scholarly journals Using Constructivist Case Study Methodology to Understand Community Development Processes: Proposed Methodological Questions to Guide the Research Process

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heidi Lauckner ◽  
Margo Paterson ◽  
Terry Krupa
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Community Development ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Limited Attention ◽  
Case Study Methodology ◽  
Methodological Choices ◽  
Qualitative Approaches ◽  
Decision Making Processes

Often, research projects are presented as final products with the methodologies cleanly outlined and little attention paid to the decision-making processes that led to the chosen approach. Limited attention paid to these decision-making processes perpetuates a sense of mystery about qualitative approaches, particularly for new researchers who will likely encounter dilemmas and uncertainties in their research. This paper presents a series of questions that assisted one Ph.D. student in making key methodological choices during her research journey. In this study, a collective case study design informed by constructivist grounded theory data analysis methods was used to develop a framework of community development from an occupational therapy perspective. Ten methodological questions are proposed regarding research question development, research paradigm, design and analysis, and trustworthiness. Drawing on examples from this research project, these questions are used to explicate the decisions made “behind the scenes”, with the intention of providing both theoretical and practical guidance to others embarking on similar research journeys.

The Potential Role of Social Reporting in the Decision-Making Process of Cooperatives

2019 ◽  
pp. 115-131
Author(s):  
Fabio De Matteis ◽  
Daniela Preite
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Social Economy ◽  
Social Reporting ◽  
Social Report ◽  
The Social ◽  
Decision Making Processes

Accountability in the social economy sector is very important because it is inherent in the nature of the organizations of this sector. The literature on the topic of social accounting and accountability is abundant and highlights the benefits and the criticisms of social reporting. The objective of the chapter arises from the literature review that highlights how more in-depth studies are needed on the characters and role of social accountability in decision-making processes. In order to answer the research question (How is social reporting performed and how does social information influence the decision making of the management in a cooperative?), the single case study methodology has been adopted, considering embedded units of analysis and focusing on the social report of an Italian retail cooperative (COOP Lombardia). Thanks to the analyzed case study, it is possible to conclude that the social report can represent a tool of accountability that also informs future decisions, realizing a circular relationship between results achieved and decisions to be taken.

scholarly journals A Multi-Case Study of Instructional Decision-Making Processes of Teachers in Kindergarten Classrooms in the Cape Coast Metropolis

2019 ◽  
pp. 91-98
Author(s):  
Mumuni Thompson ◽  
Winston Kwame Abroampa
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Implicit Theories ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Cape Coast ◽  
Instructional Decision Making ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Practical Experiences ◽  
Instructional Decision

The study contributes to the on-going debate regarding the significance of early childhood teachers’ instructional decision-making that take into consideration their theoretical knowledge (explicit theories) and practical experiences (implicit theories) and how they impact their instructional decision-making processes in diverse socio-cultural contexts of children. To address this gap in the literature, a qualitative multi-case study into the perceptions and classroom practices of four kindergarten teachers in two Ghanaian schools, Tata and Kariba, was carried out over a six-month period. One research question that sought to explore factors and beliefs influencing teachers’ instructional decision-making in a kindergarten classroom guided the study. Data sources used were semi-structured individual interviews and pair-based interviews and fieldnotes of classroom observations. Both within and across case interpretative analysis, as outlined. The study’s findings revealed that these teachers’ explicit theories and implicit theories of teaching influenced their instructional decision-making processes in kinder garten classrooms.

The Heterogeneous Nature of Urban Poor Families

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Salcedo ◽  
Alejandra Rasse
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Urban Poor ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Poor Families ◽  
Heterogeneous Nature ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Different Cultures

This paper addresses the scholarly debate on cultural homogeneity or heterogeneity of urban poor families. While authors such as Lewis (1959) or Wacquant (2000 ; 2001) claim that structural disadvantages are linked to a particular type of identity or culture, others such as Hannerz (1969) , Anderson (1999 ; 2002) , or Portes ( Portes and Manning, 1986 ; Portes and Jensen, 1989 ) believe that it is possible to find different behaviors, expectations, decision–making processes, and outcomes among people living in seemingly identical structural conditions ( Small et al., 2010 ). Using Santiago, Chile, as a case study, we differentiate five different cultures or identities among the poor. Those identities seem to be the product of different historical and political circumstances, as well as of different types of public policies. The paper ends with a discussion of the need for poverty reduction policies to consider these differences among the poor.

scholarly journals Digital costume sketching through embodied awareness

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsi Manninen
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Method ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Costume Design ◽  
The Body ◽  
Digital Medium ◽  
Doctoral Research ◽  
Methodological Choices ◽  
Method Approach ◽  
Initial Results

This article presents a method for costume design, where empathy and embodiment are used as methodological choices by the designer in the character-creation process. In creating references for the sketching process, costume designers combine photos in which they portray themselves as the character that they imagine. These role-selfies, taken with a handheld tablet, work as starting points for the sketching procedure. The material for the present study is collected from MA costume design students who participated in digital character-creation courses at Aalto University, in Helsinki, Finland, and is a part of doctoral research by the author. The data are collected through a mixed-method approach and is organized as a case study investigating the experiences of using the body as a source for costume design. The research question in this study is as follows: does an awareness of one’s own body facilitate the sketching process? The initial results show that the research participants consider the method useful because it enables them to experience a stronger bodily connection with the digital medium, the imagined design and the emerging character in the costume sketching process. Hence, the findings of this study can be used to develop design and teaching practices not only in the field of costume design but also in other design processes involving character creation.

scholarly journals Participation in decision-making processes of community development agents: a study from Peru

2017 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 329-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catalina Quiroz-Niño ◽  
Francisco J Blanco-Encomienda
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Community Development ◽  
Sustainable Management ◽  
Organizational Structures ◽  
Participatory Process ◽  
Decent Work ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Action Taking ◽  
Development Agents ◽  
Qualitative Methodologies

Abstract This article argues that although Civil Social Organizations aspire towards a culture of participatory process-driven governance and management, the reality seems far from this aspiration. A culture of participatory processes is understood in this study as working and decisional engagement practices which are part of internal decision-making and action-taking processes from Community Development Agents (CDAs). This brings an ethical dilemma, as these organizations claim to operate upon principles of participation, solidarity, democracy, social justice, human dignity and decent work. Through this study, 506 Peruvian CDAs offered their own analyses about the factors that foster and/or inhibit their participation in specific organizational managerial and professional developmental areas, such as: systemic planning, organization, sustainable management and empowerment. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies was used to gain a comprehensive understanding of the field of study. Dialogical focus groups were applied, by which CDAs themselves identified and deconstructed the inhibiting and facilitating factors. The study echoes CDAs’ aspiration to engage meaningfully with decision-making and action-taking processes as well as creating the participatory mechanisms and processes themselves. In order to do this, CDAs demand an ethical and democratic competence-based training, to empower them to democratize their organizational structures and to counterbalance their daily power relations and dynamics.

Writing for Love and Money on Three Continents

2019 ◽  
pp. 33-48
Author(s):  
Kate Vieira
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Literacy Learning ◽  
The United States ◽  
Comparative Case Study ◽  
Transnational Families ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Methodological Choices ◽  
Political Borders

This chapter tells the story of the research. It first lays out the research question: How do transnational families’ experiences with migration-driven literacy learning shift across their lifespans in relation to changing political borders, economic circumstances, and technologies? It then describes the field sites in which the question was addressed: Latvia, Brazil, and the United States. Next, it outlines the reasoning behind the author’s methodological choices. Specifically, it elaborates on the author’s use of a comparative case study approach to develop the book’s central concept, “migration-driven literacy learning.” In doing so, the chapter describes how the project entailed both “reasearching across lives” and “researching across continents.” Finally, it offers a brief overview of the rest of the book.

‘Stepping on the heads of our Gods'

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 40-56
Author(s):  
Yangji Doma Sherpa ◽  
A. John Sinclair ◽  
Thomas Henley
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
High Mountain ◽  
Court Cases ◽  
The Public ◽  
Mountain Environments ◽  
Hydroelectric Dam ◽  
Decision Making Processes

The Himalayan region of India is experiencing rapid development in tourism, agriculture, highway construction and hydroelectric dam construction. This research considered the role of the public both within and outside of development decision-making processes in these high mountain environments using the proposed Himalayan Ski Village (HSV) in Manali as a case study. The qualitative data revealed that there has been an extensive array of public participation activity related to the HSV project over approximately 10 years. Very little of this activity has evolved, however, through the formal decision-making process. Rather, most participation activities, such as general house meetings, objection letters, public rallies, court cases against the proposed project, and a religious congregation were instigated by the public to protest the proposed development. The findings also show that involvement in the participatory activities undertaken by the public and project proponent fostered instrumental and communicative learning outcomes.

Das Chamäleon-Modell als Erklärungsmuster für die Organisationsstrukturen von Unternehmerfamilien

2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rena Haftlmeier-Seiffert ◽  
Sven Cravotta
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Family Business ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Multiple Case Study ◽  
Economic Stability ◽  
Family Organization ◽  
The Family ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Multiple Case

Zusammenfassung Offensichtlich sind es die Unternehmerfamilien, die ihrem Familienunternehmen eine besondere wirtschaftliche Stabilität verleihen. Dies ist allerdings nur möglich, wenn sie sicherstellen, dass sie stets handlungs- und entscheidungsfähig sind. Die hier verfolgte Forschungsfrage lautet deshalb: Wie organisieren Unternehmerfamilien ihre Entscheidungsfähigkeit? Das Chamäleon-Modell zeigt, dass bei Unternehmerfamilien verschiedene Organisationsformen latent vorhanden sind. Diese werden flexibel eingesetzt, je nachdem, was zielführend ist, um schnell zu tragfähigen Entscheidungen zu gelangen. D.h. die Unternehmerfamilienorganisation wechselt also ihre explizite Organisationsform wie ein Chamäleon die Farbe. Das Chamäleon-Modell wurde aus einer multiplen Fallstudie entwickelt, bei der vier traditionsreiche Unternehmerfamilien intensiv untersucht wurden. Abstract Apparently, it is the family that grants outstanding economic stability to the family business. However, this is only possible, if the family ensures to be always capable of acting and of making decisions. This leads us to the following research question: How do entrepreneurial families organize their decision-making ability? The Chameleon Model shows, that there are different types of organization latent available for entrepreneurial families. These are used flexibly, depending on what is leading to quick and stable decisions. That is to say, the entrepreneurial family organization changes the explicit organization form like a chameleon the colour. The Chameleon Model was developed from a multiple case study, analyzing four traditional entrepreneurial families in depth.

scholarly journals Club Diplomacy in the Arctic

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 304-326
Author(s):  
Danita Catherine Burke
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
International Politics ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Illustrative Case ◽  
Arctic Council ◽  
Club Membership ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Illustrative Case Study

Abstract The Arctic Council is frequently called a unique forum but, as this article argues, clubs are common in international politics and in many respects the Arctic Council is a club. This article explores the questions: Why are the Arctic states acting like a club in Arctic politics, and how do internal hierarchies influence how clubs make decisions? As the article illustrates, clubs are the stage for club diplomacy and, in club diplomacy, hierarchies play an important role. Using the Arctic Council as an illustrative case study, this article argues that clubs have internal hierarchies that inform their decision-making processes and their responses to challenges to their status. When clubs try to deal with subjects that extend beyond the boundaries of the sovereignty of club members and the parameters of club membership, club members may suffer from a lack of status and legitimacy to unilaterally deal with the subject.

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