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The University of Waterloo Network for the Advancement of Qualitative Inquiry and Innovation (NAQII) unites and advances qualitative research and inquiry across our campus and faculties. Interdisciplinary in nature, the Network provides a sharing and supportive community for researchers engaged in qualitative research and employing a wide of epistemological and methodological frameworks. Members are specialists in health, recreation, arts-based inquiry, leisure, communication, performance studies, leadership, ethics, and spirituality.

The Network engages in sharing, exchange and collaboration in ways that build connections and generates support for the advancement of qualitative ways of knowing.

The Network encourages the innovative spirit that permeates Waterloo's campus through community change and commitment to social justice.

The Network is linked to the International Institute of Qualitative Inquiry, a broader, networked community devoted to advancing qualitative research around the world. Click here to locate other collaborating sites around the world, like NAQII.

If you would like to find out more about NAQII, email any of the current members listed below. Check back to this site often for any upcoming events at the University of Waterloo!

Current NAQII Members

Robert Ballard, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Communication, Leadership and Social Innovation

Telephone: (519) 888-4567 x38603
Email: bballard@uwaterloo.ca

Recently graduated with a Ph.D. in Human Communication Studies with an emphasis in rhetoric and communication ethics (2008), Bert has a wide range of research and teaching interests. This includes ethnographic and phenomenological approaches to understanding communication ethics, in particular the works of Emmanuel Levinas. He also conducts qualitative research on the identity formation and internal/external interactions of international adoptive families and international adoptees. He has been published in Qualitative Inquiry with forthcoming articles in Communication Monographs, the Journal of Family Communication, and New Directions for Teaching and Learning. He has won over eight top paper awards at various national and international communication conferences. He is currently working on editing a book for adopted teenagers with EMK Press and serves as the Secretary/Treasurer for the Division of Communication Ethics with the National Communication Association. Bert teaches courses in communication ethics, interpersonal communication, organizational communication, and speechwriting. He joined the faculty in 2008 and is married with two children.

 

Diana Denton, Ph.D.

Director and Associate Professor

Communication, Leadership and Social Innovation

Telephone: (519) 888-4567 x32153

Email: ddenton@uwaterloo.ca

Diana integrates business and the arts in her work as professor, poet and organizational consultant. Since 1980 she has maintained a private consulting practice specializing in training, coaching and consulting in the areas of leadership development, interpersonal and team communication, conflict resolution and performance management. Diana has facilitated numerous seminars for private, corporate and educational groups. Her scholarship explores the intrapersonal, interpersonal and organizational dimensions of communication through interpretive ethnographic and phenomenological inquiry.  Diana's publications include articles on leadership, conflict management, and presence; instructor's manuals and study guides on interpersonal communication; and poetry.   Diana is also a co-editor of three books: Spirituality, Action & Pedagogy: Teaching From the Heart (Peter Lang Publishing, 2004), Holistic Learning and Spirituality in Education: Breaking New Ground (SUNY Press, 2005), and Spirituality, Ethnography, & Teaching: Stories From Within (Peter Lang Publishing, 2006). With expertise in leadership, interpersonal and organizational communication, and holistic and aesthetic education, she teaches courses in leadership, conflict management, organizational consulting, small group communication and performance studies.

Troy Glover, Ph.D.

Associate Professor - Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies

Director - Healthy Communities Research Network

Telephone: (519) 888-4567 x33097

Email: tdglover@uwaterloo.ca

Troy is an Associate Professor in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies and Director of the Healthy Communities Research Network at the University of Waterloo (UW) His research program is aimed at exploring what makes a community healthy. Health, in this context, is defined broadly to encompass a full range of quality of life issues, including civic, socio-cultural, and environmental health. Accordingly, he examines social capital development, citizen engagement, and community (re)building initiatives in a variety of urban contexts. In these studies, Troy addresses community, not merely geographically, but also in terms of how communities  draw together people who share a common (leisure) interest. As a result, his research has concentrated on community centres, community gardens, festivals, health-related social support networks, and youth sport associations. Sole and co-authored research papers developed from these projects have been published in the top journals in leisure studies, including the Journal of Leisure Research , Leisure Sciences, and Leisure Studies. 

Diana C. Parry, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies

Telephone: (519) 888-4567 x33468

Email: dcparry@uwaterloo.ca

Diana's research explores the roles of leisure in women's health and wellbeing from a feminist, interpretative framework. Her research directs attention away from the medicalization of women's health issues and focuses on a more a holistic approach to women's health including their emotional and social well-being. One of her previous research projects explored the roles of leisure in women's experiences of menopause and mid-life. Diana also studied the roles of leisure in a woman's experience with infertility. Further, she is currently initiating a research project exploring the experiences of breast cancer survivors who belong to a dragon boat racing team called ‘Dragons Abreast'. The purpose of this research is to explore how participation in dragon boat racing serves to encourage women living with breast cancer to lead full and active lives and to understand the rewards of recreational exercise for women living with breast cancer – two purposes of the dragon boat racing team. In conducting this research, she hopes to contribute to the body of research on cancer care by furthering an understanding of leisure's role in women's quality of life.

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