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The Atlantic Centre for Qualitative Research and Analysis at St. Thomas University was established in 2006 as one of the projects of the Canada Research Chair in Qualitative Research and Analysis. Its purpose is to encourage and facilitate qualitative research in the Atlantic region of Canada by serving both novice and veteran researchers and to forge links with other centres and scholars.

ACQRA provides resources to facilitate carrying out qualitative research by developing relationships with existing research centres at St. Thomas University, bringing in internationally recognized scholars to make public presentations and to consult with local qualitative researchers about their work.

ACQRA contains a lending library as well as equipment, such as recorders and transcribers, necessary to carrying out qualitative studies.

The Centre organizes seminars and workshops on various aspects of conducting qualitative research and provides mentoring for junior researchers and those inexperienced in qualitative research methods.

Membership in Atlantic Centre for Qualitative Research and Analysis

Members of ACQRA will have an interest in the work of the ACQRA and a willingness to prepare a short profile for posting on the ACQRA website.

There are three categories of membership in the ACQRA:

1. Faculty Research Associate: full or part-time faculty or staff of St. Thomas University;

2. Student Scholars: full or part-time undergraduate students of St. Thomas University or graduate students at other universities;

3. Honourary Research Associates: full or part-time faculty members from universities other than St. Thomas University or community members with an interest in the work of the ACQRA; and

Individuals who request membership should submit a CV and a short profile for posting on the ACQRA website.

A term of membership is normally for two years.

Faculty Research Associates:

Student Scholars:

Honourary Research Associates:

Dr. Will C. van den Hoonaard: As Associate at the Atlantic Qualitative Research Centre at St. Thomas University, Dr. Will van den Hoonaard is completing his ethnographic research on the research-ethics review process. His work is based on participant observation, note taking at ethics conferences, interviews and chats with members of ethics committees in Canada and elsewhere, and attendance at a number of meetings of university ethics committees. His research also includes an analysis of the powerful influence of ethics review on Canada's Master's thesis research, 1994-2005, as well as a review of over 400 publications on the topic of research-ethics review.

Dr. Janet M. Stoppard: Recently retired as a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of New Brunswick, Janet Stoppard's research focuses on depression, feminist perspectives on women's mental health, and qualitative research in psychology. Currently, she is involved with research partner, Dr. Deborah van den Hoonaard, in a qualitative study on older women's everyday lives. A fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) and of the CPA Clinical Psychology Section, Dr. Stoppard is the author of several books, including Understanding Depression: Feminist Social Constructionist Approaches (Routledge, 2000) and Situating Sadness: Women and Depression in Social Context (New York University Press, 2003), as well as numerous book chapters and journal articles.

© 2006 Atlantic Centre for Qualitative Research and Analysis