Basic Qualitative Study Research Articles

An Exploration of Barriers and Enablers of Retention in a Program to Reduce Vertical Transmission of HIV at Health Centers in Zimbabwe.

Background:Poor retention in the prevention of women in prevention of vertical transmission programs remains a formidable common setback in elimination of HIV/AIDS. It creates new problems such as poor health outcomes and increased incidence of vertical transmission of HIV. There is a dearth of qualitative information to explain poor retention of women in prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programs in Zimbabwe. The purpose of the study was to explore the enablers and barriers of retention of women in PMTCT programs.Methods:This was a basic qualitative study conducted at four health centers in Zimbabwe. Four audiotaped focus group discussions were conducted with 34 pregnant or breastfeeding women coming for PMTCT services at the health centers. Descriptive statistics was used for sample demographics. Transcripts were analyzed through latent content analysis based on the Graneheim and Lundman method.Results:Maternal determination, a four-tier support system, and an inspiring health package were enablers to retention in the PMTCT program while uninspired individual engagement, paternalism, and undesirable PMTCT-related events were barriers to retention of women in the PMTCT program.Conclusions:Reinforcing hope for the women and their children, active management of side effects of antiretroviral medicine, consistent peer support, enhancing confidentiality among community cadres, and commitment from community or religious leaders may improve retention of women in PMTCT programs; for women with HIV during pregnancy, delivery and post-natal care.

Sistemas levemente articulados e lógica da confiança: o controle dos coordenadores sobre a atividade docente na EAD online

A educação a distância (EAD) online tem se tornado um fenômeno cada vez mais presente no âmbito universitário. A inserção desta modalidade de ensino tem o potencial de modificar as relações tradicionais nas universidades, pois traz novos atores, ferramentas de interação e relações de trabalho. Entre as temáticas relacionadas à educação a distância online, o processo de controle começa a ganhar relevância, mas ainda carece de maiores investigações. Dessa forma, foi realizado um estudo qualitativo básico em um bacharelado em administração, de uma instituição de ensino superior (IES) pública, com o objetivo de investigar como se dá o controle dos coordenadores sobre a atividade docente, a partir dos conceitos de sistemas levemente articulados e lógica da confiança, ambos ligados à teoria institucional. A pesquisa utilizou as seguintes técnicas de coleta de dados: entrevistas semiestruturadas, notas de campo, observação não participante do ambiente virtual de aprendizagem e análise documental. Os resultados indicam que a coordenação pode utilizar variados mecanismos de controle para monitorar as atividades docentes. Todavia, esses mecanismos geralmente são debilitados. Em parte, por causa disso, o conceito de sistemas levemente articulados mostra-se condizente com o contexto investigado. Já o conceito de lógica da confiança mostra-se mais fragilizado em suas dimensões.

Impact of Interplaying and Compounding Factors in the Novice Nurse Journey: A Basic Qualitative Research Study.

This study explores the impact of interplaying and often compounding factors and the resulting ability to thrive as a novice nurse. Novice nurse attrition rates continue to be high, compounding concerns of an impending nursing shortage. There is currently a lack of research that seeks to understand how the interplay of contextual factors impacts novice nurses' ability to manage the stressors endemic in the field. The study was performed using a Basic Qualitative Research approach. Eight western Canadian novice nurses underwent multiple iterative interviews to explore the impact of interplaying contextual factors. Findings: While participant experiences and contexts vary, common patterns of interplay among factors were clear. The interplay between previous life experience factors and the workplace context has a significant impact on the perception and management of workplace stimuli. Those with more developmental assets, garnered through life experience, are less likely to experience workplace stimuli as stressful, reducing their risk of emotional exhaustion and improving their ability to thrive. Implications for nursing: Understanding how interplay impacts the ability to thrive versus survive informs new graduate transition support efforts and enables an ability to articulate the compounding nature of common novice nurse stressors.

THRIVEable work environments: A study of interplaying factors that enable novice nurses to thrive.

The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of the impact of the interplay between workplace and developmental factors that enable and disable thriving within the first year of nursing practice. While much is known about the high attrition rates among new graduate nurses, little research has explored the impact of interplay between workplace stressors and developmental assets. Through a basic qualitative study, eight novice nurses underwent three in-depth interviews. The interplay between workplace factors and development factors such as congruence and self-compassion had a significant impact on the participants' ability to effectively manage workplace stimuli. Those lacking developmentally were more likely to perceive workplace stimuli as threatening, which had a significant impact on the ability to self-actualize as a novice nurse. Therefore, the role of interplay is significant in determining why some merely survive versus those who thrive, despite similar work environments. A greater understanding of the impact of the role of interplay will inform transition programs by enabling nurse leaders to cater to the unique needs of new graduates as they step over the threshold of professional practice.

El matrimonio civil de los/as homosexuales y la vulneración del respeto pleno de los derechos humanos en el Perú, año 2016

Por la presente investigación se pretende analizar las posturas justicias de los operadores de justicia de la provincia de Tacna respecto si se vulneran los derechos humanos fundamentales de las personas con orientación homosexual al no permitírsele contraer matrimonio civil en el Perú, en el año 2016. Se llevó a cabo un estudio de tipo básica y de carácter cualitativo. Asimismo, se aplicaron los siguientes métodos de investigación: analítico, deductivo, comparativo, hermenéutico, sintético. La muestra final estuvo compuesta por 334 abogados. Asimismo, se revisaron diversos documentos de utilidad para la investigación: Constitución Política del Perú, Jurisprudencia de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, Convención Americana sobre Derechos Humanos, Código Civil del Perú, Tribunal Constitucional del Perú, Leyes de países o Estados donde se aprobaron leyes facultando el matrimonio civil entre personas del mismo sexo, Declaración Universal de Derechos Humanos, Carta Internacional de Derechos Humanos, Conferencia Mundial de Derechos Humanos y Asamblea del Milenio, Prevención de la Discriminación de los Derechos Humanos en la Administración de Justicia. Se encontró que aproximadamente la mitad de los juristas asumen posturas jurídicas a favor del matrimonio igualitario u homosexual en el Perú. Sin embargo, es mayoritario el sector de juristas que no aprueban la legalización del matrimonio homosexual.

Haitian Agricultural Faculty Preparation for Their Academic Roles

Food insecurity is widespread in Haiti. The tertiary agriculture institutions have the great challenge of educating the future professionals who will help in meeting the growth needs of the Haitian agriculture sector. The extent that faculty are prepared for the teaching roles is unknown. This study examined this topic using a basic qualitative study that consisted of interviews with 37 lecturers working at five leading agricultural universities in Haiti. Data were analyzed using a basic thematic analysis. Results revealed the majority of participants generally felt well-prepared for their academic roles. The institutional climate for professional development is variable across the universities represented by the participants of this study. Incentives for participating in professional development were primarily intrinsic. There were 56 specific topics suggested by participants for professional development trainings.

The Benefits and Challenges of Working in an Academic Library: A Study of Student Library Assistant Experience

Many college students choose or need to work, and academic libraries offer a potentially convenient on-campus location for employment. Students serving in these roles may benefit from the experience both academically and socially. By examining students' experience as workers in the library, academic libraries have the opportunity to understand the benefits that such work might provide and intentionally plan to enhance learning and demonstrate library value in a novel way. This basic qualitative study sought to explore the experiences of student assistants working in an academic library and identify the benefits and challenges they perceived as a result of enacting the role. Individual interviews were conducted with seven undergraduate student library assistants at a doctoral-granting institution to determine benefits and challenges they noted that resulted from their experiences in this student employment role, and findings reveal opportunities for academic librarians in training and supervising student employees.

Study of the Role of Public Relations in Political Communications Process in the Contemporary World

This research is the basic qualitative case study of the public relations role in the political communication process in the contemporary world. The data is analyzed in the theoretical framework of the agenda setting and framing theory. The impact of public relations in political parties’ elections campaigns proved to be an essential tool for that purpose. This is because, it projects the good image, generate goodwill and win support for the candidate and the party. It was also observed that if public relations strategies are applied during election campaign, it enhances the chances of electoral victory. The study also observed the use of mass media and the new media technologies in political communication as an effective tool in framing the publics’ perceptions on broad issues. However, the study discovered that the impact of public relations on political parties’ campaign are positive and excellent. Lastly, if there is no public relations there will be no effective and result oriented political party elections campaign.

Examining the Mathematical Modeling Processes of Primary School 4th-Grade Students: Shopping Problem

The purpose of this study is to identify primary school students' thinking processes within the mathematical modeling process and the challenges they encounter, if any. This is a basic qualitative research study conducted in a primary school in the city of Kutahya in the academic year of 2015-2016. The study group of the research was composed of 22 students at 4th-grade who were selected with criterion sampling which is a purposive sampling method. The study data were collected with the clinical interview method and reported using the content analysis. It was consequently found that the students constituted two groups as those who provided a realistic solution and those who could not. There were more students who could not provide a realistic solution. Those who couldn't provide realistic solution tried to construct the mental representation of real situation through literal comprehension, which became insufficient in revealing the hidden situations involved in the problem text. Not noticing the hidden actions in the text led them to form a mathematical equation without structuring the problem and thus their solutions were unrealistic. Those who could provide realistic solutions, on the other hand, decide their operations within the context of the characters, time, place and relation between the events in the problem, which enabled the mental representation of the problem text to be critical reading and inferential comprehension focused as well as literal comprehension focused and thus allowed the students to reveal the hidden situations in the text. Accordingly, students posed new problems by gathering the required extra information according to these hidden situations and went for the real model. Thus, analyzing the problem situation is various contexts, students solved according to multiple conditions. It was also seen that students with realistic solutions utilized the validation process to determine the consistencies and inconsistencies of their solutions in real life context while those with unrealistic solutions utilized it to check their operations.

A Basic Qualitative Study on the Growth of Culture and Art Center : Focusing on the Users of Culture and Art Center

A Basic Qualitative Study on the Growth of Culture and Art Center : Focusing on the Users of Culture and Art Center

Puzzling the Picture using Grounded Theory

Since the first publication by Glaser and Strauss in 1967, Grounded Theory has become a highly influential research approach in the social sciences. The approach provides techniques and coding strategies for building theory inductively from the “ground up” as concepts within the data earn relevance into an evolving substantive theory. Over time, Grounded Theory has undergone development and adaptations, and the first phases of analysis have been successfully applied to other types of inductive approaches, such as basic qualitative and case studies. The methodological literature can be difficult to navigate for new researchers as well as experienced analysts using the approach for the first time. This article synthesizes the work of various seminal scholars to address the value of grounded theorizing and it builds a picture of what it means to do grounded theory.

A Different Type of Supervision: Training Clinical Mental Health Counseling Interns in Dialectical Behavior Therapy

A basic qualitative study examined the role of supervision in learning dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). Ten master's-level clinical mental health counseling interns completed in-depth interviews regarding their experiences of supervision when providing DBT skills training groups to adolescents in an inpatient psychiatric setting. Supervision was described as an activity in tandem with observation and shadowing, with the supervisor functioning as a consultant and teacher. Themes highlighted the importance of structure in mitigating trainee performance anxiety, and a focus on skills training during supervision. Implications for supervising counseling interns in evidence-based practices such as DBT are discussed.

Social Scholars

The #WalkMyWorld project was an open, social media experiment developed to provide preservice and in-service teachers and K–12 students with an opportunity to focus on developing media literacies and civic engagement in online spaces. The study employed a basic interpretative qualitative study approach (Merriam, 2002) to examine how online social environments can be used as a vehicle to engage educators in the creation and sharing of online content, as it relates to multimodal meaning making, social scholarship, and identity construction. For this study, identity construction was identified as visually representing an aspect of an individual's life using any preferred medium, and sharing it through Twitter using the #WalkMyWorld hashtag. Results suggest three different categories in which participants viewed the activity of identity construction: (a) embraced similar identities, (b) established separate identities, or (c) resisted creating an online identity. As educators engage students with reading and writing digital content within social and connected learning environments, it is important to consider the creation and curation of an individual’s digital identity in social scholarship practices.

Meta-integration for synthesizing data in a systematic mixed studies review: insights from research on autism spectrum disorder

Systematic reviews conducted using either meta-analysis or meta-synthesis are well established methodological procedures for combining data and results across different quantitative or qualitative studies. Recently, a third option for systematic reviews has emerged. Systematic mixed studies reviews combine data and results across quantitative, qualitative and mixed method studies. An important challenge is how to integrate the quantitative, qualitative and mixed method studies. Here, we introduce the concept of “meta-integration”. Our overarching aim is to define and illustrate the novel concept of meta-integration as applied to convergent systematic mixed studies reviews using examples from our research on parental self-perception and autism spectrum disorder. Specifically, we present a typology for meta-integration procedures at two levels, both basic and advanced meta-integration. Three models, namely, basic convergent meta-integration, basic convergent qualitative meta-integration, and basic convergent quantitative meta-integration, combine quantitative and qualitative studies. Three additional models, namely, advanced convergent qualitative meta-integration, advanced convergent qualitative meta-integration, and advanced convergent quantitative meta-integration, combine quantitative, qualitative and mixed method studies. The models generally follow six steps: (1) categorize data sources; (2) transform the data; (3) conduct intra-method synthesis; (4) conduct inter-method synthesis and/or integration; (5) organize results and assess fit; and (6) draw final conclusions. One basic and one advanced model do not involve data transformation. These models for conducting convergent meta-integration in systematic mixed studies reviews provide guidance for researchers to apply rigorous and coherent methodology. Following these procedures can substantively improve the quality of systematic reviews seeking to use quantitative, qualitative and mixed method studies.

Evaluation Of Monitoring Protocol Implementation And Attention To Population Health Exposed To Lead, Cadmium, Copper And Zinc In Santo Amaro, Bahia.

The industrial activity performed Companhia Brasileira de Lead (COBRAC) / Pumblum metallurgical and mining work, between 1960 and 1993 in the city of Santo Amaro purification, without any pollution control air, water and soil and caused serious damage to health and the environment, such as the contamination of the river Subaé. The various surveys conducted for decades indicated high levels of lead in the blood of workers, fishermen and children of the region, requiring urgent action the government. The Bahia state government launches in 2010, 17 years after the closure of the company, "Monitoring Protocol and Health Care for the population exposed to lead, cadmium, copper and zinc in Santo Amaro," which is intended to guide the health teams acting for development assistance and follow-up actions, with the introduction of routines, forms, training teams, to promote the recovery, rehabilitation health of the exposed population to contaminants and allow the collection of information about health thereof. This study aims to evaluate the implementation process of this Protocol. Methodology: epidemiological study using the Cross Cutting Sheets evaluation of Exposed Population Health Conditions applied in Basic Health Units and qualitative study of interviews with professionals and health managers from different levels of government who participated in the implementation and protocol development. Results: Four years of the Protocol's implementation, qualitative data indicate several difficulties such as incomplete charts, unreached goals, important tests not performed. Discussion: Research indicates non-conformity of actions with the established by the Protocol, which requires a positioning of the bodies of municipal, state and federal aimed at ensuring the care and health surveillance referred to in the document under consideration.

The feminization of the accounting area: a basic qualitative study

The feminization of the accounting area: a basic qualitative study

Attributes and Qualifications of Successful Rural Nurse Preceptors: Preceptors’ Perspectives

Nurse preceptors are integral to retaining new nurses. Given the challenges associated with attracting and retaining rural nurses (Trossman, 2001), the importance of preceptors in the retention of new nurses and the dearth of studies explicitly examining the attributes and qualifications of successful rural nurse preceptors, the purpose of this study was to unearth attributes and qualifications of successful rural nurse preceptors. In this basic qualitative study, 19 participants completed 1-2 hour in-depth interviews. Data was analyzed using the constant comparative method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Major themes included a sense of honor, professionalism, self-efficacy, and the ability to learn. In addition to confirming previous research, the findings demonstrated the importance of emotion in the teaching/learning process and the influence of observational learning on preceptors’ present-day instruction. Practical implications included acknowledging emotion in the teaching/learning process, the need for new and experienced preceptors to share information and the importance of creating opportunities for critical reflection in preceptor education programs.

Listening to Their Voices: Middle Schoolers’ Perspectives of Life in Middle School

This article examines middle schoolers’ perspectives on their lives in middle school. Fifteen middle school students from three middle schools in the Southeast region of the United States participated in a basic qualitative study using focus groups at their schools where they were asked the central question, “If you could change one thing at your middle school, what would it be?” Findings show that students’ desire caring teachers, students want active classrooms, and students’ technology use impacts attitudes towards learning. Implications are that middle-school learning can increase relevance by teachers demonstrating care for students as individuals; structuring opportunities for students to interact with them and each other around real-world problems; and incorporating technology into learning in ways adolescents already use it.

Qualitative research in educational communications and technology: a brief introduction to principles and procedures

Over the past 30 years, qualitative research has emerged as a widely accepted alternative to the quantitative paradigm for performing research in educational communications and technology. As the new paradigm has evolved, it has spawned a variety of theoretical perspectives and methodological techniques that have both increased its potential contributions and engendered confusion about how to work effectively within its scope. This paper reviews the criteria and procedures for designing and implementing basic qualitative studies that are credible, meaningful, and useful. It discusses the reasons for using a qualitative approach, how to frame qualitative research questions appropriately, considerations in choosing and applying data-collection techniques appropriately, techniques for analyzing qualitative data systematically and effectively, and ways to present credible results and draw valid conclusions from qualitative data. Following a few basic principles related to each of these topics can help new researchers in particular begin to become adept users of the basic methods and techniques of the qualitative paradigm. Following up on the paper’s discussion of data-analytic tools and suggestions for additional reading can help both new and experienced researchers expand their knowledge of this important research tradition and become fluent in using it to gain a deep and detailed understanding of how to design and use technologies to support learning.

Lean manufacturing and Six Sigma based on Brazilian model “PNQ”

Purpose – This paper aims to show the main results of an implementation of a tool developed to assess the integrated elements originated from lean manufacturing and Six Sigma, based on Programa Nacional da Qualidade – Brazilian National Quality Program (PNQ). Design/methodology/approach – This is an applied and qualitative research, which used basic qualitative studies and descriptive techniques as research strategies. A five-point Likert scale was used for the evaluation of the elements and constructs. The instrument was applied in one manufacturing company located in the Southern region of Brazil. Findings – The application of the instrument showed that the use of an instrument like that can be useful in the management of elements and constructs of companies that have the lean manufacturing and Six Sigma implemented. In the case of this company, among the nine constructs, three of them need more attention: strategy, culture and customer. Research limitations/implications – Because it is a research by means of a case study, the results cannot be generalized and should be applied in other organizations. Thus, their results could be further explored and discussed. Practical implications – The results point out relevant aspects related to the evaluation of integrated elements of Lean Sigma and the importance of a tool to manage them in order to reduce costs and others resources. Originality/value – As the application of Lean Sigma is relatively recent and there are little data published about its utilization in a developing country, it is important to expand knowledge on this subject.