Concept Mapping: A Dynamic, Individualized and Qualitative Method for Eliciting Meaning.

The purpose of this theoretical article is to explore the use of concept mapping as a qualitative research method that is represented as a form of multimodal communication. This framework strives to move mapping beyond quantitative analysis by inserting art and humanness into the process. This proposed framework provides a means to highlight the ways in which people learn, understand, and interpret the world around them. Three categories for understanding have been identified by the authors to help individuals create, interpret, and understand qualitative concept maps. These categories include the following: Voice: Tri-directional Voice and Mutual Absorption; Detail in the Parts & Recognition of the Whole: Uniqueness, Aesthetic Distance and Emplacement; and Sensory Experience: Intellectual + Emotional Investment and Humanness. Each of these categories is interconnected, and informs each other in a dialectical way, therefore creating a piece of visual data with which the participant, researcher and audience can interact.

Directions for advancing the study of work transitions in the 21st century.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this article is to share the details, outcomes and deliverables from an international workshop on work transitions in London, Ontario, Canada. PARTICIPANTS: Researchers, graduate students, and community group members met to identity ways to advance the knowledge base of strategies to enhance work participation for those in the most disadvantaged groups within society. METHODS: A participatory approach was used in this workshop with presentations by researchers and graduate students. This approach included dialogue and discussion with community members. In addition, small group dialogue and debate, world cafe discussions, written summaries of group discussion and reflection boards were used to bring new ideas to the discussion and to build upon what we know. FINDINGS: Two research imperatives and six research recommendations were identified to advance global dialogue on work transitions and to advance the knowledge base. Occupational justice can be used to support future research directions in the study of work transitions. CONCLUSIONS: Moving forward requires a commitment of community of researchers, clinicians and stakeholders to address work disparities and implement solutions to promote participation in work.

Advancing rehabilitation research: an interactionist perspective to guide question and design.

The purpose of this position statement is to propose an interactionist framework to bring together the existing literature and provide a unifying direction for rehabilitation research. The framework comprises three components: the conceptual model, the research question, and the research design. The interactionist conceptual model has been adapted from the World Health Organization International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health. The model forms the starting point that guides the specification of the research question, which, in turn, guides the selection of research design. This approach demands that the question takes precedence and that there be an extensive repertoire of research designs, each of which is valued for its 'goodness-of-fit' with the question, rather than an a priori, single hierarchical ordering of designs. Research designs must be appropriate for questions that examine the disability experience, development over the lifespan, multifaceted interventions, low incidence conditions, and development of new interventions. Analytical challenges include dealing with confounding, mediating, and moderating variables. Rehabilitation researchers--and those who fund their work--should consider and value the use of diverse research methods to best answer the questions posed from the interactionist perspective.