What's the problem with disaster? Anthropology, social work, and the qualitative slot

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 1496-1516
Author(s):  
Tisha Joseph Holmes ◽  
John Mathias ◽  
Tyler McCreary ◽  
James Brian Elsner
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Housing Stock ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
Problem Definition ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative Methods ◽  
The Social ◽  
Disaster Anthropology ◽  
Political Economic

On March 3, 2019, an EF4 tornado devastated the rural Alabama communities of Beauregard and Smith Station, killing 23 people and causing direct injuries to another 97. This storm was unusually devastating, with twice the predicted casualty rate based on the tornado’s power, the impacted population, and impacted housing stock. In this paper, we apply qualitative methods from anthropology, geography, and planning to better understand the social context of this unusually devastating tornado. Recognizing that there are multiple formulations of the problem of disasters, we aim to highlight how interdisciplinary qualitative research can deepen our understanding of tornado disasters. Combining policy analysis, political economic critique, and ethnographic description, we seek to showcase how qualitative research enables us to interrogate and reimagine the problem of disasters. Rather than simply juxtaposing qualitative and quantitative methods, we emphasize how the heterogeneity of qualitative research methods can strengthen interdisciplinary research projects by generating dialogue about the multiple contexts relevant to understanding a social problem. While problem definition remains a central challenge to establishing a dialogue between anthropology and social work, here, we intend to extend this discussion to larger interdisciplinary collaborations. Situating the issue of problem formation within a broader ecology of qualitative inquiry, we highlight how dialogue about problem definition can, itself, produce meaningful insights into how we understand disasters.

scholarly journals Evaluating Qualitative Research for Social Work Practitioners

10.18060/589 ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 188-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia A. Lietz ◽  
Luis E. Zayas
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Knowledge Base ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
Qualitative Research Study ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Work Practitioners ◽  
Work Knowledge

The field of social work expects practitioners remain well informed regarding research advances in their respective areas. Research studies conducted through the lens of qualitative inquiry provide important contributions to the social work knowledge base. The purpose of this manuscript is to provide practitioners some orientation regarding qualitative research methods and to highlight potential strategies researchers may use to enhance the trustworthiness and quality of their research. Specifically, the concept of trustworthiness is defined in the context of qualitative inquiry and questions social work practitioners can ask when evaluating the quality and applicability of a qualitative research study are provided.

scholarly journals An overview of the rationale for qualitative research methods in social health

2013 ◽  
Vol 01 (01) ◽  
pp. 006-008
Author(s):  
Heather Stuckey
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Diabetes Management ◽  
Social Health ◽  
Diabetes Research ◽  
Medical Outcomes ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative Methods ◽  
Beliefs And Attitudes

Qualitative research is a primary way to understand the context of diabetes in a person′s life, beyond the medical outcomes. Identifying the qualitative issues such as patients′ knowledge about diabetes, their beliefs and attitudes, and their relationship with health care professionals can serve as data to determine the obstacles and, in turn, resolutions to those issues in diabetes management. Characteristics of qualitative and quantitative methods are described, with the discussion that both methods are complementary, not conflicting, to further the field of diabetes research.

scholarly journals Something for Everyone: A Review of Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing among Five Approaches

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cecilia Tarnoki ◽  
Katheryne Puentes
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Family Therapy ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Doctoral Programs ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
The Social ◽  
Nova Southeastern University

Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches (2018), by John W. Creswell and Cheryl N. Poth was written for anyone who is considering themselves to be researchers or interested in learning more about qualitative research. As students in doctoral programs studying family therapy at Nova Southeastern University, we felt that parts of the text were explicitly tailored toward the social sciences; however, the chapters are useful for anyone interested in qualitative research from many angles and aspects.

Becoming Familiar With Qualitative Research

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Sheema Tarab
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Recent Past ◽  
Field Of Study ◽  
The Social ◽  
Extensive Growth ◽  
Occupational Settings

Qualitative research is a field of study that deals with exploring, describing, and interpreting the innate quality of entities and the social processes. In the recent past, an extensive growth in qualitative field of research has been witnessed, particularly in the occupational settings. It is a dynamic and exhilarating area that seeks to explain the research observations by means of insights which are hard to produce with quantitative methods. Most of the work is concerned with developing a theory (i.e., an inductive way to find out new solutions or identify new questions related to social being). In this chapter, the author has targeted the segment which is mostly the students pursuing research courses or conducting empirical work; the faculties and the mangers who are handling the diversity of the social beings at their workplaces, whose varied needs are persistently evolving, would be able to understand the notion of technique which is qualitative in nature. Certain studies conducted in past and present have also been illustrated to maintain the reader's interest.

Qualitative research

2003 ◽  
pp. 377-384
Author(s):  
Joanna Murray
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Older People ◽  
Qualitative Methods ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Epidemiological Studies ◽  
Illness Behaviour ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative Methods ◽  
Complex Phenomena

Qualitative research is an increasingly popular method of enquiry in biomedical, clinical and behavioural research. Once regarded as the preserve of social scientists and psychologists, qualitative methods have entered the mainstream of epidemiology and clinical research, as evidenced by the publication of a series of papers in the British Medical Journal (Britten 1995; Mays and Pope 1995; Pope and Mays 1995; Pope et al. 2000). The qualitative methods to be described in this chapter offer a scientific approach to understanding and explaining the experiences, beliefs, and behaviour of defined groups of people. The contrasting features and the complementary roles of qualitative and quantitative methods of enquiry will be described. While the majority of chapters in the present volume are concerned with research methods designed to answer questions such as ‘how many?’ or ‘how frequently?’, qualitative methods enable us to explore the ‘why?’, ‘what?’, and ‘how?’ of human behaviour. Since the aim is to understand the meaning of the phenomena under study from the perspective of the individuals concerned, the direction of enquiry is guided more by respondent than researcher. This approach is particularly appropriate to complex phenomena such as the range of beliefs that underlie illness behaviour and the aspects of health care that matter to different service users. Qualitative enquiry would focus on identifying beliefs and describing the circumstances that surround particular behaviours, while quantitative research would focus on measurable characteristics of the sample and the frequency and outcome of their behaviour. An example of the contribution of the two methodological approaches is the study of variations in treatment of depression in older people. Epidemiological studies in the community and in primary care settings have found that the prevalence of depression in older adults far exceeds the prevalence of the disorder among those consulting their general practitioners. To identify the factors associated with this disparity, qualitative researchers would set out to explore the reasons why older people with depression do and do not present their symptoms to the GP. The aim would be to describe the range of beliefs about depression among attenders and non-attenders. The quantitative approach would involve establishing the strength of associations between personal characteristics, external factors, and behaviour of older people with depression. It is clear from this example that both approaches are complementary in identifying the nature of the disparity. Qualitative research is based on the premise that each individual's experience is unique and the beliefs that underlie illness behaviour can only be measured once identified and described from a variety of individual perspectives. When information of this type is combined with data on prevalence and variable risk, more appropriate services and outcome measures can be developed.

Mixed Methods Research

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daphne C. Watkins
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Data Integration ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Social Work Research ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative Methods ◽  
Single Study

Mixed methods research integrates both qualitative and quantitative methods into a single study to produce a more inclusive and expansive understanding of a topic. This article defines mixed methods in social work research, and discusses design notation, language, popular mixed methods designs, and data integration. Using mixed methods provides an opportunity for social workers to take advantage of the strengths of both qualitative and quantitative approaches and to offset their weaknesses. It is important that social workers engaged in mixed methods research maximize the interpretation of their findings and articulate the advantages of using mixed methods over qualitative or quantitative methods alone. Given the unique features of the profession, it is imperative that social workers carve out a distinctive mixed methods niche for social work researchers and practitioners.

Qualitative research skills acquisition within social work doctoral education using project-based learning

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 864-881
Author(s):  
Fan Yang ◽  
Quentin R Maynard ◽  
Sarah R Young ◽  
Jennifer L Kenney ◽  
Brad Barber ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Doctoral Education ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
Project Based Learning ◽  
Skills Acquisition ◽  
Research Traditions ◽  
Social Work Research

The future of social work research relies on the intellect and competence of current doctoral students. These future scholars who receive doctoral education that values qualitative inquiry will create a system where qualitative research traditions receive the same privilege as quantitative research traditions. Project-based learning provides learning opportunities that can challenge assumptions about what academia considers “real” research. This descriptive qualitative study explored key attributes of using project-based learning within two consecutive social work doctoral courses to encourage qualitative research skill development. Students and instructors participated in ideawriting and focus groups to assess the usefulness of PBL within these courses. The findings suggested that PBL may be useful for deepening knowledge about qualitative inquiry and reducing epistemological unconsciousness.

Creative Subversion: Staking a Claim for Critical Qualitative Inquiry

2020 ◽  
pp. 107780042093329
Author(s):  
César A. Cisneros Puebla
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
Shared Knowledge ◽  
Political Protest ◽  
Civil Resistance ◽  
The Social ◽  
Knowledge Object ◽  
Radical Transformation

It is important to define the ethnographical practices as a way of thinking and doing critical qualitative inquiry. Creative subversion currently arises as a breaking of rules, institutional change, social or political protest, popular or civic rebellion, fighting the law or simply radical transformation of situations. Today it is everywhere even though there is too much silence around it, which could be catastrophic for qualitative research. Reflexive methods could be enriched if researchers looking for social transformation and collaborating in civil resistance integrate in their ethnographical practices the creative subversion as shared knowledge object. It is pertinent to interpret the social action involved in such transformative processes as a poetics of rage collective or individually performed. Doing a review of how creative subversion has been dealt in the contemporary social science, this article is an effort to provide a nuance and rigorous definition.

Data as representations: contextualizing qualitative and quantitative research strategies

2000 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaan Valsiner
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Main Issue ◽  
Research Strategies ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative Methods ◽  
The Social ◽  
New States

The opposition between “quantitative” and “qualitative” perspectives in contemporary social science is an organizational limitation that directs discussions of the topic away from the main issue - the adequacy of any kind of data in respect to the phenomena they represent. This is particularly complicated if the phenomena are known to include inherent dynamics, are modifiable by the research encounter, or develop towards new states of existence. It is often assumed that qualitative and quantitative methods are mutually exclusive alternatives within a methodological process that is itself unified. The article shows that quantitative methods are derivates of a qualitative process of investigation, which itself can lead to the construction of inadequate data. The issue of the representativeness of the data - qualitative or quantitative - remains the central unresolved question for the methodology of the social sciences. Errors in representation can be diminished by correction of methods through direct (experiential) access to the phenomena, guided by the researcher's educated intuition.

scholarly journals Evaluasi Taman R.A Kartini Sebagai Fungsi Sosial Bagi Komunitas Kreatif di Kota Cimahi

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Wida Oktavia Suciyani ◽  
Husna Candranurani Oktavia
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Social Function ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative Methods ◽  
The Social ◽  
Three Dimensional Measurement ◽  
The City ◽  
City Park

ABSTRACTOne of the parks that became a priority in the Cimahi City Park facilities and utilities development program is Kartini Park. Besides an ecological function, Kartini Park has a social function to accommodate the activities of various creative communities in the City of Cimahi. The problem arises that the park does not have a specific theme to support the community, that make Kartini park hasn’t had a special attractiveness for the society or the creative community in the neighborhood.  The purpose of this research is to evaluate the social function of Kartini Park that measured based on the three-dimensional measurement of social integration in public space : structural, interactive and subjective. The study used qualitative and quantitative methods with data collection through field observations, interviews, documentation and distribution of questionnaires to the park user community by using accidental sampling. The results based on structural dimensions in the form of accessibility indicate the location of Kartini park located in a strategic area, the types of activities carried out in the park have adjusted to zoning and have involved community participation in the interactive dimension. The subjective dimension shows the highest level of community satisfaction is the safety indicator and the lowest satisfaction level is the completeness indicator of the facility.Keywords: urban garden, social function, creative communityABSTRAKSalah satu taman yang menjadi prioritas pada program pengembangan fasilitas dan utilitas taman Kota Cimahi adalah taman Kartini. Selain memiliki fungsi ekologis, Taman Kartini memiliki fungsi sosial untuk mewadahi aktivtas dari berbagai komunitaskreatif yang ada di Kota Cimahi. Permasalahan yang timbul menunjukkan bahwa taman tersebut belum memiliki tema yang spesifik untuk mewadahi komunitas, sehingga taman Kartini belum memiliki daya tarik khusus bagi masyarakat maupun komunitas kreatif di lingkungan sekitar. Tujuan penelitian adalah untuk mengevaluasi fungsi sosial taman Kartini Kota Cimahi yang diukur berdasarkan tiga dimensi pengukuran integrasi sosial dalam kajian ruang publik meliputi: struktural, interaktif dan subjektif. Penelitian menggunakan metode kualitatif dan kuantitatif dengan teknik pengambilan data melalui observasi lapangan, wawancara, dokumentasi dan penyebaran kuesioner pada komunitas pengguna taman dengan menggunakan accidental sampling. Hasil evaluasi berdasarkan dimensi struktural berupa aksesibilitas menunjukkan lokasi taman Kartini berada pada kawasan strategis, jenis aktivitas yang dilakukan di taman telah menyesuaikan dengan zonasi dan telah melibatkan partisipasi masyarakat pada dimensi interaktif. Dimensi subjektif menunjukkan tingkat kepuasan komunita syang tertinggi adalah indikator keamanan dan tingkat kepuasan terendah pada indikator kelengkapan fasilitas.Kata Kunci: Taman Kota, Fungsi Sosial, Komunitas Kreatif

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