Faculty Profile: JoAnn McAllister

JoAnn McAllister

School: Psychology and Interdisciplinary Inquiry

Bio:
JoAnn McAllister, Ph.D. is the Chair of the Human Science Degree Program. Her thinking and research focuses on how individual, cultural and social beliefs are shaped by stories and how beliefs and attitudes change through conscious and unconscious storying. Her current interests focus on the intersection of religious, political, scientific, and cultural stories as reflected in contemporary social issues. She has worked with non-profit organizations and government agencies, including the Office of the California Attorney General, to evaluate and develop prevention and intervention programs for domestic violence offenders and children of incarcerated parents. She has written on spirituality, ecology, and social change, and is the co-author of Doing democracy: The MAP model of social movements (New Society Press). She has a background in United States history, Western intellectual history, Western religious and spiritual traditions, and Human Science. ""

Curriculum Vitae

Upcoming Presentations and Public Addresses

Degrees, Discipline, Year, Institution

Ph.D., Human Science, Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center, San Francisco.
M.A., Culture and Spirituality, Holy Names College, Oakland, California.
M.A., American History, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, Phi Alpha Theta Honor Society.
B.A., History, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, Phi Alpha Theta Honor Society.

Current Projects and Professional Activities

As the Chair of the Human Science Degree Program I am building academic and professional connections to support faculty and student networking and research. I am working to develop the curriculum in the following areas: religion, culture, and politics; social movement theory and practice; gender; and narrative research methods. I also serve on the Board of Directors for Community Works, Inc., which addresses the problems of at-risk youth, and the Social Movement Empowerment Project, which supports non-violent activists around the world.

Current Publications

McAllister, J. (2003). Offender Compliance: A Study of San Francisco's Domestic Violence Court, Probation Department, and Batterer Intervention Programs. Justice and Courage Panel. Department on the Status of Women.

McAllister, J. (2003). Batterer Intervention: Reexamining the significance of gender-role beliefs. Dissertation. San Francisco, CA: Saybrook Graduate School.

McAllister, J. (2003). When your patient is a batterer. In C. Mitchell (Ed.), Training in domestic violence for healthcare providers. Davis: CA: California Medical Training Center, University of California. Moyer, B.,

McAllister, J., Finley, J. L., & Sofires, S. (2001). Doing democracy: The MAP model of social movements. British Columbia, Canada: New Society Press. Pilisuk, M.,

McAllister, J., Rothman, J., & Larin, L. (2003). New Contexts of Organizing: Functions, dilemmas and solutions. In M. Minkler (Ed.), Community organizing and community building for health. (2nd Edition) New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Significant Publications

# McAllister, J. (2003). Batterer Intervention: Reexamining the significance of gender-role beliefs. Dissertation. San Francisco, CA: Saybrook Graduate School. # Moyer, B., McAllister, J., Finley, J. L., & Sofires, S. (2001). Doing democracy: The MAP model of social movements. British Columbia, Canada: New Society Press.

Pilisuk, M., McAllister, J., & Rothman, J. (1997). Social change professionals and grassroots organizing: Functions and dilemmas. In M. Minkler (Ed.), Community organizing and community building for health. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Pilisuk, M., McAllister, J., & Rothman, J. (1996). Coming together for action: The challenge of contemporary grassroots community organizing. Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 52(1), 15-37.

McAllister, J. (1992). Mature relationships: Symbolic, cognitive and cultural reflections on a dream, The Dream Network Journal, 11(3).

McAllister, J. (1990). Choosing wonder. In Context, winter, 1990, no. 24.

* McAllister, J. (2003). Offender Compliance: A Study of San Francisco's Domestic Violence Court, Probation Department, and Batterer Intervention Programs. Justice and Courage Panel. Department on the Status of Women. * McAllister, J. (2003). Batterer Intervention: Reexamining the significance of gender-role beliefs. Dissertation. San Francisco, CA: Saybrook Graduate School. * Moyer, B., McAllister, J., Finley, J. L., & Sofires, S. (2001). Doing democracy: The MAP model of social movements. British Columbia, Canada: New Society Press. * Pilisuk, M., McAllister, J., & Rothman, J. (1997). Social change professionals and grassroots organizing: Functions and dilemmas. In M. Minkler (Ed.), Community organizing and community building for health. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. * Pilisuk, M., McAllister, J., & Rothman, J. (1996). Coming together for action: The challenge of contemporary grassroots community organizing. Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 52(1), 15-37. * McAllister, J. (1992). Mature relationships: Symbolic, cognitive and cultural reflections on a dream, The Dream Network Journal, 11(3). * McAllister, J. (1990). Choosing wonder. In Context, winter, 1990, no. 24. * McAllister, J., & Moyer, B. (1988). Social movements: The ultimate source of security. Creation, May/June, 1988, vol. 4, no. 2. * McAllister. J. (1971). Everything you need to know about pollution, but didn’t think to ask. A Handbook for Citizen’s Action Guide. Norfolk, Virginia: Merchants and Farmers Bank

McAllister. J. (1971). Everything you need to know about pollution, but didn’t think to ask. A Handbook for Citizen’s Action Guide. Norfolk, Virginia: Merchants and Farmers Bank

Important Conference Presentations

Justice and Courage Project, San Francisco Department on the Status of Women, Holding Batterers Accountable: Offender Compliance in San Francisco (2005).
Offender Compliance to Court Mandated Batterer Intervention Programs (2004, August). Presented to Department on the Status of Women, Justice and Courage Panel, San Francisco, CA.
Holding Batterers Accountable: A Study of Court, Probation, and Batterer Programs in San Francisco (2003, October). Association of Criminal Justice Research California, Spring Conference, San Diego, CA.
Chief Probation Officers of California and Office of Criminal Justice Planning, Conference, The Global Nature of Abuse Conference: “Context and Complexity in Domestic Violence Research, Theory and Practice” (2003)
Association for Criminal Justice Research (CA), Batterer Compliance: A Study of San Francisco's Domestic Violence Court, Probation Department, and Batterer Intervention Programs (2003).
Administrative Office of the Courts, Custody Evaluators and Mediators training: Batterer Intervention: What Works? (2003)
Family Violence Council Conference, Contra Costa County: “Complex Issues in Domestic Violence,” panel presentation (2002)

Research Interests

I am particularly interested in how beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors are shaped and are changed at both the individual and societal levels. My current research and writing projects focus on the intersection of religious beliefs, science, and politics in contemporary culture, as well as the emergence of a non-theistic spirituality in the West. I am also investigating the impact of the depression on class and criminal justice issues in California during the 1930s.

Research Expertise

I have the most practical experience in the following methods: interview, focus group, naturalistic observation, participant action research, archival, and narrative inquiry. I am familiar with other forms of qualitative inquiry and basic quantitative methods. In recent years, my research and evaluation areas have mostly been in connection with community-based programs although I am increasingly involved in archival research on a number of topics.

Expertise Working with Saybrook Students

I have been especially active in assisting students in framing and defining research topics, refining research questions, and determining appropriate methods of inquiry. I am always interested in supporting students independent studies and development of publications.

Research Expertise

Research Expertise Rating Guide:

studied in a class or have read intensively on my own
special training in the form of a workshop or equivalent
taught a class in, or supervised research using this method (research practicum, on a dissertation or master's committee
used in research myself
published or presented at conferences my research using this method

Methods Traditionally Considered As Quantitative (But Need Not Be)

Laboratory Research
Field Experiments
Randomized Controlled Clinical
Quasi-experimental methods	2
Correlational Methods	1

Methods That Could Use Quantitative Or Qualitative Methods

Action Research	4
Survey Research	4
Interview Research	5
Observational Research	5
Epidemiological Research	1
Ethnography	4
Focus Groups	4, 5
Self-Observational Methods	3
Narrative Methods	5
Feminist Methods	4
Content Analysis	4, 5
Discovery-Oriented (psychotherapy)	1
Events paradigm (psychotherapy)	1
Archival Research	4, 5
Case History Methods	4
Appreciative Inquiry	2
Multiple Case Depth Research	1
Hermeneutic Single Case Efficacy Design	2
Longitudinal research	4
Cross-sectional research	1

Methods Primarily Associated With Qualitative Research (But May Also Use Quantitative)

Ethnoautobiographical research	4
Hermeneutics	4
Grounded Theory	4
Phenomenology	2
Heuristic Research	4

Types of Analysis

Simple Parametric Statistics (t-test, etc.)	1
Confidence intervals	1
Analysis of Variance (including MANOVA)	1
Analysis of Covariance	1
Regression (including multiple regression)	1
Discriminant Function Analysis
Structural Equation Modeling/Path Analysis
Causal Modeling
Cluster Analysis	1
Survival Analysis
Nonparametrics
Bayesian Analysis
Meta-analysis and effect sizes	1
Factor Analysis	1
Time series analysis
Multidimensional scaling

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