2014 News

This article discusses the design and delivery of two international family therapy-focused mental health and psychosocial support training projects, one in a fragile state and one in a post-conflict state. The training projects took place in Southeast Asia and the Middle East/North Africa. Each was funded, supported, and implemented by local, regional, and international stakeholders, and delivered as part of a broader humanitarian agenda to develop human resource capacity to work with families affected by atrocities. The two examples illustrate how task-shifting/task-sharing and transitional justice approaches were used to inform the scaling-up of professionals involved in each project. They also exemplify how state-citizen phenomena in each location affected the project design and delivery.

(Posted November 10, 2014)

Editorial Board Members should have (a) extensive experiences conducting and publishing qualitative research, (b) an earned terminal academic degree, and (c) some experience reviewing scholarly manuscripts. TQR Board members are expected to embrace the journal’s editorial mission by providing the best guidance and mentorship to our authors and to review 3 to 5 manuscripts per year as part of manuscript development teams lead by senior editors. If you are interested in becoming a member of our Board, please send Laura Patron (lp764@nova.edu) an introductory message explaining your interest in becoming a member of TQR‘s Board and describing your relevant experiences, along with a copy of your CV or resume. Applicants who meet the threshold requirements will be given manuscripts to review and those producing quality reviews aligned with TQR‘s editorial mission will be invited to join the Board. Based upon the quality of service provided to the journal and its authors, after two years Editorial Board Members can be promoted to editorial positions.

TQR Apprentices should have (a) basic qualitative research knowledge and skills, (b) an earned terminal academic degree or be an active student in a graduate degree program, and (c) some experiences conducting, writing, and/or reviewing qualitative research. TQR Apprentices are expected to learn and embrace the journal’s editorial mission, conduct 3 to 5 preliminary manuscript appraisals using the TQR Rubric, and to review 3 to 5 manuscripts per year as part of manuscript development teams lead by senior editors. If you are interested in becoming a TQR Apprentice, please send Laura Patron (lp764@nova.edu) an introductory message explaining your interest in becoming an Apprentice and describing your relevant experiences, along with a copy of your CV or resume. Applicants who meet the threshold requirements will be given manuscripts to appraise and those producing quality appraisals aligned with TQR‘s editorial mission will be invited to join the Apprenticeship program. Based upon the quality of service provided to the journal and its authors, after one year Apprentices can be promoted to become Editorial Board Members.

Important Dates

Application Submission Deadline: November 30, 2014
Decision Notification Deadline: December 15, 2014
Editorial Term Commencement: January 1, 2015

Applicants are expected to be familiar with TQR‘s editorial philosophy and community culture (see About TQR for more information). If you have any questions, please email TQR Managing Editor Laura Patron at (lp764@nova.edu).

(Posted October 13, 2014)

Autoethnography and Beyond: And now for something completely different . . . Let’s move beyond the traditional divide between the evocative and analytical to create the next generation of autoethnography. To do this we will briefly review the history and development of autoethnography as a methodology, product, and intervention. Then we will compare and contrast the various autoethnographic traditions. This preparation will lead us to the “Nine P’s of Autoethnography” – Person, Populace, Position, Problem, Purpose, Perspective, Plan, Product, and Praxis – a unique system for critiquing and creating autoethnographies.

Is there a right way to write qualitative research? Can qualitative research reporting survive in a world of templates, rubrics, and “best practices”? The answer is “Yes” and I will show you how. We will go behind the scenes of The Qualitative Report, examining the ways in which the editors, reviewers, and I help authors from around the world craft clear, coherent, and creative forms of qualitative research reporting. I will share the guides and tools we use at the journal to produce a variety of articles including scientific, artistic, and critical forms of qualitative research expression. We will engage in hands-on exercises to help you report your research better.

Although the two workshops are sold out, if you can help Ron meet Kate Bush, please email tqr@nova.edu.

(Posted September 29, 2014)

• Mark Wickham and Megan Woods’s 2005 paper, Reflecting on the Strategic Use of CAQDAS to Manage and Report on the Qualitative Research Process, will be published in Sage’s forthcoming book, Qualitative Research in Business & Management, edited by Hugh Willmott and Emma Bell.
• David Canter and Laurence J. Alison’s 2003 paper, Converting Evidence into Data: The Use of Law Enforcement Archives as Unobtrusive Measurement will be published in Routledge’s forthcoming book, Forensic Psychology, edited by Jennifer Brown.
• Gary M. Bowler, Jr.’s 2010 review, Netnography: A Method Specifically Designed to Study Cultures and Communities Online, will be published in Sage’s forthcoming book, Researching Society Online, edited by Mathew David and Peter Millward.

(Posted June 9, 2014)

• Oral History in the Digital Era: New Technologies – a three-hour pre-conference workshop
• Reinventions for Qualitative Inquiry – a panel on which she spoke on free software and digital stories
• Memorial for Elliot Eisner – a panel on which she delivered an obituary and poem in his honor
• Women Who Write – a panel on which she presented, “Poetic Reinventions: Found Data Poems and Identity Poetry”

(Posted June 2, 2014)

Michelle McCarron, PhD, is a Research Scientist with the Research and Performance Support unit in the Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region, located in Regina, SK, Canada. Michelle obtained a PhD in Experimental and Applied Psychology from the University of Regina in 2010. For her doctoral research, she analyzed methods of qualitative data analysis, drawing on both published literature and interviews with experienced researchers. Using Lev Vygotsky’s theory of conceptual development as a framework, this research culminated in a set of techniques that can be used to build concepts from one’s qualitative data. Michelle is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Regina, where she teaches an online course in personality psychology for the Department of Psychology. She has previously served as an Executive Member of the Canadian Psychological Association’s (CPA) Section on Women and Psychology in her role as website administrator, and on a CPA subcommittee that designed a set of guidelines for ethical supervision practices. Currently, Michelle is the Chair of the Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region Research Ethics Board.

TQR Editor-in-Chief Ron Chenail is also pleased to name Angela Phillips as our newest apprentice:

Dr. Angela Phillips serves as the Associate Dean of the Graduate Program at Mount Carmel College of Nursing in Columbus, Ohio. She has been in this position since January 2005. Prior to this academic administrative appointment, Dr. Phillips was a faculty member in both undergraduate and graduate nursing programs. Her strengths include academic administration, professional excellence with accreditation in higher education and professional leadership. Scholarly activities range from her doctoral dissertation using a grounded theory methodology to formal presentations of this work. She has been the Project Director for grants sponsored by Department of Health & Human Services. Her professional leadership has expanded nationally to include American Association of Colleges of Nursing Organizational Leadership Network (OLN) as Co-Chair Program Planning Committee and with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Graduate Nursing Admissions Professionals (GNAP) in the roles of Co-Chair Sponsorship committee and Co-Chair Program committee for GNAP Annual Conference. Dr. Phillips was chosen to be American Association of Colleges of Nursing Leadership fellow in 2005.

(Posted April 7, 2014)

Randall F. Clemens, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Administrative and Instructional Leadership at St. John’s University’s School of Education. His research-incorporating perspectives from sociology and public policy-pertains to three interrelated themes: First, he explores the role of qualitative research to improve public policy. For example, he published, (w/ W.G. Tierney), “Qualitative Research and Public Policy: The Challenges of Relevance and Trustworthiness.” Second, he investigates innovative uses of social media to conduct and share qualitative research. In relation, he is authoring Using Social Media for Qualitative Research (under contract w/ Sage). And last, he examines the social and cultural contexts of urban education. In particular, he focuses on how growing up in low-income neighborhoods influences pathways to and away from postsecondary education for Black and Latino male teenagers. He recently completed an ethnographic study in South Central Los Angeles; the findings illustrate the significance of out-of-school learning experiences to either reinforce or detract from college access and readiness. Clemens received his Ph.D. in Urban Education Policy from the University of Southern California and MSEd in School Administration and Supervision from Johns Hopkins University. Before becoming a researcher, he served as an English high school teacher in Prince George’s County Public Schools.

Amy Orange is an Assistant Professor in Educational Foundations at the School of Education at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. She teaches graduate courses in qualitative research and research design. She received her Ph.D. in Educational Research, Statistics, and Evaluation from the University of Virginia in 2012 and her B.A. in Rhetoric and Communications from the University of California, Davis. Her current research interests include teachers’ experiences with mistreatment by their administrators, graduate students’ experiences in qualitative research courses, and the intersection of educational policy and practice. Her dissertation explored how teachers and administrators interpreted and implemented the sanctions placed on their school resulting from their failure to make adequate yearly progress (AYP) under NCLB. She has also conducted mixed-methods research on the use of Web 2.0 technologies in undergraduate engineering courses. She previously taught elementary and junior high school.

Martin Whiteford is a Research Associate in the Department of Health Services Research at the University of Liverpool. His research broadly focuses on the design and delivery of health and social care to homeless and vulnerably housed people. He was awarded a PhD by Bournemouth University for an ethnographic investigation into the relationship between street homelessness and welfare conditionality. His work has appeared in such journals as Housing Studies, Social Policy and Society, and Practice: Social Work in Action. Current and recently completed research projects include: hospital discharge and pathways of care for homeless people; assertive alcohol case management; attitudes and aspirations of clients in opiate substitution treatment and barriers to recovery from substance misuse.

TQR Editor-in-Chief Ron Chenail is also pleased to name Jin Kyeong Jung and Kotapati Srinivasa Reddy as our newest apprentices:

Jin Kyeong Jung is a second-year full-time doctoral student and a Dean’s Doctoral Fellow in the Language and Literacy unit at Georgia State University. Jin Kyeong Jung received her M.A. in English Language Teaching & Applied Linguistics from King’s College London, followed by an M.Ed. in English Language Education from the College of Education, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in South Korea. She worked as English as a foreign Language instructor for five and a half years from K-12 to college level. Her research interests include: the relationship between reading and writing, academic writing, online learning and multimedia literacy, second language socialization, English language learners’ use and acquisition of multiple literacies, and teacher education.

Kotapati Srinivasa Reddy is a Doctoral Student of Ph.D. program in International Business and Finance area at the Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India. His research and teaching interests include qualitative research design, case study development, mergers and acquisitions, business valuation, securities laws, and international business. He published research papers and cases, which appeared in referred international journals and case collections: Journal of Policy Modeling, International Strategic Management Review, International Journal of Law and Management, International Journal of Commerce and Management, Nankai Business Review International, Asia-Pacific Journal of Management Research and Innovation, International Management Review, Asian Journal of Finance & Accounting, Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies, and Journal of the International Academy for Case Studies. He also presented research papers and cases in doctoral colloquiums and conferences organized by IIM Ahmedabad, IISc Bangalore, AIMA New Delhi, MDI Gurgaon, IMI New Delhi, TAPAI Manipal, IBS Hyderabad, Sage-AJMC, and Symbiosis Noida. Further, he attended research workshops organized by the University of Exeter UK, and IIM Ahmedabad.

(Posted March 31, 2014)

Christopher J. Koenig is an Assistant Professor at the University of California, San Francisco in the Department of Medicine at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center where he is the first PhD to join the faculty. He received his PhD in Applied Linguistics from the University of California, Los Angeles where with an emphasis in the sociology of language and culture in health care contexts. His research agenda is focused on health communication between providers and patients; between generalist and specialist providers; and between health care staff, patients, and providers. His research agenda emphasizes how language is used to construct meaning through social interaction. Methodologically, his area of specialization is Conversation Analysis of audio- and video-recordings to empirically examine how verbal and non-verbal communication influence delivery and reception of health care. However, he has also developed extensive practical and theoretical experience collecting, managing, and analyzing qualitative data of various dispositions, including semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and ethnographic participant observation. Analytically, he has employed various theoretical frameworks, including Grounded Theory, Discourse Analysis, Conversation Analysis, including the critical approaches of Grounded Practical Theory and Culture-Centered Approach. Dr. Koenig actively mentors undergraduate, post-graduate university and medical students in applying qualitative research methods. He has published articles in journals such as Social Science & Medicine, Journal of General Internal Medicine, Health Communication, Patient Education & Counseling, and the Journal of Applied Communication Research. He has also co-authored several book chapters on diverse methodological and content areas, including Conversation Analysis, communication about complementary and alternative medicine, illness talk, and physician-patient communication. While he enjoys teaching, the focus of his work is to help culturally transform the Veterans Affairs health care system to becoming a person-focused, patient-centered environment, which he sees as an ethical obligation.

Denise Passmore is Assistant Professor at the University of South Florida-College of Nursing and also serves as academic writer/editor and Director of Media and Communications for the college. Prior to her current position, she was Director of Instructional Design and taught research methods, with a focus on qualitative research, in both education and nursing at the graduate level. She has been involved in several research studies within the College of Nursing primarily in the role of collecting and analyzing qualitative data. Topics have included: HIV Intervention for Adolescent Girls, Prostate Cancer in African American Men, and Moral Distress of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Nurses. Her Ph.D. is in Curriculum and Instructions with a focus in Adult & Continuing Education, and the focus of her cognate was qualitative research methods. Her dissertation employed a phenomenological approach to describe experiences of nursing faculty transitioning from live to online teaching and included faculty from public universities throughout the state.

(Posted March 24, 2014)

Sharon McIntyre is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Conflict Resolution at Nova Southeastern University. She earned a master’s degree in public administration from Nova Southeastern University, and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Florida International University. Sharon’s areas of interest and research include trauma and interpreting conflictual traumatic events (i.e., 9-11 terrorism), counterterrorism and human security, terrorism, counterterrorism and national security, the shaping of historical narratives based on conflictual traumatic events, race and ethnic identity conflict, and influences of cultural history in conflict. She currently works at Nova Southeastern University as a Graduate Assistant to various professors.

(Posted March 17, 2014)

Jessica Nina Lester is an Assistant Professor of Inquiry Methodology in the School of Education at Indiana University. She joined the faculty of Indiana University in 2013. Prior to this, she served as a faculty member at Washington State University. Broadly, Dr. Lester’s research focuses on the study of qualitative methodologies and issues related to access and equity for targeted youth. Her research follows three tracks. First, Dr. Lester studies qualitative inquiry methods at a theoretical, conceptual, and technical level. She gives particular attention to 1) the ways in which data might be represented in empirically grounded and engaging ways and 2) discourse analysis approaches to the study of talk and text. Second, Dr. Lester examines how social interactions shape and construct individual and collective identity(ies) and everyday practices. Within this line of inquiry, she uses discourse analysis from a discursive psychology perspective to analyze textual and conversational data. Finally, she uses ethnographic research approaches to study the social contexts in which targeted youth and adults learn and live. Recently, Dr. Lester co-edited a book focused on performance ethnography and school practices and co-authored a book about the uses of technology in qualitative inquiry. She has recently published in journals such as Cultural Studies/Critical Methodologies, Discourse Studies, Discourse & Society, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, and Teachers College Record. Dr. Lester is currently co-editing two books focused on discourse and conversation analysis approaches to the study of mental health and co-authoring a book focused on research methods for education practitioners. She primarily teaches graduate courses focused on qualitative methodologies.

TQR Editor-in-Chief Ron Chenail is pleased to name Gabrielle Grant, Jason Loh, and Julie Snyder-Yuly as our newest TQR apprentices:

Gabrielle Grant is currently the Assistant Director of the Office of Undergraduate Student Success at Nova Southeastern University, where she facilitates the Academic Success Coaching Program. Additionally, she is a doctoral candidate in Conflict Analysis and Resolution at Nova Southeastern University. Ms. Grant has a B.A. in Religion from Berea College and a M.A. in Conflict Analysis and Dispute Resolution from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She is also completing the Qualitative Research Certificate at Nova Southeastern University. Her research experience includes using various qualitative methodologies for organizational dispute resolution, community organizing, and violence prevention. Ms. Grant was one of the co designers of an academic success coaching model blending Appreciate Inquiry methods with helping skills to assist in retention and facilitate degree completion. She has also published and presented on globalization, power, mediation, and structural violence. She is currently working on her dissertation which uses grounded theory techniques to better understand violence in the juvenile dependency system. Ms. Grant has a strong interest in using qualitative research to explore violence theory and prevention, engaged scholarship, and strength based solution focused coaching.

Jason Loh has been a teacher in primary, secondary and tertiary education. He has also held leadership roles in the different schools. While helming the English Language department in the last school, he spearheaded the implementation of the Picture-Word Inductive Model and a Literature-based curriculum. For the last four years, he has worked at the National Institute of Education, NTU, as a Lecturer, and in June 2013 held a Visiting Academic appointment at the London Institute Of Education (IOE).

Julie Snyder-Yuly is a second year PhD student in the Department of Communication at the University of Utah with a focus on new media and cultural studies. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Iowa, and an interdisciplinary master’s degree in Communication, Sociology and Industrial Education from Iowa State University. Julie’s current research focuses in online class and racial microaggressions. Her research examines online newspapers and comment sections to examine the ways in which race and class are discussed. She has experience teaching women’s studies, leadership development, and public speaking. Currently she serves as an instructor in the Communication, Leadership, Ethics, and Research program in the College of Engineer at the University of Utah where she works with Civil Engineers on presentations and public speaking.

(Posted March 10, 2014)

Judith Davidson is an Associate Professor in the Research Methods and Evaluation Section of the Graduate School of Education at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, where she has been employed since 1999. A qualitative research methodologist, she has strong interest in the areas of digital developments in qualitative research, arts-based research, the instruction of rising researchers, and the development of research infrastructure in higher education. She has overseen numerous dissertations using qualitative research methodology. An Associate of the Center for Women and Work (CWW) in the College of Fine Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, she exults in the interdisciplinary possibilities of the university, working with CWW to support the robust use of qualitative research across campus. She is currently working on a book tentatively titled: Sexting: Gender, Intimacy, and Teens, based upon an interdisciplinary project on the issue of teens and sexting to be published by Sense Publications. She holds a B.A. in Japanese Language and Literature from Antioch University (with a minor in Writing for Children); a Master’s degree in Education (reading specialization) from Bank Street College of Education; and a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Illinois. In past lives she was, among other things, a Japanese Language major, children’s writer, 2nd grade teacher, administrator of an adult literacy center at the New York Public Library, and leader of an adolescent literacy project at the University of North Carolina. When she is not being a qualitative researcher, she is a member of the Lowell Fiber Arts Studio at the Western Avenue Studio Association in Lowell, Massachusetts, where she explores the joys of felting and other fiber processes.

Janet Richards is a professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at the University of South Florida where she teaches graduate courses in qualitative and transdisciplinary research and literacy. She has served as a visiting scholar in Canada, Azerbaijan, Thailand, Estonia, Hungary and Romania. Her research interests include using ABER and narrative to reveal changes in teachers’ beliefs and perceptions in service-learning, field-base courses.

Gerald Craver, PhD, has been a program evaluator for the State of Virginia since 1999. He began his career working for the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, which is responsible for evaluating the operations and performance of state agencies and programs for the Virginia General Assembly. Since 2004, Dr. Craver has worked for the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services, which is the state Medicaid agency. While working at Virginia Medicaid, he has evaluated a variety of health care programs and policies involving disease management, pharmacy reimbursement, insurance premium assistance, consumer direction of home and community based waiver services, nursing facility quality improvement and work environments, care coordination and integration, and behavioral health. Dr. Craver is currently directing the qualitative component of a mixed methods longitudinal evaluation of the Commonwealth Coordinated Care Program, which is Virginia’s Medicare-Medicaid Financial Alignment Demonstration for full-benefit dual eligible beneficiaries. He has a PhD in Education with expertise in both quantitative and qualitative research methods and has taught graduate-level research design and methods courses at Virginia Commonwealth University. In addition to performing his responsibilities at Virginia Medicaid, Dr. Craver serves on AcademyHealth’s Health Research and Policy Interest Group Advisory Committee and reviews abstracts for AcademyHealth’s Annual Research Conferences. Finally, his research interests include quality of care, care coordination and integration, and nursing facility work environments.

TQR Editor-in-Chief Ron Chenail is pleased to name Kristen Chorba, Bill Donges, Kathryn G. O’Brien, Una Ruddock, and Olivia Wedel as our newest TQR apprentices:

Kristen Chorba, Ph.D., is an Instructional Designer for Kent State University’s College of Communication and Information. In this role, Kristen works with individual faculty as well as online programs to develop and build online courses. She earned her doctorate in Educational Psychology from Kent State, and has spent the past six years researching and collaborating on a peer mentoring and relational learning project. Kristen has a master’s degree in Higher Education Administration from Kent State, and a bachelor’s degree in Organizational Leadership Systems from Baldwin-Wallace College. She has taught educational psychology courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level, and is currently developing a workshop on mentoring. Her research interests include qualitative work in mentoring, relational learning, online education, and the use of photography in research.

Bill Donges holds a BS in chemistry from Susquehanna University. From a chemistry perspective his focus was more quantitative; however, he did do coursework in qualitative chemistry. He also holds an MEd from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in special education. Coursework for his master’s degree included qualitative and quantitative work. He is currently in the final dissertation stages of a PhD in educational Psychology from Capella University. As part of his doctoral program he did some extensive coursework in research methodologies. After working closely with professors at Capella he decided to change his dissertation study to a qualitative case study. He conducted a generic qualitative case study examining the lived educational experiences of former juvenile delinquents. His dissertation was largely influenced by the work of both Yin and Stake. Since 2001 he has been working as an educator in a residential placement setting with adjudicated youth. He teaches all subjects and he works with students from 14 to 21 years of age at all academic levels and abilities.

Kathryn G. O’Brien is a third year doctoral student at the University of Missouri – St. Louis, where she is preparing to work in teacher education. She completed her undergraduate degree at Indiana University in Bloomington, in music and theatre. She earned her master’s degree in Education, in the area of Counseling with a concentration in Marriage and Family Therapy from St. Louis University “let’s say more than two decades ago.” Kate pursued a deeply rich career in behavioral health care through the provision of in-person therapy; Directorship of a psychiatric outpatient center for low income, chronically mentally ill clients; Directorship of an area of a large managed behavioral health care company where she oversaw services to more than six million employee households; and ten years with an international Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provider organization, during which she worked to establish operations centers around the world, providing clinical and operations consultation to executives, managers, and staff. She designed training curricula and then delivered training and ongoing consultation to counselors in Canada, the U.S., Mexico, South Africa, the United Kingdom, India, and China. She authored Company operations manuals and designed day-to-day business operations. She designed and oversaw the implementation of service protocols, and also of the policies and procedures for the recruitment of an international counseling network. In 2009 Kate returned to academia to pursue a Graduate Certificate in Gender Studies, which she concurrently completed along with the start of her doctoral studies in 2011. Her research interests include the enactment of powerful cultural discourses in the early childhood classroom; the dynamic construction of gender identity and sexual orientation in very early years; and transgender. She is also interested in public interruption of restrictive social discourses through performance art. Kate particularly enjoys in-depth interviews, and the process of analyzing narrative in discursive context using the tools of Critical Discourse Analysis and of multimodal textual analysis.

Una Ruddock holds an MSc in Social Research Skills from the University of Ulster, an MA in Management for Pastoral and Voluntary Services from All Hallows College, and a B.A. from University College Dublin. She has qualifications in Adult and Community Education as well as Training and Development. She is currently studying Sustainable Energy Finance at Dublin City University. She has over twenty years experience managing people and projects in the Community and Voluntary Sector. Her research interests include public policy, environmental sustainability, lifelong learning, interculturalism, spirituality and volunteering. She is the Environment Representative on South Dublin County Council’s Environmental Strategic Policy Committee. She is a member of the Innovation Enterprise Network, an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and the Irish Institute of Training and Development.

Olivia Wedel is a full time doctoral student at Texas Christian University, where she also works as a teaching and research assistant. She graduated from TCU in 2007 with a Master of Education degree in Counseling. Olivia is currently teaching a Master’s level counseling class at TCU. In addition to teaching and research responsibilities, Olivia has completed presentations at the TCU College of Education Research Fair and Pedagogy Festival. One such presentation covered a qualitative study she completed on the realities of homelessness. Most recently, Olivia has presented research on considerations for online therapy at the 2014 Texas Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (TACES) conference. Prior to entering the PhD program, Olivia gained clinical experience as a program manager at a transitional housing program in the DFW area. Her professional experiences enabled her to present for various organizations. Olivia has taught classes on life skills, anger management, career planning, domestic violence awareness, and effective parenting classes. She especially enjoys working with homeless families in the transitional setting. In her “spare” time, Olivia enjoys cooking, running, and reading. Upon completion of her PhD in Counseling and Counselor Education, Olivia hopes to obtain employment in the academy and maintain a private practice.

(Posted March 3, 2014)

Karen Besterman-Dahan, PhD, RD is a medical anthropologist with a background in nutrition and ethnographic experience, specializing in interview, observational, and focus group methods in health services research settings. She is the Director of the Qualitative Core at the HSR&D/RR&D Center of Innovation for Rehabilitation and Disabilities Research (CINDRR) at the James A. Haley VA Medical Center in Tampa, FL, a group of experts in qualitative methodology with training in anthropology and public health who provide methodological, technical, and analytic support to CINDRR investigators. Her current projects include community reintegration of Veterans with traumatic brain injury, innovative approaches for reintegration and retention of veterans into postsecondary education settings, post deployment health of chaplains, and patient safety. She received her doctorate in applied biocultural medical anthropology from the University of South Florida (USF), and also received a Master’s in adult education from USF and a Bachelor’s in nutrition from Florida International University. She has over 15 years of health research experience, having collaborated on a variety of research focused on rehabilitation, trauma, cancer and nutrition.

TQR Editor-in-Chief Ron Chenail is pleased to name Helen Cameron, Erick C. Lear, and Micki Voelkel as our newest TQR apprentices:

Helen Cameron is the Research Manager with the English Language and Foundation Studies Centre, University of Newcastle, Australia. Helen is responsible for overseeing, managing and supporting the Centre’s research activities. Within this role, Helen works to implement the Centre’s research plan and foster a research culture within the Centre. She also undertakes research relating to widening participation and enabling education for equity groups. Helen has completed a Master of Qualitative Health Research at the University of Sydney, Australia, and has provided training and support to rural qualitative researchers in relation to research methodology. She has researched and published in the area of research capacity building and rural workforce. Helen has an interest in a broad range of areas including widening participation in higher education, enabling education, educational psychology, organisational behaviour, workforce development, rural health, and research capacity building. Helen has an MBA and a law degree and is currently undertaking a Bachelor of Social Science (Psychology) through Swinburne University, Australia, and through this has developed a strong understanding of quantitative methodologies and analysis of data using SPSS. Helen plans to complete her psychology studies and then undertake a PhD in educational psychology using mixed methods. Helen has previously worked as an Executive Officer and Research Centre Manager with the University of Sydney, Department of Rural Health in Broken Hill, Australia. In these roles Helen was involved in managing the business of the UDRH, including managing contracts, HR and budgets and monitoring funding agreements. She also worked to establish a Research Centre, including undertaking strategic planning, managing projects and staff.

Erick C. Lear is a Licensed Master’s Social Worker in Phoenix, Arizona. He is a graduate of Capella University’s doctoral program in human services and Case Western Reserve University’s Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences. Dr. Lear has spent his entire social work career in the nonprofit sector. He is currently a contributing faculty member for Walden University, and adjunct faculty for The University of the Rockies and University of Phoenix. He regularly facilitates graduate-level coursework in program evaluation and research methods for human service learners. Regarding his own research activities, Dr. Lear employed mixed-methodologies to complete his dissertation which investigated motivations of suicide prevention hotline volunteers. He is currently completing qualitative research examining employee satisfaction in a public service agency via Q methodology. In a volunteer capacity, Dr. Lear is a contributor and editor for e-Volunteerism, an online journal for volunteer leaders. He also volunteers for the Trevor Project, a national suicide prevention program.

Micki Voelkel, Ed.D., is Associate Professor of Computer Technology in the Center for Business and Professional Development in the College of Applied Science and Technology at University of Arkansas-Fort Smith. She earned her doctorate in Workforce Development Education from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. She has a master’s degree in Adult Education from the University of Arkansas and a bachelor’s degree in Performance Studies from Northwestern University. She teaches undergraduate courses in computer applications, personal effectiveness, project management, time management, and quality processes. Her research interests include displaced workers, encore careers, generativity, and narrative inquiry.

(Posted February 24, 2014)

Alexander Geimer (*1977) is a Junior- Professor (Assistant Professor) for Qualitative Inquiry at the University of Hamburg, Institute for Sociology (since 2012). He studied Social Sciences, Sociology and Newer German Literature in Mannheim (1998) and Tübingen (1999-2005). After that he worked for two years in a project funded by the German Research Foundation (2005-2007) on juveniles’ reception of death and dying in the movies. He was a lecturer at the University of Oldenburg (2007), University of Klagenfurt (2010) and the International Psychoanalytic University Berlin (2011) and worked as a research assistant at the Free University of Berlin (from 2007-2012) where he finished his PhD in 2009. The dissertation is about practices of film reception and film appropriation. Amongst others, his actual research interests include cultural studies, film and media studies, theories of subjectivation, socialization and Bildung. He works in the theoretical framework of a praxeological sociology of knowledge.

Jessica Smartt Gullion, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Texas Woman’s University, where she teaches graduate courses on qualitative methods. Her research focuses on how communities respond to health threats. She has published more than twenty peer-reviewed articles and is currently writing a book detailing her ethnographic account of natural gas drilling in North Texas. She embraces both traditional research and arts-based practice. Her research-informed novel, October Birds: A Novel about Pandemic Influenza, Infection Control, and First Responders, was recently published in Sense Publishers Social Fiction Series.

(Posted February 17, 2014)

Editorial Board Members should have (a) extensive experiences conducting and publishing qualitative research, (b) an earned terminal academic degree, and (c) some experience reviewing scholarly manuscripts. TQR Board members are expected to embrace the journal’s editorial mission by providing the best guidance and mentorship to our authors and to review 3 to 5 manuscripts per year as part of manuscript development teams lead by senior editors. If you are interested in becoming a member of our Board, please send Ron Chenail (ron@nova.edu) an introductory message explaining your interest in becoming a member of TQR‘s Board and describing your relevant experiences, along with a copy of your CV or resume. Applicants who meet the threshold requirements will be given manuscripts to review and those producing quality reviews aligned with TQR‘s editorial mission will be invited to join the Board. Based upon the quality of service provided to the journal and its authors, after two years Editorial Board Members may be promoted to editorial positions.

TQR Apprentices should have (a) basic qualitative research knowledge and skills, (b) an earned terminal academic degree or be an active student in a graduate degree program, and (c) some experiences conducting, writing, and/or reviewing qualitative research. TQRApprentices are expected to learn and embrace the journal’s editorial mission, conduct 3 to 5 preliminary manuscript appraisals using theTQR Rubric, and to review 3 to 5 manuscripts per year as part of manuscript development teams lead by senior editors. If you are interested in becoming a TQR Apprentice, please send Ron Chenail (ron@nova.edu) an introductory message explaining your interest in becoming an Apprentice and describing your relevant experiences, along with a copy of your CV or resume. Applicants who meet the threshold requirements will be given manuscripts to appraise and those producing quality appraisals aligned with TQR‘s editorial mission will be invited to join the Apprenticeship program. Based upon the quality of service provided to the journal and its authors, after one year Apprentices may be promoted to become Editorial Board Members.

Applicants are expected to be familiar with TQR‘s editorial philosophy and community culture (see About TQR for more information). If you have any questions, please email TQR Editor-in-Chief Ron Chenail at (ron@nova.edu).

(Posted February 10, 2014)