Pragmatic post‐structuralism (I): participant observation and discourse in evaluating violence intervention

This paper discusses the process and merits of a post‐structuralist approach to participant observation and describes the use of this research strategy in evaluating a community based ‘stopping violence’ programme. While the participant observation research strategy is commonly employed as a ‘process evaluation’ method (Rossi and Freeman, 1993 ) it's role within a distinctly post‐structuralist programme is a novel application of a well‐established research strategy. This has significant implications for how social scientists may approach both participant observation and evaluation in the future. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A methodology for the capture and analysis of hybrid data: A case study of program debugging

This article describes a methodology for the capture and analysis of hybrid data. A case study in the field of reasoning with multiple representations—specifically, in computer programming—is presented to exemplify the use of the methodology. The hybrid data considered comprise computer interaction logs, audio recordings, and data about visual attention focus. The capture of the focus of visual attention data is performed with software. The software employed tracks the user’s visual attention by blurring parts of the stimuli presented on the screen and allowing the participant to see only a small region of it at any one time. These hybrid data are analyzed via a methodology that combines qualitative and quantitative approaches. The article describes the software tool employed and the analytic methodology, and also discusses data capture issues and limitations of the approach.     

Researching the Use of Psychoanalysis in Narrative Inquiries

Human lives are inherently storied. It is the story or narrative of life which allows for arriving at “meanings”, “feel”, “sense” of our and others’ lives. The present article is abstracted from a psychoanalytically informed, qualitative research work endeavouring to explore and understand identity dynamics in the lives of young men and women. It is an attempt to provide insights into the psychoanalytic methodology of studying lives. It tries to respond to the methodology-related concerns like: How does the researcher understand the participant’s communication? What is the role of theory in research? Does the participant speak in a singular voice? Is it possible to map through the participant’s biography, a cultural biography as well? These concerns are addressed through a life story of an Indian young man interviewed as a part of a research project and interweaving it with available models of interpretations. In doing so, the author has retained and reflected a self-reflexive consciousness. The article, rather than engaging in theoretical debates, presents a researcher’s meaning-making journey of reaching questions and finding answers. It also provides an overview of the utility of psychoanalysis for qualitative research.     

The homosexual subculture at worship: A participant observation study

The author worked for ten months as Director of Christian Education at a church serving the homophile community of a large metropolitan area. Using the method of participant observation, he concluded that the group is attempting to solve two problems centering on their sexual orientation and their religious needs. Past social conditioning has told the group that they cannot be bothChristian andhomosexual. The group resolves this cognitive dissonance by emphasizing the message that God loves all men, including homosexuals. This religious message is, contrary to expectations, expressed in theologically conservative language.     

Facteurs d’invention,de dissémination et de diffusion d’une innovation : leçons d’une triple étude de cas

The aim of this article is to identify the factors facilitating the invention, dissemination and diffusion phases of the innovation process. An action-research was conducted in a hospital setting using mixed methods (participant observation, interviews and questionnaires). A triple case study illustrated the invention of a change management methodology, its dissemination using an interactive learning strategy and its diffusion within and outside the organization. Ten factors from various research traditions emerged. No model was able to explain all factors facilitating one phase. Phases of the innovation process were carried out dynamically, as a continuously reactivated process.     

Participant roles and the processing of verbs during sentence comprehension

This paper explores the nature of thematic information made available when a verb is accessed during sentence comprehension. Following Shapiro, Zurif, and Grimshaw (1987), a cross-modal lexical decision (interference) task was employed to examine whether either the number of argument structures or the number of participant (thematic) roles inherent in a verb cause an increase in processing load upon access of the verb. It was determined that there was no evidence for such an increased processing load covarying with the number of argument structures of the verb, at least for those verb types examined in this study. However, there was an increase in processing load as a direct function of the number of participant roles carried by the verb. It is concluded that the participant roles (thematic roles associated with the central meaning of the verb) are stored with the representation of a verb and are made immediately, available upon access of the verb for further processing during comprehension.The first author gratefully acknowledges discussion and advice from Adele Goldberg and the support of grant T32 DC 00041 in pursuing this work. The second author acknowledges the support of NIH grant RO1 DC00494 for the work presented in this paper, and the helpful comments and criticisms of a reviewer.     

A qualitative understanding of reflective-teams II: Therapists' perspectives

A research team developed and asked questions to a reflective-team about their clinical practice. The purpose of the questions was to better understand reflective-team members' experiences, beliefs, and aspirations. A participant/observation methodology was used in formulating the questions to the therapists. Therapists stated that reflective-teams were valuable in resolving impasses, developing multiple perspectives on clients' problems, and encouraging interaction among team members, but were problematic if clients were unaccustomed to team practice or if there were physically too many people in the interviewing room. Therapists believed that reflective-teams as a team practice was not practical in typical practice settings.     

Expanding the View: The Lives of Women With Severe Work Disabilities in Context

The purpose of this investigation was to explore the ways that women with severe work disabilities (SWDs) attributed meaning to their lives, experiences, and decisions. The author used qualitative research methodology and grounded theory procedures to analyze data obtained from videotaped interviews, discussion of videotaped interviews, and prolonged and persistent participant observations to shed light on the lives and experiences of women with SWDs, a previously understudied group. Implications for counseling are discussed.     

One Parent-Child Activity Group

Abstract

The framework that the author developed for parent-child activity groups is described. This is followed by “snapshots” of a group session to enhance the readers' understanding of the framework. Excerpts of the author's logs from her participant observation of the parent-child activity group that she studied are organized sequentially to provide examples of each part of a parent-child activity group session.     

The subjective and irreproducible character of direct experience

Summary The author discusses the subjective and irreproducible character of the method of direct experience, which is the ground of the acceptance of observation statements. It is also shown how this method forms a part of the method of arriving at universal statements on the basis of experience without depriving the latter of its intersubjective and reproducible character.     

From handicap to handy capable: training systemic therapists in use of self

This article describes and discusses the rationale for an experiential methodology to help trainees expand their repertoire of behaviors in clinical situations. The goal in addressing the trainee's personal, "handicapping" responses is to pay attention to "how" a therapist is perceived, "why" a therapist has certain blindspots, and "what" the therapist does to co-create a therapeutic impasse. In addition, experientially considering the impact of self encourages therapists to "learn to learn" that they are an active, resourceful participant in the evolutionary process of the therapeutic system.     

Self-help and child abuse: Victims,victimizers, and the development of self-control

Study of child abusers reveals that many victimizers were once victims and that the behaviors underlying the perspectives of victims and victimizers are related. Three groups of abusing parents using directed self-help were studied at Parents Anonymous by participant observation methodology for two and-a-half years. Four of the 52 participating parents read and commented on a draft of the research. Their violence appeared to be an attempt to gain a sense of control or to deal with the frustration of not feeling in control. Suggestions are made for developing social services that enhance individuals' sense of control.Paper presented at the Groves Conference on Marriage and the Family, London, England, July, 1986.     

Developing a federal policy on research misconduct

Since April 1996, the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), in collaboration with the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) in the Executive Office of the President, has been leading the development of a government-wide Federal policy for research misconduct. The author is a Senior Policy Analyst in the Office of Science and Technology Policy and a participant in this process. This paper places the NSTC/OSTP effort in historical context, outlines the process by which the policy will be finalized, and discusses the principal issues raised during the policy development process.     

On validating observation statements

Summary The author discusses various concepts of observation statements, subjecting to closer examination that concept according to which an observation statement is a statement with all terms interpreted directly. The logical analysis of direct interpretation, identified with the so called ostensive definition, results in the conclusion that the denotation of predicates is determined by this procedure in a very slight degree. Consequently, observation statements affirming a predicate so interpreted of objects not identical with the standard objects referred to in the ostensive definition cannot be validated.     

Psychospiritual Resiliency: Enhancing Mental Health and Ecclesiastical Collaboration in Caring for Those Experiencing Dissociative Phenomena

Trauma can oftentimes be a catalyst for changes in an individual’s religious and spiritual beliefs. Beliefs about the cause of the trauma, for instance, may include attributions of possessing spirits, and are to be found in an increasingly pluralistic and multicultural society. Such preternatural explanations may be referred to as dissociative identity disorder, possession form. Unwittingly, an overreliance on neurobiological explanations and relegation of cultural idioms of distress may diminish effective collaboration with ecclesiastical authorities. Concomitantly, ecclesiastical experts are confronted with bewildering posttrauma dissociative symptomatology, and may not be prepared as diagnosticians to rule out psychobiological explanations. In both instances, client care may be compromised. Noteworthy, the current investigation integrates the author’s participant observation research at the Vatican’s school of Exorcism in Rome, Italy.     

Subject in first person--subject in third person: subject, subjectivity, and intersubjectivity

In this article, the author traces the history of the concepts of subject, subjectivity, and intersubjectivity in different psychoanalytic theories in the last decades. She argues that the uniqueness of these concepts and their different implications were not emphasized enough. The author discusses the various implications and contexts of the concept of subject in psychoanalytic theory proper and to relate as to: (1). The need to distinguish between the concepts of subject and subjectivity; (2). The mutual interdependence of the subject and his subjectivity and the intersubjective domain (both in the development of the individual and in theoretical thought pertaining to it). Her point of departure is from the position of the subject as a free creature, the centrality of the experiencing individual, from his/her perspective—the subject in the first person. She tries to explain the paradox implicit in the experiential dimension, the place of the other as participant, as both negating and recognizing—the subject in the third person. She suggests the interdependency of the first-person experience of subjectivity on the intersubjective dimension.     

Using e-learning modules to teach ongoing-visual inspection of functional analyses

Despite the effectiveness of function-based treatments, most clinicians do not conduct functional analyses (FA). The time required to conduct an FA is a major barrier preventing their use. One way to increase FA efficiency is to discontinue the analysis as soon as it has produced clear results. Saini et al. (2018) evaluated a structured procedure for ongoing-visual inspection of FAs and found that it produced accurate interpretations while averaging 40% fewer sessions than author interpretation. This study evaluated the efficacy of an e-learning module for training registered behavior technicians (RBTs) to implement ongoing visual inspection of FAs. Following training, 5 of the 6 participants showed mastery of ongoing visual inspection, and the final participant did so with the addition of supplemental procedures. We discuss how this training may increase the efficiency of FAs by teaching individuals who are less experienced in FA methodology when to seek supervision from a supervising Board Certified Behavior Analyst® (BCBA).     

Imre Hermann's Freudian theory of attachment

In this paper the author addresses some problems concerning the relation between attachment theory and psychoanalysis and sketches the outline of a Freudian theory of attachment, based on the ideas ofthe Hungarian psychoanalyst Imre Hermann. First, he elucidates the fundamental divergence behind the insults and misunderstandings that have dominated the debate between attachment theory and Freudian psychoanalysis: they differ radically in their conceptions of temporality and of the relation between psychopathology and human nature. Second, the author presents Hermann's work on 'Clinging–Going-in-search' (1976) as a theoretical model in which the findings of attachment theory can be integrated in a theory of psychopathology that is radically dimensional and that preserves the methodology of Freudian psychoanalysis. In the third part of the paper, the author discusses the question of whether Hermann's 'clinging instinct' is a primary instinct in the Freudian sense, and whether it is an interesting alternative for Freud's 'death instinct', as Hermann claims.