This analytic autoethnographic and autobiographical essay addresses several interrelated questions regarding the use of ethnographic and otherwise ‘qualitative’ research methods in the study of contemporary urban society. The testy relationship between qualitative and quantitative research has historical as well as logico-deductive roots that continue to haunt the social sciences. As to hermeneutics, the debate parallels my academic career journey from Indiana University to Brooklyn College by way of New York University during which I learned that the normative practices of the social and not so social sciences come in a myriad of different competing, and occasionally conflicting, pre- and proscriptions. My intention in this essay is not to construct a fine, or even a crude, philosophical discourse but to argue for more attention to be paid to what social scientists do best as opposed to the labels they apply to each other and their trades. As the positivist founders of sociology would agree, social science is not exempt from the laws of social science. At the conclusion, an example will be given of the kind of knowledge accessible only through direct observation and best conveyed by thick description.

Older adults who have had a major depressive disorder (MDD) have a high risk of relapse. Although risk factors for depression have been researched extensively, less is known about protective factors, and what experiences might strengthen subsequent resilience and help to prevent relapse. Therefore, this qualitative study explored factors of resilience in older adults who recovered from MDD and did not relapse across at least six years. Twenty-five semi-structured interviews were held with older adults aged 73–85 years who participated in the Netherlands Study of Depression in Older Persons from 2008 to 2014 and were re-interviewed for the present study in 2020–2021. Participants were defined as resilient based on having an MDD diagnosis at baseline but not on two- and six-year follow-up. We used grounded theory coding techniques and thematic analysis to identify factors contributing to resilience. Factors contributing to resilience included: taking agency; receiving social support and engaging in social activities; doing activities individually; and managing thought processes. Resilience after late-life depression appeared to be a dynamic process involving internal and external factors, including finding a balance between rest and activity, between taking initiative and receiving support by others, and between accepting negative emotions and ignoring negative thoughts. Additionally, the ability to learn from depression shows that resilience is not only about avoiding psychopathology, but also about the recovery process and preventing relapse. These findings highlight the need for research and interventions to focus on understanding and influencing the dynamics underlying resilience.

Indian adolescents exhibit obesogenic dietary habits including low intake of fruits and vegetables and increasing consumption of fast food and carbonated beverages. Adolescents’ classification of healthy and unhealthy foods is likely to have significant implications for their dietary behaviour, and consequently, their health. However, there is limited evidence about the ways Indian adolescents classify foods as healthy or unhealthy. Hence, this qualitative study was designed to explore how Indian adolescents classify nutritious or non-nutritious food choices. Convenience sampling was used to recruit the study participants from Tikari village in Uttar Pradesh, India. Underpinned by the social constructivist lens, the adolescents were interviewed face-to-face in Hindi. All the interactions were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim, and translated into English prior to data analysis. Transcribed data were analysed thematically using inductive as well as deductive coding, and subsequently, conceptual themes were extracted. A total of thirty-nine adolescents (twenty boys; nineteen girls) aged 10–19 years participated in this qualitative inquiry. The adolescents classified healthy and unhealthy foods based on the following six themes: (i) Food groups and nutrients; (ii) Health and immunity; (iii) Type of ingredient; (iv) Place and time of food preparation; (v) Packaging; and (vi) Parental influence. These findings can inform school-based food literacy interventions to foster healthy dietary habits and cooking skills among Indian adolescents.

British psychiatry has tended to hold itself aloof from social theory. Nonetheless, these ideas have influenced the development of mental health services. Alongside this, the biopsychosocial model cannot reconcile contradictions in the scientific evidence regarding mental illness. We need to develop a more constructive understanding of the implications of social theory.

Older women living alone are at risk of being socially and financially disadvantaged, which impacts their wellbeing. Currently there is a significant gap in knowledge relating to older women living alone. This study aimed to identify the barriers and enablers to service access in this group. We undertook a qualitative study comprising semi-structured interviews in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia. Thematic analysis was conducted to elucidate key themes. Thirty-seven women were interviewed between May and August 2017. Six key themes were identified: financial; mental and emotional health; mobility and ability; transport; social connections; and knowledge. Access issues for older women living alone are multifaceted and interconnected. Barriers and enablers to service access, as well as their intersections with gender and living situation, should be considered in service design and re-design.

This paper explores teaching business students research methods using a psychogeographical approach, specifically the technique of dérive. It responds to calls for new ways of teaching in higher education and addresses the dearth of literature on teaching undergraduate business students qualitative research methods. Psychogeography challenges the dominance of questionnaires and interviews, introduces students to data variety, problematizes notions of success and illuminates the importance of observation and location. Using two studies with undergraduate students, the authors emphasize place and setting, the perception of purpose, the choice of data, criteria of success and the value of guided reflection and self-reflection in students’ learning. Additionally the data reflect on the way students perceive research about management and the nature of management itself. The paper concludes that the deployment of psychogeography to teach business research methods although complex and fraught with difficulty is nevertheless viable, educationally productive and worthy of further research.

User choice in care for older people has assumed that care is like any other commodity; which is in contrast with the concept of care defined by the feminist and ethics of care literature, which includes a relational component beyond care tasks – caring relationships. This study aims to understand how caring relationships impact the decisions of older users of care and their perceived satisfaction. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 24 Direct Payments (DPs) older users, including proxies, in three Local Authorities in the Greater London area. Users fell into three groups according to their use of DPs: those purchasing care from agencies, those employing acquaintances as Personal Assistants (PAs) and those employing strangers as PAs. Decisions on and perceived satisfaction with care were both influenced by caring relationships. All users recognised that caring relationships can have instrumental value in improving care delivery or allowing greater leeway in negotiating tasks. Many users placed intrinsic value on continuity of care and the development of close caring relationships and clearly favoured employing PAs. The latter involved higher levels of uncertainty, emotional investment and reciprocal gift exchanges. Agencies were often chosen due to users’ preference for more detached caring relationships. The findings confirm that caring relationships involving reciprocal emotional investment are an important outcome of care, with salient implications for user behaviour.

The comparative study of debt and fiscal consolidation has acquired a new focus in the wake of the global financial crisis. This paper re-evaluates the literature on fiscal consolidation that flourished during the 1980s and 1990s. The conventional approach to explanation is based on segmenting episodes of fiscal change into discrete observations. We argue that this misses the dynamic features of government strategy, especially in the choices made between expenditure-based and revenue-based fiscal consolidation strategies. We propose a focus on pathways rather than episodes of adjustment, to capture what Pierson terms ‘politics in time’. A case-study approach facilitates analysis of complex causality that includes the structures of interest intermediation, the role of ideas in shaping the set of feasible policy choices, and the situation of national economies in the international political economy. We support our argument with qualitative data based on two case studies, Ireland and Greece, and with additional paired comparisons of Ireland with Britain, and Greece with Spain. Our conclusions suggest that the conventional literature, by excluding key political variables from consideration, may distort our understanding and result in misleading policy prescription.