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Inquiry
Kinds of Inquiry Terms modified by Inquiry Selected AbstractsTHE COMPETITION COMMISSION INQUIRY INTO SME BANKINGECONOMIC AFFAIRS, Issue 4 2002Peter Freeman This article describes the current Fair Trading Act régime for complex monopoly investigations with particular reference to the Competition Commission's recent SME Banking Inquiry. There then follows a critique of aspects of the process and an outline of the market investigation régime in the proposed Enterprise Act with an assessment of likely changes this will make to investigations of this kind. [source] WHAT FEMINIST INQUIRY CONTRIBUTES TO PHILOSOPHY AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION: A SYMPOSIUMEDUCATIONAL THEORY, Issue 3 2007Barbara J Thayer-Bacon First page of article [source] TOWARD A PNEUMATOLOGICAL THEOLOGY OF RELIGIONS: A PENTECOSTAL-CHARISMATIC INQUIRYINTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF MISSION, Issue 361 2002VELI-MATTI KÄRKKÄINEN First page of article [source] THE PARADOX OF INQUIRY IN AUGUSTINE'S CONFESSIONSMETAPHILOSOPHY, Issue 1 2008SCOTT MACDONALD Abstract: The Confessions recounts Augustine's successful search for God. But Augustine worries that one cannot search for God if one does not already know God. That version of the paradox of inquiry dominates and structures Confessions 1,10. I draw connections between the dramatic opening lines of book 1 and the climactic discussion in book 10.26,38 and argue that the latter discussion contains Augustine's resolution of the paradox of inquiry as it applies to the special case of searching for God. I claim that he develops a model, relying on the universal human experience of joy and truth, that identifies a starting point that (1) is common to all human beings, (2) is sufficient for guiding a successful search for God, and (3) avoids commitment to recollection of experiences prior to birth. The model is crucial to Augustine's rejection of traditional Platonist views about recollection. [source] A MASTER CLASS IN UNDERSTANDING VARIATIONS IN HEALTHCARECYTOPATHOLOGY, Issue 2006M. Mohammed That there is wide-spread variation in healthcare outcomes cannot be denied. The question is what does the variation mean and what can we do about it? Using a series of well-known case-studies, which include data from the Bristol and Shipman Inquiries, fundamental limitations of traditional methods of understanding variation will be highlighted. These methods, which include comparison with standards, league tables and statistical testing, have flaws and they offer little or no guidance on how to re-act to the variation. Fortunately, there is a theory of variation that overcomes these limitations and provides useful guidance on re-acting to variation, which was developed by Walter Shewhart in the 1920s in an industrial setting. Shewhart's theory of variation found widespread application and won him the accolade ,Father of modern quality control'. His work is central to philosophies of continual improvement. Application of Shewhart's theory of variation, also known as Statistical Process Control (SPC), to case-studies from healthcare will be demonstrated, whilst highlighting the implications and challenges for performance management/monitoring and continual improvement in the healthcare. References:, 1. M A Mohammed, KK Cheng, A Rouse, T Marshall. "Bristol, Shipman and clinical governance: Shewhart's forgotten lessons" The Lancet 2001; 357: 463,7. 2. P Adab, A Rouse, M A Mohammed, T Marshall. "Performance league tables: the NHS deserves better" British Medical Journal 2002; 324: 95,98 [source] On Imagination: Reconciling Knowledge and Life, or What Does "Gregory Bateson" Stand for?FAMILY PROCESS, Issue 4 2004Marcelo Pakman This article presents a reading of Gregory Bateson's oeuvre, focusing on his interest in the representational gap between map and territory, and its importance in the development of his redefinition of the concept of "mind," his new discipline called "ecology of ideas," and a methodology congruent to it based on the logics of metaphor. Inquiries on three initial stories from different domains allow the use of homologies between form and content in the article. This reading of Bateson's oeuvre stresses his questioning (like Derrida's) of the metaphysics of presence on which Western philosophy has been mostly based, and of the central role of imagination as a balancing factor for a family therapy that he both contributed to and saw with reservations. [source] Gender Mainstreaming: The Answer to the Gender Pay Gap?GENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 5 2009Joan Eveline This article examines the argument that gender mainstreaming offers the way forward for closing the gender pay gap. It juxtaposes research on the process of gender mainstreaming with our account of the processes involved in Australian state government Inquiries into the gender pay gap since the late 1990s. We indicate that the continuous process of analysis and response that gender mainstreaming can offer demands political will, intensive links between research and action, and adequate resources , which means that gender mainstreaming is seldom delivered in practice. We use our account of the Australian Inquiries to argue that, provided adequate political and financial resources are in place, the gender pay gap can be narrowed through the institutional mechanisms of an industrial relations system but that the regulatory approach is limited by its vulnerability to changes in industrial relations policy. The article concludes that, whatever strategy is used to narrow the gender pay gap, it must be able to show those who use and observe it that gender itself is a continuous, effortful and political process. [source] Complexity and Education: Inquiries into Learning, Teaching and ResearchINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CONSUMER STUDIES, Issue 1 2009Sue L.T. McGregor No abstract is available for this article. [source] Common Risk Factors Versus a Mispricing Factor of Tokyo Stock Exchange Firms: Inquiries into the Fundamental Value Derived from Analyst Earnings Forecasts,INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF FINANCE, Issue 3 2009KEIICHI KUBOTA ABSTRACT We search for common factors and/or a mispricing factor for Tokyo Stock Exchange firms. We utilize the Edwards,Bell,Ohlson model to compute the firms' fundamental value and divide this value by the firms' market price to construct a new variable called a ,value-to-price ratio' (VPR). We find that this VPR variable can generate abnormal returns even after adjusting for the risk factors related to portfolio style differences. To find out whether it is indeed a risk factor or simply a characteristic, we construct return difference portfolios of the high VPR stocks minus the low value-to-price stocks and call this portfolio the upward-forecast minus downward-forecast (UMD) factor. Fama and MacBeth test indicate that the risk premium for this UMD factor is positive. The best model in terms of the adjusted R2 value is the four-factor model in which the UMD factor is added to the Fama and French three factors. GMM Euler condition tests reveal that the UMD factor helps to price assets and that the four-factor model is not rejected. We conclude the VPR variable contains new information content that is not contained in the conventional Fama and French's three factors. [source] Should Health-Care Providers in the United States Have Access to Influenza Vaccines Formulated for the Southern Hemisphere?JOURNAL OF TRAVEL MEDICINE, Issue 6 2008Raymond A. Strikas MD Background Influenza is the most common vaccine-preventable disease in travelers. It circulates year-round in the tropics, November to March in the northern hemisphere (NH), and April to October in the southern hemisphere (SH). In 2005, approximately 8.5 million US adults aged 18 years and older traveled to the Caribbean. A similar number traveled to the tropics and the SH. SH formulation of influenza vaccine is not available in the United States. We surveyed International Society of Travel Medicine (ISTM) members to ask if they would use SH influenza vaccine if available. Methods We electronically mailed a survey in December 2006 to 1,251 ISTM members in the United States. We asked if respondents would use SH vaccine for patients traveling to the SH or tropics, how many such patients per week they see, and their practice location. Results We received 157 responses for a response rate of 12.5%. Of these, 129 (82%) stated that they would be interested in having SH influenza vaccine available. Of those indicating interest, 73 (60%) reported seeing >10 patients traveling to the SH or tropics each week. Respondents reported practice settings in 34 states and the District of Columbia. Respondents requested more information about the likely cost of SH influenza vaccine, ordering conditions, vaccine use guidelines, comparability with NH vaccine, and approval of SH vaccine by the Food and Drug Administration. Conclusions Many travelers to the SH are at risk for influenza infection. Although only a limited number of ISTM members responded, respondents indicated considerable interest in availability of SH influenza vaccine for their patients. More data from travel medicine and other practitioners are needed on this topic. Inquiries are being made of influenza vaccine manufacturers about licensing SH influenza vaccines in the United States. Adding SH influenza vaccine to the vaccines available to NH clinicians could help mitigate the morbidity of influenza in travelers. [source] Utopia and the doubters: truth, transition and the lawLEGAL STUDIES, Issue 3 2008Colm Campbell Truth commissions have an intuitive appeal in squaring the circle of peace and accountability post-conflict, but some claims for their benefits risk utopianism. Law provides both opportunities and pitfalls for post-conflict justice initiatives, including the operation of truth commissions. Rather than adopting a heavily legalised approach, derived from Public Inquiries, an ,holistic legal model', employing social science fact-finding methodologies to explore pattern of violations, and drawing appropriately on legal standards, may provide the best option for a possible Northern Ireland truth commission. [source] Lethal otogenic Candida meningitisMYCOSES, Issue 9-10 2004S. Koch Candidose; otomykose; meningitis; autopsie Summary A 61-year-old woman with clinical signs of meningitis/encephalitis was admitted to hospital in a somnolent state. Inquiries with regard to the history revealed a chronic obstructive pulmonary condition which had been treated with prednisolone for a long time. There was a raised temperature with further signs of an acute inflammatory underlying disease and internal hydrocephalus. After performing trepanation, the symptoms of raised intercerebral pressure ceased. Candida albicans could be detected microbiologically in the cerebrospinal fluid. There was no pneumonia at the time of admission. Despite instituting immediate intensive care with administration of antibiotics and antimycotics, the patient died 11 days after inpatient admission. Autopsy revealed a C. albicans mycosis originating from the right middle ear with extensive suppurative meningitis, which was the immediate cause of death. Confluent bronchopneumonia had developed in both lower lung lobes at the time of death, but did not show any signs of mycosis and had contributed indirectly to the death of the patient. Zusammenfassung Eine 61jährige Frau wurde mit klinischen Zeichen einer Meningitis/Enzephalitis in somnolentem Zustand stationär aufgenommen. Anamnestisch war eine chronisch-obstruktive Lungenerkrankung eruierbar, die langzeitig mit Prednisolon behandelt wurde. Es bestanden eine erhöhte Körpertemperatur, weitere Zeichen einer akuten entzündlichen Grunderkrankung und ein Hydrocephalus internus. Nach erfolgter Bohrlochtrepanation sistierte die Hirndrucksymptomatik, wobei mikrobiologisch ein Nachweis von Candida albicans im Liquor cerebrospinalis gelang. Zum Aufnahmezeitpunkt lag keine Pneumonie vor. Trotz sofort einsetzender intensivmedizinischer Therapie mit Applikation antibiotischer und antimykotischer Substanzen trat 11 Tage nach stationärer Aufnahme der Exitus letalis ein. Die Obduktion ergab eine vom rechten Mittelohr ausgehende Candida albicans -Mykose mit ausgedehnter eitriger Meningitis, die die unmittelbare Todesursache darstellte. Eine konfluierende Bronchopneumonie, die sich zum Todeszeitpunkt in beiden Lungenunterlappen ausgeprägt hatte, bot keine Zeichen einer Mykose und hat mittelbar zum Todeseintritt beigetragen. [source] Epidemiology of influenza-associated encephalitis-encephalopathy in Hokkaido, the northernmost island of JapanPEDIATRICS INTERNATIONAL, Issue 2 2000Takehiro Togashi AbstractBackground: It is well known that acute onset brain dysfunction, which usually is diagnosed as encephalitis or encephalopathy, occurs in association with influenza. However, this may have been underestimated as a rather infrequent event. Sixty-four infants and children developed encephalitis-encephalopathy during the five recent influenza seasons in Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan. Methods: Inquiries were sent at the end of each season, from October 1994 to March 1999, to 94 hospitals and institutes in Hokkaido which accept pediatric age patients, asking if there were any admitted cases of encephalitis or encephalopathy. Results: The patients were 42 boys and 22 girls and 47 (73.4%) were 4 years of age or younger. None of them had received an influenza vaccine nor had an oral administration of aspirin. Most of the patients became comatose with or without convulsions within a few days of the onset of fever. Twenty-eight (43.8%) patients died and 13 (20.3%) had neurological sequelae. Patients with clotting disorders, elevations of serum creatine kinase and/or aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase, and brain CT abnormalities had a poor prognosis compared with patients without. Among these affected patients, the influenza genome (H3) was detected by polymerase chain reaction in nine cerebrospinal fluid samples, influenza virus A (H3N2) was isolated in 18 nasopharyngeal swab samples and a four-fold or greater rise in serum hemagglutinin inhibition antibody titer against H3N2 was observed in seven patients. Conclusions: It appears urgent to promote vaccination against influenza in young children to prevent these devastating disease conditions. [source] Requests for information by family and friends of cancer patients calling the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Information ServicePSYCHO-ONCOLOGY, Issue 8 2006Lila J. Finney Rutten Abstract Purpose: To characterize their information needs, we examined the main topics of inquiry and discussion (subjects of interaction, SOI) of calls made by family and friends of cancer patients to the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Information Service's (CIS) 1-800-4-CANCER telephone information service and summarized differences by sociodemographic characteristics. Design and analysis: Data from 26 789 family or friends of cancer patients calling the CIS between September 2002 and August 2003 were analyzed. Frequencies, ,2's, and logistic regressions were conducted to ascertain sample characteristics and sociodemographic correlates of each SOI. Results and conclusions: The greatest proportion of calls concerned specific treatment information (54.9%) and general cancer site information (36.9%). Calls about specific treatment information were more likely among Asians, Hawaiian Natives, and Pacific Islanders (OR=1.23, 1.04,1.45), and those with higher education (OR=1.21, 1.18,1.25). As age increased, the odds of calls about specific treatment information also increased (OR=1.05, 1.03,1.07). Females (OR=0.78, 0.72,0.84), Hispanics (OR=0.77, 0.67,0.89), African-Americans (OR=0.68, 0.61,0.76), and American-Indians and Alaskan Natives (OR=0.74, 0.58,0.93) were less likely to inquire about specific treatment information. Inquiries about general cancer site information were more likely among females (OR=1.14, 1.06,1.23) and less likely among younger callers (OR=0.95, 0.93,0.97) and African-Americans (OR=0.87, 0.78,0.98). Differences in inquiries made by sociodemographic subgroups can inform the CIS' and other cancer-related organizations' efforts to develop and disseminate cancer information for family and friends of cancer patients. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Promotion of Transparency Through Public Inquiry: Oil-for-Food, the Volcker and Cole Inquiries, and Australia's Wheat Exports to IraqBUSINESS AND SOCIETY REVIEW, Issue 2 2007HOWARD HARRIS First page of article [source] Journeys of Expansion and Synopsis: Tensions in Books That Shaped Curriculum Inquiry, 1968,PresentCURRICULUM INQUIRY, Issue 1 2010WILLIAM H. SCHUBERT In honor of the 40th volume of Curriculum Inquiry, I begin by claiming that pursuit of questions about what is worthwhile, why, and for whose benefit is a (perhaps the) central consideration of curriculum inquiry. Drawing autobiographically from my experience as an educator during the past 40 years, I sketch reflections on curriculum books published during that time span. I situate my comments within both the historical backdrop that preceded the beginning of Curriculum Inquiry and the emergence of new curricular languages or paradigms during the late 1960s and early 1970s. I suggest that two orientations of curriculum books have provided a lively tension in curriculum literature,one expansive and the other synoptic,while cautiously wondering if both may have evolved from different dimensions of John Dewey's work. I speculate about the place of expansion and synopsis in several categories of curriculum literature: historical and philosophical; policy, professional, and popular; aesthetic and artistic; practical and narrative; critical; inner and contextual; and indigenous and global. Finally, I reconsider expansive and synoptic tendencies in light of compendia, heuristics, and venues that portray evolving curriculum understandings without losing the purport of myriad expansions of the literature. [source] Curriculum Inquiry, Theory, and PoliticsCURRICULUM INQUIRY, Issue 1 2009MADELEINE R. GRUMET First page of article [source] Storytelling as Pedagogy: An Unexpected Outcome of Narrative InquiryCURRICULUM INQUIRY, Issue 2 2007CATHY COULTER ABSTRACT This study examines how the use of narrative research methods can serve as pedagogical strategies in preservice teacher education. In this study, we see the intersection of narrative inquiry and storytelling-as-pedagogy. The two often intersect, but rarely has that intersection been examined in a systematic manner. This study examines data collected as one ESL preservice teacher and one Bilingual preservice teacher were followed from their language arts methods class into student teaching and then their first year of teaching to see how they reflected on, questioned, and learned from their experiences. Incidents where narrative inquiry served as pedagogical tools were examined. Although storytelling-as-pedagogy was not a goal in this study, we found that it was an outcome of utilizing narrative inquiry as a methodology. [source] Experiential Approaches to the Study of Multiculturalism in Education: Introduction to the Special Series on Multiculturalism in Curriculum InquiryCURRICULUM INQUIRY, Issue 4 2003Joann Phillion No abstract is available for this article. [source] Writing as Inquiry: Storying the Teaching Self in Writing WorkshopsCURRICULUM INQUIRY, Issue 4 2002Freema Elbaz, Luwisch Recent research demonstrates that the process of telling and writing personal stories is a powerful means of fostering teachers' professional growth (Connelly & Clandinin, 1995; Conle, 1996; Diamond, 1994; Heikkinen, 1998; Kelchtermans, 1993). This article aims to further understanding of writing in the development of teachers' narratives of practice, and to critically examine the potential of the writing workshop as a space where diverse voices can find expression. I take up a narrative perspective, seeing the practice of teaching as constructed when teachers tell and live out particular stories. I examine the autobiographic writing of teachers who participated in a graduate course on autobiography and professional development, drawing on phenomenological (Van Manen, 1990) and narrative methods (Mishler, 1986) and attending to issues of voice (Raymond, Butt, & Townsend, 1992, Brown & Gilligan, 1992) and "restorying" (Clandinin & Connelly, 1996, 1998). The main questions addressed are how do teachers narratively construct their own development and how does the university context, usually construed as a locus of knowledge transmission, function as a framework for the processes of storytelling, reflection, and restorying of experience and for the elaboration by teachers of an internally persuasive discourse (Bakhtin, 1981)? The article describes the experience of the course and the various uses to which participants put autobiographic writing; the range of voices used in the writing is indicated. Three "moments" in the writing process are discussed: describing, storying, and questioning, moments that, taken together, are seen to make up the restorying process. The conclusions point to limitations and possibilities of writing in the academic setting, in particular the place of theory in helping to draw out teachers' voices. [source] Thesis as Narrative or ,What Is the Inquiry in Narrative Inquiry?'CURRICULUM INQUIRY, Issue 2 2000Carola Conle I present elements of inquiry in a dissertation composed through experiential narrative. My account of the thesis process is interwoven with references to John Dewey's demonstrations of implicit inquiry in the creation and experience of art. Motivation, methodology, outcomes and literature review take on a narrative character and I show how aesthetic and reflective activities contributed to the inquiry. Conceptually, a ,tension-telos dynamic' characterizes the impetus for the work; ,resonance' is portrayed as the connecting principle among various narrative components of the thesis, and the function of a ,third term' in metaphorical relationships is presented as a structuring principle for these connections. Although my inquiry came about through personal stories, my narratives reached out to social, historical and philosophical contexts to gain a wider significance, academically and personally. [source] Research Methods of InquiryACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 11 2006Joel Rodgers MA Incidents of significant consequence that create surge may require special research methods to provide reliable, generalizable results. This report was constructed through a process of literature review, expert panel discussion at the journal's consensus conference, and iterative development. Traditional clinical research methods that are well accepted in medicine are exceptionally difficult to use for surge incidents because the incidents are very difficult to reliably predict, the consequences vary widely, human behaviors are heterogeneous in response to incidents, and temporal conditions prioritize limited resources to response, rather than data collection. Current literature on surge research methods has found some degree of reliability and generalizability in case-control, postincident survey methods, and ethnographical designs. Novel methods that show promise for studying surge include carefully validated simulation experiments and survey methods that produce validated results from representative populations. Methodologists and research scientists should consider quasi-experimental designs and case-control studies in areas with recurrent high-consequence incidents (e.g., earthquakes and hurricanes). Specialists that need to be well represented in areas of research include emergency physicians and critical care physicians, simulation engineers, cost economists, sociobehavioral methodologists, and others. [source] THE COMPETITION COMMISSION INQUIRY INTO SME BANKINGECONOMIC AFFAIRS, Issue 4 2002Peter Freeman This article describes the current Fair Trading Act régime for complex monopoly investigations with particular reference to the Competition Commission's recent SME Banking Inquiry. There then follows a critique of aspects of the process and an outline of the market investigation régime in the proposed Enterprise Act with an assessment of likely changes this will make to investigations of this kind. [source] IMPLEMENTING BEST PRACTICE REGULATION IN A DYNAMIC MARKETPLACE: CONSULTATION AND ACCOUNTABILITYECONOMIC PAPERS: A JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECONOMICS AND POLICY, Issue S1 2008RIC SIMES The practice of financial regulation in Australia has drifted away from the lighted-handed principles articulated in the Wallis Report. The burden of regulatory compliance has steadily grown. The inconsistency between regulatory principle and practice is explained as the result of perverse incentives facing regulators, an absence of effective consultation with industry regarding the cost burden of regulation, and a failure to properly assess the social benefits and costs of regulatory intervention. The paper argues for the creation of a Bureau of Financial Sector Regulation to improve the accountability of regulators and publish independent social cost,benefit analyses of financial regulation. The paper also calls for a further inquiry into Australia's financial system ten years on from the Wallis Inquiry. [source] Implications of Evidence-Centered Design for Educational TestingEDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT: ISSUES AND PRACTICE, Issue 4 2006Robert J. Mislevy Evidence-centered assessment design (ECD) provides language, concepts, and knowledge representations for designing and delivering educational assessments, all organized around the evidentiary argument an assessment is meant to embody. This article describes ECD in terms of layers for analyzing domains, laying out arguments, creating schemas for operational elements such as tasks and measurement models, implementing the assessment, and carrying out the operational processes. We argue that this framework helps designers take advantage of developments from measurement, technology, cognitive psychology, and learning in the domains. Examples of ECD tools and applications are drawn from the Principled Assessment Design for Inquiry (PADI) project. Attention is given to implications for large-scale tests such as state accountability measures, with a special eye for computer-based simulation tasks. [source] John Whitehurst (1713,1788): philosopher, geologist, horologist and engineerGEOLOGY TODAY, Issue 3 2002Trevor D. Ford Among the late 18th-century pioneers of geological science was John Whitehurst. He set the scene for the early Derbyshire geologists, White Watson and John Farey, whose books were not published until 1811, long after Whitehurst's death. But Whitehurst's ideas went beyond Derbyshire; he looked at the global situation in his book An Inquiry into the Original State & Formation of the Earth (1778, 1786). Whitehurst was a founder member of the influential Lunar Society and a close friend of many philosophers of the period. [source] Inquiry into the ideal function of the pharmacy in home care,GERIATRICS & GERONTOLOGY INTERNATIONAL, Issue 3 2004Mitsuko Onda Background: The aim of this study is to analyze why home-care services provided by pharmacists have not been effectively utilized. Method: Questionnaires were submitted to home-care service users, physicians, visiting nurses and home-helpers and pharmacy directors. We studied whether gaps existed between users' needs, physicians' expectations of pharmacy services and pharmacists' awareness of the importance of pharmacy services. We also investigated whether a failure to recognize the importance of cooperation with pharmacists in home-care provision existed among physicians and nurses/home-helpers. Results: Users and physicians expect pharmacists to be more involved in counseling about home care and welfare services than home-visiting services. Pharmacists recognize home visiting services as being of greater importance than counseling about home care and welfare services. The results indicated that gaps existed between users' needs, the physicians' expectations and pharmacists' awareness of the importance of pharmacy services. In terms of cooperation with pharmacists, study results implied that: (i) nurses/home-helpers' awareness of pharmacists' home-visiting service is lower than that of physicians; (ii) physicians' expectations regarding pharmacists' participation in home care services is lower than that of nurses/home-helpers; (iii) over 70% of both groups recognize the necessity of pharmacists' home-visiting service. Conclusions: Pharmacists need to get more involved in counseling users about home care and welfare. Also, there should be a special focus on heightening nurses/home-helpers' awareness of pharmacists' home-visiting service and on raising physicians' expectations for pharmacists' participation in home care services to develop home-care related pharmacy services in Japan. [source] Some Afterthoughts on Culture and Explanation in Historical InquiryHISTORY AND THEORY, Issue 3 2000Chris Lorenz I argue here that the articles in this forum contain basic agreements. All three reject naturalism, reductionism, and monism while retaining causality as an explanatory category, and all three emphasize the role of time and argue for a view in which culture is regarded as both structured and contingent. The differences among the explanatory proposals of Hall, Biernacki, and Kane are as important as the similarities: while Hall favors a Weberian approach, Biernacki argues for a primarily pragmatic explanation of culture, and Kane for a primarily semiotic explanation. I argue that all three positions face immanent problems in elucidating the exact nature of cultural explanation. While Hall leaves the problem of "extrinsic" ideal-typical explanation unsolved, Biernacki simply presupposes the superiority of pragmatic over other types of cultural explanation, and Kane does the same for semiotic explanation. Hints at cultural explanation in the form of narrative remain underargued and are built on old ideas of an opposition between "analysis" and "narrative." This is also the case with the latest plea for "analytic narratves." I conclude that a renewed reflection on this opposition is called for in order to come to grips with cultural explanation and to get beyond the old stereotypes regarding the relationship between historical and social-scientific approaches to the past. [source] Using Photography in Art Education Research: A Reflexive InquiryINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ART & DESIGN EDUCATION, Issue 1 2003Iona Cruickshank This paper reports on the uses of photography in some research into domestic crafts in Brazil. This research, which included fieldwork and curriculum development components, was carried out with the aim of investigating crafts five women practised in their homes in Santa Maria and celebrating them in art lessons in primary schools. Photography was used in the fieldwork part of the research to collect visual data about the women and their crafts and to develop a visual resource for use by art teachers. In the curriculum experiments it was used by school children to record aesthetic aspects of their homes. This paper reflects on and compares the different kinds of photographs taken by the researchers, the women and the children and some strengths and weaknesses of using photography as a data collection tool in art education research. [source] Analyzing Focus Group Data: Content and InteractionJOURNAL FOR SPECIALISTS IN PEDIATRIC NURSING, Issue 2 2010Erin Rothwell PhD Erin Rothwell Column Editor: Lauren Clark Scientific Inquiry provides a forum to facilitate the ongoing process of questioning and evaluating practice, presents informed practice based on available data, and innovates new practices through research and experimental learning. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||