George �鶹��Ƶ faculty and students host inaugural Qualitative Research Day

Shayla Brown — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 14:46:15 +0000

George �鶹��Ƶ faculty and students host inaugural Qualitative Research Day  Shayla Brown Wed, 01/21/2026 - 09:46

In This Story

�鶹��Ƶ recently held its first-ever Qualitative Research Day, an event for PhD students of all disciplines to engage in hands-on and interactive opportunities with the goal of learning new qualitative research techniques and methodologies. The inaugural event is the latest innovation in George �鶹��Ƶ's ongoing efforts to find new ways to support its PhD students.

The event was a collaboration between faculty and students from the College of Public Health, the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD), and the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, including Supriya Baily from Carter School, Erin Maughan from the School of Nursing, Bethany Letiecq from CEHD, PhD students Karthik Ramanujan and Tara Altay, and Fenwick Library team members, including Debby Kerner and Ramanujan.

The team received funding from each of the colleges as well as the Graduate Nursing Organization and the Graduate and Professional Student Association.

Baily, who served as president of the Comparative and International Education Society, an academic association comprising more than 3,500 researchers, analysts, practitioners, and students, used her connections to bring national research experts to the event to deliver keynotes, lead workshops, and guide students through data analysis activities. Students were able to refine their qualitative research skills and network with professional qualitative researchers from across the globe.

Keynote speakers Kevin Roy (left) and Colleen Vesely at Qualitative Research Day. Photo by Shayla Brown/Office of University Branding.

"We did this purely because we thought the students needed it. We were determined that this was going to be a hands-on and interactive event to ensure that the students left having learned something new," said Baily, who was previously co-director of the Center for International Education.

"I was very grateful they were willing to come here and share their expertise with the students," Baily said of the guest speakers.

"PhD students need to enhance their skills in this area—be more rigorous, professional, figure out how it's valued—and look at the new methodologies of doing it," she said.

Maughan teaches NURS 920 Qualitative Research in Nursing and Health Care in the School of Nursing where she met students who were passionate about qualitative research, including Altay, her advisee and doctoral nursing student.

"I was helping Tara navigate the resources on campus, and that's when we realized that there's actually a bit of a gap in resources for qualitative research compared to that for quantitative research, which tends to be the more traditional research for many [PhD candidates]," said Maughan.

The team made sure the events really resonated with the students by identifying where they wanted more information. The biggest area of interest for PhD students focusing on qualitative research was analysis.

Qualitative Research Day presentation. Photo by Shayla Brown/Office of University Branding.

Guest speaker Jeffrey Lee, former professor of education at University of Massachusetts Global, guided students through best practices in data coding, data analysis, and theme development. His workshop helped students build expertise by framing the complexity of data analysis in an accessible and scaffolded approach.

Lee also categorized reviews from the recent Bruce Springsteen biopic Deliver Me from Nowhere to demonstrate the process for qualitative analysis of audience reception.

Altay, who is working on a PhD in nursing and earned a Qualitative Research Certificate, worked with Maughan and Baily to help make Qualitative Research Day happen.

"To my knowledge, it's rare for students in the School of Nursing to do a full qualitative dissertation, but the nursing faculty have been super supportive of my doing a full qualitative dissertation, which is such a huge thing," said Altay, whose research focuses on the stigma sex workers face with health care providers.

"It's all about students' professional development so they can be the best versions of themselves when they go off and get jobs as researchers and scholars," said Baily. "As the next generation of academics, they'll be able to say 'George �鶹��Ƶ trained me well.'"

Topics

College of Education and Human Development

College of Public Health

Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

Qualitative Research

Students

doctoral students

Tharuna Kalaivanan

Daniel Hyunbin Chung — Thu, 27 Jan 2022 14:31:55 +0000

Tharuna Kalaivanan Daniel Hyunbin Chung Thu, 01/27/2022 - 09:31

Instructor & Graduate Professional Assistant, Honors College

Instructor, Honors College

PhD Student, Sociology

Lead Research Mentor, Social Science Research Lab

Contact Information

Email: tkalaiva@gmu.edu

Phone: 703-993-1110

Mail Stop: Honors College, MSN 1F4

Campus: Fairfax

Office: Buchanan Hall 205

Personal Websites

Biography

Tharuna Kalaivanan is a PhD student in the Public and Applied Sociology Program at �鶹��Ƶ. She graduated from �鶹��Ƶ with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology in 2020. She is also an Honors College Alum. Currently she is an Instructor and Graduate Professional Assistant in the Honors College. She is also a Lead Research Mentor in the Social Science Research Lab (SSRL) led by Dr. Blake Silver. The SSRL is a multi-disciplinary lab that uses team-based social science research to understand student experiences in higher education. Her research interests include immigrants and how their experiences are shaped by race, ethnicity, and other dimensions of identity in higher education and the workplace. Currently she serves as the Secretary in the Public Sociology Association where she plays an active role in encouraging students to explore, learn, and do public sociology through pursuits devoted to activism around social problems on-campus and beyond.

Research

Kalaivanan's research interests include first-generation college students and students with immigrant backgrounds, focusing on their experiences in higher education and the workplace.

Education

BS, Psychology, �鶹��Ƶ (2020)

Publications

Kalaivanan, Tharuna, Blake. R. Silver, Lily Krietzberg, and Bianca Kwan. Forthcoming. “The Senior-Year Transition: Gendered Experiences of Second-Generation Immigrant College Students” Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education Silver, Blake, Lily Krietzberg, and Tharuna Kalaivanan. Forthcoming. “Transitioning Out: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Queer Students’ Concerns in the Senior Year” Journal of The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition Silver, Blake R., Freddy Lopez, Fanni Farago, and Tharuna Kalaivanan. 2021. “Focused, Exploratory, or Vigilant: Reproduction, Mobility, and the Self-Narratives of Second-Generation Immigrant Youth.” Qualitative Sociology. doi: 10.1007/s11133-021-09489-w. Silver, Blake R., Freddy Lopez, Tharuna Kalaivanan, and Lily Krietzberg. 2021. “Second-Generation Immigrant Students and the Senior-Year Transition.” Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice 58(4):388–400. doi: 10.1080/19496591.2020.1789467. Silver, Blake R., Tharuna Kalaivanan, Lily Krietzberg, and Jordan Hawkins. 2020. “Distance, Alignment, and Boundaries: How Second-Generation Immigrant College Seniors Negotiate Parental Involvement.” Journal of College Student Development 61(5):558–73. doi: http://dx.doi.org.mutex.gmu.edu/10.1353/csd.2020.0055.

Grants and Fellowships

OSCAR Undergraduate Research Scholars Program. “How Racialization Affects First-generation Asian-American’s Perception of Organizational Commitment and Identification” PI: Tharuna Kalaivanan. (8/2019-12/2019). OSCAR Undergraduate Student Travel Fund. “How Racialization Affects First-generation Asian-American’s Perception of Organizational Commitment and Identification” PI: Tharuna Kalaivanan. (2020). OSCAR Undergraduate Student Travel Fund. “Distance, Alignment, and Boundaries: How Second-Generation Immigrant Seniors Negotiate Parental Involvement”. PI: Tharuna Kalaivanan. (2019). OSCAR Undergraduate Student Travel Fund. “Supporting First-Generation American College Students in the Senior-Year Transition”. PI: Tharuna Kalaivanan. (2019).

Classes

HNRS 110: Principles of Research and Inquiry

HNRS 131: First-gen College Students