Pesky Polygamist Women: The Marginalization of Qualitative Data in British Columbia’s Charter Reference on Polygamy

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-88
Author(s):  
Nerida Bullock
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
British Columbia ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Expert Opinion ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Family Formation ◽  
Feminist Research ◽  
Canadian Charter ◽  
Value Neutrality

AbstractThis paper explores the thorny mingling of law with qualitative social science methodologies through the lens of the 2010–11 Supreme Court of British Columbia Charter Reference on polygamy, which was conducted to determine whether the criminalization of polygamy was consistent with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Reference reveals how the marginalization of qualitative research(ers) effectively controlled whose voices were to be heard and whose were to be silenced in the broader project of sovereign intervention into family formation. With specific focus on Professor Angela Campbell, who provided expert opinion testimony in the Reference, this paper reflects on two important questions: when social science is invoked in legal settings, whose knowledge is legitimized, and who benefits from this legitimization? Drawing upon the longstanding feminist project of deconstructing assumptions of value-neutrality in all science, this paper considers how qualitative, feminist research(ers) may be inherently at odds with law’s quest for (rational) “truth.”

scholarly journals The Alchemy of Equality Rights

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 53-84
Author(s):  
Joshua Sealy-Harrington
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Precise Definition ◽  
Canadian Charter ◽  
Equality Rights ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Legal Test ◽  
Elusive Concept

A clear legal test for equality is impossible, as it should be. Indeed were the test clear, it could not be for equality. It would have to be for something other than equality — in effect, for inequality. The abstract character of equality is not a new idea. In fact, the Supreme Court of Canada’s first decision under section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms1 recognized equality as “an elusive concept” that “lacks precise definition.”2 Why, then, do judges continue to demand such definition over thirty years later? The answer, at times, is politics. 1 s 15(1), Part I of the Constitution Act, 1982, being Schedule B to the Canada Act 1982 (UK), 1982, c 11 [Charter].2 Andrews v Law Society of British Columbia, [1989] 1 SCR 143 at 164, 56 DLR (4th) 1 [Andrews].

Writing Across Boundaries: reflections on the place of writing in doctoral research training for social scientists

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bob Simpson ◽  
Robin Humphrey
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Research Training ◽  
Qualitative Research Methods ◽  
Science Writing ◽  
Considerable Effort ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Doctoral Research

In the training of doctoral researchers in the use of qualitative research methods, considerable effort goes into preparation for fieldwork and the collection of data. Rather less attention, however, goes into what happens when they have collected their data and begin to make sense of it. In particular, relatively little attention has been paid to the ways in which doctoral researchers might be supported as they begin to write using qualitative data. In this article we report on an inter-disciplinary project that set out to develop research training for qualitative researchers who had completed their fieldwork and were about to embark on writing their theses. An important issue in the delivery of this training was the question of boundaries - disciplinary, academic, technological and personal - and how these might be productively negotiated in the quest for good social science writing.

scholarly journals Qualitative investigation in explainable artificial intelligence: A bit more insight from social science

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Johs ◽  
Denise Agosto ◽  
Rosina Weber
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
User Studies ◽  
Qualitative Investigation ◽  
Explainable Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Methodological Approaches ◽  
Collection Methods

We present a focused analysis of user studies in explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) entailing qualitative investigation. We draw on social science corpora to suggest ways for improving the rigor of studies where XAI researchers use observations, interviews, focus groups, and/or questionnaires to capture qualitative data. We contextualize the presentation of the XAI papers included in our analysis according to the components of rigor described in the qualitative research literature: 1) underlying theories or frameworks, 2) methodological approaches, 3) data collection methods, and 4) data analysis processes. The results of our analysis support calls from others in the XAI community advocating for collaboration with experts from social disciplines to bolster rigor and effectiveness in user studies.

scholarly journals What's [Yet] to be Seen? Re-Using Qualitative Data

2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 27-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth B. Silva
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Academic Careers ◽  
Social Science Knowledge ◽  
Academic Context ◽  
Use Of Data ◽  
Professional Careers ◽  
Research Material

This paper considers current debates about re-using qualitative research data by reflecting on its implications for the nature of social science knowledge created in this process and the ways in which the disclosure of researchers’ practices are linked with the making of professional academic careers. It examines a research project using two different approaches – a ‘virtual’ and a ‘classic’ ethnography – to argue that issues concerned with re-use of data depend on the methods employed and the overall processes of investigation. The paper argues for an appreciation of the contexts involved in the generation of research material which takes into account both the development of the study and related fieldwork processes as well as the academic context in which knowledge is produced, particularly those involved in the construction of academic selves and professional careers, which are part of a wider situation bearing upon scientific enquiry.

scholarly journals Comment on Fraser v Canada (AG): The More Things Change

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-96
Author(s):  
Richard Moon
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Academic Career ◽  
Attorney General ◽  
Supreme Court Of Canada ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Canadian Charter ◽  
Equality Rights ◽  
The Supreme Court

Very early in my academic career I wrote two pieces about section 15.1 The first was written in 1987, before the Supreme Court of Canada had heard any section 15 cases,2 and the second in 1989 was a comment on Andrews v Law Society of British Columbia, the first of the Court’s section 15 decisions.3 When I re-read these pieces recently it struck me that with a few minor updates they could be read as comments on the Court’s recent decision in Fraser v Canada(Attorney General). 4 The same issues and tensions that were there at the beginning of section 15 are still there. They are built into the concept of constructive/effects discrimination and are not about to disappear. Shamelessly, I have reconstituted these two earlier pieces into a comment, of sorts, on the Fraser case. Other contributors in this special issue of the Constitutional Forum have set out the facts of the Fraser case and so I have not done so here. 1 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, s 15, Part I of the Constitution Act, 1982, being Schedule B to the Canada Act 1982 (UK), 1982, c 11 [Charter].2 Richard Moon, “Discrimination and Its Justification: Coping with Equality Rights under the Charter” (1988) 26:4 Osgoode Hall LJ 673.3 Richard Moon, “A Discrete and Insular Right to Equality: Comment on Andrews v. Law Society of British Columbia”(1989) 21:3 Ottawa L Rev 563.4 2020 SCC 28 [Fraser].

Coding in Qualitative Research

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Yaghi
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Doctoral Dissertation ◽  
Sufficient Data ◽  
Trial And Error ◽  
Amount Of Information ◽  
Potential Problems

In this chapter, Yaghi offers detailed suggestions on how to code qualitative data after they have been gathered. Based on his doctoral dissertation, this chapter explains that the logic behind coding qualitative data is to turn a significant amount of information into categories that can be used to explain a phenomenon, reveal a concept, or render the data comparable across different case studies. It also elaborates through examples from author’s fieldwork in Tunisia, Egypt, and Jordan on four potential problems that may face researchers in coding qualitative data. These are the questions of preparation, categorization, consistency, and saturation. The chapter concludes by asking researchers to be flexible, and open to the process of trial and error in coding, to confront the data with questions before categorization, and to gather sufficient data on their topics before running their qualitative surveys.

Feminist Qualitative Research

2020 ◽  
pp. 199-242
Author(s):  
Maureen C. McHugh
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Power Analysis ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Feminist Research ◽  
Double Consciousness ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Gender Oppression ◽  
Qualitative Approaches ◽  
Women's Lives

Feminist research is described in terms of its purposes of addressing women’s lives, advocacy for women, analysis of gender oppression, working for social justice, and transformation of society. Feminist critiques of social science research are reviewed in relation to the development of methodological and epistemological positions. Feminist research is viewed as contributing to the transformation of science from empiricism to postmodernism. Reflexivity, collaboration, power analysis, and advocacy are discussed as common practices of feminist qualitative research. Several qualitative approaches to research are described in relation to feminist research goals, with illustrations of feminist research included. Validity and voice are identified as particular challenges in the conduct of feminist qualitative research. Intersectionality and double consciousness are reviewed as feminist contributions to the transformation of science. Some emerging and innovative forms of feminist qualitative research are highlighted in relation to potential future directions.

The exclusion of prison informant evidence for unreliability in new Zealand

2021 ◽  
pp. 136571272110112
Author(s):  
Anna High
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Social Science Evidence ◽  
Science Evidence

Prison informant or ‘jailhouse snitch’ evidence is a notoriously unreliable category of evidence. In light of reliability concerns, the New Zealand Supreme Court has adopted a progressive approach to the exclusion of prison informant evidence, centred on greater use of general exclusionary provisions as a threshold of reliability for the admission of suspect evidence. In so doing, the court has shifted the emphasis from deference to the jury as arbiter of ultimate reliability and towards more robust judicial gatekeeping as a safeguard against false testimony. This article critically analyses the New Zealand approach, including by way of comparison with Canada, Australia and England and Wales. The New Zealand approach is presented as a principled and important example of adapting fundamental evidentiary principles and provisions in line with emerging social science evidence. However, in light of the general concerns surrounding this class of evidence, ultimately further safeguards are still needed

Using crystallization to understand loneliness in later life: integrating social science and creative narratives in sensitive qualitative research

2021 ◽  
pp. 146879412110059
Author(s):  
Barbara Barbosa Neves ◽  
Josephine Wilson ◽  
Alexandra Sanders ◽  
Renata Kokanović
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Creative Writing ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Older People ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Vulnerable Populations ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Care Homes ◽  
Social Phenomena

This article draws on crystallization, a qualitative framework developed by Laurel Richardson and Laura Ellingson, to show the potential of using sociological narratives and creative writing to better analyze and represent the lived experiences of loneliness among older people living in Australian care homes. Crystallization uses a multi-genre approach to study and present social phenomena. At its core is a concern for the ethics of representation, which is critical when engaging with vulnerable populations. We use two case studies from research on loneliness to illustrate an application of crystallization through different narrative types. To supplement our sociological narratives, we invited author Josephine Wilson to write creative narratives based on the case studies. Josephine was awarded the prestigious Miles Franklin Literary Award in 2017 for Extinctions, a novel exploring themes such as later life and loneliness. By contrasting the two approaches—sociological and creative narratives—we discuss the implications of crystallization for qualitative research.

Transcription as a Key Phase of Data Analysis in Qualitative Research: Experience from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Field Methods ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1525822X2198948
Author(s):  
Adeagbo Oluwafemi ◽  
S. Xulu ◽  
N. Dlamini ◽  
M. Luthuli ◽  
T. Mhlongo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Data Analysis ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Written Text ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
Collection Methods ◽  
Qualitative Data Collection

Transforming spoken words into written text in qualitative research is a vital step in familiarizing and immersing oneself in the data. We share a three-step approach of how data transcription facilitated an interpretative act of analysis in a study using qualitative data collection methods on the barriers and facilitators of HIV testing and treatment in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

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