Purposeful sampling in qualitative research synthesis

Informed decisions about sampling are critical to improving the quality of research synthesis. Even though several qualitative research synthesists have recommended purposeful sampling for synthesizing qualitative research, the published literature holds sparse discussion on how different strategies for purposeful sampling may be applied to a research synthesis. In primary research, Patton is frequently cited as an authority on the topic of purposeful sampling. In Patton’s original texts that are referred to in this article, Patton does not make any suggestion of using purposeful sampling for research synthesis. This article makes a unique contribution to the literature by examining the adaptability of each of Patton’s 16 purposeful sampling strategies to the process of qualitative research synthesis. It illuminates how different purposeful sampling strategies might be particularly suited to constructing multi-perspectival, emancipatory, participatory and deconstructive interpretations of published research.

Parental influences on the diets of 2- to 5-year-old children: systematic review of qualitative research

Parents have a major influence on young children's diets, food choices and habit formation. However, research concerning parental influence on children's diets is limited. Qualitative research informs quantitative research with a narrative of 'what works' and is a valuable tool to inform intervention design and practice. This article presents a systematic review of qualitative research with parents of preschool children and their influence on their child's diet. Nine studies were identified. Findings highlight the need to promote culturally tailored programmes to combat specific cultural differences such as attitudes; perceptions and concerns; address common barriers to providing healthy foods and challenges faced by lower income families; the use of food to shape a child's behaviour; that children will grow out of excess weight; common misconceptions such as a heavier child is healthier and depriving a child's food request could result in starvation. Research on parental understanding of healthy diets and feeding practices is lacking. Further insights into how to positively influence children's diets will come from research examining parent feeding practices and nutrition knowledge. © The Author(s) 2013.

Mothers' experiences of child support: qualitative research and opportunities for policy insight

Child support is one of the defining and under-studied elements of single mothering in contemporary Australia. However, the Australian Child Support Scheme is marked by high levels of debt and unreliable, partial and non-payment, which exacerbate mothers' financial insecurity. Most Australian child support research has focused on the amounts and outcomes of payments. Little is known about how and why mothers and fathers make the child support decisions they do. In this paper, we synthesise data from three interview studies with mothers who were due to receive child support to assess whether they experienced the system as intended. We compare the experience of child support policy 'on the books' with its experience by mothers 'on the ground'. A qualitative approach to mothers' experiences of child support highlights the social meaning of that money and the importance of understanding its transfer and use as embedded in social relations.

Swimming lessons : learning, new materialisms, posthumanism, and post qualitative research emerge through a pool poem

This article shifts from the formal learning spaces of school anduniversity to an Australian public swimming pool to playfullyengage some of the dilemmas that recent theory poses forcurriculum studies. The article enacts multiple diffractions(Barad, 2007) as theory becomes swimming and swimmingbecomes theory, and ideas and movements are themselvesdiffracted or changed by the writing of a poem. What does thepool teach us? What is learnt at the pool? How does learningemerge at the pool? Physics, chemistry, biology, and artistrycombine, as multiple human and non-human bodies intra-act(Barad, 2007), calling each other into being in this exploration ofhow distributed agencies and fractal causalities (Bennett, 2010)change how learning might be thought, represented, andswum. The poem incorporated here serves as provocation andinspiration for other scholars struggling with these educationaldilemmas and interested in arts-based research.

"Beyond number crunching" : applying qualitative techniques in sport marketing research

Valid and reliable research is pivotal to successful sport marketing strategy. Market research may be gathered via either quantitative or qualitative means. This paper explores the theoretical background and practical applications of qualitative research techniques. It explains the appropriate context for qualitative approaches, and discusses sampling procedures with particular emphasis on the powerful but simple technique known as theoretical sampling. In addition, it clarifies and explores data analysis procedures. The purpose of this paper is to provide sport market research practitioners with a model for implementing qualitative methodologies in sport marketing campaigns.

Using a qualitative approach to research to build trust between a non-Aboriginal researcher and Aboriginal participants (Australia)

This article focuses on the qualitative methodologies employed in a research project developed in collaboration with Aboriginal advisors and gaining an in-depth understanding of Aboriginal Victorian peoples' connection to their ancestral lands. It outlines why qualitative methodologies were used and highlights the ethical dimensions of working with Aboriginal Victorian communities. A research partnership was developed between Aboriginal Victorian communities and the non-Aboriginal researcher and this process was emphasised because in the past Australian Indigenous people have been grossly exploited in health research. The methods of semi-structured interviews and focus groups were used to gain a better understanding of this topic. The novel point of this article is that it provides an honest reflection of the benefits and limitations of this qualitative research process from the perspectives of a non-Aboriginal researcher and an Aboriginal participant, when emphasis is placed on a collaborative approach. The paper outlines what a successful qualitative research project looks like in Victorian Aboriginal communities. This can be used as a blueprint not only for working with Victorian Aboriginal communities, who have been marginalised within Australian society, but may also be relevant to other culturally diverse communities throughout the world.

Reliability assessments in qualitative health promotion research

This article contributes to the debate about the use of reliability assessments in qualitative research in general, and health promotion research in particular. In this article, I examine the use of reliability assessments in qualitative health promotion research in response to health promotion researchers’ commonly held misconception that reliability assessments improve the rigor of qualitative research. All qualitative articles published in the journal Health Promotion International from 2003 to 2009 employing reliability assessments were examined. In total, 31.3% (20/64) articles employed some form of reliability assessment. The use of reliability assessments increased over the study period, ranging from ,20% in 2003/2004 to 50% and above in 2008/2009, while at the same time the total number of qualitative articles decreased. The articles were then classified into four types of reliability assessments, including the verification of thematic codes, the use of inter-rater reliability statistics, congruence in team coding and congruence in coding across sites. The merits of each type were discussed, with the subsequent discussion focusing on the deductive nature of reliable thematic coding, the limited depth of immediately verifiable data and the usefulness of such studies to health promotion and the advancement of the qualitative paradigm.

Qualitative and historiometric methods in leadership research: a review of the first 25 years of the leadership quarterly

In the spirit of the 25th anniversary edition of The Leadership Quarterly, as the world's premier outlet for leadership research, we have reviewed qualitative and historiometric research across those 25. years. Qualitative research is a complex and cluttered area of scholarship. This is not because there is an inherent confusion about it. Rather, it is because 'qualitative' research is a cover-all term for a wide range of research strategies, paradigms, parent disciplines, sources of data, and methods of analysis for them. More so than in previous journal review articles, we explored variation in qualitative analysis as well as variety in qualitative data. In terms of methodologies, our efforts concentrated on case study, content analysis, grounded theory and historiometrics. We also examined trends toward post-positivism, post-modernity and liquid modernity, and their resultant benefits for researching leadership. Future directions for leadership research are posited. © 2013 Elsevier Inc.

The essential role of social theory in qualitative public health research

OBJECTIVE: To define the role of social theory and examine how research studies using qualitative methods can use social theory to generalize their results beyond the setting of the study or to other social groups. APPROACH: The assumptions underlying public health research using qualitative methods derive from a range of social theories that include conflict theory, structural functionalism, symbolic interactionism, the sociology of knowledge and feminism. Depending on the research problem, these and other social theories provide conceptual tools and models for constructing a suitable research framework, and for collecting and analysing data. In combination with the substantive health literature, the theoretical literature provides the conceptual bridge that links the conclusions of the study to other social groups and settings. CONCLUSION: While descriptive studies using qualitative research methods can generate important insights into social experience, the use of social theory in the construction and conduct of research enables researchers to extrapolate their findings to settings and groups broader than the ones in which the research was conducted.

Equal to life: empowerment through drama and research in a drama group for people with disabilities

This article draws from findings of qualitative research of a community- based drama and theatre group for adults with intellectual disabilities. The article considers constraints experienced by people with disabilities and explores the ways that experiences in drama and theatre can be particularly empowering for them. The article also reveals the ways that participants can increasingly become collaborators in the research and are empowered through the research process and through the opportunity to have their voices heard.

Marketing research performance and strategy

Purpose - To investigate whether strategic orientation affects the evaluation of specific market research projects in for-profit firms.
Design/methodology/approach - A small-scale follow-up survey was conducted, building on qualitative and quantitative research among a sample of the top-1,000 marketing managers in Australia. The study used an existing market research evaluation tool, the USER scale and items generated from the qualitative research, to investigate the firm's most recent market research project.
Findings - Four market research performance factors were identified - market research as a knowledge enhancing (KE) function, the internal political use of market research, the misuse of market research and the generation of market understanding. The Miles and Snow strategy types were related to these factors, with Prospector types more likely to use market research rationally and less likely to use it for internal political purposes. Tactical projects were more likely to be misused than were those with a strategic orientation. Prospectors were far less likely and analysers far more likely to misuse tactical research projects. Prospectors were more often satisfied with the performance of their most recent market research. The Porter typology was less successful in predicting market research performance.
Research limitations/implications - The study was based on a small sample of market research projects in Australian for-profit firms. Future studies need to study these phenomena more intensively using ethnographic methods and more extensively using larger multi-country samples.
Practical implications - Market research suppliers should learn the nature of their client's strategic intent to improve their effectiveness. Defender firms should carefully monitor the use of market research, especially that of a tactical nature, which may be wasted or misused.
Originality/value - Contributes to an understanding of how strategic orientation relates to the ways market research information is used within the firm.

The role of the board in building strategic capability: towards an integrated model of sport governance research

Governance is a critical issue confronting sport organisations. Its importance in the management of sport organisations has been heightened due to the transition of many sports from predominantly volunteer administered organisations anchored in an amateur ethos, to professionally managed entities catering to a more sophisticated sport marketplace. This paper identifies four elements from the sport governance literature as the key research foci to date: shared leadership, board motivation, board roles, and board structure. Four generic themes (performance, conformance, policy and operations) are also examined and expressed as governance capabilities. The strategic role and performance of the board, while central to the practice of governance, is shown to be a weakness in many sport organisations. Further, the strategic role of the board is underdeveloped in the sport management and governance research literature. Finally, it is noted that the governance literature is shaped by a normative and prescriptive approach that may not fully encompass the diversity that exists within the sport setting. The paper concludes by identifying and affirming the critical gaps in our knowledge of sport governance. Future work should seek to understand sector-specific considerations, such as non-profit and commercial differences in sport; governance designs in response to changing environmental conditions; the impact of the CEO on the board's strategic contributions; and strategic activity by the board. More use of qualitative research methods to probe such issues is recommended

Capturing the ephemeral : reflection-in-action as research

This paper considers two different methodological approaches to 'capturing' and analysing reflection-in-action in process drama teaching. Reflection-in-action, the 'thinking on your feet' that drama teachers constantly do, is ephemeral and difficult to record. In the first project discussed here, a teacher researcher study, examines the problem of representing the reflection-in-action, working around the central question of 'How can I as a researcher describe and document my reflection-in- action when working as a teacher in process drama?' The second project, an interview-based research project', developed some of the findings of the first study through a series of interviews with drama practitioners. This paper considers these methodological approaches in terms of the possibilities they provide, the limitations for the study of reflection-in- action in process drama and some possible applications of the approaches investigated for future drama research