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11 – 20 of 83In this chapter, I examine how racial disparities in punishment for nonviolent drug crimes align with significant differences in how the black and white drug problems are…
Abstract
Purpose
In this chapter, I examine how racial disparities in punishment for nonviolent drug crimes align with significant differences in how the black and white drug problems are constructed in media, law enforcement, and academia.
Methodology/approach
By examining differences in how the black and white drug problems have been constructed over the past 70 years for the opioids (heroin, prescription painkillers), cocaine (both powder and crack), and marijuana, I illustrate how these distinct representations of the black and white drug problems accompany more punitive policies in response to black drug epidemics even as white drug epidemics are typically met with tolerance or indifference.
Findings
Historically, powerful interest groups like media and law enforcement have benefitted from circulating myths and exaggerations about the illegal drug problem that encourage punitive drug policies. By contrast, at least some academics have benefitted from taking the opposite tack and debunking many of these myths. Unfortunately, academics have been less willing to challenge myths about the black drug problem than the white drug problem. Indeed, some academics actually reinforce many of the myths about the black drug problem promoted by media and law enforcement.
Originality/value
This chapter builds upon a substantial academic literature that challenges myths about illegal drug use by whites. However, it goes beyond this literature to consider the paucity of similar academic research exposing media and law enforcement myths about the black drug problem.
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Lynne Caley, Sharon J. Williams, Izabela Spernaes, David Thomas, Doris Behrens and Alan Willson
It has become accepted practice to include an evaluation alongside learning programmes that take place at work, as a means of judging their effectiveness. There is a tendency to…
Abstract
Purpose
It has become accepted practice to include an evaluation alongside learning programmes that take place at work, as a means of judging their effectiveness. There is a tendency to focus such evaluations on the relevance of the intervention and the amount of learning achieved by the individual. The aim of this review is to examine existing evaluation frameworks that have been used to evaluate education interventions and, in particular, assess how these have been used and the outcomes of such activity.
Design/methodology/approach
A scoping review using Arskey and O’Malley’s five stage framework was undertaken to examine existing evaluation frameworks claiming to evaluate education interventions.
Findings
Forty five articles were included in the review. A majority of papers concentrate on learner satisfaction and/or learning achieved. Rarely is a structured framework mentioned, or detail of the approach to analysis cited. Typically, evaluations lacked baseline data, control groups, longitudinal observations and contextual awareness.
Practical implications
This review has implications for those involved in designing and evaluating work-related education programmes, as it identifies areas where evaluations need to be strengthened and recommends how existing frameworks can be combined to improve how evaluations are conducted.
Originality/value
This scoping review is novel in its assessment and critique of evaluation frameworks employed to evaluate work-related education programmes.
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Lynne Millward and Sarah Senker
The purpose of this paper is to consider how male young offenders on community orders made sense of their offending behaviour as well as considering the extent these views aligned…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to consider how male young offenders on community orders made sense of their offending behaviour as well as considering the extent these views aligned with traditional stereotypes of masculinity.
Design/methodology/approach
The research adopted a qualitative approach, using semi‐structured in‐depth interviews followed by interpretative phenomenological analysis to identify themes within the participant's narratives.
Findings
Two master themes were identified; “dissociating from an offender identity and authoring a new non‐offender identity” as well as “masculinity as multifaceted”. These themes were interpreted using self‐determination theory, highlighting the importance of intrinsic motivation and specific environmental conditions in enabling change and exploration of new identities.
Research limitations/implications
This work was based on a small sample size. Whilst this permitted an in‐depth analysis it is acknowledged that this may have implications for making generalisations across the youth offending population.
Practical implications
This study identifies that the principles of autonomy, relatedness and competence, as outlined in self‐determination theory, potentially offer fruitful areas to be implemented in community orders. Such conditions can help to harness intrinsic motivation to change and self‐regulated behaviour.
Originality/value
This paper is of value to those working and holding an interest within the criminal justice domain. Its adoption of a qualitative approach, considering a UK sample of young offenders on community orders at the time of the interview is unique. This study allows practical recommendations to be made to those engaged in youth rehabilitation.
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Lynne Bennington, James Cummane and Paul Conn
Call centers are growing at unprecedented rates, yet relatively little is known about customer satisfaction with this method of service delivery. Therefore, a review of the…
Abstract
Call centers are growing at unprecedented rates, yet relatively little is known about customer satisfaction with this method of service delivery. Therefore, a review of the advantages and disadvantages of call centers is provided before reporting on a study carried out with users of a very large human services call center network. The results indicate that customers have slightly higher satisfaction levels with in‐person services than with call center services. Although it was predicted that older customers might be more dissatisfied with call centers than younger customers, this was not borne out by the data. Attributes of a best‐in‐the‐world call center operation are provided to guide those who design and manage call center services.
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David Johnston, Julia Becker and Douglas Paton
The purpose of this paper is to look at the role of community participation in reducing anxiety and trauma in communities during two New Zealand earthquakes: the 1987 Edgecumbe…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to look at the role of community participation in reducing anxiety and trauma in communities during two New Zealand earthquakes: the 1987 Edgecumbe and 2003 Te Anau events and explore the effectiveness of various approaches in providing information, reducing stress, and facilitating a recovery process.
Design/methodology/approach
The principle methods of data collection were semi‐structured interviews were undertaken between October 2006 and March 2007 with key agencies and individuals involved in the response and comprehensive analysis of papers, reports and articles in newspapers. The research was undertaken prior to the 4 September 2010 and 2011 earthquakes in Canterbury, New Zealand, and therefore community recovery from these events are not discussed in this paper.
Findings
Effective survival and recovery from disasters depends not just on people's abilities to cope with the physical impacts of the event, but also on how the societal environment complements and supports the complex and protracted processes of community recovery. Central to recovery is how society organises, mobilises and coordinates the diverse range of organizational and professional resources that can be called upon to assist recovery.
Originality/value
The paper offers insight into the effectiveness and benefit of incorporating of community participation in reducing anxiety and trauma in communities during earthquakes.
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Against the background of increasing regulation and spotlight on the tax position of MNEs, this study explores the relationship between tax and performance measurement. The paper…
Abstract
Against the background of increasing regulation and spotlight on the tax position of MNEs, this study explores the relationship between tax and performance measurement. The paper is informed by a series of in-depth semi-structured interviews conducted in 2006 with 26 senior tax executives from 15 Silicon Valley-based companies. We also draw on documentary evidence including the relevant 10K reports and take an interpretive approach to the analysis. Many of the performance measures referred to in prior literature were employed in the companies. There was no evidence to suggest the profit centre performance measurement model is being adopted by MNEs for their tax departments. Two distinct aspects particularly exercised the interviewees, that is, the effective tax rate (ETR) and post-tax versus pre-tax performance measurement. Many interviewees did not perceive the ETR as being an appropriate measure of performance, yet they recognised its importance internally and externally. Many companies worked on the basis that there is an ‘acceptable range’ of ETRs which won’t give rise to any unwanted questions. Most interviewees shared the view that a post-tax basis of measuring performance of business units might only serve to increase tax risks, preferring instead for the in-house tax executives to remain the exclusive tax knowledge experts. This study contributes to the diversification of tax research within accounting by demonstrating how qualitative work can provide unique insights. It enhances our understanding of how performance measurement of tax might influence the tax-planning behaviour of in-house tax executives and cautions against exclusive reliance on the ETR as a measure of the effect of tax planning.
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Claire Ellis, Frances Johnson and Jennifer Rowley
Academic libraries have sought to become the leaders in the provision of information literacy (IL). The purpose of this paper is to identify to what extent IL is being promoted…
Abstract
Purpose
Academic libraries have sought to become the leaders in the provision of information literacy (IL). The purpose of this paper is to identify to what extent IL is being promoted through institutional websites.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from all UK university websites (n=133) in early 2015 to identify the promotion of IL. Content analysis was used for the five categories: IL in the mission statement, visions or strategic plan; IL model or framework; IL policy; IL assessment; and, IL training. Data collection was limited to information in the public domain which could be accessed from individual websites, which were searched and browsed systematically.
Findings
In total, 85.7 per cent of universities promote IL to some extent on their websites in at least one of the five categories, however the degree of the information provided varied extensively. Less than 6 per cent of universities promote IL at institutional level. Only 17.3 per cent refer to a model or framework, 15.8 per cent show their IL policy and 9 per cent provide information on their assessment of students’ IL skills. Information on IL training is offered on 84.2 per cent of websites, the most common method being online tutorials, although 52.6 per cent only offer training for one or two aspects of IL, primarily information seeking and citing and referencing.
Originality/value
This paper provides up-to-date data concerning how universities in the UK promote IL in the public domain via their websites. It should be of interest to academic librarians who are responsible for IL provision.
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Social movement scholarship points to the significance of collective identity in social movement emergence. This chapter examines the relationship between structural identities…
Abstract
Social movement scholarship points to the significance of collective identity in social movement emergence. This chapter examines the relationship between structural identities, such as race, gender, and sexuality, and the collective identity of student activist conferences in order to analyze how groups succeed or fail at engaging difference. Utilizing ethnographic participant observation at two student activist conferences – one of majority Black students and the other of majority white male students – this chapter employs an intersectional framework in analyzing the resonance of organizational collective action frames. This chapter finds that cultural resonance, frame centrality, and experiential commensurability are all important factors in engaging difference, and that the utilization of political intersectionality in framing may shape frame resonance. This framework that applies intersectionality to framing contributes to social movement analysis by recognizing how structural identities shape collective identity and group mobilization.
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Christopher Darius Stonebanks, Fintan Sheerin, Melanie Bennett-Stonebanks and Jenala Nyirenda-Paradise
Since 2008, the Global North universities and the rural district of Chilanga, Kasungu in Malawi, have endeavored to create a dialogic, inclusive, and reciprocal knowledge-transfer…
Abstract
Since 2008, the Global North universities and the rural district of Chilanga, Kasungu in Malawi, have endeavored to create a dialogic, inclusive, and reciprocal knowledge-transfer project. Numerous years of consultation with community members resulted in the creation of Transformative Praxis: Malawi, a project dedicated to bettering human conditions in one of the most impoverished areas of the world. Through participatory action research (PAR), the Malawian community strongly indicated the need to foster critical thinking, creativity, and social entrepreneurship in the areas of Education, Health, and Development. Although local women were prominent in all stakeholder meetings, a growing suspicion emerged that the inclusive intent of our research-based work was actually supporting existing male-oriented power structures, which exist despite ongoing assurances of the active participation of women in decision-making, and the purported matrilineal societal nature of Malawi. Through a progressive series of critical incidents connected to literature on PAR and women in impoverished communities, this chapter chronicles the manner in which local Chilanga women unexpectedly and unconventionally solidified their participation and authentic leadership in a Global North and South initiative based in Malawi.
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The development of information technology (IT) networks in the delivery of a range of material to learners in higher education is explored. Factors which influence the application…
Abstract
The development of information technology (IT) networks in the delivery of a range of material to learners in higher education is explored. Factors which influence the application of IT are described and learner characteristics and needs are enumerated. The range of learning material appropriate to, and the mechanisms for, IT delivery are examined. Some examples of provision are noted. Strategic issues and the strengths and weaknesses of networked access are analysed. Prospects for developing systems and the requirements are discussed. The results of a small scale survey of provision in academic institutions are reported and discussed in a second part of the paper.