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Article
Publication date: 29 April 2020

Kinga Káplár-Kodácsy and Helga Dorner

The aim of this study is to explore how mentors' and mentees' self-concepts and related reflective practices in mentored teacher training are supported by using audio diaries…

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study is to explore how mentors' and mentees' self-concepts and related reflective practices in mentored teacher training are supported by using audio diaries within the framework of Dialogical Self Theory (Hermans, 2001), and how it could be used in the wider context of teacher training.

Design/methodology/approach

This study explores a specific qualitative methodology, the use of audio diary in self-reflective activities, in the context of teacher training in Hungary. When analysing the data, we used the thematic analysis approach to employ a relatively high level of interpretation.

Findings

Multi-level meta-position reflections have emerged from the data that were comparable at a given point in time. We found five different I-positions (Hermans, 2001) that suggest that mentors and mentees perceived of these as shared themes of the emerging incidents in mentoring. However, those aspects of the mentoring process on which mentors and mentees reflected only vaguely or have not reflected mutually in their audio diaries involved a certain level of mis-positioning and further tension.

Practical implications

Audio diaries are beneficial for personal and professional development. The tools and the methodology around them could be leveraged to broaden mentor–mentee dyads, which may lead to including university-based teacher educators and researchers from the field.

Originality/value

The value of this study arises from the process of recording audio diary logs as a direct representation of thoughts during the mentorship process.

Details

International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, vol. 9 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6854

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 February 2015

Iain Williamson, Dawn Leeming, Steven Lyttle and Sally Johnson

Audio-diary methods are under-utilised in contemporary qualitative research. The purpose of this paper is to discuss participants and researchers’ experiences of using…

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Abstract

Purpose

Audio-diary methods are under-utilised in contemporary qualitative research. The purpose of this paper is to discuss participants and researchers’ experiences of using audio-diaries alongside semi-structured interviews to explore breastfeeding experiences in a short-term longitudinal study with 22 first-time mothers.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors provide a qualitative content analysis of the participants’ feedback about their experiences of the audio-diary method and supplement this with the perspectives of the research team based on fieldwork notes, memos and team discussions. The authors pay particular attention to the ways in which the data attained from diaries compared with those from the interviews.

Findings

The diaries produced were highly heterogeneous in terms of data length and quality. Participants’ experiences with the method were varied. Some found the process therapeutic and useful for reflecting upon the development of breastfeeding skills whilst negative aspects related to lack of mobility, self-consciousness and concerns about confidentiality. Researchers were positive about the audio-diary method but raised certain ethical, epistemological and methodological concerns. These include debates around the use of prompts, appropriate support for participants and the potential of the method to influence the behaviour under scrutiny. Interview and diary accounts contrasted and complemented in ways which typically enriched data analysis.

Practical implications

The authors conclude that audio-diaries are a flexible and useful tool for qualitative research especially within critical realist and phenomenological paradigms.

Originality/value

This appears to be the first paper to evaluate both participants and researchers’ experiences of using audio-diaries in a detailed and systematic fashion.

Details

Qualitative Research Journal, vol. 15 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1443-9883

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 February 2019

David Prescott-Steed

The purpose of this paper is to explore a range of questions and problems pertaining to a sound-based project that the author began half-way through 2011. Called Daddy Diary, this…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore a range of questions and problems pertaining to a sound-based project that the author began half-way through 2011. Called Daddy Diary, this archive-in-progress takes the form of a series of free-association audio monologues, produced by a first-time father, that are addressed to his adult-daughter of the future and that reflect upon their evolving familial relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

As is often the case with creative projects that are embedded in a plurality of ideological, material and temporal conditions, Daddy Diary requires an eclectic and para-humanities approach to its theorisation. By drawing from ethical, sociological, historical and pedagogical assemblages, this paper shows how Daddy Diary activates a non-hegemonic truth space wherein familial knowledge (tacit knowledge captured in the raw material of the voice recordings) participates in the sustainable and counter-institutional negotiation of self-concept.

Findings

Sound recording technologies have made accessible new ways of documenting human life-narratives, thus augmenting how notions of the self can be written, reviewed and shared with a creative learning community. Just as photography has been used in creative practice reinforce parental worth, playing into the experience of holding and letting go, so too does an audio diary provide the apparatus through which a parent may reflexively navigate death anxiety and the possibility of loss. Thus, this paper contains insight that may prove useful for other first-time fathers. It’s insight may also be of benefit to practice-led researchers wishing to understand how to translate non-institutional activity into a creative learning experience.

Originality/value

Just as the foregrounding of sound poses a challenge to the so-called dominance of visual cultural communication, so too can “listening” engage an alternative sensory perspective from which we “see” ourselves.

Details

Qualitative Research Journal, vol. 19 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1443-9883

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 December 2003

Mark Hepworth, Janet Harrison and Nicole James

Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to study the information needs of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) in the UK. Categories of information need were identified;…

4561

Abstract

Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to study the information needs of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) in the UK. Categories of information need were identified; their importance and difficulty in obtaining them quantified. The research highlighted how there were significant differences in terms of people’s desire for the information, the topics in which they were interested and how they wanted that information. Information provision to people with MS was found to have improved dramatically over the last seven years, but was found to be inconsistent in terms of subjects covered. However, it should be borne in mind that it may be difficult for people to take on board information for a variety of reasons. Furthermore, different individual needs mean that information provision is a complex task. Many intervening factors can make it fail. The research made it clear how access to relevant information, provided in an appropriate way, could significantly improve the quality of life of the person with MS and that there is considerable scope for improving provision of information to people with MS.

Details

Aslib Proceedings, vol. 55 no. 5/6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0001-253X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 April 2021

Özgehan Uştuk and İrem Çomoğlu

In response to the top-down professional development (PD) practice, this study conceptualizes lesson study (LS) as a bottom-up approach to foreign language teacher PD in the…

Abstract

Purpose

In response to the top-down professional development (PD) practice, this study conceptualizes lesson study (LS) as a bottom-up approach to foreign language teacher PD in the Turkish context. Relatedly, the authors seek to empower teachers so that they can engage in reflexive PD and claim voice over their practices.

Design/methodology/approach

An LS project including four teachers was implemented at a higher education language centre and conducted as a critical ethnographic study. Using ethnographic research qualitative data collection methods such as field notes, interviews and artefacts, the data were analysed with a thematic analytic approach.

Findings

Drawing on cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT), findings revealed that LS was a meta-activity that allowed teachers to be agents of the PD practices. More significantly, LS empowers teachers to have a situated impact on their development activities in addition to the meta-activity's impact on them.

Originality/value

This study is one of the few that goes beyond the reflective value of LS and gives contextual evidence of how reflexive PD can occur in LS. The reflexive relationship between the agent (participant–teachers) and the process (LS practice) provides a strong implication revealing the transformative impact of bottom-up PD activit(ies).

Details

International Journal for Lesson & Learning Studies, vol. 10 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-8253

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 1 December 2004

522

Abstract

Details

Aslib Proceedings, vol. 56 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0001-253X

Article
Publication date: 1 June 2003

Constant advertising and product diversification seem to have done little to change public perception that banks are all alike. Customer’s behavior is often contradictory. The…

3570

Abstract

Constant advertising and product diversification seem to have done little to change public perception that banks are all alike. Customer’s behavior is often contradictory. The rise of Internet banking has been accompanied by protests at branch closures but research shows that most people visit branches to perform single transactions and ignore attempts to make branches into one‐stop shops for financial services. This review focuses on some of the challenges facing banking and how key players are responding.

Details

Strategic Direction, vol. 19 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0258-0543

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 October 2014

Mark Hepworth, Philipp Grunewald and Geoff Walton

The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical discussion on the nature of research into people's information behaviour, and in particular the contribution of the…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical discussion on the nature of research into people's information behaviour, and in particular the contribution of the phenomenological approach for the development of information solutions.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach takes the form of a conceptual analysis drawing on the research literature and personal research experience.

Findings

The paper brings to the foreground the relative value of different conceptual approaches and how these underpin and relate to the development of information solutions.

Research limitations/implications

The paper, due to the breadth and complexity of the subject, serves to highlight key issues and bringing together ideas. Some topics deserve further explanation. However, this was beyond the scope of this paper.

Practical implications

A conceptual framework is provided that indicates the value of the epistemic spectrum for information behaviour studies and provides support for action research and participative design.

Social implications

Taking a phenomenological approach, and consequently either a first person approach and/or a highly participative approach to research, challenges the relationship between researcher and respondent. It also raises questions about why the authors conduct research and for whom it is intended.

Originality/value

The paper makes explicit the underlying philosophical assumptions and how these ideas influence the way the authors conduct research; it highlights the significance of Cartesian dualism and indicates the significance of these assumptions for the development of information solutions. It supports the view that researchers and developers should be open to respondents leading the exploration of their needs.

Details

Journal of Documentation, vol. 70 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0022-0418

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 August 2013

Alison Bullock, Fiona Fox, Rebecca Barnes, Natasha Doran, Wendy Hardyman, Duncan Moss and Mark Stacey

The purpose of this paper is to describe experiences of transition from medical school to new doctor in the UK and to examine the development and evaluation of initiatives…

1568

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe experiences of transition from medical school to new doctor in the UK and to examine the development and evaluation of initiatives designed to lessen anxiety and assist transition.

Design/methodology/approach

The evaluations of two recent interventions for new doctors are reported, one at organisational and one at the individual level: first, a longer induction programme; and second, provision of a library of medical textbooks on smartphones (the “iDoc” project). The paper also reports on mindfulness training designed to help trainees' well‐being.

Findings

These initiatives address different aspects of transition challenges (related to roles and responsibilities, cognitive and environmental factors). Benefit can be gained from multiple approaches to supporting this time of uncertainty.

Practical implications

Given the link between transition, doctor stress and patient safety, there is a need to review existing strategies to ameliorate the stress associated with transition and seek novel ways to support new doctors. The authors argue that diverse approaches, targeted at both the organisational and individual level, can support new trainees, both practically and emotionally.

Originality/value

The paper reports initiatives that support transition, of value to medical schools, deaneries, researchers and trainees themselves.

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 28 September 2021

Lara Penco, Andrea Ciacci, Clara Benevolo and Teresina Torre

The study analyses the role that open social innovation (OSI) perspective played for Fondazione Banco Alimentare Onlus (FBAO), a food bank in Italy, in responding to the COVID-19…

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Abstract

Purpose

The study analyses the role that open social innovation (OSI) perspective played for Fondazione Banco Alimentare Onlus (FBAO), a food bank in Italy, in responding to the COVID-19 crisis. It answers the following research question: how does a crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, stimulate the adoption of OSI practices to revamp the activities of FBAO and facilitate appropriate solutions to carry out its social mission?

Design/methodology/approach

This study employs a qualitative approach. It is based on a single case study.

Findings

The study shows how COVID-19 has stimulated the adoption of OSI practices to continue to meet the social mission, creating innovative projects or finding new ways to do the same things.

Research limitations/implications

The study is based on a single case study.

Practical implications

The paper contributes insights into the literature on OSI, examining how inbound and outbound OSI mechanisms can modify business models and increase the adaptation capacity of food banks and their effectiveness. In addition, it provides a rich context in which the social value drivers provided by OSI are studied.

Originality/value

This paper applies the OSI to a food bank to evaluate what this action mode produces for the food bank during a health crisis. Specifically, this is the first paper that studies the COVID-19 crisis response of a food bank from the OSI perspective, focusing on the inbound and outbound OSI processes that characterized the entire network of relationships.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 124 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

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