Author: Áine M. Humble

As a young adult fresh out of high school, I started working part-time in the childcare profession (daycare) to earn some money while I focused on competing at a national level in Canada in badminton. My athletic career didn't work out, but I did develop an interest in working with children as a result of my part-time job, which eventually lead to an interest in families, gerontology, and qualitative research.

My postsecondary education began with a diploma in Early Childhood Development. I went on to complete an undergraduate degree in Home Economics, with a major in Family Studies, and a Master's degree in Family Life Education, both at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. I then worked in academia for three years on the east coast of Canada, during which time I realized I wanted to focus on gender and families for my research. In 1998, I moved to beautiful Oregon, USA, to work on a PhD in Human Development and Family Studies, with a minor in Women Studies, at Oregon State University. In 2002, I was lucky enough to find my way back to the eastern Canadian coast again, and I completed my PhD in 2003. Currently (2009), I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Studies and Gerontology at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

My research focuses on how gender is constructed in families and relationships, and how it affects individuals as they age, particularly with regard to paid and unpaid work. I have also published work about feminist pedagogy, and I find myself increasingly interested in qualitative methodologies and software programs. I have conducted both quantitative and qualitative research (I like to say I "swing both sides"!), but prefer qualitative to quantitative. I am influenced by several paradigms-I identify epistemologically with the social constructivist and critical perspectives, but my writing comes across as more post-positivistic (probably influenced by my quantitative training). I teach a qualitative research class to graduate students; I love how challenging this course is and I enjoy seeing how students relate to and learn about qualitative research.

I have both a faculty profile and a personal webpage that I invite you to visit. I can also be contacted at aine.humble@msvu.ca.