Minutes
11/17/05	04/21/05	03/10/05	11/09/04

MINUTES/NOTES from the Qualitative Café Brown Bag
Thursday November 17, 2005

The purpose of this gathering was twofold: to review what all had occurred in 2005 regarding the Qualitative Café, and to plan ahead for whatever types of activities we would like to see happen in 2006.

Major highlights for us in 2005 included the following:

1. Several helpful, informative Brown Bag sessions. We developed a strategy of rotating the Brown Bags among locations in the College of Nursing, the HSSB (bldg), & the Research Incubator Building (RIB), all on north campus. The Brown Bags took place on the third Thursday of the month, from 12noon to 1PM. While not always ideal, it allowed a significant number of folks to attend over their lunch breaks. As always, our intent has been to be interdisciplinary & collaborative, all in the interest of qualitative thinking/research.

2. Two informative, user-friendly workshops were conducted: Dr’s Gil Quintero & Jeffrey Peterson gave the group great help understanding the software package N-Vivo.

3. The Qualitative Café website (named by Dr. Eileen Thomas) came into its own, emerging out of the CON, available to all at: http://hsc.unm.edu/consg/qualitative

4. Our informal email list grew to nearly 80 names! We will continue to use that email list in 2006; please email me (javerill@salud.unm.edu) if you wish to be added to the list & do not already receive our periodic updates.
   
   The Qualitative Café website is now maintained with the excellent assistance of Norma Ortiz, nortiz@salud.unm.edu. All of our minutes, announcements re. upcoming events, an interest grid for faculty & grad students, & numerous additional resources are available at the website. Anyone interested in adding her/his information to our growing interest grid can notify Norma at her email address (above), & ask her to put the new information into the grid. We encourage you to do this, so that all can know about our network of qualitative folks. Take a look at the grid if you would like to see the kinds of info we share there. Thanks, Norma!

5. The website and grid, along with the Brown Bags, offer opportunities for interested qualitative folks in the UNM community to network directly, further enhancing the applications for qualitative research.

6. Dr. Cindy Mendelson initiated a Google discussion group (entirely free) for anyone to use anytime. Particular questions, dialogue about research methods, etc. can be thoroughly shared. Dr. Mendelson’s contact info can be found on the Qualitative café website, in the interest grid, if you would like to get into the discussion group. This has lots of potential as more qualitative projects get underway at UNM.

Major highlights for us in 2005 included the following:

1. Several helpful, informative Brown Bag sessions. We developed a strategy of rotating the Brown Bags among locations in the College of Nursing, the HSSB (bldg), & the Research Incubator Building (RIB), all on north campus. The Brown Bags took place on the third Thursday of the month, from 12noon to 1PM. While not always ideal, it allowed a significant number of folks to attend over their lunch breaks. As always, our intent has been to be interdisciplinary & collaborative, all in the interest of qualitative thinking/research.

2. Specific Brown Bag dates & topics already set for 2006 so far include:
   
   Thurs Jan 19, 12-1PM, UNM CON, room 252: Dr. Mona Ternus will speak on “Adapting Grounded Theory Methods Using a Team Approach”. This should be fun, since after her initial presentation, we can have some great discussion, questions/answers on how to do this. Thanks, Mona! Please plan to bring a lunch, any interested colleagues/students, & join us for a great start to 2006!
   
   Thurs Feb 16, 12-1PM, HSSB, room TBA: Dr’s Gil Quintero & Wendy Wood have agreed to take a look at the same piece of qualitative /textual data, each using a different software package. Dr. Quintero will use N-Vivo, Dr. wood will use Atlas ti, so that we all can see a few of the strengths/limitations in a brief comparison. Their Brown Bag addresses what may become an ongoing theme for the group in 2006: a series on various aspects of qualitative data analysis: software packages, techniques for actual data analysis & meaning-finding, etc. Anyone with special expertise, interest, or questions about qualitative data analysis can let me know (javerill@salud.unm.edu), so that I can try & plan your ideas into our set of 2006 Brown Bags. Thanks!
   
   Be planned no Brown Bag for March, since the 3rd Thursday falls in Spring Break week.
   
   Thurs Apr 20, 12-1PM, location TBA: Dr. Julie Reichert will speak; topic TBA. Thanks much & welcome, Julie!
   
   Additional Brown Bags will happen through later months of 2006; if you have special suggestions, know an excellent qualitative thinker/speaker anywhere on campus, or want to share some of your own work in qualitative methods with the group, please let us know at early convenience so that we can get the good news out to share. Again, thanks to all for helping us enrich & disseminate our qualitative gifts! Drs. Alexis Kaminsky & Barbara Hooper agreed to contact possible qualitative resource faculty on main campus (e.g., faculty in the social sciences, women’s studies, & in the College of Education, etc.), in hopes of persuading them to join us in our discussions.
   
   Other topics generating possible interest for future Brown Bags and/or workshops included software, digital recording/analysis, & specific project/grant updates. Please let us know if you have a great idea that we did not include here—there are no limits, so long as it relates to qualitative research! Thank you!
   
   As 2005 winds to a close, please allow me to say a heartfelt THANK YOU to all who have participated, brainstormed, asked questions, brought in friends-colleagues-students, helped publicize us, or in any way contributed to this much-needed effort to elevate the voice & presence of qualitative thinking/qualitative research at UNM. We are an energetic & talented group, & I believe we have much more ahead that will enhance our individual & collective efforts. All the best to each of you in 2006! I look forward to seeing everyone often in the new year.

Peace & Blessings...
Jennifer Averill