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Biomedical subjects

M Sandelowski

Publications and source records attributed to M Sandelowski.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

On the aesthetics of qualitative research.

The longstanding debate concerning the credibility of qualitative work and the increasing interest in computerized systems for qualitative data are, arguably, manifestations of efforts to make qualitative research more closely resemble conventional science. Computer technology, in particular, is transforming the look and feel of qualitative work. Yet, qualitative research continues to convey the feeling tone of art. Although the sciences and the arts involve different aesthetics, they share common aesthetic criteria for evaluation, such as beauty and style. Recognition of the aesthetic in works of science and art suggests that both artistic and scientific canons of criticism be used for evaluating qualitative work.

Computers↗
PubMed1994

Notes on transcription.

The ontology of the transcript is both realistic and constructed. There is a theory and ethic implicit in the transcription process. Transcripts are accurate and useful to the extent that the researcher understands their constructed reality, the need to be selective concerning what about the interview event must be preserved, the potential uses for transcripts that will influence the selection process, and the need for a consistent notation system.

Data Collection↗
PubMed1994

The use of quotes in qualitative research.

Quoted words and phrases from research participants are a common feature of qualitative research reports. Quoting is a process that requires the achievement of the proper balance between the obligations of scientific reporting and the taking of artistic license. Quotes are used to support researcher claims, illustrate ideas, illuminate experience, evoke emotion, and provoke response. Quoting involves researchers in acts of choosing that lie in the domains of aesthetics and ethics.

Esthetics↗
PubMed1994

The epistemology of expectant parenthood.

A secondary analysis of information obtained from 288 interviews, conducted with 62 childbearing couples in the course of a qualitative and longitudinal study, suggests that much of the work of expectant parenthood is oriented toward getting to know the fetus. This article emphasizes the epistemological (as opposed to the emotional) relationship between parent and fetus.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

We are the stories we tell: narrative knowing in nursing practice.

In recent years, nurses have come to (re)value narrative knowing: the knowledge transmitted in the stories that human beings have told each other since the beginning. Narratives area generally understood to be stories with a certain dynamic structure and shape directed toward achieving wholeness, or health. In this article, the author considers why caregivers have become interested in narratives, the nature and function of stories for patients, the location of stories in the diagnostic and healing functions of the nurse, and the significance of stories for holistic nursing practice.

Autobiographies as Topic↗
PubMed1993

Theory unmasked: the uses and guises of theory in qualitative research.

The role of theory in qualitative research is variable and not always well understood. In this article, the uses and varied manifestations of theory at the substantive and paradigmatic levels of research, and as they pertain to different qualitative approaches, are described. Specific consideration is given to the varied sources, centrality, temporal placement, and functions of theory in qualitative research.

Nursing Research↗
PubMed1993

Rigor or rigor mortis: the problem of rigor in qualitative research revisited.

Issues are raised by the persistent concern with achieving rigor in qualitative research, including the rigidity that often characterizes the search for validity in qualitative work and the threat to validity that the search for reliability may pose. Member validation is highlighted as a technique that exemplifies not only the practical, but also the profoundly theoretical, representational, and even moral problems raised by all procedures aimed at ensuring the trustworthiness of qualitative work.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1991

Telling stories: narrative approaches in qualitative research.

There is a new attention across disciplines to narrative knowing--the impulse to story life events into order and meaning. In this paper, narrative is presented as a framework for understanding the subject and interview data in qualitative research. Examples of narrative approaches are offered, narrative analyses are contrasted with other kinds of qualitative analyses, and truth in narratives is considered.

Data Collection↗
PubMed1990

Pregnant moments: the process of conception in infertile couples.

This report is an explication of the process of conception in infertile couples as illuminated by 24 infertile couples and a comparison group of 6 couples with no fertility impairments. Employing techniques generic to grounded theory research, the investigators found that infertile couples lived conception as a series of biological and phenomenological moments. The process of biomedically-assisted conception consisted of three components including: (a) forcing conception; (b) resolving conceptional ambiguity; and (c) reconciling conception as an idea and as an event. The findings suggest the need for a re-examination of current orientations to pregnancy time and space and appraisal of couples' interpretations of conception. In addition, the convergence of the conception experiences of infertile and fertile couples raises questions about the meaning of normal conception in the current technological context of reproduction.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Artful design: writing the proposal for research in the naturalist paradigm.

The preparation of the research proposal for a study that involves an emergent research design compels the investigator to negotiate the paradox of planning what should not be planned in advance. This paper is a guide to writing the proposal for research in the naturalist paradigm, and includes illustrative sections of a proposal recently funded by the National Center for Nursing Research.

Data Collection↗
PubMed1989

Mazing: infertile couples and the quest for a child.

The overall purpose of the ongoing research project on which this report is based is to explore the transition to parenthood of infertile couples who achieve parenthood through adoption or biotechnical means. Mazing, the process of negotiating the paths to parenthood, was found to be a key component of that transition and the core variable that integrates the experiences of infertile couples after a period of trying but failing to have a child of their own on their own. The theory of mazing is grounded in information obtained from 40 couples who were designated for this study by means of theoretical sampling. Techniques generic to grounded theory research were employed; these included open-ended interviews, constant comparison and subject validation. Mazing, a recursive, iterative and resource-intensive process, includes (a) the construction of a calculus of pursuit, (b) six distinctive patterns of pursuit, and (c) the reframing of desire.

Decision Making↗
PubMed1988

A case of conflicting paradigms: nursing and reproductive technology.

This article addresses the paradigm conflict between nursing and reproductive technology. This technology is discussed as a conceptual system emphasizing fragmentation and distance, in contrast to the philosophical foundation of nursing, which aspires to holism and connection. The sensory modalities of sight, the paradigmatic sense of distance, and touch, the paradigmatic sense of connection, are considered as they highlight the conflict between nursing and reproductive technology. Particular attention is given to the techniques of ultrasonography and amniocentesis.

Amniocentesis↗
PubMed1986

Cesarean birth outside the natural childbirth culture.

The meaning of cesarean birth to women who are not typical members of the natural childbirth culture was examined. Fifty women who received obstetric care in a public inner-city hospital serving the medically indigent and who sought minimal preparation for childbirth were interviewed. The findings suggest that the women used distancing behaviors prenatally and postdelivery to cope with the idea and reality of cesarean birth. In addition, the women did not display the psychic wounding following cesarean birth reported by natural childbirth followers.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

The problem of rigor in qualitative research.

There are few explicit discussions in nursing literature of how qualitative research can be made as rigorous as it is relevant to the perspective and goals of nursing. Four factors complicate the debate about the scientific merits of qualitative research: the varieties of qualitative methods, the lack of clear boundaries between quantitative and qualitative research, the tendency to evaluate qualitative research against conventional scientific criteria of rigor, and the artistic features of qualitative inquiry. A framework for understanding the similarities and differences in research approaches and a summary of strategies to achieve rigor in qualitative research are presented.

Humans↗