Empirical Research Project Research Articles

Lessons learned from researching, writing and publishing with undergraduate students in Higher Education

ABSTRACT This paper is based upon a collaborative research project with a group of eight second-year students studying on an Early Childhood BA at a Midlands (UK) University. The empirical research project emerged as a response to the concerning levels of disengagement demonstrated by this group post-pandemic. Because the focus of their module was research approaches, as module lead, I took the decision to engage the students in ‘real world’ research. I reasoned that if the stakes were raised, they might feel more compelled to interact with the content in a meaningful way. An anonymous survey, exploring student health, wellbeing and motivation, was the result. Although the survey added little to the existing discourse concerning the drivers and barriers for Higher Education students in 2023, the process provided an extremely rich learning experience for the students, particularly in relation to the complexity of the ethical decisions required for research and researcher positionality. This article focuses upon the process of the research and the barriers encountered, but it also considers the ethics of using the incidental data that resulted.

Human Rights Education and Religious Education: Design-based Research on Integrating HRE into RE Teacher Education

Abstract This paper explicates the conceptual background, design and first results of the empirical research project “The Rights of the Child and the School Subject of Religious Education” that aims to integrate children’s rights into RE as well as into RE teacher education with a design-based research (DBR) approach. It starts by claiming a central significance of human rights for humanity and social cohesion in society and the world and therefore also for school education. It continues to clarify the relationship between human rights values and religious values and argues for a special potential and obligation of RE for promoting human rights and children’s rights – which is to date only partly fulfilled in German RE. Building upon this, the sub-project “Human Rights Education for Religious Educators” (HRE4RE) is introduced. This research demonstrates that it is necessary to establish human rights and children’s rights education for student teachers of RE, in order for them to be able to adequately integrate children’s rights perspectives into school culture as well as into RE for generations to come.

JUDGES IN A RACE AGAINST TIME. SELECTED COMMENTS IN LIGHT OF EMPIRICAL RESEARCH

The paper presents deliberations concerning adjudicating a case without undue delay, from the perspective of statements presented by judges which were gathered in the course of an empirical research project. The paper provides a voice in the discussion, focusing on some remarks made by the judges. The author, while interviewing judges and gathering questionnaires filled out by judges, collected a number of observations related to the time taken to hear cases. In the article it was shown that judges often pay attention to the problem of significant workload, which also manifests itself in their experiencing different types of emotions. The judges at the same time highlighted positive emotions they felt when the case was successfully resolved early thanks to a conciliatory attitude shown by the parties to the case, as well as negative emotions when the parties undertake actions aiming at prolonging proceedings. The article also analyses the importance of an appropriate preparation for pronouncing a decision by judges. The judges more often than not declared that what they need to make a decision is proper consideration and that they often prefer to put off the decision, in order not to issue it in a hurry, under the influence of strong emotions. Moreover, it is shown in the article that from the judges perspective experience gatheredover the years is significant and it can be very helpful in adjudicating

Thematic analysis of google play reviews of lifestyle apps

Worldwide, numerous studies have been conducted on m-health applications and the results show that, if well-designed, they can regulate and track medication and reduce healthcare costs. The aim of this research is to analyze the experiences of users connected to different lifestyle apps, in particular (1) to explore the negative, neutral and positive topics in the reviews, and (2) to discover the role of health improvement among the comments. The present paper is part of a complex empirical research project. A qualitative and quantitative content analysis was conducted of the user reviews in the Google Play store for the 16 lifestyle apps selected during the first phase of the empirical research (quasi experiment). All in all, 2,835 comments were analyzed. The negative comments mentioned unreliable tracking functions, problems with updates, or high prices. The neutral comments outlined some missing functions or problems with the operation of the app. The positive comments were related to health improvement, usefulness, ease of use, engagement and willingness to recommend the app. Physical activity, facilitating a specific diet, weight loss, wellbeing, tracking progress and health awareness were among the common health aspects of the lifestyle apps. The results of this research will be particularly useful for consumers, app developers and service providers who focus on health awareness and health promotion.

(Adult) education in the perspective of emotional geography. Towards a transdisciplinary approach in andragogy research

The aim of the article is to describe emotional geography, i.e. a research trend located on the borderline between human geography and contemporary affect studies, which focuses on the relationship between emotions and the broadly understood environmental, socio-cultural, spatial, economic, and political context. For this purpose, the author refers to theoretical analyses and research in the area of the so-called affective turn, and to the critical and political theories of emotions. She presents the relationship between education and emotional geography as well as examples of educational research projects on the socio-culturalspatial analyses of emotions and education. She also indicates the methodological implications for educational and andragogy research projects concerning the study of emotions in education, i.e. their transdisciplinary dimension. The presented way of conceptualizing the emotional geography of (in) education is a new look at the functioning of educational institutions and at the practice of lifelong learning. It can be a source of empirical research projects for theorists of education and andragogues.

Die Seelsorgerin ist anders

The author presents initial findings of an empirical research project on professional narratives in hospital pastoral care. She draws on Manfred Josuttis’ publication „Der Pfarrer ist anders“, and shows that the hospital chaplain is different as well from parish pastors as from other health care professionals, the main contribution being building bridges between medicine and theology, immanence and transcendence.

Veteran perceptions of pathways to offending: ex-Australian Defence Force personnel in South Australian prisons

ABSTRACT This article presents the findings of the first empirical research project in Australia to explore the connection between military service and criminal offending from the perspective of the sentenced prisoner. Between 2018 and 2021, the authors undertook interviews with 16 male Australian Defence Force (ADF) veterans who had been sentenced to serve a term of imprisonment in South Australia, and were either still serving that sentence or had been released from prison within the previous five years. The veterans express a widespread and deeply held view that certain aspects of military training and culture can contribute, both directly and indirectly, to offending. The thematic analysis of the interview data discloses that military service is apt to have a criminogenic effect where veterans have experienced traumatic pre-service experiences.

Micro-electronic Chips shortages and obsolescence: an empirical study

Obsolescence and shortages affect almost all value chains. The electronics industry, in particular the manufacturers of electronic and IT devices, are well aware of them. They have been organizing themselves since the 1980s. However, repeated crises are generating unprecedented waiting and stock-out phenomena.SNCF Réseau sets up and maintains signaling installations for railway tracks. The equipment used is long-lived, ageing and exposed to environmental aggression. Customers (i.e. freight or passenger transporters) must be offered a very high level of operational availability of track. However, in-service support becomes extremely challenging as soon as the equipment contains obsolete or obsolescent components, leading to possible downtime. To improve the efficiency of obsolescence and shortages management, SNCF Réseau wishes to reinforce its internal processes. A partnership through an empirical research project was then carried out in order to (1) Discover the main causes of obsolescence cases and shortages allowing to develop proactive management processes, (2) Find out the duration of the commercial life of the main target components, and (3) Find out the time between the announcement of the manufacturing discontinuance and the date of the last buy order; i.e. LBO for some classes of electronic components. The paper presents the results of this research made for 3 global suppliers. The project group, made up of ISAE-Supméca engineering students and their industrial and academic tutors, studied about 3000 components. The study shows, among other issues, that: (i) obsolescence and shortage information is often incompletely explicit, (ii) obsolescence cases are due to a small number of main causes, (iii) data processing does not always enable statistical models to be obtained, and (iv) customers have to use huge efforts to find out the right data about the obsolescence cases. The proactive management should be therefore agile to deal with these uncertainties. The paper ends by exposing some conclusions and describing the future research works the authors follow.

Scaffolding of experimental design skills

The results of an earlier four-year longitudinal research study on the development of experimental design skills led to the conclusion that 12–13 year old students probably need more help to design experiments than had been offered to them in that project. This paper reports the findings of the first year of a further four-year empirical research project. Its aim is to modify ‘step-by-step’ instructions for practical activities in a way that may enable the development of experimental design skills. Nine hundred and thirty-one (931) students have been involved. All were 12–13 years old in the beginning of the study (September 2021). Each year students spend six lessons (some or all of each) doing practical activities using worksheets we provide. The students were divided into three groups. Group 1 (control group) follow step-by-step instructions. Groups 2 and 3 are experimental groups. Group 2 follow the same instructions as Group 1 but also complete a scheme (a series of questions) on their worksheets concerned with the design of the experiment. Group 3 is required to design the experiments, guided by the scheme. The scheme asks indirect questions about the identification of the independent variable, the dependent variable and the constants. The impact of the intervention on the students’ experimental design skills (focusing on the identification and control of variables) and disciplinary content knowledge is measured by structured tests. After the first school year of the project it was clear that the applied type of instruction had a significant positive effect on the results of the Group 3 students’ experimental design skills (Cohen's d effect size: −0.28). However, no significant effect of the intervention could be detected on the changes in the Group 2 students’ experimental design skills (Cohen's d effect size: −0.11). ANCOVA analysis showed that these effects were due to a combination of several factors (mainly the intervention, school ranking and prior knowledge). This paper provides the interesting details of the results of the first year of the research and discusses the minor changes to the approach that have been made for the remaining three years of the project.

РЕЛИГИЯ И КУЛЬТУРА КАК ФАКТОРЫ ДОВЕРИЯ ВО ВНЕШНЕЙ ТОРГОВЛЕ

Growing tension around Russia in the global economy, the need to reorient foreign trade flows to countries that differ from Russia in cultural and religious aspects, as well as a growing number of publications aimed at studying economic effects of culture, religion and trust, makes it necessary to conduct a comprehensive analysis of scientific literature on the influence of culture and religion on foreign trade activities. Based on the analysis of religious literatureand scientific empirical research and using the methods of systematization, generalization, meta-analysis, conceptual approaches of socio-cultural anthropology and cross-cultural psychology, the paper proposes a theoretical justification for the mechanism of the influence of religion and culture on foreign trade. Two approaches to the influence of culture on foreigntrade activity are theoretically substantiated. Within the framework of the first approach, the proximity of cultural values contributes to the growth of foreign trade activity. Within the second framework, cultural openness and tolerance for foreign cultures have limited potential to increase mutual trade. Based on the analysis of scientific and religious literature,three groups of channels of the mechanism of the influence of religion on foreign trade are substantiated. The first group of channels, which are based on a person's psychological perception of God and His deeds, includes: influence through the perception of entrepreneurial risk as God's providence and impact through the fear of trading partners before God's punishment for non-fulfillment of obligations. The second group of channels, the mechanism of influenceof which is based on the similarity and difference of religious dogmas, includes: influence based on different religious dogmas, influence through the trust of trading partners due to the similarity of religious values and influence through religious openness and tolerance towards other faiths. The third group of channels, the mechanism of which is based on institutional theories, includes: influence through the development of religious competition, the influence of religious institutions as an alternative to weak state institutions and the influence of religion as the basis of trust between trading partners.

Abductive Inference and C. S. Peirce: 150 Years Later

This paper is about two things: (i) Charles Sanders Peirce (1837–1914)—an iconoclastic philosopher and polymath who is among the greatest of American minds. (ii) Abductive inference—a term coined by C. S. Peirce, which he defined as “the process of forming explanatory hypotheses. It is the only logical operation which introduces any new idea.”1. Abductive inference and quantitative economics. Abductive inference plays a fundamental role in empirical scientific research as a tool for discovery and data analysis. Heckman and Singer (2017) strongly advocated “Economists should abduct.” Arnold Zellner (2007) stressed that “much greater emphasis on reductive [abductive] inference in teaching econometrics, statistics, and economics would be desirable.” But currently, there are no established theory or practical tools that can allow an empirical analyst to abduct. This paper attempts to fill this gap by introducing new principles and concrete procedures to the Economics and Statistics community. I termed the proposed approach as Abductive Inference Machine (AIM).2. The historical Peirce’s experiment. In 1872, Peirce conducted a series of experiments to determine the distribution of response times to an auditory stimulus, which is widely regarded as one of the most significant statistical investigations in the history of nineteenth-century American mathematical research (Stigler in Ann Stat 239–265, 1978). On the 150th anniversary of this historical experiment, we look back at the Peircean-style abductive inference through a modern statistical lens. Using Peirce’s data, it is shown how empirical analysts can abduct in a systematic and automated manner using AIM.

PALLIATIVE AND END-OF-LIFE CARE INTERVENTIONS FOR INDIVIDUALS EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS: A SCOPING REVIEW

Abstract Despite the benefits of palliative and end-of-life (PEOL) care for individuals with life-limiting illness, barriers to accessing this care persist among older adults experiencing homelessness. A number of studies have identified barriers to PEOL care from the perspectives of unhoused individuals and other relevant stakeholders; however, few empirically studied interventions exist to support evidence-based guidelines for PEOL care for this population. This scoping review aimed to identify PEOL interventions for adults experiencing homelessness. The search was conducted in May 2021 and yielded 480 results, from which 50 full-text articles were closely reviewed for inclusion. Sources were included if they reported findings of original, empirical research or quality improvement projects evaluating PEOL services tailored for individuals experiencing homelessness. A total of 13 articles representing 12 studies published between 2006-2021 were included in the review. Over half (n = 7) of the studies described interventions to promote advance care planning documentation, five described interventions embedding PEOL services within homeless shelters, and one described a community outreach program to increase access to PEOL services. Nearly all studies reported positive outcomes on participant perspectives, advanced directive completion rates, or cost analysis. None of the studies included clinical palliative care outcomes. Although most studies reported promising results, service and healthcare providers expressed concerns about continuing challenges and longevity of the programs. The body of literature encompassing PEOL interventions for people experiencing homelessness is limited but growing. Future research may benefit from the inclusion of clinical outcomes and efforts to reduce structural barriers to providing care.

Pioneering role of the Production and Operations Management in promoting empirical research in operations management

We describe the pioneering role of the Production and Operations Management ( POM) in promoting empirical research in innovation, operations, and supply chain management. We also review and discuss the most influential empirical papers published in POM based on each paper's Google Scholar citation counts. We selected the top 200 cited papers from the 2085 papers published or forthcoming in POM to identify the most influential empirical papers. We classify these 200 papers into three categories: (a) review and conceptual development, (b) analytical, and (c) empirical papers, and then compare these papers across the categories in terms of citation counts. Next we analyze the 75 empirical papers from the top 200 cited papers published in POM by covered topics, data sources, and data analysis methods. Focusing the analysis on empirical papers among the top 200 cited papers can underrepresent emerging themes among the more recently published empirical papers. Therefore, we also analyze 19 more recent empirical papers from 2016 to 2021 that are not covered in the top 200 cited papers but have been impactful given the brief time since their publication. We conclude by offering our thoughts on how editors, reviewers, and authors can work together to further enhance and ensure the quality and influence of future operations management (OM) empirical science research.

Is there a place for Bildung in preparing Religious Education teachers to support and promote epistemic justice in their classrooms?

AbstractThis article draws on an empirical research project in which we explore the roles and understandings of knowledge in Religious Education (RE). Plural understandings of knowledge in schools (and society) lead us to concerns about the relationships between knowledge and social justice. We define epistemic literacy as the capability to recognise, and critically use, different types of knowledge. We also clarify that one’s own relationship with knowledge(s) is significant and is, therefore, important for students and teachers to develop to respond to the epistemically plural RE curriculum and classroom. Drawing on literacy frameworks to identify the need for non-hierarchical conceptualisations of knowledge that include the expert and everyday (Hannam et al., 2020; Shaw, 2019, Vernon 2020), we acknowledge the need for a particular disposition when approaching knowledge about religion and worldviews. Building on the analysis of our empirical study and subsequent developments of epistemic literacy, we revisit the notion of epistemic justice (Fricker, 2007) and present a theoretical justification for the experiential preparation of teachers that draws on Biesta’s (2002) reformed Bildung of encounter and Rawls’ “veil of ignorance” (Rawls, 2005). What emerges from these reflections on the future of Bildung is, therefore, an image of a learning society conceived as a society in which the real encounters with who and what is other are a constant and continuous possibility. (Biesta, 2002, p. 350)

"They have no language"

This article is based on data from an empirical research project on the multilingual situation of deaf migrants in Sweden. Deaf migrants attending folk high schools are a heterogeneous group with various language and educational backgrounds. Some of them have grown up with limited or no access to a spoken or signed language while others have grown up learning multiple languages. In those schools, the migrants learn Swedish Sign Language (STS) and Swedish as well as about Swedish society. The study uses an ethnographic approach, and data has been created through participant observations and interviews with teachers and migrants in three folk high schools in different municipalities in Sweden. The analysis reveals that language ideologies are present in these schools, such as what constitutes a language and what status different languages and other repertoires have. In addition, STS appears to be the only acceptable language for communication within the schools. Another finding is that the Eurocentric perspective on ‘language’ among researchers and teachers often collides with the migrants who have different experiences of language use. Furthermore, the study reveals that some migrants, after some time in school, begin to view their previous repertoires used for communication as inferior to STS. It also emerges that the teachers lack the knowledge necessary to understand what it means to learn a language formally for the first time as an adult. In order to develop teachers’ knowledge to ensure social justice, research on adult deaf migrants’ language acquisition within school contexts is essential.

Comparative Study of the Two Sets of Chinese Textbooks in Singaporean Secondary Schools

In the ethnically heterogeneous and linguistically hybrid Singapore, its bilingualism education is characterised by the mandatory mother tongue policy for its three main ethnic groups. For Chinese students’ language acquisition, this is practised in a way that Chinese language instruction in Singapore has been differentiated into four streams according to their individual differences in language proficiency. This study reports the findings obtained from a public funded large-scale empirical research project with a focus on the Mother Tongue Language curriculum in Singapore secondary schools. The questionnaire survey consists of 4811 students from 24 Singaporean secondary schools categorised on the basis of three key family language backgrounds, namely: Chinese-dominant, Chinese-English mixed, and English dominant. Using a comparative study methodology, the study seeks to juxtapose the perceptions of Secondary 2 and 3 students regarding their current language textbooks (developed in 2011) against the textbooks published in 2002. The survey revealed two key findings which highlight the diverse learning needs of students from varying backgrounds, thus indicating a greater and more complex challenge surrounding the revision of upcoming Mother Tongue Language instructional materials. It is our hope that the details of main findings manifested in this study can shed some light on the future endeavours in innovating Chinese education in other parts of the world with the similar sociolinguistic context.

Capital flow data—A guide for empirical analysis and real‐time tracking

AbstractThis paper provides an analytical overview of the most widely used capital flow datasets. The paper is written as a guide for academics who embark on empirical research projects and for policymakers who need timely information on capital flow developments to inform their decisions. We address common misconceptions about capital flow data and discuss differences between high‐frequency proxies for portfolio flows. In a nowcasting “horse race” we show that high‐frequency proxies have significant predictive content for portfolio flows from the balance of payments (BoP). We also construct a new dataset for academic use, consisting of monthly portfolio flows broadly consistent with BoP data.

Examining the use of methodological pluralism in Library and Information Science empirical research produced by Pakistani authors

Methodological pluralism or plurality is considered as the employment of more than one method in an inquiry. Methodological pluralism can be categorised into mixed methods and multi-method. The current study explored the use of methodological pluralism in Library and Information Science (LIS) research produced by Pakistani authors. Qualitative content analysis was used to explore latent and manifest use of methodologies in research articles authored by Pakistani published between 2001 and 2016 in national and international journals. Multiple searching strategies were used to identify the articles published in international journals. Findings show that high majority of Pakistani authors did not use the terms mixed methods and multi-method in the description of methodology. Nearly one third (30%) research articles used more than one method. The share of multi-method research (16%) is slightly higher than mixed methods research (14%). In multi-methods articles, combining of quantitative methods was less prevalent as compared to qualitative methods. Multi-method quantitative was used in only six articles. In case of multi-method qualitative design, interviews, personal communication and discussion with experts, literature review and content analysis are the most popular methods. In mixed methods research, interview and questionnaire are the most used methods. Growth in methodological pluralism is half than growth of articles with single method. Knowing and elaboration of the differentiation in mixed methods and multi-method can help in the education and use of methodological pluralism among LIS researchers. Authors should use and explore methodological plurality by treating multi-method designs as separate from mixed method designs.

Technology-Based Responses to Technology-Facilitated Domestic and Family Violence: An Overview of the Limits and Possibilities of Tech-Based "Solutions".

It is increasingly common for domestic and family violence to have an element of technology-facilitated abuse (TFA). As a result, technology-based responses have emerged to address TFA. Using observations from several empirical research projects into TFA, it will be shown that technology-based responses are necessary without being sufficient, and that they have persistent limitations that need to be recognized. Relatedly, it will be argued that there should be an ongoing emphasis on the development of human resources as a support for those experiencing TFA, particularly the use of professional DV support workers.

Inteligência Emocional, Inteligência e Habilidades Sociais em Diferentes Áreas de Trabalho e Liderança

Abstract The organizational environment has an ever-increasing need for psychological constructs such as Emotional Intelligence (EI), Social Skills (SS) and Intelligence (G), despite the lack of empirical scientific research on those variables with regard to the working environment, specially EI and SS. Thus, the goal of the present study was to measure such variables presented by professionals in different areas and leadership roles in the organizational context. There were 120 participants, from four major areas in the organization, both leaders and non-leaders. The main results showed no significant difference in EI between the different areas, lower EI scores for leaders when compared to those being led and no difference in G and in SS general score between leaders and non-leaders. This contributes to reflections on the conduction of current selection processes and promotion criteria in organizations.