Same Difference: The “Dilemma of Difference” and the Incarceration of Transgender Prisoners

This article examines the “dilemma of difference” transgender prisoners pose and face within a sex-segregated prison system organized around the pursuit of safety and security. Our analysis uses data from a study of the culture and experiences of transgender prisoners in four men's prisons. Using qualitative data from interviews with transgender prisoners, focus groups with prisoners, and focus groups with staff, our findings reveal a common contention that transgender prisoners are (according to staff) and should be (according to prisoners) treated like everyone else, despite their unique situations. This further demonstrates the stakes that this dilemma carries for the prison regime and transgender prisoners' roles in challenging it without engaging in overt resistance—which carries high stakes for them. Accordingly, we elucidate how the rigidity of an institutional structure built on inherent contradictions can have the potential to complicate the achievement of institutional goals.

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Heteronormativity and Developing Masculinities at a Primary School in South Africa

Gender Questions ◽

10.25159/2412-8457/3750 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Luckmore Chimanzi

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Focus Groups ◽

Primary School ◽

Identity Formation ◽

Qualitative Data ◽

Social Bonds ◽

Male Identity ◽

Social Unit ◽

Male And Female ◽

Diary Research

This article explores the development of heteronormativity and the construction of masculinities at a township primary school in South Africa. In this study, boys and girls chastise homosexuality yet maintain their male-to-male and female-to-female social bonds. Homosocial or male-to-male social bonds have a bearing on the construction of male identity. It is argued that homosocial relationships serve as a means through which certain boys negotiate and exhibit their masculinity in a process of identity formation in which heterosexuality is a key component. Qualitative data from focus groups and diary research with Grade 7 students (male and female) in a primary school are used. Boys engage in a number of games and acquire resources for themselves; hence, as a social unit, they portray themselves as heteronormative. Their solidarity plays a role in maintaining their power in relationships even though privately some of them expressed preference for more flexible constructions of masculinity.

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Is research with qualitative data more prevalent and impactful now? Interviews, case studies, focus groups and ethnographies

Library & Information Science Research ◽

10.1016/j.lisr.2021.101094 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 101094

Author(s):

Mike Thelwall ◽

Tamara Nevill

Keyword(s):

Focus Groups ◽

Case Studies ◽

Qualitative Data ◽

Is Research

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Police BWCs as ‘Neutral Observers’: Perceptions of public defenders

Policing A Journal of Policy and Practice ◽

10.1093/police/paaa067 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Janne E Gaub ◽

Carolyn Naoroz ◽

Aili Malm

Keyword(s):

Criminal Justice ◽

Focus Groups ◽

Qualitative Data ◽

Future Research ◽

End User ◽

Public Defenders

Abstract The research on police body-worn cameras (BWCs) has rapidly expanded to evaluate the technology’s impact on a range of police outcomes. Far fewer studies have addressed the various effects on downstream criminal justice actors, and those that do have focused almost entirely on prosecutors. Thus, public defenders have remained on the periphery of the police BWC discussion, despite playing an important role as an end-user of the technology. This study draws on qualitative data from focus groups with public defenders in the Commonwealth of Virginia to discuss the perception of BWCs as neutral observers in a police–citizen encounter. We then provide implications and recommend avenues for future research.

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UNCOVERING PRODUCTION FLOWS FROM SMALL FARMS: RESULTS FROM POLAND AND PORTUGAL CASE STUDIES

Annals of the Polish Association of Agricultural and Agribusiness Economists ◽

10.5604/01.3001.0013.2823 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol XXI (3) ◽

pp. 49-61

Author(s):

Marta Czekaj ◽

Paola Hernández ◽

Ana Fonseca ◽

Maria Rivera ◽

Katarzyna Żmija ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Focus Groups ◽

Qualitative Data ◽

Food System ◽

Food Product ◽

Small Farmers ◽

Small Farms ◽

Regional Food ◽

Product Maps ◽

The Impact

This study is an attempt to assess the impact of small farms (SF) on the regional food product circulation of specific key products in selected, fragmented, agrarian regions in Poland and Portugal. The empirical study is based on the analysis of food product maps which were developed based on data from a survey conducted among owners of small farms and small food businesses at focus group meetings and workshops organized in 2017 and 2018 in the Nowotarski and Nowosądecki subregions in Poland and in the Alentejo Central and Oeste subregions in Portugal. Qualitative data analysis was conducted using uniform methodology. In each of the subregions, focus groups helped to confront the assumptions resulting from surveys and corroborate the flows and fluxes described in the developed food product maps. Data collected during focus groups were enriched by data gathered during regional workshops that focused on food system governance. It was concluded that food product maps indicate interesting relationship flows of small farmers’ products along the food system, highlighting the role of fluxes connecting small farmers with other actors regarding specific key products. Several similarities and disparities between regional KP production flows in the Portuguese and Polish subregions, based on the type of key product, the various distribution channels and farming capacities present in each subregion were observed.

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IS PATIENT SAFETY AT THE HEART OF MEDICAL EDUCATION IN INDONESIA? REFLECTION ON THE IMPACT OF THE NATIONAL EXAMINATION

Jurnal Pendidikan Kedokteran Indonesia The Indonesian Journal of Medical Education ◽

10.22146/jpki.48759 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (3) ◽

pp. 153

Author(s):

Rachmadya Nur Hidayah

Keyword(s):

Medical Education ◽

Quality Assurance ◽

Patient Safety ◽

Focus Groups ◽

Patient Care ◽

Medical Schools ◽

Theory Approach ◽

High Stakes ◽

Teachers And Students ◽

The Impact

ABSTRACT Background: National examinations in Indonesia (UKMPPD) has been implemented since 2007 as a quality assurance method for medical graduates and medical schools. The impact of UKMPPD has been studied since then, where one of the consequences were related to how it affected medical education and curricula. This study explored the consequences of UKMPPD, focusing on how the students, teachers, and medical schools’ leaders relate the examination with patient care. This study aimed to explore the impact of UKMPPD on medical education, which focusing on the issue of patient safety. Methods: This study was part of a doctoral project, using a qualitative method with a modified grounded theory approach. The perspectives of multiple stakeholders on the impact of the UKMPPD were explored using interview and focus groups. Interviews were conducted with medical schools’ representatives (vice deans/ programme directors), while focus groups were conducted with teachers and students. A sampling framework was used by considering the characteristics of Indonesian medical schools based on region, accreditation status, and ownership (public/ private). Data was analysed using open coding and thematic framework as part of the iterative process. Results: The UKMPPD affected how the stakeholders viewed this high-stakes examination and the education delivered in their medical schools. One of the consequences revealed how stakeholders viewed the UKMPPD and its impact on patient care. Participants viewed the UKMPPD as a method of preparation for graduates’ real clinical practice. The lack of reference for patient safety as the impact of the UKMPPD in this study showed that there were missing links in how stakeholders perceived the examination as part of quality assurance in health care. Conclusion: The UKMPPD as a high-stakes examination has a powerful impact in changing educational policy and programmes in Indonesia. However, in Indonesia, the examination brought in the reflection on how the “patient” element was lacking from medical education. This research offers an insight on the concept of patient safety in Indonesia and how the stakeholders could approach the issue. Keywords: UKMPPD, national licensing examination, impact, competence, patient safety, curriculum

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Macroergonomic Methods: Interviews and Focus Groups

Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting ◽

10.1177/154193120204601508 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 46 (15) ◽

pp. 1355-1359 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Leah C. Newman

Keyword(s):

Focus Group ◽

Focus Groups ◽

Qualitative Data ◽

Group Processes ◽

Human Condition ◽

Human Interaction ◽

Individual Interview ◽

Group Interviews ◽

The Individual ◽

The Human Condition

Both the interviewing and focus group processes have been around and in use as tools for gathering information for decades. For someone who is interested in learning more about people and their experiences, what better way to accomplish this than by speaking directly with an individual or group of individuals? Individual as well as group interviews are windows to an understanding of the behaviors of those being interviewed. Focus groups, specifically, are viewed as a window into the human condition and human interaction. Although, the individual interview is one of the most widely used methods for collecting qualitative data, focus groups have recently gained more popularity among qualitative researchers as a method of choice.

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Managing Prisons Through Extended Solitary Confinement: A Necessary Approach or a Signal of Prison System Failure?

International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology ◽

10.1177/0306624x211058948 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 0306624X2110589

Author(s):

Daniel P. Mears ◽

Vivian Aranda-Hughes ◽

George B. Pesta

Keyword(s):

Qualitative Data ◽

Prison System ◽

Solitary Confinement ◽

Management Tool ◽

System Failure ◽

Unique Form ◽

Study Research ◽

Theoretical Perspectives ◽

Research And Policy

In contemporary American corrections, extended solitary confinement (ESM) as a management tool has emerged as a strategy for avowedly controlling the most violent individuals and, in so doing, creating a safer prison system. We theorize that the emergence of this unique form of housing may also be viewed as a signal of prison system failure. To advance this argument, we identify how different theoretical perspectives can be used to anticipate the effects of ESM on prison system violence and order and then investigate the plausibility of this account by grounding it in analysis of qualitative data from a study of one state’s prison system. The analysis suggests theoretical and empirical warrant for both views of ESM—as an effective tool and as a symptom of system failure. Implications of the study research and policy are discussed.

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Graphical Research Tools for Acoustic Design Training

Advances in Civil and Industrial Engineering - Handbook of Research on Perception-Driven Approaches to Urban Assessment and Design ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-3637-6.ch017 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 397-434 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Alessia Milo ◽

Nick Bryan-Kinns ◽

Joshua D. Reiss

Keyword(s):

Focus Groups ◽

Thematic Analysis ◽

Design Education ◽

Qualitative Data ◽

Spatial Organization ◽

Perceptual Information ◽

Analysis And Design ◽

Acoustic Design ◽

Verbal Data ◽

Research Tools

This chapter presents an overview of 3 graphical tools supporting soundscape assessment in different settings, indoors and outdoors. These research prototypes support the spatial organization of the perceptual information available to the participants and are designed based on surveying techniques used in architectural training to create a foundation for acoustic design education in architecture schools. This chapter reports the contexts of the focus groups investigations, presenting advantages and drawbacks related to their use. It has been found that participants often added explanatory verbal data and arrows to the provided diagrams. The diagrams and their use have been interpreted with the support of the qualitative data captured along the studies through thematic analysis. Finally, paper prototypes are useful for educational approaches, but future more comprehensive studies will require integrating these tools in existing or yet-to-be-designed systematic frameworks for soundscape analysis and design.

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Qualitative and Mixed-Method Approaches

Advances in Public Policy and Administration - Teaching Research Methods in Public Administration ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-8116-3.ch010 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 147-166

Keyword(s):

Focus Groups ◽

Research Methods ◽

Mixed Method ◽

Field Observation ◽

Qualitative Data ◽

Inductive Research ◽

Research Questions ◽

Depth Interviews ◽

Deductive Research

In this chapter, the juxtaposition and interconnection of deductive and inductive research methods are explored. Qualitative, inductive empirical tools are discussed in depth, specifically in-depth interviews, focus groups, and field observation. Students will learn how these methods are used to generate hypotheses, which can ultimately be tested using deductive research methods. The structure of inductive research questions, and how they differ from deductive research questions, is further addressed, as is how a researcher “makes sense” of qualitative data.

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