How Correctional Officers Experience Inmates Suicidal Behavior? – Qualitative Research and Development of The Model of a House

As first responders in prisons, correctional officers are more exposed to suicides than the general population. The aim of the study was to explore how they experience the suicidal behavior of inmates and how they cope with potential psychological consequences of these experiences. We conducted interviews with 11 male correctional officers working in 12-h shifts, and analysed the data using a grounded theory approach. Results were conceptualised in The Model of a House, which consists of five parts representing different aspects of the experience. The model provides an overall understanding of how correctional officers experience the suicidal behavior of inmates.

Applying Institutional Ethnography to Childcare

This research applies institutional ethnography to childcare by employing participant observation, interviews and text examination at two childcare research sites. The initial focus of this work describes the daily happenings in childcare utilizing a grounded theory approach and makes connections between what happens in childcare and the structures and institutions that dictate those experiences. The construction of work was found to be a major contributor to childcare experiences. I conclude with an examination of U.S. childcare policy and suggestions for improving these policies and offerings.

The respect pyramid: A model of respect based on lay knowledge in two cultures

Respect is a common social concept, yet how lay people define it has not been thoroughly investigated. This study used a grounded theory approach, using in-depth interviews, to conceptualize respect according to lay knowledge. 40 participants from two cultures in the Middle East—20 Jewish Israelis and 20 Palestinians—reported how they define respect ( Kavod in Hebrew and Ihtiram in Arabic). The findings define respect as a complex, multidimensional concept. Based on the findings, a respect pyramid model was developed, which includes four dimensions: avoiding disrespect, deserved/normative respect, conditional respect, and considerate respect. Each dimension indicates an increase in aspects that make the respect less conditional and more intrinsic, while requiring higher sensitivity and greater effort. The implications of the respect pyramid for relationships and the cultural differences regarding definitions of respect are discussed.

Technolegal Expulsions: Platform Food Delivery Workers and Work Regulations in Colombia

Precariousness of the Colombian urban economy provides an ecosystem for the development and expansion of digital platforms, intersecting informal working relations with digital surveillance. Reconstructing legal obstacles to gaining recognition as legal and formal workers, it is argued that platforms have assembled a techno-legal network which translates discussions about workers’ rights into the less regulated arena of information and communication technologies. The role of ‘regulatory displacement’ is examined to analyse the evolution of digital platforms for food delivery workers. Drawing on a review of the regulation of it and labour, discussed in Congress in 2017–2018, we explore the regulatory expulsions that digital workers experience, analysing this information with a grounded theory approach, in which we have followed discursive patterns that emerge from legal documents. Addressing this strategic use of the law is key to understanding and overcoming obstacles that platform workers face in their attempts to organize in the Global South.

Building and evolving a culture of excellence: a conceptual exploration

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to conceptually explore building a culture of excellence from the ground up as well as evolving a current culture to one more focused on excellence. Design/methodology/approach This study reviewed extant research related to organizational cultures and cultures of excellence that have implications for building or evolving into these types of cultures. Findings The findings of this study suggest that the “people side” of organizations is crucial to forming a culture of excellence. Specific people-oriented considerations to forming such a culture include leveraging leaders and understanding other influences including diversity as well as external aspects. Changing culture must occur at the assumptions (and not just artifacts) level. Furthermore, there are many barriers to building a culture of excellence, many of which are also related to an organization’s people. Research limitations/implications A qualitative grounded theory approach whereby researchers asked organizational members to define “culture of excellence” could help build a clearer model for the formation of cultures of excellence. Quantitative approaches should also test how successful the influencers, noted in this study are in creating cultures of excellence. This study’s conceptual links between cultures of excellence and performance should also be tested empirically. Practical implications This paper provides practitioners insight into the importance of culture and considerations for how to change an organizational culture. Social implications This paper advocates for the importance of social considerations in the workplace regarding creating a culture of excellence. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first that discusses creating a culture of excellence. Furthermore, it is one of only a handful of articles that links people to excellence.

BIM-enabled learning for building systems and technology

This paper presents a series of educational case studies for the BIM-enabled pedagogical approaches for learning building systems and technology in the early stages of architectural education and provides evidence-based arguments about the influence of BIM on the students’ learning processes. Using a dual-channel pedagogical framework the study employed an object-oriented ontological approach tightly integrated with the parameterization of building components and their behaviors. Students experienced a fully BIM-enhanced course for learning fundamental concepts of building systems and technology where the creation of parametric BIM models was the main vessel for comprehensive understanding. The results show significant conceptual and practical advantages of BIM-enabled learning as well as the observed challenges in an educational context. The study also suggests positive educational transformations due to carefully devised BIM-based pedagogical frameworks for the understanding of building systems through parametric thinking and modeling. Based on a grounded theory approach, the findings are synthesized in a theoretical learning model including the systemic relationships between building technology content and parametric BIM methodology.

Early Adolescents’ Social Goals in Peer Conflict Situations: A Mixed Methods Study

Identification of goals is a key social-cognitive process that guides whether adolescents engage in aggressive or nonviolent behavior during social conflicts. This study investigated early adolescents’ goals in response to hypothetical social conflict situations involving close friends and peers. Participants ( n = 160; Mage = 12.7, 53% female) were 7th graders from two urban and one rural middle school. On average, participants identified 2.5 goals for each situation. Qualitative analysis using a grounded theory approach identified nine themes representing the goals generated by participants: instrumental-control, relationship maintenance, maintain image and reputation/self-defense, conflict avoidance, seek more information, revenge, tension reduction, moral, and stay out of trouble. Quantitative analysis indicated that female participants identified more goals than male participants, but there were few differences in their types of goals. There were few differences across school sites. The findings highlight the variety of social goals specific to the developmental period of early adolescence.

Family Socialization and Experiences of Early Childhood Programs in the Rohingya Camps: Study Protocol

Objective of Protocol: The primary objective of this protocol is to record the process of conceptualizing a semi-structured interview protocol, training enumerators on the protocol, collecting data, translating findings into English, and analyzing data in English and Bengali, in a study of family socialization among a stateless and conflict-affected population, Rohingya refugees, in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Research Questions of Study: (1) What are the socialization goals that mothers have for their children, and how do they perceive these goals in relation to their future or current roles as caregivers? (2) What are parents’ experiences with their children’s participation in Humanitarian Play Labs (education/child care provisions in the camps), and what are their perceptions of how their child’s participation in the programs has influenced their child/family? (3) What were the experiences of parents with their children as they migrated from Myanmar to Bangladesh? Design of Study: The design of the study involved a qualitative grounded theory approach based on an analysis of the participants’ responses to a semi-structured interview protocol. Study population: Participants included a purposive sample of 28 mother/father dyads in the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar.

Confessions of a Self-Directed Learner

After a trio of hour-long interviews with a self-professed self-directed learner, the authors present an honest narrative conveying an authentic account of a real human being who has directed their own learning. In this chapter, vignettes of raw interview data are presented as conversations to tell a biographical story while discussions of related ideas and principles provide context for those stories. The authors analyzed 20,576 words from interview transcripts for emergent themes using a grounded theory approach. After coding, memoing, and sorting data, salient themes that emerged included identity, patience, motivation, agency, trust, and classroom practice.