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QR SIG Newsletter Spring 2015
Newsletter Highlights:
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Welcome to the Spring 2015 Edition of the QR SIG AERA
Newsletter In this edition, you will find many of the traditional QR SIG columns including Tech
Tools, Methods New & Notes and more, as well as some original submissions and plenty of
information about AERA in Chicago. As you are planning for Chicago, be sure to check out the
History Matters Column, which is focused on one great
Chicagoan, Mother Jones. We hope you enjoy the newsletter
and if you’d like to contribute to the summer edition, please email
me submissions [email protected] Next edition, we are
looking to make some innovative changes, so let me know if you
have any ideas. Additionally, see the calls for the specific
columns in this newsletter. See you all in Chicago! ~Cassie Quigley, Newsletter Editor, Clemson
p.2
Contact Information
for QR SIG officers
p.3
AERA Highlights
p.4
Methods News and
Notes
p.5,12,
13
Tech Tools
p.6-7
History Matters
p.8
My Best Loved Self
p. 9-11
Qualitative Case
Selection
p. 13
p. 15
Engaging
Epistemologies
p. 16-18 Somos Latinos
p. 19-20 AERA Professional
Development Courses
p. 21
Message from the Chair
New Qualitative Book
Egon Guba Lecture
I am delighted to be writing my first column as the current chair of
the Qualitative Research SIG. My vision, at least for the coming
year, is to continue the efforts and initiatives begun by the leadership team under the guidance provided by the past
chair, Mirka Koro-Ljungberg, and supported by the current Executive Committee.
One of the primary aims of the leadership team is to advance the SIG as a premier source of methodological
innovation for qualitative research in AERA. I have found the SIG to be such a place, however, we must not rest upon
our past achievements as the field is continuing to move in exciting and as yet unthought ways as informed by
developments in arts-based methods, technology-enhanced methodology, posthumanism, and new materialisms, to
name a few. As a leadership team, we will continue to seek opportunities to collaborate with other SIGs to create a
more visible forum for qualitative methodology within AERA. Additionally, we will continue to provide a space in AERA
through our newsletter, preconference workshops and seminars, and the AERA Annual Meeting with a focus on new
methodological developments and discussions.
I hope that many of you will be able to take advantage of some of the current initiatives that
we have in store for you this year at the AERA Annual Meeting such as the “office hours” for new and
emerging scholars, and the preconference seminar jointly hosted with the Arts Based Educational
Research SIG, and The Arts and Inquiry in the Visual and Performing Arts in Education SIG. With the
strong leadership of the Executive Committee, we hope to expand on this and other innovative
programming in the future. I do hope you will join me at the Business Meeting on Sunday evening,
April 19 at 6:15 p.m. The evening will include a reception, awards presentations, and the Egon Guba
Memorial Lecture, this year presented by Patricia Leavy. If you are unable to attend the annual
aliquam.
meeting,- please
be in touch with your suggestions and/or questions. Safe travels to all, and I hope to
see you in Chicago!
Lisa A. Mazzei, Chair, [email protected]
AERA Qualitative Research SIG
QRSIG officers 2014-2015
Chair: Lisa A. Mazzei, Chair, University of Oregon [email protected]
Program co-chair:
Sara Childers, Independent Scholar
([email protected])
Jessica Lester, Indiana University ([email protected])
Secretary: Mark Vagle, University of Minnesota, ([email protected])
Treasurer:
Audra Skukauskaite, University of the Incarnate Word ([email protected])
Webmaster:
Madeline Ortiz Rodríguez, Inter American University of Puerto Rico ([email protected])
Newsletter editor: Cassie Quigley, Clemson University, ([email protected])
Outstanding book award committee chair: Kathryn Roulston, University of Georgia ([email protected])
Outstanding book award committee members:
Jenny Gordon, Binghamton University in New York ([email protected])
Vicky Vescio, University of Florida ([email protected])
Mary Gardiner, University of Idaho ([email protected])
Speaker committee chair:
Dannielle Davis, Walden University ([email protected])
Speaker committee members:
Francyne Huckaby, Texas Christian University, ([email protected])
Thalia Mulvihill, Ball State University ([email protected])
Mary Rice, University of Kansas ([email protected])
Dissertation award committee chair:
Eric Archer, Western Michigan University, [email protected]
Dissertation award committee members:
Debora Hinderliter Ortloff, University of Houston, Clearlake ([email protected])
Cheryl Hunter, University of North Dakota ([email protected])
Mentoring committee chair:
Jennifer Wolgemuth, University of South Florida, ([email protected])
Mentoring committee members:
Alonzo Flowers, Old Dominion University ([email protected])
Judith Munter, University of Texas, El Paso ([email protected])
Sarah Bridges-Rhoads, Georgia State University ([email protected])
Research committee chair: Melissa Freeman, University of Georgia ([email protected])
Research committee members:
Amanda Latz, Ball State University ([email protected])
Tracy Walker, Virginia State University ([email protected])
Membership committee chair: Mariam Mazboudi, University of Illinois, Chicago ([email protected])
Membership committee members:
Kimberly Truong, Northeastern University ([email protected])
Patrick Jenlink, Stephen F. Austin State University
([email protected])
Jenifer Schneider, University of South Florida ([email protected])
Carolyn Stevenson, Kaplan University( [email protected])
Note: Underlined individuals are members of executive committee
QR SIG Newsletter Spring 2015
2015 AERA Program Updates
AERA Highlights:
Sara Childers (Independent Scholar) & Jessica Lester (Indiana University), Program Co-Chairs
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Over
the last
few months, Qualitative Research-SIG members have been hard at work
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and
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2015
program.
Indeed,
this
year’s
program
would
not
be possible
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without the hard work of this year’s review panel – who shared their time and expertise
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review submissions.
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We received 64 paper proposals and 9 symposium proposals for the 2015ipsum
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were able to accept 27 papers and 8 symposiums for the Chicago meeting. For those
who are
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not aware, the number of submissions received determines the number of sessions
we
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allocated by AERA each year. The content of the program is as well determined by
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submissions.
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This year’s program includes 8 symposium sessions and 8 roundtables sessions, as
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annual business meeting with invited Egon Guba lecturer Patricia Leavy (www. Sed nec lacus. Nunc
patricialeavy.com). We highlight below two of the scheduled symposium sessions,
est.which are
being co-sponsored by Division D and the Arts-Based Research-SIG. In the coming weeks, we
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will be sending out a list of all the Qualitative Research-SIG’s sessions withlorem
locations
and
times.
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We hope to see all in Chicago!
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mauris. Sed nec
lacus.
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Highlighted Sessions
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Integer et felis. Sed
libero.
Teaching Qualitative Inquiry in the Era of the Big Tent: Fantasies, Failures and Futures
Co-Sponsored by Division D, Section 3 (Qualitative Research Methods)
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Date: Saturday, April 18, 2015
Time:
10:35
am – 12:05 pm
Fusce
mollis
tempusSwissotel,
felis. Even Centre First Level, Zurich G
Location:
Who Are We Here? Interrogating Positionality in Participatory Arts-Based Research
Co-Sponsored by the Arts-based Research-SIG
Date: Sunday, April 19, 2015
Time: 10:35 am – 12:05 pm
- aliquam.
Location:
Swissotel, Event Centre First Level, Zurich F
*Be sure to check the AERA Program for any location/time changes
3
This section of the newsletter titled Methods News and Notes will be
dedicated to highlighting, distributing, and sharing one or more
SIG member’s methodological scholarship in qualitative research. If
you’ve had a recently published methodological paper you would
like us to briefly describe within this space, please email Research
Committee Member, Dr. Amanda O. Latz at [email protected]
We look forward to sharing your work! Thank you!
Swaminathan, R., & Mulvihill, T. M. (2013). Photographic inquiry and educational technologies:
Generating meaningful narratives. I-manager’s Journal of Educational Technology, 9(4), 1-7.
Reading Swaminathan and Milvihill’s (2013) piece was affirming, enticing, and energizing all at once. As an
advocate for visual methods and methodologies within the social sciences—namely education—and as a
scholar who has engaged in photovoice research, the piece was a total joy to read. While I experienced all
the aforementioned sensations at once while reading the paper, in this reactionary piece, I will elucidate
each one separately. My ultimate aim is to celebrate the good work of two of our SIG members while also
pointing other members toward this work. Those interested in using photographic methods—heuristically
and/or pedagogically—will indefinitely benefit from reading Swaminathan and Mulvihill’s article.
Affirmation. Because I have been a part of the photographic inquiry conversation for the last few years, the
content of this piece was quite familiar. The paper read a lot like being at “home,” which is a wonderful
place to be considering many gatekeepers (e.g., journal editors, reviewers) still view visual methods and
methodologies as being at the margins of qualitative social science research. The authors make reference to
many of the burgeoning photographic inquiry canon’s authors such as John Collier, Caroline Wang, and
Sarah Pink. And at the same time, Swaminathan and Mulvihill make the case that visual life narration is now
nearly ubiquitous considering how social media tools are a major part of how we move through virtual
spaces and connect with and relate to one another. When I take pause and reflect on how easily accessible
cameras and photography sharing have become—think smart phones and Instagram, for example—the
argument that being one’s own life documentarian vis-à-vis social media (i.e., educational technologies)
ought to be merged with research approaches (i.e., creative qualitative inquiry) simply makes good sense.
Enticing. Even though much of what is contained in this piece was affirming and familiar to me, some was
not. Encountering a “new-to-me” reference or stance on the visual caused me to want to dive back into the
literature on this topic. For example, the work of Elizabeth Chaplin is referenced, specifically the notion that
images are polysemic in nature. While I agree that the meaning of an image rests within the consumer of the
image rather than the image itself, which opens infinite interpretations, I was not aware of Chaplin’s work. I
now want to consume Chaplin’s work and further reflect upon the gaps in my fluency in and conversancy
with the larger literature body on photographic and visual inquiry.
Energizing. Finally, this paper gave me energy. It added fuel to the smoldering embers that power my own
motivations to engage in meaningful and humane work (i.e., research) that leverages visual technological
affordances, which, over time, have become mainstream and nearly omnipresent.
In sum, this piece will be of value to both seasoned and neophyte visual researchers. Swaminathan and
Mulvihill give an accessible overview of photographic methods while acknowledging and connecting myriad
educational technologies to both process and product. Moreover, this piece may be of interest to those who
teach qualitative research courses and are eager to find resources to introduce students to photographic
inquiry.
4
Tech Tools Part 1: Using Transana to Analyze Audio
Data
-Naime Elcan, Indiana University
The ubiquity of technology
has shifted the ways in which
researchers engage in qualitative
research. In particular, with the
development of computer-assisted
qualitative data analysis software
(CAQDAS), researchers are now able
to store, organize, interpret,
annotate, visualize, and analyze data
in one place either individually or
collaboratively. This enables
researchers to see the “big picture”
emerging from their research and
make connections between the
various components.
CAQDAS packages may also
serve as a ‘textual laboratory’
(Konopasek, 2008) in which
researchers can keep all related
research materials, including
annotated articles, images,
recordings, videos, coding maps and
other notes together. According to
Paulus et.al. 2014 “ being able to
read, annotate, code, visualize and
interpret in one place, within reach of
your theoretical literature, research
proposals and ethics guides,
drastically improves your ability to
systematically improves your ability
to systematically document all the
decisions that make you throughout
the research process and allows
others to view those processes” (p.
121). In other words, putting all of the
related documents within one
package makes the researchers’
thinking visible for both researchers
and others. In this way, researchers
and outsiders are able to view where
the study coming from and as well as
where it will go.
CAQDAS packages have
greatly improved data analysis
process. These packages facilitate
researchers’ tasks in four ways by: 1)
creating and assigning codes to data;
2) retrieving all of the data which has
been assigned to a particular code;
3) reviewing the coded data in its
original context;
and 4) making decisions about renaming
codes, deleting, and recoding (Paulus, et
al., 2014, p. 127).While CAQDAS
packages are useful, knowing the
affordances and constraints of these
packages is crucial for researchers to
select one that aligns with the
methodology.
In this column, I will discuss the
use of one CAQDAS package, Transana,
for data analysis. Transana is a software
program first developed by Chris
Fassnacht and now maintained by David
Woods at the Wisconsin Center for
Education Research at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison. The software
program is available in four different
versions including standard, professional,
multi-user and computer version. The
cost for each version greatly varies.
Transana also offers the free
demonstration version for users who
would like to try its features before
making a purchasing decision.
In Transana, it is possible to
create different types of transcriptions,
including verbatim, Jeffersonian, gisted
and visual. Different layers of the audio
or video data can be represented using
multiple transcripts. This allows
researchers to analyze media files in
depth. Researchers can also synchronize
the transcript with the audio or video file.
In this way, researchers are able to revisit
the important parts of these files at any
time. The coding process itself is also
very convenient in Transana. Researchers
can organize audio files and their
associated transcriptions into episodes
and series. Then it is possible to create
clips and code these clips by assigning
keywords and altering the keywords,
names of episodes, or the order of coding
schema whenever they want. The latest
version of the Transana enables
researchers to code still images called
Snapshots and insert them in transcripts.
Using the Transana 3.0 release,
researchers also able to analyze text
documents and still images in addition to
audio and video files in one place.
Initially, I thought software programs
may impede the interaction between
the researcher and their data.
However, after conducting
interviews, I decided to try Transana
for creating transcriptions and
analyzing my audio data. Contrary to
my expectations, Transana is very
functional in that it allows me to stay
close to my data. I was able to
interact with three different
representations of my data
simultaneously including audio,
transcription, and coding schemes in
one window and easily make
connections among them in
Transana.
As I transitioned to Transana,
I became more comfortable as I
could both listen and transcribe the
audio within the same program. Even
while creating a transcription in
Transana, the software’s interface
and tools make the process more
efficient. For instance, you can play
and pause the recordings using
Control-S, and insert time coding by
pressing Control-T. The ability to
insert time stamps while doing the
transcription also allows me to see
interesting bits of data and observe
emerging themes throughout the
process.
Indeed, there are some
weaknesses of Transana. The first
one I discovered was its inability to
easily work with Microsoft Word
documents. Prior to importing a
Word file into Transana, it must first
be converted to the rtf. file type. The
second one is, it is impossible to
code audio or video file without
having transcription. With these
exceptions, Transana meets my
expectations.
References
Konopasek, Z. ( 2008). ‘ Making thinking
visible with Atlas.ti: Computer- assisted
qualitative analysis as textual practices’.
FORUM: Qualitative Social Research, 9(2),
Article 12. Available at http://www.qualitative
research.net/index.php/fqs
5
+
History Matters:
Spotlight on Great Chicagoan- Mother Jones
I have been thinking about great Chicagoans and decided to
write about Mother Jones as we look forward to AERA
Chicago in 2015. If I were to pick one of the most influential
of the many who left their mark on Chicago and beyond it is
Mary Harris “Mother” Jones (1837-1930). She was a
courageous pioneer in the Labor Movement in the United
States. She was one of the first female Labor and community
organizers. It is because of Mother Jones that child labor
laws were introduced, bathroom and lunch breaks became
required, the 7 day work week was overturned, a minimum
wage was introduced, and overtime and other key union
requirements came into being in the many contracts that
protect workers. Due to her protection of children in the
labor force, she was nicknamed “mother” Jones.
Mother Jones was born in Cork City Ireland,
moved to Canada as a teenager and then to
the USA. She was a teacher in Monroe,
Michigan before moving to Chicago and
starting a dress making business. Her
husband and four of here children died of a
fever epidemic and she then began her
dressmaking business. As luck would have
it the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 burned
her home, her dress shop and all her
possessions. Then she became transformed
and channeling her grief and her energy
into the Labor movement.
(continued)
6
Her activism led her to the United
Mother Jones
Mine Workers and the Socialist
Mother Jones in the mills and the mines
Party of America. She inspired
strikers to continue striking, went
Marching in the Children's Parade,
to Congress to object to the fact
Right to the home of the President, Teddy R.
that children were made to work
Looking for aid,
12 hour shifts and were maimed
To stop working the children frayed.
in factories or died from injuries
at work. She traveled to many
Then to the miners dying to be heard.
states where children were
Then to her legacy.
working in coalmines and
Mother Jones survived yellow fever and the
great Chicago fire,
managed to organize the local
populations to pursue sensible
treatment of workers. She was
Mother Jones earned her title
sued by corporate tycoons. She
Most dangerous woman in America
was labeled the most dangerous
Does she live today?
the magazine Mother Jones
Mother Jones, Mother Jones,
became the largest selling
Angel of the Miners, and minors
underground magazine of that
Leader of leaders and Protector of workers
decade and continues today. Her
life is so full of key moments and
major turning points I wrote this
poem in her memory.
University of South
Florida
Joined the Knights of labor and co-founded
the Wobblies
vilified, harassed, put in jail and
woman in America. In the 1970’s
By Valerie J.
Janesick
Filled with outrage and hope,
When they told you to stop
You kept on going,
When they put you in jail
You spoke of compassion and peace,
Public intellectual and front line activist
Trying to stop the damage
Trying to change the status quo
Known as the grandmother of agitators,
You are the maverick Mother Jones
We are your daughters and sons.
7
Best Loved Self
- Gayle Curtis (August, 2011)
practices and consequences, strengths and
reflections,
discretionary power, enactment, and active
engagement,
illuminating the best-loved self.
Personal story, situations and contexts,
self-directed agency, curriculum-maker lens,
personal practical knowledge,
self and expert with knowing and sensibilities, Fountainhead, agent,
teaching through showing and personal
engaging in the practical, interacting in
interaction,
complex milieus,
naturally gravitating toward the best-loved self.the teacher commonplace,
organic, interactive, mentor, guide,
Personal history, non-replicable, self-moving model, ally and participant,
living thing,
face-to-face and dwelling with and laboring
product of education, product of self-made
alongside,
choices,
amid the learning process with narrative
debate, deliberation, decisions,
authority,
translating reflections into actions
-personal practical knowledge in actiontesting reflections, actions, and outcomes,
conveying ideas and images to liberate not
captivate,
learning to live together,
coming to know the best-loved self.
Personal narrative
of agency, autonomy, identity, and moments
of choice,
self-education, dialectic reflection and
intelligent rebellion,
practice, repertoire, self-image and change,
strength and natural sources within,
a sense of self in the midst of it all,
free and resonating,
navigating, advancing and improving,
ephemeral, passionate, shadowy and
significant,
high quality and satisfying life,
learning to be the best-loved self.
* Inspired by ‘Teacher Education and the Best-Loved Self’’,
a keynote address by Cheryl J. Craig, Ph.D. at the 2011 ISATT conference, Braga, Portugal.
Gayle Curtis is a Post-Doctoral Fellow, Asian American Studies Center
College of Education
University of Houston
Would you like to contribute to the next QR SIG Newsletter? We’d love to hear about your
new work, ponderings, and wondering for the summer newsletter. See newsletter for specific
calls for Tech Tools, Methods News & Notes, and Spotlight on New Qualitative Research Texts.
Contributions to the summer newsletter are due by May 15th, 2014 to [email protected]
8
Qualitative Case Selection: The controversy about what to call it and why
by Michael Quinn Patton, author of Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods, 4th ed (Sage, 2015)
Case selection is the foundation of qualitative inquiry. What one finds from an inquiry will be determined by the cases
studied. But the nomenclature around qualitative sampling is confused and contentious. To call what we do “sampling” or “selecting
cases” is one question. If we call it “sampling,” what’s the appropriate adjective: purposive sampling, purposeful sampling, or
nonprobability sampling. I’ll review the options and share my preference.
Nonprobability sampling
Let me start by eliminating the term “nonprobability sampling.” That describes
what a qualitative sample is not rather than what it is. It implies that probability sampling
is the research standard while nonprobability sampling is an inferior design. In my
judgment, qualitative case selection should be labeled for what it does, not for what it is
not. That brings us then to purposeful vs. purposive sampling.
Purposeful vs. Purposive Sampling
Purposeful sampling:
Selecting information
rich cases to study,
cases that by their
nature and substance
will illuminate the
inquiry question being
investigated.
The logic and power of purposeful sampling lies in selecting information-rich
cases for study in depth. Information-rich cases are those from which one can learn a great deal about issues of central importance to
the purpose of the inquiry, thus the term purposeful sampling. Studying information-rich cases yields insights and in-depth
understanding rather than empirical generalizations. For example, if the purpose of an educational evaluation is to increase the
effectiveness of a program in reaching lower-socioeconomic groups, one may learn a great deal by studying in depth a small number
of carefully selected poor families.
Purposeful sampling is also called purposive sampling. There is generally no difference in meaning. It’s a matter of which
term one prefers. In the first edition of the qualitative methods book I wrote 35 years ago (Patton, 1980), I substituted “purposeful”
sampling for “purposive” sampling. I did so for two reasons:
1.
My evaluation and applied research work involved close collaboration with non-researchers who told me they found the
term “purposive” too academic, off-putting, jargon-ish, and unclear. One said, “Who talks like that?” In contrast,
“purposeful” they could understand. It meant: for a purpose. No one I knew, including myself, had ever used “purposive” in
common conversation. Ordinary people did know, understand, and sometimes used “purposeful.” My aim was to
communicate clearly and be use-friendly, so I introduced “purposeful sampling” and ceased using “purposive.” However,
readers should know that “purposive” remains the term of choice among academic qualitative researchers.
(continued)
9
2.
In deciding whether to abandon purposive for purposeful, I investigated the origin of the term and found that it originated as
a type of statistical sampling. The 1925 meeting in Rome of the International Statistics institute (ISI) included vigorous debate
on various sampling approaches. The delegates ended by adopting a formal resolution that distinguished two principal
kinds of representative sampling: random and purposive. Purposive sampling involved sampling population elements such
that the chosen groups should have average values approximately equal to the population averages for the characteristics
already known of the population. By the 1930’s, however, random sampling was ascendant and “purposive sampling lost its
appeal” (Kruska & Mosteller, 1980, p. 188). Subsequently, quota sampling emerged as “a kind of purposive sampling that
attempts to mimic the population in particular respects. Like all purposive sampling, quota sampling procedures suffer from
potential bias because the similarity to the population in some respects by no means implies similarity in others” (Kruska &
Mosteller, 1980, p. 190).
The origin of the label purposive sampling can still be found in some qualitative definitions of the approach. For example,
in Barbour’s (2001) checklist for improving rigor in qualitative research, purposive sampling is defined as aiming to capture the
diversity within a population. Given the historical origins of purposive sampling as an attempt to get a statistically representative
sample of a population in order to generalize, I thought it appropriate to abandon the term altogether. So I introduced purposeful
sampling as a specifically qualitative approach to case selection.
My mistake, I now realize (and confess), was in not explaining the substitution when I originally made it in 1980. I simply
started using the new term – and have ever since. In the new, 4th edition of Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods (Patton, 2015),
I have identified and distinguished
40significant
different types
1. Single
case of and purposes for purposeful sampling in eight categories:
2. Comparison-focused sampling
3. Group characteristics sampling
4. Concept or theoretical sampling
5. Instrumental-use sampling
6. Emergence-driven sampling
7. Analytically focused sampling
8. Mixed sampling strategies (Patton, 2015, pp. 264-315)
Because the term sampling is so associated in the public mind with statistics and probability sampling, there is an argument to be
made for avoiding the term “sampling” altogether and simply referring to case selection. So just as you have a choice between
purposeful and purposive sampling, you have choice about whether to sample or to select cases. Here is my dramatic rumination on
the issue to help you decide.
(continued)
10
To sample or to select cases
(With apologies to William
That Flesh is heir to? 'Tis a resolution
But make it purposeful, whatever it be
Shakespeare’s Hamlet)
Devoutly to be wished. To sample, to
called.
To sample, or not to sample, but to
select cases,
Serve that specified purpose with
select cases, that is the question:
To get on with data collection; Aye,
intention and forethought,
Whether ‘tis Nobler in the mind to
there's the rub,
Fulfill that purpose with rigor and
suffer
For in whatever inquiry may come,
resolve,
The Slings and Arrows of outraged
When we have shuffled off this
To grunt and sweat under a worthy
statisticians,
language contention,
quest,
For whom sampling is only and ever
Must give us pause, and focus: There's
To discover what is not known,
will be
the respect,
To understand with depth and
Random sampling to generalize to a
For the people interviewed and
illumination,
Population,
observed,
The undiscovered Country, that
Or to take Arms against the Purists,
Not subjects, nor cases, nor a sample,
Puzzles the will,
And by opposing them: to sample
But people with stories and lives,
And makes us rather bear those ills we
purposefully.
That makes Calamity of so long life:
have,
Yea, to Dare use the word sample.
For who would bear the Whips and
For enterprises of great pitch and
Or, to sample no more and by a
Scorns of time,
moment,
phrase,
The Oppressor's wrong,
With this regard our debates
To say we end debate, and talk only of
the proud man's Contumely,
turn awry,
Case selection, purposeful case
The pangs of ineffective programs, the
And lose the name of Truth in lieu of
selection,
Policy implementation’s delay,
Action.
Yea, selecting cases for a specified
The insolence of numbers only,
Soft you now, into the fray of inquiry,
purpose,
devoid of storied life.
And name the thing you do, Sampling
But not to sample, foreswearing that
So call it a sample, or case selection,
or case selection,
word and the debates
It matters not to those whose worlds
And make this choice the least of thy
That ensue, The Heart-ache, and the
we seek to enter,
sins remembered. (Patton, 2015, p.
thousand Natural shocks
312; used with permission)
References
Barbour, R. S. (2001) Checklists for improving rigour in qualitative research: A case of the tail wagging the dog? British Medical Journal (BMJ) 322
(7294): 1115–1117.
Kruska, W. & Mosteller, F. (1980). Representative sampling, IV: the history of the concept is statistics, 1895-1939. International Statistical Review, 48,
169-195.
Patton, M.Q. (1980). Qualitative evaluation methods. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Patton, M.Q. (2015). Qualitative research and evaluation methods, 4th ed. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
11
Tech Tools Part 2: Using NVivo to Do a Literature Review
-Pengfei Zhao, Indiana University
Developed and distributed by QSR International, NVivo is widely used as one of the major software tools for
qualitative data analysis. Many researchers use NVivo to support their data analysis process. After two years of
teaching NVivo lab sessions for qualitative methodology classes, I realized that the creative use of NVivo should not
be limited to data analysis, but integrated into other research practices, such as conducting a literature review. Here,
I briefly introduce how NVivo can be used to support the literature review process.
Contemporary researchers handle a wide range of formats of data from hardcopy books to PDFs to word
documents to blog entries to webpages and so on. NVivo supports most of these formats. After installing NVivo and
opening a new project, selected documents can be imported. Electronic documents such as PDF and Word
documents are stored under the “internals” of the sources list. Subfolders can be created to further categorize
documents. For hardcopy books and other resources that cannot be imported into NVivo, a folder named
“externals” can be used to label and take notes on this external literature.
From here, researchers can use NVivo’s many features to code, group, classify, and organize their literature.
Similar to a data analysis process carried out in NVivo, researchers can code the imported literature and begin to
identify emergent themes. The quotable parts can be highlighted and linked to memos or other items in the project.
Advanced explorations are available through the query and visualization functions. NVivo also allows researchers to
classify the imported literature, namely, labeling pieces of the literature by attaching different attributes to the
document. To do this, a new source classification needs to be created under the “classifications” tab. There is
already a list of predefined classifications available for researchers to keep track of bibliographic information.
Usually, I select several classifications from the list to classify my documents. For example, if I classify a PDF
document as a “journal article,” NVivo allows me to include information such as the author of the article, title, name of
the journal and so on.
Different from reference management tools like Zotero or Mendeley, NVivo cannot automatically generate or
format references, yet this limitation can be overcome by combining the use of NVivo with a reference management
tool. NVivo can also exchange bibliographic information with these software tools easily. Most of the time, the
exchange requires that researchers export the literature in a specific format from one tool and then import it into
another tool. For example, to import documents from Endnote to NVivo, one needs to export them from Endnote in
XML files and then import these XML files into NVivo. For Zotero, the designated format is RIS. NVivo will
automatically save the attachment of the bibliographic information in the “internals” folder and classify all the files as
“reference.” All of the bibliographic information will be saved under “classification”. To import files from NVivo into
Endnote or Zotero, researchers need to follow the reverse order, exporting the XML or RIS files from NVivo and
importing them into Endnote or Zotero.
12
"THINKING QUALITATIVELY" - NEW METHODS
TEXTBOOK BY JOHNNY SALDAÑA
Written in Johnny Saldaña's elegant and accessible
style, Thinking Qualitatively: Methods of Mind boldly
pursues the challenge of teaching students not just
how to collect and analyze data, but how to
actively think about them. Each chapter presents one
“method of mind” (thinking analytically, realistically,
symbolically, ethically, multidisciplinarily,
artistically, summarily, interpretively, and
narratively), together with applications, a vignette or
story related to the thinking modality, points to
remember, and exercises.
Spotlight on a new qualitative
research text
Designed to help researchers “rise above the data,”
the book explores how qualitative research designs,
data collection, data analyses, and write-ups can be
enriched through over 60 different lenses, filters, and
angles on social life. Venturing into more evocative
and multidimensional ways to examine the complex
patterns of daily living, the book reveals how the
researcher's mind thinks heuristically to transcend the
descriptive and develop "highdeep" insights about
the human condition. The text is now available from
Sage Publications and includes a companion website.
For more information: http://bit.ly/1A0M5Ie
Short Review from Newsletter Editor: I enjoyed the
way this book was organized, and I think this is one of
the books’ biggest strengths. The similarities across
the chapters is critical so that one can see how each
chapter begins with a summary, ends with a closure
and then is broken out into “thinking” pieces makes it
really easy to find sections that interest the reader.
One benefit of this text is that the chapters can be
used in isolation or as a whole to dig deeper into data
analysis. Personally, the chapter titled “Thinking
Summarily” was quite beneficial as I often have
difficulty teaching this piece of qualitative methods.
This chapter reframed the way in which I thought
about condensing data—instead of viewing the data as
stacks with representational pieces presented in the
written work. However, the condensation notion
challenged me to rethink the way I conduct data
analysis, and ultimately the way I teach it to future
researchers.
Brief Bio
Johnny Saldaña is Professor Emeritus from Arizona State
University. He is the recipient of the AERA Qualitative
Research SIG's 2012 Outstanding Book Award. Saldaña's
methodological approaches range from coding to artsbased research, and his works have been cited in over
Tech Tools Part 3: Supporting Research with
Evernote
-Rhonda Gambill, Indiana University
According to Evernote’s marketing material the
suite of software and services “lets you take notes,
sync files across your devices, save webpages, capture inspiration, and share your ideas with friends
and colleagues” (Evernote, 2014). Evernote also claims to support research efforts, but can this
application support the intensive process associated with qualitative research? To answer this question I
tested Evernote’s ability to organize background research and data including PDFs, images, and audio
files. I also explored the possibility of using Evernote as a tool for reflexive practice.
Organization
Evernote offers an intuitive file management system based on a hierarchical concept. Users create
themed Notebooks, which are then filled with a variety of Notes. Notes can include short typed comments
or summaries, PDFs, audio, video, and image files. The maximum storage size per Note is 25MB with the
free edition. With Evernote, Premium users can uploade 100MB per Note. For additional organization,
Notebooks can be grouped into Stacks, which allow users to manage a variety of projects at the same
time.
Evernote provides a PDF viewer and files can also be opened
(continued)
externally in Adobe for editing and annotating. Any edits made in Adobe are automatically updated
within Evernote and synced across all associated devices. Scanning and uploading documents with
handwritten annotations, is helpful since the Premium version of Evernote is capable of searching PDF
documents for content including both printed and hand written text. In addition, users can attach
previously recorded audio files to a Note, or new recordings can be created directly within the Evernote
Application for mobile devices. The mobile application also offers a dictation function which will upload
the text of an audio recording to an assigned Note. Images can be uploaded to the application via the
desktop or taken with mobile devices and added directly from the mobile application. The desktop
version of Evernote provides multiple image annotation tools to include arrows, shapes, text, pixilation
and highlighting.
Searching and Tagging
By typing a key word into the search field, any Note, which includes this word will appear in the
viewing pane. This is useful when trying to locate an article or reference during the writing process. In
addition, Evernote searches handwritten words and printed text uploaded as images. Evernote also
offers a Tagging function, which allows users to assign multiple themes to specific Notes and to search
for these themes across a variety of Notebooks and Stacks. Creating a series of Tags allows users to
visualize and connect theories from diverse areas of research and helps bring together related Notes
across multiple projects.
Reflexivity
Besides the opportunity to create typed reflexive notes as part of the research process, Evernote
allows researchers flexibility in how they might engage in reflexive practice. As mentioned, Evernote’s
mobile application includes a dictation function and the ability to capture and directly upload images.
These functions support reflexivity since ideas related to a research project can be recorded at nearly
any time without the need to access a computer. In addition, hand written items such as mind maps or
outlines can be captured as an image, uploaded to a Note, then tagged, and searched.
Affordances and Constraints
Evernote has several affordances that include, virtual organization of Notes and the ability to capture
and upload audio recordings and images directly from a mobile device. Evernote’s capacity to search
Notes for key words and to connect research with the use of Tags enhances the writing process and
helps to organize and access a considerable amount of literature and data. In addition, Evernote
provides access to information across multiple devices, reducing the need to use hard copies of
research materials. Evernote works great for data gathering and organization. It also provides a place to
reflect on the information collected in relation to the research process.
Evernote does have some limitations. It is not a data analysis software package, nor does it support
citation management. Additional resources are required for this aspect of the research process. Also,
the free version is limited in storage space and functionality. The free version of Evernote includes a 60
megabyte per month upload limit. In addition, the Key Word feature only looks at the text within Notes—
to include images—it does not search within PDF documents. However, these features are included with
the premium subscription, which costs $5 a month or $45 per year.
Future Use
Creating Notebooks, Notes, and Tags throughout the research and writing process can increase the
transparency of research projects by creating an organized visual of the reviewed literature and data
collected. In addition, using Evernote to document evolving thoughts or ideas related to the project
provides a venue to document and encourage reflexivity.
References
Evernote (2014). Evernote Homepage. Retrieved from: http://evernote.com/evernote/.
Call for Contributions for the “TECH TOOLS” Section. In the next newsletter’s “Tech Tools” section, we
will explore how emergent technologies can support the collecting data. What technology tools might be
used to support researchers as they engage in the data collection process? What are the ethical
limitations/concerns to be considered when using such tools? If you are interested in contributing,
please send Jessica Nina Lester ([email protected]) an email with your idea.
14
Engaging Epistemologies: Art, Curriculum, and Criticality
- Jeffrey J. Kuzmic, Assistant Professor and Olena Marshall,
Doctoral Student; DePaul University in College of Education
Jeff: I am currently teaching a doctoral course on the history of
curriculum for first-year doctoral students in the College of
Education’s EdD programs. This course seeks to provide
students with an understanding of the multiple and conflicting
discourses/ideologies/cultures that have shaped curriculum
over time. As a starting point for this exploration we read
Bertrand Russell’s (1932/2010) Education and the Social Order as
a means to explore the intersectionality of what goes on outside
of schools and what goes on inside of schools. Russell’s critique
of education/society is far ranging touching on a broad range of
topics such as: individual vs. citizen; emotion and discipline; and
patriotism, competition, class relations, economics, sex, and
religion in education. It was the relationship between the latter
two that Olena sought to explore in a reflective paper on Russell. As a visual and mixed media artist, Olena
sought to capture this critique not only through the written word, but also through visual imagery. Her work
here, I believe, reflects her interests in bringing together multiple ways of engaging and understanding the
world in which she/we live. While Olena is only beginning to think about a doctoral research project, her
work here provides an introduction or beginning exploration of what Finley (2005) refers to as to art-based
inquiry.
Olena: Using a curriculum map concept as a starting point, I have created a mixed-media collage to depict
Russell’s (1932/2009) account of how the hegemony of the Christian doctrine, the institution of patriarchal
family, and traditional moral code produce an abstinence-only education discourse. The collage engages the
viewer with this theme by repeating a streamlined version of a traditional American quilt pattern known as
the “schoolhouse,” also representing church or home. With its overlapping religious, educational, and
homestead meanings, this pattern offers an entree to Russell’s portrayal of religious hegemony in the context
of home and schooling. Other collage elements, quoting the federally mandated abstinence-only curriculum,
layer additional meaning by pointing out parallels between the 1932 and the present approaches to sex
education. As such, the piece stands in direct opposition to Russell’s alternative worldview, whereby schools
share sexual knowledge with students in a direct and uninhabited manner, independent of the Christian
patriarchal and reproductive conventions, so as to raise free, ethical,
and contented human beings who can radically improve the existing
social system.
As a practicing artist, I am interested in integrating writing in visual
art. Also, in my other works I had combined the geometry and
symbolic meanings of American quilts to examine the housewife role
from historic and contemporary perspectives, in connection to
craftsmanship, consumption, and creative imagination.
About the collage: Olena Marshall, Reading Russell, 2015; Acrylic, paper,
pencil, and hemp cord on board; 16x20
References
Finley, S. (2005). Arts-based inquiry: Performing revolutionary pedagogy. In
N. K. Denzin & Y.S. Lincoln (Eds.). The Sage handbook of qualitative research
(3rd Ed.) (Pp. 681-694). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Russell, B (1932/2010). Education and the social order. New York: Routledge
15
Flying off the page: Somos Latinas in pursuit of a doctoral degree
Classics.
A bilingual poem
by Ana María De La Portilla & Andrea Guajardo
University of the Incarnate Word - Doctoral students
Getting noticed
during affirmative action,
civil rights agenda,
the Chicano movement…
when Minority uprising,
focused on race,
ethnicity, and gender
over national identity…
Latinas getting noticed,
¡No puede ser! What is
happening?
As PhD-bound Latinas….
intrigued by these facts,
determined to uncover
she waited, and waited
-
peers - if you may,
who would share what they’ve
lived
What made you pursue a PhD?
Huh?
…“agents of social change”
Life happened… divorce…
We sought four grad Latinas
Valió la pena…
higher ed enrollment
What happened? Dime más?
what’s causing this gap…
in their doctoral program.
on campuses, in education,
“all but dissertation”
Decades later, still
determined…
working toward their P - h- Ds.
Latinas’ presence
….and whispers “ABD”…
¿Por qué? Dime.
How did you immerse yourself
into the program?
and one day she read…
international ed
and ventured ahead.
“I thought I would be a
university professor…engage
in all kinds of projects…work
with people doing something
fascinating.”
Experience told her
this would be good,
they rallied, gaining attention
Broad questions…probing
questions…
on issues of equality and justice
unscripted questions…
her positive outlook.
that merited attention and
action
revealing a generous mix of
She felt unchallenged as a
scholar
and stirred bureaucratic
inaction.
Yet now, hoy mismo,
decades later, Latinos,
the majority minority –
personal
experiences…opportunities…
all quite unique…
though not really…
Primero, Delia…
experience also tainted
Unlike before – “engaging with
people”…
group projects…field studies
and more She took control – the reins – so
to speak
the Latino explosion --
Single mom, independent, selfreliant…
represent less than .2 percent
climbed the academic ladder
she propelled an appeal
of those walking the stage…
attained Bachelors, Masters,
for a practicum overseas.
Determined to succeed
16
“I wasn’t sure this was the
program for me… I decided to
come back and stick it out.”
doesn’t jump out as relating
Then there’s Stella…
to this whole Latina thing.
de América Latina.
Strong willed, strong minded,
There’s no dwelling on it
favors constructing her own…
‘cause she knows she’s one.
In her country she was
researching,
visions, ventures, and service
abroad.
¿Qué piensas de eso?
co-writing and traveling the
world…
Never gave it much thought…
collaborating with universities
diversity of friends.
on projects manifold.
Questions why Latinos
“I worked in the university
…with a professor…and also
part of a research group.”
Mentored by one who touched
her soul;
a person who lived mission
of the incarnate - complete.
are not going to higher ed.
Determined, insightful,
forthcoming,
“I have little tolerance for
people who are lazy. It takes a
lot of determination and you
can’t make excuses. Not
enough time? When the hell is
the right time? If you want
something badly enough, you’ll
find the right time.”
she’s not done…not yet.
She’ll share with them
Entra Esmeralda,
the importance of education
Catholic school graduate
as modeled by her Dad.
with strong family support
Es mucha responsabilidad, ¿qué
no?
she’d need to re-complete
Education is empowering,
two degrees.
she believes,
it has no barriers.
“They said – unfortunately, we
can give you some hours, but
you cannot have all the hours.”
Grateful for the sharing
Single mom of two…
by mentors, professors…
completes BA, MA
she acknowledges setbacks
and encouraged to seek
as paths for learning…
her international PhD.
“Every time I feel like it’s
tough, I see myself walking that
stage. My 5 seconds…”
Determined to academically
succeed,
“She offered…a seminar…I
went and first bonded with
her…developed a
friendship…and she was
always present.”
….though
she struggles with it at times.
“People don’t understand just
how challenged you
are…thinking in a different
way…writing in a different
way. Nobody gets it when I
have to explain a theory.”
BA and MA in hand,
two pregnancies in between,
she launches to PhD;
dreams of what she’ll do....
Her cultural upbringing
though important to her…
Y, al llegar aquí?
Arriving in the States,
suddenly found…
international equivalencies
…problematic – an unforeseen
pain.
… nunca falla…que te puedo
decir.
Disappointed, knowing
she joins study groups…
Determined, supportive,
positive.
converses with profs’
There’s no stopping her now.
who encourage her to pursue
17
her Latino community interests.
Everything…and everyone
Latina friends,
“A lot of Mexican American and
international students … they
can speak in two different
languages and have ideas of
how you can say this in Spanish
or how you can write on a topic
in Spanish. It creates
opportunities.”
it all sort of happened.
Latina peers,
Support systems?
not necessarily a thought-out
Familia for sure…
process…
never a doubt…always there,
it just happened.
cheering her on.
Positive, orderly, determined
Forms support systems
Sought to travel,
of culturally diverse friends
live abroad for some time…
She has no limits…she can do
this, too.
and a strong mentor connection
that was the draw to this
program type.
with an off-campus Latino
group.
Resilient, determined,
positive…
her journey’s not yet complete.
Y ahora, there are four…
Daniela, whose life
expectancies
have been falling into place…
As the youngest
- la más chica – of her clan,
she observed… she followed
…she learned.
Education?
Never a doubt…never an
option.
Strong roots in Catholic school.
“My brother went to boys’
Catholic school. My sister went
to girls’ Catholic school. My
cousin [to a] Catholic college. I
wanted the ‘Golden World’
too.”
“I did my master’s
program…and signed up for
the PhD as soon as I graduated.
I wanted to see how education
works…I thought I was going to
go teach abroad...”
Disappointed?
Not by far…
It has been good.
PhD aspirations?
No se…not really sure…
Years in education….
so teaching sounds good.
“I am finally at the point where
I think I’m done being a
student. I am a scholar. I never
thought of myself as a Latina
doctoral student…like isn’t
everybody?”
Passionate, strong, determined,
diverse Latinas…
Inspired, imaginative,
intellectually capable.
Having conversed solely with
four,
we have no answers to the stats
that mark us so low…
in PhD completion.
We did find this:
It is an attitude…
one that distinguishes
this new wave of Latinas.
History, identity,
acknowledgement,
motivated to succeed.
Our predecessors’ luchas,
batallas, peleas
Sees her Latina heritage
provided a pathway
as a vehicle, an instrument,
to a new ideology.
to model achievement.
-Se ha dicho-
Latina family,
18
AERA 2015: Professional Development and Training Courses
http://bit.ly/1C06UdN
Extended courses:
Applying Critical Discourse Analysis in Education Research: Theory, Rigorous Method and Possibilities for Application
This course provides participants with hands-on experience of
Instructors: Margaret Kettle, Queensland University of
conducting rigorous critical discourse analysis (CDA) on texts of
Technology; Jennifer Alford, Queensland University of
interest to educational researchers and teachers as researchers.
Technology; Mary Ryan, Queensland University of
In a series of lectures and hands-on workshops, participants will
Technology
learn about: discourse theory; methods of CDA with different
types of texts, for example education policy, teaching resources,
Date: Thursday, April 16, 8:00 am–3:45 pm
and classroom interaction; how to apply the methods to their own
small data sets; and how to write up their own analysis. On
Fee: $125
completion of this course, participants should be able to:
demonstrate knowledge of discourse theory; understand the
Location: Swissotel, Event Centre 1st Floor - Zurich C
synergies of narrative inquiry, socio-spatial theory and reflexivity
with discourse theory; understand some of the critiques of CDA
and how to mitigate them in research; apply methods of critical
text analysis (linguistic and spatial) to their own texts; understand
how to write up their own analysis and begin to design future
possibilities for applying CDA in their own classroom practice
and research. The target audience is anyone interested in CDA,
in particular graduate students and early career scholars.
Teachers interested in exploring the workings of power in
classroom discourse and in school settings are also encouraged
to participate. Participants are required to bring laptops and a
small data set (e.g., transcript of talk; course materials; a policy
statement; a media text) that they would like to explore. Time will
be allowed for planning potential projects based on areas of
interest.
Narrative Inquiry in Education Research
The course format includes presentations and hands-on modules
Instructors: Colette Daiute, The Graduate Center – CUNY;
for narrative research design and narrative analysis in studies of
Philip Kreniske, The Graduate Center (CUNY)
teaching and learning sensitive to diversity, social change, and
other issues. This course demonstrates and practices research
Date: Thursday, April 16, 8:00 am–3:45 pm
designs and strategies involving students, teachers, and policy
makers in educational contexts addressing diversity, power
Fee: $125
relations, social justice goals, as well as relevant curricula.
Assignments include doing values analysis, significance analysis, Location: Swissotel, Event Centre 2nd Floor - Montreux 3
practice making observations from analyses addressing research
questions, and to examine narrative data provided by the
instructors or data brought by course participants. No equipment
or prior experience with narrative analysis is required. Course
participants are graduate students, early career scholars, and
advanced researchers becoming familiar with narrative inquiry
or extending prior experience to another approach.
19
Coding Qualitative Data: A Survey of Selected Methods
This course will review methods of coding qualitative data, collected
Instructors: Johnny Saldana, Arizona State University
from various publications in education and the social sciences.
Participants will explore basic coding and recoding principles, apply
Date: Thursday, April 16, 8:00 am–3:45 pm
them to the analysis of qualitative data, and discuss their transfer to
relevant future projects. The primary goals of the course are to acquaint Fee: $125
participants with sources and methods of coding, including factors that
influence and affect coding selections, approaches to data analysis, and Location: Swissotel, Event Centre 1st Floor - Zurich D
writing analytic memos. Manual (hard copy) coding will be emphasized
with a discussion of available CAQDAS (software) for future use. The
course will focus comprehensively on eight methods: (1) descriptive
coding, (2) In Vivo coding, (3) process coding, (4) values coding, (5)
emotion coding , (6) versus coding, (7) dramaturgical coding, and (8).
themeing the data. At the completion of the course, participants will
have: (1) reviewed and discussed the fundamental principles of coding
qualitative data; (2) reviewed and discussed the relationships between
coding and analytic memo writing; (3) surveyed eight unique methods
for coding qualitative data; (4) applied selected coding methods to
samples of qualitative data; (5) explored selected post-coding and prewriting strategies for qualitative data analysis; and (6) reviewed and
discussed the applications of coding with CAQDAS and to their own
future projects in qualitative inquiry. Target audiences for the course
include graduate students in the initial stages of their qualitative
research projects, and professors instructing qualitative research
methods courses. Participants should have an introductory knowledge
of qualitative research/inquiry and its canon of data collection methods.
Mini Course
PDC23: Writing Up Findings: An Introduction to Crafting the Qualitative Research Report Narrative
The course format includes presentations and hands-on modules for
Instructors: Colette Daiute, The Graduate Center –
narrative research design and narrative analysis in studies of teaching
CUNY; Philip Kreniske, The Graduate Center (CUNY)
and learning sensitive to diversity, social change, and other issues.
This course demonstrates and practices research designs and
Date: Thursday, April 16, 8:00 am–3:45 pm
strategies involving students, teachers, and policy makers in
educational contexts addressing diversity, power relations, social
Fee: $125
justice goals, as well as relevant curricula. Assignments include doing
values analysis, significance analysis, practice making observations
Location: Swissotel, Event Centre 2nd Floor -
from analyses addressing research questions, and to examine
Montreux 3
narrative data provided by the instructors or data brought by course
participants. No equipment or prior experience with narrative analysis
is required. Course participants are graduate students, early career
scholars, and advanced researchers becoming familiar with narrative
inquiry or extending prior experience to another approach.
20
Egon Guba Memorial Lecture
During the QR SIG Business Meeting
April 19th, 6:15pm
Title: The Heart, the Public, and the Promise of Arts-Based Research
Abstract:
Arts-based research (ABR) practices are methodological tools that merge the tenets of the
creative arts with social research. ABR has the potential to help us reach and engage public
audiences. In this presentation I provide an overview of ABR. Next, I share my experience with
an evolving arts-based research project whereby I took in-depth interview research collected
over a decade and transformed it into a novel. The response to the novel within and beyond the
academy then prompted the collection of new interviews. When I found that traditional ways of
representing the new interviews weren’t working I partnered with a visual artist, Victoria Scotti,
and we are currently working on a mixed medium project. I will share a sample of our project. I
conclude with what I have learned through this process and how it has changed the way I think
about research, making suggestions for others.
About the presenter:
Patricia Leavy, PhD is an independent scholar and novelist (formerly Associate Professor of
Sociology, Chair of Sociology and Founding Director of Gender Studies at Stonehill College).
She has published eighteen books including Method Meets Art: Arts-Based Research Practice
(first and second editions) (Guilford Press), The Oxford Handbook of Qualitative Research
(Oxford University Press), Fiction as Research Practice (Left Coast Press), Essentials of
Transdisciplinary Research (Left Coast Press), and the best-selling novels Low-Fat Love (first
and second editions) and American Circumstance (Sense Publishers). She edits five book
series including Social Fictions for Sense Publishers and Understanding Qualitative Research
for Oxford University Press. She has regular blogs for The Huffington Post, The Creativity Post
and We Are the Real Deal. The New England Sociological Association named her the 2010
New England Sociologist of the Year and she received the prestigious 2014 American
Creativity Association Special Achievement Award for her work advancing arts-based
research. www.patricialeavy.com
21