College of Education and Human Development

School of Social Work

Jane Gilgun

  • Professor Emerita

Jane Gilgun

Areas of interest

Resilience or how persons overcome adversities, meanings of violence to perpetrators, development of violent behaviors, factors associated with positive client changes in social work practice, oral history, qualitative research methods, feminist research methods and methodologies, philosophy of science

Degrees

PhD, Syracuse University, College of Human Development
Licentiate, Catholic University of Louvain, College of Medicine 
MA, University of Rhode Island, College of Arts & Sciences
MA, University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration
BA, Catholic University of America, College of Arts & Sciences

Biography

Principal Investigator, The Meanings of Violence to Perpetrators, funded by the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station, 1985 to 2021, and other funders

Jane Gilgun is a professor emerita, School of Social Work, where she was a professor from 1984 to 2021. As a retired professor, I continue to do research and to write and intend to do so for many more years. My current research project began in 1985 and continues to date.  My most recent publication from that project is on The Myth of Redemptive Interpersonal Violence: Implications for Theory Development and I'm currently writing a paper with grad student Emma Pederson on The Moral Injury of Sex Offenders. The project that is the basis of these two articles has three parts: the meanings of violence to perpetrators, the development of violent behaviors, how persons overcome adversities. I have taken international leadership in the development of qualitative social work research and have served as president of the International Society for Qualitative Inquiry and chair of Social Work Day for the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry for about 10 years. I have several recent publications on qualitative social work research methods. i was the principal investigator for 22 other research projects that I conducted with community partners, where the focus was on factors associated with good outcomes in social services to children and families. My research is within the pragmatist and Chicago School traditions, especially based on the work of Jane Addams and John Dewey.  There are three types of research in that tradition: analytic induction which I call deductive qualitative analysis, grounded theory, and descriptive research. This tradition is based on a pragmatist philosophy of science  and thus takes into account persons and situation, lived experience, meanings and interpretations, researcher reflexivity, and research to be used for the common good. I am a social worker because social work also takes these perspectives and has an explicit value base of justice, care, dignity and worth, and respect for autonomy/self-determination.

Publications

Gilgun, Jane F. (in press).  The myth of redemptive interpersonal violence: Implications for theory development.Qualitative Psychology. DOI: 10.1037/qup0000212 

Gilgun, Jane F. (in press). Designing qualitative social work research. In Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research Design, Uwe Flick (Ed.).

Gilgun, Jane F. (2020). Writing up qualitative research. In Patricia Leavy (Ed.). The Oxford handbook of qualitative research methods (2nd ed) (pp. 658-676). New York: Oxford. 

Gilgun, Jane F. (2019). Deductive qualitative analysis and grounded theory: Sensitizing concepts and hypothesis testing. In Bryant, A. & Charmaz, K. (Eds.), The Sage handbook of grounded theory (2nd ed), pp. 107-122. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Gilgun, Jane F. (2017). The red doors will never close: A history of St. John’s Episcopal Church in the 1970s and early 1980s. Amazon

Gilgun, Jane F. & Samantha Hirschey (2017). A four-factor outcome model for family case management services for children who have experienced complex trauma. Journal of Family Theory and Review, published in December 2017.

Gilgun, Jane F. & Gwendolyn Anderson (2016). Mothers’ experiences of pastoral care in cases of child sexual abuse. Journal of Religion and Health. 55 (2), 680-694.

Gilgun, Jane F. (2015). Beyond description to interpretation and theory in qualitative social work research. Qualitative Social Work, 14, 741-752. This article is number 31 in the most-read articles in this journal.

Gilgun, Jane F. (2015). Research and theory building in social work. In William Nichols (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences (2nd ed.) (pp. 502-507. New York: Elselvier.

Anderson, Gwendolyn, Jessica Anderson, & Jane F. Gilgun (2014). The influence of narrative practice techniques on child behaviors in forensic interviews. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 23 (6), 615-634

Gilgun, Jane F. (2014). Writing up qualitative research. In Patricia Leavy (Ed.). The Oxford handbook of qualitative research methods (pp. 658-676). New York: Oxford University Press.

Gilgun, Jane F. (2013). Qualitative family research: Enduring themes and contemporary variations. In Gary F. Peterson & Kevin Bush (Eds.), Handbook of Marriage and the Family (3rd ed.) (pp. 91-119). New York: Plenum.

Gilgun, Jane F. & Gwendolyn Anderson (2013). Mothers’ perspectives on signs of sexual abuse in their families.  Families in Society, 9 (4), 259-266.

Gilgun, Jane F. (2012). Enduring themes in qualitative family research. Journal of Family Theory and Review, 4, 80-95.

Gilgun, Jane F. (2012) Hand into glove: Grounded theory, deductive qualitative analysis and social work research and practice. In Anne E. Fortune, William Reid, & Robert Miller (Eds.). Qualitative Methods in Social Work (2nd ed.) (pp. 107-134) New York: Columbia University Press.

Gilgun, Jane F. & Roberta G. Sands (Eds.) (2012). Special Issue: The Contributions of Qualitative Approaches to Developmental Intervention Research. Qualitative Social Work: Research and Practice, 11(4).

Gilgun, Jane F. (2012). Lemons or lemonade? An anger workbook for kids (2nd ed.) Amazon.

Gilgun, Jane F. (2012) Lemons or lemonade? An anger workbook for teens (2nd ed.) Amazon.

Gilgun, Jane F. (2012). Thorns have roses: Overcoming the effects of childhood abuse and neglect (2nd ed.) Amazon.

Gilgun, Jane F. & Alankaar Sharma (2012). The uses of humour in case management with high-risk children & their families, British Journal of Social Work, 42(3),560-577.

Gilgun, Jane F. (2012). The logic of murderous rampages and other essays on violence and its prevention. Amazon.

Gilgun, Jane F. (2011). Child sexual abuse: From harsh realities to hope (2nd ed.). Amazon.

Gilgun, Jane F. (2011). The NEATS: A child and family assessment (3rd ed.) Amazon.

Gilgun, Jane F. (2010). Child sexual abuse: From harsh realities to hope. Amazon Kindle.

Gilgun, Jane F. (2010) Children with serious conduct issues. Amazon Kindle

Gilgun, Jane F. (2010). Methods for enhancing theory and knowledge about problems, policies, and practice.  In Katherine Briar, Joan Orme, Roy Ruckdeschel, & Ian Shaw, The Sage handbook of social work research (pp. 281-297). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Gilgun, Jane F. (2010). Reflections on 25 years of research on violence. Reflections: Narratives of professional helping, 16(4), 50-59.

Gilgun, Jane F. (2010). The NEATS: A child and family assessment (2nd ed.)  Amazon Kindle.

Gilgun, Jane F. (2009). Busjacked! Amazon Kindle.

Gilgun, Jane F. (2009).  Emma & her forever person.  Amazon Kindle.

Gilgun, Jane F. (2009).  Qualitative research and family psychology. In Mark Stanton & James Bray (Eds.). Blackwell handbook of family psychology (pp. 85-99).  Oxford: UK: Blackwell. 

Theron, Linda C. & Jane F. Gilgun (2009). Strangers, patients, monsters, jailers and children: How South African caregivers’ view their partners with manganese poisoning. South African Journal of Psychology, 39(2)m 220-230.

Gilgun, Jane F. (2009). The picking flower garden. Amazon Kindle.

Gilgun, Jane F. (2009). Will the soccer star. Amazon Kindle.

Gilgun, Jane F. (2008).  Lived experience, reflexivity, and research on perpetrators of interpersonal violence. Qualitative Social Work, 7(2), 181-197. 

Sharma, Alankaar & Jane F. Gilgun (2008). In their own words: Learning about child sexual abuse from listening to perpetrators. Indian Journal of Social Work, 69(3), 321-338.

Gilgun, Jane F., & Alankaar Sharma (2008). Child sexual abuse. In Jeffrey L. Edleson & Claire M. Renzetti (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Interpersonal Violence (pp. 122-125). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 

Ungar, Michael, Marian Brown, Linda Liebenberg, Rasha Othman, Wai Man Kwong, Mary Armstrong, & Jane Gilgun (2007). Unique pathways to resilience across cultures. Adolescence, 42(166), 287-310

Gilgun, J. F. (2005). The four cornerstones of evidence-based practice in social work. Research on Social Work Practice, 15(1), 52-61

Gilgun, Jane F. (2006). The four cornerstones of qualitative research. Qualitative Health Research, 16(3), 436-443.

Gilgun, Jane F. (2006). Children and adolescents with problematic sexual behaviors: Lessons from research on resilience. In Robert Longo & Dave Prescott (Eds.),. Current perspectives on working with sexually aggressive youth and youth with sexual behavior problems. (pp. 383-394). Holyoke, MA: Neari Press.

Gilgun, Jane F. (Ed.) (2006). Writing and editing books. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota School of Social Work.

Gilgun, Jane F., (2005). The four concerstones of evidence based practice in social work. Research on Social Work Practice, 15(1), (52-61)

Gilgun, Jane F. (2005). Evidence-based practice, descriptive research, and the resilience-schema-gender brain functioning (RSGB) Assessment. British Journal of Social Work, 35(6), 843-862.

Gilgun, Jane F. (2005). Qualitative research and family psychology. Journal of Family Psychology, 19 (1), 40-50 (invited and peer blind reviewed)

Gilgun, Jane F. (2005). "Grab" and good science: Writing up the results of qualitative research. Qualitative Health Research.

Gilgun, Jane F. (2005). Lighten up! The citation dilemma in qualitative research. Qualitative Health Research, 15(5), 721-725.

Presentations

What do you do with a grounded theory? Testing Theory Qualitatively (2022). Pre-conference workshop at the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, Urbana, IL, USA, May 19.

Gilgun, Jane F. (2021, January). Invited Journal Editors Workshop II: Forum on Publishing Qualitative Research (Chair) Society for Social Work and Research 24th Annual Conference, January 21. Also 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014)