Post-graduate pedagogy in neuroliberal times: affect, governance and volatility in higher education

The differentiation of contemporary approaches to qualitative data analysis can seem daunting even for experienced social science researchers. Especially when they move forward in the data analysis process from general analytical strategies used in qualitative research to more specific approaches for different types of qualitative data, including interviews, text, audio, images, videos, and so-called virtual data, by discovering the domain ontology of the qualitative research field, we see that there are more than twice as many different classes of data analysis methods as qualitative research methods. This article critically reflects on qualitative research and the qualitative computer data analysis process, emphasising its significance in harnessing digital opportunities and shaping collaborative work. Using our extensive analytical and research project experience, the last research results, and a literature review, we try to show the impact of new technologies and digital possibilities on our thinking. We also try to do the qualitative data analysis. The essence of this procedure is a dialectical interplay between the new world of digital technology and the classic methodology. The use of digital possibilities in qualitative research practices shapes the researcher’s identity and their analytical and research workshop. Moreover, it teaches collaborative thinking and teamwork and fosters the development of new analytical, digital, and Information Technology (IT) skills. Imagining contemporary qualitative research and data analysis in the humanities and social sciences is difficult. Opening to modern technologies in computer-based qualitative data analysis shapes our interpretation frameworks and changes the optics and perception of research problems.

This study examines the general competencies and the requirements of classroom and preschool teacher candidates in terms of assessment and evaluation course. The study group consisted of 140 4th-year teacher candidates randomly selected from a total of 256 teacher candidates studying at Classroom Teaching and Preschool departments of Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University Education Faculty, Turkey. In this study, a mixed research approach and a convergent design, in which quantitative and qualitative studies are used to support each other’s strengths, were used. To collect quantitative data, the “Measurement and Evaluation Common Competency Perception Scale for Teacher Candidates” (MECCPSTC), which was developed by Nartgün (2008), was used. The qualitative data of the study were obtained thorough the open-ended questions that were asked to 13 teacher candidates through focus group interview technique. In the analysis of the quantitative data, descriptive statistics, t-test and one-way ANAVO were used. Content analysis was used in the analysis of the qualitative data. The findings showed that approximately one fourth of the teacher candidates had the opinion that they were “sufficient and very sufficient” in terms of their learning in the assessment and evaluation course. The scores of three quarters of the teacher candidates obtained from the scale were at “moderate and very insufficient” interval. In addition, it was examined whether there was a significant difference between the scores of teacher candidates obtained from Basic concepts” (BC), “Measurement techniques” (MT), “Statistical analysis and Reporting” (SAT) dimensions, and total score of the scale in terms of age, gender, department and belief in appointment variables. The codes obtained from the analysis of qualitative data were grouped under themes. Each theme was arranged and interpreted in a table with the codes within the scope. The results obtained from the analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data were combined and discussed and recommendations were developed.

Although no commercial software company has developed programs for the analysis of the social scientist's qualitative data, at least five such programs are currently available. They were created by scholars for their own research and then were packaged for use by others. This article first examines the main functions performed by these programs and then describes enhancements that let the user go beyond the basic collation of data segments according to themes or categories. A summary profile of each program is followed by a systematic comparison of the packages. Finally, a new type of program geared toward theory building is introduced, as are four packages currently being prepared for distribution. The article concludes with an assessment of the advantages and dangers of using computers as tools in the analysis of qualitative data.

One of the indicators of countries' development is experienced and specialized human capital. It is settled that Afghanistan requires qualified and professional cadre able to manage both government and private sector since it is neither possible nor reasonable to rely on foreign brains for a longer period of time. Based on this fact, the Law on Civil Higher Education, 2015 permits offering post-graduate degree programs in public and private institutions of higher education, however, it provides that the manner of establishing such programs and their operation shall be governed by a Regulation. Hence, the Regulation on Post-Graduate Degree Programs was adopted in 2018. This study, adopting a critical analytical method, evaluates the Regulation's substance and structure, highlighting hurdles that are posed for the private institutions of higher education. This paper finds out that the Regulation provides stronger control of the public universities in decision-making and discourages positive competition between the public and private institutions of higher education. In addition, some provisions in the Regulation are impractical for private higher education institutions. For instance, it mentions designations (such as Pohanwal), while the Ministry of Higher Education has not so far ranked faculty members serving in private institutions. Therefore, the research concludes, it is essential to modify the Regulation in order to resolve substantive and structural problems, and provide for equitable share in decision making to private institutions. Keywords: Afghanistan, Higher Education Institutions, Post-Graduate Programs.

The focus of this paper is on student teachers' learning during the course of a one‐year postgraduate programme and the importance of the interaction between learner identities and the contexts in which student teachers learn to teach: a relationship that is critical to our understanding of beginning teachers' development in whatever specific context it occurs. The research is based on a series of post‐lesson interviews, conducted with 25 student teachers following a one‐year postgraduate course within two well‐established school‐based partnerships of initial teacher training in England. Four interviews, conducted with each student teacher over the course of the year, explored their thinking in relation to the planning, delivery and evaluation of an observed lesson, and their reflections on the learning that informed, or resulted from, that lesson. Contextual factors seen as facilitating and constraining the student teachers' learning were identified. In order to explore the student teachers' approach to learning from experience, data were also analysed at the level of the individual, using a framework which enabled us to plot the student teachers' attitudes and approaches to learning from experience as orientations within a number of different dimensions. Here we seek to integrate, through a series of case studies, our analysis of the relationship between the contextual factors and the student teachers' attitudes to learning from experience. We highlight the complexity of the process of learning to teach and argue that, while it is tempting to focus solely on improving programme structures, both in schools and higher education, we need also to address the student teachers' own conceptions of professional learning, if they are to realise their full potential.

Within the research process, the analysis of the data emerges as one of the most important steps. In qualitative research, the analysis of data is a difficult task for even the most experienced researchers and often brings up many doubts about the way to implement it. It is therefore necessary to have material that facilitates the analysis process. Even though there are numerous manuals that focus on the analysis of qualitative data, researchers often can be confused with the large number of names that this type of analysis receives (e.g. Thematic Analysis, Content Analysis) or with the various qualitative methods (e.g. Phenomenology, Grounded Theory) that are available. Each of these qualitative approaches presents a particular language to detail the research process, which makes it difficult to recognize common aspects shared by these methods. Recently, the American Psychological Association has emphasized the need to identify, within the various qualitative methods and procedures, shared standards for reporting this type of work. In agreement with the above, several qualitative researchers have pointed out that beyond the aforementioned diversity it is possible to identify a basic core with regard to qualitative analysis, without having to match the different perspectives of the qualitative method, such as Grounded Theory, Ethnography ore Phenomenology. Focusing on this communality will facilitate a simpler and clearer approach to the data analysis process. The analysis process mainly involves 1) data condensation, and 2) presentation of results. Following this line, the present manuscript aims to: (a) develop what the basic core of data analysis consists of, (b) show the necessary steps to carry out this analysis process, (c) review specific techniques for the detection of categories, (d) present examples using the Atlas.ti software, and (e) show the possible ways of presenting the results. Researchers have realized the importance of having methodological works that facilitate the analysis of qualitative data, and allow answering the question: What does qualitative analysis look like in practice?. The development of this type of work pretends on the one hand to facilitate the understanding of the process of qualitative data analysis and, on the other hand, serve to shape better and in a more standard way which was the data analysis procedure applied in the respective investigations. This material should be taken as a first step in the understanding of the process, and it should not be understood that the qualitative analysis is reduced only to what is developed in this article. For example, in the first level grouping step or first coding cycle, the researcher can make use of 25 different types or forms of coding (e.g., live coding). Even so, the development of works such as the present manuscript is intended to facilitate the understanding and reporting the process of qualitative data analysis. Beyond the name with which the researcher calls the analysis procedure carried out, it is relevant to report in his works the basic steps (i.e. Identification, First and Second Level of Categorization), and the specific techniques used to detect categories or topics (e.g. repetition or similarities). Likewise, it is advisable to follow the guidelines recently published by the APA for the publication of qualitative research. We hope that this material will be useful especially for new researchers who need an introductory text to carry out the qualitative data analysis.

This study examined student teachers’ perceptions of how well their Teacher Education (TE) had prepared them for 21st-century competencies, and how well they applied these competencies to their teaching. In addition, the study sought to identify best practices, major obstacles, and suggestions to achieve these competencies. The study was implemented in two universities and three universities of applied sciences in Finland that have TE programmes. This study used a mixed-method approach. Data were collected both quantitatively and qualitatively from student teachers (n = 227), who assessed 21st-century competencies with a structured questionnaire that included open-ended questions. Quantitative data analysis used descriptive statistics and correlations, while qualitative data analysis used content analysis. The study found that based on the student teachers’ self-assessment, the student teachers achieved successfully 21st-century competencies despite differences between competencies. The best-achieved competency was ‘Collaboration’ and the least well-achieved was ‘Global connections.’ The study illustrated student teachers’ perception of their success in applying 21st-century competencies to their teaching at schools. Answers to open-ended questions produced convincing evidence that courses involving collaborative and interactive learning, high quality, sufficient support, related 21st-century competencies, certain pedagogical methods used by teacher educators, and integrating theory and practice can contribute strongly to the development of student teachers’ 21st-century competencies.

Justifying the adoption of the qualitative research method to satisfy the examiners (for thesis) and reviewers (for journal articles) is a challenging task for researchers in business, management, marketing, tourism, hospitality and albeit in social science domain. The difficulty continues in establishing the justification for selecting qualitative research approaches, sample strategy, sample size, data collection methods (i.e. interview methods), saturation, and data analysis. In this guide, we aim to ground brief justifications for researchers and guidance on how to justify the section of qualitative research method in thesis and journal articles. This study also provides brief justification on selecting specific qualitative research approaches, sampling strategies, sample size, interviews, and data analysis methods. Furthermore, this study provides a glimpse of justification regarding when and how to reach saturation point in qualitative research. Keywords: Qualitative research method, Research approaches, Sampling strategy, Sample size, Interview method, Saturation, and Qualitative data analysis (QDA)

A realist approach has gained popularity in evaluation research, particularly in understanding causal explanations of how a program works (or not), the circumstances, and the observed outcomes. In qualitative inquiry, the approach has contributed to better theoretically based explanations regarding causal interactions. The aim of this study was to discuss how we conducted a realist-informed data analysis to explore the causal interactions within qualitative data. We demonstrated a four-step realist approach of retroductive theorizing in qualitative data analysis using a concrete example from our empirical research rooted in the critical realism philosophical stance. These steps include (a) category identification, (b) elaboration of context-mechanism-outcome configuration, (c) demi-regularities identification, and (d) generative mechanism refinement. The four-step qualitative realist data analysis underpins the causal interactions of important factors and reveals the underlying mechanisms. The steps produce comprehensive causal explanations that can be used by related parties-especially when making complex decisions that may affect wide communities. The core process of realist data analysis is retroductive theorizing. The four-step qualitative realist data analysis facilitates this theorizing by allowing the researcher to identify (a) patterns, (b) fluctuation of patterns, (c) mechanisms from collected data, and (d) to confirm proposed mechanisms.

Although questionnaire surveys are widely applied in second-language research, there is still little research on the application of questionnaire among early career researchers. Problems such as the lack of details concerning why the questionnaire survey is adopted, how the questionnaire is constructed, and how the survey is administered and reported are prevalent in student teachers’ research proposals or theses, which greatly impairs the quality of their academic work. However, few studies have been conducted to address these problems. This study aims to explore the real situation of the questionnaire survey application by examining student teachers’ perceptions of a questionnaire survey and their application of this research method to their theses. Using a mixed-method approach, the study collected quantitative and qualitative data from 138 student teachers, including 103 fresh undergraduates and 35 post-graduates. Quantitative data analysis used descriptive statistics, while qualitative data analysis used semi-structured interviews and content analysis. The study found that: (1) student teachers had some basic but unsystematic perceptions of the questionnaire survey. They had insufficient awareness of the rules of writing good questions, piloting questionnaires, sampling strategies, doing reliability, and validity analysis, etc. (2) Most student teachers developed questionnaires based on existing questionnaires without explaining reasons and adjustments. They introduced questionnaire design in their theses in an incomplete way, with piloting, selecting sample strategies, and statistical analysis methods often missing. Thus, some pedagogical implications can be drawn to improve student teachers’ awareness and competencies of the questionnaire survey.

Introduction: Modern trends in the development of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (hereinafter - AF of Ukraine), set new requirements for the training of applicants for higher education in the degree of doctor of philosophy, i.e. Ph.D. It means that simple accumulation of knowledge and skills is no longer satisfactory, but the training of a highly qualified military specialist of the corresponding of level and profile, competitive, competent, completely mastered a military profession and oriented in related fields of activity, ready for permanent professional growth, social and professional mobility is required.According to the normative and legacy basis of Ukraine, the training of applicants for higher education in Ph.D. degree involves gaining the theoretical knowledge, skills and other competencies sufficient for the production of new ideas, solving complex problems in the field of professional and/or research and innovation activity. It requires mastering the methodology of scientific and pedagogical activity, as well as conducting own scientific research, the results of which have a scientific novelty, theoretical and practical value. Purpose: is to explain the theoretical bases of modeling the professional activity of higher education Ph.D. graduates in the postgraduate study program; develop methodological and practical recommendations for the training of military personnel of higher qualification. Methods of research: the method of analysis and synthesis and the method of expert evaluations are used. Results: The ultimate goal of training doctors of philosophy graduates in the postgraduate study program in military institutions of higher education, based on the principles of humanism and humanization, should be education not only of a military professional, but also primarily of a socially active conscious personality. Proceeding from the foregoing, the main ways of its achievement are introduction of modern technologies and scientific achievements, elimination of unification of education and authoritarian pedagogy, preparation of a new generation of personnel.Originality: Modeling the professional activity of higher education graduates of the Ph.D. degree in postgraduate programs gives an opportunity to look more broadly at the tasks of preparation and use of scientists and researchers. It important to assess the quality of work of different parts of an educational institution to determine the main competences of military-professional activity, based on which one can to organize and plan the process of preparation at the departments to achieve the optimal result in the form of a competent doctor of philosophy.Conclusion: The modeling of the degree of Ph.D. in the postgraduate study program in military institutions of higher education in the context of strengthening the professionalization of military service will be one of the effective means of improving the training of officers for future military-professional activities. In pedagogy, more than in other fields of science, a dialectical approach is needed: the search for new things, the renewal of the old, the use of best practices, and the rejection of what was not justified.

One consequence of the hype around globalization and education and debates on global political actors such as the World Bank, IMF and WTO—is that there has not been sufficient attention paid by education theorists to the development of a rigorous set of analytic categories that might enable us to make sense of the profound changes which now characterize education in the new millennium. 1 This is not a problema confined to education. Writing in the New Left Review, Fredric Jameson observes that debates on globalization have tended to be shaped by “…ideological appropriations— discussions not of the process itself, but of its effects, good or bad: judgements, in other words, totalizing in nature; while functional descriptions tend to isolate particular elements without relating them to each other.” In this paper we start from the position that little or nothing can be explained in terms of the causal powers of globalization; rather we shall be suggesting that globalization is the outcome of processes that involve real actors—economic and political—with real interests. Following Martin Shaw, we also take the view that globalization does not undermine the state but includes the transformation of state forms; “…it is both predicated on and produces such transformations.”3 Examining how these processes of transformation work, however, requires systematic investigation into the organization and strategies of particular actors whose horizons or effects might be described as global.

Household food security is faced with two important problems, namely how to expand income sources and how to properly distribute their income for life necessities. The purpose of this study was to analyze the comparison of the distribution patterns of household income and expenditure of wetland farmers with dry land and to analyze the determinants that affect the household food security of wetland and dryland farmers in Lombok Island. The research design used a cross-sectional study with a survey method. The collected data will be analyzed using qualitative and quantitative data analysis methods. In general, the qualitative data analysis used is policy analysis (program evaluation), institutional analysis, potential analysis, and priority determination of community-level problems. Qualitative data analysis was carried out through the process of filtering data, categorizing, concluding, and retesting. Quantitative data analysis used a logistic regression model. The results of the study concluded that: The sources of income of farmers in wetlands are more varied than those of dryland farmers. Meanwhile, wetland farmers household expenditures are relatively the same as wetland farmers. The food security of wetland farmer households (90%) is better than farmer households in dryland (83.3%). Meanwhile, wetland farmer household food insecurity is lower than wetland farmer households. The distribution pattern of wetland farmer household income comes from rice, and maize cultivation, while in dryland areas, it is sourced from rice, corn, and soybean farming. Distribution patterns Household expenditure of wetland and dryland farmers is divided into expenditures for food and non-food. The factors that determine household food security in dry and wetland areas are farmer household income.

Purpose: This paper presents arguments and contra-arguments related to the dominant ‘learnification’ paradigm in higher education based on Gert Biesta’s selected works. Study design/methodology/approach: The methodology is a deep and critical analysis of Gert Biesta’s views on the dangers of the widespread ‘learnification’ paradigm in education. Findings: . The criticism focuses on six areas, namely on (1) purpose of education, (2) learning, (3) teaching, (4) role of the students, (5) role of the teachers, and on (6) curriculum, didactics, and pedagogy. Originality/value: We believe that our paper is a modest contribution to the recent discourses and critical debates in education.

Return on time investment: Research resources