Post Inquiry Research Articles

The critical posthumanities and postqualitative inquiry in psychology

ABSTRACT This article inaugurates a special issue on the critical posthumanities and postqualitative inquiry. Within psychology, more of us agree we dislike these ‘post’ approaches than can agree what they are about. The purpose of this article is not to make the ‘posts’ more likable for psychologists. Instead, we make a case for refining the contempt towards ‘post inquiry’ and raising the level of our connoisseurship in order to pass judgement on it in a fair and ethical manner. Our arguments are followed by some thoughts about the process and product of the special issue, which aims to support connoisseurship and answers essential questions about the critical posthumanities and postqualitative inquiry, while originating new ones. We hope this work contributes to expand the horizons of qualitative psychology.

Development and evaluation of passenger assistance system concepts to reduce passenger discomfort.

The front seat passenger is often neglected when developing support systems for cars. There exist few examples of systems that provide information or interaction possibilities specifically to those passengers. Previous research indicated that the passive role of the passenger can frequently lead to a feeling of discomfort, potentially caused by missing information and missing control with respect to the driving situation. This paper investigates if and how different aspects of cognitive processes as defined in a previously published model can be approached with a technical system to reduce discomfort in passengers. Five prototypical passenger assistance systems are created which provide missing information (for example about the attentiveness of the driver) or the possibility to have more influence as a passenger. In a static simulator study with N = 40 participants, these systems were investigated with respect to their influence on measures of discomfort. Participants experienced in a counterbalanced order car following and braking scenarios on the highway with different time headways (within-subjects), with and without one of the passenger assistance systems (between-subjects). Based on the subjective measures for each experienced situation, three systems were identified as particularly useful in reducing discomfort. These displayed the attentiveness of the driver, the safety distance to a vehicle in front or provided the possibility to signal the driver that the recent safety distance is too small. These best proposals significantly reduced passenger discomfort in the tested Following and Braking scenarios for different time headways. In the post inquiry, more than 64% of the passengers confirmed the helpfulness of the rated system in reducing their discomfort in each case and about 75% of the passengers reported an interest in using it in their vehicle. This demonstrates opportunities to improve the everyday driving experience beyond classical assistance systems by explicitly considering the needs of passengers.

The Swedish industrial support program of the 1970s revisited

The economy-wide dynamic cost-benefit study of the Swedish industrial subsidy program 1976 through 1984 (Carlsson et al. Res Policy 10(43):336–354 1981; Carlsson J Ind Econ 32(1):9–14, 1983a, b) is revisited in light of later economic development. Since the Swedish Micro to Macro model (Eliasson Am Econ Rev 67(1):277–281 1977a, 2017a) was used for quantification, this article is both (1) a study on the calibration of high dimensional micro-based and nonlinear economic systems models, and (2) a post inquiry into the empirical credibility of the cost-benefit calculations performed. We find that the Micro-based Macro model represents the minimum of detailed resolution necessary for the dynamic cost benefit calculations of the micro interventions in the Swedish economy we study. Even though the increased model complexity meant significant parameter calibration difficulties, a thoroughly researched model specification with exactly defined policy interfaces (with the markets of the economy) should take priority over parameter estimation problems, and always be preferred to estimating the parameters of a wrongly specified model perfectly. The oil price shocks of the 1970s caused radical market disorder in the western economies, bankrupting some 35% of Swedish manufacturing and threatening the Swedish government with massive unemployment. We confirm the earlier results that the government choice of a radical employment rescue policy came at enormous social cost in the form of economic stagnation, and still did not prevent the unemployment of the rest of OECD Europe from hitting Sweden a decade later, and persisting well into the next millennium. According to an alternative simulated policy scenario on the model, had the subsidies been replaced with a general lowering of the payroll tax of the same magnitude and the consequent increase in unemployment taken immediately during 1976–1980, production structures would have been radically and rapidly reorganized, normal employment would have been rapidly restored, and neither the stagnation nor the radical increase in unemployment of the early 1990s would have occurred. In retrospect we see no reason to worry about the empirical credibility of this computed dynamic trade off between Keynesian demand and Schumpeterian supply effects (caused by resource reallocations and endogenous structural change due to the price change), as we did then. We conclude with certainty that this trade-off would not even have been discovered as a possibility had we used a traditional model that did not embody these micro-macro linkages.

A brief and personal history of post qualitative research: toward “post inquiry”

Neste artigo, a autora aborda sua dificuldade com a desconexao entre os conceitos e as praticas da “metodologia qualitativa humanista convencional” e as teorias pos-modernas e pos-estruturais, especialmente a desconexao entre suas ontologias. Ela descreve sua propria historia como pesquisadora que estudou simultaneamente, mas separadamente, metodologia qualitativa humanista e teorias pos, ilustrando a separacao tao comum entre, de um lado, a metodologia qualitativa e, de outro, a epistemologia e a ontologia com as quais esta emaranhada. Ela encoraja pesquisadores a realmente utilizar as criticas ontologicas oferecidas pelos “pos” e se engajarem nos neoempirismos da virada ontologica, talvez usando conceitos futuristas como metodos na investigacao pos-qualitativa ou “pos-investigacao”. Palavras-chave: Pesquisa pos-qualitativa. Pos-investigacao. Virada ontologica. Abstract A brief and personal history of qualitative research: toward “post inquiry” In this paper, the author explains her difficulty with the disconnect between the concepts and practices of “conventional humanist qualitative methodology” and postmodern and poststructural theories, especially the disconnect between their ontologies. She describes her own history as an academic researcher who studied humanist qualitative methodology and theories simultaneously but separately, illustrating the too-common separation of qualitative methodology from the epistemology and ontology with which it is entangled. She encourages scholars to actually use the ontological critiques offered by the “posts” and to engage the new empiricisms of the ontological turn, perhaps using futural concepts as methods in qualitative inquiry or “post inquiry.” Keywords: Post-qualitative research. Post inquiry. Ontological turn. Resumen Una historia breve y personal de la investigacion post-cualitativa: en direccion de la “post-investigacion” En este articulo, la autora explica su dificultad con la desconexion entre los conceptos y las practicas de la “metodologia cualitativa humanista convencional” y las teorias postmodernas y postestructurales, especialmente la desconexion entre sus ontologias. Ella describe su propia historia como investigadora que estudio simultaneamente, pero por separado, metodologia cualitativa humanista y teorias post, ilustrando la separacion tan comun entre, de un lado, la metodologia cualitativa y, de otro, la epistemologia y la ontologia con las cuales se enreda. Ella encoraja a los investigadores a realmente utilizar las criticas ontologicas ofrecidas por los post y a involucrarse en los neoempirismos del giro ontologico, tal vez usando conceptos futuristas como metodos en la investigacion cualitativa o “post investigacion”. Palabras clave: Investigacion cualitativa. Post investigacion. Giro ontologico.

“Do the next thing”: an interview with Elizabeth Adams St. Pierre on post-qualitative methodology

Professor Elizabeth Adams St. Pierre’s work focuses on critical and poststructural theories of language and the subject and what she has called post qualitative inquiry or post inquiry. She asks what might come after conventional humanist qualitative research methodology. She’s especially interested in the new empiricisms/new materialisms as well as new research practices enabled by the ontological turn. During St. Pierre's visit to the Finnish Educational Research Association (FERA) Conference in Oulu in November 2014, we had the opportunity to talk with her about post qualitative research around some questions we had sent her beforehand. We then transcribed, edited, and translated the interview, and published it in the Finnish journal Kasvatus (Education) in spring 2015. In this interview St. Pierre talks in the US context, where qualitative methodology is turning—or being pushed to turn—back to positivism with normalized and formalized practices, St. Pierre encourages researchers to constantly question the prevailing truths and the traditions they have learnt too well.

Do inquiries into health system failures lead to change in clinical governance systems?

This paper reports the first part of a case study investigation to examine the changes at King Edward Memorial Hospital (KEMH) following an inquiry established to review the quality of obstetric and gynaecological services. Common findings from a range of health inquiries in recent times include that there have been inadequate adverse event reporting systems, the absence of transparent systems for staff and patients to report concerns about quality of patient care, and an ineffective medical credentialing and performance review system. The similarity of findings from many health inquiries raises the question of whether an inquiry does lead to changes to improve patient care and safety. There has been very little reported in the literature about this. Using a case study strategy the areas of medical credentialing, performance review and involvement of consumers in care were chosen as the KEMH clinical governance processes to be examined for changes post inquiry. Documents, archives and interviews were used as data sources for this case study. Documents were examined using a normative analytic approach and the Miles and Huberman framework was used for data analysis of the interviews. There were significant changes in the area of credentialing and performance review evident in analysis of all sources of data. There were some improvements in the processes of involving consumers in care, but deficits were identified in regard to the provision of training and upskilling for clinicians to improve their communication skills and interactions with patients and families.