Publishing Qualitative Research in Counseling Journals

This article focuses on the essential elements to be included when developing a qualitative study and preparing the findings for publication. Using the sections typically found in a qualitative article, the author describes content relevant to each section, with additional suggestions for publishing qualitative research.     

Getting to the Root of Relationship Attributions: Family-of-Origin Perspectives on Self and Partner Views

A large body of research has been devoted to the study of family-of-origin (FOO) experience influences on future relationship outcomes and processes. In addition, substantial information exists regarding the role relationship attributions play in connection with relationship quality and stability. Yet, limited information has been forthcoming regarding how the FOO experience has an influence on attributions made in romantic relationships. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed to assess the impact of the FOO experience on attributions made about one’s own communication and personality variables, as well as the communication and personality variables of one’s partner from a sample of individuals who had completed the RELATionship Evaluation (N = 6,649). Results show evidence of a relationship between the FOO experience and the attributions made about oneself and one’s partner. Results were particularly pronounced for the communication variables. Gender differences also were found. The utility of study findings for couple and family researchers and practitioners is discussed.     

Self-regulatory depletion and attachment avoidance: Increasing the accessibility of negative attachment-related memories

Bowlby (1980) theorized that insecurely attached people use defensive memory suppression to cope with adverse events involving childhood attachment figures. In this study, defensive memory suppression was conceptualized as a form of self-regulation that, like other types of self-regulation, requires limited resources and may be undermined by the prior exercise of self-regulation. The findings of the study showed that, in the absence of self-regulatory depletion, memories of negative experiences with attachment figures were less accessible among persons who reported more dismissing avoidance. Under self-regulatory depletion, however, accessibility increased among persons high in dismissing avoidance. Depletion of self-regulatory capacity did not moderate memory accessibility for secure, preoccupied, or fearful avoidant attachment. The results imply that dismissing avoidant persons devote their limited self-regulatory resources to suppressing negative memories and keeping their attachment systems deactivated.     

Workplace support, discrimination, and person-organization fit: tests of the theory of work adjustment with LGB individuals

The present study explored the links of 2 workplace contextual variables--perceptions of workplace heterosexist discrimination and lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB)-supportive climates--with job satisfaction and turnover intentions in a sample of LGB employees. An extension of the theory of work adjustment (TWA) was used as the conceptual framework for the study; as such, perceived person-organization (P-O) fit was tested as a mediator of the relations between the workplace contextual variables and job outcomes. Data were analyzed from 326 LGB employees. Zero-order correlations indicated that perceptions of workplace heterosexist discrimination and LGB-supportive climates were correlated in expected directions with P-O fit, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to compare multiple alternative measurement models evaluating the discriminant validity of the 2 workplace contextual variables relative to one another, and the 3 TWA job variables relative to one another; SEM was also used to test the hypothesized mediation model. Comparisons of multiple alternative measurement models supported the construct distinctiveness of the variables of interest. The test of the hypothesized structural model revealed that only LGB-supportive climates (and not workplace heterosexist discrimination) had a unique direct positive link with P-O fit and, through the mediating role of P-O fit, had significant indirect positive and negative relations with job satisfaction and turnover intentions, respectively. Moreover, P-O fit had a significant indirect negative link with turnover intentions through job satisfaction.     

Nonverbal Behavioral Indicators of Negative Affect in Couple Interaction

Affect has been identified across numerous research studies to be a vital element in understanding couple relationship processes. Affect has been shown to distinguish between satisfied and dissatisfied couples and to be important in understanding processes leading to relationship dissolution. However, research has not yet uncovered nonverbal indicators that a couple is experiencing negative affect compared to other affective states. In this study we sought to identify specific nonverbal behaviors associated with different affective states. Results suggested that differences in looking-behavior and smiling can be used to identify affect states during couple communication. We outline how the results can aid couples therapy interventions.     

The Practical Work of <Coding>: An Ethnomethodological Inquiry

While previous methodological studies have suggested that coding is a useful technique for analyzing qualitative data, there is a stark lack of discussion about the incongruities that inevitably arise as researchers accomplish the actual work of coding. This article explores the complexities of the coding process, and how incongruities get resolved as researchers accomplish the practical work of coding. Three primary themes emerged from this study: <creating agreement>, <maintaining the integrity of the codes>, and <completing the work>. These three activities are grounded in the naturally evolving work of coding, and are rendered visible through an ethnomethodological investigation into this work.     

Word-association responses to time-altered stimuli by schizophrenic adults

This research addressed the relationship between the speed of presentation of stimuli through the auditory and visual modalities and the number of syntagmatic and paradigmatic word-association responses of 49 chronic undifferentiated schizophrenic adults. In word-association tests administered to subjects stimuli were balanced for frequency of occurrence in written English language (frequent, infrequent), word length (long, short), abstraction level (low, medium, high), and part of speech (noun, verb, adjective). The words were presented auditorily at normal speed (equivalent to 10 phonemes per second) and at half speed (equivalent to 5 phonemes per second) speech. Words were also presented visually, using a tachistoscope, at extended fixation speed (equivalent to 1,000 msec.) and at sweep speed (equivalent to 10 msec.). More paradigmatic responses occurred on word stimuli if nouns, long, and frequently occurring presented auditorily; and if concrete, nouns, and presented slowly and visually. Results were compared to previously reported data for aphasic and normal adults, and differentiating features and clinical implications were discussed.     

AN ANALYSIS OF AND INTERVENTION IN THE SEXUAL TRANSMISSION OF DISEASE

Sexually transmitted diseases are a serious threat to the public health. Indeed, when an individual seeks medical treatment for a sexually transmitted disease, health authorities frequently attempt to identify, procure, and treat that individual's sexual contact(s). We conducted a comparative analysis of three alternative approaches to tracing the sexual partners of individuals diagnosed as having a sexually transmitted disease. The first approach involved counseling individuals (n = 27) infected with either gonorrhea or nongonococcal urethritis and exhorting them to procure their sexual partners for treatment. In addition to counseling, the second and third approaches involved distributing “occasion cards” for patients to use when informing sexual contacts of the need for treatment. Moreover, in the second approach, the counselor (a nurse or physician) informed infected patients (n = 19) that they and their partners could waive the $3 clinic fee contingent upon the partners seeking treatment within 1 week. In the third approach, the counselor asked infected persons (n = 19) to accept a follow-up telephone contact if their sexual partners failed to seek treatment within 1 week. The third approach was most effective. Ninety percent of the partners identified through this approach sought treatment, versus only about 60% of the partners in the other two conditions. The third approach was also the least expensive, costing about $2.95 to procure each partner for treatment.     

Vocational Guidance for Trainee Teachers?: Some Caribbean Evidence

Guidance in further and higher education is comparatively neglected in many countries. This is particularly true of vocational guidance for trainee teachers. It is suggested that one can no longer assume that such trainees are already committed to a career in teaching. Evidence is offered from Jamaica and Antigua to show that about half the trainee teachers in those territories neither wanted nor look forward to a career in teaching. It is argued that their occupational preferences indicate a need for vocational guidance even as they are being trained for teaching. Finally, it is suggested that this policy is not as paradoxical as it may sound.