Qualitative modes of research have been working their way into the mainstream of psychological research. Unfortunately, social psychology has largely resisted this trend, despite the particular utility of qualitative research for investigating social phenomena. Curiously, as qualitative research becomes more widely accepted in psychology, much of the discourse surrounding these approaches has revolved around the procedural dimensions of qualitative inquiry. Specifically, it has focused on developing, describing, and defending various codified approaches to qualitative data analysis. Recently, this methodological paradigm has come under some criticism, with scholars critiquing codified methods as leading to shallow, superficial, and formulaic research. Others have noted that qualitative research requires a type of reasoning that does not fit well with codified methods. To analyze this latter point, this paper appeals to the hermeneutic philosophy of Hans-Georg Gadamer to identify the type of reasoning required by qualitative work (i.e., interpretive understanding) and show how this type of reasoning relates to codified methods. Through this analysis, it is shown that methods are unable to function as specific procedures or concrete rules in qualitative practice, and that there are substantive disadvantages in using them as general guidelines as well. An alternative mode of practice is described, focusing on the cultivation of hermeneutical imagination.

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The religious book club provides a fascinating location for observing the social construction of reality. This study sets out to discover how religious identities affected reading and how reading affected religious identity through examining social reading. Seven book groups, all in the Boston area, participated. Three groups were affiliated with a church or synagogue, three had no religious affiliation, and the seventh was transitioning away from a religious affiliation. Fieldwork within the groups and individual interviews are analyzed using grounded theory techniques. All readers used reading to pursue aims such as relationships, educational status, and transformations of identity, but only readers within the religiously affiliated groups experienced an "inflection" of those aims. While readers in nonreligious book groups developed friendships, the religious book group members developed a sense of congregational identity. Nonreligious group readers sought to be "well read" religious group members sought to be articulate believers. Many readers sought to transform themselves through books, but religious groups transformed their members through emphasizing boundaries and identities, constructing shared definitions of "religion." Nonreligious group members were unconcerned with tying book club identity to personal identity. Religious groups, through confirming and challenging definitions of religion, developed religious identities that were expected to have deeper relevance to individual lives. Individual religious identity did not inflect the aims of reading, since religious individuals in nonreligious groups did not develop their sense of belonging, status, or identity around religious constructions. Within religious groups, it was not religious doctrines, ethics, or awe that produced the religious inflection of reading's aims. Only the affiliation with a formal religious institution was necessary. This demonstrates that religion functions not as a foundational worldview for its adherents, but as a thin container that offers the opportunity to develop a deeper, more durable identity. Despite reading's construction as a primarily individual activity, these findings also demonstrate how the social infrastructure of reading can have important effects.

Abstrakt (Sammanfattning) Bakgrund: Fibromyalgi är ett smärtsyndrom som karaktäriseras av generaliserad smärta. Det drabbar flest kvinnor och orsaken till sjukdomen är fortfarande inte känd. Det påverkar kvinnors livsvärld samt hälsa betydlig då det tar flera år att diagnostiseras, de blir oftast symtombehandlade. Kvinnor med fibromyalgi blir misstrodda av vårdpersonal, vilket leder till ett ytterligare lidande, eftersom sjukdomen fibromyalgi varken är synlig eller känd. Syfte: Är att beskriva kvinnors upplevelser av att leva med sjukdomen fibromyalgi Metod: Kvalitativ litteraturöversikt med induktiv ansats. Resultat: I studiens resultat framställdes 3 huvudkategorier Att livet begränsas, Att inte bli tagen på allvar samt Att återfå kraft. Slutsats: Resultatet visade att kvinnor var otroligt utsatta och begränsade. De upplevde lidande och ohälsa på grund av misstroende från sin omgivning samt vårdpersonal. Däremot återkom kraften när kvinnor upplevde stöd och bekräftelse. Nyckelord: Fibromyalgia, women, experiences & qualitative research.

This dissertation uses a three-article dissertation, including a literature review and two research articles, related to the understanding and development of self-regulation (SR). Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA), the literature review examined 22 articles researching a self-regulation intervention used in an online, higher education context. The articles included interventions specific to a unique context, interventions used in a specific context but could be easily adapted to other contexts, and generic interventions that could be applied in any context. Important themes revealed in the analysis include the importance of feedback in developing SR, the interaction of SR and autonomy, the contribution of qualitative data, and the effectiveness of SR interventions. The second article investigated an intervention introduced to a higher education, preservice teacher course on teaching in online and blended courses. Participants included 30 students from two sections of the course. Each week students set an SR goal, and then reported on their success in a weekly self-report. Using the results from a pre and posttest SR survey, as well as students' weekly self-reports, final exam reflection data, and student interviews, we conducted limited quantitative analysis and thematic qualitative analysis. The findings indicate that although student progress varied from week to week, students generally felt the process helped them increase in SR. In their weekly self-reflections, students revealed that the process of reflection increased their self-awareness of how to adapt SR principles to their specific needs. They found that increased SR resulted in more positive affect toward their learning and increased their ability to learn effectively. They also indicated that their SR skills carried over into other courses during the semester as well as into the next semester. All but one student felt that the goal setting and self-evaluation process increased their ability to self-regulate and improved their learning. The third article explored the state of student SR in an online secondary school. The data included a survey of student perceptions of their SR in five SR dimensions. It also included interviews with 12 students, 12 parents, and 12 teachers. Analysis of this data revealed that students generally concentrated on the help-seeking and time management SR dimensions, corresponding with the purpose and structure of the school, which emphasizes these two dimensions. Findings also indicated an inaccurate understanding of motivation and poor mental health depressed their ability to work. Finally, all participants noted that students with positive character traits were more likely to have the will to act in a self-regulated manner and progress in their schoolwork and their learning.

Research on the use of Open Educational Resources (OER) often notes the potential benefits for users to revise, reuse, and remix OER to localize it for specific learners. However, a gap in the literature exists in terms of research that explores how this localization occurs in practice. This is a significant gap given the current flow of OER from higher-income countries in the Global North to lower-income countries in the Global South (King et al., 2018). This study explores how OER from one area of the world is localized when it is used in a different cultural context. As part of a larger ed-tech project in Ghana, I piloted a human rights manual that I helped develop and interviewed six facilitators of that course to see how they tailored the course to their students in Ghana. The goal was to understand their experience, their decisions, and their challenges and to explore the practice of localization and the challenges and affordances related to that practice. Findings indicated complex encounters with decontextualized content and a variety of localization practices. Participants expressed feelings of ill-fit and cultural tensions in navigating between the human rights content in the OER manual and local cultural practices. They also experienced challenges with technology due to low bandwidth and hardware problems, as well as language problems given Ghana's history of colonial rule. Native speakers of Twi are less proficient reading Twi than their national language, English. As facilitators worked to overcome these challenges, they were most likely to informally localize content in intuitive ways during the class based on students' needs. Informal, in-the-moment practices included translating content into Twi, persisting through technological challenges, using local stories and pictures, localizing through discussion, and teaching responsively. While none of the participants were initially aware of OER and its unique permissions, as they became aware of OER, discussion around localization included these themes: 1. the burdensome process of localization 2. need for support 3. need for flexible formatting to allow editing 4. technological barriers 5. the practice of remaking the lessons into tailored slide presentations. These findings have implications for designers of OER and their awareness of real mismatches and otherness created by decontextualized content. There are also suggestions for ways to apply findings and design intentionally with space for localization. More research on the practice of OER localization would refine our understanding of how OER is localized and what barriers and affordances exist to this practice.

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For those who were raised in a religious household, leaving one's religion of origin (religious disaffiliation) can be a significant life event that impacts a person for years to come. Similarly, coming out and living authentically as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or another sexual or gender minority (LGBTQ+) is another event that, although ongoing, shapes the course of one's life significantly. In this grounded theory study, the researcher examines LGBTQ+ women's experiences of religious disaffiliation to create an understanding of what the disaffiliation process is like for LGBTQ+ women, and what happens to family relationships during and after disaffiliation. Several themes emerged, including similarities in why they disaffiliated, how they disaffiliated, and what happened to significant relationships during and after disaffiliation. / Doctor of Philosophy / For those who were raised in a religious household, leaving the religion one was raised in (religion of origin), also called religious disaffiliation, can be a significant life event that impacts a person for years to come. Similarly, coming out as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or another sexual minority (LGBTQ+) is another event that can shape the course of one's life significantly, especially since those who are LGBTQ+ often continue to have to come out to new people in their lives. In this study, the researcher examines what it is like for LGBTQ+ women to disaffiliate from the Christian denominations in which they were raised, as well as what happens to family relationships during and after disaffiliation. There are several common themes shared among disaffiliates, including similarities in why they disaffiliated, how they disaffiliated, and what happened to significant relationships during and after disaffiliation.

In this thesis, I examine the global implications of the "War on Terror" by exploring how China exploits the discourses of the "War on Terror" to justify the internment of Uyghur Muslims. In the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the Chinese government is responsible for human rights abuses, violations, and genocide of Uyghur Muslims and other Turkic minority groups. In 2018, it was reported that approximately more than one million Uyghur Muslims and other Muslim minorities in China have disappeared and are subject to arbitrary detention, surveillance, forced labour, forced sterilization, and regulations which restrict religious and cultural expression in supposed "counter-extremism centers" allegedly committed to political indoctrination fighting terrorism (Human Rights Watch, 2021; United Nations Human Rights, 2018). This study explores the processes and practices used to deny the internment of the Uyghur Muslim population. I achieve this through my research question, which aims to explore: How the Chinese government manufactures and justifies its own "War on Terror" by suppressing Uyghur Muslims and simultaneously denying the use of internment camps? I analyzed pro-government national China Daily English newspaper articles from 2001-2020 using qualitative content analysis to answer this research question. As a result, my main argument is that the Chinese government has manufactured and exacerbated a domestic "terrorism" problem by exploiting the discourses of the "War on Terror" to justify its internment of Uyghur Muslims. Simultaneously, the Chinese government has produced a deflection campaign committed to diverting criticisms and denying the use of internment camps under the guise of the "War on Terror." I conclude this thesis by presenting the need for additional research to explore how other countries in the East might also suppress different racialized groups in the context of the "War on Terror."

Appealing participants' engagement drives collaborative systems to enhance it through system's use or through system's design. However, engaging participants in collaborative systems to create digital resources is not trivial to achieve as the majority of contributions are provided by a very small percentage of engaged participants. In the literature, different approaches, such as human-in-the-loop and co-design, investigate engagement in these lines. This thesis aims to study how reflexivity can help designers to investigate participants' engagement in co-design of collaborative systems. Based on a qualitative approach, the thesis is positioned in the field of Human Computer Interaction and grounded on two studies. The retrospective analysis of the two studies was guided through a framework composed of three phases. In the first phase, supported by the literature review, several qualitative methods were investigated to identify the communities to be involved in the research; in the second phase, different co-design sessions were conducted with participants; and in the third phase, participants evaluated the solutions co-designed. The two studies followed different but intertwined approaches. Study 1 followed a user-centric approach and supported the identification and consolidation of a set of factors that hindered or facilitated engagement. The factors were articulated as barriers, drivers, and workarounds, and were validated in Study 2, which followed a participative approach. These factors constitute the first contribution of this thesis. Moreover, the literature review and the empirical data supported the identification of three dimensions to facilitate the adoption of a reflexive approach in co-design. These dimensions correspond to the second contribution of this thesis. Finally, the set of barriers, drivers, and workarounds was merged with the dimensions to propose a framework to investigate engagement in co-design of collaborative systems, constituting the third contribution of this thesis.