This autoethnography explores my experience of academic burnout and emotional recovery as a mid-career female educator in a Malaysian public university. Drawing from reflective journals, memory work, and embodied recollections between 2023 and 2025, I trace a personal journey through three experiential phases: the weight of expectations, burnout and emotional rupture, and embodied recovery through open sea swimming. The narrative is guided by Chang’s (2016) thematic structuring approach and interpreted through Lazarus and Folkman’s (1984) Transactional Model of Stress and Coping. My story reveals how burnout was not the result of overwork, but of institutional erasure. As I navigated the aftermath of leadership and professional invisibility, I turned to open water swimming as a form of embodied coping and quiet resistance. Swimming became a space where I could reconnect with my breath, body, and action beyond institutional metrics. This study does not seek to generalize but offers what Ellis and Bochner (2000) describe as narrative credibility: inviting readers to feel with, think through, and reflect on their own institutional entanglements. It highlights the emotional and embodied dimensions of academic life, especially for women in leadership. By sharing this story, I hope to contribute to conversations about burnout, coping, and what it means to remember the self when the institution forgets.
This article examines collective authorship as a reflective and ethical research practice within a sustained program of co-authored qualitative, post-qualitative, linguistic, and reflective inquiries into teacher reflection, professional learning, language, silence, and recognition. It offers an oral-history-informed reflective methodological account of a writing collective and asks how collective authorship became a methodological practice through our collaborative writing process. The primary materials were shared drafts, margin comments, revisions, silences, version histories, short reflective notes, and remembered writing encounters. Teacher-reflection texts and related professional writing materials from our broader research program formed the secondary materials around which the writing process unfolded. Analytically, we traced recurring writing episodes that made authorship, responsibility, relation, and silence visible. Four methodological gestures emerged: (a) naming the “we” of collective authorship by asking who was authorized to speak in the shared text, (b) revising as care for co-authors, participants, materials, and readers, (c) warranting openness by explaining why some claims, endings, or interpretations needed to remain unresolved, and (d) returning to silence by revisiting pauses, non-responses, and untouched passages as meaningful traces in the collaborative writing process. The article contributes to qualitative research by showing how collective writing can be examined from within, documented through a writing archive, and translated into practical guidance for future collaborative writing. It argues that collective authorship is not only a matter of credit or contribution, but also a situated practice of voice, responsibility, ethical restraint, and methodological accountability.
Parental involvement plays a critical role in children’s cognitive, effective, and psychomotor development; however, limited research has explored mothers’ perceptions of parenting and practices of parental involvement and parenting styles. This instrumental case study employed semi-structured interviews with 23 mothers in an Indonesian Islamic kindergarten to explore their understandings, experiences, and beliefs regarding parental involvement. It also aims to identify different kinds of parenting styles. The study revealed three themes, indicating that parenting and parental involvement are understood as an educating process, an interaction process between parents and children, and a mechanism for supporting children’s development. The findings indicate that 18 parents adopt an authoritative parenting style, four parents adopt an authoritarian parenting style, and one parent adopts a permissive parenting style. The study also highlights that mothers’ experiences and beliefs are shaped by technological advancement, psychological wellbeing, the adoption of adaptive parenting approaches, and their active roles in fostering children’s character development and school engagement. The research suggests the need to develop an evidence-based family education program promoting effective parenting. From a policy standpoint, it has implications for establishing parent engagement programs, enhancing synergy between parents and teachers, and highlighting the importance of mothers as actors in children's education.
With the aim of bringing clarity to the realm of qualitative research—and offering a transition from tradition to methodological rationale—I employ Millian and Popperian inductive analysis methods to build a post-positivist account regarding the diversity of qualitative research varieties. I am responding to the problem that common labels in qualitative research often obscure the epistemic reasoning through which a study approaches its object. A brief set of working definitions is introduced to support the framework, but the main contribution is the conceptualization of research approach in five dimensions: focus, orientation, relation to the object, researcher intrusiveness, and scale (FORIS). By considering research approaches as something to be constructed rather than chosen, the FORIS framework suggests that qualitative studies should be described through their epistemic configuration rather than only through established methodological traditions. Employing the lenses of the proposed framework, common qualitative research varieties are reconsidered as approaches, analysis methods, methodological traditions, theoretical frameworks, or scale characteristics. Finally, the framework is applied to a published qualitative study to show how FORIS can make visible the epistemic considerations that remain only partly explicit in conventional methodological reporting. The article concludes by presenting FORIS as an additional layer of epistemic transparency that may support research design, reporting, and reflection on qualitative knowledge claims.
This study examines how emotional and cognitive engagement shape glassblowing artists’ decision-making and artistic outcomes throughout the creative process. Using a qualitative case study methodology, the study examines how glassblowing artists conceptualize, execute, and refine their work by balancing their artistic vision with the medium's technical demands through a humanistic lens. Five themes emerge, which are discussed: the identification with self – confronting the demons, I belong here, claiming the molten as my own, the reign of glass and from it fractures rising anew, and having a conversation with glass. The study closes with the need for continued research on the topic.
Postgraduate researchers (PGRs) are increasingly encouraged to practice reflexivity. But there is a lack of PGR-authored literature about what it means to negotiate multiple identities, particularly for student–researchers doing research with students. This paper explores challenges experienced during a longitudinal Ph.D. project involving undergraduate students with long-term health conditions. I present outcomes of a reflexive autoethnographic analysis of a diary kept making sense of research challenges, including holding dual positions as a student–researcher at the same institution. Drawing on the notion of liminality, I argue that the boundaries between my student–researcher identities, and between myself and participants, have been consistently unstable. Findings are presented as four student–researcher identities, each occupying a different liminal space between student and researcher: student–peer–researcher; student–mentor–researcher; student–patient–researcher; and (becoming a) student–activist–researcher. I discuss seeing myself in participants, the nature of student–researcher identities, and the question of where the field ends, concluding with guidance to PGRs.
The translation of English-to-Persian cosmetic catalogues presents unique challenges due to their hybrid nature, combining health communication with marketing language. These challenges, including linguistic inaccuracies, cultural misalignment, and functional inadequacies, can compromise consumer safety and trust. This study investigates the root causes of these issues and proposes strategies to enhance translation practices. A qualitative design was employed, analyzing 100 English-to-Persian cosmetic catalogue translations and incorporating feedback from 10 experts in TESL, translation studies, and health communication. The analysis revealed recurring issues such as misinterpretations of technical terms, omissions of safety warnings, and inconsistent terminology use. These issues were primarily attributed to gaps in specialized training, limited interdisciplinary input, and the lack of standardized glossaries. Experts emphasized the need for targeted educational programs, collaborative approaches, and bilingual glossaries to address these deficiencies. The study proposes integrating scenario-based learning into translator education, fostering interdisciplinary workshops, developing comprehensive glossaries, and introducing AI tools to optimize translation processes. These strategies aim to improve translation accuracy, ensuring that cosmetic catalogues effectively meet both health communication and marketing objectives, ultimately enhancing consumer safety and trust in the Persian context.
This paper conveys eleven research innovations that have recently emerged from the field of narrative therapy and community work. These include multi-storied surveys, testimonies and counter documents; insider researchers navigating pathologising literatures; creative ethical processes and accountabilities; re-imagining research interviews; conceptualising research as resonance; linking insider research and practice; collective narrative documents in research; exchanges of collective documents/letters as methodology; reading back: oral retellings; the development of Indigenist story-journey methodology; and forms of research that are accessible, resonant and useful to the most marginalised. These innovations are linked to histories and ethical commitments that are also described.
School and public shootings have been an increasing epidemic in the United States over the last 20 years. We used discourse analysis to provide insights into the conversations, attitudes, and perceptions of public shootings through the analysis of news coverage, magazines, and social media. We found themes associated with growing public despair around governmental lack of response and inevitability of gun violence everywhere, racial and gender disparities of gun violence, and the widespread impact of trauma to gun violence. The results of this discourse analysis indicate how problematic discourse still perpetuates gun violence and trauma in the United States. Implications are also included regarding the importance of mental health advocacy and action-oriented approaches in disrupting ongoing gun violence.
Our qualitative case study examines the dynamics of governance in the Nglanggeran Tourism Village, Yogyakarta—a recipient of various national and international awards for sustainable tourism. Through in-depth interviews with 15 stakeholders, field observations, document analysis, and focus group discussions, we identified five key interrelated factors in governance success: (1) community participation and empowerment, (2) transformative leadership, (3) multi-stakeholder collaboration, (4) adaptive strategic planning, and (5) integrated socio-ecological resource management. Our research's significance lies in analysing how these factors interact dynamically in specific socio-cultural contexts to produce adaptive and resilient governance systems. The findings contribute to a theoretical understanding of sustainable tourism governance and offer practical insights for the development of tourism villages in developing regions.
This review examines AI for Qualitative Research: A Hands-On Guide for Management Scholars (Quevedo & Kuri, 2026), an open-access Palgrave Pivot volume published by Palgrave Macmillan (Cham). The book examines the methodological inflection in management and social science research, particularly with the normalization of large language models (LLMs) in writing, teaching, and qualitative data analysis. Rather than treating AI as either a substitute for interpretation or a threat to interpretivism, the authors argue that LLMs are computational tools that can be employed and audited responsibly. This book review summarizes two important parts. Part One introduces AI, natural language processing (NLP), and LLMs, covering their background and applications, offering a clear overview of NLP in management and social science research through a useful literature review and roadmap, along with ethical considerations. Part Two offers step-by-step guidelines for researchers with limited programming experience, including Python basics, an Application Programming Interface-based (API-based) workflow, data validation, classification, pattern modeling, and information retrieval with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG). This book review outlines the book’s key contributions, particularly regarding LLMs for corpus exploration and data selection in qualitative research, while recognizing unresolved needs for further guidelines on validation practices, disclosure, and auditing in methodology.
This book review evaluates Johnny Saldaña’s The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers (5th ed., 2025) as a pragmatic guide to qualitative data coding across first- and second-cycle methods. The book aims to categorize “coding method profiles” (i.e., sources, descriptions, applications, examples, analytical discussions, notes, and memos) to enhance instructional use while encouraging iterative memo writing and methodological development with applications. Readers should pay particular attention to later chapters on second-cycle coding, including on (1) grounded-theory pathways (i.e., focused, axial, and theoretical pathway) and (2) cumulative approaches (i.e., pattern, elaborative, and longitudinal approaches). In addition, this book offers useful guidelines for translating codes and patterns into findings (i.e., the use of focusing strategies and code writing). This edition’s discussion of computer-assisted qualitative-data-analysis software (CAQDAS) and generative AI is especially contemporary, framing computational tools as supportive while underscoring that interpretation, contextual judgment, theoretical argument, and ethical accountability remain the researchers’ duties.
This review of Exploring Digital Ethnography: From Principles to Practice (Underberg-Goode & Otañez, 2025) argues that the book redefines digital ethnography as research-creation. This edited book not only explores social worlds through digital worlds, but it also shows how the design and production of multimodal creations establish how ethnographic knowledge is created and shared. Discoveries and guidelines are discussed, including examples of ethnographic comics, interactive autoethnographic narratives, participatory digital heritage designs, activist photography of bidi labor, organic theater, worldbuilding pedagogy, and collaborative smartphone storytelling with sexual minorities seeking asylum. This edited book shows how digital methods can allow deliberation (reflection, collaboration, co-analysis) and can materialize findings in public-facing forms. The edited book’s contributions include its revelation that form, and ethics are inseparable, especially in regard to anonymity, accessibility, authorship, and platform selection. It also highlights previously unresolved challenges, including the institutional evaluation of research-creation, the sustainability of digital projects, and the inequities in participation under conditions of unequal risk and access.
Telehealth increases access to allied healthcare in rural areas. People with Parkinson’s disease (PD) need improved access to health care, and from a patient-centered perspective, the coordination of their healthcare should be a priority. Four speech-language pathologists, two physical therapists, two pharmacists, and two study coordinators provided a coordinated allied healthcare intervention for people with PD in rural Wyoming and Nevada. Both the providers of the intervention, as well as the participants who received it, were interviewed about their experiences with the eight-week intervention and asked about aspects that were successful or unsuccessful. Through a naturalistic paradigm using a qualitative description design, we analyzed the opinions and experiences regarding delivering or receiving this eight-week intervention. We analyzed the interview transcripts searching for patterns and categories that emerged when participants described their experiences with either delivering or receiving this eight-week intervention. We analyzed the patient and provider data separately, identifying themes for both groups. We then conducted a qualitative comparison of the two sets of themes. Ultimately, this analysis resulted in four shared themes between the intervention participants and the intervention providers: Technology benefits: Convenience without losing connection; Technology challenges: Internet access and stability; Intervention benefits: Improved outcomes and increased PD knowledge; and Future considerations for the intervention: Asynchronous resources and internet/software enhancements. Despite some technology challenges, healthcare providers and participants found that coordinated telehealth is an effective and successful way to deliver speech-language therapy, physical therapy, and medication management to people with PD in rural locations.
English as a lingua franca in higher education enables international students to participate in the global academic community. However, for Iraqi students in Indonesia, the use of English is not just a means of communication, but also part of identity negotiation, social adaptation, and cultural integration. This study explores how Iraqi students experience acceptance, resistance, and adaptation in using English in academic and social environments in Indonesia. The three-dimensional narrative inquiry framework (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000) is used as the primary analytical lens to explore how participants' experiences unfold over time, across relational contexts, and within specific physical and institutional settings. The researcher collected data through in-depth interviews to explore Iraqi students' challenges and communication strategies in interacting with lecturers, peers, and the local community. The results show that Iraqi students accept English as an essential academic tool, but they also face resistance in the form of social pressure to understand and use Indonesian and challenges in establishing interactions with local students. Some students showed adaptation through communication strategies such as language simplification, using a combination of English and Indonesian, and adjusting their speaking style. This study addresses the gap in understanding about the experiences of foreign students from Arabic-speaking nations in Indonesian classrooms. The study's results emphasise the value of more inclusive educational strategies in fostering the linguistic integration of international students and raising intercultural awareness in higher education settings.
Capturing the nuanced dynamics of sub-national migration policy requires methodological frameworks that integrate multiple sources of evidence while remaining attentive to context-specific processes. Such approaches are well-suited to tracing interactions among policy actors and institutions within evolving, locally embedded systems of comparative policymaking. This study examines why municipalities operating under similar macro-level conditions pursue divergent policy trajectories in migration governance and demonstrates the analytical rigor and explanatory power of qualitative thematic analysis in accounting for this variation. Drawing on policy documents, archival records, and media sources from Toronto, San Francisco, and Wellington, it employs a hybrid inductive–deductive coding approach to analyze interactions among political actors, institutions, and grassroots advocacy. The findings show that differences in political culture, bureaucratic strategies, and advocacy networks generate distinct configurations of opportunities and barriers, producing varied approaches to non-citizen participation across the three cases. By systematically integrating diverse forms of evidence, thematic analysis reveals how local agency and institutional structures interact to shape these outcomes, offering empirically grounded insights for the design of context-sensitive migration policies.
This methodology paper reimagines photovoice, a visual research method, by integrating artificial intelligence (AI), thereby expanding methodological options for both researchers and participants to foster more inclusive and equitable engagement in refugee research. Using AI-generated images, metaphors, and photocollage, displaced Ukrainian women in Canada co-created symbolic visuals to express complex emotions and experiences that may be difficult to capture through traditional photography. This approach addresses limitations of conventional photovoice by reducing technological and linguistic barriers, enhancing emotional expression, and supporting diverse representations of displacement and resettlement. Rather than replacing existing methods, this AI-assisted approach expands the methodological options available to researchers and participants, particularly in contexts where privacy concerns pose challenges. The paper demonstrates how creative technologies can deepen participant engagement and enrich refugee narratives. Ultimately, the proposed method shows how incorporating AI into photovoice can be used to engage refugee communities and support inclusive, impactful research in refugee studies.
In this book review, the authors critically explore Bedrettin Yazan’s Autoethnography in Language Education, which addresses theoretical, methodological, and ethical dimensions of autoethnography in applied linguistics and teacher education. Organized as a reconstructed scholarly dialogue between a doctoral advisor - Ufuk, and a doctoral researcher - Meryem, the review systematically outlines the book’s central arguments, chapter structure, and contributions to qualitative research. Attention is given to Yazan’s positioning of autoethnography as an onto-ethico-epistemological stance, his engagement with debates surrounding legitimacy and rigor, and his discussion of reflexivity, identity, and emotional labor in research. The review also highlights the book’s practical guidance on autoethnographic data generation, analysis, and representation, as well as its relevance for language teachers and teacher educators. Overall, the reviewers find the book to be a timely and accessible resource that advances self-study research and supports emerging scholars navigating autoethnography in language education contexts.
This article presents a methodological reflection on the diary–interview method’s value and application when used with professionals whose schedules are both demanding and unpredictable, drawing on the authors’ insights from a study examining the harassment and intimidation of journalists. Our experiences demonstrate that combining solicited diary entries with recurring interviews can yield substantial advantages over using either method alone. Diaries are particularly well suited to capturing rich, situated data and individual perspectives, adding distinctive value especially when exploring sensitive or personal issues. Interviews that probe these accounts and revisit incidents in greater depth, in turn, enhance understanding of participants’ emotions, responses, and sensemaking processes. The effective implementation of the diary–interview approach, however, demands considerable investment and commitment from participants, which can pose substantial challenges when working with time-constrained professionals. Our experiences underscore the importance of meticulous advance planning, careful recruitment, and methodological adaptation, as well as the need for flexibility, persistence, and sustained engagement on the part of researchers to maximize the method’s potential with such target groups.
In this article, I (DS) critically reflected on my journey as an Indian graduate student while navigating dissonant expectations versus reality from the planning to data collection phase of my doctoral research, especially the challenges involved in the participant recruitment process for focus group discussions. The goal of my study was to understand the narratives of various stakeholders of the Indian higher education community on students’ mental health on Indian college campuses using Participatory Action Research strategy with the help of focus group discussions. Recruiting participants was a crucial first step in this endeavor. Six FGDs were conducted with a total of 19 participants. I experienced various challenges during the participant recruitment process such as mis-assessment of stakeholder interest levels, relying on a limited participant pool contacted through existing networks, having difficulties coming to consensus on focus group timings, and finally facing recruitment challenges specific to stakeholder groups such as administrators and students. We identified practical adjustments (such as expanding participant pool and conducting multiple smaller focus groups) and psychological factors (such as psychological flexibility) that enabled us to overcome these challenges and procure rich and meaningful data. Participant recruitment considerations for future researchers are outlined related to eliciting participants’ interest levels, developing psychological flexibility as a researcher, attempting varied recruitment strategies, maintaining good interpersonal communication, and being aware of practical considerations. With this article, we hope to contribute to a culture of openness surrounding researcher experiences and offer a behind-the-scenes view into participant recruitment processes to help other researchers navigate similar challenges.
