scholarly journals Reconciling the Places Where We Live with the Spaces We Inhabit

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eneko Bidegain ◽  
Aitor Zuberogoitia ◽  
Txema Egaña
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Response Rate ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Economic Insecurity ◽  
Local Media ◽  
Total Publication ◽  
Common Framework ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Do So

The aim of this research is to give a detailed description of local media working in Basque language, hence, providing a backdrop for other minority language local media. Our approach is to offer data based on a questionnaire distributed among 65 local media with a response rate of 84%, ten in-depth interviews and a focus group. The data revealed a total publication of 200.000 copies with potential for a 70 page newspaper, 400.000 readers, almost 300 employees and more than 1.000 collaborating individuals. However, in spite of seeking to collaborate within a common framework, diversity and economic insecurity limit the potential of these local media groups to do so.

scholarly journals Nairobi Early Childcare in Slums (NECS) Study Protocol: a mixed-methods exploration of paid early childcare in Mukuru slum, Nairobi

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. e000822
Author(s):  
Robert C Hughes ◽  
Patricia Kitsao-Wekulo ◽  
Sunil Bhopal ◽  
Elizabeth W Kimani-Murage ◽  
Zelee Hill ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Epidemiological Methods ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Early Childcare ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Childcare Providers

IntroductionThe early years are critical. Early nurturing care can lay the foundation for human capital accumulation with lifelong benefits. Conversely, early adversity undermines brain development, learning and future earning.Slums are among the most challenging places to spend those early years and are difficult places to care for a child. Shifting family and work structures mean that paid, largely informal, childcare seems to be becoming the ‘new normal’ for many preschool children growing up in rapidly urbanising Africa. However, little is known about the quality of this childcare.AimsTo build a rigorous understanding what childcare strategies are used and why in a typical Nairobi slum, with a particular focus on provision and quality of paid childcare. Through this, to inform evaluation of quality and design and implementation of interventions with the potential to reach some of the most vulnerable children at the most critical time in the life course.Methods and analysisMixed methods will be employed. Qualitative research (in-depth interviews and focus group discussions) with parents/carers will explore need for and decision-making about childcare. A household survey (of 480 households) will estimate the use of different childcare strategies by parents/carers and associated parent/carer characteristics. Subsequently, childcare providers will be mapped and surveyed to document and assess quality of current paid childcare. Semistructured observations will augment self-reported quality with observable characteristics/practices. Finally, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with childcare providers will explore their behaviours and motivations. Qualitative data will be analysed through thematic analysis and triangulation across methods. Quantitative and spatial data will be analysed through epidemiological methods (random effects regression modelling and spatial statistics).Ethics and disseminationEthical approval has been granted in the UK and Kenya. Findings will be disseminated through journal publications, community and government stakeholder workshops, policy briefs and social media content.

scholarly journals New Gatekeepers in Town: How Groups in Social Networking Sites Influence Information Flows in Russia’s Provinces

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 205630512110132
Author(s):  
Olga Dovbysh
Keyword(s):  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Digital Space ◽  
Professional Norms ◽  
Norms And Values ◽  
Local Media ◽  
Mediated Discourse ◽  
Media Space ◽  
Grassroots Initiatives ◽  
Depth Interviews

The study focuses upon “city public groups” (“gorodskie pabliki,” local newsgroups on social networking sites)—the new entrants in the local media space of the Russian province that have recently become important actors of regional public communication. Such groups combine news posting and citizen discussions, report on local affairs and gossip, and entertain. Some groups are based on user-generated content; others create their own content or act as aggregators. Being non-registered and grassroots initiatives, these media enjoy higher freedom in comparison to official local newsrooms. Given the popularity of city public groups among local citizens and local authorities’ interest toward them, owners and moderators of these media are playing an influential role for local mediated discourse. Based on the gatekeeping theory and its extensions for digital space, this article explores the emerging roles of these new gatekeepers in the local communities. Based upon 28 in-depth interviews collected by the author in Russian towns in 2017–2018, the article also analyses the professional norms and values of the owners and moderators of local city groups that they employ to perform their gatekeeping function.

scholarly journals Physical activity counselling in Ireland: a survey of doctors’ knowledge, attitudes and self-reported practice

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. e000572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah O'Brien ◽  
Lucia Prihodova ◽  
Mairéad Heffron ◽  
Peter Wright
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
General Practitioners ◽  
Royal College ◽  
Patient Preference ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Response Rate ◽  
Further Education ◽  
Pharmaceutical Intervention ◽  
And Training ◽  
Do So

ObjectivePhysical activity (PA) counselling has been shown to raise awareness of the importance of PA and to increase the rate of PA engagement among patients. While much attention has been paid to examining the knowledge, attitudes and practice of general practitioners in relation to PA counselling, there is less literature examining such issues in hospital-based doctors in Ireland and further afield. This study aimed to explore doctors’ PA counselling practices and to analyse how this related to their level of PA knowledge, training and attitudes.MethodsAn invitation to participate in an online survey was sent to 4692 members of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland who were listed as having an address in Ireland. Descriptive and explorative analyses of the data were performed using IBM SPSS V.22.0.ResultsA total of 595 valid responses were included (response rate 12.7%; 42.7% male, 42.6±12.1 years). The majority reported enquiring about PA levels (88.0%) and providing PA counselling (86.4%) in at least some of their patients. Doctors who saw it as their role and those who felt more effective/confident in providing PA counselling were significantly more likely to do so. A perceived lack of patient interest in PA and patient preference for pharmaceutical intervention were significant barriers to undertaking PA counselling.ConclusionThis study demonstrates the need for further education and training in PA counselling in Ireland with a particular focus on improving the attitudes and self-efficacy of doctors in this area at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Kinship construction variability among Nigerian international migrants: The context of contemporary Diaspora

Human Affairs ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Olayinka Akanle ◽  
Olanrewau Olutayo
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
First Century ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Kinship Networks ◽  
Methodological Triangulation ◽  
International Migrants ◽  
Depth Interviews

AbstractUnderstanding the selves, situations and actions of Africans can never be comprehended outside kinship. Local and foreign worldviews are first pigeonholed into culture and defined within kinship realities in Nigeria and Africa. There have been studies on kinship in Africa. However, the findings from such studies portrayed the immutability of African kinship. Thus, as an important contribution to the on-going engagement of kinship in the twenty-first century as an interface between the contemporary Diaspora, this article engaged kinship within international migration. This is a major behavioural and socio-economic force in Nigeria. Methodological triangulation was adopted as part of the research design and primary data were collected through in-depth interviews (IDIs), and life histories of international migrants were documented and focus group discussions (FGDs) were held with kin of returnees. The article found and concluded that while returnees continued to appreciate local kinship infrastructures, the infrastructures were liable to reconstruction primarily determined by dominant support situations in the traditional African kinship networks.

Recollections of emerging hybrid ethnic identities in Soviet Central Asia: the case of Uzbekistan

2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 1026-1048 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timur Dadabaev
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Senior Citizens ◽  
Adaptive Strategies ◽  
Ethnic Identities ◽  
Social Spaces ◽  
Soviet Central Asia ◽  
Ethnic Policy ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Do So

This paper is a contribution to the debate about how people in Central Asia recall Soviet ethnic policies and their vision of how these policies have shaped the identities of their peers and contemporaries. In order to do so, this paper utilizes the outcomes of in-depth interviews about everyday Soviet life in Uzbekistan conducted with 75 senior citizens between 2006 and 2009. These narratives demonstrate that people do not explain Soviet ethnic policies simply through the “modernization” or “victimization” dichotomy but place their experiences in between these discourses. Their recollections also highlight the pragmatic flexibility of the public's adaptive strategies to Soviet ethnic policies. This paper also argues that Soviet ethnic policy produced complicated hybrid units of identities and multiple social strata. Among those who succeeded in adapting to the Soviet realities, a new group emerged, known asRussi assimilados(Russian-speaking Sovietophiles). However, in everyday life, relations between theassimiladosand their “indigenous” or “nativist” countrymen are reported to have been complicated, with clear divisions between these two groups and separate social spaces of their own for each of these strata.

Islamic Discourses of Environmental Change on the Swahili Coast of Southern Tanzania

2021 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-60
Author(s):  
Justin Raycraft
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
Belief System ◽  
Social Suffering ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Swahili Coast ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Depth Interviews

This paper addresses how Makonde Muslim villagers living on the Swahili coast of southern Tanzania conceptualize and discuss environmental change. Through narratives elicited during in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, I show that respondents associate various forms of environmental change—ecological, climatic, political, and socioeconomic—with God’s plan. Respondents had a sound grasp of the material workings of their lived realities and evoked religious causality to fill in the residual explanatory gaps and find meaning in events that were otherwise difficult to explain. Such narratives reveal both a culturally engrained belief system that colors people’s understandings of change and uncertainty and a discursive idiom for making sense of social suffering. On an applied note, I submit that social science approaches to studying environmental change must take into account political and economic contexts relative to local cosmologies, worldviews, and religious faiths, which may not disaggregate the environment into distinct representational categories.

scholarly journals The Culture of Amateur Real Estate Investing

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Garboden
Keyword(s):  
Real Estate ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Prior Experience ◽  
Investment Decisions ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Real Estate Investment ◽  
Real Estate Markets ◽  
Self Sufficiency ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Do So

The majority of rental properties in the U.S. today is owned by small- to medium-sized investors, many of whom enter the trade with little prior experience. This paper considers the cultural factors that motivate these amateurs to purchase real estate–an investment with high risks and relatively poor returns. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 93 investors in three heterogeneous real estate markets, Baltimore, MD, Dallas, TX, and Cleveland, OH, combined with participant observation of 22 real estate investment association meetings (REIAs), this paper finds that amateurs who decide to become investors often do so during periods when their professional identities are insecure or they perceive their retirement portfolios to be insufficient. Through participation in real estate investment associations and other investor networks, they quickly internalize “investor culture,” embracing ideologies of self-sufficiency and risk. “Investor culture”—perpetuated by REIAs--motivates and legitimizes strategies of action that lead to increasingly leveraged investments. Third-party actors, including real estate gurus, paid mentors, and private “hard money” lenders exploit the intersection of insecurity and the propagation of investor culture to profit off amateurs’ investment decisions.

scholarly journals Avant Healthcare: Building Competitive Advantages From Customer Service

2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Carrick
Keyword(s):  
Customer Service ◽  
Competitive Advantages ◽  
Modern Economy ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Do So

This case examines the importance of customer service in the modern economy. In order to do so, it presents the findings from a case study on Avant Healthcare. In-depth interviews were conducted with two executives from the firm and then the interviews were systemically analyzed. The results give a clear example of how firms can build competitive advantages from customer service.

scholarly journals Communicating science: The profile of science journalists in Spain

Comunicar ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (55) ◽  
pp. 09-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Cassany ◽  
Sergi Cortiñas ◽  
Albert Elduque
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Current System ◽  
Scientific Information ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
The Social ◽  
News Agencies ◽  
El Sistema ◽  
Academic Profiles ◽  
Ethnographic Methodology ◽  
Depth Interviews

Science journalists are mainly responsible for publicly communicating science, which, in turn, is a major indicator of the social development of democratic societies. The transmission of quality scientific information that is rigorously researched and understandable is therefore crucial, and demand for this kind of information from both governments and citizens is growing. We analyzed the academic profiles of a representative sample of practicing science journalists in Spain to clarify what training they had received and how they perceived the quality and scope of this training. Using an ethnographic methodology based on a survey, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with science journalists working for the main Spanish media (mainly printed press, audiovisual, Internet and news agencies), we analyze their academic backgrounds and collect information on their opinions and proposals. Our findings depict a complex and heterogeneous scenario and also reveal that most science journalists not only do not have any scientific training, but also do not even consider this to be necessary to exercise as science reporters. They also criticize the current system for training journalists and consider that the best way of learning the profession is by acquiring experience on the job. El periodista científico es uno de los principales responsables en la cadena de transmisión e interpretación hacia la sociedad de toda noticia, novedad o avance de carácter científico. A su vez, una información científica rigurosa, comprensible y de calidad es, además, un indicador del desarrollo social. La demanda de este tipo de información crece cada día en nuestras sociedades, tanto por parte de los gobiernos como de los ciudadanos. Por este motivo, y con el objetivo de esclarecer cuál es el perfil de los periodistas científicos que deben lidiar con tal responsabilidad, cómo se han formado y cómo ellos mismos creen que deberían haber sido formados, en esta investigación analizamos los perfiles académicos (tanto el real como el ideal) de estos profesionales en España. Utilizando una metodología etnográfica, basada en entrevistas, cuestionarios y focus group con periodistas científicos que trabajan en los principales medios españoles, analizamos su trayectoria académica y sus consideraciones y propuestas al respecto. Los resultados muestran un escenario complejo y heterogéneo, pero también revelan que la mayoría de los periodistas científicos no solo no goza de una titulación universitaria en el ámbito científico, sino que tampoco la considera necesaria. Los periodistas científicos son críticos con el sistema educativo y consideran que la mejor forma de aprender es trabajar en los medios, más que estudiar.

scholarly journals Political apprenticeship and women leadership in a patriarchal society: Nasim Wali Khan’s political struggle through acquired skills

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 320-337
Author(s):  
Hassina Bashir ◽  
Muhammad Ayub Jan
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Skills ◽  
Political Leadership ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Political Struggle ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
Her Family ◽  
Political Skills ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Critical Aspects ◽  
Do So

This paper addresses the critical aspects of women’s political leadership in Pashtun society. The primary questions under investigation are; whether Nasim Wali Khan acquired political leadership skills and if she did, how she utilized these skills to accomplish her political objectives? We intend to see how familial political apprenticeship as well as career progression, enabled Nasim Wali to attain and retain leadership positions successfully? We do so mostly with the help of analyzing primary data collected through in-depth interviews of Nasim Wali Khan, her family members, political workers, journalists, and academicians to comprehend to support our argument. This study highlights the qualities bestowed with and acquired by Nasim Wali Khan to attain a leadership position within a political party. The study argues that by developing her political skills, such as political acumen, eloquence, political   astuteness, efficient   decision   making, confidence, and social astuteness, etc., Nasim Wali auspiciously engraved a political constituency in an otherwise patriarchal Pukhtun population. In such a way the paper explains the critical odyssey of Nasim Wali Khan in the uncertain sphere of politics.

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