scholarly journals Giving a Socially Distanced Voice to Disabled Young People: Insights from the Educational Pathways and Work Outcomes Qualitative Longitudinal Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angharad Butler-Rees ◽  
Stella Chatzitheochari

The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for social research. However, little isknown about the impact of social distancing measures on research with hard-to-reach populations.This paper provides a methodological reflection on the efficiency of socially distanced recruitmentand interviewing methods for research with disabled young people, drawing on our experience fromthe Educational Pathways and Work Outcomes longitudinal study, which started in November 2020during the second national lockdown in England. We discuss difficulties in gaining access to disabledyoung people and argue that the pandemic has exacerbated longstanding barriers implicated in therecruitment of hard-to-reach populations who are typically seen as vulnerable by gatekeepers. Incontrast, our experience suggests that flexible online/virtual interviews can overcome pitfalls inherentin the face-to-face interviewing of disabled young people and could therefore be utilised to make theirvoices heard in a variety of contexts and scenarios beyond the ongoing pandemic.

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-18
Author(s):  
Ian Miles ◽  
◽  
Veronika Belousova ◽  
Nikolay Chichkanov ◽  
Zhaklin Krayushkina ◽  
...  

Knowledge-Intensive Business Services (KIBS) are problem-solvers for other organizations. The coronacrisis affects KIBS directly, but also means that their clients are confronting new problems. How are KIBS addressing these two sets of challenges? This paper draws on material available in the trade and industry press, on official reports and statistics, and the early academic studies addressing these themes. We find that KIBS have been active (alongside other organizations) in providing a substantial range of services aimed at helping their clients (and others) deal with various contingencies thrown up by the crisis. Not least among these is the need to conform to shifting regulatory frameworks, and requirements for longer-term resilience. KIBS themselves have had to adapt their working practices considerably, to reduce face-to-face interaction with clients and within teams collaborating on projects. Adaptation is easier for those whose tasks that are relatively standardized and codified, and it remains to be seen how far a shift to such activities - and away from the traditional office-based venues of activity - is retained as firms recover from the crisis. KIBS are liable to play an important role in this recovery from the crisis, and policymakers can mobilize their services. Some KIBS are liable to be critical for rendering economies more resilient in the face of future pandemics and we argue that these firms are also important for confronting the mounting climate crisis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-64
Author(s):  
Bahram Sattar Abdulrahman

The present study aims at investigating the use of prosodic features by Kurdish EFL undergraduates in their face-to-face interactions inside/outside the classroom from the university instructors’ perspectives. The study hypothesizes that the majority of Kurdish EFL undergraduates are not fully aware of the fact that any misuse of prosodic features would probably affect the emotions, feelings, and attitudes that the face-to-face interaction is intended to convey. Building on an analysis of a questionnaire given to 54 university instructors at 10 Iraqi Kurdistan Region different universities, the study concludes that the majority of problems the students face can be related to the misuse of stress, intonation, and other prosodic features. Therefore, EFL instructors should pay more attention to make students learn how to use prosodic features and enable them to send messages adequately while engaging in face-to-face interactions. This would require special classes about prosodic features so that EFL students can overcome the misuse they have in face-to-face communication. This is inevitable because accuracy and fluency in communication require EFL students to master both features: segmental and suprasegmental. The reason behind this necessity could be attributed to the fact that broken and/or incorrect pronunciation can be considered as one of the most prominent factors behind misunderstandings in communication.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jolien van Breen ◽  
Maja Kutlaca ◽  
Yasin Koc ◽  
Bertus F. Jeronimus ◽  
Anne Margit Reitsema ◽  
...  

In this work, we study how social contacts and feelings of solidarity shape experiences of loneliness during the COVID-19 lockdown in early 2020. We draw on cross-national data, collected across four time points between mid-March until early May 2020. We situate our work within the public debate on these issues and discuss to what extent the public understanding of the impact of lockdown is borne out in the data. Results show, first, that although online contacts are beneficial in combating feelings of loneliness, people who feel more lonely are less likely to make use of this strategy. Second, online contacts do not function as a substitute to face-to-face contacts - in fact, more frequent online contacts in earlier weeks predicted an increase in face-to-face contacts in later weeks. Finally, solidarity played only a small role in shaping people’s feelings of loneliness during lockdown. In sum, our findings suggest that we must look beyond the current focus on online contact and solidarity, if we want to help people address their feelings of loneliness. We hope that this work will be instrumental not only in understanding the impact of the lockdown in early 2020, but also in preparing for possible future lockdown periods.


Author(s):  
Hanyu Sun ◽  
Frederick G Conrad ◽  
Frauke Kreuter

Abstract Audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (ACASI) has been widely used to collect sensitive information from respondents in face-to-face interviews. Interviewers ask questions that are not sensitive or only moderately sensitive and then allow respondents to self-administer more sensitive questions, listening to audio recordings of the questions and typically entering their responses directly into the same device that the interviewer has used. According to the conventional thinking, ACASI is taken as independent of the face-to-face interaction that almost always precedes it. Presumably as a result of this presumed independence, the respondents’ prior interaction with the interviewer is rarely considered when assessing the quality of ACASI responses. There is no body of existing research that has experimentally investigated how the preceding interviewer–respondent interaction may create sufficient social presence to affect responses in the subsequent ACASI module. The study reported here, a laboratory experiment with eight professional interviewers and 125 respondents, explores the carryover effects of preceding interactions between interviewer and respondent on responses in the subsequent ACASI. We evaluated the impact of the similarity of the live and recorded interviewer’s voice for each respondent as well as respondents’ rapport with interviewers in the preceding interview. We did not find significant main effects of vocal similarity on disclosure in ACASI. However, we found significant interaction effects between vocal similarity and respondents’ rapport ratings in the preceding interview on disclosure in ACASI. When the ACASI voice was similar to the interviewer’s voice in the preceding interaction, respondent-rated rapport led to more disclosure but, when the ACASI voice is clearly different from the interviewer’s voice, respondent-rated rapport in the prior interaction did not affect disclosure.


Author(s):  
Juan Chaves ◽  
Antonio A. Lorca-Marín ◽  
Emilio José Delgado-Algarra

Different studies show that mixed methodology can be effective in medical training. However, there are no conclusive studies in specialist training on advanced life support (ALS). The main objective of this research is to determine if, with mixed didactic methodology, which includes e-learning, similar results are produced to face-to-face training. The method used was quasi-experimental with a focus on efficiency and evaluation at seven months, in which 114 specialist doctors participated and where the analysis of the sociodemographic and pre-test variables points to the homogeneity of the groups. The intervention consisted of e-learning training plus face-to-face workshops versus standard. The results were the performance in knowledge and technical skills in cardiac arrest scenarios, the perceived quality, and the perception of the training. There were no significant differences in immediate or deferred performance. In the degree of satisfaction, a significant difference was obtained in favour of the face-to-face group. The perception in the training itself presented similar results. The main limitations consisted of sample volume, dropping out of the deferred tests, and not evaluating the transfer or the impact. Finally, mixed methodology including e-learning in ALS courses reduced the duration of the face-to-face sessions and allowed a similar performance.


This case study conducted to investigate the impact of a responsive leadership approach in meeting customers' needs in a higher education institution in the UAE during the COVID-19 pandemic. For this purpose, a mixed-method model has been used. The data has been collected from a convenient sample working and studying at Al Qasimia University Language Center, in fall 2020. This result indicates that the provided responsive leadership support during COVID-19 was effective and helped in motivating learners and customers to keep learning and making progress greater than what was shown before COVID-19, during the face-to-face teaching and physical assessment. Although the qualitative and quantitative results in this case study revealed a significant impact of responsive leadership approach on customers’ progress, there is still a need to conduct other researches to develop and validate a responsive leadership inventory to facilitate measuring of responsive leadership attributes in a large scale sample and/or population.


2021 ◽  
pp. 212-223
Author(s):  
E. Muñoz

The 2020 pandemic has created great global changes, both in the increased use of media and information, the creation of new digital applications, and new online jobs. At the same time, various types of violence have increased on the Internet, higher levels of discouragement, depression, and loneliness have been detected in both young people and adults. This article addresses six post­pandemic issues, realities, and challenges that must be addressed with youth alongside MIL competencies. Topics that have been developed in an educational project for leadership work in the face of changes in technological advances, Internet safety, fake news, hate speech, and the impact on emotions. In building MIL communities and cities, it is important to prepare new stakeholders to be more critical, aware, resilient, and healthy in the face of current digital challenges and difficulties.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
RANJIT VASANT POWAR ◽  
S. B. Patil ◽  
T. R. POWAR ◽  
P. S. Bandgar

Abstract Purpose In Maharashtra's Kolhapur district, open field burning of sugarcane trash (ST) is a major concern. This pollutes the environment, loses energy, and has a detrimental effect on biodiversity. As a result, a study was conducted to learn more about the underlying cause of sugarcane trash burning. MethodsThe face-to-face interview of 186 sugarcane growers were carried in Kolhapur district of Maharashtra (India). The impact of age and education on behavior of farmers towards the usage of sugarcane trash were analyzed with help of M.S Excel, and Past-3 software and Drivers, Pressures, State, Impact, Response (DPSIR) model. ResultsThe age and education has non-significant effect on burning of sugarcane trash even though at 10% level of significance. The 61.12 % farmers burn the sugarcane trash in the field, whereas 38.70 % used for other purposes. The farmers (95.69 %) are very well know that burning of sugarcane trash has a detrimental effect on the environment. The 80 % farmers reported fear of rats, snakes and scorpion to use sugarcane trash as mulch in field as well as 42 % farmers reported burning of sugarcane trash in field has benefits. Conclusions The study revealed that farmers have knowledge and understanding on how to use sugarcane trash for benefits but due to utilization barriers they burned the sugarcane trash in the field. There is need a robust policy as well as extension activity to address this issue.


2007 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Njoki ◽  
J. Frantz ◽  
R. Mpofu

Approximately 500 South Africans, mainly young people,sustain a spinal cord injury every year leading to severe lifetime physical disabilities. With advances in medicine and assistive technology, these young people are able to reach adulthood. The physical, social and  emotional adjustments, which determine the eventual successful outcome following injury, vary considerably from person to person. Some make satisfactory adjustments whereas others remain chronically distressed.This study aimed to determine the impact of SCI on youth in community settings after discharge from rehabilitation.  A qualitative approach, that utilised face-to-face interviews and focus group methods of data collection, was used. Data were drawn from ten participants selected at Conradie Spinal Rehabilitation Unit, using purposive sampling. Audiotape recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim. Strong themes that ran through the data were identified. The results of the study revealed that spinal cord injury impacts on more than just the physical capabilities of an individual. Participants identified issues such as social identity, intrapersonal and interpersonal factors, social support and employment opportunities as having a major impact on their lives once back in the community.  It is  recommended that rehabilitation professionals include issues such as identity and psychosocial adjustment into their health promotion interventions.


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