Book•
Qualitative research & evaluation methods
01 Jan 2002-Iss: 1
TL;DR: In this paper, conceptual issues and themes on qualitative research and evaluaton methods including: qualitative data, triangulated inquiry, qualitative inquiry, constructivism, constructionism, complexity (chaos) theory, qualitative designs and data collection, fieldwork strategies, interviewing, tape-recording, ethical issues, analysis, interpretation and reporting, observations vs. perceived impacts and utilisation-focused evaluation reporting.
Abstract: This book explains clearly conceptual issues and themes on qualitative research and evaluaton methods including: qualitative data, triangulated inquiry, qualitative inquiry, constructivism, constructionism, Complexity (chaos) theory, qualitative designs and data collection, fieldwork strategies, interviewing, tape-recording, ethical issues, analysis, interpretation and reporting, observations vs. perceived impacts and utilisation-focused evaluation reporting.
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine whether gender constrains the way individuals describe their crimes by analyzing the motivational accounts of male and female white-collar offenders and find that while men and women both elicit justifications when discussing their crimes, they do differ in the frequency with which they call forth specific accounts and in the rhetorical nature of these accounts.
Abstract: When offenders are asked to explain their crimes, they typically portray themselves as decent people despite their wrongdoings. To be effective at managing the stigma of crime, motivational accounts must be believable to the social audience. Thus, variation in patterns of accounts is likely due to the social position of the actors. Here we examine whether gender constrains the way individuals describe their crimes by analyzing the motivational accounts of male and female white collar offenders. Results show that while men and women both elicit justifications when discussing their crimes, they do differ in the frequency with which they call forth specific accounts and in the rhetorical nature of these accounts. When accounting for their crime, white collar offenders draw on gendered themes to align their actions with cultural expectations of masculinity and femininity. These findings suggest that gender does constrain the accounts that are available to white collar offenders.
102 citations
Cites background or methods from "Qualitative research & evaluation m..."
...This style of interviewing involves outlining a set of issues to be explored with each respondent (Patton, 2002)....
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...By using a semi-structured interview guide, we were able to word questions spontaneously, establish rapport with each participant, revisit or ask for more elaboration on a particular topic, and establish an informal interview style that focused exclusively on areas of interest (Patton, 2002)....
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors evaluate an initiative to introduce assessment choice within a taught unit on an undergraduate healthcare program as a means of addressing poor performance, especially for those students diagnosed with dyslexia.
Abstract: This article evaluates an initiative to introduce assessment choice within a taught unit on an undergraduate healthcare programme as a means of addressing poor performance, especially for those students diagnosed with dyslexia. Students’ perceptions of the assessment experience were sought via the use of two focus group interviews (n = 16). The article describes the effect the assessment experience had on students’ stress levels, individual learning styles and achievement. Students’ performance improved and statistical analyses indicated parity between the assessment methods offered with similar performance profiles between students with and without dyslexia. The conclusion reached is that while the introduction of assessment options may be time consuming for staff to develop, the benefits of an enhanced student‐centred approach to assessment may be well worth this investment in time. Although a limited study owing to the small sample size, the results should be of interest to those academics who are conc...
101 citations
Cites background from "Qualitative research & evaluation m..."
...Each focus group interview lasted 45–60 minutes enabling sufficient time for a detailed discussion to develop in the presence of a fully briefed note taker (Patton 2002; Stringer 2004)....
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...The logic and power of purposive sampling lie in selecting information rich cases that will enable the study’s aim to be explored (Mays and Pope 1995; Patton 2002; Stringer 2004)....
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TL;DR: A unique multi-part qualitative study methodology is presented from a study which tracked the transformative journeys of four career-changing women from STEM fields into secondary education as mentioned in this paper, where they used archived writing, journaling, participant-generated photography, interviews, member-checking, and reflexive analytical memos.
Abstract: A unique multi-part qualitative study methodology is presented from a study which tracked the transformative journeys of four career-changing women from STEM fields into secondary education. The article analyzes the study’s use of archived writing, journaling, participant-generated photography, interviews, member-checking, and reflexive analytical memos. An exploration into the interconnectedness of the methodologies used reveals a robust framework from which the first stages of grounded theory emerged. A detailed explanation of the methodological aspects of conducting the study is discussed with the purpose of making this combination of qualitative methods replicable. Key Words: Qualitative Methods, Visual Research, Reflexive Analytic Memos, Participant Generated Photography. The purpose of this qualitative (Creswell, 1998; Merriam, 1998) case study research was to understand the transformative journey of four women career-changers moving from business, engineering, and science into secondary education. The study was built within an authentic setting with varied and in-depth data collection. The focus of this research was the exploration of the transformative process (Mezirow, 1978) experienced by the participants as they transitioned from their previous careers into graduate school and then into teaching. The primary reason for the research was to gain an understanding of how adults learn and how their relationship to learning is different from children or adolescents. It has been my experience that adults approach new learning with a more intense need and amplified emotional state compared to other age groups. The research questions targeted the identification of transformation in the participants and the durability of those transformations as they moved from their teacher education program into their careers as secondary teachers. The study moved with the participants from their decision to enter a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program to two years after the program. The questions, method, design, and setting were brought together to serve one another so that the most in-depth understanding of the participants’ transformative journey could be achieved. Transformative learning theory (Mezirow, 2000) framed this study because of its derivation from and focuses on adult learners (Kegan, 1998). The purpose of this article is to describe a uniquely robust multi-part qualitative methodology. The qualitative methods used include archived writing, journaling, participant-generated photography, interviews, member-checking, and reflexive analytical memos. An exploration into the interconnectedness of the methodologies used reveals a robust framework from which initial stages of grounded theory were produced. A detailed explanation of the methodological aspects of conducting the study demonstrates the ability to replicate this combination of qualitative methods. An analysis
101 citations
Cites background from "Qualitative research & evaluation m..."
...Ultimately, the content analysis was a “reduction and sense-making effort that [took] a volume of qualitative material and [attempted] to identify core consistencies and meanings” (Patton, 2002, p. 453)....
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TL;DR: This study uncovers patterns of use that reveal the roles played by task characteristics, knowledge, and the IT type in shaping enhanced use by proposing a novel and rich conceptualization of post-adoption use.
Abstract: A major problem confronting organizations is that they make large investments in information technologies (IT) that, in many cases, underperform following adoption because their features are underutilized. In information systems (IS) research, there is a need to develop a better understanding of the process by which individuals make new use of IT features. Using a grounded theory approach, we develop such an understanding by closely examining how individuals change their IT use following initial adoption. Based on analyzing interview data and expanding on extant literature to refine our results, we propose a construct called “enhanced use”, which refers to novel ways of employing IT features. We conceptualize enhanced use as having distinct forms (using a formerly unused set of available features, using an IT for additional tasks, and/or using extensions of IT features and attributes). Our analysis reveals that these forms may differ in terms of their attributes (locus of innovation, extent of extensive use, and adaptation). Our study uncovers patterns of use that reveal the roles played by task characteristics, knowledge, and the IT type in shaping enhanced use. Thus, this study heeds repeated calls to theorize about use by proposing a novel and rich conceptualization of post-adoption use.
101 citations
Cites background or methods from "Qualitative research & evaluation m..."
...For this second phase of interviewing, and to ensure that we were covering a wide range of novel IT feature uses, we selected the first respondents using a purposeful sample; we identified additional respondents through a snowball sampling approach (Patton, 2002)....
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...The first phase consisted of eight open interviews with a convenient sample of interviewees (Patton, 2002) in order to develop an initial conceptualization of enhanced use....
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TL;DR: When adopting continuous delivery, problems related to system design are common, critical and little studied, while the most critical reported problems were related to testing and system design.
Abstract: Context: Continuous delivery is a software development discipline in which software is always kept releasable. The literature contains instructions on how to adopt continuous delivery, but the adoption has been challenging in practice. Objective: In this study, a systematic literature review is conducted to survey the faced problems when adopting continuous delivery. In addition, we identify causes for and solutions to the problems. Method: By searching five major bibliographic databases, we identified 293 articles related to continuous delivery. We selected 30 of them for further analysis based on them containing empirical evidence of adoption of continuous delivery, and focus on practice instead of only tooling. We analyzed the selected articles qualitatively and extracted problems, causes and solutions. The problems and solutions were thematically synthesized into seven themes: build design, system design, integration, testing, release, human and organizational and resource. Results: We identified a total of 40 problems, 28 causal relationships and 29 solutions related to adoption of continuous delivery. Testing and integration problems were reported most often, while the most critical reported problems were related to testing and system design. Causally, system design and testing were most connected to other themes. Solutions in the system design, resource and human and organizational themes had the most significant impact on the other themes. The system design and build design themes had the least reported solutions. Conclusions: When adopting continuous delivery, problems related to system design are common, critical and little studied. The found problems, causes and solutions can be used to solve problems when adopting continuous delivery in practice.
101 citations