Qualitative Data Analysis Program Research Articles

Return on time investment: Research resources

Return on time investment: Research resources

The Elements of Contemporary Turkish Composers’ Solo Piano Works Used in Piano Education

It is thought that to be successful in piano education it is important to understand how composers composed their solo piano works. In order to understand contemporary music, it is considered that the definition of today’s changing music understanding is possible with a closer examination of the ideas of contemporary composers about their artistic productions. For this reason, the qualitative research method was adopted in this study and the data obtained from the semi-structured interviews with 7 Turkish contemporary composers were analyzed by creating codes and themes with “Nvivo11 Qualitative Data Analysis Program”. The results obtained are musical elements of currents, styles, techniques, composers and genres that are influenced by contemporary Turkish composers’ solo piano works used in piano education. In total, 9 currents like Fluxus and New Complexity, 3 styles like Claudio Monteverdi, 5 techniques like Spectral Music and Polymodality, 5 composers like Karlheinz Stockhausen and Guillaume de Machaut and 9 genres like Turkish Folk Music and Traditional Greek are reached. It is thought that the results will contribute to the field because it will cause a better understanding in the artistic viewpoints of contemporary composers, as well as being a step for the piano and music educators and the students who have studied academic piano education in order for them to be able to understand the contemporary music.

Opinions of Graduate Students of Social Studies Education About Qualitative Research Method

The purpose of the study is to determine the opinions of graduate students from social studies education regarding the qualitative research method. The study was conducted in accordance with the phenomenological design, one of the qualitative research designs. The sample group of the study was composed of 25 postgraduate students including 11 females and 14 males studying in the Department of Social Studies Education in Division of Turkish Language and Social Sciences Education of Educational Sciences Institute, in Firat University in the spring semester of the 2019-2020 academic year. The sample group was determined with criterion sampling, one of the purposeful sampling methods. The data of the study were obtained through interview method by using semi-structured interview form. Content analysis method was used in the analysis of the data obtained in the study and the qualitative data analysis program was employed to assess the data. It was determined as a result of the study that the graduate students expressed the qualitative research method as sensitivity to the natural environment, in-depth examination of a social phenomenon, and revealing perception and experiences. Since the qualitative research experience positively affect the knowledge and skills of the graduate students towards the study, they should be included more in the research environment and process. In addition, during the qualitative research process, graduate students should be encouraged and directed to academic activities.

Risk Toplumu Bağlamında Covid-19 Haberlerine Yönelik Bir İnceleme

Yaşam varolduğundan beri insanoğlu farklı biçimlerde çeşitli risklerle karşılaşmışlardır. İlk çağlarda doğa şartlarına karşı savunmasız olan insanlar birlikte yaşamaya başlayarak ve çeşitli önlemler alarak bu risklere karşı durmaya çalışmıştır. Teknik anlamda yaşanan gelişmelerle birlikte farklı riskler ortaya çıkmış ve mücadele konusunda da yine bilime başvurulmuştur. İlkel topluluklardan modern toplumlara kadar geçen dönemde büyük bilimsel gelişmeler yaşansa da gelinen noktada bu gelişmelerin sorunları da beraberinde getirdiği görülmektedir. Özellikle son iki yüzyılda yaşanan sanayi alanında gelişmeler ve büyük dünya savaşları teknolojik gelişimi hızlandırmış dünya hiç olmadığı kadar risklerle dolu bir yer olmuştur. Bu kapsamda Alman akademisyen Ulrich Beck içinde yaşanılan dönemi Risk Toplumu olarak adlandırmaktadır. Özellikle son dönemde tüm dünyada yaşanan Covid-19 salgını Beck’in kuramını ve endişelerini haklı çıkarır niteliktedir. Bu bağlamda çalışmada Beck’in Risk Toplumu bağlamında Covid-19 haberlerinin internet haber organlarında temsiline odaklanılmıştır. Çalışmada Hürriyet ve Sözcü gazetelerinin haber siteleri nitel ve nicel içerik analizi tekniği ile incelenmiştir. Elde edilen bulgular SPSS paket programı ve Maxqda nitel veri analiz programlarında analiz edilmiştir. Buna göre ilgili haber sitelerinde mayıs ayı içerisinde sunulan haberlerde kamuoyunu bilgilendirmeye yönelik haberlerin sıklığı dikkat çekmektedir.

Motivation and Touristic Experiences of the Festival Participant

The first aim of this study is to determine the motivations and experiences of camel wrestling festival participants evaluated in event tourism. The second aim is to determine motivation of the participants attending the other festivals and to reveal similarities and differences between them. Qualitative design has been adopted in the research. For this purpose, 20 participants were selected as sample from the 37. Traditional Selcuk Ephesus Camel Wrestling visitors. Data from this sample were collected through in-depth interviews. Data were collected from the participants via these questions. Content analysis was employed to the data’s through MAXQDA Analytics Pro qualitative data analysis program. The findings show that, participants mostly attend with motivation of having connection with cultural and ethnic origins and for fun to the camel wrestling festivals. In addition, it was determined that the participants' camel wrestling festival motivations and the other festival motivations were mostly similar.

Şiddetle Mücadelede Toplumsal Bir Kurum Olarak Kadın Sığınmaevleri

Kadına yönelik şiddet toplumsal bir sorundur. Sorunun çözümünde kamu ve/veya özel kurum ve kuruluşlar aracılığıyla şiddete maruz kalan kadınların korunmaları ve sürdürülebilir bir yaşama sahip olmaları için çeşitli önlemler alınmakta ve hizmetler sunulmaktadır. Bu çerçevede, kadın sığınmaevleri şiddet mağduru kadınlara şiddetten kurtarılmaları, psiko-sosyal ve ekonomik sorunlarının çözümlenmesi ve geleceğe hazırlanmalarında geçici hizmet vermektedir. Bu bağlamda, araştırmanın amacı sığınmaevlerinin kadına yönelik şiddetle mücadeledeki rol ve işlevlerinin belirlenmesidir. Araştırmada, betimsel araştırma tasarımı kullanılmış ve İzmir ilindeki Aile, Çalışma ve Sosyal Hizmetler Bakanlığı Kadın Statüsü Genel Müdürlüğü’ne bağlı üç sığınmaevinde kalan 25 kadınla derinlemesine görüşme gerçekleştirilmiştir. Bu görüşmelerden elde edilen veriler deşifre edilerek MAXQDA 18 nitel veri analizi programı ile çözümlenmiştir. Araştırma kapsamında, birebir derinlemesine görüşmelerden elde edilen veriler ışığında kadına yönelik şiddetin niteliği, nedenleri, şiddet mağduru kadına toplumsal çevrenin desteği, kadına yönelik şiddetle mücadelede kadın sığınmaevinin rolü, sığınmaevinin koşulları, sığınmaevi sonrası sürdürülebilir yaşam ve sığınmaevi ile ilgili öneriler olmak üzere yedi ana tema ortaya konmuştur.

Kadın Astların Perspektifinden Kadın Yöneticiler: Hiyerarşik İlişkiler Bağlamında Nitel Bir Araştırma (Women Managers from the Perspective of Women Subordinates: A Qualitative Research in the Context of Hierarchical Relationships)

Purpose – It is stated in the literature that female and male employees do not generally prefer to work with female managers, and the reasons for this are based on both stereotypes regarding gender roles and facts such as Queen Bee Syndrome from a Social Identity Theory perspective. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the perceptions and attitudes of employees about managers and to discuss hierarchical relationships between in the light of current approaches. Design/methodology/approach – With the inductive approach and phenomenological research design, a qualitative research was designed and 40 employees from 20 different sectors were reached. The data obtained were subjected to Content Analysis through the MAXQDA 2020 Qualitative Data Analysis Program. Findings – One of the most important results of the research is that 38 percent of the participants prefer to work with a male manager, while 18 percent prefer to work with a female manager. 13 percent of the participants stated that their preferences will be determined by the character and managerial competence of the manager, not the gender factor. In addition, 45 percent of the participants stated that working with a female manager is a “nice, relaxing and reassuring feeling”, while 48 percent stated that it is a “bad, disturbed and irritating feeling.” An important issue that 78 percent of the participants mentioned 67 times in total is that they feel better understood by managers because they are women and mothers. Discussion – The results of the research show that, although this trend continues, employees try to evaluate managers with a more objective approach. However, it was determined that the participants' own negative experiences in this preference were determinative and they tried to evaluate the female managers in general with gender-independent factors.

Self-care perspective taking and empathy in a studentfaculty book club in the United States

PurposeWe aimed to study the impact of a combined faculty-student book club on education and medical practice as a part of the informal curriculum at the University of Florida College of Medicine in the United States.MethodsSixteen medical students and 7 faculties who participated in the book club were interviewed through phone and recorded. The interview was then transcribed and entered into the qualitative data analysis program QSR NVivo (QSR International, Burlington, MA, USA). The transcripts were reviewed, and thematic codes were developed inductively through collaborative iteration. Based on these preliminary codes, a coding dictionary was developed and applied to all interviews within QSR Nvivo to identify themes.ResultsFour main themes were identified from interviews: The first theme, the importance of literature to the development and maintenance of empathy and perspective-taking, and the second theme, the importance of the book club in promoting mentorship, personal relationships and professional development, were important to both student and faculty participants. The third and fourth themes, the need for the book club as a tool for self-care and the book club serving as a reminder about the world outside of school were discussed by student book club members.ConclusionOur study demonstrated that an informal book club has a significant positive impact on self-care, perspective-taking, empathy, and developing a “world outside of school” for medical school students and faculty in the United States. It also helps to foster meaningful relationships between students and faculty.

Aging, Health and Place from the Perspective of Elders in an Inuit Community.

This paper explores perspectives of Inuit elders on the relationships between aging, health and place. Their views are important to consider in the context of a growing proportion and number of older people in Arctic communities, a new sociological condition. Developing policies and programs to promote healthy aging in Inuit communities is challenging as there is little known about the social and living conditions that promote healthy aging in the Arctic. In this study twenty Inuit aged between 50 to 86, from one community in Nunavut, participated to in-depth qualitative interviews. Themes discussed included aging and health, housing conditions, community conditions, land-based activities, medical and leisure travel outside of the community, and mobility and accessibility. Preliminary analyses of the qualitative data were validated in the community through a focus group with four participants and an interpreter. Interviews and the focus group transcripts were analysed using thematic content analyses and NVivo 12 qualitative data analysis program (QSR International Pty Ltd. 2017). Participants reported that spending time with children, having social support, living in houses adapted to aging health conditions, having access to community activities and services, and time spent on the land were the main resources supporting their health. Several factors limited the availability of these resources. These include: lack of accessibility to resources; structural factors impacting their availability; and natural and social changes in interpersonal relationships. Participants also stressed the importance of being able to grow old in their own community. Knowledge generated in this project contributes to policies and programs targeting housing and community conditions to support healthy aging, and aging in place, in Inuit Nunangat.

Determination of the Spelling and Punctuation Errors in the Writing Activities of Middle-School Students

Araştırma, ortaokul öğrencilerinin yazma çalışmalarındaki yazım ve noktalama hatalarını belirlemek amacıyla gerçekleştirilmiştir. Yazım ve noktalama kuralları öğretimi, bir dilin yazı dili olarak geliştirilmesi, yazılı anlatımın açık ve anlaşılır olması için gereklidir. Türkçe Dersi Öğretim Programı’nda (2019) her sınıf düzeyinde yazım ve noktalama kurallarına yönelik kazanımlara yer verilmiştir. Araştırma, nitel araştırma yöntemlerinden durum çalışması ile gerçekleştirilmiştir. Araştırmanın çalışma grubunda, 127 öğrenci yer almıştır. Araştırmanın verileri, doküman (yazı) incelemesi yöntemi ile toplanmıştır. Veriler, içerik analizi tekniği ile çözümlenmiştir. Öğrencilerin yazıları, MAXQDA 12 nitel veri analizi programına aktarılmış ve kodlamalar program üzerinden yapılmıştır. Ortaokul öğrencileri, yazım konusunda en fazla sözcük yazımı (harf hatası, eksikliği vb.), büyük harflerin yazımı, bağlaç olan da, de’nin yazımı ve birleşik-ayrı sözcük yazımı; noktalama konusunda ise nokta eksikliği, virgül eksikliği ve virgülün yanlış kullanımı ile ilgili hatalar yapmışlardır.

Yönetim ve Örgütsel Davranış Yazınındaki Ölçek Geliştirme Çalışmalarının Metodolojik Açıdan Analizi

Scale development is a study that requires significant expert knowledge and long-term effort. The scientificness of these studies in terms of reliability and validity is based on the implementation of some methodological principles. In the social sciences literature, it is seen that specific methods are applied in some of the scale development studies, while in others, every stage of the scientific criteria is not taken into account. In this context, this study aimed to examine the scale development studies in management and organizational behavior literature between the 2000-2019 years from the methodological perspective by the content analysis. As the scope of the objectives of the study, it is aimed to determine the existing methods of the scale development process in the studies and to present a model that includes the required steps of the scale development studies. According to this purpose, 65 studies in the scope of the graduate theses, articles, and conference proceedings indexed by the national database in Turkey between the specific years are examined. These 65 studies are evaluated using the qualitative data analysis program MAXQDA 10.0 software based on scale development criteria determined.

Örgütsel Yeşil Davranışlara Yönelten Güdüler: Özel Okul Öğretmenleri Üzerine Nitel Bir Araştırma (Motives Towards Organizational Green Behaviors: A Qualitative Research on the Private School Teachers)

Purpose – Education is one of the most effective tools that will shape the World of tomorrow and can be used to cope with the challenges of the future. At the same time, education has an important role in initiating attitudes towards sustainability. Like public schools, private schools play a key role in reducing the pressure on the natural environment and achieving environmental sustainability as well. Teachers of private schools are expected to develop green behaviors that will positively affect the environment or reduce the negative impact on the environment with the awareness of being a role model and affect their students. The aim of this study is to determine the motivations that push private school teachers to perform green organizational behaviors. Design/methodology/approach – In this research, qualitative research method was used and qualitative interviews were performed with 20 teachers who worked in three different private schools being active on two separate cities. In determining of participants snowball sampling method was used, interviews were made face to face and Maxqda 2018 qualitative data analysis program was used in analysing of interviews. Findings – As a result of the study, it was found that the motives that can be collected in four themes (impression management motives, green motives, prosocial motives and organizational citizenship motives) lead the teachers to green organizational behavior. Discussion – Within the scope of impression management motives, teachers mostly displayed exemplification tactics on their students and displayed green organizational behaviors as ingratiation tactics on the parents. In addition, environmental sustainability concerns as a green motivation and social benefit have influenced green organizational behavior as a prosocial motive while at the same time some participants have perceived green behavior as organizational citizenship behavior.

An Action Research on the Improvement of Writing Skill in Teacher Training

The aim of the research is to improve the writing skills of students with procedure-based gradual writing training practice by positively changing their writing perception, attitude and motivation, anxiety and fear, lack of education, writing difficulties, and writing process. The present research is considered to be significant in terms of affecting the writing perception, attitude and motivation, anxiety and fear, writing training and process as a result of performing the writing training with a gradual procedure. The research was conducted with action research model from the qualitative research designs. The study group consists of 15 first grade students, 7 male and 8 female, who were studying in the Turkish Teaching Program at the Faculty of Education in a university in the fall semester of 2018-2019 academic year. The criterion sampling method was used among the non-probability sampling methods in the determination of the study group. Data collection was performed with a semi-structured interview form. Two semi-structured interview form was used as before and after the application. The data of the research was collected in two stages from the students in the study group as before and after the application. The application consists of preparation, planning and forming a draft, writing, editing and reviewing, correction and presentation, and evaluation stages. The research data was analyzed with the content analysis technique. A code-category map of the obtained data was created by using a qualitative data analysis program, MAXQDA 12. Before the application, it was determined that students tried to write without planning, they were not willing to write and positive about writing, experienced writing anxiety and fear, their writing training was insufficient, they perceived writing as expressing emotions and thoughts, and didn’t know how to write. It was concluded that the writing perceptions of students were positively changed, their motivation increased and they were positive about writing, their writing anxiety and fear decreased/eliminated, they could write in a planned and prepared way, did not experience writing difficulties, their insufficiencies in writing training was eliminated and learned how to write.

A Case Study on the Competencies of the Teachers Assigned Abroad by the Ministry of National Education to Teach Turkish to Foreigners

The profession of teaching is defined in Article 43 of the Fundamental Law of National Education no. 1739 as a specialized profession that undertakes education, training and other related administrative duties of the state, and the qualifications of teachers are evaluated under two sections as general qualifications and special field qualifications. Teacher qualifications are competencies that are required to be possessed by all teachers under training to achieve national education goals. In addition to this, teaching one's native language as a foreign language is a task that requires an additional area of expertise. The increasing interest in Turkish, escalating immigration rates and other reasons have caused the importance of teaching Turkish as a foreign language to increase. This growing interest caused certain problems. The lack of expert educators in terms of quality and quantity is one of the main problems. The Ministry of National Education assigns lecturers and teachers every year in order to meet the demand for Turkish educators from abroad. The aim of this study is to determine the field qualifications of teachers who are awaiting assignment after having passed the exam held by the Ministry of National Education to be assigned abroad. The study was designed as a case study. The random purposeful (purposive) sampling method and the purposive criterion sampling method were used to determine the study group. The study group consists of 10 teachers and lecturers awaiting assignment after having passed the foreign lecturing exam held by the Ministry of National Education. The data collection phase of the study was carried out using the interview method. Therefore, an eleven-question interview form was prepared, including questions on the awareness of teachers toward teaching Turkish to foreigners, their educational background and the educational process of teaching Turkish to foreigners. The data were transferred to the MAXQDA 12 qualitative data analysis program and the content analysis technique was used in the analysis of the data. Study results showed that most of the teachers in the study group had low awareness toward their assignment and a lack of knowledge on methods-techniques, material and planning, and that most of the participants lacked training in their fields.

올림픽 태권도 메달리스트의 지도자 신뢰 형성과정

The purpose of the present study was to analyze Taekwondo Olympic medalists" trust of coach. Three Taekwondo national representatives athletes who gained Olympic medals participated in the study. An individual participant had an in-depth interview with researchers of the study three times. Each in-depth interviews highlighted how participants have construct trust of coach and what they have experienced products through trust of coach. Collected interview data were analyzed by inductive analysis method and Nvivo 10, qualitative research data analysis program was utilized for categorizing documented interview data. Based on the results, participants began to have trust of coach when they recognized their coach made an effort and have an expertise to improve their athletic performance. As time goes by a participant"s trust of coach was reinforcing after they overcame obstacles and solved problems with their coach. Participants of the study also introduced how they work with coach to be a Korea national team member and top ranker of the world. Participated Taekwondo national representative athletes emphasized that it was impossible to accomplish their objectives as a Taekwondo athlete without their coach"s enthusiasm for educating athletes and creative match strategy.

Exploring the Perception of Quality of Life of Polio Survivors in Northwest Nigeria

Consequences of paralytic polio may adversely affect the quality of life of polio survivors. Promotion of quality of life is the ultimate goal of rehabilitation intervention. Researchers typically employ various operationalisations to evaluate quality of life among polio survivors. It is unclear whether this approach reflects what quality of life truly means to polio survivors in northwest Nigeria. To explore the perception and relevant domains of quality of life, based on the perspectives of polio survivors in northwest Nigeria. We conducted eight focus group discussions with 48 polio survivors, 27 men and 21 women. We analyzed the transcribed data based on content analysis and constant comparison, with the aid of NVivo, a qualitative data analysis program. Polio survivors in this study perceived quality of life as a complex, multifaceted construct. Based on their lived experiences, the participants characterized quality of life as a blend of satisfaction of needs, happiness, spirituality, and self-perception. Spirituality and self-perception are important aspects of quality of life of polio survivors in northwest Nigeria. However, contents of instruments applied to this group of individuals rarely mirror these perspectives. Hence, measurement of quality of life of polio survivors in northwest Nigeria and similar context needs to consider and reflect spirituality and self-perception.

How Lithuanian language textbooks present language to gymnasium pupils

The article analyses, how the Lithuanian school education system teaches to understand language and evaluate linguistic phenomena (linguistic diversity, different language forms and varieties) as well as language functions (communicative and function of identity). Basis of the research are the newest Lithuanian language textbooks for the last two gymnasium grades (11-12th grades), published since year 2000. Using qualitative analysis method it is being investigated, what notion of language is presented to the pupils, how much the descriptive approach to language of contemporary linguistics and knowledge about language are present in the textbooks, and to what extent there still exist attitude of the so-called traditional (prescriptive) grammar and ideas of language corrections.
 Language teaching at school serves double function – on the one hand, school teaches literacy, where language is understood as a tool for creation and analysing of texts. On the other hand, language in itself is a study object, about which pupils at school receive a certain understanding. Therefore, the question arises, what notion of language is being formed in the Lithuanian education system on the gymnasium level through teaching material – Lithuanian (native) language textbooks. Does the teaching material for the last two – 11-12th – grades provide knowledge about language of contemporary science, as it might be expected in the education of the 21st century? Do the pupils get introduced to science-based notion of language, as it is accepted in current linguistics, which is a descriptive science, that seeks to study and describe all the aspects of a language descriptively, based on facts, without prejudices and evaluations. Or is it on the contrary being followed the notion of language, which is characteristic of normativity and prescriptivism and which is rejected by contemporary linguistics as not scientific.
 The research analyses five Lithuanian language textbooks for 11-12th grades, published after year 2000, which have been selected for the analysis using the database of textbooks and other teaching materials (https://www.emokykla.lt/bendrasis/mokykis/vadoveliu-db/naujausi-vadoveliai). The main question, that is being raised with this research, is whether and to what extent scientific or non-scientific notion of language is being formed in school language textbooks, what attitude is predominant, and which notion of language is prevalent, if different attitudes exist. The method of the research is qualitative discourse analysis of the textbooks, using the qualitative data analysis program NVivo.
 The results of the textbooks’ analysis show, that non-scientific notion of language is dominant in the Lithuanian education system. The majority of the analysed textbooks represent this notion. The main characteristics of this notion, visible in the textbooks, are prescriptivism, romantic images of language, ideology of linguistic nationalism. However, besides the dominant normative approach to language, the scientific, descriptive approach is also visible in the textbooks, though to a lesser extent than the normative approach. One of the analysed textbooks is different from the rest ones with its exceptionally descriptive approach to language as a study object.

The Effect of L2 Listening Texts Adapted to the Digital Story on the Listening Lesson

The study conducted as the action research model aimed to identify the effect of use of new story form, digital storytelling (DST) as a product input in listening lessons on listening lessons. Working group of the research consists of higher education undergraduate foreign students mostly financed by UN (N:49). The two-step procedure covers a twelve-week-process of six weeks each. The first step was applied on students studying at C1 level and the second step was applied on students studying at B1 level. During the procedure, 40 texts in DST format were used for listening lesson. Researcher diary, student diary and focus group discussions were used as data collection tools. The data obtained were analyzed with Nvivo 11 qualitative data analysis program. Themes were created by coding and categorizing the data. As a result of the research, it is seen that digital storytelling has a positive effect on the development of listening skills, positively affects learning and is more effective compared to listening lessons taught with voice recordings and increases student motivation.

The examination of the relationship between the speech anxiety and speaking skill attitudes of middle school students and the opinions of teachers on speech anxiety

Speaking skill which is one of the four basic skills of language education is the most natural and common communication tool that individuals use in expressing themselves and fulfilling their needs. Additionally, speaking is a determinant attribute that distinguishes humans from other living beings. Speech anxiety is one of the most important conditions that negatively affect interpersonal communication and public speaking. In this study, the relationship between the speech anxiety and speaking skill attitudes of middle school students and the reasons for students' speech anxiety, the conditions in which speech anxiety is observed, and the solutions of teachers were scrutinized. In the research, mixed method was used since it allows more in-depth examination. In this method, the sequential explanatory design was used. The first stage of the study was conducted with 546 middle school students in order to determine the relationship between the speech anxiety and speaking skill attitudes of middle school students. The second stage of the study was conducted with 20 teachers working in the same school that students are studying in order to determine the conditions that speech anxiety is observed, the reasons of these conditions, and the activities that teachers perform in order to eliminate speech anxiety with the opinions of teachers. The data collection tools of the study consist of personal information form, speech anxiety scale, speaking skill attitudes scale and interview form. In the analysis of the quantitative data, the IBM SPSS statistical program was used. The data that was obtained with the written interview form was transferred to MAXQDA 12 qualitative data analysis program and analyzed using the content analysis technique. According to the results of the study, there was a negative significant relationship between the speech anxiety and speaking skill attitudes of the students. Furthermore, teachers stated that they observe speech anxiety in students when they are speaking in front of a group, the reasons of speech anxiety are mostly the fear of being mocked and lack of self-confidence and that they create more appropriate speech subjects and Anxiety environments in order to eliminate speech anxiety.

Preparedness of Lao People’s Democratic Republic to Implement ASEAN Common Visa (ACV)

The concept and practice of free migration has long existed, but the modern border pass and common visa have only been used since the establishment of the Schengen Agreement of the European Union in 1995. Since its establishment, the Schengen Visa has been an extraordinary example of the success of a borderless region and led to vibrant in growth and social development. ASEAN, as a new economic community that tries to set itself as a beneficiary of the lessons learned from the European Union, has been struggling in establishing its own common visa region. The reasons encompass economic, political, and social-cultural concerns. This study focuses specifically on the Lao PDR and it aims to assess the preparedness of the country if the region were to establish the common visa system. The study employs a qualitative approach and collects data via an interview questionnaire. Research data are collected from interviews of six high-ranking government officials. Using the theme generating and data coding approach in ATLAS, a qualitative data analysis program, this study found that the preparedness of the Lao PDR in implementing the ASEAN Common Visa (ACV) spans nine key factors: (1) geographical location, (2) visa policy, (3) immigration control, (4) quota of foreign workers in the private sector, (5) information and communications technology (ICT) in connectivity development, (6) electronic systems in the consular sector, (7) infrastructure, (8) population mobility, and (9) attitudes towards the ACV. After categorizing these factors based on economic, political, and social-cultural dimensions, it was found that population mobility is a common concern among the three dimensions. This suggests that the Lao PDR needs to focus on improvements in border management, synchronization of information and communication technology, infrastructure, and human resources development among the relevant sectors.