Kindergarten teachers' evaluation: perceptions of the new Israeli multiple domains performance tool

Purpose In 2012, the Israeli Ministry of Education and its Testing and Evaluation Department introduced a new tool to evaluate the quality of kindergarten teachers’ work. This paper aims to identify how kindergarten teachers perceive the new multiple domains performance tool. Design/methodology/approach The study applied a qualitative paradigm of data collection and analysis. Data collection consisted of semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted with 36 kindergarten teachers. Findings Findings indicated that most kindergarten teachers perceive their work plan and the kindergarten climate as the most important evaluation domains, while perceiving involving parents as the least important and even an unnecessary domain. One-third of them indicated that an innovation domain should be added. Also, the kindergarten teachers perceived the use of the KT-MDPT as both positive and negative. Originality/value There is a clear dearth in scholarly literature dealing with the evaluation of the quality of kindergarten teachers’ work. This study is the first to reveal Israeli kindergarten teachers' attitudes regarding this new tool for work quality evaluation.

Education and Interpretation on Public Lands: Lessons from Research and New Directions

Decades of research confirm that interpretation and environmental education on public lands can accomplish a wide variety of positive outcomes for participants, ranging from personal learning and growth to stewardship behaviors both onand off-site. This research note offers a brief summary of the state-of-the-field of interpretation and environmental education research as applied to public lands. It highlights the general state of knowledge and identifies opportunities for researchers to further enhance our understanding about education on public lands to maximize benefits for visitors and managers alike. In particular, we emphasize the value of large-scale comparative studies as well as collaborative approaches to adaptive management, in which researchers support active experimentation through iterative data collection and analysis within a learning network of multiple program providers. This latter approach promotes evidenced-based learning within a larger community practice in which participants can benefit from the diverse knowledge, experiences, and data that each brings into the network.

Taking phenomenology beyond the first-person perspective: conceptual grounding in the collection and analysis of observational evidence

Phenomenology has been adapted for use in qualitative health research, where it’s often used as a method for conducting interviews and analyzing interview data. But how can phenomenologists study subjects who cannot accurately reflect upon or report their own experiences, for instance, because of a psychiatric or neurological disorder? For conditions like these, qualitative researchers may gain more insight by conducting observational studies in lieu of, or in conjunction with, interviews. In this article, we introduce a phenomenological approach to conducting this kind of observational research. The approach relies on conceptual grounding to focus a study on specific aspects of the participants’ experiences. Moreover, the approach maintains the openness to novel discoveries that qualitative research requires while also providing a structured framework for data collection and analysis. To illustrate its practical application, we use examples of hemispatial neglect—a neurologic disorder in which patients characteristically lack awareness of their own illness and bodily capacities. However, the approach that we describe can be applied more broadly to the study of complex illness experiences and other experiential alterations.

Segmentation of wine tourism experience in Mexican wine regions using netnography

Purpose This paper aims to offer an experiential segmentation based on the analysis of comments from wine tourists from different Mexican wine regions, using netnography as a data collection and analysis tool. Design/methodology/approach The netnography methodology was applied in three steps: first, collecting consumer opinions (TripAdvisor 1,240 opinions, 2017–2019) from their visits to 20 wineries in four Mexican wine regions. Second, organizing of the data by classifying the various experiences. Third, by the application of multiple correspondence and cluster analysis to consolidate four segments taking as reference the 4Es Model. Findings The results show that of the four Mexican wine regions, Baja California is divided between the aesthetic and wine focus segments, Coahuila is more associated to the educational segment, while tourist who visit Queretaro tend to relate to the activities of the entertainment segment. Research limitations/implications The scarce literature that exists regarding wine tourism in Mexico made certain comparisons and relationships to the results difficult to establish. Practical implications The results provide stakeholders (wineries, state tourism departments, wine tourism marketers and wine tourism researchers) a segmentation proposal focused on tourist experiences to improve marketing programs and wine tourism offerings. Originality/value The use of netnography as a tool for wine tourism research in Mexico is one that has not been previously explored. In addition, this study considers different Mexican wine regions, which allows for comparisons and relationships between them that can contribute to greater market differentiation.

Q Methodology

Q methodology is a research method that focuses systematically on people's internal and subjective viewpoints. Since its introduction as an alternative form of data collection and analysis, Q methodology has been utilized in various fields of study. However, although its use would enable an enriched understanding of individuals' subjective accounts of reality, it has not been fully exploited yet, and the use of it is still in its infancy. Thus, sparked off by the scarcity of interest in the use of Q methodology, this chapter attempts to provide an overview of this research method with a specific reference to what it is and how it is implemented. The chapter concludes with an example of a recent Q study for illustrative purposes. It is believed that this account is of relevance for researchers in various fields of study with its focus on Q methodology, which is an underutilized but a valuable tool to gain deeper insights into subjective realities experienced by individuals.

Visual Ethnography as a Research Methodology

The chapter presents a rationale for using visual ethnography as part of the methodology in qualitative research and illustrates what visual ethnography methodology is capable of accomplishing when imagery is included in the investigative process. Visual ethnography offers a venue for collecting and analyzing data that would otherwise be inaccessible and positions imagery as an important, rather than a minimal or occasional, choice for use in qualitative research. Topics include contemporary definitions of visual ethnography and its value in qualitative research, historical applications of visual ethnographic theory that influence the way researchers view visual ethnography today, and contemporary uses of visual ethnography in data collection and analysis. Finally, the conclusion explores the future of visual ethnography.

Fusing Approaches in Educational Research: Data Collection and Data Analysis in Phenomenological Research

One of the aims of human sciences seek to understand the essences and meanings of human experiences by focusing on philosophical, epistemological, methodological, and linguistic principles through transcendental phenomenology and hermeneutics, two philosophies and research methodologies central to qualitative research. Therefore, fusing approaches provides a space where both epistemology and methodology within both traditions can merge to yield meaning and understanding, and at the same time, offer a new approach to dealing with data collection and data analysis without neglecting or distorting original leading concepts. Fusing approaches comes into being as the merging of overlapping and deferring epistemological, methodological, and rhetorical assumptions that a researcher brings into play and actually puts into practice sustaining a purposeful and explicit sense of neutrality to assure methodological trustworthiness. Moved by my sensitivity to lived experience, in this paper, I explicate in a step-by-step fashion the combination of Moustakas’ modification of Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen method of phenomenological analysis and Van Manen’s (1990) hermeneutic approach to phenomenology in data collection and analysis. In fusing approaches, I encourage researchers to generate knowledge and show understanding emanated from both transcendental phenomenology and hermeneutics sustaining a deep sense of neutrality, co-creation, thoughtfulness, and rigor.