SAGE Journal Articles

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Journal Article 1: Lahman, M. K. E., Mendoza, B. M., Rodriguez, K. L., & Schwartz, J. L. (2011). Undocumented research participants: Ethics and protection in a time of fear. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 33, 304–322. doi:10.1177/0739986311414162

Abstract: President Obama characterized Arizona’s recent immigration law as undermining “basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans.” The authors’ extend the national discussion regarding immigration to ethics and research. Therefore, the purpose of this methodological article is to advance areas for ethical consideration when researching undocumented participants. Undocumented participants have been described as vulnerable and in need of protection when researched. The authors contend that undocumented participants are capable, competent, yet vulnerable simultaneously. Characterizing these participants as wholly vulnerable is a form of Otherization. The authors present a literature review of Other, vulnerable participants, illegal participants, and undocumented persons/participants. Authors have been ethics reviewers and/or researchers of undocumented participants. Drawing on these experiences throughout the article, they provide reflexively composed narrative interludes. Methodological and ethical considerations and strategies in the areas of Culturally Responsive Relational Reflexive Ethics (CRRRE) oriented research, anonymity/confidentiality, and consent are advanced.

Journal Article 2: McKinney, K., & Naseri, N. (2011). A longitudinal, descriptive study of sociology majors: The development of engagement, the sociological imagination, identity, and autonomy. Teaching Sociology, 39, 150–164. doi:10.1177/0092055X11400438

Abstract: In this exploratory scholarship of teaching and learning study, we describe the development, over time, of engagement in the discipline, the ability to use the sociological imagination and other learning, an identity as a sociologist, and a sense of being an autonomous learner in a group of sociology majors. We followed 18 students who completed questionnaires, learning reflection essays, and face-to-face interviews over a period of about two years in their careers as sociology majors. We found that students showed few, small, and mixed changes over time in the major dependent variables as well as small increases in involvement in useful academic and study behaviors.