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Our qualitative research during a pandemic continues with a discussion about Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) or Ethics Review Boards. Graffigna, Bosio, and Olson (2010) discuss the differences in ethics assessments between social and health sciences, and the examples they provide in how these differences shaped their recruitment, and ultimately data, are really interesting.

If you had a qualitative research project already designed; had submitted to your ethics board; or were in the beginning, middle or end of data collection, you will need to go back to the drawing board – even if briefly. What does this mean? It means you will need to go back to designing and planning.

Today’s blog post was written in collaboration with someone I have had the pleasure to know for a few months as an online classmate and trusted colleague. Her name is Stephanie Klarmann, and she is a PhD Student in the Department of Psychology at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. After Stephanie’s text, you will read my two cents on what she is sharing with us.

The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting so many people in all continents; and we are experiencing it in different ways…as citizens, as sons and daughters, as mothers and fathers, as professionals, employees, students, business owners and retirees, etc. The current reality will have implications on qualitative research that is conducted now or anytime soon (dare I say, within the next year or many years). This is the first of a series of posts discussing qualitative research during a pandemic.

What was (or has been) the most challenging part of your qualitative research? For many, data collection and data analysis quickly come to mind but I would say there is a previous step that might be equally or even more challenging. And that is writing a qualitative research question. Even though you know the literature, the phenomenon you want to examine, the method of inquiry, it can still be hard to put a research question on paper (or computer screen). You are not alone.

I absolutely love March. The days quickly get longer, snow starts melting, and excitement for the warm seasons (in Canada) starts building everywhere. However, March is a very busy month for most people involved in post-secondary education and research. It’s time to submit proposals, essays, as well as meet deadlines for thesis defence and graduation. In the past year, I started using some strategies and tools to organize my life and schedule my priorities so today I will be sharing some with you.

Today’s blog post was written by my good friend and former graduate school buddy, Laura Grams. Laura’s research project was with pregnant women, and she used Facebook Ads to recruit participants. Facebook and Instagram Ads can be very powerful when used properly. So here are some insights that can help you decide if social media advertisement is a strategy you should consider when planning your participant recruitment.

The Quali Q Blog has another guest today. Alexa Ferdinands is a Registered Dietitian and Vanier Graduate Scholar/PhD Candidate in the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta. She is using institutional ethnography to explore the social organization of young people’s weight experiences, with the aim of identifying public health levers for intervention. Her post describes a recent experience she had during a local health conference. I was at her session, and asked her to write about it for the blog.

You might have seen on social media that I successfully defended my PhD thesis last month! My exam was intense and required a lot of critical thinking. During the second round of questions, one of my examiners asked me a question that wasn’t the hardest yet the most personal. It resulted in an additional piece in my PhD thesis entitled “positionality in research.”

Hi! My name is Richard Oster. I have been lucky enough in my life and career to be working with Indigenous communities and partners to (hopefully) foster tangible benefits on wellbeing and health. Maira asked me if I would share a little bit about the work that I do and my experiences doing that work.

Next week the Quali Q Blog will have its very first guest! My friend and colleague, Dr. Richard Oster, will be talking about his strengths-based Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) with Indigenous communities and partners. This post is just a brief foreword to set the stage for Richard’s CBPR work.

In focused ethnography the attention to culture remains (as in traditional ethnographic research); however, it is more contained to a particular setting or focused on certain issues/topics, and within a shorter time frame. Because focused ethnography centres on issues/topics in a more contained context and within a shorter time frame, the before and after are as important as when data is actually being collected in the research setting.

I struggle with writing concise, catchy titles for my qualitative studies and ever since I joined a Facebook group for qualitative research teachers and scholars, I realized I am likely with the majority. Frequently posts are some form of request for feedback on qualitative research titles. This post is here to help you craft a remarkable title that reflects your qualitative work, data and results.

The book Atomic Habits by James Clear discusses four laws of  behaviour change: make it obvious, make it attractive, make it easy and make it satisfying, and for today’s post I will share what worked best for me (Maira) in 2019 as I finished writing my PhD thesis. I hope the systems I implemented inspire you to find your own systems and become the researcher, professional and individual you aspire to be in 2020.