Qualitative

This week in unemployment, I decided that it was time to start looking for a job. This manifested into applying online for one RN position, "networking" at a football game and printing out one hard copy application. Wrote up an appeal for my rejection for unemployment benefits. I did update by nursing license addresses, which is helpful. In other business: I updated my voting info, made several appointments and left loads of messages.  At some point I stumbled across a you-tube hypnotherapy audios and I've become an addict. It started with relaxation, then confidence and anxiety. Last night I listened to the weight loss/insomnia and today I did the safe/ motivation one. The fact that I can't wait till bed time so I can listen to weight loss/insomnia audio has been the extent of my motivation. Really, I did visualize sitting here and typing pages of why qualitative research is so cool.

I am attracted to qualitative research like a moth to the flame. My husband said the other day "normal people don't bring research books to the beach." To clarify, I bring qualitative books to the beach or just load up in my bag and bring them everywhere with me. My quantitative books sit in a pile, hard, stiff and only referred to when I need numbers--which is rarely, because I'm not a number person. I don't even know how many people live in my town. My family--yes, the world--no. These are facts I look up, then forget. Stories, are different.

 "Qualitative inquiry is an umbrella term for various philosophical orientations to interpretive research. For example, qualitative researchers might call their work ethnography, case study, phenomenology, educational criticism, or several other terms" (Glesne et al. 1992).

In 2008, while at CSU Fresno I conducted an autoethnography project, which is a variation of the ethnography. Specifically, conducting "research and writing that seeks to describe and systematically analyze (graphy) personal experience (auto) in order to understand cultural experience (ethno)" (Ellis, 2004). In my earlier research, I examined one woman's experience working as a certified nursing assistant (CNA) in a nursing home, and asked questions exploring the culture of her work place.

This could be considered part of a sub-group called "layered accounts", which "...often focus on the author's experience alongside data, abstract analysis, and relevant literature" (Ellis et al. 2010). 

This next week, I plan on honing my scope of my future project. I'll also be going to San Fransisco for a personal growth workshop, reading, drinking coffee and enjoying the milder fall days. Job scouting and hypnotherapy will be squeezed in there too.

References

Bothwell, Anita (2008). Just a Pair of Scrubs: Nursing Assistants, Poverty and Agency. Unpublished manuscript. 

Ellis, Carolyn (2004). The ethnographic I: A methodological novel about autoethnography. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.  

Ellis, C., Adams, T., & Bochner, A. 2010 Nov 24. Autoethnography: An Overview. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research. [Online] 12:1

Glesne, Corrine, and Alan Peshkin (1992). Becoming Qualitative Researchers: An Introduction. White Plains, N.Y.: Longman Publishing Group.