Culturally responsive, Ethics, IRB, Relational, Reflexive,

In this article, the authors examined the current use of poetry in qualitative research. The literature yielded the following purposes of poetry: poetic allusions, cultural poetry research, participants’ poetry as data, data poems, research experience poems or poems from the field, and autoethnographic poetry.The authors drew on the experiences from a research poetry group, a reflexive circular e-mail, and research poems they authored. The authors deconstructed the reflexive circular e-mail for future possibilities as a data collection method and explored the following tensions: representation of research, research poets’ training and experience, explanation or interpretation, and trustworthiness. The authors composed Poetic Interludes throughout the article as a way of poking around at, with, and through poetry.

Focus groups are a frequently employed and valued method of data collection in the Social Sciences. This article specifically addresses maximizing the benefits of focus groups through the framework of culturally responsive research practice. Discussion of authors' research projects which utilized focus groups are presented in order to illuminate the advantages of using culturally responsive focus groups (CRFGs) in data collection. Three types of focus groups are discussed: traditional focus groups, CRFGs, and naturally occurring CRFGs. Focus groups are a powerful qualitative research method which, especially when designed to be culturally responsive, facilitate collection of rich and authentic data. Culturally responsive research practice will enhance work with a wide range of populations but is particularly important when facilitating groups with persons who have been traditionally marginalized. Methodological and ethical concerns of CRFGs are discussed.

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Pseudonyms, an integral part of the social science research, are ubiquitous, thereby garnering minimal published reflection. In practice, researchers may apply pseudonyms with little thought or deep reflection. The purpose of this methodological article is to increase the scholarly discussion to provide transparency in the participant naming process. The authors review the literature, detail their reflexive engagement with pseudonyms, and advance issues of consideration in the areas of power in participant naming and confidentiality. Throughout the article, the authors interrupt the text with apercus or narrative interludes to share personal experiences, pausing the traditional scholarship, thus allowing room for reflexivity.