This article reports on data collected as part of a four-phase study initiated to strengthen practice in the field of smoking cessation during pregnancy. It focuses on the perceived support pregnant smokers would receive for quitting smoking and how this support could be effectively used by incorporating the education of partners/family in smoking…

This article reports on reforms of the science education program for prospective physical science teachers in Taiwan and examines their impact on these teachers. The reforms include restructuring the courses in physical science methods, and requiring all prospective teachers to do action research during their one-year full-time teaching practice.…

This paper draws on a systematic review of qualitative research to explore the resilient mothering practices that young, British, working-class mothers employ to care for their children. The synthesis of studies of UK mothers under the age of 20 demonstrates how young working-class women must mother in impoverished circumstances, at the same time…

The contribution of qualitative research consists in "description, verification (of existing theories, hypotheses, generalizations, or practices), evaluation or prescription, as well as understanding" (Glesne & Peshkin, 1992, p. 16). This qualitative study examined the dynamics and complexities, which occur in the natural setting of a seventh…

This study explores the meanings that learners of English as a foreign language give to teachers' gestures. It is a qualitative, descriptive study of the perceived functions that gestures perform in the EFL classroom, viewed mainly from the language learners' perspective. The data for the study was collected through interviews with twenty-two…

The study was designed to explore qualitatively developmental differences in disagreement negotiation and resolution skills between adolescent and young adult romantic partners. Twenty adolescent and 20 young adult couples participated in the study. The Knox inventory was used to measure the level of disagreement between partners on ten domains…

Using qualitative methods, the author explores how adult learners' lives are affected by participating in adult literacy programs in Manitoba, Canada. After a description of research methods, changes in six major areas of learners' lives are discussed: general attitudes toward life, levels of interpersonal awareness, self-esteem, academic…

The increased diversification of classrooms in recent years has placed additional demands upon teachers who strive to facilitate the learning and participation of all pupils. The aim of the current study was to explore how primary teachers across Europe understand and respond to diversity in their classrooms. A total of 35 teachers from 7…

Several authors have pointed out that CALL research does not have the academic status that it should have because it does not take place within a well-developed theoretical framework. For this reason, there have been several proposals which seek to anchor CALL research within various existing theoretical frameworks--for instance, instructed second…

A defining characteristic of grandparents raising grandchildren is parenting a second generation of children. To learn how grandmothers compare parenting their grandchildren to parenting their children, 40 custodial grandmothers were interviewed. Results of a qualitative analysis indicated that grandmothers perceived themselves as wiser, more…

This article looks at how children between the ages of 4 and 8 years report they feel when they are exposed to passive smoking and how they react in these situations. Data were collected annually from a cohort of 250 primary school children, which was tracked from their Reception Classes to Year 3 across six Liverpool schools. Quantitative and…

The frequent turnover of school board members in the US represents a concern for many educational practitioners who worry about the discontinuity of leadership, leading to negative impacts on students and staff. School board member turnover is also a key variable in studies of democratic theories of public school governance. Using descriptive and…

The family--via communication (or lack thereof)--is a primary avenue for sexuality education. While most research on family sexuality communication has examined the content of parent-child communication (e.g. topics discussed), relatively few studies have assessed the process, the way in which communication occurs. This paper presents an analysis…

This qualitative study examines the perceptions of federally supported agricultural school teachers toward the attributes of two educational innovations brought by the educational reform currently undergoing in Brazil--the separation between academic and professional education and the emergence of the competency-based modular curriculum. The…

Six undergraduate students were interviewed in a qualitative study about their experiences as gay, lesbian or bisexual students studying Medicine. Informants, who were identified by snowball sampling, spoke about their experiences both freely and in response to a series of prompt questions derived from previous research. The transcribed interviews…