Qualitative Studies in Quality of Life: Methodology and Practice

247 Pages·2015·2.467 MB·English

by  Graciela Tonon (eds.)

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Social Indicators Research Series 55
Social Indicators Research Series 55
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Graciela Tonon Editor n
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Qualitative Studies in Quality of Life n
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Methodology and Practice d
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This volume explores the use and relevance of qualitative methods for the study of
quality of life. It analyzes the role of qualitative researcher and the role of the context
and the culture in quality of life studies. It presents the use of qualitative methods in
real projects carried out in specific fields: geography, health, community studies, labor
life and yoga. Finally, the book proposes the use of mixed methods that are considered
Graciela Tonon Editor
as the third methodological approach in social research.
The main purpose of using qualitative methods is to understand what it means for
participants to be involved in certain events, situations and actions. Such methods
help understand the context in which participants act and the influence of that context
Qualitative
on their actions. The decision to use a particular methodology implies a philosophic,
theoretical and political decision. Qualitative methodology constitutes an approach 1
that is essential for understanding people’s experiences of well-being and discovering
new issues related to quality of life.
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ISBN 978-3-319-13778-0 i
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9 783319 137780
Qualitative Studies in Quality of Life
Social Indicators Research Series
Volume 55
Series Editor:
ALEx C. MIChALoS
Faculty of Arts Office, Brandon University,
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
Editors:
ED DIENER
University of Illinois, Champaign, USA
WoLFGANG GLATZER
J.W. Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
ToRBJoRN MoUM
University of Oslo, Norway
MIRJAM A.G. SPRANGERS
University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
JoAChIM VoGEL
Central Bureau of Statistics, Stockholm, Sweden
RUUT VEENhoVEN
Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
This series aims to provide a public forum for single treatises and collections of papers on social in-
dicators research that are too long to be published in our journal Social Indicators Research. Like the
journal, the book series deals with statistical assessments of the quality of life from a broad perspective.
It welcomes research on a wide variety of substantive areas, including health, crime, housing, educa-
tion, family life, leisure activities, transportation, mobility, economics, work, religion and environmental
issues. These areas of research will focus on the impact of key issues such as health on the overall
quality of life and vice versa. An international review board, consisting of Ruut Veenhoven, Joachim
Vogel, Ed Diener, Torbjorn Moum and Wolfgang Glatzer, will ensure the high quality of the series as a
whole. Available at 25% discount for International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQoLS). For
membership details please contact: ISQoLS; e-mail: [email protected] Editors: Ed Diener, University
of Illinois, Champaign, USA; Wolfgang Glatzer, J.W. Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany;
Torbjorn Moum, University of oslo, Norway; Mirjam A.G. Sprangers, University of Amsterdam, The
Netherlands; Joachim Vogel, Central Bureau of Statistics, Stockholm, Sweden; Ruut Veenhoven, Eras-
mus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
For further volumes:
http://www.springer.com/series/6548
Graciela Tonon
Editor
Qualitative Studies
in Quality of Life
Methodology and Practice
1 3
Editor
Graciela Tonon
Universidad Nacional de Lomas de Zamora
and Universidad de Palermo
Buenos Aires
Argentina
ISSN 1387-6570 ISSN 2215-0099 (electronic)
Social Indicators Research Series
ISBN 978-3-319-13778-0 ISBN 978-3-319-13779-7 (eBook)
DoI 10.1007/978-3-319-13779-7
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014956188
Springer Cham heidelberg New York Dordrecht London
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015
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The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
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Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
To my loving sons Pedro and Erica, and my
dear husband Walter Who support my every
day life and my work.
To my brother Gabriel
Who has been recently appointed Bishop.
Preface
The aim of this book is to show the importance of the development of qualitative
studies in the field of quality of life. It is organized in two parts, and has been di-
vided into ten chapters.
Part I, which comprises four chapters, deals with the theoretical-methodological
reflection of qualitative studies; it examines the written production on the subject,
the role of qualitative researchers, the role played by culture in qualitative studies
and in the researchers’own lives, the follow-up of young researchers in their process
of insertion in this field, and the challenge of integrating qualitative and quantitative
methods for the study of quality of life, thus overcoming the traditional antagonism
between them.
Part II contains six chapters that are concrete cases in which researchers have
developed qualitative studies on quality of life in different disciplines and themes:
Geography, health, Communities, Youth, Childhood and Yoga in labor life, thus
showing the possible new scenarios in the the history of quality of life studies.
Some of the chapters are the results of different research projects developed by
the authors and/or myself and the other ones are the results of Doctoral Thesis that
I directed in Argentina and Colombia. I am very grateful with the colleagues that
work with me in this book.
Adopting a particular methodology implies a philosophical, theoretical and po-
litical decision and, in the case of qualitative methodology, it is an essential ap-
proach in understanding people’s experiences of well-being and discovering new
issues related to quality of life.
Qualitative Research Methodology Professor Graciela Tonon
Universidad Nacional de Lomas de Zamora
Universidad de Palermo, Argentina
vii
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank all the people who kindly accepted to be interviewed,
without their collaboration, this book would not have been possible.
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Contents
Part I Theory and Methodology
1 Relevance of the Use of Qualitative Methods in the Study
of Quality of Life ...................................................................................... 3
Graciela Tonon
2 T he Qualitative Researcher in the Quality of Life Field ...................... 23
Graciela Tonon
3 The Role of Context and Culture in Quality of Life Studies ................ 37
Lia Rodriguez de la Vega
4 I ntegration of Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in
Quality of Life Studies ............................................................................. 53
Graciela Tonon
Part II Cases: Qualitative studies in quality of life in
Geography, Health, Communities, Youth, Childhood
and Yoga in Labor Life
5 Q ualitative Methodologies in Geography, Contributions
to the Study of Quality of Life ................................................................ 63
Claudia Mikkelsen and Josefina Di Nucci
6 Q ualitative Studies in Health-Related Quality of Life:
The Case of Young People Living With HIV/AIDS .............................. 97
Milton Décima
7 C hildren’s Quality of Life in the Caribbean: A Qualitative Study ...... 121
María Dilia Mieles-Barrera and Graciela Tonon
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xii Contents
8 Qualitative Studies of Young People’s Quality of Life in
Urban and Rural Areas ........................................................................... 149
Lucia Zanabria Ruiz
9 Y oung People’s Rural Quality of Life in the Colombian
Andes: A Qualitative Study Using Triangulation .................................. 179
Antonio José López López
10 A Qualitative Study on Yoga Practice in Quality of Labor Life .......... 217
Lia Rodriguez de la Vega
Index ................................................................................................................ 239