This paper shows how informative qualitative research into student perceptions and values can be carried out by studying how small groups of students (focus groups) respond to a…
Abstract
This paper shows how informative qualitative research into student perceptions and values can be carried out by studying how small groups of students (focus groups) respond to a text (such as a literary text or newspaper article), within a ‘semi-structured’ framework. The discussions are prompted and structured by the researchers’ questions and prompts to elicit students’ attitudes and experience, but the structure is flexible enough to give space for unforeseen answers and questions. The paper explains the role of the researcher/moderator and research assistant, and gives some suggestions for conducting focus groups based on this technique.
This article will outline my experiences and offer practical recommendations when teaching in a university classroom when the professor and the students come from vastly different…
Abstract
This article will outline my experiences and offer practical recommendations when teaching in a university classroom when the professor and the students come from vastly different cultural backgrounds. I recently relocated from Canada to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to teach female Muslim post secondary students - many of whom are the first in their family to receive higher education. Since it was difficult to find material on how to adapt one’s teaching style to be more culturally sensitive in the university classroom, the intention of this article is to provide specific tips and strategies on how to adapt one’s teaching style when immersed in an unfamiliar culture.
Jill Frances Atkins, Federica Doni, Karen McBride and Christopher Napier
This paper seeks to broaden the agenda for environmental and ecological accounting research across several dimensions, extending the form of accounting in this field by…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to broaden the agenda for environmental and ecological accounting research across several dimensions, extending the form of accounting in this field by encouraging research into its historical roots and developing a definition of accounting that can address the severe environmental and ecological challenges of the 21st century.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors explored environmental and ecological accounts from the dawn of human consciousness across a wide variety of media and in a broad range of forms. This theoretical approach reacts to the cold capitalist commodification of nature inherent in much environmental accounting practice, which documents, values and records usage of natural capital with little attempt to address depletion and loss.
Findings
By analysing the earliest ecological and environmental “accounts” recorded by humans at the dawn of human consciousness, and considering a wide array of subsequent accounts, the authors demonstrate that rather than being a secondary, relatively recent development emerging from financial accounting and reporting, environmental and ecological accounting predated financial accounting by tens of thousands of years. This research also provides a wealth of perspectives on diversity, not only in forms of account but also in the diversity of accountants, as well as the broadness of the stakeholders to whom and to which the accounts are rendered.
Research limitations/implications
The paper can be placed at the intersection of accounting history, the alternative, interdisciplinary and critical accounts literature, and environmental and ecological accounting research.
Practical implications
Practically, the authors can draw ideas and inspiration from the historical forms and content of ecological and environmental account that can inform new forms of and approaches to accounting.
Social implications
There are social implications including the diversity of accounts and accountants derived from studying historical ecological and environmental accounts from the dawn of human consciousness especially in the broadening out of the authors' understanding of the origins and cultural roots of accounting.
Originality/value
This study concludes with a new definition of accounting, fit for purpose in the 21st century, that integrates ecological, environmental concerns and is emancipatory, aiming to restore nature, revive biodiversity, conserve species and enhance ecosystems.
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This qualitative research study focused upon collaboration between regular and special education teachers in middle school inclusive social studies classrooms. Data sources…
Abstract
This qualitative research study focused upon collaboration between regular and special education teachers in middle school inclusive social studies classrooms. Data sources included interviews, observations and a review of Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). Two pairs of regular and special education teachers (high and low collaborators) were selected from three schools in different counties. Major findings included a description of the ways teachers formed and maintained their relationships, the role of administrators, and obstacles that needed to be overcome. Lack of time was identified as the greatest obstacle. IEPs were not found to be useful. Teacher use of accommodations and strategies tended to be global, rather than individualized. Perceptions of role were examined by teacher type.
Elizabeth Parsons and Adelina Broadbridge
The purpose of this paper is to explore how gender identity is played out in a particular type of work setting, that of charity retail, and to explore the impacts of increased…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how gender identity is played out in a particular type of work setting, that of charity retail, and to explore the impacts of increased managerialism on this process of identity construction.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is informed by interviews with 22 charity shop managers from three UK cities. The narratives of three of these managers are chosen for more in‐depth analysis. The paper focuses primarily on understandings of identity as practised, exploring the enactment of a series of conflicting and overlapping “selves” in the workplace. The practices and discourses surrounding the retail (or businesslike) self, the charitable self and the caring self in particular are discussed.
Findings
It was found that the process of creeping managerialism in the sector both values and promotes the discourses of “retail” but marginalises those of “charity and of care”. This presents serious dilemmas of identity for charity shop managers and is a source of considerable stress for them. However, it was also found that managers were using the discourses of charity and of care to resist this managerial process. Attention was paid to the ways in which gendered identities are constrained and enabled by and through the discourses circulating in organisational life. Presents a series of observations concerning the future possibilities that retail work in particular might offer for identity construction.
Research limitations/implications
The analysis is based on a small sample of qualitative interviews, therefore the findings are not meant to be generalisable to the wider population. This “vignette” approach allows us to explore in some depth the relations between identity construction and organisational context.
Originality/value
Empirical paper using an alternative lens to analyse gender identity and the impacts of increasing managerialism on processes of identity construction. Highlights in particular the continual struggles over meaning within organisations.
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Ussama Yaqub, Tauqeer Saleem and Salma Zaman
The purpose of this paper is to explore the reaction of Pakistani citizens toward online privacy in the context of the Pakistan Government's COVID-19 app privacy breach.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the reaction of Pakistani citizens toward online privacy in the context of the Pakistan Government's COVID-19 app privacy breach.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors implemented supervised and unsupervised machine learning methods, that is, topic modeling and sentiment analysis on Google app store user review data.
Findings
There was no visible concern shown by the citizens toward the COVID-19 app privacy breach, even though it was well highlighted in the news. Other studies have also indicated that concern for online privacy remains low in developing countries, which aligns with the findings of this paper.
Originality/value
Globally COVID-19 apps have been a cause of concern in terms of public privacy. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first in the Pakistani context to show the impact of a well-document privacy breach of a government COVID-19 app.
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To achieve tenure and promotion, an academician must demonstrate productivity and persistence in the midst of uncertainty. While there are policies in place to guide the tenure…
Abstract
To achieve tenure and promotion, an academician must demonstrate productivity and persistence in the midst of uncertainty. While there are policies in place to guide the tenure and promotion processes, at most institutions, the policies are written in a professionally vague manner such that “The Committee,” made up of senior faculty, has sufficient leeway to make a decision deemed most appropriate for all parties involved, including the junior faculty member under consideration. My essay highlights my experiences with the tenure and promotion processes at two different institutions on my academic journey and uses sayings to convey messages of importance to the process. After providing some personal background information that includes some of my strengths and fears for context, I transition to a discussion of my decision to exchange a coveted, tenure-track position for a long-term contract at a newly established state college with an opportunity of being promoted to the highly esteemed rank of Full Professor.
While the requirements and processes vary from institution to institution, and for tenure and promotion, the angst and anticipation generated can be fairly consistent, even if you are confident in what you have accomplished. Through the sharing of personal lived experiences (or biodata; Snell, Stokes, Sands, & McBride, 1994), I attempt to normalize these feelings and questions, while juxtaposing the beauty and burden of being an African-American male professor in Predominantly White Institutions (PWI) (Bell & Nkomo, 1999; Stanley, 2006; Turner, Gonzalez, & Wood, 2008; Warde, 2009). Furthermore, I offer key sayings and coping strategies (Johnson, Haynes, Holyfield, & Foster, 2014) that will allow individuals to not only survive but also thrive within these seemingly committees or make administrative decisions about said processes.