Lynne S. Giddings

Making sense of methodologies: A paradigm framework for the novice researcher

Abstract Methodologies abound in the field of health and social science research, making a confusing terrain for new researchers. In this article, we offer order out of confusion. Drawing on our work as postgraduate teachers, we outline a paradigm framework which proposes that methodologies are similar or different because of their underlying assumptions and values. We identify four major paradigms, explain the distinctive assumptions which underpin them, and show how each figures the researcher and the researcher-researched relationship. Along the way, we place a variety of methodologies into their paradigm of origin and offer some illustrative examples of health research.

A Trojan horse for positivism?: a critique of mixed methods research.

Mixed methods research is captured by a pragmatically inflected form of postpositivism. Although it passes for an alternative methodological movement that purports to breach the divide between qualitative and quantitative research, most mixed methods studies favor the forms of analysis and truth finding associated with positivism. We anticipate a move away from exploring more philosophical questions or undertaking modes of enquiry that challenge the status quo. At the same time, we recognize that mixed methods research offers particular strengths and that, although it serves as a Trojan Horse for positivism, it may productively carry other paradigmatic passengers.

Mixed methods research for the novice researcher

Abstract Mixed methods research is becoming increasingly popular in the health and social science disciplines. The aim of this article is to give an overview of the varieties of mixed methods designs. We begin by situating mixed methods research in the context of a paradigmatic framework which assists a researcher in making decisions concerning the design of their study. Although the most commonly used mixed methods designs are underpinned by positivist/postpositivist assumptions, the combination of qualitative and quantitative methods can be used within any research paradigm.

Using Occupation to Navigate Cultural Spaces: Indian Immigrant Women Settling in New Zealand

Indian immigrant women settling in New Zealand encounter new environments and occupational situations. How they navigate these situations either facilitates and enhances the experience of being in a new environment or challenges the process of settling and becoming part of New Zealand society. This study describes the significance of engagement in occupation as central to the settlement process. In-depth interviews and participant observations were used to gather information from 25 Indian immigrant women living in New Zealand towns and cities, regarding their experiences of occupation in a new environment. A grounded theory methodology guided by symbolic interactionism and occupational science was employed. Data were analysed using dimensional analysis, resulting in a substantive grounded theory, Navigating Cultural Spaces. This dynamic process describes how Indian immigrant women interweave aspects of the New Zealand and Indian cultures into everyday occupations as they create a place for themselves and their families in a new country.

Partner violence prevalence among women attending a Maori health provider clinic

Objective: To determine partner violence rates among women attending a general practice in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

Perceived unmet needs for health care among Parkinson's Society of New Zealand members with Parkinson's disease

UNLABELLED We surveyed nationwide health needs for Parkinsons disease (PD) among New Zealand Parkinsons Society members with PD. BACKGROUND Little literature assesses how people with PD perceive their health needs for this medical condition. METHOD Cross-sectional survey of health needs through personal, structured telephone interviews with a random sample of 500 Parkinsons Society members with PD. RESULTS Many participants wanted improved access to specialist care but their reported attendance rates suggest provider adherence to guideline recommendations. More general practitioners (GPs) than specialists were said to offer less information than wanted. Getting enough information in usual care was the best predictor (odds ratio 3.44, 95% CI: 1.93-6.13, p=0.000) of seeing a specialist for PD as often as wanted. CONCLUSIONS People with PD have an important perspective in assessments of their health needs. GPs require training support in providing patient information about PD. Our study results may apply to Parkinsons Society members in similar health systems.

Pursuing equal pay: The perspectives of female engineers and potential policy interventions

The gender pay gap of higher paid women working in traditionally male-dominated sectors has received less analysis in equal pay research than low paid, female-dominated and undervalued women’s work. This article explores equal pay from the perspectives of female engineers, well paid women working in a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) sector in New Zealand, who perform work of the same or like nature to male engineers but who are paid less for doing so. It explores the gender pay gap against the complex intersections of labour market de-regulation, family demands, work and the ‘cost of being female’ that women in engineering must constantly navigate. The research uses quantitative pay data in the sector disaggregated by gender, and new qualitative data from focus groups and interviews with 22 female engineers. It finds a surprising lack of transparency around pay and remuneration in the sector at the individual level which negatively impacts on women. The article concludes by recommending new public policy initiatives for equal pay in sectors like engineering, where individualised negotiation and bargaining is embedded in neo-liberalism.

Taking It Into Account: Caring for Disabled Mothers During Pregnancy and Birth

BACKGROUND: Although more disabled women are pursuing motherhood over time, little is known about their needs and experiences in achieving this goal. METHODS: A 3-phase study was designed with the aim of identifying ways for services to be more responsive for women living with physical or sensory impairment during and after pregnancy. This article draws on the qualitative phases of a 3-part mixed method study, which involved individual and focus group interviews with the women and maternity and child health practitioners. RESULTS: Sixty-two mothers with either a physical or a sensory impairment and 28 health practitioners participated in the study. Three themes were identified in relation to the current approaches to service provision: that the women were often responsible for educating the practitioners about their impairment, that they often encountered disabling environments, and that it was not uncommon for them to also encounter disabling attitudes from others. Strategies suggested by our participants to improve the provision of maternity services were for women’s impairments to be taken into account in the structure and process of service provision and for practitioners to problem solve and think ahead of how to meet the needs of disabled mothers. CONCLUSION: The need to take the woman’s impairment into account was an overarching issue and strategy identified by both women and practitioners. This consideration has relevance not only at the practitioner–women interaction level but also for educational, structural service provision and policy levels.

'Because it's the wife who has to look after the man': A descriptive qualitative study of older women and the intersection of gender and the provision of family caregiving at the end of life.

Background: Research indicates that women are the primary family caregivers for others at life’s end and, because of ageing populations, will keep fulfilling this role as they age. Yet, little is known about how the gendered nature of caregiving contributes to older women’s understandings of providing care. Aim: To explore how gender norms constructed older women’s views about the appropriate roles of women and men in providing palliative and end-of-life care for family members. Design: Six focus groups were conducted with 39 community dwelling older adults (36 women and 3 men) using two vignettes to prompt discussion about experience of end of life caring and attitudes towards Advance Care Planning. This article reports on data gathered from female participants’ reactions to Vignette 1 which prompted significant discussion regarding the intersection of gender and older women’s caregiving experience. Setting/participants: A total of 36 women in the age ranges of ‘50–59 years’ through to ‘90–99 years’ from New Zealand. Results: Three themes regarding gender and caregiving were identified: the expectation women will care, women’s duty to care and women’s construction of men in relation to caregiving and illness. The women adhered to stereotypical gender norms that regard women as primary caregivers. There was little connection between the burden they associated with caregiving and this gender construction. Conclusion: The expectation that older women will provide end-of-life care even when experiencing considerable burden is an unacknowledged outcome of gender norms that construct women as caregivers.

Rationalizing pay inequity: women engineers, pervasive patriarchy and the neoliberal chimera

Abstract This article argues that neoliberalism with its pervasive patriarchy and co-option of feminism, renders women tacitly complicit in gendered pay inequalities. We show that in New Zealand, one of the world’s most neoliberal nations, women who might precisely be best equipped to argue for equal pay – engineers – do not do so because neoliberalism makes many feel responsible for, and accepting of, their lower salaries. In interviews and focus groups, many women engineers talk of deserving less pay than men because of their ‘choices’, their ‘personality’ and their lack of ‘responsibility’. In a disempowering environment, some women show agency by disavowing gender as a reason for the pay gap. Such narratives of individualized shortcomings reduce hope of collective action that might uncover and dismantle the systemic causes of pay inequity, which are not due to a woman’s choice or personality but rather what we frame as the neoliberal chimera.