Macrocognition in the Health Care Built Environment (m-HCBE): A Focused Ethnographic Study of “Neighborhoods” in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Health Environments Research & Design Journal. doi:10.1177/1937586717728484). In the initial results, I demonstrated that a “neighborhood” configuration improved formal and informal macrocognitive interactions. Using these results, we made conceptual minor architectural changes and then used that evidence to test the “neighborhood” configuration versus the nurse station configuration for interactions and seeking help. We did this using computer simulation modeling. Simulation modeling is a decision analytic tool which uses qualitative, environmental, and other disparate data to understand existing operations and team work in both a current space as well as how this is affected in a new layout (O’Hara, S. (2014). Planning intensive care unit design using computer simulation modeling: optimizing integration of clinical, operational, and architectural requirements. Critical Care Nursing Quarterly, 37, 67–82. doi:10.1097/cnq.0000000000000006). This research compares the ethnographic research results with those of the simulation model output. In this experiment, we made minor conceptual architectural changes and tested logic processes uncovered ethnographically. We learned that using a neighborhood configuration did in fact improve distance traveled and time to locate team members. This is an innovative way to use ethnographic data to create a data base for the simulation model. This model allows the users to determine the optimal layout configurations and the processes within those layouts. Without the focused ethnographic research results, the validity of this model would not be the same.

Is It Worth the Messiness? Using Multiple Data Sources to Understand Family-Level Processes

Ozkan Ozgun, University of Alberta

Deanna L. Williamson, University of Alberta

Razak Oduro, University of Alberta

Families and family phenomena are unique and challenging foci of research. Family phenomena, such as family functioning, involve family-level processes that take shape through shared participation of and interactions among multiple family members. However, participating in the same processes does not necessarily result in shared experiences and meanings in a family. Beyond shared meanings, individual family members can construct different meanings related to family-level processes, which can sometimes be contradictory. Thus, in addition to using methods that provide insight into family units in their totality, researchers need to attend to perspectives of individual family members. Qualitative methods are well suited for providing insights about family-level processes, along with shared and individual member experiences and meanings of these processes. In this presentation, we will describe and critically examine the data generation methods we used in our study about family functioning processes engaged in by families with young children and diverse compositions and ethno-cultural origins. Specifically, we will illustrate the ways in which individual and family group interviews, as well as drawings and photos produced by families, can result in both rich holistic depictions of family-level processes and individual members’ perspectives, including inherent corroborations as well as differences and contradictions. We will also examine the challenges with our approach, with a particular focus on analyzing and integrating data from multiple data sources to advance knowledge about family functioning processes.

Reflexivity and Research Methodology: A Second Glance

Erlinda Palaganas, University of the Philippines Baguio

As qualitative researchers, we are actively involved in the research process. We accept the fact that we are the main instruments, thus making us part of the social world we aim to understand. A main reason for this is that qualitative research entails self-awareness and as Parahoo (2006) posits, such reflexivity, as a process, is introspection in the role of subjectivity in the research process that entails a continuous process of reflection by researchers on their values. It is also a process of recognizing, examining, and understanding how their “social background, location and assumptions affect their research practice” (Hesse-Biber, 2007, p. 17). Reflexivity, as the abundant literature would indicate, is an elusive term, it being commonly used interchangeably with reflectivity, and even with critical reflection. In this paper, an attempt was made to rediscover how reflexivity has been utilized in various perspectives to define its position and role in the conduct of a robust qualitative research. In the process, I would like to share and to solicit perspectives on reflexivity as a process and as an output that was done through a review of literature and the integration and highlighting the reflexivity/reflexivities of various research teams that I have been involved with such as the six country multidisciplinary team lead by the Ottawa University based in Canada, that undertook participatory research across Asia, Africa, and the Pacific to learn how poverty can be defined and measured; the five country multidisciplinary team, led by the Australian National University, Australia; and various local interdisciplinary researches. These researches were conducted over 3 years or more, some in various stages using focused group interviews, key informant interviews, observations, ladder, ranking using photographs, record reviews, and surveys. I also included documented reflexivities of colleagues who we have worked with in various capacities. I analyzed these documents vis-à-vis the concern of the qualitative researcher to unravel how their personhood intersects with their experiences in the field. Indeed, revisiting reflexivity and research methods enlightens the rigor in traversing the pathways of knowledge generation in qualitative research.

“This Week Is the Same as Every Week”: Short Diaries as a Method to Elicit Insights Into Everyday Life Routines, Practices, Thoughts, and Feelings of People Living With Severe Mental Illnesses

Victoria Palmer, The University of Melbourne

Research indicates that people living with severe mental illnesses experience loneliness and isolation at higher rates than the general community. As part of a larger study working with people accessing community mental health services in Victoria, Australia, participants were invited to complete a short diary and share how they spent their week. The short diary method provided insights into people’s feelings, thoughts, and everyday routines and practices. Participants discussed day-to-day life, appointment keeping, relationships or lack thereof, difficulties with recovery and practices that kept them well. The short diary method provided an unobtrusive form of data collection that enabled insight into the very everyday life worlds of people, their activities, feelings, and events. This provides insight into experiences of loneliness and isolation, difficulties with day-to-day living but also stories of recovery practices and strengths. The diaries also provided a sense of spatial and environmental interactions of participants with their descriptions of accessing public spaces or local community resources. Short diaries were mailed out to participants and this enabled their control over content and the timing of when the diary was completed. This method is a beneficial data collection approach for people living with severe mental illness and offers distinctive data to face-to-face interviews.

Conducting Multinational, Cross-Cultural Qualitative Studies: Methodological Insights From the Caribbean Arm of the Pan Institution Network on Global Health Study on Comorbidities

Shalini Pooransingh, University of the West Indies

Natalie Greaves, University of the West Indies

Alafia Samuels, University of the West Indies

Maddy Murphy, University of the West Indies

HIV is increasingly recognised as a chronic disease with persons who live with this communicable condition being at risk for developing chronic noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as hypercholesterolemia, cancer, and diabetes. There has been little research exploring the intersection of communicable and NCDs and the lived experiences of persons with chronic dual morbidities. The study explored how persons living with HIV and Type 2 Diabetes experienced and managed the illness in the context of their respective culture and health systems. We present the methodology used in this study as an example of multisite cross-cultural collaborative qualitative research. The study was initially conducted in two settings in South Africa, then through sharing of the research protocol, and subsequent ethical approval it was replicated by Caribbean researchers in the sovereign islands of Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago (TT). These islands have different demographic, cultural, and health systems profiles. Barbados has centralised HIV care which caters to NCDs while in TT HIV care is semidecentralised with minimal joint NCD care. Twenty semistructured face-to-face interviews were conducted in the process of reaching saturation (10 in each site). Importantly, data collectors were local researchers with knowledge of the respective health systems and cultures; however, analysis expertise was shared across the islands facilitated by face-to-face meetings, web-based platforms, and the data management software Atlas ti. The study was completed within 12 months and is an example of a successful global health initiative using technology.

Participants Becoming Co-Researchers in Research on Interfaith Dialogue

Elizabeth M. Pope, University of West Georgia

Commonly, the role of participants in the qualitative research process is in data generation as a representation of the community or context under study. In general, the researcher is the authority figure in the research process. A researcher’s relationship with their participants is bounded by the time they spend in the field. At the same time, the level and type of participation asked or expected of participants can vary according to design and approach. In methods such as participatory action research and clinical applied ethnography, participants are coresearchers and researchers work to train the participants in research methods, data collection, and data analysis. Researchers utilizing such designs intentionally request active involvement from participants from the outset of the project. For researchers who do not follow such designs, participants who wish to be involved in such a way can come as a surprise and their design and approach to their projects may need to be adjusted. This presentation will explore the way in which seven of the participants of a qualitative case study became coresearchers throughout the course of the study. These participants responded to the project in such a way that was surprising and required changes in the way I collected and interpreted data. This presentation will examine their active involvement and discuss how this impacted my position as a researcher, my relationship with the participants, the trajectory of the research project, data analysis, and representation of findings.

Experience and Phenomenology in a (Post)Feminist World: Navigating a Contentious Terrain

Lisa Redgrift, Dalhousie University

Experience. What does this word mean to you? Think about it for a moment. How have your experiences shaped you? Are you a culmination of your experiences? If one subscribes to the notion that experience is a constitutive element of subjectivity, and if one identifies as a feminist (in a postfeminist world), then one faces a difficult (post)feminist phenomenological road. Theorizing experience within a feminist context shifts with each wave of feminism. In a post (structural/modern and more recently, intersectional) feminist world, the essentialized female subject has been replaced with discursive and contingent subjectivities. In many ways, the essence of postfeminism(s) are in opposition to phenomenological inquiry. Considering the inherent tension between seeking to uncover the essence of experience constructed through gendered identities that are discursive and contingent, I ask: is (post) feminist phenomenology possible? I will reflect upon some of the concerns that exist between (post)feminism(s) and phenomenology in an effort to demonstrate that (post)feminist phenomenology is possible. I will contextualize this discussion within my doctoral research which is focused on women’s reproductive health and fertility.

Qualitative Inquiry in the Context of Intervention Research: Employing “Unobtrusive Data” for Typology Development

Gwen Rempel, Athabasca University

Laura G. Rogers, Athabasca University

Steffany Charles, University of Alberta

Adrienne H. Kovacs, Oregon Health Science University

Andrew S. Mackie, University of Alberta

The vital role of qualitative inquiry in intervention studies was explicated by Sandelowski (1996). Zhang (2014) identified 76 mixed-methods health intervention studies from 2000 to 2011 but has the nuance and innovation of our mixed-methods intervention research approaches progressed over this time? The purpose of this presentation is to illustrate how qualitative inquiry, within the context of a randomized controlled trial (RCT), enabled the researcher to employ an innovative source of data (i.e., data generated to ensure intervention fidelity) to elucidate the variation in response to intervention (i.e., range of scores for intervention group), resulting in typology development.

The qualitative aspect of the RCT was conducted to determine how nurse-led psychoeducational sessions worked, for whom they worked, and how the intervention might require modification for future research and implementation. To minimize bias in the study design through qualitative data generation, the data generated to ensure intervention fidelity (i.e., digital recordings of nurse-led sessions, intervention logs) were compiled and analyzed. Thus, we employed “unobtrusive data” in the context of an advanced mixed-methods intervention design. The typology differentiates those who possibly did not need the intervention, from those who benefited, and from those who needed further intervention or referral.

Communication and Decision Making: A Symbolic Interaction Study of Choosing Agriculture as an Academic Program

Camille Rose Carl Rodriguez, Pampanga State Agricultural University

Jean A. Saludadez, Pampanga State Agricultural University

Research in Symbolic Interactionism identifies how even an individual’s own thoughts are known and bestowed meaning through group life. As it poses the epistemology of being transactional and subjectivist, I utilized Symbolic Interactionism both as a theory and as a methodology for this study. Its assumptions provided a framework that enabled me to understand how the interactions of the youth defined their decision to pursue agriculture as a career in college. In this research, I will demonstrate how Blumer’s methodology of Symbolic Interactionism allowed me as the researcher to be familiar to the research topic through literature review and data collection. In this case, I as the researcher and the youth as a participant are interactively linked which enabled the construction of meaning as the interaction occurs. The data analysis was the inspection phase as per Blumer’s methodology which was done by sensitizing of the data collected. Sensitizing concepts then are the constructs that are obtained from the views of the participants, making use of their expressions and language. These concepts or expressions in turn are grounded on what I, as the researcher, think most relevant to the study’s objective which was followed by thematic analysis. As such, SI as a methodology that allowed me flexibility in this study but imposes the challenge to remain ethically objective to ensure reliability and validity of this qualitative research.

Developing Online Focus Group Methods by Adding eLearning

Kaye Rolls, University of Technology Sydney

Doug Elliott, University of Technology Sydney

Focus groups are used by researchers to seek understanding of a phenomenon from the perspective of a group of interest. Emergence of the Internet has now enabled researchers to conduct online focus groups (OFGs). Despite early concerns regarding methodological soundness, over the past 25 years, OFGs have been used to explore a diverse range of health related experiences. This paper reflects on the learnings from an OFG study, where an “eModeration” approach was developed, combining traditional focus group methods with e-learning techniques. This approach was utilized in examining why health-care professionals joined and maintained involvement in an Australian-based virtual community. Using a secure discussion forum platform three OFGs were conducted over a 2-month period with 23 participants, stratified by their online posting behaviors. The affordances of OFG methods (time, autonomy, and asynchronicity) and eModeration facilitated development of rich authentic participant data and in-depth field notes. Data analysis was also expedited with immediate researcher immersion, while the asynchronous approach created a space between questions to reflect on participant contributions, facilitating early theme development and member checking. Researcher reflexivity and development was enhanced through bracketing and discussions between the research team. While moderating the OFG and developing field notes imposed a significant time burden, this may have been offset through not having to transcribe data and early data engagement. This paper contributes to qualitative methods by demonstrating an OFG approach that created credible data by facilitating egalitarian participant involvement and supported data analysis and researcher reflexivity.

Theory Generation Strategy (TsGS): A New Look Into Theory-Building in Qualitative Educational Research

Saeid Safaei Movahhed, University of Tehran

Although five decades ago grounded theory emerged as a theory-building strategy in social science, it gradually permeated other disciplines like management, nursing, cultural studies, political sciences, and education. Undoubtedly, Grounded Theory Methodology has been playing a prominent role in theory-generation in education, but it seemingly may not be deemed as an all-inclusive strategy in this discipline due to essential miscellany of educational theories. Assuming this as an important shortage, I try to put forward a new strategy for theory generation in education. Hence, six types of educational theories are initially introduced, namely, chronological, causal (explanatory or scientific), historical, critical, taxonomic, and normative. Afterwards, necessary and logical steps are mentioned for building theories based on the proposed strategy as follows: (1) approaching (what type of theory is probably to be made), (2) data collection, (3) coding/concepts formation, (4) validation and crediblity, and (5) theory representation. It is noteworthy to consider that the steps are not linear, data collection and data analyses occur simultaneously, and the resulted theory owns an essential nature. Once an essential theory is formed by this strategy, it ought to be validated against criteria such as clarity, parsimony, structural corroboration, referential adequacy, and procedural validity. If the resulted essential theory is to be promoted into formal level, the studies must be replicated in various contexts and be approved by communities of related scholars. As educational theories are both descriptive and normative in nature, it is believed that this new framework helps educational researchers take a broader view of various types of theories in education and perceive a clear view of how to generate them based on the research questions.

Communication and Social Order: A Mother’s Critical Autoethnography of Life With a Child With Down Syndrome

Ana Lea R. Samin, Assumption College

The depth of meaning as a core concept in qualitative communication research lends itself to methods that provide researchers with the tool to analyze phenomenon through the eyes of individual participants. Autoethnography as a research method is a way to understand culture by analyzing personal experience. This supports the constructivist paradigm, summed up epistemologically as subjectivist, where the knowledge resides in the participant to the phenomenon. Through a personal narrative reconstructed from a recollection of past experiences and aided by well-kept documents and records, this presentation will explore how autoethography can be used to surface my meaning structures. It offers an insider account of my communicative performance as a mother to a child with Down syndrome vis-à-vis the social order. Using autoethnography as theory and method, is both process and product, my study tackles an issue of a marginalized, disadvantaged group. Thus, this study evolved using the critical autoethnographic method, situating my narrative within larger systems of power. With my narrative as basis for analysis, this inquiry illustrates how my communicative performance was shaped by the marginalization I experienced. A story-approach to thematizing was explored by looking at my narrative in terms of scenes with specific moments of marginalization by authoritative institutions. From this personal and academic space, the study demonstrates how autoethnography is used to engage in cultural analysis and interpretation as it uncovers knowledge about how the social order is surfaced in communication.

The Delphi Method in Qualitative Research: Building Consensus Using Thematic Analysis

Patricia L. Samson, University of Calgary

A qualitative Delphi methodology is an innovative way to refine our understanding of complex topics, and engaging in a thematic analysis allows the researcher to stay true to the rich stories provided by study participants who take the time to share their experiences and perspectives. The multiple iterations involved with this research methodology provide an effective forum for member checking that serves to enhance the rigor and trustworthiness of the findings. Only a small number of purely qualitative Delphi studies have been completed within the past 15 years across a variety of disciplines. In a research project examining critical thinking in social work education, a qualitative Delphi method was employed with social work faculty members on an international scale, resulting in the achievement of consensus on five key points, shaping and informing an understanding of how critical thinking can be reconceptualized within a discipline-specific lens. Engagement in thematic analysis, following Braun and Clarke’s (2006) guidelines, involves an inductive approach, where codes are developed based on the data. The themes capture what is important in the data relative to the research questions, while remaining true to the thick descriptions provided by those deemed expert in this field. As a consensus-building mechanism, the Delphi method is a detailed approach to gaining a deeper understanding of a topic that has many layers. This methodology and approach to data analysis has contributed to elucidating a clearer vision of critical thinking in social work education.

Researcher Positionality and Context Sensitivity: Reflexivity as a Tool for Meaningful Research

Deepika Sharma, Indian Institute of Technology

Situated understanding of the lives of the people we study, with thick description of the context, forms the basis of qualitative research. As responsible researchers, we need to give due importance to reflexivity as it is an important methodological tool for meaningful research. My study concerns with loco motor disability, with an in-depth focus on the lived experiences of accident survivors. Within this context, my paper attempts to explore how locating myself as a researcher within the context of my study helped me in better understanding the research process, the research relationship, and contributed to the rigor of my study. By being reflexive, I realized it is important to also incorporate my vulnerabilities during the research process, the blockages that came in between, the emotional upheaval caused by stories of struggle, the impact it left on me and the fuzziness that surround human emotions. By using exemplars and instances from the in-depth interviews that I conducted during my fieldwork, I aim to assert the importance of reflexivity in the research process.

Engaging Community Stakeholders to Study Factors Impacting Mental Health Access in Massachusetts

Kaitlin Sheedy, Abt Associates

Jenna T. Sirkin, Abt Associates

Meaghan Hunt, Abt Associates

Community Based Participatory Action Research (CBPAR) is a collaborative research approach that engages stakeholders from study design and implementation to dissemination of findings. Using CBPAR principles, we effectively engaged stakeholders in a study on mental health access in Massachusetts—a politically salient topic with limited existing data. This mixed-methods study aimed to quantify the wait time for an outpatient mental health appointment in Massachusetts, better understand client experiences seeking services, and identify facilitators or barriers to access. In the study design phase, we convened an Advisory Group of mental health advocates, organizational leaders, and providers in Massachusetts who collectively understand the policy landscape and experiences of individuals trying to access services. This group provided critical insight and feedback that informed the design of data collection methods, allowed us to adapt protocols and instruments, and guided strategies to effectively engage participating providers, organizations, and clients. Group members also supported implementation by promoting the study through their networks and participating as key stakeholders in semistructured interviews. Engaging this group allowed us to more efficiently achieve study aims. The team disseminated study findings at a Boston event with ∼350 registrants, including Advisory Group members, policy makers, organizations, and other stakeholders. The collaborative approach of the CBPAR model established early buy-in and anticipation of findings, culminating in a high profile event, media coverage, and partner organizations’ social media activity. Discussions about the research underscored the high priority to improve mental health access in Massachusetts and served as a call to action for stakeholders.

Advancing Methodological Guidance for Multisite Qualitative Analysis Across Qualitative Methodologies

Allie Slemon, University of British Columbia

Rebecca Haines-Saah, University of Calgary

Emily Jenkins, University of British Columbia

Multisite qualitative research designs provide an opportunity to explore a phenomenon in rich detail and across a variety of contexts; an approach which is touted as strengthening applicability of findings while ensuring the depth of site-specific analysis and resulting interpretations. Not surprisingly, many qualitative researchers incorporate multiple study sites into their research designs, yet methodological and analytical guidance has historically been limited to case study research. Resultantly, multisite approaches utilizing other qualitative designs have consistently prioritized one of these aims over the other: either aggregating data across sites to increase sample size while ignoring nuances within sites or presenting site-specific data separately with minimal analysis across different contexts—ultimately, contributing to underdeveloped data analysis and decontextualized study findings. In this presentation, we will share a methodological approach to multisite qualitative analysis that effectively and meaningfully informs analysis within and across study sites. This methodological approach illustrates the power of multisite studies for generating rich and complex findings that are appropriate for informing programs, policy, or interventions, while remaining responsive to the context-specific features that require attention in order for the knowledge to be of greatest value.

Overcoming Methodological and Ethical Challenges in Qualitative Research Involving Vulnerable Populations

Ailbhe Spillane, University College Cork

Karen Matvienko-Sikar, University College Cork

Ella Arensman, University College Cork

The field of suicidology has seen a recent ontological shift towards qualitative research focussed on experience as opposed to just quantitative research. An estimated 800,000 people die by suicide every year. Conservative figures estimate that for every suicide, 60 people are affected. Suicide bereavement impacts mental and physical health, increasing risk of depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, hypertension, and diabetes. Additionally, feelings of shame and stigma, which are socially and culturally constructed, can impact on health experiences and complicate the grieving process. Research exploring the phenomenon of suicide is therefore ethically challenging. Thus, it is imperative that such research is carried out in a methodologically sensitive manner to minimise any potential risks to the participant. There remains a lack of understanding about specific ethical and methodological issues arising during research with vulnerable groups and how to overcome these challenges. In light of this, the aim of this presentation is to describe ethically and methodologically appropriate strategies to involve family members bereaved by suicide in research. Some challenges include firstly gaining access to this hard-to-reach population, discussing the trauma in a sensitive manner, paying close attention to participant’s well-being, limits to confidentiality and method, and timing of initial contact. Best practice procedures to overcome such challenges will be discussed, including adequate interviewer training and pro-active recruitment and facilitation of support. The importance of boundaries to the interviewer–interviewee relationship, along with the cultural context of suicide in Ireland will also be explored. Finally, participants’ perspectives of the interview process will also be described.

Integrating Mixed Method at Later Stage of Research in Social Science

Shaila Srivastava, K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies & Research

Appropriate methodological innovation during a research project in social science is well accepted even when research questions are to be investigated under assumed context. Innovation in research design may lead to changed objectives and expected outcome. In mixed methods research, the elements of both qualitative as well as quantitative research approach are used. I have been conducting a study on women work participation, assets ownership, and empowerment. The purpose of integration of mixed method research design in my research is to support the finding from quantitative data analysis and validate the conclusion drawn with the help of qualitative analysis for better insight. Case studies and in-depth personal interviews method incorporated in the modified research design, keeping in mind the factors such as social conditioning and upbringing of respondents, is equally important to understand their current context. Through this paper, I would like to discuss challenges faced in integrating mixed method during later phase of research. Some of these challenges are realigning research design with expected outcome, recognizing sample for case studies, personal interviews, categorizing cases based on typology, coding, transforming qualitative data into values for validation of findings, and issues related to biases and prejudices of the investigator.

Revealing the Meaning Making Process: A Bi-Level Approach to Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis in the Context of Disasters

Jezzamyn Stone, University of Calgary

Michael Lee Zwiers, University of Calgary

Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) is a research method suited for extracting participants’ meaning making of various experiences. Analysis typically nets unique units of meaning that emerge across participants. However, IPA is also a suitable method to extract underling processes of meaning making (i.e., the journey toward meaning rather than simply the meaning outcomes achieved). A qualitative study focusing on the 2016 Horse River wildfire in Northern Alberta will be used to exemplify two levels of analysis and outcomes. In the study, Fort McMurray residents were forced to evacuate from their homes with little notice. Using IPA, the researchers sought to understand how 12 mothers made sense of their communication strategies to their children surrounding the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire evacuation. Parents’ approach and style of communicating to their children about this event was investigated to better understand parental decision-making underlying family adaptability, resiliency, and children’s competence in making sense and meaning from their experience. The first level of data analysis contributed to initial research reflections and preliminary themes. Results identified three overarching themes of parents’ approaches to support: constructing realities, shaping values, and fostering independent construction. A secondary level of analysis pointed to an unfolding process of meaning making that emerged in four-dimensional space-time. This process was clearly based in participant values and needs. Findings point to future approaches to qualitative research using IPA.

Using Focus Groups With Dairy Cattle Veterinarians to Promote Learning About Calf Welfare

Christine Sumner, University of British Columbia

Marina von Keyserlingk, University of British Columbia

Dairy calf welfare is a growing interest within the veterinary field. However, a poor understanding of the conception of calf welfare by dairy cattle veterinarians can hinder efforts to promote welfare improvements on farms. The aim of this study was to identify how focus groups can promote learning about dairy calf welfare issues among Canadian cattle veterinarians, specifically what they think should be considered as welfare concerns and what they should do as veterinarians to address these concerns. Focus groups (n = 5), that collectively had 33 participants representing five Canadian provinces and different geographical regions, were conducted as part of a continuing education workshop for Canadian cattle veterinarians. Two trained individuals undertook exploratory data analyses using applied thematic analysis where initial themes were first identified and used to develop a detailed codebook to guide the coding process. All transcripts were coded twice to further test the validity of the initial codes and themes. Results from this study indicate three primary themes about learning that emerged from guided peer-discussion: (1) defining a shared concept of animal welfare from the veterinary perspective, (2) promoting self-examination about one’s own values and practices related to animal welfare, and (3) sharing of ideas on improving calf welfare including strategies for addressing barriers such as motivating clients and managing time. In conclusion, focus groups can facilitate learning on topics within the veterinary profession.

Modular Methodology: Bridging the Disciplines

Ulrich Teucher, University of Saskatchewan

In qualitative methods in the social sciences, there has been an inflation of methods, most of them including constraints that have set the disciplines and methods apart, sometimes artificially apart. Braun and Clarke’s (2006) article on “Using thematic analysis in psychology” was a first welcome departure from this past, focussing in accessible ways on the basics of thematic analysis. I would like to argue that we can go even further, instead of overstating disciplinary philosophical differences, identifying problem-based characteristics from which we can then weave together basic elements of the appropriate method, based on, for example, our definitions of reality, truth, self, health, illness, and so on, enriched by appropriate theories, for example, feminist or postcolonial theories and so on. This modular model of developing a method that is determined by the problem at hand may at first seem more complex, requiring a sort of checklist—but it would provide more flexibility than traditional one-size-fits-few methods that are defended by their authors. In this way, bridges could be built between different disciplines while avoiding sloppy theoretical eclecticism, leading to more confidence in selecting and presenting the appropriate methods. In my presentation, I will demonstrate this “modular” method by recourse to a transcript of a patient cancer narrative.

When Those With More and Less Power Collaborate: Complexities and Caveats of Participatory Research in a Resource-Poor, Rural South African Context

Linda Theron, University of Pretoria

Liesel Ebersöhn, University of Pretoria

Motlalepule Mampane, University of Pretoria

Angie Hart, University of Brighton

The study, “Patterns of resilience among young people in a community affected by drought” was a participatory study that spanned 6 months of interaction with youth in a disadvantaged, drought-challenged, rural community in South Africa (SA). The research team comprised professors from universities in the UK and SA, adults and youth from collaborating not-for-profit organizations in the UK and SA, postgraduate UK and SA university students (the SA students were all educational psychologists in training) and local SA youth. Ostensibly, all members of the team were coresearchers. The coresearchers cogenerated the research questions, collaboratively chose a repertoire of arts-based research activities, coanalyzed the data, and codetermined subsequent knowledge-mobilization products. We, the SA university professors who supervised the postgraduate SA student coresearchers, used Gaventa’s power-cube as a lens through which we could reflect on the aforementioned process. This presentation reports our reflections, particularly with regard to the tensions which emanated from the continuum of power and the dynamics of power that this specific mix of coresearchers brought, and position these against the backdrop of SA’s postcolonial and Apartheid history and continued inequities. We use our reflections to suggest an alternative approach toward powerful partnerships for relevant research.

Focus Groups—Confirmation and Triangulation

S. Bruce Thomson, MacEwan University

Deepak Sharma, Post Graduate Govt. College for Girls

Since the late 1940s, researchers in the social sciences have used focus groups for data collection (Fern, 1982; Morgan, 1997). Morgan (1996) suggest that a focus group is a “research technique that collects data through group interaction on a topic determined by the researcher” (p. 130). The utilization of focus groups in research data collection can be broken down into three categories: (1) self-contained—the focus groups are the principal source of data, (2) supplementary—used to augment interview or other sources of data, and (3) multimethod—a combined data collection strategy using two or more methods of collecting primary data that do not rely upon each other (Morgan, 1997). The comparison of results from different groups helps the researcher corroborate quantitative results and for qualitative research it can act as the basis of preliminary categories or properties which can be explored at various levels through in-depth interviews. Therefore, the primary purpose of focus groups can be to enhance findings through confirmation and triangulation of categories and themes. This paper looks at focus groups as a supplementary data source in business management research projects. Two research projects will be used as exemplars of a focus group methodology as an effective tool of confirmation and triangulation.

Reflections From Fieldwork Experiences in Northern Thailand: Methodological Challenges

Onouma Thummapol, University of Alberta

Sylvia Barton, University of Northern British Columbia

Tanya Park, University of Alberta

Persistent inequities in health and access to health-care services for Indigenous women represent serious public health concerns, particularly in developing countries. This focused ethnographic study explored experiences of access to health-care services, the facilitators and barriers, and the influence of culture from the perspectives of Indigenous women living in northern Thailand. Data were collected over 2 months of immersion in the village, and included in-depth interviews with 21 women, many of whom were living in poverty and dealing with multiple social disadvantages. This presentation will discuss the methodological challenges of conducting research involving socially and economically disadvantaged women. Specifically, challenges such as rapport building, sampling, and recruitment of women living in poverty and ethical considerations will be presented. Multifaceted strategies used to maintain the integrity of focused ethnography will be highlighted in this presentation.

Conducting Qualitative Research With Individuals Sharing a Common Experience: Methodological Challenges and Ethical Issues

Deborah Ummel, Université de Sherbrooke

Qualitative research involving participants sharing a common experience is increasingly emergent and diverse (e.g., dyads made up of husbands and wives, same-sex partners, patients and caregivers, mentors and apprentices, or small groups like families, classrooms, or divisions in a workplace). Indeed, because qualitative researchers are sensitive in approaching a phenomenon in its most richness and complexity, this can result in the decision to include several individuals sharing a common experience. However, this practice involves several methodological challenges and ethical issues occurring at all the stages of the research process, from the recruitment to the result dissemination. For example, in our recent experience, we found ourselves caught between our responsibility to protect internal confidentiality of dyad members interviewed separately and our desire to illustrate our findings with details sufficient enough to convey a dyadic perspective. Using examples of three studies (dyads of borderline daughters and their mothers, dyads of living kidney donors and recipients, and trio of patients, family member, and caregivers in the context of a medical aid in dying request), this presentation will highlight methodological challenges and ethical issues that could occur through the research process and which should be reflected pre-emptively. We will address the necessary positioning of the researcher towards internal confidentiality, choices pertaining to collecting data individually or jointly, as well as the tension between ensuring rigor and confidentiality when disseminating findings.

Culturally Relevant Adaptation of Qualitative Methods: Challenges and Opportunities Studying Youth Resilience in Stressed Environments

Michael Ungar, Dalhousie University

Linda Theron, University of Pretoria

A multisite study of youth resilience in contexts of severe climate change and economic stress in Canada and South Africa began with a common set of health-related research questions, then adapted the qualitative methods used to align better with the culture of each community. This presentation explores whether this adaptation shaped which protective processes young people identified as useful in contexts of adversity. While decolonizing methodologies holds promise for better understanding emic perspectives of well-being, changing the way data is collected may also influence findings. While adaptation often benefits research by making it culturally relevant, it also raises questions: (1) Does the use of culturally relevant methodologies influence the identification of factors associated with resilience and health? (2) Are the findings that result merely artifacts of the choice of methodology and its adaptation, limiting (or expanding) possible explanations for health-related phenomena? (3) When methodologies from the majority world (low- and middle-income countries and indigenous peoples) are employed in the minority world (high-income countries and privileged populations), are new insights into health phenomena possible? (4) Can findings from different cultural contexts be compared if research questions remain the same but methodologies are adapted? Using examples from the mixed methods Resilient Youth in Stressed Environments study, it will be shown that bias can be detected when researchers employ different approaches to visual methods, interviews, participatory action research, and observation over time.

Listening, Observing, and Learning From Children: Negotiating the Interviewing Landscape in Narrative Inquiry Research With Sick Children

Pamela van der Riet, Boromarajonani College of Nursing

Chaweewan Jitsacorn, Boromarajonani College of Nursing

Piyatida Junlapeeya, Boromara Department of Adult and Geriatric Health Nursing

How do sick children respond to an environment designed to support them during long-term confinement in hospital care? This study involved participatory methods to learn from children about their experiences when actively engaging with a recreational facility (Fairy Garden) adjacent to the paediatric ward at a hospital in northern Thailand. That the voices of children should be heard has gained increasing attention in social research in the 21st century and this study investigates the voice of children in an acute care setting that provides a “time-out” from hospital procedure through activities more familiar within child friendly community facilities. How do children respond to an environment that is nonclinical; offers play activities, gardens, and rest areas; and welcomes family member’s and nursing staff to join with the children in active engagements? Narrative inquiry was selected as the methodology to capture children’s views and experiences of the Fairy Garden healing haven through drawing and talking. Through a process of child-friendly methods, the young patients and the adult researchers meet in a one-to-one situation to make drawings and talk about those drawings. Children were asked to make a drawing that told a story about them and the FG. This was followed by a conversation/interview and the child was encouraged in storytelling to explain their drawing. This presentation will report on the study, examine the challengers in co-constructing research with children, and refer to action points in negotiating “listening to the voices of sick children,” attending to reflexivity in ensuring trustworthiness of the research methods.

Feminist Roots and Social Justice Branches: Exploration and Advocacy Through Methods Grounded in Feminist Practices

Vanessa Vegter, University of Calgary

Barbara Pickering, University of Calgary

Monica Sesma, University of Calgary

How are feminist research methodologies distinguished? What are the benefits and challenges of using feminist informed research methodologies? What does it mean to adopt feminist processes and what claims can feminist research make? In this presentation, three researchers working in different areas of inquiry discuss the significance of working from a feminist perspective, how it informs their practices and processes. Utilizing the feminist methodology situational analysis, Vanessa has explored the dynamic and relational identity processes of feminists in professional counselling roles. Grounded in feminist theory, Situational Analysis (SA) positions Vanessa to comment on the integration of feminist theory, research, and counselling practice. She will share how conceptual and embodied feminist research methodologies theoretically align with social justice oriented community action research and collaborative counselling practices. Barbara has been working with people who have been affected by incarceration. She will share how feminist methodologies are enacted when working from a community based participatory action research approach. Monica is using a feminist relational research approach and a methodology characterized as “research as daily practice” to examine assimilation and emotional expressiveness experienced by immigrant Latin American women in a counselling setting. She will share how postcolonial feminist theory can expand the understanding of Latino American women’s devoiced and pathologized experiences. This presentation is intended to be both collaborative and dialogic, reflecting tenets of feminist research.

Ethical Issues in Conducting Community-Based Participatory Research

Christine Walsh, University of Calgary

Crystal Kwan, University of Calgary

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is a methodology increasingly used within the social sciences. CBPR is an umbrella term that encompasses a variety of research methodologies, including participatory research, participatory action research, feminist participatory research, action research, and collaborative inquiry. At its core, they share five key attributes: (i) community as a unit of identity; (ii) an approach for the vulnerable and marginalized; (iii) collaboration and equal partnership throughout the entire research process; (iv) an emergent, flexible, and iterative process; and (v) the research process is geared toward social action. While there is no shortage of literature that highlights the benefits and potential of CBPR, relatively little discussion exists on the ethical issues associated with the methodology. In particular, current gaps within the literature include ethical guidance in (i) balancing community values, needs, and identity with those of the individual; (ii) negotiating power dynamics and relationships; (iii) working with stigmatized populations; (iv) negotiating conflicting ethical requirements and expectations from institutional review boards; and (v) facilitating social action emerging from the findings. For CBPR’s commendable goals and potential to be realized, it is necessary to have a more fulsome discussion of the ethical issues encountered while implementing a CBPR study. Further, a lack of awareness and critical reflection on such ethical considerations may perpetuate the very same problems this methodology seeks to address, namely, inequality, oppression, and marginalization. The purpose of this article is to provide a narrative review of the literature that identifies ethical issues that may arise from conducting CBPR studies, and the recommendations by researchers to mitigate such challenges.

Questions That Matter in Qualitative Inquiry: The Rest of the Story

Chloe Weir, Burman University

Shirley Freed, Burman University

The “rest of the story” was a popular radio program hosted by Paul Harvey. The program often uncovered extra information—often unheard of and interesting bits and pieces that clarified and often surprised common knowledge. In a similar way, we often wonder about the rest of the story in our research endeavors. We have conducted phenomenography, grounded study, ethnography, case studies, and basic qualitative research. With each study, we are concerned that we have captured only some of the experiences of those we study. Ethically, we are always asking ourselves, “Have I been true to the people I am studying? Am I telling their real story or just a part of it? Or worse yet, might I simply be telling my own story?” Did I bracket my views or did my prejudices influence the data? Did I discuss reflexivity before data collection? Was my positionality explicit? These questions haunt us as we consider the kinds of data we collect. We have gathered interviews, observed people, and collected artifacts. We have done member checks and had peer reviews—even conducted interrater reliability with multiple raters. However, the uneasiness lingers. Have we spent enough time? Did we ask the right questions? Did we see what they wanted us to see? Did we hear the untold story? If we stayed one more day, or if we came back in 2 months or 1 year, would we find something different? What is the rest of the story we long to understand? This presentation shares some of the ways we as researchers have learned to live with the ambiguity of qualitative research. We are learning to live with the goal of understanding people. We are trying to understand processes and not just end results. We are discovering how to trust ourselves and those we study. We are learning that relationships matter more than methods, and that how we interpret the data itself is a story.

Getting the Most Out of Qualitative Data: Techniques for the Analysis of Complex Media Data

David Woods

This presentation will focus on proven techniques for getting as much detailed analytic information out of complex media data as possible, whether you are conducting interviews, running focus groups, or collecting observational data in situ. I will describe techniques for capturing complexity in dynamic environments such as classrooms and for teasing out different analytic views or layers in multimedia data. During this talk, I will illustrate these data analysis techniques using several studies. A study involving large focus groups captured much more visual detail of participants by using multiple cameras, allowing more certain inference of emotional states. A study of student-produced documentary films used simultaneous transcripts representing different analytic viewpoints to capture and present incredible sophistication by the academically at-risk students who created them. The analysis of a study of fast-paced video game play really only became possible when multiple media streams were combined with multiple analytic transcripts.

Community-Based Participatory Research Partnerships With Survivors of Mass Violence and Trauma: Reflections on Research with Genocide Survivors

Sophie Yohani, University of Alberta

Linda Kreitzer, University of Calgary

The health and well-being of refugee and immigrant communities in Canada is increasingly understood in relation to pre- and postmigration experiences. This perspective is particularly relevant for communities with histories of mass violence and genocide, such as the Rwandan Canadians whose migration to Canada is linked to civil war that led to the 1994 genocide. Our community-based participatory research (CBPR) project was initiated by, and conducted with, members of the Rwandese community in Edmonton, Alberta, between 2010 and 2017. Our objective was to develop an understanding of current mental health concerns and strengths in this community so that a culturally appropriate and community specific mental health intervention can be established. This presentation will focus on the process of establishing a long-term CBPR research partnership and project with members of a community who have involved significant trauma and loss. Reflecting on our experiences as researchers and nongenocide survivors, we raise important questions about trust, emotional and cultural sensitivity, power, and safety as critical aspects of CBPR with trauma survivors. We also demonstrate how codevelopment of research questions, weaving community interviewer training with trauma awareness, and collaborative data analysis and became critical aspects for shared learning and empowerment in our research partnership and project.

Using Digital Media to Explore Rural Preceptorship Experiences

Olive Yonge, University of Alberta

Deirdre Jackman, University of Alberta

Jim Cockell, University of Alberta

Between February and May 2016, seven baccalaureate nursing students and five registered nurses in Alberta took part in a unique, ongoing participant action study, using digital media to explore the challenges and opportunities of senior (4th year) nursing preceptorships in rural settings. The goals of this project were to gain a firsthand perspective on rural preceptorship from those most directly involved and to investigate how digital photography and digital storytelling mediate the experiences of research participants. Over 10 weeks, the students and preceptors documented the daily realities of rural preceptorship by taking digital photographs, which they discussed with researchers during midpoint and endpoint interviews—a process known as photovoice. In turn, the researchers authored four digital stories based on participants’ images and narratives. It was found that rural preceptorships teach nursing students to accept and manage limitations (such as isolation and lack of resources) while recognizing and capitalizing on opportunities (such as interprofessional teamwork, generalization, and holistic care). The photovoice process was found to complement and mirror the experiential learning of preceptorship. The results moreover enabled the researchers to develop strategies for better integrating photovoice and digital storytelling. Preliminary data from the latest phase of this study (underway since October 2017) suggest that rural preceptorships also help foster interprofessional relationships and experiences, both for nursing and medical students.

Symposia

Symposium 1

Mapping Silences and “Actants”: Complex Tensions and Dialogic Possibilities

Gabriela Alonso Yanez, University of Calgary

Adele Clarke developed the mapping procedures of situational analysis (SA) to catalyze new reflections and dialogues on complex, politicized situations. We will highlight critical and generative potentials arising from our application of SA maps to identify salient silences and nonhuman “actants” in situations. Using diverse data (ethnographic fieldwork notes, interviews, and narrative, visual, and historical materials), we adapted SA mapping procedures to represent highly varied situations: medicalizing developments in counsellor education, contested policies and practices in schools related to weight-related issues, and “appropriate” emotional expressiveness in therapy for immigrant families. In this symposium, we will address the utility of our application of SA maps to stimulate new considerations and dialogues, addressing the heuristic: What constraints, opportunities, and tensions suggest using SA mapping in qualitative research?

Abstract 1: Medicalizing the Pluralistic Conversations of Counselling

Tom Strong, University of Calgary

Counselling has developed as a pluralistic helping profession with approaches as diverse as psychodynamic, family systems, narrative, and feminist counselling. For taking roles and funding in the broader mental health sector, counsellors have increasingly had to adopt the medical (psychiatric) language of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th edition) along with evidence-based “treatments.” In this presentation, I draw from two national studies examining how counsellors and profession leaders in counselling describe tensions associated with medicalizing the conversational work of counselling. In particular, I used situational analysis to map different stakeholders and discourses in counselling, focusing on “hot button” tensions that create dilemmas for frontline practitioners. Relatedly, maps are used to explore the emergent conflation of a “diagnose and treat” logic with administrative oversight of counselling. The implications for the counselling profession and counsellor education are discussed with respect to what is influenced and silenced by medicalizing discourse.

Abstract 2: Negotiating Weight-Related Issues in Schools

Tom Strong, University of Calgary

Children’s weight has been a contested aspect of school culture and learning. Given this era’s seeming preoccupation with body image and concerns about eating disorders, this study examined how weight-related issues are negotiated as an educational and social focus within Calgary area schools. Drawing from relevant documents, key informant interviews, an in-depth literature review, and personal experience, I mapped the ways weight-related issues were discussed and addressed in schools. Using Adele Clarke’s social worlds/arenas, relational analyses, and discourse positioning maps, I identified salient silences and influential nonhuman “actants” with an aim of promoting new reflections on school policies and curriculum. I discuss my uses of mapping as ways to orient participants to new ways of discussing contested aspects of school learning and culture.

Abstract 3: Emotional Expressiveness and Assimilation Processes in Family Therapy: De-voicing Latino Women Through Therapeutic Interventions

Monica Sesma-Vazquez, University of Calgary

Clients often seek family therapy to discuss seemingly unshareable feelings and find preferred ways of relating that can seem unattainable in their closest relationships. This can especially be the case in circumstances where clients are immigrants seeking to assimilate within a new culture. Therapist authors speak of helping clients “give voice” to their concerns and preferences. Latino women clients can find themselves emotionally “devoiced” in family therapy, while trying to address personal and family challenges in assimilating to their new host culture. Seeking to improve therapy for Latino families who recently immigrated to Canada, I drew from the family therapy literature, my experiences as a family therapist and recent Canadian immigrant, and the discourses and personal reflections of Latino women in family therapy. Using the maps of situational analysis, I identified important areas and practices silence, as well as salient nonhuman influences that devoiced Latino women in family therapy where conversation on cultural assimilation was salient to these women and their families.

Symposium 2

Critical Incidents in the Transition Experiences of International Students From University to Employment

Nancy Arthur, University of Calgary

In this symposium, we focus on research using an adapted version of the enhanced critical incident technique. Our research involved conducting interviews with international students in their prefinal year, final year, and postgraduation to explore what they found helpful, what they found hindering, and what advice they could offer researchers about supporting graduates to integrate into employment. Their critical incidents, or meaningful “snapshots” of their experiences gave voice to students’ experiences amidst policy and practices directed at the retention of international students as preferred immigrants. The presentations in this symposium will provide contextual information about international student transitions. We will explore some of the strengths, challenges, and considerations that our research team found in applying the method. Specific topics include positionality and reflectivity by the research team, managing the structure of the critical incident interview, strategies for engaging interviewees, and considerations for training new researchers to apply the method.

Abstract 1: Positionality and Reflexivity in Critical Incident Research With International Students

Lisa Gust, University of Calgary

Nancy Arthur, University of Calgary

In this paper, we focus on the importance of positionality and reflexivity in qualitative research, particularly when working with international students and other nondominant cultural groups. Within the field of qualitative research, there has been growing awareness regarding the role of the researcher, how this role impacts the conduction of research, and ways in which researchers can minimize potential negative impacts resulting from the inherent power imbalance between the researcher and research participants. When conducting qualitative research, researchers are called to critically examine and understand the way in which their position (social, cultural, and otherwise) impacts the questions that are asked, how these questions are investigated, and the lens through which responses are interpreted (Pratt, 2009). One negative impact that can arise from research is the privileging of the researcher’s interpretation (which may not be an accurate reflection of participants’ experiences) over participants’ voices. Critical incident research is especially helpful in minimizing this danger and managing researcher bias by focusing on the participant’s lived experience. Our research with international students invited participants to share in their own words what they found helpful or unhelpful and to identify where additional supports and resources were needed. Further means of acknowledging and understanding researcher positioning using critical incident research are discussed, including critical self-reflection, challenging assumptions when coding incidents, “insider” and “outsider” positioning, ethical considerations, and engaging collaboratively with participants.

Abstract 2: Interview Strategies for Critical Incident Research With International Students

Judy Dang, University of Calgary

Nancy Arthur, University of Calgary

Qualitative interviews are a preferred method of data collection for many researchers in the field of counselling and psychotherapy. Interviews allow researchers to understand participant experiences by eliciting participants’ perspectives and stories. In this paper, we will describe one researcher’s experience using a semistructured interview protocol with international students. Interviews were guided by the enhanced critical incident technique (ECIT; Butterfield et al., 2009) and used to gather information about what students found helpful, hindering, or desirable in their journey of career development within Canada. This method requires researchers to obtain detailed information for each helping or hindering incident. The researchers will offer their reflections on the difficulties and challenges of using ECIT during in-person and phone interviews with international students. Interview strategies that have helped the researcher prepare for and conduct such interviews will be discussed. Emphasis will be placed on the importance of the researcher–participant relationship, with a focus on strategies that maintain rapport while allowing the researcher to glean meaningful data aligning with the research purpose. Additional comments on the impact of researcher biases and assumptions, as well as the maintenance of boundaries between the researcher and participant roles, will be offered. Moreover, cross-cultural and ethical considerations in research with international students will be illustrated and taken into account. Interview strategies will be discussed in light of the literature on qualitative interview techniques and skills, as well as the literature on cross-cultural interactions. Implications for future research with international students will follow.

Abstract 3: What New Researchers Need to Know About Using Critical Incidents in Research

April Dyrda, University of Calgary

Nancy Arthur, University of Calgary

The enhanced critical incident technique (ECIT; Butterfield et al., 2009) is a well-established qualitative research tool that provides a unique lens through which to analyze and interpret data. Although recognized for its highly structured and step-by-step approach to data analysis, the ECIT is also characterized by a number of intricacies that novice researchers may not be knowledgeable about. This presentation summarizes one researcher’s experience of learning ECIT and training new researchers to use it as a method of analyzing data, with a focus on clarifying the more complex and lesser known elements of the approach. Suggestions for how new researchers can best prepare for and navigate the challenges they are likely to encounter when using critical incidents in research are offered. Consideration will also be given to topics such as when it is appropriate to use critical incidents to analyze data, how to easily identify and classify critical incidents, and other concerns commonly encountered by new researchers when using critical incidents for the first time.

Symposium 3

The Researcher-Human Subject Connection: Methodological Issues Addressing Secondary Stress Among Researchers

Karla Eisen, Westat

Researchers traditionally pay significant attention to the protection of human subjects especially in light of the proliferation of institutional review boards; however, little attention is given to the impact of actually conducting research, especially qualitative research, on the researcher. In this symposium, we will present three different qualitative research studies. Each will discuss the steps taken to provide support to researchers. We aim to generate a discussion among attendees about different strategies and ideas for supporting researchers and integrating that support into qualitative methodology and research design.

Abstract 1: Preparing Interviewers for Distress and Self-Care in a Study About Rape and Sexual Assault

Darby Steiger, Westat

Suzanne Kaasa, Westat

David Cantor, Westat

Vicarious trauma, defined as the secondary effects of working with those who have been exposed to trauma themselves, can occur with social workers, child protective services, trauma counselors, therapists, nurses, and even attorneys. Little has been written, however, about the susceptibility of survey interviewers to secondary trauma. In surveys dealing with sensitive topics, it is important for interviewers to be prepared to deal with emotional distress that may be outwardly or inwardly displayed by the respondent. Interviewers may also be at risk of secondary trauma by repeated exposure from large-scale data collection about distressing topics or experiences. This paper reviews considerations and approaches used in training survey interviewers for a large pilot test of 10,000 women to measure rates of rape and sexual assault in the United States. Respondents were asked a series of behavior specific questions about unwanted sexual experiences, were asked to provide details about up to three incidents, and were asked to provide a qualitative narrative of each incident. Two teams of interviewers were trained to administer the interviews, either in women’s homes (using a self-administered computer-based instrument) or over the phone (using a computer assisted telephone interview). Each team received extensive training on how to recognize and handle emotional distress, as well as to self-care. Training materials, distress procedures, levels of distress, and interviewer debriefing results will be presented, along with considerations for future research in this area.

Abstract 2: “It Hurt to Hear the Story”: Preparing for Secondary Traumatic Stress Reactions in Researchers Immersed in Indigenous Settings

Nancy M. Lucero, University of Denver

Karla Eisen, Westat

Members of American Indian, Alaska Native, and First Nations communities experience individual and community traumatic events at rates that are double, or even quadruple, those of nonindigenous communities. Historically, traumatic colonization memories may also remain vivid for current Indigenous peoples. Indigenous research participants often bring contemporary traumatic experiences and historical trauma narratives into research encounters: individual interviews, focus groups, discussions of findings, and even responses to open-ended survey items. Researchers may find themselves bearing witness to intimate trauma narratives while immersed in a setting that is unfamiliar or unnerving due to cultural differences. These conditions can leave researchers more vulnerable to the emotional content of participant stories, and as a result they may experience secondary traumatic stress (STS) reactions like those of helping professionals and first responders. Formal training seldom equips researchers with skills for working with participants whose stories reveal unsettling, unexpected, or even horrific details about difficult life events. Researchers may be unprepared for their own strong emotional reactions to narrative content and may also not have a support system through which to process these reactions. This paper will discuss STS reactions in researchers working in indigenous settings and the impact STS can have during data collection and qualitative analysis. It will go on to present strategies used by the Child Welfare Capacity Building Center for Tribes to prepare researchers prior to their work in Indigenous communities, help them identify emotional reactions to participant stories, use debriefings during and after data collection, and address research-related STS reactions.

Abstract 3: Hearing From the Other 1%: Emotional Challenges for Researchers Interviewing Military Veterans

Cynthia Robins, Westat

Karla Eisen, Westat

In the first decade since the terrorist attacks of September 11, more than 1.5 million U.S. service members deployed one or more times in support of combat operations in Iraq and/or Afghanistan. Yet only 1% of Americans comprise this all-volunteer force, leaving most citizens unaffected by—indeed, oblivious to—the effects of these operations. In 2015, Westat staff supported an Institute of Medicine study into service members’ barriers to obtaining mental health care through the Veterans Administration (VA). Over the course of 10 months, qualitative research teams went to 21 locations around the country and interviewed more than 550 Veterans about their mental health-care needs and issues accessing VA care. Staff were well prepared to deal with distressed interviewees: At least one team member on each visit had mental health-care experience. Staff also had resource lists for the Veterans and crisis protocols for managing emergency situations. However, staff were less prepared to handle their own distress hearing about the struggles of this 1%, including stories of readjustment challenges and how adverse military experiences (including sexual trauma) had destroyed service members’ dreams and aspirations. Equally unanticipated was the profound level of distress evidenced by so many interviewees, including student Veterans at 2- and 4-year colleges. The presenter will describe ad hoc efforts to support research staff and will discuss the importance of obtaining buy-in from senior project managers, who understanding of qualitative research may be limited, to develop more comprehensive staff supports for other emotionally challenging studies.

Symposium 4

Interview-Based Research With Children and Youth: Challenges, Opportunities, and Innovations

Michael Zwiers, University of Calgary

Going back as far as Piaget, researchers have been interviewing children to obtain first-hand accounts of their perspectives, although few have documented their approaches and methods, and little has been written about the implications of child developmental stages and capacities on the interview process. This symposium will review the history of research interviewing with children, will consider the influence of developmental stages and capacities, will cover some core pragmatics of research interviewing with children, and will close with an analysis of the potential impact of interview format and context on outcomes.

Abstract 1: Interviewing Children and Youth for Research: Youth Variables

Danielle Smith, University of Calgary

Michael Lee Zwiers, University of Calgary

Interview-based research with children and youth faces a number of challenges, including the participants’ developmental stage, their conceptions of self, cognitive capacities, and language abilities. The interview process itself is influenced by the participants’ understanding of the interaction as well as their perspective on—and relationship to—adults, which is in turn grounded in their cultural expectations and past experiences with adults. All of these components will inevitably influence the research findings and ultimately contribute to the success or failure of the research. This paper will present a brief history of child and youth interviewing for research as well as developmental findings and factors related to research participants.

Abstract 2: Pragmatics of Conducting Interview-Based Research With Children and Youth: Allowing the Children’s Voices to Emerge

Sean Colvin, University of Calgary

Michael Lee Zwiers, University of Calgary

Interviewing children and youth for research is a unique interaction distinct from other adult–child interactions and requires a particular set of skills and techniques if it is to be effective. The interviewer and adults responsible for the children are critical to the success of the research endeavour. Careful preparation is also required in order to ensure that participants are ready and willing to participate fully in the research interaction. This paper will focus on methods of engaging children and youth for research in order to improve the success of research interviews.

Abstract 3: Interview-Based Research With Children and Youth: Does the Interview Format and Context Matter?

Michael Lee Zwiers, University of Calgary

Interview-based research with children and youth has utilized context-embedded discussion, purposive interviewing, as well as support materials such as props, images, and technology to help researchers access and record participant accounts of inner experiences, conceptions, thoughts, feelings, and perspectives. However, almost no research has been conducted on the influence of interview methods and external supports on research findings. This paper will focus on four different interview methods used with the same sample of 38 children in Grades 2, 4, and 7 to compare findings across interview method. The results help to highlight the potential impact of the interview focus (storied personal experience vs. storied observed experience), the use of adjunctive materials (e.g., photographs and artwork), as well as integrative conceptual questions about the topic of investigation.