Research Inquiry Research Articles

Unravelling Halal Bibliometric Research

This study delves into halal research trends through a bibliometric analysis of 69 articles from 2018-2023. The data was retrieved from the Google Scholar database. This study will analyse the co-authorship, co-citation, and co-occurrence using VOSviewer. In addition, it will employ a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) to unveil future research. The result reveals a surge in publications, with 2022 as the peak year, emphasizing English as the dominant language. Indonesia stands out as the most prolific source of research, contributing 42 articles and boasting the highest citation count (198). Author A.S. Rusydiana leads with nine publications, while the journal “Halal Tourism and Pilgrimage” claims the top spot with five articles. Notably, the most cited article (82 citations) by Secinaro and Calandra focuses on halal food research trends. Network, density, and overlay visualizations depict key research clusters, highlighting 18 themes requiring further exploration. Interestingly, ten themes remain relevant despite recent advancements, while 10 require extra attention. Furthermore, a SLR of recent research identifies 36 potential avenues for future investigation. Nevertheless, this study offers a valuable roadmap for navigating the ever-evolving landscape of halal research for future inquiry.

Recent advances in HPV biotechnology: Understanding host-virus interactions and cancer progression-a review.

Cervical cancer ranks as the fourth most common cancer among women globally, posing a significant mortality risk. Persistent infection with high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) is the primary instigator of cervical cancer development, often alongside co-infection with other viruses, precipitating various malignancies. This study aimed to explore recent biotechnological advances in understanding HPV infection dynamics, host interactions, and its role in oncogenesis. The gathered data shed light on HPV biology, host-virus interplay, viral co-infections, and cellular transformations leading to HPV-associated cancers. Recent years have seen the introduction of diverse vaccination strategies, including live attenuated, subunit, and DNA-based vaccines, complemented by innovative nanotechnology and plant-based products. Despite rich data addressing research inquiries, urgent calls echo for the implementation of contemporary screening and therapeutic modalities at clinical levels. Moreover, extensive public awareness campaigns are imperative to alleviate the burden of HPV-related diseases, emphasizing the necessity for proactive intervention strategies in combating this global health challenge.

Enhancing Equity in Genomics: Incorporating Measures of Structural Racism, Discrimination, and Social Determinants of Health.

The everyday harms of structural racism and discrimination, perpetuated through institutions, laws, policies, and practices, constitute social determinants of health, but measures that account for their debilitating effects are largely missing in genetic studies of complex diseases. Drawing on insights from the social sciences and public health, we propose critical methodologies for incorporating tools that measure structural racism and discrimination within genetic analyses. We illustrate how including these measures may strengthen the accuracy and utility of findings for diverse communities, clarify elusive relationships between genetics and environment in a racialized society, and support greater equity within genomics and precision health research. This approach may also support efforts to build and sustain vital partnerships with communities and with other fields of research inquiry, centering community expertise and lived experiences and drawing on valuable knowledge from practitioners in the social sciences and public health to innovate biomedical and genomic study designs aimed at community health priorities.

A choreographic method of mis/fit in aerial dance

This article examines the disability studies concept of misfit applied to aerial dance choreography. Rosemarie Garland-Thomson defines a misfit as an incongruency between two things, as in a square peg and round hole. Thus, misfit is not a fixed attribute but rather arises from the interaction of those two things. In aerial arts, fit or misfit is located in the relationship between a particular dancer’s body and the aerial apparatus. The aerial hoop, a rigid metal circle, is rife with potential misfits. The dancers in this project are visibly non-disabled, yet Garland-Thomson explicitly invites a broad application of misfit, noting that it is an inherent aspect of all embodiment. The material reality of the aerial apparatus in relationship with each dancer’s particular embodiment reveals misfits that might otherwise go unnoticed, unacknowledged and unvalued in dance practices. In this practice-research, a misfit approach to choreography serves to re-examine virtuosity and highlight the context-specific abilities of the bodies involved. This method guided the research inquiry in three areas: movement invention, spatial design and costuming and provided insight into the particularities of embodiment and perceptions of virtuosity in dance and circus practices.

WHAT MAKES FOR AN EFFECTIVE GRAMMAR PRESENTATION?: PEER, SELF- AND TEACHER TRAINER EVALUATION OF MICRO-TEACHING

In order to identify the elements of grammar teaching which most influence the perception of its effectiveness, we looked into the link between general evaluations of students’ micro-teaching grammar presentations (an overall grade) and the assessments of their individual aspects, such as studentteacher personality, their non-verbal communication, the teaching method employed and the appropriateness of the materials and the activities used. The study involved 36 final year students of English language, literature and culture at a state university in Serbia who engaged in micro-teaching as part of their English language teaching methodology 2 coursework. After each classroombased 5-minute grammar presentation, the same online questionnaire was completed by student teachers themselves (self-evaluation), their fellow students acting as language learners (anonymous peer evaluation) and two university ELT methodology teachers (397 evaluations in total), thus enabling us to investigate the potential differences in the perceptions of the grammar teaching depending on the source of evaluation (peer, self- or teacher trainer). A thematic analysis was conducted on the participants’ responses to an open-ended question regarding the key element that made the grammar presentation successful. Correlational analysis revealed that the strongest association occurred between the perceived level of grammar presentation effectiveness and the positive student teacher characteristics, while the qualitative data analysis showed that the student teacher personality and their teaching style consistent with the constructivist theory of learning were almost equally cited as the main contributors to the positive perception of micro-teaching. Differences between the perceptions of different groups of evaluators were identified and accounted for in both types of research inquiry. Keywords: grammar teaching, micro-teaching, teacher effectiveness, teacher personality, teaching method, peer evaluation, self-evaluation

Transformative Learning Among Organ Procurement Organization Donor Family Volunteers.

Introduction: Some family members who previously made the decision to donate a family member's organs support the organ procurement organization (OPO) through volunteer work. Volunteers were asked to describe their family's organ donation story to educate the general and medical communities about organ donation. This study explored the transformative learning experienced by volunteers during and following the organ donation consent process and throughout their volunteer work. Methods/Approach: A narrative inquiry research methodology and transformative learning theoretical framework was used and 6 volunteers were recruited to participate. Two semistructured virtual interviews were conducted. Interviews were transcribed, radically reduced, and subjected to holistic-content and holistic-form narrative analysis. Findings: Participants experienced strong emotional responses during and after the loss of their family member, characterized as a period of disorientation, which lasted for an extended period preventing transformative learning. After the OPO contacted participants regarding the opportunity to volunteer, participants experienced a period of self-examination when they reengaged with the topic of organ donation. Critical reflection occurred through the act of storytelling about their family's organ donation story during their volunteer work. Storytelling to the community facilitated making meaning of their loss and transformations. Conclusion: Volunteering for an OPO played an important role by initiating self-examination and critical reflection of their prior assumptions. Through storytelling, participants reflected on their roles and made meaning of their organ donation experiences. The act of inviting donor families to reengage with the topic of organ donation through volunteer work fostered positive permanent meaningful transformations.

Rediscovering the Child

Maria Montessori’s early emphasis on systematic observation and experimentation to understand children’s learning predates the formal recognition of the “teacher as researcher” role, which emerged in the 1950s. This article explores the use of action research today in Montessori education, focusing on classroom-based action research (CBAR) and practitioner inquiry as key methodologies for enhancing teaching practices. We begin by defining classroom-based action research and its application in Montessori teacher education, highlighting its role in fostering reflective, evidence-based investigations that improve classroom practices. Two CBAR studies from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls are presented: (1) Kaul’s exploration of student choice in math practice and (2) Thompson’s investigation of structured literacy in a Montessori Children’s House. The article also discusses practitioner inquiry projects from Loyola University Maryland, which examine the inclusion of students with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and the effectiveness of Montessori Math materials in promoting math fluency.

Together but separate: a longitudinal study of how spatial context shapes the formation of social ties of women medical students.

Developing and maintaining connections with others, or what we refer to as the formation of social ties, may strengthen medical students' sense of belonging in medical school. Social ties play a particularly important role for women medical students as the medical field remains largely dominated by masculine norms. However, forming social ties remains challenging for women in medicine. This study used the COVID-19 pandemic to examine how women medical students navigated the spatial contexts of medical school to form social ties. Using longitudinal qualitative research and narrative inquiry, it describes how 17 women medical students formed social ties during the early stages of COVID-19. Beginning in fall 2020, during the initial two-years of medical school, the participants (1) described how personal ties were deterred from forming in early experiences of medical school; (2) shared experiences that promoted a sense of community bonding during middle and later periods; and (3) expressed limitations of access to the formation of professional ties throughout their initial 2-years. This study has important implications for understanding ways spatial contexts, access to physical connections, and the mental and emotional barriers or pathways play roles in social tie formation for women medical students and how longitudinal qualitative research can narrate these changes through time.

Energizing Research at the Intersection of Public Policy and Supply Chain Resilience: A Systematic Review and Guiding Framework

ABSTRACTAcademic scholars and US political leaders have called for a better understanding of the connection between public policy and supply chain resilience. In this structured literature review we analyze and synthesize literature published in high‐quality public policy and business journals at this intersection. We leverage existing frameworks in public policy and supply chain resilience to help analyze the relationships studied to date, resulting in a conceptual framework that elucidates the connections between public policy and resilience and leads to the development of a platform for future research inquiries. We encourage and provide guidance for future work in the space from both supply chain management and public policy scholars that can drive actionable results for policymakers, firm decision‐makers, and the welfare of society.

The Mediating Effect of Profitability on The Relationship Between Working Capital Management and Shareholder Wealth: Evidence from Colombo Stock Exchange

The management of working capital plays a crucial role in enterprises and has a substantial influence on the wealth of shareholders. Working capital management, profitability, and shareholder wealth have emerged as significant subjects of discussion in contemporary discourse, since they have been acknowledged as expansive areas of study. The primary aim of this research was to investigate the mediating role of profitability in the association between working capital management and shareholder wealth, focusing specifically on empirical data from the Colombo Stock Exchange. The working capital management was measured using Current Ratio, profitability was quantified by Return on Investment and shareholders’ wealth was measured through Tobin’s Q. Data for the research was collected by examining the annual reports of 100 non-financial firms listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange. Upon conclusion of the study, it yielded findings that addressed the research inquiries, so signifying the successful attainment of the research aims. This paper examines profitability, working capital management, and shareholder wealth in Sri Lankan businesses. A weak, but significant association between working capital management and all factors was found based on the correlation analysis. It was found a significant impact of working capital management on shareholders' wealth. Further, the findings revealed a significant impact of working capital management on profitability and a significant impact of profitability on shareholders’ wealth. Finally, it was evidenced that profitability plays a partial mediation role on the relationship between working capital management and shareholders’ wealth.

What’s in a name? Participants’ pseudonym choices as a practice of empowerment and epistemic justice

ABSTRACT In qualitative research, using pseudonyms for participants is a common practice. This paper examines how inviting participants to choose their pseudonyms contributes to epistemic justice in the research process. We highlight the transformative potential of participant agency in the research journey by exploring data derived from a large qualitative study of 40 participants from diverse cultural identities who shared their experiences of their doctoral journeys at Western universities (predominantly in Australia). Participants were invited to choose pseudonyms for themselves and their institutions. Employing a narrative inquiry research methodology, data were analyzed via a three-stage iterative process, focusing on participants’ pseudonym selection and the contextual explanations provided for their choices. Our findings reveal that when participants choose their pseudonyms, they are able to present their narratives with greater authenticity, capturing the richness of their lived experiences and cultural contexts, thereby advancing epistemic justice. This practice not only created a space of empowerment for participants but also fostered trust and collaboration between researchers and participants. Thus, we argue that recognizing and inviting the agency of participants in terms of naming can be considered a critical method, shifting traditional power dynamics in research by recognizing participants as experts on their own experiences.

Challenges encountered during the process of obtaining informed consent in human subject research: A Scoping Review

Introduction: Informed consent is a procedure to encourage and invite participants by providing information when making research decisions. However, implementing informed consent is considered unfeasible and imposes constraints on the value of research inquiries. Obtaining informed consent is also seen as a potential bias in acquiring knowledge. In other words, research participants and researchers face many challenges in the process of informed consent. This comprehensive study aimed to map the challenges encountered while obtaining informed consent in human subject research.

The Big Society’s success in England: Neoliberalism as recomposition of public-institutional spaces

This article argues that the ‘Big Society’ agenda, widely understood as a failure, was instrumental in shaping how austerity played out after 2010 in England. Of particular importance was the growing role in public service delivery of private, profit-making companies and their equivalents on the one hand, and voluntary, charitable work on the other. Therefore, the Big Society’s impact can be understood as a neoliberal recomposition of public-institutional spaces, a form of restructuring that has always been sought by the neoliberal project (as the article shows). Furthermore, these recompositions have differed from a generalised logic of ‘marketisation’ that is often (mis)attributed to such processes of public-institutional change, in England or elsewhere: more accurate is to forefront parcellised corporatisation via contracting and the imposition of social-reproductive burdens on wider society. That the Big Society should be considered as an important keyword in the lexicon of neoliberalism has several implications. For instance, the impact of numerous austerian legacies, that have become increasingly visible in 2020s England, needs reappraising. More broadly, the article’s argument that the how of austerity ought to be examined as much as the what, widens the scope for research enquiries into austerity’s (after)lives in and across multiple local, regional and national contexts.

Psychology, the posts, and qualitative research

ABSTRACT In this article, we consider the debates in the field of psychology about the “posts” around two broad issues—that of “incommensurability” between qualitative research and post-qualitative inquiry, and tensions regarding method and methodology. We are largely in agreement that these systems of thought are so fundamentally different that they cannot be reconciled, as they arise from differing ontological and epistemological foundations of qualitative and post-qualitative inquiry, but we offer some clarifications regarding our views. In relation to methods and methodology, we provide some examples of different conceptions of methods and methodology, primarily by examining writers who are sympathetic to critical posthumanism. While in some cases, methods and methodology are eschewed, in other cases, methods but not methodology are eschewed, while yet in others, a focus on the research process is what produces the knowledge. The paper concludes by considering the contributions that psychology has offered posthumanism.

Exploring the Qualitative Experiences of Administering and Participating in Remote Research via Telephone Using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment-Blind: Cross-Sectional Study of Older Adults.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a drastic shift in the practice of research and clinical services. It has been noted that cognition measured via in-person versus remote methods differ substantially, and it is possible that subjective and experiential differences exist between modalities. The aim of the study is to explore the perceptions of both researchers and older adult participants on the experience of remotely conducted research using a cognitive screener. We conducted a thematic analysis of the experience of engaging in remote research from both the participant (n=10) and researcher (n=4) perspectives. The research interaction was framed through teleadministration of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment-Blind (suitable for telephone administration) and administration of a subsequent semistructured debriefing interview. Participant perspectives were garnered during debriefing interviews, while researcher insights were collected via self-reported qualitative field notes completed following each research session. Data aggregated into themes of barriers and facilitators from the lenses of both participants and researchers. Participants noted facilitators including short instrument length, convenience, and presession contact; barriers included the length of the interaction, some tasks being more challenging on the phone, and the potential for participant dishonesty. Research assistants noted several facilitators: instrument length, rapport building, ability to prepare for and record sessions, and comfort with the protocol; barriers were items with too many response options, telephone issues (eg, response delays), and concerns about participant comprehension. These results suggest remote telephone-delivered cognitive screening tools as a feasible and acceptable method of research inquiry. The findings provide a starting point for the inclusion of diverse populations in research to capture underrepresented groups whose input would immensely benefit our understanding of remotely delivered cognitive screening measures. Further, we offer materials (eg, checklists), which can be used in future investigations to promote future inclusive research and increase generalizability.

MSC: A Unique Chameleon Hash‐Based Off‐Chain Storage Framework for Metaverse Applications

ABSTRACTBlockchain has evolved into a secure and trustworthy environment for decentralized applications, offering the advantages of tamper‐resistant, while simultaneously introducing on‐chain overhead issues. The development of metaverse related smart contracts on blockchain has given rise to a compelling research inquiry concerning the secure reduction of on‐chain storage overhead. In this research, the Metaverse Off‐chain Storage Framework based on Chameleon hash (MSC), a unique framework for decentralized system based on chameleon hash, supports code or stored data updates without changing on‐chain data is presented. The index of decentralized applications' data is calculated using the Chameleon hash to ensure that the index remains unchanged during the data modification process. Simultaneously, data can be stored outside of the blockchain with proper authentication mechanisms in place. The experimental results have shown that MSC exhibits reduced on‐chain storage requirements when compared to similar frameworks. Furthermore, MSC significantly reduced overhead as compared to the direct storage of data within a smart contract.

Evidence of Strategic Information Literacy Practices in Early Career Teachers' Navigation of TeachersPayTeachers

Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT) has emerged as the most popular online educational marketplace of the moment, but exactly how curriculum marketplaces support professional learning and classroom curriculum design is still an emerging area of inquiry in educational research. This paper explores the perspectives of six novice teachers on the supplemental teaching materials available on TPT. Through semi-structured think-aloud interviews, we identified tensions related to teachers’ landscapes of practice, institutional mistrust, perceived authoritativeness of TPT sellers, curriculum marketplaces as altruistic platforms, and the affordances and constraints of TPT for managing finite resources. Findings suggest that professionals who work with preservice and in-service teachers must reframe their discussion of curriculum marketplaces toward developing early-career teachers’ critical curriculum cultivation practices. Such reframing has the potential to influence how educators make use of online curriculum marketplaces, what resources they download, and how those resources are employed.

Influence of Novelty Centered Business Model Innovations on the Performance of Manufacturing Firms in Kenya

Strategic management scholars agree that innovation in business models is essential for long-term survival in challenging commercial environments. The study was designed to determine the influence of novelty centered business model innovation on the Kenyan manufacturing companies’ performance. The study was anchored on diffusion of innovation theory. The study adopted the descriptive research design and positivism philosophy that was aligned to the classical scientific method of research inquiry. Multi-stage sampling method was adopted to collect data from top management team in the manufacturing sector using a semi- structured questionnaire. The data was analysed using descriptive analysis techniques such as mean, percentages and standard deviation. The study established that novelty centered business model innovation positively and significantly influenced manufacturing firms’ performance. The study recommends that manufacturers should endeavour to innovate their business models in order to achieve superior long-term performance. The study findings inform the extent to which novelty centered business model innovation predicts the performance of manufacturing firms.

Relational knowledge and young people’s cancer care: how community-based participatory research promotes learning and directs action in practice

ABSTRACT This paper reflects on the dynamic of co-developing knowledge within a Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) project in the UK that set out to direct teenage and young adult Ambulatory Care. This is a service that offers cancer treatment that would have once required inpatient hospital stays. Working within a Community-of-Inquiry (CoI), young people from this cancer community became co-researchers, participating in every phase of the qualitative research. This contribution is written from the perspective of two members of the CoI, Alison, a cancer researcher-practitioner, and Michela, a young associate researcher with lived experience of cancer. Drawing on the Ambulatory Care research as a case study, they offer a reflective account of involving young people in research that directs both action and participatory action research processes. In doing so, they engage in a critical exploration of their participatory research inquiry, contextualising their discussion with some of the extant literature relevant to their chosen CBPR approach. The researchers found that both Ambulatory Care and their research dynamic foster young people’s agency. Evident too, was that within research that prioritises relationships and knowledge democracy and which associates with a sense of the collective, individuality can also sit comfortably alongside. The authors conclude this that distinctiveness is a strength, which enhances the learning, criticality, and reach of engaged research inquiry.

University autonomy is a predictor of English medium instruction in European higher education

AbstractDespite extensive research into English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) in higher education, few if any studies have explored the role of higher education autonomy in driving EMI. This paper tests the novel hypothesis that university autonomy—spearheaded across European higher education through neoliberally predicated ‘steering at a distance’ reforms—predicts EMI. The data are multilevel with higher education institutions (HEIs) nested inside education systems. The University Autonomy Scorecards (Pruvot & Estermann, 2017) operationalise university autonomy at the education-system level (n = 26) and measure four dimensions of autonomy: academic, financial, staffing, and organisational. We include ‘overall autonomy’ as the average. The European Tertiary Education Register provides HEI-level data (n = 1815), which we combine with a count of English-taught degree programmes (ETPs) to measure EMI, provided by Study Portals, the largest online portal of degree programmes. We conduct multilevel regression to analyse the relationships between autonomy and EMI. The results showed that overall autonomy predicts EMI in public universities (p = 0.002). Increasing overall autonomy by one point above the mean increases the likelihood of offering EMI by 9.5%. Academic, staffing, and organisational autonomy predict EMI in public universities, whereas financial autonomy does not. The first to quantify a relationship between university autonomy and EMI, this study offers new insights into how EMI comes about. By revealing a previously obscured interconnectedness between language shift and higher education governance, the study demonstrates the value added of an interdisciplinary approach and proposes a new line of inquiry for future research.