Abductive Analysis Research Articles

Qualitative interviews results from heart failure survey respondents on the interaction between symptoms and burden of self-care work.

Following a cross-sectional survey, a sub-sample of participants was interviewed to explore the interaction between symptoms and burden of treatment. Burden of treatment considers both the work associated with illness and treatment, including self-care work, as well as the individuals' capabilities and resources to engage in that work. The recent survey revealed the existence of a complex interaction. Qualitative abductive analysis of semi-structured interviews. Adults with heart failure who participated in the survey were purposely sampled and invited to participate in semi-structured interviews. Location and mode of interview varied by participant choice. Excerpts from the verbatim transcripts were assessed for interactions between symptoms and burden of treatment, and when identified these were characterised and explained. We followed COREQ checklist for reporting. The patient research ambassador group was involved from research design to dissemination. Participants (n=32) consistently discussed how symptoms altered their capability to engage in self-care work. As symptom intensity increased the difficultly of their self-care work increased. A number of intervening factors appeared to influence the relationship between symptoms and burden of treatment. Intervening factors included illness pathology, illness identity, the value of the tasks attempted and available support structures. These factors may change how symptoms and burden of treatment are perceived; a model was constructed to explain and summarise these interactions. The interaction between symptoms and burden of treatment is complex. Intervening factors-illness identity and pathology, task value and performance, and available support structures-appear to exert a strong influence on the interaction between symptoms and burden of treatment. These intervening factors present clinicians and researchers with opportunities to develop interventions that might reduce burden of treatment and improve symptoms and quality of life. SYMPACT was registered with ISRCTN registry: ISRCTN11011943.

Reluctant Saviors: Professional ambivalence, cultural imaginaries, and deservingness construction in naloxone provision

Professions compete over jurisdictions by laying claim to specific tasks. Research shows that they enhance their professional status by siphoning off tasks and seizing control of social problems that belong to other professions. Not all tasks are equally desirable, though. Studies find that workers resist helping stigmatized groups or taking on “unsolvable” social problems. This raises a critical question for social scientists: How do professionals respond when opportunities for jurisdictional expansion are contingent on aiding a stigmatized population? Our study draws on research from the sociology of culture, professions, and stigma and empirical evidence about naloxone provision to develop a theory of professional ambivalence that explains how professionals respond to this fundamental tension.In response to rising rates of overdose deaths in the U.S., many cities have adopted naloxone provision programs in which first responders—police, firefighters, and EMTs—carry and administer naloxone, an opioid overdose antidote. For police and firefighters, this task enables them to venture into medical territory, but for all three professionals, it requires working with the stigmatized population of people who use drugs. We use abductive analysis of qualitative interviews (n = 20) conducted in a Midwestern metropolitan area from 2018 to 2019 to explore professionals’ attitudes about naloxone.We find that professionals’ willingness to take on new tasks is largely grounded in how they construct patients as deserving or undeserving of care. Deservingness construction is a constitutive process through which first responders draw on cultural imaginaries about addiction and treatment as well as their own experiences providing naloxone. This results in three mechanisms of deservingness construction—experiential, behavioral, and interactional—that reinforce cultural imaginaries and affect how they think about patients, naloxone, and addiction. Findings contribute to theory of professional ambivalence and offer policy implications to enhance the effectiveness of naloxone provision programs.

Ageing, dementia and the future - ambivalent futurework in rehabilitation-focused dementia care.

Due to its goal-orientation, rehabilitation may be considered a future-oriented practice. As rehabilitation is increasingly recognized as contributing to dementia care it is important to explore how rehabilitation corresponds with the future orientation of older people with dementia.The aim of this study was to explore the futurework of home-dwelling people with mild to moderate dementia in the context of rehabilitation-focused municipal dementia care, that is, their thinking and practices regarding their future and how these correspond with institutionalized practices.The study was conducted as a case-study inspired by the methodology of Institutional Ethnography (IE). The study setting was two Danish municipalities sampled as a paradigmatic case. Eight older people living with early-stage dementia (mean age: 78 years, age range: 65–91) were strategically sampled and each interviewed recurringly within a period of six through 15 months. In total, 29 interviews were completed. An abductive analysis was subsequently conducted based on these interviews.Findings included three dimensions of futurework: Extending the present state into the near future; avoiding being confronted with an anticipated future; and adjusting to decline and preparing for future losses. Based on these findings, a notion of ‘ambivalent futurework’ is suggested. The futurework of older people did not always correspond with the institutional arrangements in a rehabilitation-focused dementia care. Findings show that the institutional arrangements in dementia care may support as well as challenge the futurework of the participants. Paying attention to the ambivalences of older people living with dementia and recognizing the ambivalent futurework may be essential in rehabilitation-focused dementia care.

Social Entrepreneurs’ Agency in Complex Institutional Environments of Emerging Economies

Entrepreneurial agency in complex institutional environments and the extent to which varying perceptions of institutional catalysts and impediments affect social entrepreneurs’ navigation approaches in emerging economies remain untold. Based on an abductive analysis of 33 interviews with social entrepreneurs and hub representatives in sub-Saharan Africa, our findings point to distinct approaches that social entrepreneurs apply. We illustrate these approaches and corresponding techniques by drawing on selected cases with a specific emphasis on informal institutional catalysts and impediments. Through a contextualized micro lens on institutional theory, our findings enrich the social entrepreneurship literature in relation to institutional voids and entrepreneurial agency.

“Uncomfortable When Not Seen’” – Governmentality, Flexible Working and Self-Control

In this paper we develop an understanding of how flexible working, a specific system of management, produces workers amenable to being managed and controlled from a distance, and willing to assume responsibility for managing themselves. While the extant research typically associates flexible working with positive outcomes leading to employees’ increased autonomy or, contrarily, deplores harnessing individual autonomy for organizational benefit, it rarely explores the ways through which freedom may manifest itself as management-of-the-self. Moreover, the extant research has yet to explain the mechanism translating employee agency into self-control in the context of flexible working. Drawing on the classic works by Foucault on subjectification as well as by Miller and Rose on governmentality, we show that flexible working may exemplify a system of government espousing a dearth of knowledge and void of control, thus creating conditions of possibility conducive to assuming a desired subject position – an ideal flexible worker – in a free, but calculated manner. Through our ethnographically-inspired abductive analysis of an empirical case study set in a British local authority (MoCo), we contribute to the theorization of those mechanisms that explain flexible workers’ willingness to be managed to the point where it reveals itself as unsolicited self-sacrifice.

To page or not to page? A qualitative study of communication practices of general surgery residents and nurses

BackgroundCommunication errors contribute to preventable adverse hospital events; however, communication between general surgery residents and nurses remains insufficiently studied. The purpose of our study was to use qualitative methods to characterize communication practices of surgical residents and nurses on inpatient general and intermediate care units to inform best practices and future interprofessional interventions. MethodsOur study cohort consisted of 14 general surgery residents and 13 inpatient nurses from a tertiary academic medical center. Focus groups were conducted via a secure video platform, recorded, and transcribed. Two authors performed open coding of transcripts for qualitative analysis. Codes were reviewed iteratively with themes generated via abductive analysis, contextualizing results within 3 domains of an established communication space framework: organizational, cognitive, and social complexity. ResultsCommunication practices of general surgery residents and inpatient nurses are affected by workflow differences, disruptive communication patterns, and communication technology. Barriers to effective communication, as well as strategies used to mitigate challenges, were characterized, with select communication practices found to negatively affect the well-being of patients, nurses, and residents. ConclusionCommunication practices of general surgery residents and inpatient nurses are influenced by entrenched and interrelated organizational, technological, and interpersonal factors. Given that current communication practices negatively affect patient and provider well-being, collaboration between surgeons, nurses, systems engineers, health information technology experts, and other stakeholders is critical to (1) establish communication best practices, and (2) design interventions to assess and improve multiple areas (rather than isolated domains) of surgical interprofessional communication.

Teacher beliefs about student agency in whole-class playing

ABSTRACT This study explores music teachers’ beliefs of student agency in whole-class playing and investigates what characterises student agency through teachers’ values, actions and observations within this unique multimodal and -dimensional learning environment. Our abductive analysis of 11 interviews reveals that the role of teacher support is significant in enacting students’ agency. This study provides insights into student agency through the eyes and actions of teachers within the context of whole-class playing and suggests that the enactment of different aspects of student agency is an essential feature necessary for whole-class playing to succeed.

The patient acceptability of a remotely delivered pain management programme for people with persistent musculoskeletal pain: A qualitative evaluation.

Remotely delivered pain management programmes have been offered in place of in-person programmes by many chronic pain services since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a lack of evidence regarding the acceptability of these programmes. In this evaluation, we have explored patients' acceptability of a remotely delivered pain management programme for patients with persistent musculoskeletal pain. Qualitative data were collected using focus groups with participants who had previously attended the remote pain management programme. Data were analysed using abductive analysis. Three focus groups were conducted with a total of 13 participants. The programmme was either entirely acceptable, had some acceptable components or was not acceptable to patients. Factors leading to the programme being acceptable include learning to manage pain from home, receiving high quality care from home, enhancing the potential of rehabilitation using technology, enabling attendance on a pain management programme from home, overcoming social distancing requirements of COVID-19 using technology, and virtual peer support. Factors leading to the programme not being acceptable include having an inappropriate home environment for virtual therapy, communication challenges with virtual therapy, technological issues and concerns regarding the quality of care. There is a spectrum of acceptability with respect to the remote programme. The factors that influence this are dynamic, individual and situational. Hybrid programmes have the potential to enhance access to pain management programmes and improve patient experience and programme outcomes in the future.

A Bibliotherapeutic discourse on aging and masculinity in continuing care retirement communities

This paper examined how the use of literary works in bibliotherapy groups for older men promotes discourse on aging and masculinity. Two groups of men from two different CCRCs in Israel participated in the study. Each group underwent 10 bibliotherapy sessions. Following reading aloud of literary works on aging, the participants were invited to share their reflections upon their life, inspired by the creations. An abductive analysis pointed to the central role of the literary elements in encouraging self-expressions among the participants. A qualitative content analysis revealed three themes, which indicate that the literary elements: (a) Encourage the expression of loss; (b) Allow participants to express aspects of positive aging; and (c) Promote insights regarding the acceptance of the aging process. In addition, an analysis focusing on aspects of form revealed four responses to literary elements: (a) Direct metaphors in line with the literary works' interpretations; (b) Creating new meaning for the original metaphors; (c) Expressing conflicting emotions through oxymorons; and (d) Relying on the authors' biographies as an extra-textual context for reflections. The study reflects an inter-disciplinary approach to promote expressions of aging masculinity, and to understand them in bibliotherapeutic groups of older affluent men.

The Value of Self-Care: “Health Enthusiasts” and Healthificated Consumption

From a common sense perspective health is an absolute value. However, even in European societies, with their well-developed institutional infrastructure of preventive healthcare, individuals need to be encouraged, or even forced, for practicing self-care. The Russian state is also interested to promote a healthy lifestyle and self-preservation behavior among the population. Nevertheless, sociological data demonstrate that Russians are more inclined to use their health than to save and increase it for the future. Sociologists give mainly structural explanations for health investments unattractiveness, while the individuals' recognition of the value of health remains outside their attention. This paper examines the deficits of an individual’s intrinsic motivation to invest in one’s health within a valuation framework, emphasising the constructed and fluid nature of the social worth of self-care in market societies. The Russian case exemplifies the local meanings behind the value of health investments in terms of gaining return from health as a capital, consumer good and personal value. An abductive analysis of 26 in-depth interviews with Russians who enjoy health investments (‘health enthusiasts’) reconstructs mindsets that make investing in one’s health attractive. Streamlined by the valuation framework, the study reveals three levels of self-care value: physical (body taming for self-maximisation); positional (the ability to achieve new health indicators through science-based self-management as a new precursor of social status); and transcendent (projecting the desired self in terms of authentic self-expression and autonomous sustainability). Empirics signify the involvement of ‘health enthusiasts’ into consumption of market products that have been marketized as “good for health”. These commodities praise the value of health, legitimize individual interest to it, ritualize health care practices and contribute to a more self-focused, autonomous, and resilient entrepreneurial self. “Health enthusiasts” begin experiencing health as an asset, an investment into vitality and personal productivity. They discover own human potential and practice self-care as a path of “returning to oneself”. The results of the study demonstrate that market driven cultivation of self-care value may produce a utilitarian approach to self among Russians. This approach increases the subjective value of self and supports preventive self-care that is in demand in Russia. At the same time, market driven individual obsession with health may increase social competition and disintegration.

An Abductive Analysis of Debates on the Impact of the Sharing Economy: A Systematic Review in a Sustainable Framework

The sharing economy (SE) is a new production and consumption model that improves social efficiency through the usage-based acquisition of idle resources. Owing to its friendly economic and environmental attributes, the SE spans various regions, industries, and backgrounds worldwide. Given the complex and controversial outputs of the SE, there is an unmet need to perform a comprehensive and systematic survey of its impacts. We systematically review the recent studies of the multi-dimensional effects of the SE, including its profound impacts on the economy, society, and environment, from the WoS database via NVivo. A comparison of the positive, negative, and conditional attitudes among each dimension and an abductive analysis of the contradictions’ underlying causes by deconstructing each conclusion into the cognitive background, empirical path, and supporting evidence is implemented to sort out the current debates. It is shown that the impacts on the social dimension are most debated, while the influences on the environment reach the strongest consensus. Notably, the effects on the economy are mostly hierarchical. Furthermore, the differences in the ontologically guiding ideology of sustainable development, the definitions of the SE, socioeconomic backgrounds, individual preferences, group interests, and empirical approaches co-trigger the varied conclusions and disputes. Hence, this study promotes a systematic and dialectical understanding of the SE’s benefits and pitfalls, which is of significance to fundamental investigations and practical applications.

Connecting Practice Research With the Process of Theorizing

In this analysis, we contend that theorizing strengthens the connections between practice and research by requiring researchers to check their working assumptions, premises, conclusions, and implications for research, theory, and practice. Our exploration of the process of theorizing in practice research is rooted in the concept of “sensemaking” ( Weick, 1995 ) whereby practice researchers engage in disciplined imagination by reflecting on diverse forms of evidence, being attentive to specific practices and problems, and moving between intuition and reasoned explanation. The analysis includes the following components: 1) tools for theorizing from research findings (abductive analysis and problematization), 2) processes for theorizing about practice research findings (focusing on practice, researcher repertoire, and theory development processes), 3) an example of theorizing from key findings, and 4) the construction of interventive theory. It concludes with implications for social work practice research.

Studying islandness through the language of art

AbstractPhenomenology lends itself to the study of islandness, and because works by poets and painters are often rooted in place they are also highly amenable to phenomenological studies. In such studies, threads of similarity and connection in people’s experiences of living on islands are revealed in ways that are of interest to geographers as well as those in allied and complementary disciplines. This article describes research in Tasmania and Newfoundland by a poet and academic profoundly interested in place. Based in interpretive and qualitative research methodologies, the methods used in the study included participant‐observation and semi‐structured interviews with writers, artists, and musicians whose artistic practices were expressive of islandness and abductive analysis. In addition, poetic interpretations became part of an iterative process that enabled my engagement in phenomena shared with and by participants. Poetry became a way to creatively reimagine academic research and offered opportunities to deepen contextual understanding and insight into people’s understandings of islandness in ways not always possible through academic avenues.

Abductive Coding: Theory Building and Qualitative (Re)Analysis

Qualitative secondary analysis has generated heated debate regarding the epistemology of qualitative research. We argue that shifting to an abductive approach provides a fruitful avenue for qualitative secondary analysts who are oriented towards theory-building. However, the concrete implementation of abduction remains underdeveloped—especially for coding. We address this key gap by outlining a set of tactics for abductive analysis that can be applied for qualitative analysis. Our approach applies Timmermans and Tavory's ( Timmermans and Tavory 2012 ; Tavory and Timmermans 2014 ) three stages of abduction in three steps for qualitative (secondary) analysis: Generating an Abductive Codebook, Abductive Data Reduction through Code Equations, and In-Depth Abductive Qualitative Analysis. A key contribution of our article is the development of “code equations”—defined as the combination of codes to operationalize phenomena that span individual codes. Code equations are an important resource for abduction and other qualitative approaches that leverage qualitative data to build theory.

Exemplar Parents’ Practices of Engagement with Their Children’s Learning in Finland and Portugal: A Multiple-Case Study

Parental engagement is a central aspect of children’s holistic education, i.e., schooling-related and nonschooling-related learning. Parents’ role in supporting such integrative learning is increasingly necessary to develop students’ social, emotional, and intellectual skills. Nonetheless, it remains unclear which parental practices support holistic learning. The purpose of this qualitative multiple-case study was to identify and describe the current practices of engagement with learning of four exemplar parents in Finland (N = 2) and Portugal (N = 2). These four parents of primary-school-age children were individually interviewed, and abductive content analysis was performed to analyze their narratives. Our results evidence four patterns of exemplar practices: showing active interest in the child, supporting autonomy, building a partnership with the teacher and the school, and visiting the child’s school. The study concludes that even though exemplar parents use a variety of specific engagement practices, they support holistic learning through their ownership of action in such interactions, clear awareness about their parental role, and consistency in their intentions. Exemplar parental engagement within different cultural contexts was discussed. Recommendations for teachers’ pedagogy are presented regarding the benefits of digital communication, goal-oriented invitations to school, and promotion of family time in the home for enhancing children’s holistic learning.

Do bachelor assignments in Danish midwifery- and nursing educations reflect evidence-based practice? A document study

The aim of this study is to explore and compare if evidence-based practice is reflected in topics and methods in the bachelor assignment written by respectively nursing and midwifery students. MethodThe study is a document study; data is bachelor assignments (N = 274) from nursing (244) and midwifery (30) educations in Copenhagen in 2018. The abductive analysis examines the whole picture of used designs/methods, identify themes in the assignments and compare the assignments for similarities and differences. ResultsNursing students mainly chose interview as a method, with 56% choosing to interview nurses and 17% choosing to interview patients. 90% of midwifery students chose to do literature studies. Nursing students mainly focus either on nurses’ experience of clinical practise describing either personal or local nursing practice or on patient's experience (second person knowledge). Nursing students rarely employ evidence from research. Midwifery students employ knowledge from literature and mainly focus on professional action or discussion of the evidence in relation to professional practice. ConclusionMidwifery students’ bachelor assignments indicate an ability to understand and use evidence in planning for professional action, while the bachelor assignments of nursing students do not.

The paradoxes of just-in-time system: an abductive analysis of a public food manufacturing and exporting company in Thailand

Purposestudy aims to investigate the implementation and impact of a just-in-time (JIT) system in a food manufacturing and exporting company in Thailand.Design/methodology/approachAt the company, the authors used an anomaly case study. The authors performed content analysis on the data collected through semi-structured interviews and direct observations to determine operational flows through customer order, production and delivery. The authors constructed a framework that helped in mapping current operations and subsequently assessing JIT’s impacts; the authors reported the best practices to the company’s owner. Based on the follow-up after a year, the authors used an abductive approach to refine the JIT theory using data from case organizations and relevant studies.FindingsThe company encountered errors and delays in international delivery owing to inadequate inputs resulting from uncertain agricultural production, delayed contact with freight forwarders, improper documentation and insufficient staffing. Besides the highly centralized system, the limitations of the JIT philosophy contributed to the issues, thereby increasing mental and physical health problems and turnover rate. Owing to these paradoxical effects, the authors extended the JIT theory. Of the study’s several recommendations, the company observed only the following: contacting the freight forwarder after the purchase order confirmation, not production completion. The authors observed increased customer satisfaction, despite the additional cost of booking containers early.Originality/valueThis research presents a balanced JIT that can minimize JIT’s impacts and resource shortage, owing to demand-supply uncertainties and sustain competitiveness.

Patient, clinician and manager experience of the accelerated implementation of virtual consultations following COVID-19: A qualitative study of preferences in a tertiary orthopaedic rehabilitation setting.

AimTo investigate the experiences of patients, clinicians and managers during the accelerated implementation of virtual consultations (VCs) due to COVID‐19. To understand how patient preferences are constructed and organized.MethodsSemi‐structured interviews with patients, clinicians and managerial staff at a single specialist orthopaedic centre in the United Kingdom. The interview schedule and coding frame were based on Normalisation Process Theory. Interviews were conducted over the telephone or by video call. Abductive analysis of interview transcripts extended knowledge from previous research to identify, characterize and explain how patient preferences for VC were formed and arranged.ResultsFifty‐five participants were included (20 patients, 20 clinicians, 15 managers). Key mechanisms that contribute to the formation of patient preferences were identified. These were: (a) context for the consultation (normative expectations, relational expectations, congruence and potential); (b) the available alternatives and the implementation process (coherence, cognitive participation, collective action and reflexive monitoring). Patient preferences are mediated by the clinician and organisational preferences through the influence of the consultation context, available alternatives and the implementation process.ConclusionsThis study reports the cumulative analysis of five empirical studies investigating patient preferences for VC before and during the COVID‐19 pandemic as VC transitioned from an experimental clinic to a compulsory form of service delivery. This study has identified mechanisms that explain how preferences for VC come about and how these relate to organisational and clinician preferences. Since clinical pathways are shaped by interactions between patient, clinicians and organisational preferences, future service design must strike a balance between patient preferences and the preferences of clinicians and organisations.Patient and Public ContributionThe CONNECT Project Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) group provided guidance on the conduct and design of the research. This took place with remote meetings between the lead researcher and the chair of the PPI group during March and April 2020. Patient information documentation and the interview schedule were developed with the PPI group to ensure that these were accessible.

Exploring Music Video Experiences and Their Influence on Music Perception

Streaming music videos on the internet is an increasingly popular music listening activity that has remained virtually unexplored within music psychology. Studies of the role of music in film, as well as empirical research investigating the influence of audio-visual media and memory, have shown that visual information can have a profound effect on how music is perceived and remembered. The current study aimed to create a framework for understanding music video (MV) experiences by finding out when and why individuals choose to engage with this form of media, how these experiences contribute to the perception of musical meaning and influence affective outcomes, and whether these effects carry over to subsequent listening experiences. An online questionnaire study was designed, and data were collected from 34 participants with a mean age of 22.4 years (SD = 2.79). Abductive analysis of the qualitative data was conducted based on theories derived from topical areas of music psychology research. A framework was devised which illustrates MV listening experiences over four temporal stages: Intention, Attention, Reaction, and Retention (IARR). The IARR framework provides novel insights into MV listening experiences and outcomes by shedding light on how extra-musical information can have a long-term influence on the perception of music's meaning and affective quality.

Sustained positive behaviour change of wounded, injured and sick UK military following an adaptive adventure sports and health coaching recovery course

IntroductionA rising trend has occurred in the physical and mental health challenges faced by recovering UK service personnel. To support these individuals, bespoke inclusive multiactivity and adventurous training courses (MAC)...