Interviews in Qualitative Research

This paper, under the conference theme of ‘pedagogy,’ will discuss the findings of a qualitative research project that explored the impact of university teaching practices that use life and oral history methodology. The analysis relied on student impact statements as well as instructor assessments. It was conducted over 10 courses that focused on teaching students to conduct life and oral history interviews. The findings of the research demonstrated that focusing on training students to ‘listen’ while gathering stories was as an effective means of developing agency and confidence particularly among women students, while also giving voice to community members often not included in official records. While oral history is not a new methodology, the study found that students experienced it as a most radical practice that held space for inclusive dialogue, self-reflection and a reassessment and reconstruction of dominant stories and narratives. Women and other marginalized peoples’ complex lives have typically been invisible. Providing student researchers with the opportunity to engage directly with community members in retelling their life stories was an opportunity for them to be portrayed in more dynamic and complex ways. It was also a way for students to become active listeners and learners, and to feel inspired to become engaged civic actors in the future. As one student noted, this form of “research gives voice to those who are rarely heard, but have the most important and telling social commentaries to offer… my experience has been amazing… I plan to reach out and hear more voices because I have grown a stronger passion for listening.” Teaching students to ‘listen’ through conducting oral histories is a method that is transferable to learning across disciplines.

This chapter shows the importance of research in applied linguistics. The chapter defines applied linguistics and explains the crucial function of research in this field. This defines teaching methods, laws, and interpretations for acquiring a language through definition and description. It consists of a section that discusses research methodologies in the area and language acquisition including quantitative as well as qualitative methods. Moreover, the chapter explains how different approaches are used to assess language teaching and learning environments including education and other factors that influence human knowledge. Finally, the chapter underscores the role played by research in applied linguistics urging for more investigations to improve understanding of language in daily life contexts.

I assessed the value of life history studies as an approach to evaluating the impact of recent clearfell logging on pond breeding frogs. I conducted a number of distinct studies investigating different aspects of amphibian life history in response to logging using Crinia signifera and Litoria ewingii as my model species. Life history studies were successfully able to: ‚Äöassess breeding site suitability for L. ewingii-by correlating habitat components with life history traits and fitness. Breeding ponds that maximised the fitness of L. ewingii were higher elevation ponds with reduced shading, steeper bank slopes and reduced pond isolation. The outcomes of the study enabled me to provide management guidelines for the construction of ponds designed to maximise the fitness of target species. ‚Äödetermine the consequences of decreased shading associated with vegetation removal around permanent and ephemeral ponds for larval fitness in L. ewingii. Increased shading around permanent ponds resulted in reduced survival. Increased shading in ephemeral ponds resulted in decreased developmental rate and a higher variation in size at metamorphosis. The outcome of the study provided guidelines for vegetation management around breeding sites. ‚Äöinvestigate landscape use of the commercially managed forest by Crinia signifera in order to determine the fraction of the forest used as habitat, the effect of logging upon movement through the forest, and the consequences for reproductive output. Crinia signifera was distributed widely throughout the forest landscape for up to 500 m around each permanent breeding site. Ponds surrounded by unlogged forest were colonized almost two times faster than ponds surrounded by logged forest. AS a result, total reproductive output at unlogged ponds was double that of ponds surrounded by recently logged coupes. ‚Äö demonstrate that loggingi can affect maternal reproductive investment and offspring fitness in both Crinia signifera and Litoria ewingii. Eggs were collected from ponds located in either logged or tmlogged forest and raised to metamorphosis under common laboratory conditions. Egg size was greater at unlogged than logged sites for both species. For L. ewingii, size at hatching was also greater at unlogged sites; but for C. signifera size at hatching was independent of logging treatment. For L. ewingii, survival to metamorphosis was greater at logged sites. For C. signifera survival at metamorphosis did not differ with logging treatment despite greater survival at hatching in eggs from logged sites. confirm that fluctuating asymmetry has limitations as an indicator of ecosystem stress and the population health of C. signifera in response to logging. The findings indicate a decrease in fluctuating asymmetry (and implied environmental stress) but also a decrease in body size and body condition (i.e. fitness) as a result of logging. There was no significant relationship between the levels of subtle asymmetry in individuals and the following life history traits: clutch size, clutch dry mass, average egg dry mass, oviduct dry mass, testes size, age, body size and body condition. My research confirms that logging significantly influences the life history of L. ewingii and C. signifera. I argue that, by linking changes in life history traits with assessments of fitness, life history studies can be used to understand why species respond to logging in the ways they do. In this way, life history studies can provide data on which to base constructive, defensible recommendations for the ecologically sustainable management of commercial forests with regard to the frog species that use them. Life history studies are a valid experimental approach that can be used to redress the data deficit relating to the impact of logging on amphibians in Australia.

Preview this article: What motivates Applied Linguistics research?, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/aila.27.05pal-1.gif

During the 2008-09 academic year, the Commission on Telematics and New Technologies of the American Association of Teachers of French marked the end of the decade by conducting a national survey of AATF members' use(s) of new technologies in the curriculum. The results reported in this article suggest that respondents prefer established (i.e., older, more familiar) software and applications for a variety of reasons, many of which are unknown. However, respondents' attitudes toward trying and/or using new applications appear positive. Based on the results of the survey, the Commission will continue to pursue ways to promote technology in language learning.

Based on an oral history study that retrospectively explores the life histories of former orphans in the city of Ghent (Belgium) after the Second World War, we analyse and critique the role of historical research in the current apology trend. Due to the crucial role of (oral) history in these out-of-home care inquiries, these official public apologies, offered by the state as an attempt to come to terms with the past, deserve some specific academic attention in social work research. By inquiring into historical abuse in child welfare and educational institutions, governments of the Western world attempt to close a rather dark chapter in their national histories. Relying on research insights emerging from our research project with formerly orphaned children, we argue that it is impossible to puzzle together one common historical narrative. Moreover, we discovered that the history of the Ghent orphanages is still very much debated and alive more than 35 years after their doors were closed. In this article, we tease out how life histories can play a role in Western welfare states today. We therefore explore the relevance of the notion of ‘presence’ in order to rethink the relationship between the past and the present.

Oral life history narratives are a promising method to promote person-centered values of personhood and belonging. This project used resident oral history interviews to educate staff members in an assisted-living setting about personhood. A single group pre-post test design evaluated impacts on 37 staff members to assess their use of resident videotaped oral history interviews and impacts on their perceived knowledge of residents. Perceived knowledge of residents declined (p = .003) between pretest and posttest. Older staff members were less likely to view a video. Staff members are interested in resident oral history biographies and identify them as helpful for delivering care. Oral history methods might provide an opportunity for staff members to promote personhood by allowing them to expand their understanding of resident preferences, values, and experiences.

Chapter 19 - Life histories in groundwater organisms

Behavioral Factors, Stressful Life Changes and Depression in Heart Patients: Infarction Study Some Results from the South-Limburg Life History and Myocardial

The Place of Research on Memory-Based Knowledge. Theories, Practices and Change The volume is a comprehensive handbook of oral history and memory studies in Finland. The Finnish research field has originally emerged at the collaborative intersection of history, folklore studies, and ethnology. Since then, this field has developed into vibrant multi- and cross-disciplinary arena characterized by a strong focus on methodological issues related to memory in culture and theoretical engagement with studies on narration and processes of remembering. The chapters of the book explore the perspectives on the production of memory-based knowledge in oral history interviews and collection campaigns of written reminiscences. Moreover, the book introduces versatile methodological approaches to the study of memory and memories, ranging from narrative to corpus analysis, and investigates the multiple media of remembrance from documentary film to museum exhibition. The chapters of the book also engage the field’s disciplinary position and interrogate the potentials and challenges related to the application of the methods of oral history research and the use of memory-based knowledge beyond academia in political, societal, and community-based projects.

Quantitative applied linguistics research often takes place in restricted settings of an intact language classroom, workplace, phonetics laboratory or longitudinal sample. In such settings the samples tend to be small, which raises several methodological problems. The main aim of the current paper is to give a detailed explanation of methodological and practical implications inherent in a robust statistical method called bootstrapped quantile regression (BQR) analysis. Importantly for applied linguistics research, the BQR method could help to deal with methodological difficulties inherent in small sample studies. The current study employed a moderately small sample (N = 27) of students learning the Japanese language in a Malaysian public university. It examined the relationships between the students’ language learning motivation (specifically, integrative orientation), the students’ images or stereotypes about Japan and their global attitudes toward the target language country and its people. The findings indicated that there was a statistically significant relationship between the students’ attitudes toward the target language country and their integrative orientation. In addition, these attitudes were found to be the most constant determinant of the integrative orientation. Besides the applied linguistics research, the BQR method can be used in a variety of the human sciences research where a sample size is small.

Oral history, life history, and biography are three approaches to qualitative inquiry that share certain characteristics. At the same time, each has a unique flavor and set of goals and meaning. Narrative in style, all three approaches can often use video or photography and more recently use found data poetry, and thus multiple text analysis is often warranted. These three sister approaches have in common the end result of capturing the lived experience of an individual or a collective of individuals by telling stories. In other words, we are investigating subjectivity that is human lived experience. My reference point to distinguish among the three approaches is that of the theoretical approach of the researcher, and the statement of the researcher defining the selected approach. In this chapter I will describe and explain the three approaches and discuss the relative merits and generous contributions of each approach. Next I will discuss the touchstones and criteria for reviewing oral history, life history, and biography. In fairness I will also need to talk about narrative storytelling, a technique closely associated with these three approaches and with qualitative work in general. In addition, since this is the digital era, near the end of this chapter I will list some resources available for free on the internet through listservs, blogs, YouTube, and other sites that can enhance our understanding of oral history, life history, and biography. Finally, I look at the power and possibility of all three approaches in terms of informing social justice projects in the social sciences. Likewise, wherever possible I will add web resources for understanding these approaches because the internet is exploding with oral history and life history projects on YouTube, Myspace, Second Life, and Facebook. Wherever possible I will also include relevant blogs such as the one on institutional review, www.institutionalreviewblog.com. The requirements of any institutional review board become critical when doing oral history, life history, or biography because of the debates within the field of oral history over whether or not oral history is research. In fact, there is a federal statement on this excluding oral history from IRB review. As a result, many oral historians have taken to writing about this and as you might imagine there is a wide range of opinions. Some say all one needs is a signed consent form and others say just do the IRB review or both.

Applied Linguistics research, teacher-research and scholarship with adult language learners who are migrants holds ethical challenges in relation to social and political contexts that are under-examined in the TESOL/Applied Linguistics literature and in practice. The critical exploration in this chapter addresses this gap. With examples from participatory research-and-practice initiatives in the UK, the chapter advocates a critical participatory approach towards research, one that is oriented towards the promotion of social justice. Such an approach can support the empowerment of participants as they respond to challenging and unethical policy landscapes: through their active participation in research, learners and practitioners may be better equipped with the tools they need for resistance and change. First, the authors describe how language education researchers working with adult migrants have adopted a reflexive, critical and activist orientation towards their work. They then discuss research that relates to practice which is not attendant on top-down policy moves, and which itself might inform a critical, emancipatory orientation towards policy formation. To end, they reflect further on the notion of research that empowers, and the impact this might have on policy and practice.

Ryuko Kubota is a professor of language and literacy education at the University of British Columbia who has long advocated a more critical approach to many aspects of TESOL and applied linguistics research, she is well‐known for her contributions to the field of second language writing, as well as her scholarship and advocacy in the areas of race, racism, and anti‐racism in applied linguistics, as well as her application of critical and postcolonial theory to issues in second language writing and second language education. The common threads throughout her work over the last three decades include pushing back on cultural essentialism; an insistence on bringing a clearer, more accurate, and more nuanced understanding of the marginalization of second language learners, speakers, teachers, and scholars; the reasons for that marginalization; and an analysis of liberal or neoliberal ideologies in applied linguistics from an explicitly critical, anti‐racist perspective.

Identity has emerged as an important construct in applied linguistics research, including investigations of additional language learning and teaching, multilingualism, migration and globalization, and several other areas of study examining the role of language in investigating and solving real‐world problems. Two complementary theorizations of identity—Norton's poststructuralist framework and Bucholtz and Hall's sociocultural framework—have continued to inform investigations of the ways in which language practices shape and are shaped by identity construction in language educational settings. This entry elaborates on poststructuralist and social constructionist theorizations of identity and presents examples of recent empirical studies in language teaching and learning contexts that reflect the mutually constitutive nature of language and identity. The chapter ends with a brief discussion of future directions for researching identity in language education.