Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to conclude this special issue on innovation in qualitative research by addressing the preceding papers in relation to the work of Human Resource Development ...(HRD) scholars and scholar-practitioners, consider the implications to the field of HRD and point to additional directions for innovative qualitative approaches. The authors use the term “innovative” to mean either an approach (or technique) that is newly conceived or one that is new to HRD (or little used).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors reviewed the papers in the special issue, identified other innovative qualitative approaches from the HRD literature and described briefly additional innovative approaches from other fields to suggest future directions for HRD professionals.
Findings
In this review, the authors noted the relatively few approaches to qualitative research that have been used regularly in HRD literature and suggested further innovative approaches that could deepen the understanding of organizations, including narrative, visual and indigenous methods, among others.
Research limitations/implications
This paper provides for HRD scholars an overview of a few qualitative research methodologies that are new to HRD and identifies additional approaches and epistemological challenges that could be valuable for future inquiry into complex organizations by HRD scholars and practitioners.
Practical implications
The authors suggest various feasible approaches and tools for HRD professionals to inquire into their practice in organizations to identify needs, evaluate outcomes and inquire into socially complex issues.
Originality/value
This study’s intent is to encourage the use of various innovative qualitative inquiry approaches when appropriate to understand and transform organizations. In particular, this study encourages the approaches that center the voices and experiences of those being studied and emphasizes the ways of listening to voices from the margins that may have been ignored previously.
I believe the field of human resource development (HRD) is missing out on the opportunity to expand our methodological approaches and ignoring the calls from others to be rebellious and look beyond ...our standard operating procedures. The purpose of this article is to provide an evocative “conversation” on autoethnography and to explain how HRD researchers might conduct and represent autoethnographic work. Autoethnographic methods are highly suited to the task of exploring organizational and everyday work phenomenon that can lead to the development of new theories of HRD. Through talking about the challenges associated with using an autoethnographic approach and how HRD scholars might assess such reflexive ethnography, I hope to encourage the use of rich, but neglected sources of less traditional approaches to qualitative inquiry.
Book clubs are a well-known form of social engagement and are beneficial for those who take part, yet book clubs are not fully realized within management as a site for learning. This is unfortunate ...because book clubs that read fiction can foster social processes and help employees in search of more critical and emancipatory forms of learning. We theoretically synthesize the literature to advance current thinking with regard to book clubs as critical public pedagogy in organizations. We begin by introducing book clubs as non-formal adult learning. Then, book clubs that employ fiction as a cultural artifact are presented as a way for members to build relationships, learn together, and to engage in cultural change work. Next, the traditional notions of book clubs are made pedagogically complex through the lens of critical public pedagogy. Finally, we offer two implications: (1) as public pedagogy, book clubs can act as an alternative to traditional learning structures in organizations; and (2) book clubs, when valued as public pedagogy, can be fostered by those in management learning and HRD for consciousness raising and challenging existing mental models in their organizations.
A practical introduction to qualitative research across fields and disciplines Qualitative Research in Practice offers a hands-on introduction to qualitative research design, methods, data, and ...analysis. Designed as a companion text for any course involving qualitative research, this book explores the different types of qualitative studies with relevant examples and analysis by the researchers themselves. The workbook format makes it easy to use in the classroom or the field, and the depth of information makes it a valuable resource for students of social work, psychology, counseling, management, education, health care, or any field in which qualitative research is conducted. While quantitative research is primarily concerned with numerical data, qualitative research methods are more flexible, responsive, and open to contextual information. To a qualitative researcher, a situation is defined by the participants' perspectives, making it the primary method of inquiry for understanding social phenomena through the lens of experience. This book introduces the essentials of qualitative research, bolstered by expert analysis and discussion that provides deeper insight than a traditional textbook format would allow. * Understand the fundamental nature of qualitative research * Learn how to accurately assess and evaluate qualitative research * Explore qualitative research's many forms and applications * Gain insight on qualitative research in a variety of fields and disciplines How does one codify an experience? Is it possible to measure emotion in units? Qualitative research fills the void where numbers cannot reach. It is the best tool we have for studying the unquantifiable aspects of the human experience, and it is an essential tool in a wide variety of fields. Qualitative Research in Practice provides translatable skills in a practical format to quicken your transition from "learning" to "using."
This conceptual paper contributes a new perspective on the role of women academics’ friendships in helping them navigate and counter the masculine culture of academia. Drawing on Self-Determination ...Theory and Relational Cultural Theory, we contend that women’s friendships allow women to thrive by meeting core psychological needs that are threatened in a marginalized work environment. Women’s intra-gender friendships act as counterspaces that challenge deficit notions women often hold about themselves, which are particularly prevalent for early career academics and women of color. We examine these workplace friendships through the belief that the academy is a gendered workplace which results in women often experiencing significant challenges to their career success. Furthermore, we consider how women’s friendships can mitigate the effects of workplace marginalization and enhance well-being that results in career success. We conclude by challenging HRD scholars to consider how academia can make space for and value women’s friendships in the workplace to benefit both individuals and institutions.
The Problem
The pandemic and subsequent changes to norms and practices in the workplace mean that for many, existing meaning-making structures are challenged and the limits of existing ways of ...knowing are revealed. The problem for HRD scholars and practitioners is that dominant approaches to research are largely insufficient for understanding individuals’ meaning making in response to the pandemic.
The Recommendation
Two critically reflexive method/ologies are presented and overlaid with Constructive-Developmental Theory (CDT) to offer not only a means of capturing data about individuals’ experiences during/post-pandemic but for interpreting the data with an understanding of the mental complexities associated with capturing an emic perspective.
The Stakeholders
Stakeholders include HRD scholars and practitioners who conduct research in organizations.
Formed through experience, observation, and learning, mental models are used in decision making to understand, predict, and solve problems. The investigation and application of mental models research ...are a growing area of scholarly inquiry in human resource development (HRD) and adult education, yet debate about how to best elicit such knowing still persists. Therefore, exemplars for eliciting the mental models of individuals are a matter of importance. The goal of this article is to address some of the issues central to mental model research and the methodological problems faced by scholars and provide an approach to mental model elicitation that holds promise for attending to some of the issues raised in the article. Multi-method Mental Model Elicitation (MMME) overcomes some of the limitations of current approaches, thus helping to increase the utility of mental models research in the field of HRD.
This article is an autoethnographic study of my sojourner experiences as a visiting professor in Iceland. In sharing how the Fulbright sojourner-experience has influenced my professional practice and ...sense of self I hope to provide some insight into existing research of the sojourner experience and help others as they consider living and teaching abroad. Through the examination of my own journal entries, artifacts, and blogs I explore and come to understand how challenges with the Icelandic language affected my professional and personal interactions, my sense of cognitive overload, and struggle in developing relationships, as well as the effect of re-entry to the U.S. on my identity. This research may be of value to HRD and adult education scholars as it contributes a deeper understanding of the need for social supports for sojourners and how sojourner experiences shape cultural identity.
The objective of this report was to demonstrate the use of discourse analysis as a qualitative nutrition research analysis tool based on a case study of food-insecure parents. The US Department of ...Agriculture 18-item Household Food Security Module served as a framework for cognitive interviews. Data were analyzed using a basic inductive technique and then reanalyzed using discourse analysis. Discourse analysis tools including position design and identity building, I and we statements, collocational patterns, and the figured world tool unveiled findings otherwise not detected using basic inductive techniques. Discourse analysis and corresponding tools can contribute to qualitative nutrition research, particularly in inductive thesis-generating work.
PDF
