Reflections at the Waterhole: Black Professionals Researching Together

This paper tells the story of how I came to understanding my practice and my research by means of a metaphor, that of the waterhole. I demonstrate how the ideas contained below have great resonances with the concept of practice nearness. In the process I recount the story of my reflective practices and my research with other black professionals to inquire into our experiences in white organisations and to give voice to our lived experiences.     

Fairy Godmothers and Guardian Angels: A Qualitative Study of the Gay Mentorship Relationship

We conducted a qualitative study to explore the benefits of one gay male community resource, gay mentorship, particularly regarding sexual identity development. Findings indicate that gay mentorship is most involved in gay identity integration, and aided in supporting gay identity development, connecting men to gay-related resources, helping men to feel part of a gay community, improving management of gay-related stressors and role-modeling a positive gay identity. We found that gay mentorship was not associated with gay identity formation. Our research does suggest that gay mentorship fosters psychosocial benefits in gay men, and should therefore be fully explored in future studies.     

Are Males and Females Sexually Abused As Children Socially Anxious Adults?

It is well documented that childhood sexual abuse is associated with deleterious outcomes in the areas of anxiety, depression, and sexual functioning. However, very little research has been conducted to specifically investigate childhood sexual abuse's relationship to adult social anxiety in both males and females. Participants included 250 undergraduate students from a large metropolitan university. Results indicated that almost one-third of males and a little over a third of females reported being sexually abused as a child or adolescent. Although a large portion of the sample exhibited socially anxious symptomology, childhood sexual abuse did not place males and females at increased risk for social anxiety. The use of a nonclinical, college student sample may provide researchers the opportunity to investigate resiliency in individuals with a history of childhood sexual abuse.     

When White Boys Kill

Abstract

The image of male youth homicide is primarily associated with young black males. However, recent school shootings in which multiple innocent victims were murdered indicate that young white males may be at serious risk of a much more tragic homicidal phenomenon known as multicide. This paper offers a conceptual framework to explain multicide and violence generally among young white males by employing an Afrocentric analysis. This analysis assumes that multicide among young white males can be explained by the convergence of three structural-cultural factors, which are (1) the concept of manhood that places considerable emphasis on physical aggression; (2) the phenomenon of spiritual alienation; and (3) the anxiety and stress associated with concerns over maintaining white male privilege. The paper also presents recommendations that describe how the effects of these three factors could be prevented and mediated, and it offers suggestions for future research that applies an Afrocentric framework to investigate young, white male violence.     

Redirecting the Lives of Urban Black Males:

Midnight Basketball is one example of a new generation of social resource programs which are designed to mend the social fabric of inner city communities. In this paper, we present the results of an evaluation of Milwaukee's Midnight Basketball League, In the Paint at One Two, which indicates that the ''returns'' on the money invested in the program are far greater than the returns on the enormously popular punitive and paternalistic policies and programs currently advocated at all levels of government. During the first year, the Midnight Basketball program (1) reduced crime rates by 30% in the target area, (2) created a safe haven in which participants (and the fans) could engage in positive social activities, (3) channeled the energy of gang members in a positive direction, and (4) significantly improved the educational and career aspirations of program participants. Nearly all of the participants indicate that such leagues should be developed throughout the city of Milwaukee.     

Editorial Note: Referees

As the volume of UK social research addressing ethnicity grows, so too do concerns regarding the ethical and scientific rigour of this research domain and its potential to do more harm than good. The establishment of standards and principles and the introduction of guidance documents at critical points within the research cycle might be one way to enhance the quality of such research. This article reports the findings from the piloting of a guidance document within the research commissioning process of a major funder of UK social research. The guidance document was positively received by researchers, the majority of whom reported it to be comprehensible, relevant and potentially useful in improving the quality of research proposals. However, a review of the submitted proposals suggested the guidance had had little impact on practice. While guidance may have a role to play, it will need to be strongly promoted by commissioners and other gatekeepers. Findings also suggest the possibility that guidance may discourage some researchers from engaging with ethnicity if it raises problems without solutions; highlighting the need for complementary investments in research capacity development in this area.     

Indigenous research methodology – weaving a research interface

ABSTRACT

Indigenous research Knowledges and methodologies have existed over millennia, however it is only recently that Indigenous scholars have been able to challenge institutional Western hegemony to reclaim sovereignty in the research space. Despite the high volume of quantitative research describing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, there has been limited evaluation of the value added through incorporation of Indigenous Knowledges and methodologies. ‘Research at the interface’ has been discussed as an Indigenous research methodology for researchers to contextualise and inform their research practices, between Indigenous and Western systems of knowledge. In this article we address the significance of ‘research at the interface’ for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research, as an exciting opportunity for innovation to ensure strength, self-determination and resilience for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities engaged in research. We also introduce weaving a methodology for ‘research at the interface’ as a process for conceptualising Indigenous and quantitative research methodologies at the interface.     

Perceptions and attitudes towards aging in two culturally diverse groups of aged males: A South African experience

The role of men has undergone tremendous change over the last decade due to various reasons. The researcher tried to combine two objectives in this study. Firstly the focus was on perceptions and attitudes of aged males towards themselves, significant others and the general process of aging. The second objective was to determine the culturally diverse perceptions and attitudes of aged males towards aging and some concomitant factors. The study was done within the qualitative paradigm. Seeing that research of this nature has seldom been undertaken, an exploratory research design was embarked on. Two culturally different groups, the one consisting of 12 aged black men and the other consisting of 12 aged white men, were established. Members for the two groups were selected by way of the accidental sampling technique. Vast differences were found between the two groups on some aspects, while on other aspects there were little differences.     

Negative Social Contextual Stressors and Somatic Symptoms Among Young Black Males: An Exploratory Study

This study examines whether negative social contextual stressors were associated with somatic symptoms among young Black males (N = 74) after accounting for background and psychological characteristics. Using Cunningham and Spencer’s Black Male Experiences Measure, negative social contextual stressors connoted those experiences connected to the personal attributes, devaluation, and negative imagery of young Black males, such as being followed when entering a store or police or security guards asking them what they are doing when hanging out (e.g., in the park or playground or on the street corner). Results showed that such stressors made a unique and significant contribution to the experience of somatic symptoms. Future research directions and implications for addressing the larger societal perceptions of young Black males are discussed.     

Exploring rigour in autoethnographic research

Abstract

The changing face of qualitative research has opened up discourses on the validity and rigour of research processes and products. A current debate is whether the criteria traditionally used to judge the rigour of quantitative research are appropriate to assess the academic integrity of qualitative research including autoethnography. The purpose of this article is to appraise views on the academic rigour, validity and scientific accountability of research in general and autoethnographic research in particular. The researcher reports on issues of rigour in conducting autoethnographic research from her own experience and that of published autoethnographic researchers. The issue of relevant appraisal criteria against which the research integrity and rigour of autoethnographic studies can be assessed is investigated. It is concluded that the academic rigour of autoethnographic studies should be established to enhance its credibility and value and that the criteria used need to be judiciously determined and applied.     

The problems and prospects in the teaching of mixed methods research

There are pedagogical challenges USA students and instructors face within mixed methods classrooms. Instructors of mixed methods are often self-taught, lacking adequate training in both qualitative and quantitative approaches to research. Students are not often trained in both research approaches. These dual training gaps can result in deep pedagogical issues compromising students’ ability to fully understand mixed methods research praxis and leaving teachers feeling ill equipped to address students’ learning concerns. To tackle the myriad of challenges confronted in the mixed methods classroom requires structural changes to the current way graduate training programs in social research methods are organized and taught. Developing a team-based teaching approach to mixed methods research that provides students with instructors who have the requisite qualitative and quantitative knowledge can serve as a pedagogical model that can begin at least to address the current methods and methodological skills gap in the teaching of mixed methods research.     

Research Methods with Disabled Populations

Abstract

Although social work and related fields need more research involving people with disabilities, such studies can pose special challenges due to lack of understanding of disability issues, the disempowerment and invisibility of many who are disabled, and communication barriers. This article discusses ways of eliminating bias and maintaining ethical safeguards when designing and conducting research on people with disabilities. Participatory action research, which engages those studied in the design and conduct of research, is discussed as a model, as is the use of qualitative methods. Recent methodological innovations in survey research with deaf populations are also described and illustrated.     

Performing Women: The Gendered Dimensions of the UK New Research Economy

This article explores the development and maintenance of familiar gendered employment patterns and practices in UK universities, which are exemplars of new modes of knowledge production, commodification and marketization. After discussing in detail the evidence of gender discrimination in UK higher education and the changes in the academic labour process consequent to the incorporation of universities, at least at the policy level, into the ‘knowledge economy’, institution‐specific data is used to highlight the gendered aspects of the research economy from the three intermeshing perspectives of research culture, research capital and the research production process. This nexus is constructed in such a way as to systematically militate against women's full and equal involvement in research. Lack of transparency, increased competition and lower levels of collegiate activity coupled with networking based on homosociability are contributing to a research production process where women are marginalized.     

Decolonising research in a Sub-Saharan African context: exploring Ubuntu as a foundation for research methodology,ethics and agenda

In all parts of the world, researchers are addressing the colonial legacy of research. This article aims to contribute to the decolonisation of research in a sub-Saharan African context by exploring Ubuntu as an indigenous Southern African research paradigm. Drawing on lessons learnt from participatory action research with South African science teachers and on Ubuntu research literature, I develop, and reflect on, characteristics of an Ubuntu research ethics, agenda and methodology. Understood as humanness, Ubuntu encompasses a dimension of becoming human and being human. Both dimensions are realised through lived community and respectful, caring relations with other living beings and the environment. Thus, ethical protocols evolve around relating positively to others. Ubuntu research agendas contribute to strengthening community and methodologies are community based, relational and participatory. The emphasis of the article is not on presenting Ubuntu research as categorically oppositional to conventional methodologies, but on an approach to research that is grounded in indigenous African epistemologies.     

Researching ethnic ‘others’: conducting critical ethnographic research in Australia and Scotland

In many parts of the world, classrooms are characterised by cultural and ethnic diversity. Increasingly, researchers are interested in exploring these rich and socially complex contexts. However, research into ‘the ethnic other’ can present complex ethical and methodological challenges. In this paper, the authors discuss, with reference to their respective studies in Australia and Scotland, their mission to give voice and agency to research participants and develop research relationships that reduce the power imbalance between researcher and researched. They conclude by suggesting that critical ethnographic research methods can assist in alleviating some of the difficulties inherent in research conducted in contexts where researchers are cultural outsiders. The authors also argue the need for protocols to be developed for research into ethnic minority communities.     

Using student subjects in experimental research: a challenge to the practice of using students as a proxy for taxpayers

The tax discipline has accepted the practice adopted in the economics and psychology disciplines of using student subjects for experimental research purposes. However, in other social science disciplines (e.g. accounting, management or consumer research), experimental research that uses students as a substitute for another group has been widely criticised as having little external validity. In this research, data are compiled from journal articles over a 20?year period to investigate the extent to which tax experiments use student subjects and the potential implications from this practice. Three research questions are addressed. First, do tax studies using student subjects justify or explain the use of student subjects? Second, are policy recommendations or other extrapolations to the tax-paying population made from the student subject results? Third, is any acknowledgement made of the potential limitations of using student subjects? The findings indicate that approximately half of the tax experiments investigated used student subjects. Of these, approximately 80% provided no justification for their chosen subject sample. A similar proportion did not acknowledge any limitations from the use of a student sample. Around half of the papers using student subjects extrapolated their findings to the general tax-paying population or provided tax policy recommendations. In addition, the research indicates that the tax discipline has not had the same level of robust debate on the use of student subjects in experimental research as that seen in other disciplines. This potentially limits the external validity and utility of many of the tax research experiments undertaken to date.     

Nothing to Fear? Thoughts on the History of Family Therapy and the Potential Contribution of Research

The aim of this plenary address is to advocate for the role that research can play in family therapy, with particular reference to our future as a field in Australia. I will argue: 1) that we have been in transition as a field in the past 15 years or so, from a fairly closed system, to one that is more amenable to holding itself to account through research; 2) that we hold a number of misconceptions about research that need to be explored if we are to continue; 3) that we need to develop a research agenda that is consistent with our values and 4) that there are a host of research methodologies that are consistent with our epistemologies and modes of practice.     

Reflections on doing participatory research in health: participation,method and power

The author has reflected on her experience in facilitating three participatory research (PR) projects to identify key issues surrounding participation, method and power. The three PR projects in health, all undertaken in the same region in southeast Australia, assessed the needs of women who have experienced breast cancer, evaluated an Indigenous healthy lifestyle programme and developed and documented a model of coordinated care by a consumer group. In particular, the three participatory projects suggested that participants do not always want to maximise their own participation and may prefer external researcher involvement – relationships, confidentiality, anonymity and time‐impacted perspectives of participation. In one study, quantitative methods were selected and time and previous knowledge of research shaped participants' selection of method. In the projects, power relations were complex and issues of negotiation, inclusion, quality of research, agendas, roles and integrity are discussed. The lessons learned here are that participatory researchers can be open to differing levels of participation and methods while also comfortable with sharing decision‐making in research, even if it alters the research outcome.     

Action‐Oriented Research: Strategies for Engaged Scholarship

Action‐oriented research is a methodological approach for doing collaborative research with practitioners and community partners that can inform practice, programs, community development, and policy while contributing to the scientific knowledge base. This article discusses how family scholars can use action‐oriented research to work together with community partners to address their need for useful information about their practices and programs. We present some practical strategies that can help guide the action‐oriented research process including how to develop collaborative relationships with community partners; suggestions for determining sound, action‐oriented research questions; guidelines for selecting and implementing appropriate research designs; and considerations regarding data collection and the dissemination of findings.     

Art,Science and Curiosity: Research and Research Methodologies in Australian Family Therapy 1979–2000

This article presents an historical analysis of the development of research and research methodologies in an Australian context. The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy was chosen as the site of the analysis. The first section of data consists of the articles that represent themselves as ‘research’ in the period from 1979 (the journal's inception) to 2000. These texts have been analysed using bibliometric analysis. The second section of data consists of commentary articles about research in family therapy. This data has been analysed using discourse analysis. Overall, I have been interested in how family therapists have defined ‘research’; how family therapists have chosen to inquire; representations of the researcher in Australian family therapy; associations between theoretical or clinical developments and the methodologies that have been chosen for inquiries. Findings from the study reveal very limited representations of research in the journal for the period under review, and an apparent struggle for family therapists to undertake a discussion about what research actually is. Questions are raised around how this has occurred, and some ideas are presented as to how research knowledges can be included in debates around theory diversity in family therapy.