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Through a review of the literature, this article seeks to outline and understand the evolution and extent of user–participant involvement in the existing library and information science (LIS) research to identify gaps and existing research approaches that might inform further methodological development in participant-oriented and design-based LIS research.

A scoping literature review of LIS research, from the 1960s onward, was conducted, assessing the themes and trends in understanding the user/participant within the LIS field. It traces LIS research from its early focus on information and relevancy to the “user turn”, to the rise of participatory research, especially design-based, as well as the recent inclusion of Indigenous and decolonial methodologies.

The literature review indicates that despite the reported “user turn”, LIS research often does not include the user as an active and equal participant within research projects.

The findings from this review support the development of alternative design research methodologies in LIS that fully include and involve research participants as full partners – from planning through dissemination of results – and suggests avenues for continuing the development of such design-based research. To that end, it lays the foundations for the introduction of a novel methodology, Action Partnership Research Design (APRD).

Responding to the continuing separation of participants and researchers in LIS participatory research, a new methodology is proposed: action partnership research design (APRD). It is asserted that APRD can mitigate or remove the hierarchical structures often inherent in the research process, thus allowing for equal contribution from all.

Building on the bonded design (BD) methodology and informed by a scoping literature review conducted by the same authors, APRD is a human-centered research approach with the goal of empowering and valuing community partnerships. APRD originates from research investigating the use of participatory design methods to foster collaboration between two potentially disparate groups, firstly with adult researchers/designers and elementary school children, and secondly with university faculty and IT professionals.

To achieve this goal, in addition to BD techniques, APRD draws inspiration from elements of indigenous and decolonization research methodologies, particularly those with an emphasis on destabilizing power hierarchies and involving research participants as full partners.

APRD, which emerged from findings from previous participatory design studies, especially those of BD, is based on the premise of partnership, recognizing that each member of a design team, whether researcher or participant/user, has unique expertise to contribute. By considering participants/users as full research partners, APRD aims to flatten the hierarchies exhibited in some LIS participatory research methodologies, where participants are treated more like research subjects than partners.

The aim of this paper is to outline the collaborative approach used to craft national learning standards for tertiary programs in the field of environment and sustainability in Australia. The field of environment and sustainability is broad and constituted by diverse stakeholders. As such, articulating a common set of learning standards presents challenges.

The authors developed and used a staged collaborative curriculum design methodology to engage more than 250 stakeholders in tertiary environmental education, including discipline scholars, students, professional associations and employers and other environmental educators. The approach was adaptive, to ensure underrepresented stakeholders’ perspectives were welcomed and recognised. The project was commissioned by the Australian Council of Environmental Deans and Directors (ACEDD) and funded by the Federal Government’s Office for Learning and Teaching.

The collaborative approach developed and used for this work facilitated an inclusive process that valued diversity of perspectives, rather than marginalise diversity in favour of a perspective representing a minimum level of agreement. This is reflected in the standards themselves, and is evidenced by participant feedback, piloting of the standards and their subsequent application at multiple universities. Achieving this required careful planning and facilitation, to ensure a democratisation of the stakeholder consultation process, and to build consensus in support of the standards. Endorsement by ACEDD formalised the standards’ status.

Collaborative curriculum design offered the opportunity to foster a shared sense of common purpose amongst diverse environmental education stakeholders. This approach to curriculum design is intensive and generative but uncommon and may be usefully adapted and applied in other contexts. The authors note one subsequent instance where the approach has been further developed and applied in transforming a generalist science program, suggesting the methodology used in this case may be applied across other contexts, albeit with appropriate adjustments: the authors offer it here in the spirit of supporting others in their own complex curriculum design challenges.

Imprisonment impacts women’s childbearing and mothering experiences. Using sociological concepts of total institutions, pains of imprisonment and gendered pains of imprisonment, this study aims to explore the childbearing experiences of 18 Filipino incarcerated women.

A qualitative, inductive approach was undertaken to explore imprisoned women’s pregnancy experiences. This research project used reflexive thematic analysis to examine the data from semi-structured interviews with 18 Filipino pregnant prisoners.

The participants’ experiences of childbearing in prison were reflected in three overarching themes: lack of autonomy over pregnancy; reduced capacity to manage discomforts and needs; and coping with prison deprivations. These themes embody women’s experiences of how imprisonment disrupts Filipino women’s childbearing and mothering experiences. Furthermore, the results illustrated how the women navigated the prison regime to address their needs and cope with the pains of imprisonment.

Although there is a small but growing body of research specifically focusing on mothering and imprisonment, little consideration has been given to analyzing Filipino women’s pregnancy experiences in custody. This paper highlights an urgent need to reform correctional policies and practices to address incarcerated women’s distinct needs.

Facilities management (FM) as a strategic management tool has been an attractive research topic among scholars and practitioners alike for decades. The primary purpose of this paper is threefold: to assess the extent of use of FM roles (strategic, tactical and operational); to examine user satisfaction of service quality performance; and to analyse the influence of FM roles on service quality performance using data from Nigeria’s banking sector.

Relying on exploratory cross-sectional survey, 350 copies of a structured questionnaire were purposively distributed to senior management staff, bank staff, FM supervisors and bank customers in Lagos, Nigeria. One hundred and forty valid responses were returned to give a response rate of 40%. Data collected were analysed using descriptive, Spearman rank correlation and Kruskal–Wallis tests.

It was discovered that strategic facilities planning, IT planning strategy and real estate decisions are the most important FM roles at the strategic level; resource management, data control and planning change at the tactical level; and implementations, building operations and emergencies at the operation level. Findings equally revealed that visual appealing of materials associated with services (tangibles), insisting on error-free records (reliability), willing to help (responsiveness), having the knowledge to answer questions (assurance) and giving individualised attention (empathy) were the most important service quality performance indicators. Furthermore, the study revealed that strategic FM roles significantly influenced tangibles, reliability and responsiveness of staff and the services. Besides, tactical FM roles significantly influenced all service quality indicators except assurance, while operational FM roles had significant influence on tangibles, responsiveness and empathy.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study has provided first ever insight into the extent of FM strategic roles in the banking sector and influence of FM roles on service quality performance.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how mock jurors’ experiences of deliberations are impacted by the defendant having a personality disorder.

This study used a qualitative approach to explore mock jurors’ experiences during the deliberations of a fictional defendant, Sarah Priest. Ten participants formed two mock juries, and each mock jury were given two case studies to deliberate. Case study one described Priest as having “Severe Personality Disorder, Borderline Pattern” whereas case study two described Priest as having “Complex Mental Health Problems”. There were no changes to the content of the case studies aside from the change in language used to describe the defendant.

An inductive thematic analysis identified two main themes relating to juror experience: “Interaction with Other Mock Jurors” and “Language as a Barrier to a Verdict”. Participants constructed that prosocial interactions with other mock jurors in the deliberations helped them make a verdict decision, but some of these interactions led to disagreements between participants due to a wide variation of opinion. Second, the different description of the defendant in each case study were constructed to have made the deliberations and decision-making difficult, but for different reasons. In case study one, a lack of knowledge surrounding BPD was the reason for this difficulty, and in case study two, participants thought that the applicability of diminished responsibility criteria were unclear, making it hard to reach a verdict.

The findings have key implications for the judicial system; common experiences can be identified and recorded to implement procedures to protect jurors from adverse experiences.

There is a lack of studies that have investigated juror experience in the UK, and the few studies available have used a quantitative methodology. The approach taken in the current study is, therefore, unique in a UK context. The findings have key implications for the judicial system; common experiences can be identified and recorded to implement procedures to protect jurors from adverse experiences.

This study examines how different stacking sequences of bamboo and flax fibers, treated with 5% aqueous sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and filled with 6wt% titanium oxide (TiO₂), affect the physical, mechanical and dry sliding wear resistance properties of a hybrid composite.

Composites with different fiber stacking arrangements were developed and tested per American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards to evaluate physical, mechanical and wear resistance properties, focusing on the impact of flax fiber mats at intermediate and outer layers.

The hybrid composite significantly outperformed composites reinforced solely with bamboo fibers, showing a 65.95% increase in tensile strength, a 53.29% boost in flexural strength and a 91.01% improvement in impact strength. The configuration with multiple layers of flax fiber mat at intermediate and outer levels also demonstrated superior wear resistance.

This study highlights the critical role of stacking order in optimizing the mechanical properties and wear resistance of hybrid composites. The findings provide valuable insights for the design and application of advanced composite materials, particularly in industries requiring high performance and durability.

Researchers have opined that the quality of commitment to pedagogical approaches by lecturers is one of the most important factors in determining student academic success. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the mediating effect of research informed teaching on the relationship between lecturer commitment to use of pedagogical approaches and teaching quality, with a view towards enabling delivery of high quality teaching and learning in HEIs.

The research is based on an online survey of the perception of 186 undergraduate and postgraduate students in four major UK universities. Covariance-based structural equation modelling (SEM) methodology was used to quantity and clarify the influence of lecturers' pedagogical attributes on teaching quality, mediated by research-informed teaching.

Findings reveal that: lecturers' pedagogical attributes have significant positive effect on teaching quality, research-informed teaching have significant positive effect on teaching quality, lecturers' pedagogical attributes have weak positive effect on research-informed teaching, and research-informed teaching partially mediates (indirect effect) the relationship between lecturers' pedagogical attributes and teaching quality.

Structural equation models are useful for clarifying concepts in pedagogy and have implications for education managers on how to improve teaching and learning in HEIs.

The paper presents a unique quantitative model for measuring the degree of teaching quality in universities.