Living with COPD: understanding patient experiences through the lens of photovoice

BACKGROUND

Conventional quantitative or qualitative methodologies may not encompass the wide array of experiences of individuals living with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). We used a novel approach - photovoice-to understand the impact of COPD on activities of daily living (ADLs) in a multicultural Asian country.

METHODS

We recruited a purposive sample of eight patients from the outpatient clinics of the National University Health System, Singapore, between December 2020 and August 2021. We adopted a photovoice approach for data collection; participants were invited to take photos of how ADLs were impacted by COPD and attend a follow-up interview. An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis method was used to analyze the data. Data saturation was reached by the seventh patient.

RESULTS

COPD and the resulting breathlessness had a profound and diverse impact on our participants' lives. Living with COPD required substantial changes to how everyday tasks are performed, and participants learnt new strategies to deal with such tasks. A mixture of active and passive coping styles was evident. Feelings of frustration, anxiety and a sense of isolation were also reported. Contextual factors impacting ADLs included challenging climatic conditions and the local popularity of traditional or alternative medicine.

CONCLUSION

The photovoice technique improved our understanding of the lived experiences of COPD patients and can benefit those who struggle to articulate their views by offering a different way to communicate beyond conventional interviewing.

The Value of Netnography for Research in HRD

This paper argues for recognition of Netnography as a necessary methodological innovation for HRD research, enabling the field to address emerging research questions and contribute to theory building at the intersection of technology, work and social life. The paper defines ‘netnography’ and introduces its key methodological underpinnings; illustrates its application and procedures; and considers its benefit to HRD research. We identify three opportunities where Netnography can deliver important advances to HRD theory and practice: investigating hard-to-access online work contexts, such as gig work and other forms of precarious working; exploring marginalised, ‘hidden’, or under-researched voices in online spaces; and extending knowledge of learning in hybrid work environments where physical and digital dimensions are intertwined. We conclude with a call to action by HRD scholars to take forward, and further develop, the Netnographic methodology to contribute to new and inclusive theorizing as a basis for advancements in HRD scholarship and practice.

Entwined Positionality and Interpretive Frames of Reference: An Autoethnographic Account

This paper investigates the ethnographic researcher's positionality and its role in sensemaking within the research process. Using autoethnographic data of the first author - a black female West African (Yoruba) scholar in a Western organizational context, we adopt a critical sensemaking approach to make sense of the researcher's field experience. We propose a conceptualization of the researcher's positionality as one that is entwined in the field, being an active interaction of the researcher's formative context with her sensory capabilities. We demonstrate how openness to the researcher's entwined positionality generates interpretive frames of reference and uncovers nuances in the sensemaking process, which widens the scope for reflexivity. We offer a methodological roadmap for engaging entwined positionality in reflexive practice and contribute to the body of research which challenges the idea of the detached researcher; thus, we respond to the growing calls for integrating the elements of a researcher's positionality into research in a way that enhances reflexivity.

Introduction: innovation in qualitative research in HRD

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to offer a collection of articles that explore some of the many innovative approaches to qualitative inquiry and to challenge HRD scholars and practitioners to consider using innovative approaches in their work. In doing so, qualitative research in HRD can better capture and honour voices, experiences and meaning making of individuals, teams, organizations and communities.

Design/methodology/approach

Using Lê and Schmid’s (2022) definition of innovation in qualitative research, the authors selected four innovative approaches to qualitative research that have the potential to enhance HRD research and practice: use of multiple-case study designs in case study research in HRD, a new take on critical incident technique, a narrative approach of testimonio and a visual approach of participant photography.

Findings

Innovative approaches to qualitative research in this special issue include a review of case study research in HRD by Tkachenko et al., a new take on the familiar critical incident technique of Watkins et al., a narrative approach to testimonio by Salcedo et al. and a visual approach to participant photography by Hurtienne et al. The last article, by Grenier et al., addresses the implications of these articles to the field of HRD and points to additional directions for innovative qualitative approaches that can help to understand and create more inclusive, democratic and just organizations.

Research limitations/implications

The articles in this special issue are intended to spark a dialogue about the meaning of innovation in qualitative research in HRD. It also can serve as an impetus for considering how innovative approaches to qualitative research can better tackle questions that come from the new normal of the workplace, society and diverse contexts.

Practical implications

This special issue will give HRD scholars and practitioners a realistic, practical view on how innovation in qualitative research can help in exploring specific problems in the workplace. The articles will offer a glimpse into how specific social complex issues can be explored and addressed through innovative approaches, new and tried/modified, to qualitative inquiry.

Originality/value

Four articles introduce new and tried/modified qualitative methods, and their value is in prompting HRD scholars and practitioners to consider some of the innovative approaches in exploring, understanding and transforming the workplace. The final article is a review of more innovative qualitative approaches for HRD scholars and practitioners to understand complex organizational phenomena and promote positive and inclusive change accordingly.

Immersion in Organizational Ethnography: Four Methodological Requirements to Immerse Oneself in the Field

This article addresses the question of how to achieve immersion in organizational ethnography. Working through a broad set of ethnographies in organization studies, sociology, and anthropology, I develop a multi-faceted conceptualization of immersion and offer a framework that integrates four methodological principles—involvement, engagement, duration, and sites—to help organizational ethnographers achieve immersion. In closing, I discuss how this framework advances ongoing debates about involvement, multi-sitedness, and fieldwork design, resulting in a more systematic and reflexive approach to immersion in organizational ethnography.

Templates in Qualitative Research Methods: Origins, Limitations, and New Directions

In this feature topic, we explore the burgeoning trend to employ templates in qualitative research. To understand authors’ motivations to use templates and perceptions regarding template use in the scholarly community, we conducted an interview study with 21 interviewees who had published qualitative research in one of nine premier management journals between 2014 and 2018. Our analysis identified four key tensions in template use: structure versus restriction, convention versus innovativeness, legitimization versus obscuration, and instrumentality versus craft. We discuss these tensions and their implications for the practice and evaluation of qualitative research. We then introduce the eight empirical papers included in this feature topic. Each of them addresses and explores specific aspects of the origins and limitations of template use, whilst providing insights and guidance for future qualitative research. We envisage this feature topic to be a catalyst for discourse amongst scholars, engaging with contemporary trends and tensions to pave new pathways that embrace the diversity and plurality of qualitative approaches.

Interview-based research in management and organisation studies: making sense of the plurality of methodological practices and presentational styles

Purpose

The aim of this review paper is to identify the methodological practices and presentational styles used to report interview-based research in “leading” management and organisation journals.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper reviews a sample of 225 articles using qualitative interviews that were published in management, human resource management, organisational behaviour and international business journals listed in the Financial Times 50 list between 2009 and 2019.

Findings

The review found diversity and plurality in the methodological practices used in these studies and the presentational styles used to report interview research.

Practical implications

The findings are expected to help doctoral students, early career scholars and those new to using qualitative interviews to make decisions about the appropriateness of different methodological practices and presentational styles. The findings are also expected to support editors, reviewers, doctoral examiners and conference organisers in making sense of the dissensus that exists amongst qualitative interview researchers (Johnson et al., 2007). These insights will also enable greater “paradigmatic awareness” (Plakoyiannaki and Budhwar, 2021, p. 5) in the evaluation of the quality of interview-based research that is not restricted to standardised criteria derived from positivism (Cassell and Symon, 2015).

Originality/value

To make sense of this plurality, the authors map these practices and styles against the onto-epistemological paradigms identified by Alvesson (2003, 2011). The paper contributes to calls for philosophical diversity in the evaluation of qualitative research. The authors specifically articulate concerns about the use of practices in interview-based studies that derive from the positivistic logic associated with quantitative research.