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I am writing this review as an essential reading for readers and writers of the book--Crafting Autoethnography: Processes and Practices of Making Self and Culture, edited by Jackie Goode, Karen Lumsden, and Jan Bradford, which explores the art of crafting autoethnography (Goode et al., 2023). As a novice autoethnographer, I have grappled with challenges and explored borders while shaping my narrative as a self-narrator of autoethnographic writing. So, in this review, I have attempted to engage readers by offering the invitation, encouraging initial reading as entry to the book, subsequent re-entry, and eventual exit as my evaluation of the book. This book resonates with me, emphasizing the significance of writing our lives and stories, developing selfawareness through performative, philosophical, and artistic writing, and shaping our identity--advocacy and transformation. Through diverse perspectives--from sociology to the visual arts--the contributors of the book illuminate their processes, inviting novice and veteran autoethnographers to write to explore the intricate craft of autoethnography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Qualitative researchers can benefit from using generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), such as different versions of ChatGPT--GPT-3.5 or GPT-4, Google Bard--now renamed as a Gemini, and Bing Chat--now renamed as a Copilot, in their studies. The scientific community has used artificial intelligence (AI) tools in various ways. However, using GenAI has generated concerns regarding potential research unreliability, bias, and unethical outcomes in GenAIgenerated research results. Considering these concerns, the purpose of this commentary is to review the current use of GenAI in qualitative research, including its strengths, limitations, and ethical dilemmas from the perspective of critical appraisal from South Asia, Nepal. I explore the controversy surrounding the proper acknowledgment of GenAI or AI use in qualitative studies and how GenAI can support or challenge qualitative studies. First, I discuss what qualitative researchers need to know about GenAI in their research. Second, I examine how GenAI can be a valuable tool in qualitative research as a co-author, a conversational platform, and a research assistant for enhancing and hindering qualitative studies. Third, I address the ethical issues of using GenAI in qualitative studies. Fourth, I share my perspectives on the future of GenAI in qualitative research. I would like to recognize and record the utilization of GenAI and/or AI alongside my cognitive and evaluative abilities in constructing this critical appraisal. I offer ethical guidance on when and how to appropriately recognize the use of GenAI in qualitative studies. Finally, I offer some remarks on the implications of using GenAI in qualitative studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses experiences from school-based needs assessment within a Participatory Action Research (PAR) project aimed at facilitating quality education in public schools of rural Nepal. Being often a first stage in the process of research-action, Participatory Needs Assessment (PNA) offers space for community members' perceptions and attitudes toward their collective needs. In this light, this paper takes evidence from the first and the second authors' Ph.D. experiences, under the supervision of the third and the fourth authors to initiate PNA of a school. Also, incorporating the reflections from the fifth author as a critical friend, it observes the political, epistemological, ethical, and methodological challenges of doing such assessments; the challenges of involving all the stakeholders in identifying problems, and the transformative possibilities the approach inherently brings within it. On the whole, the paper reflects how, despite manifold conflicting interests of the multi-group stakeholders, relational ontology(ies) emerged in the cyclical and spiral process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a book reviewer, I am penning down my thoughts restlessly on the book, Writing Philosophical Autoethnography, with a diverse audience in mind, encompassing readers, writers, and researchers of all levels from various disciplines in the social sciences and education. This groundbreaking work, edited by Alec Grant and published by Routledge, masterfully blends philosophy and autoethnography (Grant, 2023). The book distinguishes itself through its philosophical depth, with each chapter demonstrating a profound engagement with philosophical debates and theories rooted in Western philosophical traditions. This approach sets it apart from other autoethnographic works where philosophical concepts often appear to be secondary. However, the strong focus on philosophy might render the content somewhat challenging for readers who are not well-versed in philosophical theories. Despite this, the book is an indispensable resource for autoethnographers, offering practical examples of how to weave philosophy into their writing. Overall, this book expands the horizons of autoethnographic research and encourages researchers to delve deeper into the philosophical aspects of their autoethnographic work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I write this review of the book, Implementing Transformative Education with Participatory Action Research, for readers, writers, and novice and veteran researchers in various social sciences disciplines and educational landscapes. The book explores using Participatory Action Research (PAR) to implement transformative education. The book argues that PAR can be used to create contextualized, sustainable, and student-centered learning environments. It offers invaluable insights from experts who have actively worked on innovative approaches to school transformation. The book also provides practical guidance and research-based strategies to help scholars effectively navigate challenges and implement transformative education. Overall, the book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in learning more about PAR and transformative education. I would highly recommend it to readers looking for ways to use research to positively impact their community of practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This reflective paper is the outcome of my qualitative research engagement aligned with quality standards. I began with autoethnography in my master's research in mathematics education (see Dahal, 2013), then moved on to narrative inquiry in my MPhil research (see Dahal, 2017), and collaborative autoethnography in my doctoral research (see Dahal, 2023). With the above, this paper aims to clarify the quality criteria used in autoethnography, narrative inquiry, and collaborative autoethnography based on my experiences to evaluate the robustness of qualitative research from various ontological and epistemological vantage points. Likewise, this article offers a comprehensive overview of the key elements of qualitative research across master, MPhil, and Ph.D. research that can be used to evaluate the rigor of qualitative reports. In this introspection, I explored the significance of qualitative research and the need to assess it, considering quality criteria and/or characteristics. Quality criteria also offer some insights and recommendations for improving the standard of qualitative reports. From these musings, I deduced that established norms of quality are the product of preexisting paradigmatic (e.g., interpretivism, criticalism, postmodernism, and intergalism) practices and broader socio-institutional processes. It is unrealistic to expect that a single, allencompassing set of quality standards will be developed for qualitative research due to the diversity of its paradigms. This paper provides novice and veteran researchers and practitioners with an overview of qualitative research's theoretical and methodological foundations and the applicable standards and deciding factors for evaluating qualitative reports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I offer this review on autoethnography for various social science disciplines for readers, writers, and novice and experienced researchers. The second edition of the Handbook of Autoethnography, edited by Tony E. Adams, Stacy Holman Jones, and Carolyn Ellis (2022b), includes contributions from more than 50 authors representing more than a dozen disciplines and writing from different parts of the world and published on year 2022. The book attempted to develop, enhance, and broaden qualitative research and autoethnographic inquiry. This review is based on the section on Doing Autoethnography, which provides examples of diverse, considerate, practical, innovative, and applied autoethnography. I tried to explore definitions of autoethnography, identify and illustrate key features of autoethnography, and engage the philosophical, relational, cultural, and ethical foundations of autoethnographic practice in addition to providing some information about the book. I recommend reading this book to gain more knowledge about "autoethnography" in general and "doing autoethnography" in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I write this review as a recommendation for potential readers: those who are new to and veterans with respect to arts-based research. Arts-Based Research in Education: Foundations for Practice is edited by Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor and Richard Siegesmund, with contributions from 22 authors and a cover artist. In addition to providing some information from a usual structure around contents, central themes and concepts, intended audience, genres of writing styles, strengths and weaknesses, and uniquenesses, I primarily focus on the content of the chapter entitled “Four guiding principles for arts-based research practice” which I found extraordinarily significant in the second edition of this book and most meaningful for those planning their arts-based research projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This reflective paper explores Tara's doctoral research journey of realization and adaptation in auto/ethnography as a transformative research methodology. While reflecting on Tara’s journey, the auto/ethnographic paper emphasizes cultural perspectives, interpreting one's own experiences, thoughts, actions, and behaviors relating to society and culture. Likewise, auto/ethnography investigates and associates an individual's confrontation within specific educational, societal, and cultural contexts. With this ethos, the paper demonstrates how Tara, a mathematics teacher and doctoral student, encountered and observed auto/ethnography and discovered it as a path to transformation as a paradigm shift in transformative educational research by connecting lives and research (Dahal et al., 2022) considering the basis of ethics in auto/ethnography (Dahal & Luitel, 2022). Next, in this scenario of residing in cultural and societal context dealing with Tara’s emotions and settings of an education system, we have explored the journey of realization and adaption on how auto/ethnography blends analytic, evocative, and performative realms. Overall, we also realized that auto/ethnography guided us to delve through the past, present, and possible future experiences and unlatch Tara’s eyes to visualize a new era of research for upcoming generations in teaching and learning mathematics that reaches out to society and the nation whilst shifting to transformative educational research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A book review is a critical assessment of a book. It provides a summary of the content and assesses the book's value in terms of its relevance and quality. The purpose of a book review is to help readers decide whether or not they should read the book. In with this line of purpose, the book entitled, Emancipatory and Participatory Research for Emerging Educational Researchers: Theory and Case Studies of Research in Disabled Communities, written by Joe Barton and Simon Hayhoe and published by Routledge in the year 2022, I conducted my review organized by the following questions -- What is in the book, what are the key contributions to the field, and what are its strengths and limitations? While reviewing, I found the book to be significant in response to my interests in emancipatory and participatory research for emerging educational researchers for empowerment and autonomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In cultural and institutional contexts, autoethnography examines personal and professional experiences. While conducting and representing autoethnography, these considerations raise ethical challenges for self and others. This expository paper examines and explores the various forms of the ethics of self and others in autoethnography in South Asian contexts. Furthermore, ethical positions in an autoethnographic inquiry are presented and explored by challenging the extant and exploring the possibilities. Moreover, ethical standards are maintained based on the first author's experiences. We also realized that the emerging challenges of the ethics of self and others in autoethnography are ongoing and real. Likewise, we brought the first author's lived experiences of conducting autoethnographic inquiry in his personal, professional, and cultural contexts (i.e., South Asian contexts) as a guiding principle. Above all, following the foundational understanding of ethics in autoethnography, one may engage with others in the account of self-experiences. The paper concludes by highlighting possible procedural and situational ethics pertaining to Dharma and Karma in autoethnography as a transformative educational research methodology (Luitel & Dahal, 2020) that might be demonstrated while conducting an autoethnographic inquiry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]