Research Stance Research Articles

The thought of community with a shared future for mankind and the construction of China’s international political economy

Purpose Central to this paper, Western international political economy cannot well explain China’s peaceful development and its political and economic ties with the outside world, and it is even more difficult to reflect the characteristics of the times that the great changes unseen in a century and socialism with Chinese characteristics have entered into a new era, which are synchronously intertwined and mutually agitated. Constructing China’s international political economy not only emphasizes the Chinese perspective, Chinese discourse and Chinese narrative but also examines the development trend and major problems facing the world from the height of world history and applies the position, viewpoints and methods of Marxist historical materialism to observe the times, interpret the times and lead the times. Design/methodology/approach Looking back at the development of China’s international political economy, from introducing Western international political economy to increasingly emphasizing the Chinese perspective, Chinese discourse and Chinese narrative, we analyze the distinctive features of China’s international political economy from Western international political economy. Findings The thought of community with a shared future for mankind is the latest development and concentrated embodiment of Marxist thought on world history in the 21st century, which gives China’s international political economy a distinctive epochal, scientific and practical character, stipulates the research stance and fundamental purpose, establishes the research theme and main line and expands the research space for the construction of Chinese international political economy. Originality/value The construction of China’s international political economy is not only to create a “Chinese school” of international relations but more importantly to construct a discourse and academic system of China’s international political economy that can understand and grasp the changes in the world, the times and history, providing academic support for in-depth thinking and answering the question of “What is wrong with the world? What should we do?” and contributing Chinese wisdom.

Post-criticality and the pursuit of an empirical philosophy of education: epistemology, methodology, ethics

Abstract This article examines the relevance of post-criticality as a research stance across various traditions in educational research. After problematizing the dominance of critical approaches centred on deconstruction and denunciation, the authors advocate instead for an empirical philosophy of education. This article sets the stage for a suite of articles, published in this issue, which explore affirmative, engaged methodologies that prioritize proximity to educational practices over detached critique. Collectively, the articles investigate how post-critical methodologies can produce richer understandings of educational realities and foster meaningful connections between theory and practice.

Understanding learners’ relationships with music

Relationships with music are at the core of music education. However, they are rarely studied from learners viewpoints—especially those of exceptionally motivated, advanced students—as they are incorporated into the theoretical underpinning or methodological stance of research in instrumental education. In this research project we follow the musical lives of ten advanced, mastery-oriented adolescent instrumentalists. The focus of this first report of our narrative ethnography is on how their relationships with music manifest in written narratives on the role of music and instrument learning in their life. While corroborating findings of previous research, the results demonstrate many idiosyncracies in the trajectories of our participants, including critical events. The results show that studying relationships with music and their development may reveal complex ecological systems in instrument learning and interconnected theoretical concepts, such as self-regulation, self-efficacy, agency, autonomy, identity, and metacognition. These phenomena—which can be challenging to differentiate, adapt, and apply in terms of learning practices—may seem far-removed from everyday musical practices, but can be consolidated when looking at relationships with music as gateways to the learning of musical instruments.

The Puzzles in Research-Ethics Review

There are puzzles in research-ethics review that confound researchers in the social sciences. First, how did the biomedical research ethics process capture the research-ethics perspectives in the social sciences? Second, why has it proved impossible to recognize the relevance of stepping outside the biomedical paradigm? Third, what institutional agencies have not permitted researchers in the social sciences to abandon the biomedical paradigm and adopt one that is relevant for social scientists? There are particular elements that characterize the ethics-review process. Some phrases as ‘rigor’ dissuade inductive researchers, the power of hierarchical nature of research-ethics committees inevitably impose the biomedical stance in research, the colonizing nature of research-ethics betrays its American bias, and the insistence that all researchers implement a data-management plan is not relevant to the social sciences. Some of the more common suggestions to improve the situation are unworkable.

Organised loneliness and its discontents

AbstractThis review paper offers a critique of the discourse of loneliness both in the popular and academic imagination. It questions the stance and approach of much loneliness research and the headlines that have been extracted from it. These position loneliness as an epidemic, framing it as a global public health problem, its aetiology and management located in the individual. The paper draws attention to overlooked alternative framings of loneliness as well as to the risks of maintaining our current levels of alarm regarding it. Finally, the work of Hannah Arendt is turned to, as part of a wider academic reappreciation of her work on loneliness. The paper ends by suggesting what can be learned by loneliness researchers in the medical humanities from such political analyses.

Entrenched, Unrelenting, Unsettled: Cultural Essentialism in International Development Research on Domestic Violence in Nepal

Domestic violence (DV) is a serious problem that reinforces patriarchy and interlocking systems of oppression. Yet, as a form of gender-based violence, DV has long been implicated in essentialist discourses that produce cultural Others, primarily through a deficit lens. Similarly, the field of international development was founded upon a discursive binary between groups labeled “traditional” and an idealized portrait of Western modernity. Drawing on feminist and postcolonial scholarship, this study employed critical discourse analysis (CDA) to investigate how culture was constructed in 26 development research reports funded by international organizations that examined DV in Nepal. The analysis revealed that references to tradition and social change, and discourses of violence as endemic to place, sustained essentializing formulations of Nepali culture. Nevertheless, some passages in the documents inserted evidence that unsettled this essentialist narrative. These findings suggest that researchers, policymakers, and practitioners should develop a reflexive anti-essentialist stance, promote collaboration and leadership in research by diverse stakeholders in developing countries, seek to understand local strategies and resources that are being used to address social problems such as DV, and document the impacts of recent and transnational processes on social problems within developing countries.

“Creo que mi meta es ayudar a mi comunidad y ver un cambio”: Latinas/os remaking home through community-engaged mapping

ABSTRACT This paper presents an ethnographic and qualitative exploration of how resident-driven mapping shapes our understanding of place and space in a changing environment. Conducted from 2018 to 2022, the study collaboratively engaged community members in mapping exercises, which helped inform the study and its purpose to uncover their complex feelings related to changes in the neighborhood, including the light rail expansion. By “hanging out” with the community and embracing a participatory research stance, the study unveiled a nuanced understanding of how residents make sense of space and place in an evolving context. This paper sheds light on the dynamic interplay between space, place, and identity. The mapping component served as a counterpoint to traditional top-down power dynamics, allowing residents to visually articulate their boundaries of South Phoenix. As the co-collaborators’ maps challenged government-issued maps, the project highlighted the agency of Latinas/os in redefining spatial narratives. The incorporation of mapping, often overlooked in empirical literature, has emerged as a tool of resistance and empowerment, giving voice to historically marginalized perspectives. By integrating spatial analysis into the study of community dynamics, this paper’s findings contribute to a more holistic understanding of the impact of urban development on identity and sense of place. It underscores the importance of collaborative, bottom-up approaches in research and planning processes, emphasizing the role of spatial perceptions in shaping lived experiences.

Riding the waves of discomforts: Reflecting on the dialogue of hydrologists with society

Although there is a deep historical relationship between hydrology and society, the relationship has considerably evolved in the last three decades. Hydrologists, in particular those involved in designing of decision-support tools, are experiencing a widening gap between an academic discipline which has progressively moved away from field-based applied natural science to computational hydrology, and the multiplication of stakeholders involved in the water-related issues addressed by research. The challenge for hydrology is now to negotiate this shift and to rethink its engagement in society. This paper provides a description of a planned process designed to improve hydrology-society interactions and to foster reflexivity in socio-hydrology. Based on an interdisciplinary reflexive process undertaken in Tunisia from 2016 to 2020, we identified three types of discomforts in the dialogue with society, inviting scientists to lucidly engage with these discomforts. We formulated four key reflexive propositions to achieve a better alignment of scientific stance, research practices and discourse. The first proposition concerns the need to explain more clearly the value systems scientists engage in and with society. The second concerns the need to position hydrology in society and not outside it, by reconsidering the functions that research fulfils in society. The third is an invitation to redefine the perimeter of the research interlocutors and the way to reach them. The fourth is to revisit scientific practices to build on the strengths of the dialogue between field-based natural science and computational hydrology. The paper concludes that adopting a reflexive posture towards these four dimensions of the dialogue between hydrology and society is an effective way to overcome discomforts and to refocus research stance, practices and discourse. It is a way to renew hydrology's place in society and to contribute to the current thinking in socio-hydrology initiated by hydrologists.

Amplifying Diverse Narratives of Social Support in Online Health Design

This article interrogates the competing narratives present in one online community for Asherman syndrome to highlight how certain stories about infertility/parenthood thrive in online discussions while others are suppressed or silenced. The author argues that employing a research stance centered on reproductive justice creates new possibilities for coalition building across differences in community-engaged research design. As reproductive justice frameworks aim to protect all reproductive freedoms, these methods eschew cohesive narratives and instead prioritize amplifying diverse patient voices. The article concludes with patient recommendations for communication design interventions to improve user experience with social support online.

Sustainability transitions in the making in agroecosystems: Changes in research scope and methods

CONTEXTThe urgency of redesigning the way food is produced and consumed has implications for the systems perspective of agronomy. An increasingly important strain of research addresses the ‘how-to’ question associated with the transformation of ‘maldesigned’ agricultural systems and produces ‘transformative knowledge’ as part of transitions in-the-making. Such knowledge production goes beyond ‘transformation knowledge’ resulting from the more classical analytical agronomic approaches and stances. Contributing to transitions in-the-making thus calls for systems agronomists to question their profession's why, what, and how. OBJECTIVEThis special issue brings together contributions by systems agronomists collaborating with other scientists and societal actors revealing the less visible stream of fine-grained work to support transitions in-the-making in agroecosystems. METHODSIn this introductory paper, changes in research scope and methods emerging from the contributions are highlighted to reinforce the engaged systems agronomist's roles in contributing to food system transitions. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONSThree results stand out: 1) Contributing to transitions in-the-making necessitates going beyond analysis-oriented research stances to address the ‘how’ of transformative knowledge, and move beyond the more time-efficient dominant ‘what’ and ‘why’ questions; 2) Meta-methods are emerging about how to adapt and embed existing agronomic knowledge products within change processes. Reflection on the overarching transformation dynamics and on how to articulate knowledge products and change process will constitute an important extension of the systems agronomist's methods; 3) The efficacy of scientific transformative knowledge development may be enhanced if the notion of design is used more strictly in relation to engagement in societal change. SIGNIFICANCEThe need to respond to the how-to questions associated with the transformation of the way food is produced and consumed requires systems agronomists to reflect on their stance in the research process, the way they design their research inclusively, and the way they shape their methods. This Special Issue provides promising examples of the (re-)emerging strain of engaged systems agronomists.

The Impact of a Business Incubation Centre On Business Enterprises in Gozo

It is widely acknowledged that micro-firms, together with small- and mediumsizedenterprises (SMEs), contribute economic value to their countrys Gross DomesticProduct such that they are considered to be the backbone of their countrys economy.However, small- and micro-firms face tests emanating from a lack of resources, access tofinance, shortage of databases, increase in market competition, and a lack of entrepreneurialeagerness, capacity, and expertise. This research study examines to what extent Gozo, asmall island, can strengthen its economic development and competitiveness by offeringits micro-firms a business incubation centre. A micro-firm employs up to nine employees.The research stance applied is grounded theory methodology as advocated by Charmazs(2006) constructivist approach. The use of interpretive and qualitative in-depth interviewsis undertaken with nine owner-managers of micro-firms where one could note that thespirit of entrepreneurship of these owner-managers is high. Mistakes committed by theowner-managers past management endeavours signals if there is the need of a businessincubation centre in Gozo, a centre that will offer support to new business start-ups ona small island, with around 30,000 inhabitants. This research study came up with verysignificant findings. New micro-firms established in Gozo are after innovation and newmarkets. Their owner-managers have the drive and the insight to innovate and are eagerto move forward. New firms are ready to look for capital so that their venture can competemore effectively, notwithstanding that banks have become very restrictive when providingfinance. In most cases, micro-firms are politely denied finance as they are deemed too unsafeto lend to. EU funding necessitates that micro-firms have expert advice in the completionof EU funds applications; most micro-firms in Gozo cannot afford to employ a specialistfor such a job. Owner-managers of micro-firms hold that Gozos necessities should belooked at in a different manner from Malta as they consider the lead time to import rawmaterials to be much longer than their counterparts in Malta. Micro-firms managers areseeking a facility in Gozo that is able to provide them with managerial training relating tothe recruitment of personnel, business planning, marketing capability, new investments,and organisation. Owner-managers seek to address their innovation eagerness by having abusiness incubation centre in Gozo that caters for research and development programmes.

Rethinking Energy Efficiency: The Role of Sociology in Illuminating Humane Dimensions

Since inception sociology has investigated the societal impact of complex interplays between utilization & exploitation of natural resources, development & transition of technologies generating and distributing energy in economic (mostly industrial) and social systems. Issues related to resource depletion, climate change, national security or energy consumption at large is viewed as mote scientific rather than social issue. For devising any effective policy interventions. It is important to grasp that energy consumption does not happen is Isolation. Energy consumption by individuals or communities can be viewed social activity. Sociologically perceiving energy consumption opens a set of questions linked with its social dynamics and social organization of energy-conserving practices. An effort is made to bring together scattered studies that aim to explore nuances involved in exploring sociological linkages (along with related issues) that impact energy behaviour, energy conversation knowledge & practices. The study attempts to enquire social dynamics & social organization of energy conserving practices and social change as sociologically driven debate can suggest policy gaps related to humane dimensions of energy efficiency. This Inquiry allows to identify and explore alternate viewpoints for understanding socio-technological changes concerned with energy policy framing/interventions, Sociology presents promising grounds for contributing to energy' and climate policy. Instead of following conventional advisor's role, sociological investigation in this domain opens up avenues for further critical research stances.

Against Implications: Ethnographic Witnessing as Research Stance in the Lebanese Conflict Zone

Legacies of violence—and the exigencies of care that emerge in contexts of conflict—become visible in schools and yet often remain unacknowledged. These conflicts are often elided in educational policy making and research focused on developing best practices. I step back from research oriented toward problem solving to argue for a method (ethnography), a stance (witnessing), and a refusal (to draw implications for practice). Documenting the work of teaching in one Lebanese public school, I analyze the complexities of relationships and practices that emerge as teachers live with children in a space of enduring precarity. I show how, given the enormity of the conflicts, and the impossibility of addressing them through education, teachers’ silence about the conditions of children’s lives is almost the only thing that makes sense; but in the “almost” rests space for crafting an education that weaves affiliative forms of sociality across the rifts of a conflict-ridden society.

Историк науки в историографическом пространстве кавказоведения

The article explores the intricate workings of the development of Caucasian studies, the conver-sion of historical records into historiography, and the broadening of the historian's range of re-search methods. Interest in the internal problems of historiographic research is not accidental, since “the historian cannot but think about the intellectual prerequisites of his own research,” em-phasizes A.Ya. Gurevich, “which voluntarily or involuntarily determine both the methods he uses and the forms and structures of his constructions”. Recently, a broad comprehension of historio-graphic fact, as any fact that provides scientific data on the history of science, has been highlight-ed. The focus of historiographic research is mainly on the concept and paradigm, which reflects the researcher's stance on the issue being studied. In the history of science, a scheme for the sys-tematization of historiographic facts has been formed - firstly, the main facts that make it possible to reconstruct the concept (these are, first of all, the works of professional historians) are distin-guished, and, secondly, auxiliary facts that help to recreate the historian’s laboratory, the context of the creation of labor, the values of the era, etc. One of the most difficult problems of modern Caucasian studies is the analysis of the process of the metamorphosis of historical fact into histo-riographic. How is historical fact included in the system of historiographic relations? Are there any features in the development of this process in Caucasian studies, or do they correspond to all-Russian patterns? These responses assist us in recognizing certain trends in the evolution of his-torical science and Caucasian studies specifically.

New Vistas on Responsible Learning Analytics

The focus of ethics in learning analytics (LA) frameworks and guidelines is predominantly on procedural elements of data management and accountability. Another, less represented focus is on the duty to act and LA as a moral practice. Data feminism as a critical theoretical approach to data science practices may offer LA research and practitioners a valuable lens through which to consider LA as a moral practice. This paper examines what data feminism can offer the LA community. It identifies critical questions for further developing and enabling a responsible stance in LA research and practice taking one particular case — algorithmic decision-making — as a point of departure.

Combining systemic and pragmatic approaches for the holistic diagnosis of a farm in agroecological transition in a health context

IntroductionToday, agriculture and livestock farming are facing environmental, social and health challenges. The agroecological transition is a possible response to these challenges. It requires changes in practices but also an evolution in farmers' ways of thinking and relationships with living things. Some diagnostics of farms, such as the global analysis of farms, behaviors and practices.MethodsWe therefore propose a holistic approach combining a global analysis of farms and a pragmatic approach to understand the functioning of agricultural production systems. This pragmatic turn enables to integrate the ways in which the farmer's reality is established, the performance of the system, the associated metrics and the farmer's relationship with life.Results and discussionUsing the example of a farm in transition, we show that it is the combination researcher's stance and allows for a renewed dialogue between research and farmers in the field.

Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts and its cooperation with Yugoslavian Academies of Sciences and Arts (1938–1992)

The paper presents a brief overlook of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts and stance of Slovenian researchers towards Yugoslavian cultural policy. Slovenian scientists defended the independent status of their institutions, including the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and therefore opposed policies that would lead to the unification of Yugoslav institutions. In-depth cooperation between Yugoslav academies began after the Second World War, when the academies had their own research institutes. Initially, the cooperation was financed by the federal government, whereas with introduction of self-management financial burden was placed on academies themselves. In the late 1980s, the social crisis consumed the relations between the academies, which retained only formal contacts that were suspended after the breakup of Yugoslavia

Using interpretative phenomenological analysis to gain a qualitative understanding of presence in virtual reality.

Quantitative methods have thus far been the predominant methodological stance of virtual presence research, leaving much to be desired in terms of qualitative understanding. Yet, virtual experiences are a highly personal engagement, unique to each individual, and their presence in virtual reality can be viewed in terms of its experiential individuality. This aspect of the virtual experience is overlooked by conventional quantitative methods, which clusters ratings or scores to form group deductions. Therefore, to address the qualitative gap in the literature and provide an appropriate examination of virtual experiences from the perspective of the individual, an Interpretative Phenomenological Approach was undertaken. This alternate methodology sought to reveal which aspects of virtual experiences users identify as enabling feelings of presence. Examination of common themes among accounts of individuals were performed, to investigate the generation of feelings of presence in virtual reality. Online recruitment provided six interviewees who participated in online semi-structured interviews, prior to Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. Three superordinate themes were identified: visual satisfaction, freedom of interaction and suspension of real life. Expectance, realism and prevention of disbelief are among the sub-themes identified that contributed to the interviewee's highly present experiences. The identified themes demonstrated the greatest influences of enabling a deeper sense of presence, in turn enhancing their experiences within virtual reality. In acknowledging these mitigating influences, it is hoped this may enable future virtual systems to build upon the research provided and produce consistently high-presence experiences. Consequently, this can aid educational, therapeutic and entertainment applications of virtual reality.

What if we abandon the concept of career proactivity to move research forward?

AbstractThe idea that individuals need to be proactive to successfully manage their career is predominant in current career research. Despite the great importance attached to career proactivity, the literature on the topic remains fragmented. I thus highly welcome the comprehensive literature review Career proactivity: A bibliometric literature review and future research agenda. The authors conduct a thorough and rigorous bibliometric analysis to uncover the width, evolution, and gaps in the literature on career proactivity. I also welcome their roadmap for future research. I very much agree with the issues they point out: Cleaning up concepts, integrating context, and developing new theories. But I do wonder if their specific suggestions on these issues will not tend toward status quo and further fragmentation. Questioning the agentic assumption and individualistic stance of research on career proactivity, I plea for a different and more unconventional route. Below, I reflect on the author's and my ideas on these three issues: Concept clarification, including context, and new theory.

Design and Control of a Pneumatic Muscle Servo Drive Containing Its Own Pneumatic Muscles

This article presents static and dynamic characteristics of artificial pneumatic muscles. The research stance and the methodology for their determination are described. A mathematical model of a pneumatic muscle has been proposed, having two inputs—the force generated by the muscle and the displacement of the muscle tip, and one output—the valve control voltage. The quality of object mapping was verified by a mathematical model for various trajectories. Then, the control system for the moment servo drive force was composed of two pneumatic muscles working in opposite directions connected by a toothed belt gear. The servo drive was verified and evaluated.