Snowball sampling is frequently advocated and employed by qualitative social researchers. Under certain circumstances, however, it is prone to faltering and even failure. Drawing on two research projects where the snowball failed to roll, the paper identifies reasons for this stasis. It goes on to argue that there are alternative forms of…

Engaging non-conventional gatekeepers such as the police presents both promises and perils. Although studies have relied on police data for researching suicide and other sensitive topics in Africa, there is a paucity of literature that explores or reflects on police gatekeeping and its research implications. This paper presents authors'…

The nature of the faculty has changed dramatically over the last forty years; and today's faculty model no longer meets the needs of students, faculty, or institutions. However, the issue of redefining faculty roles is extremely contentious. In this article we report our examination of open-ended, qualitative data from a larger survey study of…

This study reports on the process and development of middle school science fair projects inspired by a summer science program of citizen science monitoring (Monarch Larvae Monitoring Project) with their classroom teacher. We gathered and analyzed qualitative data (interviews, focus groups, and project boards). Our analysis revealed three key…

Attention to mixed methods studies research has increased in recent years, particularly among funding agencies that increasingly require a mixed methods approach for program evaluation. At the same time, researchers operating within large-scale, rapid-turnaround research projects are faced with the reality that collection and analysis of large…

Although rare when compared to other crimes or disasters that occur on college or university campuses, active shootings still affect educational institutions. These campus shootings are also heavily publicized in the media; therefore, everyone can see the damage these tragedies cause. However, while various strategies and plans exist to help in…

Strong faculty members, at any institution of higher education, are important because while educating the student body they represent institutional values and program goals in a diverse teaching and learning environment. The purpose of this study was to explore the areas of need for faculty development based on a secondary analysis of student…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate the lived experiences of enlisted military veterans living in the United States, seeking employment in the civilian workforce after transitioning from active duty military service. This study also explored the enlisted military veterans' perceived effectiveness of the redesigned…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to argue for the articulation of the affordances of two qualitative methodologies when used within one study to address the multi-dimensional nature of the research phenomena. Design/methodology/approach: This paper considers one example of combining narrative inquiry and phenomenological inquiry to construct…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the notion of decolonizing interpretive research in ways that respect and integrate the qualitative sensibilities of subaltern voices in the knowledge production of anti-colonial possibilities. Design/methodology/approach: The paper draws from the decolonizing and post-colonial theoretical…

This article shows how statistical matching methods can be used to select "most similar" cases for qualitative analysis. I first offer a methodological justification for research designs based on selecting most similar cases. I then discuss the applicability of existing matching methods to the task of selecting most similar cases and…

The perceptions of professional identity development from 10 counseling leaders were examined through consensual qualitative research methodology. Themes and implications include the (a) intersection of being counselor educators and leaders in the counseling field and (b) the development and strengthening of professional identity over time.

Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), a technique by which the tools of Boolean algebra are applied to equifinal causal conditions, is gaining popularity amongst scholars. This paper draws upon a distinction largely overlooked by the QCA literature: the difference between inclusive- and exclusive-or (OR and XOR). I argue that XOR should be…

In this article we describe the process followed in the creation of the "Hopscotch Model," a tool to help novice researchers thoroughly design qualitative research studies while learning the philosophical underpinnings of this particular form of research. The model helps to incorporate the theoretical background behind any qualitative…

In recent decades, the belief has originated that data use contributes to more thought-out decisions in schools. The literature has suggested that fruitful data use is often the result of interactions among team members. However, up until now, most of the available research on data use has used "collaboration" as an umbrella concept to…