Implementing a triangulation protocol in bereavement research: a methodological discussion

Triangulation is a comparative strategy for examining data that strengthens qualitative and multi-method research. Despite the benefits of triangulation noted in the research methods literature, few concrete models for operationalization of protocols exist. Lack of documentation of explicit triangulation procedures is especially true in the area of bereavement research. This article describes how an interdisciplinary research team implemented a triangulation protocol in a study of the needs of bereaved parents. Triangulation enabled the integration of diverse data sources, methods, and disciplinary perspectives. These processes yielded a more meaningful typology of bereaved parents' needs than would have otherwise been possible. Extending the use of triangulation will enhance multi-faceted understandings of bereavement.     

Conceptual and design issues in instrument development for research with bereaved parents

Many childhood deaths in the United States occur in pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) and parents have special needs in this death context. As an interdisciplinary research team, we discuss conceptual and design issues encountered in creating a new instrument, the Bereaved Parent Needs Assessment-PICU, for assessing parents' needs in this setting. Using a qualitative approach, our team previously explored how the culture and related ways of providing care in one urban Midwestern children's hospital PICU affected parents' bereavement needs and experiences. We describe using this qualitative foundation in the development of a new quantitative instrument to more widely validate and measure bereaved parents' needs around the time of a child's death across multiple PICUs. We highlight a series of issues that warrant consideration in designing a research instrument for this vulnerable population including setting and context, format and content, temporality, recruitment, and content expertise.     

Semi‐Parametric Models for the Multivariate Tail Dependence Function – the Asymptotically Dependent Case

Abstract. In general, the risk of joint extreme outcomes in financial markets can be expressed as a function of the tail dependence function of a high‐dimensional vector after standardizing marginals. Hence, it is of importance to model and estimate tail dependence functions. Even for moderate dimension, non‐parametrically estimating a tail dependence function is very inefficient and fitting a parametric model to tail dependence functions is not robust. In this paper, we propose a semi‐parametric model for (asymptotically dependent) tail dependence functions via an elliptical copula. Under this model assumption, we propose a novel estimator for the tail dependence function, which proves favourable compared to the empirical tail dependence function estimator, both theoretically and empirically.     

Special considerations in conducting bereavement focus groups

Focus groups conducted with grieving people pose special challenges. However, this method can be successfully used in bereavement research especially when group interaction is central to the research aim. This article builds on key articles discussing ethical, methodological, logistical, and analytical issues in conducting focus groups with vulnerable populations (Owen, 2001; Seymour, Bellamy, Gott, Ahmedzai, & Clark, 2002). For bereaved people, vulnerability stems from heightened potential for harm by virtue of participation in sensitive, personal exploration of death-related experiences. We discuss reasons for selecting focus group methods and our experiences with planning and implementing focus groups with bereaved people. Issues found to be highly salient in our work include: team composition, participant recruitment, creating the environment, starting and ending the group, language and listening, managing emotional discussions and time, and analytic considerations. Recommendations are made for effectively using focus groups to generate new knowledge in bereavement research.     

Scheduling professionals in the retail pharmacy chain

To control operating costs, a zero-one integer programming model is developed to assist pharmacy staff scheduling decisions. Variable scheduling needs are met by the assignment of relief (mobile) pharmacists to help or temporarily replace full-time pharmacists. Assignments of relief pharmacists over a two-week planning horizon are determined with consideration given to variations in wage rates and travel costs together with the underlying corporate, contractual and operating constraints. The developed model has been applied with considerable success using data collected from a business district in the US located in northern Louisiana related to a national retail chain pharmacy. Forecasting the number of chain retail outlets in the near future has been also performed and the results obtained argue in favor of adopting the model by the entire chain.