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RI Youth Conservation League volunteers help RISD grad students make habitats for species known to improve coastal water quality.
more information »
Through his conceptual videogame Static Lagoon, Prashast Thapan 14 GD aims to provoke players into unplugging and looking beyond the screen.
Two teams of RISD-educated entrepreneurs will refine their products this summer as part of Boston's MassChallenge Accelerator program.
Ryan Mather 15 ID is thrilled to start work as an interdisciplinary designer at littleBits – a New York-based company that manufactures DIY electronics kits.
New graduate Robin Hilkey 15 GD feels well prepared for the fast-paced design and branding work she'll do at the anti-AIDS organization (RED).
Seniors are screening final degree project films at this week's Film/Animation/Video Senior Show.
Hundreds of students welcome advice from arts professionals at the 2015 Fine Arts Portfolio Review.
A visit from photojournalist and activist Richard Ross inspires RISD students to pursue social justice projects.
Two visiting designers from Microsoft offer a workshop for students and alumni interested in designing for people with disabilities.
Actor and humanitarian Danny Glover offers the final word in RISD's 2015 MLK Series with a keynote address on effecting social change through the arts.


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BizReport : Mobile Marketing : October 23, 2012
Apple bets iPad Mini will bring more tablet users
Bigger may be better according to a lot of tablet users, but Apple is betting their new product - the iPad Mini - will pull even more tablet users into the Apple fold. This afternoon the software giant announced its Mini version - 7.2mm thick, 7.9 inch screen - will be on shelves in time for the 2012 holidays.
The price-point for the iPad Mini is set at $329; Apple says it's not just the size setting this one apart. It's the screen resolution which is compatible with apps for larger iPad devices, it's lighter and uses a dual-core A5 Chip - and a 10 hour battery life.
What are experts in the mobile space saying about the new addition?
"What excites me about the iPad mini is that it should give marketers genuine mobile conversion," said Greg McAllister, Co-Founder and CEO, PushPoint Mobile. "Right now, some studies show that up to 90% of mobile conversions come from tablets, but that's not necessarily true. Those conversions could come from someone sitting on their couch (and in most cases, probably do), so labeling those transactions as 'mobile' is a misnomer. The iPad mini's portability means that mobile tablet conversions will be, for the first time, truly mobile. This will open up an entirely new level of conversion analytics, and in turn, the potential for a much deeper understanding of the consumer."
Data from Velti suggests iPad Mini could be the hottest selling tablet according to customer engagement. Full screen, rich media ads have higher engagement rates, notes the company, and the Mini screen will be larger than Kindle's Fire but smaller than larger iPads. Kindle Fire CTRs for 300X250 banners, for example, is 3.34% - nearly double the CTR for iPad 3.
Kurt Hawks, General Manager, Greystripe said, "What's important to marketers about the iPad mini is this: there is going to be an increase in high-quality mobile users as a result of the iPad mini's debut. We know from industry studies that 56% of tablet owners make over $75K, and 46% have made a purchase after interacting with a tablet ad, so this creates a new, potentially very lucrative frontier for digital marketers."
iPad Mini will be available for pre-order October 26.
Tags: Apple iPad Mini, Greystripe, mobile marketing, PushPoint Mobile, tablet marketing, Velti
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CANARA BANK RTGS HO Branch in HALDIBARI - Address, IFSC, MICR Code
CNRB0005805MICR Code
UTTAR BOXIGANJContact
GP OFFICE VILL PO BOXIRGANJ VIA HALDIBARI DIST COOCHBEHAR 735122City
KOCH BIHARState
What is IFSC Code of CANARA BANK situated at UTTAR BOXIGANJ- RTGS-HO?
IFSC Code of CANARA BANK situated at UTTAR BOXIGANJ - RTGS-HO is
What is the meaning of IFSC Code, MICR Codes in Banking industry?
IFSC or Indian Financial System Code is the code allocated to all banks branches. Bank branches use this code to participate in RTGS and NEFT transactions.
What is the significance of IFSC Code and how we can use it?
IFSC Code is a 11 digit code and we can use this code to communicate between different branches of different banks. Upon receiving the request for fund transfer it is easy for a bank to identify the payee branch. First four characters are code of bank, last six digits are branch code and fifth character is left 0, for any future use.


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Mark has released its new Virtual Reality software on Thursday which places users into a virtual world as an avatarand allows them to interact with each other.
Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, showed the new software at the Oculus Connect conference in San Francisco.
Facebook is working to develop third party VR software as well as its own projects, Zuckerberg said at the conference.
Zuckerberg took audience members to his home to check on his pet dog Beast and call his wife Priscilla Chan by bringing up a virtual phone screen that appeared in his field of vision.
More photos below…..


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Italian Flag Badge Vectors
The Italian flag icon you can use as badges, stamps, etc. These vector badges italian can be used for logos or as unique flag icons.
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Login/Create Account
Check Out the new Remax App
Ask About This Home
Captivating two-story that offers main level living and wonderful spaces for entertaining! This beautiful custom-built home feels like new constriction. Main floor master suite and three bedrooms upstairs. Features high-end finishes and updates throughout. Private lot on a cul-de-sac in Minnetonka Schools.


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170K 📈 The #NRL club membership tracker is keeping tabs on how all sixteen sides are faring - and we...
4 days ago - 6 Likes
Jetstar Gold Coast Titans coach John Cartwright believes the club will be the envy of any sporting organisation in Australia when its state-of-the-art Centre of Excellence training facility is completed.
Jetstar Titans players and coaching staff today received their first sneak peak at the $30 million Centre of Excellence, which is scheduled to be completed in December.
The unique training facility will be equipped with a state-of-the-art gym, the latest recovery equipment including a 25 metre lap pool, two hydrotherapy pools, change rooms, medical facilities and a luxury player


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With its design, production and test facilities, the Lampoldshausen site near Heilbronn features among Europe's most prominent manufacturers of thrusters and propulsion systems. In order to obtain maximum service life from satellites while still achieving the greatest possible savings in terms of launch weight, the engineers in Lampoldshausen developed the Unified Propulsion System. UPS is a combination of up to 16 thrusters with 10 N thrust for orbit and attitude control and a thruster with 400 N thrust, both of which are fuelled by two or four propellant tanks. UPS can rotate the satellite around all axes depending upon which thrusters are fired. With over 50 satellites maintaining trouble-free operation using this propulsion system (and additionally more than 110 monopropellant hydrazine propulsion systems produced for satellites and probes) – some for more than 10 years now – Lampoldshausen can be counted among the world market leaders in this segment. Lampoldshausen also delivers the whole propulsion system for the unmanned freight transporter ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle), which provides the International Space Station with supply goods, fuels and materials.
Getting there
The Lampoldshausen facility is located approx. 25 km northeast from Heilbronn in the Hardthäuser Forest and is reached as follows:
By train
Heilbronn central station is approx. 25 km from the site, and Möckmühl express station approx. 8 km. Taxis can be arranged from these stations.
By plane
From Stuttgart Airport (STR)
From here via train (Stuttgart) or car (approx. 1 h) on the A8 motorway, leaving at T-junction Leonberg/A81.
From Frankfurt Airport (FRA)
From here via car (approx. 1 h) on the A5 motorway, leaving at T-junction Walldorf/A 6 – motorway crossing Weinsberg – A 81.
By car
A81 motorway Stuttgart–Würzburg, Exit 7 Möckmühl, from here follow the DLR/AIRBUS Group signpost, approx. 2 km.


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Bottle and Inline Water Filters
Priceless than $25
$25 - $49.99
$50 - $99.99
$100 and above
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Sawyer MINI Water Filter
This is a very light water filter with adequate flow if you're focused on minimizing the base weight of your pack. I have been focused on getting the base weight of my pack down under 20 pounds and one of the changes I made was going from a pump type water filter to the Sawyer Mini water filter. In general I am happy with the Sawyer Mini in that it does the job and only weighs in at about 2 oz. The filter comes as a kit and includes a syringe for washing the filter using a back flow, a 16 oz squeeze… Full review
Sawyer MINI Water Filter
Best water filter I've ever had! Lightweight, small, durable, easy to use, and best of all it's very affordable. This is the perfect water filter for 1-2 people who are weight/space conscious backpackers. This is hands-down the best water filter I've ever owned. I could have skipped listing all of the pros and just said there isn't anything better on the market if you're looking for a filter like this. You will NOT regret this purchase if you're a backpacker that travels more than 100 yards from… Full review
CamelBak All Clear
The product is very innovative and easy to use. The battery life is never a problem and this unit is utilized by two on the trail. Having a top with the filter gives the best of both worlds with UV and filtration. Nice to have the solution from one company. This unit make very quick work of hydration. Fill the bottle, hit the button, and then shake gently for a short time. How easy is that? I can purify the water and change heads in under 2 minutes. It sure beats having to squeeze through a filter… Full review
Sawyer MINI Water Filter
Saved a three-week trip on the John Muir Trail. Brought as a backup, used as the main filter for two people. So we took off for a three-week leisurely llama trip on the John Muir Trail (National Forest section)...just goofing off and doing lots of fishing. Five llamas for carrying power and two dogs for company, entertainment, and a heat source for the tents. Most of the hikers on the JMT are pounding out miles everyday and miss the solitude and spectacular beauty of side trips off the main trail...not… Full review
Sawyer MINI Water Filter
Best product for the price. Works very well. The most lightweight water filter on the market that I know of. Easy to use and ability to filter 100,000 gallons of water! This is a handy little filter and easy to use. I have used this for all my water filtering in the back country and never had a problem. I did however opt to not use the flimsy bags that come with it. I use my Platypus bags and Nalgene bottle and it works great. Lightweight, easy to use. It's great for solo hikers. I used it for… Full review
LifeStraw Go
Great filtered water bottle. Very fast and easy. Would recommend to anyone. Great product, just used it on the trail last weekend. Just find the water source and fill it up, don't have to stop, unpack filter, filter water, then repack it. Full review
Sawyer MINI Water Filter
Very good little filter. I have used this filter on numerous backpacking trips and it has worked well every time. Great little unit. I have used this on many backpacking trips and love it. A little research needs to be done into what the water is like where you are going. In southeastern Ohio the water is pretty clear and contaminant free, so several bags of water can be filtered before the flow slows down. In the Dolly Sods region of West Virginia the water has a very high mineral content and only… Full review
Sawyer MINI Water Filter
Hassle-free water filtering on the go. The Sawyer MINI Water Filter is imported to Europe by a German company named Care Plus. Same filter, different brand. Just saying...The package includes the filter (duh..), the cleaning syringe, the straw and a 0.5L water bag. There is no smell whatsoever from the filtered water no matter from what component it goes through. I personally like to fill in the included bag and then squeeze the filtered water into my hydration bladder. The flow is excellent if… Full review
Sawyer MINI Water Filter
At 2 oz, this mini filter is a soloist's lightweight dream. No waiting for tablets anymore. Effectiveness: The product is a particulate filter and does not claim to kill pathogens like a tablet. It's claim of effectiveness is pretty high: "0.1-micron filter physically removes 99.99999% of all bacteria, such as salmonella, cholera and E.coli; removes 99.9999% of all protozoa, such as giardia and cryptosporidium". I find those claims to be reassuring.The compact Sawyer Mini Filter Speed and Efficiency:… Full review
Top-Rated Bottle and Inline Water Filters
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In order to show you the most relevant gear, we have omitted some older, unreviewed products.
If you like, you can view the list with the older products included.


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- Worldwide Rank #124,829,545
- Follower/Following Ratio 0.1
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Shinta Wiharto Twitter Stats
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Let Me Go There Paperback
The Spirit of Lent
by Paula Gooder;
In Stock - Usually dispatched within 24 hours
A Bird's Eye View
Walk through Lent with Paul Gooder in this 40 Day devotional that brings her thoughtful insight to the Easter season.
Price and PurchaseOffer price: £9.41 Go to Basket
If you're buying for a church, school or business, why not Buy Now Pay Later?Find Out More
Let Me Go There
Full Product Description
Bestselling author Paula Gooder continues her popular series on the seasons of the Christian year with this daily companion for the six weeks of Lent, leading readers deeper into the spirit of the season and opening up the scriptures that are read in churches during this period.
She begins with an introduction to the season of Lent and its the characteristic themes, exploring how to use it as a time for spiritual growth. In forty short sections suitable for daily reading, Paula then reflects on a theme associated with the season, including:
- Wilderness
- Journey
- Fasting
- Taking up your cross
- Discipleship
- Prayer
- Temptation
Let Me Go There by Paula Gooder was published by Canterbury Press Norwich in November 2016 and is our 8741st best seller. The ISBN for Let Me Go There is 9781848259041.
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Got a question? No problem! Just click here to ask us about Let Me Go There.
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This product is also listed in the following departments:
- New for 2016 department under New Books for 2016
- New for 2016 department under New for Lent 2016
- Christian Authors department under Paula Gooder
Details for Let Me Go There
|Page last updated
|27th November 2016
|Author / Artist
|Paula Gooder
|Book Format
|Canterbury Press Norwich (November 2016)
|Number of Pages
|198 mm
|126 mm
|Product Code


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Note: Sample below may appear distorted but all corresponding word document files contain proper formattingExcerpt from Term Paper:
Impact on Equity
One major point regarding equity as applied to performance-based assessment is made by Yale Professor Emeritus Edmund Gordon (Dietel, Herman and Knuth, 1991). "We begin with the conviction that it is desirable that attention be given to questions of equity early in the development of an assessment process rather than as an add-on near the end of such work....The task then is to find assessment probes (test items) which measure the same criterion from contexts and perspectives which reflect the life space and values of the learner."
According to Robert Linn (Dietel, Herman and Knuth, 1991), "The criterion of equity needs to be applied to any assessment. It is a mistake to assume that shifting from standardized tests to performance-based assessments will eliminate concerns about biases against racial/ethnic minorities or that such a shift will necessarily lead to equality of performance. Although many at-risk students come to school deficient in prior knowledge that is important to school achievement, teachers and schools can make a substantial difference through the construction of assessments that take into account the vast diversity of today's student populations. Gaps in performance among groups exist because of differences in familiarity, exposure, and motivation of the subjects being assessed. Substantial changes in instructional strategy and resource allocation are required to give students adequate preparation for complex, time-consuming, open-ended assessments. Providing training and support for teachers to move in these directions is essential."
Most states have adopted state-level standards in math, reading, history, science, and other subjects and tests to make sure that students are learning (Kafer, 2004). Some have adopted "high-stakes" tests that decide whether students may ascend to the next grade or graduate. Some states provide financial incentives to high-performing schools. For instance, in Florida, high-performing schools receive awards while low-performing schools receive additional monetary aid and technical assistance. Students in the lowest-performing schools are allowed to transfer to other schools, public or private.
Impact on Teachers, Parents and Schools
The Act is based on a government commitment to ensure that all children receive a high quality education so that no child is left behind (U.S. Department of Education, 2005). Many believe that it has led to higher standards and greater accountability throughout the Nation's school systems, while others feel that the outcome has been negative.
On a positive note, the Act has improved education for parents, teachers, students and schools (U.S. Department of Education, 2005). The Act gives school districts more money for the education of America's children. It also gives states and school districts more control and more flexibility to use resources as they see necessary. Principals and teachers are given incentives to teach well.
Many parents perceive the Act as a good thing, as it holds schools and school districts accountable for results (U.S. Department of Education, 2005). Schools are responsible for teaching children and are held accountable if they do not. Parents are also given report cards that show which schools in their district are succeeding and what they are doing. This report card provides school leaders, teachers and parents with the information they need to improve schools.
The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University (CRP) recently released a study that reports the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has not improved reading and mathematical achievement or reduced achievement gaps. The study also revealed that the NCLB is far behind in its goals of complete student proficiency by 2014.
The report compared the findings from the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) to state assessment results (The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University, 2006). It suggests that state assessment results show improvements in math and reading, but students have not shown similar gains on the NAEP -- the only independent national test that randomly samples students in the United States.
Under the NCLB, states receive the power to decide which tests to use for accountability and proficiency (The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University, 2006). In turn, states must face their results and deal with low-performing schools. NCLB requires annual progress of all students toward the state proficiency levels. The report shows how over the past few years since the NCLB's inception, "Students should perform well on both tests because they cover the same subjects," according to the study's author Jaekyung Lee of he State University of New York at Buffalo. "What we are seeing is, the higher the stakes of the assessment, the higher the discrepancies in the results. Based on the NAEP, there are no systemic indications of improving the average achievement and narrowing the gap after NCLB."
The report also shows that federal accountability rules have no significant impact on racial and poverty gaps (The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University, 2006). According to the report, the NCLB Act actually seems to leave minority and poor students, even with additional educational support, far behind with little opportunity to meet the 2014 goals.
This report is depressing given the tremendous amount of pressure schools have been under and the damage that a lot of high poverty racial schools have undergone by being declared as failing schools," according to Gary Orfield, director of the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University and professor of education and social policy at Harvard Graduate School of Education (The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University, 2006). "We have not focused on the kinds of serious long-term reforms that can actually produce gains and narrow the huge gaps in opportunity and achievement for minority students."
In conclusion, there are many positive goals associated with the NCLB Act. However, the Act ultimately takes the control of classrooms away from the schools, teachers, parents, and communities who are directly accountable to their children. With fiscally-based mandates from the national level, schools and teachers work in a reactionary and fearful manner, rather a creative and individualistic manner that is often more effective in classrooms.
With national standards, schools are forced to move away from creative, individualized, and caring programs where teachers are learning about how each child is learning, and move toward a generic program for all students. Schools are forced to eliminate programs that are doing excellent work under challenging conditions of poverty and disease, and implement programs that are effective simply because the groups being served are not as challenging. In addition, many good teachers who do not meet standards are replaced by poor teachers who meet the standards.
Accountability is a great idea, but it seems that the Act does not help implement a model that really works with teachers, students, and families at a local level. Instead, it penalizes schools whose resources are already insufficient. Basically, the Act does take measures to ensure that special attention is given to improved learning for children who have been ignored or left behind in the school system. Its efforts to reduce the achievement gap are also commendable, for the short-term.
However, this does not mean that NCLB is working. In reality, the accountability system has some major problems that threaten its primary goals over the next few years. This paper indicates that there are as many cons as there are pros when It comes to NCLB, and suggests that there is a need for an improved model if the needs of all students are to truly be met.
American School Board Journal. (February, 2006). Questions About NCLB's Effectiveness. Education Vital Signs. American School Board Journal.
Dale Holt, Mary Rice and Christine Armatas. (2003). The emergence of an online learning community in first year tertiary studies in psychology. Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 19(2), 161-175.
Heath, Suzanne. (2002). No Child Left Behind Act. Wrightslaw.
Kandlbinder, P. (2003). Evaluating Assessment Performance. A Paper presented at Learning for an unknown future: 2003 Annual International Conference of HERDSA, July 6-9, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Kafer, Krista. (July 6, 2004). No Child Left Behind: Where Do We Go From Here? The American Enterprise Institute.
Pennsylvania Department of Education. (2005). Overview of No Child Left Behind. Retrieved from the Internet at http://www.pde.state.pa.us/nclb/cwp/view.asp?a=3&Q=77815&nclbNav=.
Smith, M.L. (1991). Put to the test: The effects of external testing on teachers. Educational Researcher, 20 (5).
The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University. (June 14, 2006). Testing the NCLB: Study shows that NCLB hasn't significantly impacted national achievement scores or narrowed the racial gaps. The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University.
U.S. Department of Education. (2005). Facts and Terms Every Parent Should Know About NCLB. Retrieved from the Internet at http://www.ed.gov/nclb/overview/intro/parents/parentfacts.html.[continue]
"NCLB The Impact Of No" (2006, July 19) Retrieved December 8, 2016, from http://www.paperdue.com/essay/nclb-the-impact-of-no-71052
"NCLB The Impact Of No" 19 July 2006. Web.8 December. 2016. <http://www.paperdue.com/essay/nclb-the-impact-of-no-71052>
"NCLB The Impact Of No", 19 July 2006, Accessed.8 December. 2016, http://www.paperdue.com/essay/nclb-the-impact-of-no-71052
" In addition to the highly qualified mandates of NCLB there are also requirements to use research-based education practices over effective-based education practices. The different levels of ability combined with the various qualifiers of special education students present a difficulty in determining the best course of research-based learning. In addition the ability to track and report such learning becomes difficult at best, impossible at worst. The Issue Given the wide spectrum of students that
These authors note that the obstacles for ELL students are particularly challenging, given that they include both educational and technical issues. These challenges include the following: Historically low ELL performance and very slow improvement. State tests show that ELL students' academic performance is far below that of other students, oftentimes 20 to 30 percentage points lower, and usually shows little improvement across many years. Measurement accuracy. Research shows that the language
No Child Left Behind Letter of Transmittal Impact of NCLB on Maryland School Systems Request for specified action Federal and State Restructuring Options Maryland State School Improvement Grant Budget Application, Allowable and Non-Allowable Expenditures No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is the re-embodiment of President Lyndon Johnson's Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA). The primary purpose was to raise the standard of education and bridge educational boundaries. NEA certainly supports these aims and works solely in
No Child Left Behind and Black Males No child left behind No Child Left Behind: Cause and Effect Essay The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was passed in 2001 in order to improve overall students' performance and to decrease the performance gap between minority and mainstream students. However other effects have emerged since its implementation. Through this cause and effect essay, author sheds light on effects of the NCLB. It has been
E., test scores) and dictated by "best practices" that teachers are losing confidence in their own creativity. Yet, despite these unfortunate consequences of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the important work of teachers remains unchanged. That work is the work of connecting personally and passionately, intimately and individually, with teaching real children in real time. It is enduring work that begins when a teacher enters the classroom for the first time
For Bush, the "formation and refining of policy proposals" (Kingdon's second process stream in policymaking) came to fruition when he got elected, and began talking to legislators about making educators and schools accountable. Bush gave a little, and pushed a little, and the Congress make its own changes and revisions, and the policy began to take shape. The third part of Kingdon's process stream for Bush (politics) was getting the
Moreover, the legislation contains loopholes that exempt some states from complying in some ways and it allows for some practices that distort the test results in some situations. These loopholes and exceptions are themselves impediments to any good science that might come from the testing regimes required (McDermott & Jensen, 2005). The authors of "Dubious Sovereignty" describe yet another of NCLB's contradictions. The proponents of the law say it protects


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Investigation on entrepreneurship and innovation has received increasing attention in strategic management in the last decade. While the two areas have been experiencing incredibly rapid growth, we perceive two clear gaps hindering further advance. In its recent advancements, innovation is worthy of deeper attention in strategic management, especially as concerns the interconnections with entrepreneurship in various settings. Correspondingly, little has been done in exploring the two main themes within coopetitive settings; i.e., contexts in which competition and cooperation merge together to give birth to a different kind of strategic interaction. By detecting the relations between innovation, entrepreneurship and coopetition, the Strategic Management Society Special Conference in Rome intends to delve into and grasp the opportunities for detecting the relationships and reciprocal influences between the three relevant research areas, as well as for inspecting their impact on competitive advantage and performance.
We are excited to be holding our upcoming Special Conference in Rome! Click here for more information about this renowned city.
Hotel Information
Room blocks at two hotels are available for conference registrants, both within walking distance to the conference venue. Please note that deadline to reserve a room is March 15. For more information please click here.
Conference Committee
We would like to introduce the individuals who will be building the conference program. Our thanks to them for serving in this role! Click here to see the conference committee.
Program Chairs Welcome
Jay Barney, Paolo Boccardelli, Giovanni Battista Dagnino, Valentina Della Corte and Devi Gnyawali are the Program Chairs for the Rome Special Conference. Click here to read their Welcome.


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The study depicts the procedure of writing a constructivist dissertation by reporting side by side the story of HIV-infected African American women's reproductive health decision-making. The context of these women served as the framework from which the dissertation was written. The article describes how these women and their stakeholders experience HIV/AIDS and how they make their reproductive health decisions. These women's perceptions and psychosocial factors are examined to understand what they view as important to them as women and as mothers. The article addresses how to teach doctoral students to complete doctoral research using the constructivist paradigm for research. Implications for social work education and practice are discussed.
- qualitative research
- constructivism
- dissertation writing
- HIV prevention
- African American women
The process of writing a dissertation is one of the major requirements for graduation in doctoral programs. Writing and defending a dissertation represent a creative effort by students to build knowledge or to demonstrate expertise in specific areas of their training. In addition, it is an opportunity for identifying a phenomenon and providing possible solutions or for expanding the current appreciation of a given phenomenon pointing out some of its larger complexities (Gardner & Gopaul, 2012). Through the years, doctoral programs have established their unique policy toward this requirement in accordance with their mission statements (Knight & Steinbach, 2008).
This article tells the story of my experience writing a constructivist dissertation on the intersection of social work and HIV/AIDS. It depicts the process of all activities undertaken to write the thesis and tells the story of some African American women infected with HIV and their decision to become or not become pregnant. This study is an introspective examination of my experience with the use of qualitative research methods, that is, semistructured interview and participant observation (McCotter, 2001). To protect the confidentiality, privacy, and anonymity of my participants and places, the article uses pseudonyms to identify all places and persons in the narrative.
In retrospect, the idea of writing a dissertation haunted me from my admission into the doctoral program at Jane Addams University (JAU) in the mid-Atlantic area of the United States. The dissertation policy at JAU is that, although students are discouraged from working on their dissertation during their academic training, they are inspired to work toward it by focusing on specific areas of their training (Grover, 2007). As a result, I kept abreast of the latest advances in social work and HIV/AIDS through reading and attending conferences at local, state, and regional levels. Prevention of HIV transmission was my area of concentration. Coming from Sub-Saharan Africa, where AIDS is a sexually transmissible infection, I wondered what pushed women infected with HIV to become pregnant and to carry their pregnancies to term. I wanted to understand what prompted these women to become pregnant in the face of all the risks and challenges that typically occur with HIV.
Despite my trepidation, moving toward this final stage of my education was invigorating in many ways. After my comprehensive exams, I decided that the title of my thesis was going to be A Constructivist Inquiry Into the Meaning of Pregnancy for African American Women Infected With HIV and conferred about the structure of my committee with my adviser. I needed professors who could help me develop into a writer, teacher, and researcher and committee members who had experience guiding students through long projects and who were well-versed in qualitative studies. Hence, I chose a constructivist researcher as my chair, two social work faculty members well-versed in Health Care Policy and HIV, and a qualitative researcher from our School of Nursing (Foss & Waters, 2012; S. Ray, 2007).
At its onset in 1981, AIDS was considered an incurable illness, one with many acute episodes, but one that eventually ended in death. Technically, an HIV diagnosis at that time meant a death sentence. Promptly, the AIDS disease morphed into an epidemic that relentlessly spread all over the world, infecting men and women, young and old, and rich and poor indiscriminately (Gottlieb et al., 1981). Generally, the poor were and are still the most disproportionately affected worldwide. However, with time and availability of medications, AIDS is now becoming a chronic illness with which men, women, and children are living longer than before (Colvin, 2011; Scandlyn, 2000). Today, many people with HIV are leading highly productive and satisfying lives for several years. By and large, the current medications are so effective that AIDS patients are not dying of complications of the disease but suffer organ failure due to the toxicity of medications (De Cock & El-Sadr, 2013; Franco & Saag, 2013).
This improved survival rate makes it possible for AIDS patients to infect others, particularly unborn infants via perinatal transmission (Church, 2000). This means that the unborn infant is infected either in utero, at the time of delivery, or through breastfeeding (Davis et al., 1995) and the adults through exchange of body fluids with an infected partner through unprotected oral, anal, and vaginal sex or through blood transfusion.
Over the past three decades, research has attempted to address issues of HIV/AIDS in conjunction with other diseases, but little or no attention has been focused on the question of why women living with HIV choose to conceive and carry a pregnancy to term in the face of all the odds that occur with HIV infection. Considering the prevalence and magnitude of AIDS among African Americans, the issue of pregnancy takes on greater importance and compels professionals, including social work practitioners, to ask fundamental questions like the following:
What are the odds of a pregnant woman infected with HIV to transmit the virus to her child?
What is the impact of AIDS on a pregnancy?
What is the impact of a pregnancy on the progression of AIDS?
What is the meaning of a pregnancy for these women?
What meaning do African American women assign to marriage and/or committed relationships, to pregnancy, and to the need to be survived by somebody after death?
Answers to these questions vary from woman to woman and from stakeholder to stakeholder depending on their specific HIV/AIDS context and culture. A universal way of understanding reproduction among these women would be to grasp the meaning women assign to womanhood and motherhood, to realize whether womanhood necessarily leads to motherhood, and to analyze the salient milestones of female growth. Using my dissertation into these topics as a context, this article addresses how to teach doctoral students to complete doctoral research using the constructivist paradigm for research. It describes in a step-by-step fashion the various stages I went through to complete this study.
Because qualitative research is concerned with meaning making (Crouch & McKenzie, 2006), purposive sampling along with the snowball sampling was my method of choice. Purposive sampling is a method in which potential participants are selected by the researcher, based on a variety of criteria that may include specialist knowledge of the research issue and/or capacity and willingness to participate in the research. Sample sizes, therefore, depend on the resources and time available as well as the study's objectives (Oliver, 2013; A. Ray, 2012). Conversely, snowball sampling is a method in which one participant (successfully recruited) suggests others known to them who might similarly be eligible. The latter method was particularly beneficial to me as I was interested in African American women infected with HIV who might have been or were pregnant around the time of the interview. These women were a group not easily accessible to research through other sampling strategies (Babbie, 2008). After clearance by the university institutional review board (IRB), I recruited a total of 35 men and women and started the data collection.
The recruitment criterion was to identify and recruit HIV positive African American women of childbearing age who were willing and able to discuss (in English) their HIV infection and pregnancy while infected with HIV. These prospective participants had to be in good health at the time of the interviews. As a constructivist researcher, I assumed these women to discuss their experiences living with HIV/AIDS and their experiences of terminating or carrying a pregnancy to term with someone in their community. Hence, the second criterion required participants to designate people around them with whom I would discuss their specific situations. The designated people were dubbed stakeholders and ought to have known the participants in such a way that they could freely discuss the participants' HIV infection and struggles with reproductive health decision-making. No restrictions were placed on the choice of stakeholders with regard to religion, age, race, class, sexual orientation, or gender (Rodwell, 1998). Excluded from the study were women with a history of mental illness and women whose HIV status was still confidential.
My recruitment plan was based on Connelly and Clandinin's (1990) theory that humans are storytelling organisms who, individually and collectively, lead storied lives and generally form a community of others with whom they can learn and share through dialogue. Through this process of socialization, an individual becomes a part of a community and ultimately participates in the socialization of others. I thus assumed that people arrive at certain decisions by directly or indirectly interacting with people around them. Little is known about who, if anyone, is involved when women make reproductive health decisions (Sowell & Misener, 1997). My stakeholders came from all lifestyles, mostly from parents and siblings, friends, church representatives, health care providers, social welfare officers, and many others. For confidentiality sake, I used a multilevel approach in the recruitment process. First, the gatekeepers talked to the prospective participants about the study and its potential benefits to pregnant women. Second, when these women were referred to me, I also discussed the study and potential benefits and persuaded them to play a part. Third, recruits and I chose a date, time, and location for the interviews. Informed written consents were obtained before each interview.
In total, 12 African American women or primary participants and 23 stakeholders agreed to enroll in the study. Represented among stakeholders were participants' parents and siblings, friends, an African American Baptist minister, health care providers, and social welfare personnel. Most participants' parents were either deceased or separated and/or not in contact with their daughters. The average age of primary participants was 31 years, ranging from ages 21 to 43. These women had been living with HIV for an average of 4 years, ranging from 2 months to 13 years. In terms of care, they were on either Medicare or Medicaid and at different stages of antiretroviral therapy depending on their individual morbidity. Those ineligible for Medicare or Medicaid were part of either the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program or AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP; The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, 2008). All participants received US$20 as an incentive for their participation in the study.
Study Design
The study design was emergent rather than predetermined as the meaning of pregnancy was going to be generated and defined by these women in their individual actual living context. As an emergent design, the plan allowed an orderly progress of the inquiry based on what came forth from the context and the process, without predetermining the structure and process (Rodwell, 1998). In this way, we obtained exactly what the participants knew about their situations and what they wanted us to know with less interference from the researcher. With each finalized interview, the meaning of pregnancy for this group of women was being refined, clarified, and made easier for the reader to understand.
Data Collection
Data were collected through in-depth, semistructured interviews and observation. My interview schedule explored these women's knowledge, perceptions, and realities regarding such variables as knowledge and beliefs about HIV/AIDS and pregnancy, the illness and treatment experience, motivations, and support systems. Interview questions were asked in an open-ended fashion to "minimize the imposition of predetermined responses when gathering data" (Patton, 1990, p. 295). These questions allowed participants to express their opinions, concerns, and feelings unreservedly, thereby allowing the conversation to flow where it needed to understand their meaning of pregnancy. Not all questions were couched ahead of time. The majority of my questions were created during the interview to target the interviewee specifically (Smith, 1995). The gist of the interviews depended on the participants' level of comfort, their personality and competence, and the ease of the rapport between the researcher and participants.
All interviews were informal, audiotaped for subsequent transcription and analysis, and lasted between 3 and 90 min. The shortest time was when two mothers declined to talk to me and graciously summarized their daughters' situations. It was common to move from happiness to sadness and to happiness again as the interview evolved. Overall, the interviews allowed participants to generously express their thoughts about motherhood, childbearing, and reproductive health. With each completed interview, I became smarter and smarter than I was at the beginning of the study. Follow-up interviews, which were mostly telephone calls, were opportunities to clarify participants' inputs and to focus on any change in perception about their reproductive health decision-making since the first interview. In these second interviews, most participants emphasized that they valued having "someone taking time to really listen and not judge their experiences." In fact, central to qualitative research is the notion of listening to respondents and understanding their lives "in and on their own terms" (Denzin & Lincoln, 1994). I served as the mouthpiece for these women who have been silenced so much and for so many years.
To complete the process, I chose the grounded theory, an inductive method to generate theory about social and psychological occurrences. Grounded theory provides the researcher with greater freedom to explore a phenomenon and allows issues to emerge freely from participants (Charmaz, 2000; Glaser, 2001; Morse, 2001). The perspective of symbolic interactionism informs grounded theory. Symbolic interactionism defines individuals as creative social actors whose behavior always occurs in social contexts that include other people and social structures such as family, friends, culture, and society (Blumer, 1969). In this study, the women were the social actors whose reproductive health decisions were either enhanced or hindered by their stakeholders. Simply put, their decisions about their reproductive health were a reflection of their daily interaction with stakeholders. This allowed me to "discover what is going on, rather than assuming what should be going on" (Glaser, 1978, p. 159).
Data Analysis
In constructivism, the co-occurrence of data collection and data analysis is the norm. In other words, data analysis began after the first interview and continued until the production of the case study report (Rodwell, 1998). All interviews were professionally transcribed and checked for accuracy. Once the first interview was transcribed, I engaged in data analysis, which first involved the deconstruction of the text into units and then the construction of the case study report. Unitizing is defined as a process in which raw data are systematically transformed and aggregated into units, which permit precise description of relevant content characteristics. Units, which are single pieces of information, may be a single word or a single sentence or an extended paragraph (Atkinson, Coffey, Delamont, Lofland, & Lofland, 2002; Rodwell, 1998). Each unit was recorded on an index card for easy access, retrieval, and manipulation. Units were coded so that they could be traced back to the raw material, hence, the code referred to the participant, the interview number, page number, line number, and to the field notes (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). Some 1,154 index cards were created by the time all interviews were transcribed and analyzed.
Once unitized, the data were analyzed via the method of constant comparison, that is, one unit after another was compared with the last, and they were ultimately grouped together conceptually. This led to the coding of units. Codes were developed from theory, prior literature, the research question at hand, my insights, and most importantly from the interview data (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2000). From the coded data, I moved to the construction of categories. A category referred to a process, a pattern of behavior, or theme that was distinguished from the data (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). For instance, "pregnancies happened to me" was a category that emerged in relation to the previously described codes. This category described the way in which these women became pregnant. I focused on categories that fit well with new data and that were connected in a way that pointed toward a credible understanding of the way in which these participants made their reproductive health decisions. I halted this process as soon as I reached a saturation of categories, meaning that no new or relevant data seemed to emerge regarding a category and that relationships among categories were well established and validated. Finally, as patterns began to develop among the categories and to show how categories interrelated, I also started to write parts of the final report.
During the process of this study, I kept two journals—a methodological and a reflexive journal—in which I recorded my methodological decisions (file memos, attestations from debriefers, research syntheses, etc.) and my moments of success and frustration. Langer (2002) describes journaling as a heuristic tool and research technique that helps to refine the understanding of the role of the researcher and the responses of participants in a study. Speaking of the empowering side effect of journal writing, Loo and Thorpe (2002) see the writing process as an opportunity for learners to take control over their individual learning experiences and thus to give personalized meaning to their learning. Hence, memos were written to document and store my methodological processes and decisions in my methodological journal. Besides storing information, memos also contained information about how certain decisions were reached and why and how they were applied. To link up the various events that occurred throughout the study, I regularly wrote myself notes, which I used to develop new questions and to facilitate data analysis. These notes were chronologically produced and contained not only "descriptive" information but also a detailed depiction of participants' nonverbal behavior and facts that I, as the inquirer, had observed during the interview. This information was gathered in my reflexive journal, which also contained thoughts and feelings, values and beliefs relevant to emerging issues and problems related to living with AIDS while pregnant (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). In short, a reflexive journal was and is a way of thinking in a critical and analytical way about work in progress.
Criteria for Rigor
In qualitative research, the researcher must clearly describe the procedures followed to ensure that data were recorded accurately and that data obtained are representative of the "whole" picture. Lincoln and Guba (1985) posit that in constructivist research, trustworthiness is manifested through four criteria:
Credibility is the confidence that the findings of a study reflect accurately the views of the respondents. Credibility is created and achieved through prolonged engagement, participant observation, triangulation, peer debriefing, and member checks (Lincoln & Guba, 1985; Rodwell, 1998). From the onset of the study, I promoted trustworthiness and authenticity through interaction with participants, observation of community conditions, and reviews of local HIV/AIDS documentation. I visited the waiting room of the Infectious Diseases Clinic to meet and acquaint myself with potential participants. Each day that I was at the clinic, I introduced myself to new patients, talked to them about my project, discussed their options, and observed them interacting among themselves and with me. Through my observation, I noticed little things here and there that nobody mentioned in the interviews because these little things were so familiar that nobody thought they were worthy of reference; I also rejected information I deemed irrelevant for the study, for example, embellishment of answers, and answers tailored to me that were provided to satisfy me but not the study. Prolonged engagement with participants and their stakeholders was instrumental in grasping participants' insights. This contact allowed me to see how participants interacted with other people and to attend to the distortions and inaccuracies that participants and/or I might have injected into the inquiry.
Very quickly I found myself surrounded with multiple sources of information. Some were HIV/AIDS literature, namely, local brochures, pamphlets, and posters, whereas others were information I shared with either participants or health care personnel at the clinics. The daily dealings between participants and their stakeholders were also a sine qua non source of information. Triangulation helped me sort these pieces of information and find the source of information worth recording for final analysis and inclusion in the case study report (Creswell, 2002; Patton, 2002). Through triangulation, I really understood the context of their pregnancies and the long, and at times painful and draining, deliberations these women had to go through with their various stakeholders.
To ensure that the inquirer does not skew the study, constructivists introduced the idea of peer debriefers in the process. Lincoln and Guba (1985) defined peer debriefing as "a process of exposing oneself to a disinterested peer in a manner paralleling an analytic session and for the purpose of exploring aspects of the research that might otherwise remain only implicit within the inquirer's mind" (p. 308). Cognizant of the topic and the method, peer debriefers act as monitors constantly checking the veracity of the information acquired and the strict adherence to research guidelines. My peer debriefing evolved in two phases, the first phase was when I worked with Antonio as my only peer debriefer and the second phase when Antonio and I invited three other students to join us so that the debriefing was no longer a one-on-one but a group experience (Lincoln & Guba, 1985; Schwandt, 1997). Although I enjoyed both experiences, the group experience not only improved my performance as a researcher but also provided me with a chance to look at my study from different viewpoints.
My study sample included participants' stakeholders who provided thick descriptions from their perspectives as wives, husbands, parents, siblings, health care providers, ministers, and so forth. A thick description usually consists of a good description of the site of the research, a detailed description of the phenomenon being studied and the lessons learned from the study (Geertz, 1973; Ponterotto, 2006). As a researcher from Zambia, I knew what I would take from this experience because I participated in it and because participants, both in Zambia and here, share a lot of similarities, namely, "respect for life, sanctity of life," and the resistance to abort an unborn infant.
To ensure the dependability of my study, I maintained field logs and field journals to account for the ever-changing context in which I was carrying out my research. Field logs consisted of dates, times, and strategies that were utilized to enroll participants, whereas field notes detailed specific information about the negotiation of interviews and participants' comments. As my study was an emergent design, I always recorded all changes in design and methodology by keeping a methodological journal, engaging in peer review sessions, and maintaining an audit trail (Rodwell, 1998). Angela, my auditor, attested to the dependability of my findings by showing that changes in my study were accounted for and fully justified (Creswell, 2007; Patton, 2002).
Besides the checks and balance guaranteed by peer debriefing, I had to ensure the confirmability of my findings. Confirmability refers to the extent to which a researcher can demonstrate the neutrality of his or her research interpretations. It is in this vein that I provided an audit trail consisting of raw data—process and personal notes, analysis notes, reconstruction and synthesis products, my reflexive journal, and the draft case study—to allow the reader to track each piece of my constructions, assertions, and facts to their original sources. The audit trail was intended to allow the auditor to understand and evaluate how the data were coded and categorized and how these categories were clustered in response to the research questions.
One of the major strengths of constructivism is the rapport that the inquirer and the interviewee maintain during the process of the research. This rapport requires them to be authentic with one another and with the principles of constructivism. And the beauty of constructivism lies in the fact that each participant has the right to develop his or her personal construction and that each respondent is invited to participate competently in the analysis and interpretation stages of the inquiry. Because all participants are entitled to an opinion, then fairness is the extent to which different constructions and their underlying value structures are requested and honored within the inquiry process (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). In short, each participant's input must be presented, clarified and checked, and taken into account in a balanced and evenhanded way. Fairness ensures that different constructions, perspectives, and positions are not only allowed to emerge but are also seriously considered for merit and worth. Fairness is an issue of voice (hooks, 1989), thus, the possibility of majority and minority reports.
I strove to guarantee that all participants had equal opportunity to express their voice. Meaning, particularly as expressed by those whose voices have been silenced in an effort to deny their perceptions, is uncovered through dialogue and negotiation (Kvale, 1996). The process of listening to and portraying voices is fraught with difficulties. "Who speaks, for whom, to whom, for what purposes" (Lincoln, 1995, p. 283) are questions that were examined for uneven power relationships. For instance, it was hard for some female participants to believe me when I talked as a man about issues of sexuality, pregnancy, and patriarchy as they relate to HIV/AIDS. Some thought my intervention was fake and/or constructed to please them. Some others thought I needed to adopt the popular male position vis-à-vis women's issues and to speak as such. Fairness was documented in the feedback I received from the selected participants who participated in the final member check.
It was wonderful to see how through interactions participants understood a broad range of issues that they had earlier failed to grasp and to see them coming out of this experience with a better understanding of living with AIDS and of making reproductive decisions while infected with HIV. As the study progressed, it became clearer to some participants that when their partners refused to wear a condom for their protection, it was their duty either to use female prophylactics to prevent the possibility of HIV infection and of conceiving a child or to abstain from sexual intercourse.
Despite the fact that all the primary participants were African American, I was very sensitive to how I asked my questions and how I reacted to their responses. Each time we talked about HIV prevention, we translated the information given in medical jargon in our vernacular English into small and doable steps. The translation of medical term into doable steps enabled participants to reassess situations in their lives that could have put them at risk of HIV infection. All the participants, stakeholders, and I acquired an increased respect for the meaning these women assigned to pregnancy in the context of their individual illness. We were all afforded the chance not only to understand the dynamics of HIV infection in the African American community but also to integrate the principles of HIV prevention into our daily behaviors. Participants realized that unless they took their medications very religiously, they were putting their unborn infants at risk of HIV infection. Empowerment occurred when some participants were invited to participate in condom negotiation exercise and when I invited them to contribute to the writing of the case study report.
As I neared the completion of my inquiry, I also started to prepare for the "hermeneutic circle." In esthetics, the phrase "hermeneutic circle" refers to the circle of interpretation involved in understanding some work of art. According to this theory, one cannot understand any one part of a work until one understands the whole, but one cannot understand the whole without understanding all of the parts (Kockelmans, 1985). In constructivism, the hermeneutic process is interpretive, depicting individual constructions as accurately as possible. The dialectic process compares and contrasts individual constructions so that a newer, more informed construction is generated (Guba, 1990; Rodwell, 1998). I acted as the conduit through which new and/or different constructions were shared with all participants, who could in return react to each other's interpretations. In other words, the knowledge acquired from the first interview was not only shared with the rest of the participants but also continued to be refined as the study progressed (Rodwell, 1998).
Because the primary participants and their stakeholders needed to apply their stamp of approval on the case study report, they needed to agree with the content of the case study report. This is called member checking, and it is done by returning to the participants to verify if the researcher accurately understood and reflected his or her participants' constructions (Barbour, 2001; Cohen & Crabtree, 2006; Doyle, 2007). In this case, I always reflected back to the participants what they had said and sought confirmation for the accuracy of their interpretation. Member checking started occurring right from the first interview up to the time I wrote the draft of the case study.
As soon as the first draft of the case study was ready, I went back again to the participants for the final member checking. The final member check is the final step because after it participants have no other chance to add to or subtract information from the study before its dissemination. Selected participants were provided with a draft case study report and asked to affirm if the report was an accurate reflection of their perspectives about HIV infection and pregnancy. A group of six women and stakeholders representing all areas on the continuum of the description of the meaning of pregnancy were invited to the final member checking. These were two primary participants, one policy maker from the Department of Health and Human Resources, one African American health care provider, one husband, and one African American minister. In other words, the selection of these participants was made in such a way that all standpoints discussed during the inquiry were represented. These participants were people who could be found and who were still physically strong to take part in a discussion. It should also be understood that because of the nature of their disease, the rate of attrition was very high and unpredictable; some participants were admitted in hospital for a complication, some relocated to areas close to family, whereas some others had passed away, worn out by the disease.
During final member checking, each selected participant received a copy of the draft case study for review, clarification, and suggestions (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). An introduction restating the purpose of the research and describing the participants prefaced the copy given to the participants. It went with a set of questions asking the participants to ratify if the report accurately reflected their perspectives, if they gained new insights as a result of reading the report, and if there were any data they wanted to add or remove because of changes that might have occurred since data collection. A self-addressed stamped envelope was provided with instructions about how to return the material.
Two participants emailed me back their feedback. The remainder had a one-on-one meeting with me. We reviewed their answers and briefly discussed if their personal perspectives were embodied in the study. To my surprise, they all recognized themselves in the narrative of the story, pointed out an idea or two they might have discussed during the interviews, and were mostly satisfied with my rendition of their stories. Using their feedback, I made all the necessary adjustments to the case study and submitted it to my auditor for final review. The audit confirmed that my case study report was consistent with constructivist research practices, that the case study offered a thick description of the troubled context of pregnancy in the context of AIDS amid infected African American women, and that my research findings identified themes and subthemes as patterns of association, rather than as causal relationships (Halpern, 1983).
As soon as I received the auditor's feedback, I made the final adjustments to the draft, printed a copy, and submitted it to my chair. Like my peer reviewers, feedback from my chair consisted of commendations for everything that was positive and caveats for sections I needed to retouch in preparation for the dissertation defense.
The Lessons Learned
This section completes the criterion of "thick description" of the research interpretations, that is, description of the inquiry site, the description of the phenomenon being discussed, and the lessons learned (Rodwell, 1998). The lessons I learned are neither normative for all African American women living with HIV in the United States nor are they generalizable to all women infected with HIV around the world. The eradication of the epidemic will come from observing and analyzing the specific situations of infected women worldwide and from providing remedies to their designated shortfalls. If my research process was authentic and if the reconstruction of the participants' data was accurate, then following are some of the lessons acceptably derived from this inquiry:
If HIV prevention programs have been well-implemented in various communities and if the rate of infection is reaching a plateau in certain communities, then these women have mastered the message of prevention but have failed to translate that knowledge into ways to avoid infection. Total adherence to medication should have eliminated the transmission of the virus from mother to child, whereas better condom negotiation could have reduced the number of new infections or reinfections.
Our story here is a story of lack of support across the board. With or without HIV, these women struggle with the pregnancy and with motherhood. Their HIV status just represents a bigger burden. We are equally concerned about the children who are HIV positive and who do not know because they have not yet been told. This lack of disclosure is taking away the children's voice in the very same way that these women have no choice about disclosing their HIV status. Parents, especially mothers, have lamentably failed to explain to these children the reason for the many visits to the Infectious Diseases Clinic and the reason for so many blood tests.
Although some women were not aware of their individual infection, the lack of support across support systems is making it difficult for these women to disclose their status. Churches are encouraging the nondisclosure by not making it easy for anyone to come out of the closet. The welfare department is utterly dismissive of poor women, Black women, and the health care system does not appear to worry much about the children's knowledge and subsequent need for protection.
From the start of this study, I was constantly aware of my specific status as a researcher and its implications. I was both a researcher investigating issues of HIV/AIDS and pregnancies in African American women and a man entering this milieu without the fitting cultural background. Building my dissertation committee and achieving dissertation committee support required a substantive overview of the process and the methodology to allow committee members an understanding of a setting and a dissertation experience that is unfamiliar to them. It is in this vein that I conducted a feasibility study to gauge my access to the right participants and the application of constructivist paradigm to this specific context. The contribution of African American peer reviewers was instrumental in my data collection and helped me understand the phenomenon.
The purpose of my thesis was to uncover the meaning that these women assign to pregnancy and to understand how they use these meanings to influence their decision to carry or not to carry a pregnancy to term. The ultimate objective, though, was to listen and to give a voice to these women's experiences so that their lives may inform our prevention programs of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. As I listened to these women's experiences, I gradually uncovered that these women live in a very troubled context of the AIDS disease where they have little support from their nucleus and/or extended family. I later found among the lessons learned that societal structures that were supposed to help them seem to be less sensitive and sympathetic to their needs.
One of the concerns that attracted my attention while interviewing these women was the blatant lack of informational support that they encountered both before and after their infection with HIV. Talks on social determinants of HIV/AIDS revealed unequal relationships between men and women, meaning that sexual intimacy does not always happen in an atmosphere of mutual respect and that women are usually subdued into having unprotected sex, thus the high magnitude of HIV in our communities. The life story of these women challenges us as social workers to reassert our commitment to the promotion of social justice and social change on behalf of these women and to put an end to the discrimination, oppression, and poverty that these women face in their daily lives (National Association of Social Workers [NASW], 1999).
However, the purpose of this article was to teach doctoral students to carry out research using the constructivist paradigm for research. Using my dissertation into these topics as a framework, my study describes in a step-by-step fashion the various stages I had to go through to complete the inquiry. Writing my dissertation was an uphill battle because of the rigor and trustworthiness the process required. I endured the frictions of dealing with gatekeepers and at times the reluctance of contributors to participate diligently in the process of the project. However, it should be noted with a lot of appreciation that the participants went beyond expectation: (a) they were ill, (b) they were dealing with a stigmatized condition, and (c) they were dealing with the side effects of their medications. Yet they agreed to work with me. Tracking their stakeholders, another vital element of constructivism, was somewhat hard. Some stakeholders were not sure about issues of privacy and confidentiality and demanded to talk with their primary participants before they could discuss anything with me; some others were so extremely brief in their interaction with me that one could not get enough pertinent information about their participants.
Issues of data collection, storage, and analysis were another hurdle. Data needed to be stored separately and understood as part of the entire project. The process of deconstruction and reconstruction required patience and intellectual integrity. It meant dealing with all possible sources of information while constructing and telling the resultant story. This was the place where both the participants and I were interdependent and where our sophistication about this phenomenon was clearly manifested. As researcher and participants, we all emerged from this experience matured and sophisticated due to the knowledge that we had owned and shared.
During the process of this study, I learned more about the importance and utility of member checking that starts with the first interview and ends with the final member check. Luckily, I learned a lot from peer reviewing when carried out both by one person and by a group of peers. Writing the case study report translated for me into a social and discursive practice (Kamler & Thomson, 2006) where people make meaning through reflection, collaboration, and personal ownership in learning. As a researcher, I was greatly enriched personally and professionally. As we worked through the research, the participants and I learned more about each other, identified our similarities and dissimilarities, gained more shared experiences, and changed each other and our relationships in the process. Research such as this, therefore, requires commitment, perseverance, and a determination to undertake a journey that will continually prove challenging. I learned from the experts and garnered the tools I needed to make my continued engagement in qualitative research a rich and rewarding experience.
Article Notes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding The author(s) received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.
- © The Author(s) 2016
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Author Biographies
Raphael M. Mutepa, PhD, is an associate professor at the West Virginia State where he has been teaching social work for the past 12 years. His area of expertise is in the human behavior in the social environment, HIV/AIDS counseling, and in qualitative research.


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Fuse Block, Midget and CC Class, 30A, 2 Pol
MERSEN/FERRAZ SHAWMUT| Zoro #: G2146347| Mfr #: USCC2
Zoro #: G2146347Mfr. Part #: USCC2
$24.28 /ea
Orders over $50.00 ship free. DetailsStandard ground shipping
Technical Specifications
|Zoro #: G2146347 Mfr #: USCC2
|Series: USCC
|Standards: UL Listed, CSA Certified
|Item: Finger Safe Fuse Block
|Number of Poles: 2
|Connector Type: Box Lug
|Mounting Style: DIN Rail
|Fuse Block Design: Finger-Safe
|Wire Size: 14 to 6 AWG
|Fuse Holder Code: D/W
|Width: 1.38"
|AC Voltage Rating: 600VAC
|Indicating / Nonindicating: Nonindicating
|Max. Amps: 30
|Length: 3.07"
|Fuse Type: Midget and CC Class
|Height: 2.32"
|Fuse UL Class: CC
|Body Material: Polyamide
|Amperage Range: 1 to 30
|For Fuse Series: ATDR, ATMR, ATQR
|DC Voltage Rating: 600VDC
|Country of Origin (subject to change): China
Product Description
Finger Safe Fuse Block, Series USCC, Fuse Type Midget and CC Class, Max. Amps 30, Amperage Range 1 to 30, Number of Poles 2, For Fuse Series ATDR, ATMR, ATQR, Fuse UL Class CC, AC Voltage Rating 600VAC, DC Voltage Rating 600VDC, Fuse Block Design Finger-Safe, Connector Type Box Lug, Wire Size 14 to 6 AWG, Mounting Style DIN Rail, Body Material Polyamide, Fuse Holder Code D/W, Length 3.07 In., Width 1.38 In., Height 2.32 In., Standards UL Listed, CSA Certified


text: Our local guide recommended Williams to us and we were glad we found time to visit this during our packed itinerary. The coconut sauce is divine you just want to drink it. The shrimp was cooked to perfection. Food arrived to the table in less than 5 minutes. We would come back for the ambience and hang out here with... More


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Did a Palestinian demonstrator really die from inhaling tear gas or is this yet another Big Lie?
Shattered Lens – Photo Bias Exposed in the Wire Services
A snapshot of how Reuters, AP and AFP/Getty misuse imagery to distort coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Shattered Lens – The Gaza Flotilla
An examination of some of the imagery produced during and after the Gaza Flotilla.
Border Clash: A Case Study in Reuters Photography
A closer look at Reuters' photos of last week's Lebanese border skirmish raises some troubling questions.
Special Alert: Media Collusion in Lebanon Ambush
What were photographers and journalists doing at the scene of the incident before a deadly exchange of fire between Lebanese and Israeli forces?
Telegraph Caught Recycling Gaza War Photo to Distort Today's Reality
Why does the Daily Telegraph choose to reuse an image from the 2009 Gaza conflict to inaccurately portray the present day?
Reuters' Double Exposure
Days after being caught cropping photos for political effect, Reuters releases a photo bank of Hamas propaganda images from Gaza.
Special Analysis: Fauxtography – Reuters Caught Again
Reuters is once again exposed doctoring photos to change the images of the Gaza flotilla "peace activists".
CNN Waters Down the Israeli Response
CNN fails to provide any Israeli reaction to a flawed Amnesty report.
Breaking the Silence: More Rumor & Hearsay
The media rushes to promote another report based on unverifiable allegations from Gaza.


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Seller: antiquehandicrafthub (305) 100%,
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October 3, 2006
EMPLOYERS & CEMENT MASONS #90 HEALTH & WELFARE FUND AND EMPLOYERS & CEMENT MASONS #90 PENSION FUND, PLAINTIFFS,v.TRIPLE M CONTRACTING, INC., AND MIKE AND SARA MONIGER D/B/A TRIPLE M CONTRACTING, DEFENDANTS.
Previously, Plaintiffs had filed a Request for Entry of Default and also a Motion for Default Judgment (Docs. 9 & 10) for defendants Triple M Contracting, Inc. and Kenneth E. Loy d/b/a Triple M Contracting, Inc. The Court thereafter issued an Order to Show Cause (Doc. 11), asking Plaintiffs to show cause as to how or why Kenneth E. Loy is "doing business as" Triple M Contracting, Inc., for the reason that the Court did not believe it possible for an individual to be "doing business as" a corporate entity.
In response, Plaintiffs filed their First Motion to Amend/Correct Complaint (Doc. 12), explaining that the proper defendants should be Triple M Contracting, Inc. and Mike and Sara Moniger d/b/a Triple M Contracting. Kenneth Loy was listed as the registered agent of Triple M Contracting, Inc. only. However, Plaintiffs were able to uncover the fact that Triple M Contracting, Inc. was involuntarily dissolved on March 1, 2006 and that the owners of said dissolved corporation are Mike and Sara Moniger. The Court granted the Motion to Amend Complaint (Doc. 13). Summons was thereafter issued as to Mike Moniger, Sara Moniger, and Triple M. Contracting, Inc. (Doc. 15). A return of service, dated September 5, 2006, shows on the record for both Mike Moniger and Triple M. Contracting, Inc. (Docs. 16 & 17). The record further reveals Plaintiffs have yet to effect service upon defendant Sara Moniger.
Because Kenneth Loy is no longer a party to the action, nor was he a proper party to the action, Plaintiffs' Request for Entry of Default (Doc. 9) and Motion for Default Judgment (Doc. 10) are hereby FOUND AS MOOT. Defendant Mike Moniger has filed his appearance and also a Motion to Dismiss, by the required deadline of September 25, 2006. However, Triple M Contracting, Inc., has not. Yet, because Plaintiffs' Motions (Doc.s 9 & 10) technically pertained to their initial Complaint, they are further FOUND AS MOOT with respect to defendant Triple M Contracting, Inc. If Plaintiffs wish to seek a default judgment, they may file a similar Motion when appropriate.
David R. Herndon United States District Judge
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LRC, Inc. About Us


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Revenue Assurance and Be-process Analyst; at AGM Level ( 10 yrs)
Talent Leads Hr Solutions Pvt Ltd
RS25,00,000 To 30,00,000mumbai
To drive and manage the facilitation of cross functional assignments taken up by the Business Excellence function. Manage and guide a team within the RA and Business excellence function towards this objective.
Key Skills : business excellence,revenue assurance,business excellence revenue assurance
Head - Business Excellence - Media ( 12 - 16 yrs)
Talent Leads Hr Solutions Pvt Ltd
RS3,00,000 To 4,00,000Bangalore
The Business Excellence Lead is required to Lead manage process design & improvement for all customer facing processes owned and managed by Customer Operations. - Key business drivers being: subscriber experience, cost to serve and revenue. Is respo...
Key Skills : business analyst,business developmen,customer operation executive,business analyst


text:
Networking Channel Sales
Position Summary
Specializing in specific subset of the product line; generates a pipeline and manages medium to large opportunities within an assigned geographical territory consisting of value-added resellers (volume and non-volume), strategic partners, prospects and customers to increase market share and revenue. Capable of being called into accounts as opportunities are identified and may work with account-assigned Sales Account Managers to close sale to achieve or exceed revenue targets. Leveraged as an industry and market expert to develop and present sales proposals and systems solutions, and assist in closing complex technical sales.
Primary Duties / Responsibilities
Qualifications (knowledge, skills, abilities)
Requirements (Education, Certification, Training, and Experience)
Critical Leadership Blueprint Competencies
Critical Functional Competencies
Based in Tokyo, Japan, Vision Consulting Services K.K. primarily supports multinational IT firms with Japan offices. Our range of HR services include Executive Search, Permanent Placement & Temporary Staffing services.
We specialize in recruiting mid-career to senior bilingual Japanese professionals for a diverse range of industries, with particular expertise in Information Technology. Our clients include Software Vendors, IT Consulting and System Integrators, Hardware & Telecommunications, and Web Services companies We are a licensed recruitment agency for both Permanent and Temporary Staffing services, much of our business comes from referrals and long-term clientele.
We are Hiring at Vision Consulting Services K.K. in Tokyo!
For more information please visit: www.visionconsulting.jp
Company name: Vision Consulting Services K.K.
Founder: Curtis Mackenzie
Business: Staffing & Human Resource Solutions
Employees: 15-20 (Including Main Office and "Haken" Onsite staff)
Address: Minami Azabu, TMD Building 7F
Minami Azabu 2-12-7, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 106-0047
t. +81(0)3-5765-2626
f. +81(0)3-5765-2627
Licences: Recruitment License #13-ユ-302146
Temporary Staffing License # 特13-307468
Capitalization: 35,000,000 JPY


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