Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques

According to W. Edwards Deming, American companies require nothing less than a transformation of management style and of governmental relations with industry. In Out of the Crisis, originally published in 1982, Deming offers a theory of management based on his famous 14 Points for Management. Management's failure to plan for the future, he claims, brings about loss of market, which brings about loss of jobs. Management must be judged not only by the quarterly dividend, but by innovative plans to stay in business, protect investment, ensure future dividends, and provide more jobs through improved product and service. In simple, direct language, he explains the principles of management transformation and how to apply them.

Out of the Crisis

The general view of descriptive research as a lower level form of inquiry has influenced some researchers conducting qualitative research to claim methods they are really not using and not to claim the method they are using: namely, qualitative description. Qualitative descriptive studies have as their goal a comprehensive summary of events in the everyday terms of those events. Researchers conducting qualitative descriptive studies stay close to their data and to the surface of words and events. Qualitative descriptive designs typically are an eclectic but reasonable combination of sampling, and data collection, analysis, and re-presentation techniques. Qualitative descriptive study is the method of choice when straight descriptions of phenomena are desired.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/1098-240X%28200008%2923%3A4%3C334%3A%3AAID-NUR9%3E3.0.CO%3B2-G

Whatever happened to qualitative description

How to Do Things With Words

The present historical moment may seem a particularly inopportune time to review Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam's latest exploration of civic decline in America. After all, the outpouring of volunteerism, solidarity, patriotism, and self-sacrifice displayed by Americans in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks appears to fly in the face of Putnam's central argument: that \"social capital\" -defined as \"social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them\" (p. 19)'has declined to dangerously low levels in America over the last three decades. However, Putnam is not fazed in the least by the recent effusion of solidarity. Quite the contrary, he sees in it the potential to \"reverse what has been a 30to 40-year steady decline in most measures of connectedness or community.\"' As an example of how the current \"war on terrorism\" could generate a durable civic renewal, Putnam points to the burst in civic practices that occurred during and after World War II, which he says \"permanently marked\" the generation that lived through it and had a \"terrific effect on American public life over the last half-century.\" 3 If Americans can follow this example and channel their current civic

Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community

We explain why some caretakers opt for alternative medicine for the treatment of children's asthma whereas others do not. In the past 15 years, asthma care has been standardized, with clinical practice guidelines centered on advanced pharmacological regimes. Clinicians argue that with proper biomedical treatment and environmental control, asthma should be a manageable chronic disease. Yet many patients forego available pharmacological treatments for alternative medicine or complement prescribed drugs with unconventional treatments. On the basis of open-ended, in-depth qualitative interviews with 50 mothers of children with asthma, we argue that the experience with biomedical treatments, social influence in mother's network of care, concerns about adverse and long-term effects, health care providers' responsiveness to such concerns, and familiarity with alternative treatments explain why some families rely on alternative medicine and others do not.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Children's Asthma: Satisfaction, Care Provider Responsiveness, and Networks of Care:

Using the example of resuscitation techniques, I explore how technology helps to mediate the attribution and acquisition of identities. I argue that certain identities are pre-written in resuscitation scripts. If we follow the person through the resuscitation process, we see a double identity transformation. The resuscitation technology facilitates certain medical identities, and renders others irrelevant. When the outcome of the resuscitative attempt is known, this process is reversed, and some previously irrelevant attempt are now reinstated. Some identities can also be lost for ever, and new identities added to the multiple configuration. I examine the implications of this analysis of the stabilization of technology.

Saving Lives or Saving Multiple Identities?: The Double Dynamic of Resuscitation Scripts

Positive newborn screening (NBS) results cause significant parental distress, but little is known about how parents find out about children's screening results and what they are told. This qualitative, exploratory study reports on parents' perceptions of the initial communication of NBS results. Participants included the parents of 75 infants referred to a metabolic clinic in California over a 3-year period (2007-2010). Parents provided information about the initial communication of NBS results during audiotaped clinical encounters and open-ended interviews. Transcripts were analyzed inductively using thematic coding. Responses fell into 3 primary themes: sources of news delivery, providing information, and mitigation strategies. The findings suggest that health care providers have access to a range of communicative resources to buffer the impact of positive screening results that may be mobilized in future interventions. Recommendations for improving the communication process and future research directions are discussed.

Newborn Screening for Metabolic Disorders: Parental Perceptions of the Initial Communication of Results

OBJECTIVE To understand perceptions regarding their illness of patients who present to the Emergency Department at the end of life. METHODS Semistructured one-on-one interviews were performed with a convenience sample of seriously ill, Emergency Department (ED) patients with advanced illness presenting to an urban, public hospital. A bilingual Latina health promoter used a predetermined discussion guide to conduct all interviews. Non-English- or Non-Spanish-speaking patients and those with uncontrolled symptoms or cognitive deficits were excluded. All interviews were recorded and transcribed, and grounded theory methodology was used to analyze the results. RESULTS Thirteen patients with advanced illness participated, 8 of whom were Spanish-speaking only. Because of difficulty accessing care and financial concerns, patients with advanced illness present to EDs when their pain or other symptoms are out of control. The majority derive great comfort and strength from their faith in God, who they believe determines their fate. Most listed spending time with family, and not being a burden, as most important at the end of life, and many expressed a preference to die at home surrounded by loved ones. Almost none had spoken to physicians about their care preferences. CONCLUSIONS Patients with advanced illness present to the ED of a safety net hospital when symptoms are out of control. They have many financial concerns, want to spend their remaining days with family, and do not want to be a burden. Most derive immense comfort from faith in God, but do not feel they have control over their own fate.

Stefan Timmermans

Papers

Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Children's Asthma: Satisfaction, Care Provider Responsiveness, and Networks of Care:

Saving Lives or Saving Multiple Identities?: The Double Dynamic of Resuscitation Scripts

Newborn Screening for Metabolic Disorders: Parental Perceptions of the Initial Communication of Results

"I want to be taking my own last breath": patients' reflections on illness when presenting to the emergency department at the end of life.

Handbook of Medical Sociology, Sixth Edition