Research Article
Danielle Rae Daniel, Tara Rava Zolnikov
AM J QUALITATIVE RES, Volume 7, Issue 4, pp. 1-32
ABSTRACT
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a multi-faceted, symptomatic mental health diagnosis often accompanied with various physical and psychological comorbidities. The complexity of this diagnosis makes treatment difficult, thereby suggesting that all options, including alternative approaches to care, should be explored. Aromatherapy from plant essential oils is an increasingly utilized integrative health modality. Essential oils are lipophilic, volatile aromatic metabolites in plants consisting of various natural chemical constituents that permeate the blood stream and influence neurobiological responses. This qualitative phenomenological study sought to understand the impact of aromatherapy from Bergamot essential oil on managing PTSD symptomology. A two-week pilot study was conducted consisting of 12 first responder, medical, firefighter and military men and women presenting with symptoms of PTSD in San Diego, California. Data collected from the interviews identified that the bergamot essential oil produced a calming effect, improved sleep, reduced anxiety, increased positive mood, enhanced concentration and reduced avoidance behavior. Participants in the research study reported that aromatherapy of bergamot essential oil helped mitigate certain symptoms of PTSD from the symptom clusters of arousal, negative mood, and avoidance behavior. This modality could help practitioners and treatment clinics facilitate an adaptive recovery, by providing a calm and safe atmosphere to engage with clients to execute trauma focused therapy more effectively. Aromatherapy provides a non-invasive and promising modality that would best serve the mental health field for practitioners and their overseeing organizations to further research, educate and implement this therapy in facilitating an adaptive recovery and management of PTSD symptoms.
Keywords: PTSD, mental health, aromatherapy, essential oils, complementary alternative medicine.
Research Article
James A. Bernauer
AM J QUALITATIVE RES, Volume 7, Issue 4, pp. 33-50
ABSTRACT
This article discusses six types of “voices’ noted in the title that we encounter during our lives whether pre-pandemic, pandemic, or post-pandemic as we pursue the exhilarating quest to learn about ourselves and our world. The purpose of this article is to position and contextualize our current experience living in a world that continues to try and outsmart the mutations of the SARS-CoV-2 virus within the context of these six “logues” and how we might incorporate these new understandings into qualitative inquiry. An additional contextual component is the iPhone (and its variants) that also has had a dramatic impact on our lives but in a very different way. It is hoped that readers will critically evaluate this article since it represents the author’s perspective, perceptions, and understanding of why these voices are important in qualitative inquiry and how they interact with memories and the stories that surround them. The extent to which readers utilize these six logues in their own qualitative thinking and inquiries will be the measure of its transferability and usefulness.
Keywords: prologue, monologue, dialogue, polylogue, metalogue, epilogue, iPhone, pandemic, Star Trek, metamemories.
Research Article
Erkan Acar
AM J QUALITATIVE RES, Volume 7, Issue 4, pp. 51-63
ABSTRACT
This exploratory qualitative study attempted to investigate how immigrant students in Florida’s K–12 schools acclimated. The study emphasizes the value of fostering a friendly and encouraging school climate for immigrant students since such climate can speed up their acculturation process and increase their academic and disciplinary achievement. Semi-structured interviews with 20 immigrant students from various cultural backgrounds gathered the data as part of the study's qualitative research design. The study population includes students who were born in different countries other than the US and who had attended Florida’s public schools for at least a year. According to the study’s findings, immigrant students experience a variety of difficulties connected to social separation, linguistic difficulties, and cultural alterations. On the other hand, the students also mention several advantages, including adjusting to unfamiliar surroundings, making new friends, and feeling more independent. The study adds to the body of knowledge on immigrant students’ acculturation experiences in the US, especially in K–12 institutions in Florida. The research results give educators, decision-makers, and academics new perspectives on how to better grasp the opportunities and difficulties faced by immigrant kids in the US K-12 educational system.
Keywords: immigrant students, acculturation, school climate, academic achievement.
Research Article
Hannah Fisher (Grafy), Halabi Rinat
AM J QUALITATIVE RES, Volume 7, Issue 4, pp. 64-78
ABSTRACT
Peer exclusion is an undesirable phenomenon with serious implications for the present and future of children experiencing it. Growing peer exclusion and bullying rates in elementary-school-age children, especially on social networks, have been examined from a mostly pathological perspective focused on the rejected child or rejecting group. This qualitative study sought developmental explanations for this phenomenon’s pervasiveness during latency. Twelve focus groups of 140 Israeli children in Grade 5 discussed peer exclusion and other social issues. The data were categorized according to the revised Van Kaam method improved by Moustakas. Three themes from aspects of group flow emerged: reduction in the egocentric position and rise in the group’s importance, flexibility with changing social norms, and ostracism when the children perceive a block in the “flow.” The findings confirmed that at latency age, the importance of social flow increases, and rejection and even bullying play a normative developmental role. This study adds an alternative to the literature explaining peer exclusion as the result of the rejected child’s personality or the group’s destructive dynamic. It suggests viewing peer exclusion as a normative development during latency, helping children develop a “social self” free from their egocentric positions to function with a group.
Keywords: normative development, elementary school, latency period, flexibility, social norm.
Research Article
Cheryl Marie Patton, Joshua Broward
AM J QUALITATIVE RES, Volume 7, Issue 4, pp. 79-94
ABSTRACT
Scholars trace phenomenology as a philosophical movement back to the early twentieth century. The origins of the phenomenological movement are mostly credited to two German philosophers: the “founding father” of phenomenology, Edmund Husserl, and his successor, Martin Heidegger. The pair were instrumental in creating the framework for today’s inductive qualitative phenomenological research designs. However, the roots of phenomenology spread further than these two German philosophers. This article describes the thoughts of the two phenomenological giants as well as the earlier influences on the emergence of phenomenology, stemming back to ancient Greece. Though not all-encompassing, this historical overview offers a richer and deeper look into the emergence of phenomenology as a philosophical tradition.
Keywords: phenomenology, history, early influences, Husserl, Heidegger, philosophy
Research Article
Elif Kalemdaroglu-Wheeler
AM J QUALITATIVE RES, Volume 7, Issue 4, pp. 95-118
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to explore teachers’ and administrators’ perceptions of test score pollution deriving from COVID-19-related issues that may affect students’ test scores on state-mandated standardized tests for grades six through 12 in a state along the Atlantic Coast of the United States. Four research questions were devised to investigate participants’ perceptions of factors stemming from COVID-19-related issues that may alter students’ performance on state standardized tests, commonly referred to as test score pollution. The conceptual framework centered around Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, Campbell’s Law, and Kane’s Validation Model. A purposeful stratified sampling method was utilized for participant inclusion criteria. The study sample included four middle school teachers in grades six through eight, two high school teachers, two middle school administrators, and two high school administrators. The data collection method included semi-structured interviews. Data analysis was conducted in unison with memoing, member checking, In Vivo, Descriptive, Focused, Axial, and Process Coding methods. The following themes emerged through data analysis: (a) inadequately preparing students for state standardized tests, (b) de-valuing of education, (c) understanding students’ emotional well-being, (d) providing data-driven support, (e) questioning test validity, and (f) recognizing magnified disparities among students.
Keywords: Campbell’s Law, COVID-19, Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, Kane’s Validation Model, state standardized tests, test score pollution.
Research Article
Richardson Addai-Mununkum, Seyram Setordzi
AM J QUALITATIVE RES, Volume 7, Issue 4, pp. 119-139
ABSTRACT
Research has long established that teachers’ characteristics such as attitude, knowledge, and pedagogical skills are superior expediters of curriculum implementation. Following Ghana’s recent introduction of a standards-based curriculum in K6 schools, we ponder how Ghanaian teachers are implementing change through their utilization of 21st-century pedagogies. We implemented a qualitative descriptive phenomenology research that explored teachers’ experiences with emerging pedagogies. Twenty-one participants from four schools were observed and interviewed to reflect on their experiences and to facilitate a comprehensive description of the phenomenon. Having analyzed the data thematically, we observed that teachers adopt teasers, cooperative, experiential, and inquiry-based approaches in implementing the new curriculum. Regardless, the curriculum implementation is challenged by inadequate resources and teachers’ personality and competency factors. We discuss these findings in line with Fullan’s (2012) characteristics of change and conclude by categorizing our respondents along the line of an adapted Roger’s (1995) diffusion model; innovators, early majority, and laggards. For this, we confirm that the difference among the three groups of teachers lies in their personal motivation to embrace change. We therefore recommend for innovative teachers be motivated, early majority teacher to be offered training and laggards to be effectively supervised for the attainment of the goals of the new curriculum.
Keywords: Curriculum implementation, pedagogy, Africa, qualitative research