Case Study Research in Practice
Abstract
Case Study Research in Practice explores the theory and practice of case study research. Helen Simons draws on her extensive experience of teaching and conducting case study to provide a comprehensive and practical account of how to design, conduct and communicate case study research. It addresses questions often raised by students and common misconceptions about case research. In four sections the book covers
- Rationale, concept and design of case study research
- Methods, ethics and reflexivity in case study
- Interpreting, analyzing and reporting the case
- Generalizing and theorizing in case study research
Rich with 'tales from the field' and summary memos as an aide-memoire to future action, the book provides fresh insights and challenges for researchers to guide their practice of case study research.
This is an ideal text for those studying and conducting case study research in education, health and social care, and related social science disciplines.
... As mentioned earlier, McNamara (2001) Researchers in education, in a similar vein, view it as an approach to research, or a 'genre' (Elliott & Lukeš, 2008;Hamilton & Corbett-Whittier, 2012;Simons, 1996) 'that aims to capture the complexity of relationships, beliefs and attitudes within a bounded unit, using different forms of data collection and [which] is likely to explore more than one perspective' p. 10). Simons (2009) similarly emphasised the multiplicity of perspectives, defining the case study as 'an in-depth exploration from multiple perspectives of the complexities and uniqueness of a particular project, policy, institution, programme or system in a 'real life' ...
... Stenhouse (1979), for instance, advocated the use of case study in researching education as it can capture complexities that positivist social science methods cannot. Simons (2009) pointed out its potential for 'exploring and understanding the process and dynamics of change' and its flexibility (p. 23). ...
... Simons (2009) Both Stake (1995) and Simons (2009) highlighted triangulation and member checking as two important validation processes. However, triangulation may be as problematic a term as 'validity' or 'generalisability' for some qualitative/ethnographic researchers, for similarly positivist reasons discussed above. ...
In a world increasingly driven by technology, a trend recently accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the emergence of generative AI, teachers require novel assessment literacies to effectively assess students' digital literacies. This ethnographic case study explores the assessment practices of two Singaporean English Language teachers, examining the complex dynamics that shape the assessment of students' digital literacies in the classroom. Specifically, the study addresses four research questions related to the impact of teachers' formative assessment practices, digital and assessment literacies, relationships with students, and contextual barriers on the assessment of digital literacies.
Over a four-month period, data were collected through lesson observations, teacher interviews and artefacts. Using Wiliam and Thompson's (2008) formative assessment framework and thematic analysis, the study found that teachers' adeptness in facilitating meaningful learning discussions, providing personalised feedback, and leveraging technology for assessment strongly impacts their ability to develop students' digital literacies. However, teachers' own digital literacies, potentially misaligned expectations of students, and systemic constraints can limit effectiveness.
The study concludes that innovative assessment literacies, integrating digital literacies, relational elements, teacher identity and systemic constraints, are crucial for teachers to effectively assess and support students' development of digital literacies. The findings offer practical insights for educators and recommendations for teacher education programmes to equip teachers with the necessary multifaceted assessment literacies. This research contributes to understanding the complex elements shaping digital literacies assessment and offers guidance for enhancing assessment practices in the digital age.
... This research applies simple quantitative methods [32] and descriptive statistics [32], [33], [34]. For the empirical analysis, a packaging material summary of single items sold in Finnish supermarkets was constructed. ...
... This research applies simple quantitative methods [32] and descriptive statistics [32], [33], [34]. For the empirical analysis, a packaging material summary of single items sold in Finnish supermarkets was constructed. ...
Single-use plastics (SUP), which are extensively utilized in food packaging, are one notable cause for the constantly growing littering issue. This novel study is one of the first attempts to systemically analyze food packaging data to reveal the potential for plastic packaging material reduction or substitution by utilizing a primary packaging material summary of single items sold in Finnish supermarkets. The outcome of the study indicates considerable dissimilarities among product groups concerning used packaging materials, weight, share of plastic, and sales volume. The analysis identified sweets and ready-to-eat meals as product groups for which there is a clear need, but also the most potential, to reduce the use of single-use plastics in food packaging. In these specific product groups, the sales share in euros is high (over 2%) and plastic is widely used (48–51%). The share of primary packaging material is also at a notable level (5–7%). Additionally, both product groups are significantly affected by the SUP directive and create a notable risk for littering. For ready-to-eat meals, the substitution potential of plastic is estimated to be close to 2,000 tonnes in Finland. Even so, sustainability is not solely accomplished by a replacement of the conventional packaging material with completely new solutions, and it is evident that there is no single and all-inclusive solution for future food packaging. Instead, the way to more environmentally friendly packaging combines several solutions of 4Rs - Reduce, Reuse, Replace, and Recycle.
Available at (CC BY 4.0): https://repository.rit.edu/japr/vol16/iss1/4/
... Case studies are suitable when the research question focuses on 'how' and 'why' , the researcher has limited control over the events, and the focus is on current events in a real-life context (Yin, 2018). Case studies offer researchers the opportunity to gain a holistic view of a research problem, allowing for a better understanding and explanation of the situation (Baxter and Jack, 2008;Simons, 2009). The phenomena of interest in this study were researchers' experiences of doing KMb, the support received for KMb, and critical points for enhancing capacities for facilitating KMb. ...
Introduction: This study offers a case study of capacity development for Knowledge Mobilization (KMb) within the context of McGill University’s Faculty of Education, focusing on the experiences of researchers and students engaged in KMb. Amidst increasing global demands for academic research to contribute to societal benefits, this case study evaluated the participants’ experiences of challenges and support received in doing KMb activities.
Methods: This case study followed a qualitative exploratory approach, utilizing semi-structured interviews to gather detailed insights from graduate students and faculty members within McGill University’s Department of Integrated Studies in Education (Montreal, Canada). Ten participants were selected through convenience sampling, to provide a diverse representation of experiences in engaging with KMb practices. The study’s inductive data analysis strategy allowed for a comprehensive analysis of the challenges and supports related to KMb and grounded findings in the real-world experiences and perspectives of those directly involved in KMb efforts.
Results: The research revealed organizational challenges, including inadequate recognition of KMb efforts and insufficient institutional support, as significant barriers to effective KMb. Despite these obstacles, certain enablers, such as KMb training and supportive relationships with supervisors, highlight the potential pathways for enhancing KMb capacity. Notably, the study uncovered a discrepancy between the availability and accessibility of KMb support, pointing to the necessity of tailored, accessible capacity development strategies.
Discussion: By emphasizing the need for systemic changes and prioritizing organizational capacity development, this research contributes to a more nuanced understanding of fostering effective and inclusive KMb practices with faculties of Education and beyond.
... To explore the phenomenon comprehensively, we employed three principal methods of qualitative case study research-interviews, documents, and fieldwork (Simons, 2009;Yin, 2018). As shown in Table 1, we conducted interviews with 22 research participants (10 German, 12 Chinese) from April 2023 to February 2024. ...
To address a gap in understanding organizational level responses to complex shifts in international academic collaboration, we ask how a joint Sino-German college in Tongji University in Shanghai addressed challenges in international academic collaboration in one of its four key areas—mechanical engineering—from 2019 to 2024. Grounded in institutional theory and using a case study research design, supported by data from 22 interviews, over 70 documents, and fieldwork, we demonstrate that the challenges arose from the complexity of multiple logics imposed on the college by its Chinese and German actors. Our analysis revealed that since 2019, academic engagement between Germany and China faced increased costs and bureaucratic difficulties, exacerbated, but not caused, by a changing political relationship between the two countries. We further explored the organizational attempts to overcome these challenges as both German and Chinese actors leverage differences to benefit the joint organization. The college integrated its mechanical engineering curriculum more closely into its host university, while maintaining its coordinating role as a link to Germany. It emphasized newly launched small research centres, a new doctoral school, research into the green energy transition, new industry partnerships, and education in intercultural competencies. This study provides timely insights into how international academic organizations navigate complex environments and offers implications for future research on internationalization, particularly on Sino-foreign joint academic organizations.
... From this collective, I focus on two preservice teachers as in-depth, individual cases, each with similarities, but also their own specific problems and contextual conditions worthy of closer examination (Patton, 1990;Simons, 2009). These cases act as short portraits of practice that provide insight into the degree to which their conceptualisations and aspirations for curriculum-making are afforded during their professional experience placements, and the conditions which shaped this. ...
This paper explores the impact of ongoing performativity and accountability agendas in education which frame curriculum merely as a product for delivery and teachers more as ‘technicians’ rather than curriculum-makers. While research has explored the impact of such agendas on the realities of teachers’ curriculum experiences within schools, further insight is needed on the implications for initial teacher education and preservice teachers’ developing curriculum identities. Focusing initially on a collective group of Australian preservice teachers, this study explores their conceptualisations of and aspirations for curriculum-making as part of their future classroom practice. By drawing on two in-depth cases from this collective, this study highlights the constrained nature of curriculum-making experiences during professional experience placements, and the implications this has for their capability development as aspirational curriculum-makers. The findings underscore the need for professional experience placement opportunities that foster preservice teachers’ development as active and critical curriculum-makers, rather than passive deliverers. Supporting these opportunities is paramount, especially in an educational landscape which seeks to de-professionalise the teaching profession further through the outsourcing of teachers’ curriculum thinking and expertise.
... In alignment with qualitative case study methodology, where the goal is to gain insight into the case, 67 we used purposive sampling. 68 Guided by MU academic program leaders, we identified and invited academic and clinical faculty participants from a wide variety of backgrounds who had experience leading and/or teaching in the interprofessional quality improvement education program from 2003 to 2013. ...
OBJECTIVES
Despite decades of effort, programs continue to struggle to integrate competencies related quality improvement (QI) and interprofessional collaborative practice (ICP) into health professions education. Additionally, while QI and ICP may seem intuitively linked and there exists some examples of a coordinated approach, the literature regarding competencies, including knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs), is still largely focused on QI and ICP as separate fields of knowledge and practice. This study explored distinctions and connections between quality improvement (QI) and interprofessional collaborative practice (ICP) competency domains in health professions education.
METHODS
The authors used a qualitative case study approach with an instrumental case, that is, the University of Missouri-Columbia (MU), where QI and ICP were intentionally integrated as part of core curricula in health professional schools and programs. Eleven faculty members from medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and health care administration participated in interviews exploring their teaching choices in either classroom or clinical settings.
RESULTS
Study participants defined the goal of teaching QI and ICP as enabling learners to deliver safe and patient-centered care and described the knowledge and skills required for QI and the attitudes and skills required for ICP. Furthermore, they described the relationship between QI and ICP as one mediated by systems thinking, where ICP is backgrounded as a critical pre-requisite and QI is foregrounded as a vector for developing interprofessional competencies.
CONCLUSIONS
The MU case elucidates the potential synergies that occur when faculty address quality improvement and interprofessional collaborative practice competencies with an integrated approach that leverages connections, while also respecting distinctions. For health professions education programs looking to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their curricular approach to these fields, it may be fruitful to consider ICP as background and QI as foreground, remembering that without each other, ICP risks losing meaning and QI risks losing impact.
... I aimed to hear the early learning educators' real-life accounts and detailed stories of their work and how they support children's multimodal literacies. Multiple case study research permitted me to capture various educators' voices and perceptions (Merriam, 2009;Simons, 2009). I hoped to "understand what and how particular events matter[ed] to the people involved" (Dyson & Genishi, 2005, p. 25). ...
In early learning settings, multiple modes of communication are used to help young children convey meaning. These modes, or multimodal literacies, include signs, images, gestures, sounds, speech, movements, and actions. This study adds a deeper understanding of the strategies educators in Alberta use to support multimodal literacies. I conducted a multiple case study with eight educators at two childcare centers. To collect data, I utilized video walk-throughs whereby educators showed me around their playrooms digitally, interviews with early childhood educators, and pedagogical documentation in the form of learning stories collected from educators to further my understanding of how multimodal literacies are supported in early childhood settings. This research revealed that educators use multiple strategies to support multimodal literacies, including an emergent curriculum using the co-inquiry model of observation, reflection, and planning next steps. Implications include the need for early learning and childcare educators to use a broad view of multimodal literacies and a co-inquiry model first to observe the children’s multimodal literacies, then reflect on their observations, and then nurture or extend these literacy practices.
... Stella often reported struggling with school mathematics, saying, "I had always been awful at math." Kate expressed positive experiences with school mathematics; she described herself as "naturally good in math." The goal of this case study is not to generalize Stella and Kate's images of mathematics; rather, we aim to explore the possible impact of their in-and out-of-school mathematics experiences on constructing their images of mathematics (Simons, 2009). ...
People often view mathematics as abstract, cold, and irrelevant to real life, and their school experiences likely influence such views. In this case study, we investigated the mathematics experiences of two women who participated in an afterschool girls-only STEM club 30 years ago when they were in fifth and sixth grades. We explored how the participants' early in-and out-of-school experiences informed their images of mathematics. We collected data through a survey, focus group interviews, and individual interviews. We employed oral history methods in interviews to grant participants a significant degree of freedom to retrospectively recount and reconstruct their experiences. Through a (dis)continuities lens, the findings reveal that individuals' images of mathematics are dynamic and strongly linked to their learning experiences across various contexts, extending beyond traditional school settings. We recommend that educators bridge out-of-school practices with in-school mathematics learning by introducing approaches that deviate from stereotypical models. Additionally, we encourage educators to reconsider mathematics learning goals, aiming to help students perceive mathematics as a normal facet of human practices.
... A purposeful sampling method was used to select individuals with expertise in donor relations, funding allocation, and partnership dynamics, allowing for a range of perspectives on the impact of larger NGOs on the financial stability of local organizations. To provide a comprehensive analysis, data collection was complemented by a review of literature, donor funding reports, and other relevant documents, allowing for an in-depth exploration of sustainability factors affecting Yemeni NGOs (Simons, 2009;Rivera, 2020). ...
This study examines the role of Sheikh NGOs as financial gatekeepers in Yemen’s NGO sector, showing how their control over aid distribution reinforces dependency and limits local NGOs' autonomy. Through interviews with 45 stakeholders, the research reveals the challenges that local NGOs face in achieving financial sustainability amid economic instability, political turmoil, and dwindling donor support. The findings indicate a significant asymmetry in funding, with Sheikh NGOs monopolizing resources, which constrains the flexibility and innovation of smaller NGOs. Integrating dependency theory, the study illustrates how reliance on intermediaries reinforces power imbalances, while collective impact theory highlights the potential for transformative partnerships. Successful collaborations, like those between the Youth Leadership Development Foundation and local NGOs, underscore the need for Sheikh NGOs to adopt more supportive roles, empowering smaller organizations. This study calls for a reconfiguration of roles within Yemen's NGO sector, advocating a shift from dependency to partnership. In fostering collaboration and supporting local NGO autonomy, stakeholders can build a more equitable and resilient framework, ultimately enhancing humanitarian efforts in Yemen.
... Short interviews were utilized to allow research participants to share their first-hand experiences of the VOA, rather than relying on observations of a given situation (40). The procedure for the interviews is presented in Figure 1. ...
This exploratory study aims to understand athletes’ experiences and perceptions of the “Voices of Athletes” (VOA), an athlete support program specifically designed and implemented in the Pacific Islands. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, combining questionnaires and short interviews, data were gathered from 414 athletes (questionnaires) and 104 athletes (interviews) during the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa. While a Chi-square test was used for quantitative analysis to assess the association between familiarity with the VOA and interest in learning more about the program, content and thematic analyses were employed to qualitatively examine participants’ perceptions and attitudes towards the VOA. The Chi-square result indicated that although the majority of athletes were initially unfamiliar with the VOA, there was a significant association between familiarity and interest in learning more about the VOA. Accompanied by the results from the quantitative data analysis, the results of the content and thematic analysis demonstrate that athletes who participated in the VOA onsite reported positive experiences and acknowledged the program's benefits in terms of personal growth and development. Participants emphasized the educational and informative aspects of the VOA, highlighting its role in increasing athletes’ awareness of contemporary social issues, empowering them to make informed decisions, and nurturing leadership skills within their communities. The results also highlighted the potential for integrating VOA into school curricula and using it as a model for support initiatives in other countries. Expanding the program could promote personal development, responsible decision-making, and leadership among a wider young population. Overall, the VOA offers significant benefits and has strong potential for broader application and customization across diverse environments. This can significantly contribute to the comprehensive growth of athletes and young people worldwide.
... Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif dengan metode studi kasus (Creswell, 2017;Denzin & Lincoln Yvonna S, 2009;Simons, 2009;Yin, 2019). Metode tersebut dipilih diklarenakan objek fokus penelitian adalah lirik lagu-lagu karya Mang Koko, yaitu lagu berjudul Badminton dan Guntur Galunggung. ...
Mang Koko adalah seniman pembaharu karawitan Sunda. Karya-karyanya memiliki identitas yang khas. Identitas tersebut lahir dari akumulasi latar belakang keluarga, lingkungan masyarakat, pendidikan, dan kebudayaan. Lagu yang disusunnya banyak yang terinspirasi dari fenomena masyarakat Sunda. Kiranya dalam konteks ini, masyarakat merupakan embrio imajinasi Mang Koko dalam berkarya. Terlihat dari penggunaan lirik lagu yang mengetengahkan isu-isu masyarakat Sunda kala itu. Tujuan dari tulisan ini adalah menguraikan karya lagu Mang Koko yang mengangkat masyarakat sebagai pusat inspirasinya. Pengumpulan data terpusat pada observasi, wawancara, studi literatur, dan studi dokumentasi. Data berbasis teks tersebut kembali dibaca dan ditafsirkan menggunakan teknik analisis konten. Dua lagu yang dibahas dalam penelitian ini, yaitu Badminton dan Guntur Galunggung, menunjukkan bagaimana Mang Koko merespon fenomena kemasyarakatan yang terjadi pada masanya. Masyarakat tidak hanya menjadi komunitas tempat seniman tinggal, ia merupakan gudang ide yang dinamis sebagai stimulus untuk menghadirkan produk ekspresi lanjutan.
... Video data of the students' screen actions was also imported into NVivo and analyzed alongside the transcript data. Drawing data from three different sources (survey, transcript, and video) allowed for data triangulation, enabling elucidation of significant issues located in the data (Simons, 2009). Data collection and analysis was principally undertaken by the first author due to geographic and ethics constraints, with the second author contributing to the literature review and the critical interpretation, contextualization, and synthesis of findings led by the first author. ...
Health literacy is essential for students to access, comprehend, and utilize health information. Defined as a socially derived practice that connects individuals to various information sources, aiding their decision making relating to health and wellbeing, research indicates that health literacy is linked to better health outcomes and longevity, and when cultivated in children and adolescents, promotes lifelong healthy behaviors. A crucial aspect of health literacy for young people is digital health literacy (DHL), which involves skills to source, understand, and assess the credibility of online health information. DHL is vital as the global digital landscape evolves. With young people increasingly using the internet primarily to find information, the online space functions as a significant resource for health information. This qualitative research employs surveys and think aloud interviews to explore how students currently evaluate online information from online video-sharing sites. An inductive approach using an instrumental qualitative case study design was chosen to deeply understand the strategies and approaches students use to evaluate online information accessed via these platforms. Findings indicate that although students may recognize the risk of misleading information on social media, they may lack comprehensive strategies to assess credibility. School library professionals, in collaboration with teachers, can play a crucial role in developing students' DHL by leveraging their expertise in information literacy. Further research is necessary to determine the generalizability of these findings and enhance students' abilities to navigate and evaluate the complex digital information landscape.
... a case study design was chosen to develop a better understanding of code-switching patterns exhibited by Malaysian bilinguals. This is because a case study, according to Simons (2009), is an "in-depth exploration from multiple perspectives of the complexity and uniqueness of a particular project, policy, institution, program, or system in a 'real-life' context" (p.21). Thus, the case study design provided an indepth exploration in understanding the complexity of a real-life context, which is code-switching among Malaysian radio announcers. ...
This study explores the code-switching patterns among Malaysian radio announcers, particularly the respective types and functions, focusing on bilingual radio announcers from Malaysia radio stations. Despite the frequency of code-switching studies in Malaysia, limited studies have focused on the use of code-switching in the context of broadcast media. The study draws on qualitative approach with a case study design to explore the code-switching patterns among Malaysian radio announcers. Data were collected from the respective online radio platforms, Hitz FM and Mix FM, where the instances of code-switching were transcribed. Utilising the typology of code-switching by Poplack (1980), the research identifies tag switching as the most prevalent form of code-switching, followed by intra-sentential switching with a preference for Malay nouns. By incorporating the theory of conversational functions of code-switching by Gumperz (1977), it was revealed that Malaysian radio announcers mainly use code-switching for interjections, followed by qualifying messages, reiteration, and quotation. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that emphasising the role of code-switching as a communication strategy is important for catering to a diverse audience.
... Multiple case studies are an appropriate research method for building theory as they combine knowledge from previous publications and collect data from selected companies. Therefore, it is a particularly suitable methodology for investigating complex social phenomena (Simons, 2009), such as the cultured meat industry, which incorporates social, ethical, and environmental issues. The ability to provide practical evidence from more than one business case enables a comparison of communication strategies and adds value to the literature (Yin, 2017). ...
Framing of the research: The article focuses on the growing cultured meat industry and the strategic communication used in crisis contexts with a high media impact.
Purpose of the paper: This article explores the strategic role that communication can play in preventing crises and minimising their negative effects in the cultured meat industry.
Methodology: Using an exploratory methodology, the article analyses the communication strategies adopted by four leading companies in the cultured meat industry over one year on the social media Facebook through a content analysis with NVivo 14 software.
Findings: The results of the study show that the strategies most used by the four companies analysed, namely, ‘reform’, ‘supportive PR’, and ‘revision’ strategies, were able to create good engagement with the public and stimulate optimism in public comments. These strategies emphasised the companies’ commitment to leading the challenges of this sector, educating the public, conveying transparent information, and creating synergies to broaden the audience.
Research limitations: The limitations of this research, which future studies can overcome, are the small sample size, the subjectivity typical of content analysis, and the possibility of exploring multiple social media platforms to understand differences among consumer generations.
Practical implications: The study provides many implications for managers and professionals in monitoring online debate and discussion to contain the negative narratives spread by detractors and develop communication strategies to highlight the positive contributions made by the company’s activities.
Originality of the paper: This study’s originality lies in its appreciation of strategic communication’s central and multifaceted role in the innovative cultivated meat industry. Its essential role in the pre-crisis phase to monitor the external environment and identify influential stakeholders, that is, the public, is emphasised.
... We adopted a case study methodology, allowing for an indepth analysis of a specific, complex system in a 'real-life' context (Simons, 2009). Following George and Bennett (2005), our case study can be included in the 'disciplined configurative' typology, as it used an established theory to explain the case. ...
... Data dikumpulkan melalui wawancara mendalam dengan pengelola wakaf, observasi partisipatif terhadap kegiatan manajerial, dan analisis dokumen keuangan wakaf yang terkait. Fokus utama desain ini adalah mengidentifikasi faktor penentu keberhasilan dan kendala yang dihadapi dalam pengelolaan wakaf produktif di madrasah, sehingga dapat memberikan kontribusi teoretis dan praktis bagi pengembangan model pengelolaan wakaf di lembaga pendidikan Islam lainnya (Simons, 2014). ...
This study discusses the implementation of productive waqf in an effort to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the education system in Madrasah Diniyah. The purpose of the study is to identify and evaluate the implementation of productive waqf in supporting the improvement of education in madrasahs. This research approach implements qualitative with a case study design. Data were obtained through in-depth interviews, observations, and document analysis. The results of the study indicate that productive waqf plays an important role in improving the financial independence of madrasahs, thus contributing to a more optimal allocation of resources for operations, teacher welfare, and improving educational facilities. In addition, the strategic use of waqf funds for technology development and infrastructure improvements has been shown to have a positive impact on improving student academic achievement and increasing teacher professional capacity. This evaluation highlights the importance of efficient resource management and the integration of modern educational technology in improving the overall quality of the education system.
... O método adotado nesta investigação foi de natureza descritiva, sob o delineamento de estudo de caso. A pesquisa de estudo de caso visa promover uma análise profunda da questão investigada, dentro do seu contexto, a fim de compreender o problema sob a óptica dos participantes (Merriam, 1998;Simons, 2009;Stake, 2006;Yin, 2014). Esse desenho de pesquisa tem como foco compreender como grupos específicos de pessoas enfrentam certos problemas, adotando uma visão holística da situação (Merriam, 1998). ...
Resumo Introdução Os dispositivos eletrônicos móveis têm assumido e/ou complementado o lugar de recursos ópticos, não-ópticos, eletrônicos e de informática na resolução de alterações funcionais em pessoas com baixa visão. Objetivo Considerando o amplo e contínuo uso dos dispositivos eletrônicos móveis na vida das pessoas, o presente estudo visou caracterizar os aplicativos de smartphones e/ou tablets que assumem a função de recursos de Tecnologia Assistiva (TA) e são usados no cotidiano de pessoas com baixa visão. Método A metodologia adotada nesta investigação foi de natureza descritiva, sob o delineamento de estudo de caso. Participaram do estudo 28 pessoas com baixa visão, que são membros de um grupo já existente no aplicativo WhatsApp. A coleta de dados aconteceu no espaço virtual desse aplicativo, individualmente, por meio de entrevista semiestruturada. Os dados foram transcritos e analisados com base na teoria fundamentada em dados. Resultados Os participantes relataram usar 50 aplicativos que possibilitavam o uso dos dispositivos móveis como TA e nove recursos de acessibilidade, por meio dos quais era garantido aos usuários o acesso aos dispositivos móveis. Conclusão Foi possível identificar o potencial desses aplicativos na solução de dificuldades enfrentadas por pessoas com baixa visão, bem como retratar como essa população tem se beneficiado de novas possibilidades em TA e tecnologias da informação e comunicação em atividades de navegação, consumo de alimentos e compras, execução de tarefas domésticas, de recreação e socialização, de contraste, de comunicação, laborais e acadêmicas.
... Focusing on a single college allows the research to produce practical recommendations that can be directly implemented by the institution. This applied focus is crucial for driving improvements in educational practice and policy (Simons 2009). ...
One of the hallmarks of an ever-changing educational landscape is that students are paying considerably higher fees to study higher education courses, including those offered by college-based HE providers. As such, the student experience becomes of paramount importance to ensure student needs are met. To this end, this project sought to discover the best practice(s) needed to ensure a newly built campus is prepared to deliver college-based higher education (CBHE). Using a mixed-methods research design, the project investigated the new campus' potential for further HE growth, particularly given that there is no higher education institute (HEI) presence in the location where the research took place. This research aimed to investigate how specific spaces at a new FE college campus can benefit HE students. By examining the design and utilisation of these spaces, the study seeks to understand their impact on student experience, community building, and the amplification of student voices in the decision-making process. The findings provide insights for policy-makers and CBHE providers on creating supportive and inclusive learning environments that cater to the diverse needs of their student populations. The findings revealed that the HE student experience is constantly evolving , and demands for quality learning environments are increasing. In co-collaboration with a sample of existing students, a framework was established that colleges could use to purposefully improve their overall experience of studying higher education within a further education environment. This research is of use to policymakers, CBHE providers and their staff, and all stakeholders with a responsibility in CBHE. ARTICLE HISTORY
... The qualitative approach, underpinned by the relativist ontology and an emic epistemology, was the best suited for this study of multiple perspectives to garner detailed, rich, thick descriptions while displaying the complexity of leadership readiness and the factors affecting it (Braun & Clarke, 2013;Brynard et al., 2014;Cohen et al., 2018;Lichtman, 2013). The single-site case study research design allowed for an in-depth examination of this unique, context-bound phenomenon from multiple perspectives of a small sample (Baxter & Jack, 2008;Cohen et al., 2018;Rashid et al., 2019;Simons, 2009;Stake, 1995;Tight, 2010;Yin, 2009). ...
The present study examined the perspectives of 13 Management Team members on the factors which affected leadership readiness for and during the shift to blended instruction in a Barbadian secondary school amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Qualitative data were collected through questionnaires, interviews, focus groups and documents. A single-site case study research design was employed. The conceptual framework was a modified model of Graham et al.’s (2013) and Wong et al.’s (2014) blended learning assessment frameworks. Thematic analysis revealed three themes: Insufficient External Governance,
Lack of Leadership Training, and Systemic Barriers to Readiness. The findings contribute novel insights to the literature on leadership preparedness for blended approaches and have
practical implications for educational leadership and strategic planning during crisis situations. This study expands understanding of the critical factors impacting leadership
readiness for successfully adopting innovative instructional modalities.
... This study uses a descriptive, case study design drawing on prominent, contemporary case study theorists including Simons, 28 Merriam 29 and Yin. 30 Simons defines case study design as an 'in depth exploration of the complexity and uniqueness of a particular project, policy or program in a real life context.' ...
Issue Addressed
An important part of preventing and managing Aedes ‐borne mosquito disease outbreak risk is engaging the community. Research shows that high‐income countries tend to use top‐down measures for Aedes mosquito management, favouring educational approaches to engage the community over participatory approaches that actively involve and empower the community in addressing disease risk. Little is known about the reasons behind the use of these approaches and how they could be strengthened. This research explores the community engagement approaches used in Aedes mosquito management in Cairns, Queensland, Australia and the factors influencing the choice of these approaches.
Methods
A case study design was used, drawing on two qualitative methods—key informant, semi‐structured interviews ( n = 25), and a document review ( n = 20). Thematic analysis was used to identify, analyse and attribute meaning from the data.
Results
Various approaches were used to engage the community, including direct interaction through door‐to‐door inspections, broad outreach via mass media campaigns, and community participation in a novel mosquito replacement strategy. Factors influencing the choice of these approaches included government legislative responsibilities, research‐related ethical obligations, work norms within local government and public health units, the perceived importance of gaining community trust, constraints on workforce capacity, time and funding.
Conclusions
There were multiple factors influencing the community engagement approaches used in this study. Resource constraints, institutional norms and prevailing attitudes and beliefs were identified as hindering the use of more empowering approaches to engaging the community. These barriers should be considered and addressed in the planning of Aedes mosquito management to better support community engagement in this setting.
So What?
Community engagement is an important aspect of managing the Aedes mosquito disease threat. With the global increase in Aedes mosquito‐borne disease risk, these findings can help other at‐risk settings understand potential organisational impediments to engaging the community. This is particularly important when advocating for the inclusion of bottom‐up approaches in policy, and to ensure sufficient resources are allocated to strengthen community engagement in Aedes mosquito management.
... The realities of an ongoing pandemic and extended shutdown severely impacted on the CoP and their availability to continue with the study as originally planned. The study was re-designed as a qualitative case study (Simons, 2009). Each participant in this study served as a case, representing a unique aspect of the 'remote' digital educator experience. ...
Context: Since March 2020 and the global pandemic, our 'new normal' is comprised of emerging COVID-19 variants, intermittent national lockdowns, restricted social interactions, and a continuation of remote online teaching and working from home. FAVE professionals have engaged with digital technologies, and related pedagogies and practices, in response to the need to deliver of their programmes through Emergency Remote Online (ERO) teaching. Approach: This qualitative case study examined the perspectives of an online Community of Practice comprised of eight FAVE educators. The study took a methodological approach where each participant served as a case, representing a unique aspect of the 'remote' digital educator experience. Findings: The experience of creating and sustaining ERO teaching as described by the participant researchers is both challenging and rewarding. Findings establish the importance of developing an educator digital mindset that is proactive, rather than reactive; and characterised by particular behaviours and attitudes that are agile, collaborative, curious, and "tech savvy". Finally, relational learning and the importance of a supportive online CoP can be useful not only to FAVE teachers and trainers, but also to other educational and training organisations promoting remote and online digital teaching and collaborations. 2 Conclusions: Challenges to developing an educator digital mindset and an identity as a digital practitioner arose from unexpected and difficult 'online' workplace relationships and demands, in addition to the unexpected impacts on boundary management between work-life and home-life. When the unexamined assumptions and frames of reference were brought into question, they resulted in disorienting dilemmas. The online supportive CoP relationships provided a safe space where critical reflection and dialogue could occur. Current understandings of the influence of ERO teaching on practitioner engagement with digital technologies, provide a contextualized understanding of how to support and facilitate the creation and development of these educator digital mindsets. This research has implications for developing digital teaching-learning environments (dTLEs) in FAVE programmes. Further research is required to provide a deeper understanding of how FAVE educators engage with digital technologies and develop an educator digital mind-set.
... The term 'case study' encompasses diverse research strategies and study designs (Van Wynsberghe & Khan, 2007;Yin, 2018) as well as practice-based outputs such as a 'success story' or illustrative example (Lewis et al., 2004;Zwald et al., 2013). While the conceptualisation of case studies is subject to much methodological debate (Crowe et al., 2011;Ebneyamini & Sadeghi Moghadam, 2018;Gerring, 2004;Van Wynsberghe & Khan, 2007), Simons (2009) sees a commitment to studying the complexity inherent in 'real-world' situations as a common thread. This means that practice-based case studies, derived primarily from experiential evidence, sit alongside of other types of case study where research methods are used to provide in-depth exploration of a setting, organisation or programme (Yin, 2018). ...
Practice-based case studies that describe learning from implementation are a useful source of evidence for policy makers, practitioners and researchers. Despite the value of narratives developed in context as a form of experiential or applied evidence, little is known about appropriate qualitative review and synthesis methods to deal with multiple practice-based case studies. This paper reports on a methodological study to develop and pilot a synthesis method using a sample of community wellbeing case studies focused on interventions to improve community infrastructure. The study was conducted in four interlinked phases: (i) literature review to scope synthesis methods (ii) piloting search and selection methods to identify a sample of relevant practice-based case studies that reported experiential learning (iii) undertaking cross case analysis and qualitative synthesis based on framework analysis methods (iv) review and reflection to produce a summative account of the method and agreed definition. The main output from the study was a staged approach to qualitative synthesis of practice-based case studies based on seven steps, which move from identification of a conceptual framework through to producing a narrative report. The potential transferability of this approach and its application in research and policy are critically discussed. Synthesis of case studies derived from community-based interventions could address knowledge gaps in the formal evidence base. While further methodological development is warranted, it is argued that study results form a credible qualitative framework for synthesising practice-based evidence.
... The present research harmoniously combines two research methods: (a) the case study as a qualitative method [40], which lends itself to the study of a phenomenon in its natural context [41] and allows an in-depth study of the complexity and specificities of an organization from multiple perspectives [42]; and (b) a quantitative study aimed at identifying employees' awareness of the aims proposed by the SDGs and their assessment of the extent to which the company they work for is committed to achieving the SDG goals. ...
This pilot study investigates the contributions of an airport service provider from Romania specializing in ground handling, operations, and passenger services towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Recognizing the critical role of service providers in the aviation ecosystem, this research focuses on how operational practices can be optimized to support sustainability objectives. It also reveals how businesses can leverage achievements and internal policies that would fit under, and support, SDGs. The study covers the operations of an airport service provider at several airports across the country. Through a series of qualitative questionnaires and interviews with employees, the research identifies best practices and challenges in aligning airport services with the SDGs. The study underscores the importance of collaboration between service providers, airport authorities, and regulatory bodies to achieve sustainable outcomes. By providing practical recommendations and a framework for sustainable operations, this pilot study aims to guide airport service providers in contributing to the global sustainability agenda, demonstrating the potential for meaningful impact in the aviation sector.
... The case study design comprises a small sample size, thus the findings cannot be generalised. To strengthen the trustworthiness of the study, especially against bias, for which case studies are criticised (Simons, 2009), the inclusion of indigenous experts could be considered. The paper also used a thematic approach for data analysis which shows some limitations related to its application in issues such as methodological clarity and the analytical process (Amjad, 2014). ...
... Case study research methods have been applied in a similarly broad range of contexts, with the notable addition of its application to the examination of other research methods (Swanborn, 2010). Simons's (2009) definition of case studies relates well to the context of this research: "an in-depth exploration from multiple perspectives of the complexity and uniqueness of a particular project, policy, institution, program or system in a real-life context" (p. 21). ...
Aotearoa New Zealand is changing. The relationship between the inequities iwi Māori face and centuries of colonisation is clear. The need to address these inequities and the embedded colonial thinking that reinforces them in our society is more widely accepted. Nowhere is this need for change more acute than in education. The challenge of embedding bicultural principles into all aspects of education is a significant step in decolonising education. The practice of learning design and the design of frameworks that guide education rarely have a clear process to support a bicultural approach. This case study uses participant narratives to describe the development and delivery of a workshop to establish how bicultural principles will be embedded into the design of a sustainability strategic framework within an Aotearoa higher education context. This process can provide a starting point for a range of design processes to integrate bicultural principles more readily, thus supporting the decolonisation of education in Aotearoa.
... The data collection techniques employed encompassed documentary research, interviews, and direct observation with simultaneous annotation (Eisenhardt, 1989;Simons, 2009;Yin, 2018). In this regard, this research opted for a qualitative analysis approach through thematic content analysis (Bardin, 2016). ...
Introduction: This study delves into the intersection of frugal innovations and the Blue Economy, exploring their pivotal role in fostering sustainable development within the shrimp farming sector in Ceará, Brazil. Method: The approach was a case study based on interviews with 14 participants in 12 companies, document analysis, and field visits. Data analysis was qualitative through content analysis with the help of NVivo14 software. Results: The study identifies ten frugal innovations characterized by features that contribute both directly and indirectly to the sustainable development of the shrimp farming sector in the specified region. Conclusion: Examined through the lens of the Blue Economy, the frugal innovations within the East Coast and Vale do Jaguaribe macro-regions in the State of Ceará establish direct and indirect connections with the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17.
In its diverse forms, authentic writing carries the potential to connect literacy practice to an author's 'real world'. While contemporary approaches to authentic writing instruction-advocating writer-centred, intertextual and culturally relevant productions are most often explored in formal learning contexts like classrooms, this paper seeks to amplify the mentorship strategies employed within an informal youth centre learning space in Montreal, Canada. The following research questions have guided this work: (1) How do adult mentors leverage authentic writing principles to support adolescents' participation within two writing-based programmes developed in a youth centre context? (2) How do the interests, perspectives and backgrounds of adult mentors shape the mentorship strategies they choose to employ? Data collected and analysed through participant-focused ethnographic approaches assist the author in revealing how adult writing mentors draw from their own cultural, linguistic and embodied experiences to foster interest-driven, culturally sustaining and community-based writing opportunities for adolescents. The four key mentorship themes emerging through this research-centring the essential role of writing journeys, identities and communities while acknowledging several barriers to authentic writing-advocate drawing from the rich literacy practices thriving within informal contexts to inform contemporary writing curricula.
Biomaking and other bio-oriented creative approaches are beginning to gain traction in education. Operating at the intersections of arts and sciences, they represent a field of integrative practices that involve creative making with the biological. In educational contexts, however, bio-oriented creative practices have been studied primarily from hylomorphic perspectives that do not account for the roles of different non-human organisms or other materials that participate in the processes. Drawing on theories of sociomateriality and material agency, and utilising multispecies microethnography, the paper attends to the specificities of making, makers, materials and artefacts in biomaking. It explores a case of a Finnish upper secondary school workshop implemented as part of the school's art curriculum within a larger educational development initiative. In the workshop, makers engaged with webcap mushrooms to extract, use and experiment with their pigments. The analysis builds on constructed operational sequences of the workshop activities, and a scrutiny of their interconnections, stages and participants. The paper shows how making, emergent artefacts and interplays of makers’ intentions and materialities can instate moments of relationality and learning, and thus build makers’ material awareness of the more-than-human organisms around them. The study proposes making with the biological as an attunement to our enmeshment with the environment.
A case is not just a case! It is a reflection of a series of choices (conscious or unconscious) made by researchers. These choices shape how a case study is approached, used, and integrated into broader scientific investigations. As such, cases are always based on an overall scientific paradigm in which a particular purpose is steering how the case study is designed and data are collected and analyzed. The paradigm sets a framework for understanding and investigating reality as researchers. This chapter presents three overall paradigmatic approaches and how to use them for scientific work with cases. We discuss how cases can be included in a scientific investigation process, how case studies are designed, and how data are collected and analyzed within each paradigmatic stance. Finally, the strengths and limitations of the three paradigmatic case approaches are discussed to support researchers making conscious choices when using a case study.
The chapter addresses writing instruction with adult learners and their instructors, challenges, and lessons learned through two case studies. The goal in the development of a writing program for adults was to examine whether repetition of lessons by the same instructor and the same students supported their learning and confidence, and in what ways. Further, the goal was to examine what challenges the instructors faced with specific instructional components. Participants in this work were two instructors, an experienced adult instructor and a graduate research assistant, working with small groups of students across two semesters. The results (quantitative and qualitative) indicate that it was beneficial to repeat the lessons and the instructional process. Further, insights by the adult instructor offered guidance about how to work with instructors and with adult literacy learners.
This article presents a mixed methods collective case study of the role of maternal socialization in shaping the tricultural identity development of Jamaican immigrant adolescents in the United States, who are known to acculturate tridimensionally. Seven Black adolescents (14–18 years; four male) completed online surveys and their Jamaican-born mothers completed online interviews during the dual COVID-19 and Whiteness pandemics. In-depth mixed methods case analyses and cross-case comparisons revealed both particulars and universals. Across all cases, adolescents had strong Jamaican private identities shaped by steady proximal and remote enculturation into Jamaican culture, and mothers’ skillful authoritative parenting supported their autonomy in acquiring and navigating U.S. cultural affiliations. Case particulars grouped adolescents into four profiles with one case fitting two profiles. 1) “Triculturals” had strong Jamaican or multicultural socialization with positive psychological and academic adaptation, but differing multicultural identity conflict. 2) “Reluctant Majority Culture Assimilators” had high achievement but differing psychological adaptation with mothers whose socialization first involved accepting their teens’ African American identities. 3) “Majority Culture Rejectors” had high belonging and no psychological distress but low average grades with maternal socialization that promoted the American Dream master narrative and resisted the alternative narrative of negative linked fate of ethnic minorities. 4) Finally, “Minority Culture Assimilators” had low multicultural identity conflict but differing psychological and academic adaptation and were being socialized by their mothers to resist being either victim or perpetrator of racial discrimination by harnessing cultural variability to play up and play down cultural identities and by avoiding use of ethnic-racial generalizations.
This study entitled ‘Free and Compulsory Education Policy Practice in Ruby Valley: An Analysis of Impacts and Inequalities’ aimed to explore free and compulsory education policy practices in Ruby Valley Municipality in Dhading District of Bagmati Province Nepal. In this study I sought to answer research questions on policy evolution, policy interpretation, negotiation and contestation in Ruby Valley that shaped localized meaning of policy. I have also considered the impact of the policy practice and how local government leadership have influenced the policy practice of free and compulsory education central in this research.
I employed blended policy ethnographies in which I engaged with the local communities using multiple strategies that varied at different stages of the research accommodating the contextual constraints of time, space, and resources. I started with virtual interaction with the local communities in Ruby Valley and in person participation in community interaction and events and observation sociocultural phenomena at the latter stage of the research.
I continued working on the theoretical framework of the study along with the progress of my study to capture the multifaceted influence different aspects as they unfolded during the study in the given complex social context including which includes multiple theoretical dimensions viz. the power structure, rent-seeking behaviour, street-level bureaucracy, survivalist priorities, discourse theory, and framing of issues that influenced the policy practices of free and compulsory education.
The findings of the study revealed that evolution of free and compulsory education is gradual and has stemmed from the initial forms of public education. I also found that the local community contribution has been instrumental in the vii
development of education institutions. However, as it reached the stage of free and compulsory education, there is increasing gaps between the local communities and schools, as a result some crucial issues of community ownership and management have emerged. The school community disconnect is consequence of the rent seeking behaviour among the authorities, and interest groups that seek to take use their influence in the education institutions for their personal and political interest rather than the wider community interest of quality free and compulsory education. The disconnect has not only detached the policy priorities from community needs but also hindered the local community capacity in policy participation and negotiation.
In addition, I found that the survival priorities and lack of access to information to the rights of the local communities have hindered their ability to contest weak policy implementation. Consequently, it has increased the vulnerabilities of the local communities and compelled them to tolerate illegalities in free and compulsory education policy practice and result into the misalignment between policy statement and policy action.
I conclude that the misalignment between the policy statement and policy action is not limited to the capacity gaps but to the school community disconnect and intentional misalignment between the interest of the local communities and local government authorities. The situation exposes how local communities who created the education systems are detached from the school institutions and left vulnerable by creating dual education systems based on their socioeconomic background. It exposes how weakly implemented free and compulsory education results in unequal implication to different groups of people in the community and creates accountability issues, symbolic violence and detachment from school systems with intergenerational equity issues.
Transformation is idealised as a solution to multiple ocean crises, and the blue economy has emerged as a paradigm to facilitate transformation towards a sustainable ocean future. Conceptualisations of transformation differ and processes of change to achieve transformation remain under-explored in literature, representing a significant gap in understanding how transformation is achieved. By exploring the process of blue economy governance transformations in Seychelles and Bangladesh, key attributes of transformation as a process are identified and contextualised. Connectivity of events and actions that addressed a range of different depths and parts of the governance system were identified as enablers of progress towards the blue economy. Strong, centralised leadership was identified as important at an early stage of change, but this must evolve to a distributed form of leadership to continue direction and flexibility. The role and importance of external agencies in creating and catalysing change is complex, presenting challenges to sovereignty but also acts as an independent driver of movement. From a national government perspective, the need to be ‘constantly seen as doing something’ hinders deeper changes and interventions, and instead promotes more superficial outcomes. These results demonstrate the challenges in creating transformative change, and suggest a need to explore evolutionary processes of change over time.
Masculinities and femininities are closely interconnected with men and women farmers’ everyday lives; hence critical reflection on these interconnections should be central in gender training in agriculture. While a focus on men and masculinities is crucial for sustainable transformation of deep-rooted gender norms and practices that limit the attainment of gender equality, there are insufficient empirically tested pedagogical models for this purpose. We share a case study, the Gender Responsive Researchers Equipped for Agricultural Transformation (GREAT) model, which incorporates masculinities in a feminist pedagogy. We use external monitoring, evaluation, and learning data for two case study courses that integrate gender in plant breeding, seed systems, and agronomy to demonstrate the efficacy of integrating the concept of masculinity and reflections on male farmers’ expectations, behaviors, and practices within a feminist approach to gender training. We conclude that feminist pedagogical practices offer insights into how gender training can integrate a masculinities perspective to move beyond divisive and narrow gender polarities towards addressing masculine norms that often hinder the attainment of gender transformation.
Kültürel miras, geçmiş toplumların ilim, sanat ve kültürleri hakkında bilgi veren son derece öneme sahip olan kanıtlar bütünüdür. Bu kanıtların, kültürel özelliklerini kaybetmeden sağlıklı bir şekilde korunarak muhafaza edilmesi ve geleceğe aktarılarak sürekliliklerinin sağlanması, ancak toplumların kültürel miras bilinci kazanımıyla mümkün olacaktır. Kültürel mirası sergileyen ve korunmasını sağlayan müzeler, kültürel miras bilincinin oluşması için de çok sayıda programlar ve projeler gerçekleştirmektedir. Eğitim kurumlarının müzelerle gönüllülüğe dayanan projeleri, daha sonra eğitim kurumlarının ders müfredatına dâhil edilerek resmi bir durum kazanmaktadır. Bu araştırma, müze eğitimi dersi alan Resim Bölümü 4. sınıf öğrencilerinin katılımıyla yürütülmüştür. Araştırmada, Müze Eğitimi Dersi [MED] kapsamında kültürel miras bilinci kazanımına ilişkin amaçlar belirlenmiştir. Nitel araştırma yaklaşımı perspektifinde durum çalışması deseni uygulanan bu araştırmada, 4 ana temaya ve onların oluşturduğu 20 alt temaya ulaşılmıştır. Araştırmada bulgular kapsamında; öğrencilerin MED’de işlenen, daha önce deneyimlemiş oldukları, tanık oldukları ya da kendi yaşamlarıyla ilişki kurdukları vb. gibi konularda daha etkin oldukları ve bu konular üzerinden derinlemesine bir anlamlandırmaya gittikleri görülmüştür. MED kapsamında, öğrenciler farklı bakış açıları edinerek, yaşamlarında sıradan olarak gördükleri şeylerin de aslında o topraklarda yaşamış olan kadim medeniyetlerin izlerine sahip olduğunun ve bunların maddi ve manevi değerler bütünü olduğunun farkına varmışlar, böylece daha zengin bir açısı kazanmışlardır.
Being able to effectively teach for affective learning domain delivery is now pivotal in instances of medical and healthcare education where numbers of older adults are rising exponentially in the United Kingdom (UK) as a direct demographic consequence of the baby boom generation. As a healthcare professional discipline, podiatric medicine has a key role in the maintenance of ambulatory health and wellbeing for older adults, so these statistics have clear implications for the education and training of graduates within this academic discipline. In the context of allied health professional practice, future practitioners need to be equipped and prepared not only to provide functional podiatric management but also to understand and integrate the greater sociological implications of an ageing population into practice. This chapter uses an illustrative case study from teaching practice to engage readers in the use of televised fiction to stimulate critical reflective practice when working with vulnerable older people and their families and carers.
The spread of misinformation on social media is a critical issue. One potential solution to mitigate the spread is user corrections; however, users often refrain due to various concerns. Leveraging the established influence of user interface design (UID) on how user interact with and respond to misinformation, this study investigates how user interface features can be designed to motivate users to challenge misinformation. It is aimed at gaining insights into users’ needs and UID requirements that encourage this behaviour. We conducted four codesign sessions with 18 social media users (age range 20–60 years M=39.1; 10 female and 8 male). We applied the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) as a theoretical framework and analysed our data based on the core constructs of this framework: performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions. Our findings reveal four design considerations: creating secure and supportive environments, facilitating informed discussions through easy confrontation and access to reliable resources, leveraging recognition and social proof, and user support infrastructure. We also identified specific design elements with users, including indirection, semianonymity and privacy, simplicity, one-click challenging, easy access to reliable sources, recognition, displaying social proof, and platform support. These elements are aimed at reducing social discomfort and making the process of correcting misinformation more approachable for users. Our findings offer actionable insights for social media platform designers to reduce the spread of misinformation by creating environments that encourage constructive dialogues and allow users to challenge misinformation without fear of conflict.
Researching the multigenerational workplace is a complex undertaking. It requires understanding the perspectives of workers, managers and organisations. It also requires understanding workplace cultures, policies and practices and how they align (or don’t align) to produce the conditions of work, and work-family balance, for workers of different ages. In order to capture all these aspects, we adopted a case study approach. The case study method provides a valuable approach to observing complex organisational phenomena such as workforce ageing and gender dynamics at work, and the intersections between them. This book presents the results of detailed case studies with six organisations conducted over a seven-year period. In this chapter, we reveal what we did, including how we collected and made sense of data in our case study organisations, and the methodological discoveries and solutions we learned along the way.
Participatory approaches to evaluation that effectively addressed resignation and exclusion through community organising in the 1960s have re-emerged and can play a key role in the struggle for social justice. Although long neglected, they are gaining increasing interest for their potential to mitigate the effects of neoliberal politics and successive crises on democracy and social participation. This chapter aims to explore the methods used by the European Social Fund (ESF) to evaluate employment and social inclusion programmes and their interaction with local and national evaluations, in order to understand how and with what results participatory evaluation is carried out. Drawing on theoretical discussions on social participation and social justice, we choose the case study as the most appropriate method to comparatively analyse the conditions and values of participatory evaluation at local, national, and European levels during recent programming periods. The findings show a growing concern among policymakers and stakeholders to listen to people’s voices to better meet their needs through targeted support, but more meaningful use of participatory evaluation is needed to enhance participation and social justice.
Despite the crucial role of teachers in connecting research to classroom practices, very little is known about the processes of research-informed practice through their reading, doing, and use of research. Also largely unknown is how the potential interconnections among these activities could influence teachers’ evaluations of research relevance and sustainability of their research-informed practice. This study, therefore, explores trajectories of teachers in adopting research-informed practice. Relying on an ecological theoretical lens through a narrative case study approach, we collected data from three in-service EFL teachers using in-depth individual interviews, multiple follow-ups, teacher-generated research logs, and researcher-made analytic memos. Data analysis revealed specific starting conditions (e.g., subject-matter explorations) for development of rudimentary familiarity, turning moments (e.g., developmental thresholds) giving rise to more sophisticated reception, and bottlenecks (e.g., disciplinary identity) for sustained involvement in research-informed practice for teachers. Furthermore, on top of cyclical links among reading, doing, and use of research, we found perceived signature patterns of reading (i.e., empirical papers), doing (i.e., action research), or use (i.e., successful classroom application) for each teacher, as evidence for threshold crossing. Implications for theory and research, professional development, and policymaking, including key prerequisites that must be provisioned to prepare teachers for research-informed practice, are discussed.
Research strongly supports the use of narrative videogames in the literacy/English classroom. However, for many teachers, incorporating videogames into their teaching practice is highly challenging. This article offers new insights into the potential of videogames as a pedagogical tool for literacy/English by exploring the barriers that teachers face when teaching with videogames, identifying how these barriers might be overcome and assessing whether the benefits of narrative videogames outweigh the practical difficulties of using them in the classroom. This participatory multiple‐case study explores the experiences of six teachers, working in a range of contexts, who each undertook an action research project to assess the barriers to and benefits of teaching literacy/English with narrative videogames. The findings show that although the participants faced barriers related to practical considerations, game choice, pedagogical knowledge and negative attitudes, almost all barriers could be overcome, and the benefits of learning far outweighed the difficulties faced. This article offers a new model for how to overcome barriers to using videogames to teach literacy/English and makes recommendations for both educational practice and the games industry.
The key aim of this article is to reflect on the potential impacts of various types of historical counter accounts, used by civil society to promote resistance and conservation. For this purpose, the High Ross Dam controversy (in the 1970s) represents an important and unique historical case of social–political biodiversity conservation action, by civil society. A detailed case study is presented that includes an analysis of civil society opposition through counter accounts. Technical and non-technical counter accounts of resistance by civil society are investigated, using Escobar's theoretical framework. Examples of historical counter accounts serve as outstanding precedents of civil society activism for biodiversity against business and political agendas.
In educational literature, ample curriculum models adopt product-oriented approaches based on linear, sequential design, review and renewal processes. Correspondingly, managerialism perspectives imposed by external and internal stakeholders, national policy frameworks and quality assurance mechanisms emphasise the technicalities of curriculum inquiry within a bureaucratic system as a means to an end. This paper aims to reposition curriculum inquiry as a contextualised social practice within an activity system. To this end, the six core elements of Engeström’s second-generation Activity Theory were used as an analytic lens to examine the activity system of a coursework-based master’s degree programme in a specialised field of study. This academic programme is a unique offering at a large research-intensive university, contributing to the ‘green’ economy in South Africa. Within this activity system, the existing curriculum of this academic programme constituted the unit of analysis. Curriculum documentation was used as the primary data source. The curriculum data was analysed using the semantics dimension of Maton’s Legitimation Code Theory (LCT). The results and findings of this analysis revealed tensions and contradictions within the activity system of this coursework-based master’s degree programme that constrain its inherent potential to equip students with professional expertise in climate change and sustainable development.
This commentary reconsiders emerging standards for evaluation of the field of practice of qualitative inquiry and arts-based approaches. Specifically, this is a review of the dialogue around issues of standards that has continued through the first seven volumes of Qualitative Inquiry (QI), from March 1995 through June 2001, and is inclusive of this special issue of QI devoted to arts-based inquiry. What has emerged in QI is an action-oriented worldview among qualitative researchers who value inquiry for its usefulness within the community where it originates. In this way, QI has contributed greatly to the construction of still emerging practices within a newly formed tradition of participatory, critical action research based on an ethics of human relationships. Arts-based inquiry is one aspect of this emerging tradition.