Better Understanding of Norm-breaking Behaviors During the Coronavirus Crisis in Iran Using the Causal Layered Analysis (CLA)

PurposeHigher education and universities have faced unprecedented and ubiquitous changes. The University of Tehran or “UT,” as the leading university in Iran, is not immune to these changes. The purposes of this study is to investigate the current situation and future of the UT and gain insights and possible responses to changes that suit its strengths and potential to progress in an increasingly competitive, complex environment with uncertainties. It identifies deep fundamental underpinnings of the issue and highlights them for policymakers to formulate strategies and future vision of the UT.Design/methodology/approachCausal layered analysis (CLA) was applied as a framework and the data collected from different sources such as literature reviews, content analysis of rules, regulations and master plans of the university and coded interviews of four different groups of university stakeholders were analyzed. The current system of UT, as well as hidden beliefs, that maintains traditional perceptions about university was mapped. Next, by applying a new recursive process and reverse CLA order, new CLA layers extracted through an expert panel, the layers of CLA based on new metaphors to envision future of UT were backcasted.FindingsThe results from CLA layers including litany, system, worldview and metaphor about the current statue of UT show disinterest and inertia against changes, conservative, behind the times and traditional perceptions, and indicate that the UT system is mismatched to the needs of society and stakeholders in the future. The authors articulated alternative perspectives deconstructed from other worldviews so there are new narratives that reframe the issues at hand. The results show that to survive in this fast-paced revolution and competition in higher education, UT should develop scenarios and formulate new strategies.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors had limited access to a wide range of stakeholders. As the UT is a very big university with so many faculties and departments, to access a pool of experts and top policymakers who were so busy and did not have time to interview inside and outside of university was very hard for the research team. The authors also had limitation to access the internal enactments and decisions of the trustee board of the UT and the financial balance sheets of the university.Originality/valueIn this paper, by mixing different methods of futures studies, the authors have shown how to move forward while understanding the perspectives of stakeholders about the future of UT by a new recursive process and reverse CLA order. A supplementary phase was added to improve CLA and to validate the method and results, which were ignored in previous studies.

Download Full-text

Teaching to Find Design Opportunities for Behavior Change Through Causal Layered Analysis

Cross-Cultural Design. User Experience of Products, Services, and Intelligent Environments - Lecture Notes in Computer Science ◽

10.1007/978-3-030-49788-0_10 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 128-144

Author(s):

Peter Scupelli

Keyword(s):

Behavior Change ◽

Causal Layered Analysis

Download Full-text

The Pedagogies for critical agency: Portals to alternative futures

Critical Studies in Teaching and Learning ◽

10.14426/cristal.v9isi.336 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (SI) ◽

Author(s):

Rieta Ganas ◽

◽

Kasturi Behari-Leak ◽

Siya Sabata ◽

Nalini Chitanand ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Professional Learning ◽

Academic Staff ◽

Institutional Development ◽

Steering Committee ◽

Knowledge Generation ◽

Contextual Influences ◽

Specific Context ◽

Alternative Futures ◽

Causal Layered Analysis ◽

Pedagogical Approaches

‘Pedagogies in context’ are explored through a national project working with academic staff developers and new academics' induction and transitioning into higher education. Causal-layered analysis is used to explore the interplay between academic staff, institutional development, and contextual influences in shaping professional learning processes. Data generated by the project’s steering committee (SC) reflects on pedagogical encounters with the NATHEP participants and conference delegates (HELTASA, 2019). The outcomes of each intervention were compared by reflecting on who was in the room and how epistemological and ontological depth in each engagement was achieved. The study was guided by whether pedagogies are mobile and agile, irrespective of context. The SC asserts that pedagogies in context are relative to the participants, purpose and the project embedded in a specific context to achieve the epistemological, ontological, methodological, and axiological breadth and depth required. The portability of pedagogies from one context to another depends on aspects intrinsic to knowledge generation, transformation and decolonisation, engagement, being and becoming, and socio-cultural and historical conditions. This is also incumbent on the agility and flexibility of facilitators to adapt their repertoire to draw on a suite of contextually relevant pedagogical approaches.

Download Full-text

Creation of an Australian knowledge town

Knowledge-Based Urban Development ◽

10.4018/978-1-59904-720-1.ch015 ◽

2008 ◽

pp. 260-278

Author(s):

Phillip Daffara

Keyword(s):

Evaluation Process ◽

Regional Governance ◽

Alternative Methods ◽

Policy Framework ◽

Collaborative Partnerships ◽

Knowledge Based ◽

Key Stakeholders ◽

Causal Layered Analysis ◽

University Town

This chapter presents an Australian case study of the planning and implementation of a new university town (Circa, 1994). It aims to evaluate the effectiveness of normative urban/regional planning practice applied locally to create a regional knowledge hub. The evaluation process surveys key stakeholders’ perceptions about the town’s development using traditional methods (e.g.: SWOT) and alternative methods from the Futures Studies field (Causal Layered Analysis). The case study shows that a regional governance framework with collaborative partnerships focused on place management and infrastructure delivery is needed to realise Sippy Downs’ vision as a knowledge hub. It also demonstrates that a holistic policy framework for the town’s development is also needed to leverage the drivers of successful knowledge-based urban development.

Download Full-text

Futures Narratives, Possible Worlds, Big Stories: Causal Layered Analysis and the Problems of Youth

Sociological Research Online ◽

10.5153/sro.1969 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 14 (5) ◽

pp. 231-242 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Cate Watson

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Possible Worlds ◽

Levels Of Analysis ◽

The Third ◽

The Social ◽

The Future ◽

Causal Layered Analysis ◽

Four Levels ◽

Alternative Scenarios ◽

Causal Variables

Narratives of the future can be seen as a form of colonialisation, structuring fields of discourse, in a process which Johan Galtung (cited in Andersson, 2006) refers to as ‘chronological imperialism’. However, futures narratives can also be used to disrupt these attempts at colonialisation through surfacing problematic assumptions in order to explore alternative scenarios. In this paper I first consider modal narratives and possible worlds and their relevance to the social sciences. I then discuss Sohail Inayatullah's ‘Causal Layered Analysis’ (CLA) - a narrative technique for constructing past and present and imagining the future. CLA draws on a ‘poststructural toolbox’ to examine problematic issues using a process which focuses on four levels of analysis: litany (the official public description of the issue); social science analysis (which attempts to articulate causal variables); discourse analysis or prevailing worldview; and myth/metaphor analysis. The aim is to disrupt current discourses which have become sedimented into practice and so open up space for the construction of alternative scenarios. In the third part I demonstrate how this approach can be used to examine ‘big issues’ taking as my example the current preoccupation with troubled and troublesome youth.

Download Full-text