Tech Talk
I am honored to work with two talented research assistants in the Center for Qualitative Inquiry. Marlene Montgomery and Dhrumil Patel bring many strengths and background experiences to their ongoing support of faculty and graduate student users. As mentioned previously, I currently serve as the newsletter editor for the American Educational Research Association Qualitative Research... Read More
Landing on goals for a unique center
The Center for Qualitative Inquiry (CQI) opened its doors four years ago. In the “about” page I lay out particulars about the purpose of the center. In brief, the purpose for developing the Center was two fold. First, to provide high-end hardware, software, and user support to graduate students and faculty. This meant coming up with short term funding to get us started,... Read More
IIQM – A model for excellence
As I’ve written before, few university centers exist that support qualitative research. The University of Alberta sponsors an Interdisciplinary Center called the International Institute for Qualitative Methodology. In addition to providing faculty support, the center sponsors an annual conference and a journal that is free to subscribers. Why do I have a photo of a suitcase?... Read More
Centers, conferences, & focus groups
The International Institute of Qualitative Inquiry is based at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champain USA. Dr. Norm Denzin is the director of the center. The center sponsors an annual conference. The Sixth International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry will be held May 26-29, 2010. I was pleased to learn that Drs. Greg Dimitriadis & George Kamberelis will be leading... Read More
What are practices of sharing resources?
Recently, I grapple with models of sharing resources. A university culture is unique in its particular practices for sharing. Questions that keep surfacing in my mind include: What would count as a social best in the practices of sharing? How would it be defined? By whom? What conditions would sustain the model constructed? It seems easier to define what does not constitute as... Read More
“Brown Bagging It” for Qualitative Research Sessions
Last fall semester we began offering informational presentations to assist faculty and graduate students with “hands-on” experiences in using software. My graduate assistants and I work together in identifying the topics and content. They have taken on the major part of the presentations and now excel at developing and delivering hands-on activities and eye-catching... Read More
Looking outside the U.S.A.
An important component in providing support to researchers at Texas Woman’s University’s Center for Qualitative Inquiry is to share resources. We try to support novice qualitative researchers by directing their gaze toward resources available within and outside the USA. For example, in a recent Weekly Qualitative Report, The Centre for Narrative Research, at the University... Read More
My “telling case” continued
I began by writing a proposal that laid out current needs. Setting up a needs statement requires identifying the gaps in services and support. That was not difficult. At the time, the only research software provided to faculty and students was for SPSS for statistical analysis. Like most universities, faculty made individual decisions and purchases of qualitative research software... Read More
