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Journal of Public Interest Communications Volume 3, Issue 1 April 2019 ISSN (online): 2573-4342 Journal homepage: http://journals.fcla.edu/jpic/ Editor-in-Chief Dr. Brigitta R. Brunner Auburn University Journal Supervisor Dr. Linda Childers Hon University of Florida Journal Manager Dr. Kelly Chernin University of Florida JPIC is an open-access, online journal published through the Public Knowledge Project and is supported by the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. Contact: Dr. Kelly Chernin [email protected] DOI:10.32473/jpic.v3.i1 JPIC Editorial Board Melissa Adams, Giselle Auger, Lucinda Austin, Shelly Aylesworth-Spink, Tor Bang, Denise Bortree, Caty Borum Chattoo, Pam Bourland-Davis, Lois Boynton, Sharee Broussard, Myoung- Gi Chon, Eun Ji Chung, Erica Ciszek, Colleen Connolly-Ahern, Kristin Demetrious, Melissa Dodd, Candice Edrington, Jasper Fessmann, Julia Fraustino, Karla Gower, Corey Hickerson, Myleea Hill, Oyvind Ihlen, Hua Jiang, Yan Jin Samsup Jo, Amanda Kennedy, Sora Kim, Christie Kleinmann, Jacqueline Lambiase, Alex Laskin, Stephanie Madden, Brooke McKeever, Dean Mundy, Marlene Neill, Julie O’Neil, Holly Overton, Katie Place, Donnalyn Pompper, Andrew Pyle, Matt Ragas, Viviane Seyranian, Amber Smallwood, Katie Stansberry, Ashli Stokes, Michail Vafeiadis, Jennifer Vardman Winter, Marina Vujnovic, T. Franklin Waddell, Richard Waters, Brenda Wrigley, Xiaochen Zhang Journal of Public Interest Communications, Vol. 3 Issue 1, 2019 Journal of Public Interest Communications ISSN (online): 2573-4342 Journal homepage: http://journals.fcla.edu/jpic/ Editor’s Essay Brigitta R. Brunner Auburn University This semester I am teaching a graduate level research methods course. Each week as my students and I review the material and talk through the various methods, I am reminded of the importance of building a meaningful body of knowledge through an assortment of methodologies. Quantitative methods give us the ability to generalize our work and to test hypotheses through standardized and scientific methods. The logic of measurement and quantification helps us to develop theory deductively by proposing and testing explanations based on existing and verified knowledge (Lindlof & Taylor, 2019). In contrast, qualitative methods let us explore topics inductively (Lindlof &Taylor, 2019). Qualitative methods suggest we should study communication as a natural occurrence and the researcher should go where the action is and seek to be part of it (Lindlof & Taylor, 2019). Research based in qualitative methods allows researchers to develop new concepts or revise existing ones in unexpected says (Lindlof & Taylor, 2019). Qualitative methods also give participants the ability to speak for themselves and let researchers preserve those words and perspectives without putting them through a lens of our own making. All methodologies and perspectives are necessary and vital to growing public interest communications, and I believe this issue is a showcase of different methods and approaches to research which add to our emerging body of knowledge. From a quantitative approach, Kim, Pardon, and Overton use content analysis to examine how e-cigarette companies engage with potential customers on Twitter and the implications of such engagement on public interest communications. Li’s work takes an experimental design approach and investigates how narrative perspective interacts with valence of intergroup interaction depiction in transgender-related media content to redirect people’s attitudes toward transgender people, transportation, and elevation responses. This study contributes to a better *Please send correspondences about this article to Brigitta Brunner, School of Communication & Journalism, E-mail:[email protected]. Copyright Brunner 2019. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/us/or send a letter to Creative Commons. PO Box 1866 Mountain View. CA 94042. USA. Brunner, Editor’s Essay, JPIC, Vol. 1 Issue 2 (2017) theoretical and empirical understanding of intergroup communication strategies in public interest communications. The other articles in this issue bring qualitative methods to the table. Morton and Shelton applied a qualitative content analysis to explore the frames associated with child adoption and found that frames about humanity were absent from the coverage of the topic. Through focus group and in-depth interviewing, Pressgrove, Janoske, and Madden explored the connection among narrative, professional identity, and reputation management among public school teachers. Their work suggests a reputation crisis has implications upon the United States’ teacher shortage. Demetrious employs discourse analysis to examine Twitter engagement around the 2014 Peabody Energy global public relations campaign Advanced Energy for Life trope “clean coal” in Australia. Her research contributes to a greater understanding of the reach, influence, and limitations of Twitter-based public debate. Stokes explores how PETA uses “on the ground” direct action strategies as public interest communications. For PIC scholars, these strategies are relevant, as direct action provides communicators with experiential ways to persuade stakeholders of new perspectives to push for social change. Finally, Woods examines the process used by activist organizations to pressure target corporations into altering practices and policies that they perceive to be problematic. Using a qualitative approach, her study draws from interviews which are supplemented by organizational documents and news articles. Based on the findings, she introduces the Activist Corporate Campaign Model for use in describing the phases of activists’ campaigns. As always, my work as journal editor could not be complete without the help of my reviewers. Thank you to Shelley Aylesworth-Spink, Pam Bourland-Davis, Myoung-Gi Chon, Kristin Demetrious, Myleea Hill, Christie Kleinmann, Brooke McKeever, Matt Ragas, Amber Smallwood, Katie Stansberry, and Xiaochen Zhang for their guidance and help to bring the best research to our readers. Lindlof, T. R. and Taylor, B. C. (2019). Qualitative communication research methods, 4th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. 2 Journal of Public Interest Communications, Vol. 3 Issue 1, 2019 Journal of Public Interest Communications ISSN (online): 2573-4342 Journal homepage: http://journals.fcla.edu/jpic/ Changing the Story: Implications of Narrative on Teacher Identity Geah Pressgrove, Melissa Janoske, Stephanie Madden West Virginia University, University of Memphis, Pennsylvania State University Article Information Abstract Received: January 31, 2018 This study takes a qualitative approach to understanding the connections among narrative, professional identity, and reputation Accepted: June 8, 2018 management in public education. Through 15 interviews and five focus groups with high-achieving teachers and administrators, Published online: April 26, 2019 researchers explored the narratives these educators share to understand and improve the story of the teaching profession. Central to the findings are societal, organizational, and community-level factors that Keywords have led to a reputation crisis for the profession of teaching and thus contribute to the national teacher shortage. Ultimately, this study Narrative points to the notion that a shift in the perception of the value of Reputation management teaching and teachers can be affected when narratives are understood Teaching and the principles of reputation management are applied. Educators Communication interventions that provide a path forward are discussed. Introduction For decades, economic research has demonstrated the significant role of primary and secondary education both in terms of private earning potential and economic growth (e.g., Becker, 1964; Denison, 1962; Ozturk, 2001; Psacharopoulos & Schultz, 1984). Of central importance to these societal and economic outputs are classroom educators. Indeed, as some scholars have argued, the success of public education in the United States depends on quality elementary and secondary education teachers (Gordon, Kane, & Staiger, 2006). *Please send correspondences about this article to Geah Pressgrove, Reed College of Media, West Virginia University. E-mail: [email protected] DOI:10.32473/jpic.v3.i1.p3 Copyright Journal of Public Interest Communications 2019. Published under a Creative Commons License. Pressgrove, Janoske, Madden, Changing the Story, JPIC, Vol. 3 (2019) As a subsumptive profession, teaching provides the foundation for every occupation, vocation, and career. Further demonstrating the important role of teachers, the National Bureau of Economic Research has found that effective teachers lead to not only lower dropout rates, but also other key quality of life indicators including reduced risk of teen pregnancy, increased lifetime earnings, and improved career satisfaction (Chetty, Friedman, & Rockoff, 2011). Despite the importance of the profession, recruitment and retention strategies have fallen short. Each year fewer high school students are pursuing education majors (American College Testing [ACT], 2015) and a decreasing number of college students pursue teaching careers (U.S. Department of Education, 2015). Further, reports indicate that attrition rates of educators in their first four years of teaching are between 17 and 20 percent (Brown, 2015). This attrition has led to a shortage