Exploring the discourse of National Islam and Foreign Islam in the Australian press: A critical discourse analysis

Research conducted in some European countries and in the US has evidenced that there is a considerable difference in the media coverage of the National/Internal and Foreign/External Islam. Wherein, the latter is viewed and portrayed as a ‘greater threat’ to the mainstream society. This research endeavour is an effort to explore the predominant themes associated with the Foreign/External Islam in the editorials of the two selected Australian newspapers during January 1, 2016 to March 31, 2017. The researcher has employed Tuen A. van Dijk’s (1998) ideological square and lexicalization strategies from the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) paradigm to examine the editorials of The Age and The Australian. The research findings are evident that in the coverage of the Foreign Islam both the selected newspapers have associated ‘conflict’, ‘violence’ and ‘collectivism’ with Islam and Muslims, however The Australian highlighted ‘women underrepresentation’ also. While covering the National Islam, The Age highlighted the ‘victimization’ and ‘prejudice’ to Muslims in Australia and stressed on the need of ‘understanding’, ‘harmony’ and ‘cohesion’. However, in The Australian the National Islam also received the same treatment as did the Foreign Islam in terms of themes.

Minorities among Minorities: The Case of Hindu Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh

The Rohingya community in Myanmar has been the subject of persecution and violent attacks that have forced them to flee the country and to take refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh several times in history. The latest wave of conflict-led displacement in August 2017 forced nearly a million Rohingya ethnic minorities to take refuge in Bangladesh. However, this time, a small number of Hindu Rohingya refugees also arrived in the refugee camps of Bangladesh. As they are small in number and considered insignificant by the international community, the attention on them has long been minimal. This study constitutes an exploratory research endeavour using qualitative research methodologies. It aims to reveal the main reasons behind their exodus, migration journey and refugee life in Bangladesh.

Reflexive interpretation: A critical post-structuralist perspective on applied theatre as research

In this article, I will trace the history of the qualitative applied theatre as research (ATAR) approach to explore how researchers may enrich their analyses and writings about ATAR-generated data with a critical post-structuralist (CPS) approach to reflexive interpretation (RI). RI is a compound methodology that considers four levels of interpretation. First, it asks researchers to consider how they handle empirical material. Second, it encourages researchers to analyse how they make their acts of interpretation conscious to themselves and their reader(s). Third, it calls for reflection on how sociopolitical and ideological contexts shape the research endeavour. Finally, it provokes researchers to investigate how authority is at play in the representation of data and findings, and in the writing of the final research output. I will consider how an RI methodology firmly rooted in a CPS paradigm can enable researchers to create analyses and representations of data that adequately portray the complexities of participants’ lived experiences in our chaotic and often contradictory postnormal world.

Crowd modelling: aggregating non-expert views as a method for theorizing

Purpose This paper aims to introduce a crowd-based method for theorizing. The purpose is not to achieve a scientific theory. On the contrary, the purpose is to achieve a model that may challenge current scientific theories or lead research in new phenomena. Design/methodology/approach This paper describes a case study of theorizing by using a crowd-based method. The first section of the paper introduces what do the authors know about crowdsourcing, crowd science and the aggregation of non-expert views. The second section details the case study. The third section analyses the aggregation. Finally, the fourth section elaborates the conclusions, limitations and future research. Findings This document answers to what extent the crowd-based method produces similar results to theories tested and published by experts. Research limitations/implications From a theoretical perspective, this study provides evidence to support the research agenda associated with crowd science. The main limitation of this study is that the crowded research models and the expert research models are compared in terms of the graph. Nevertheless, some academics may argue that theory building is about an academic heritage. Practical implications This paper exemplifies how to obtain an expert-level research model by aggregating the views of non-experts. Social implications This study is particularly important for institutions with limited access to costly databases, labs and researchers. Originality/value Previous research suggested that a collective of individuals may help to conduct all the stages of a research endeavour. Nevertheless, a formal method for theorizing based on the aggregation of non-expert views does not exist. This paper provides the method and evidence of its practical implications.

Critical Success Factors in Lean Implementation – A Maltese Context

For the past 30 years, Lean has become popular throughout organisations across the globe. Based on the Toyota Production System (TPS), Lean is a proven systematic methodology to reduce waste in processes, optimise efficiency and ensure quality in the end products. Although Lean has been proven to be a successful methodology, it also has a high failure rate. Research has identified a range of critical success factors (CSF) that are crucial towards the successful implementation of Lean. This research endeavour takes a qualitative approach, using Grounded Theory (GT) to investigate Lean implementation in Maltese organisations and to determine whether established CSFs are applicable to the Maltese context. Participants from the manufacturing, catering, and logistics industries are interviewed, with the data coded and analysed using MAXQDA2020. The findings suggest the importance of leadership as a catalyst in driving change within an organisation to foster a culture of continuous improvement.

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF FREEZE DRIED AND SPRAY DRIED BEET-ROOT POWDER ACCORDING TO PHYSICO-CHEMICAL, FUNCTIONAL AND COLOR PROPERTIES

The aim of the research endeavour was to evaluate the powder properties of freeze dried and spray dried beet-root powders.The physical, proximate, color and functional properties such as water activity, wettability, solubility and hygroscopicity were studied. From the comparative analysis between freeze and spray dried beet root powder, better results were found for freeze-dried samples in terms of color, wettability and hygroscopicity. Freeze-dried samples required a longer amount of time to obtain into powder form as compared to spray dried samples. Whereas the solubility and water activity values were found slightly higher in spray dried samples as compared to freeze dried samples. The proximate analysis, such as crude fiber, crude fat, ash and carbohydrate values recorded better result for freeze dried samples as compared to spray dried samples. It can be concluded from this study that the beet root, when dried in the freeze drying process, has better results as compared to the spray drying process.

The disconnect between researcher ambitions and reality in achieving impact in the Earth & Environmental Sciences – narrowing the gap

Background: There is an increasing desire for research to provide solutions to the grand challenges facing our global society, such as those expressed in the UN SDGs (“real-world impact”). Herein, we consider whether the frameworks that underpin the research endeavour are appropriately oriented to support these aspirations and maximize the capability of research to achieve these goals. Methods: We conducted a survey of authors who had published in >100 of our Earth & Environmental Science journals. The survey was sent to just under 60,000 authors and we received 2,695 responses (4% response rate). Results: Respondents indicated that the majority of their research in the Earth & Environmental Sciences is currently concerned with addressing urgent global needs or that this will become a priority in the future; however, the impetus seems to be altruistic researcher desire, rather than incentives or support from publishers, funders, or their institutions. Indeed, when contextualised within other forms of impact, respondents indicated that citations or downloads were more important to them than contributing to tackling real-world problems. Herein, we analyse survey feedback, suggest the presence of a misalignment between researcher ambition and current realities, and discuss the role and value of the research journal in forming new connections for their researchers, both within and without academia. Conclusions: At present, it seems that this laudable ambition of achieving real-world impact is seemingly being lost amidst the realities of being a researcher. We offer for comment a series of suggestions, with the aim of simulating discussion and collective action to tackle these challenges as a community.

Political Leadership

Political leadership has traditionally been a relatively minor subfield in Australian political science, notwithstanding the fact that biography has long been a staple for investigating leaders. In common with other comparable democracies, however, the early twenty-first century has witnessed a surge of activity in leadership studies. This chapter explores this intensified research endeavour, identifies its catalysts, delineates and surveys the major currents of that scholarship, and points out its limitations. Among the currents of recent leadership research the chapter surveys are: the belated emergence of debates on the theme of leadership centralization; the hardy perennials of biography and memoir; theoretical borrowings from United States presidential literature; gender and leadership; and leadership rhetoric.

Stroke knowledge: Developing a framework for data integration in a sequential exploratory mixed method study

Mixed methods have emerged as potential problem solvers particularly where traditional mono-method approaches fail to deal with specific research problems. The integration of quantitative and qualitative data within mixed methods approaches is central and should be carefully planned and executed. It is equally important to choose an appropriate mixed methods design, that promises to answer the research questions posed at the start of the research endeavour. The authors used an exploratory sequential mixed method approach to explore stroke knowledge and educational needs in a large population. They present the development and use of a framework (matrix) to ensure comprehensive and transparent data integration in their study and may be used as a template for future studies.

Diagrams of Intensity: Visualising the Sensibilities of Transdisciplinary Practice

One of the challenges to an increased rationalism within educational discourse has been a rethinking of mind-body relations. While there has been considerable discussion around what is implicated through the engagement of physical and theoretical sites of knowing, methodological difficulties related to how its resultant data might be meaningfully evidenced remain. Based on fieldwork conducted on a post-qualitative approach to transdisciplinary practice the author provides an account of a visual research method developed specifically to illustrate non-verbal experiences of group ideation. Writing from the position of a creative practitioner and intimate insider, the author explores how this positionality supported the role of bodily knowing in her research and the ways in which bodily experience offered utility to this research endeavour. The author concludes with a reflection on visualisation as a method to capture non-cognitive data and areas indicated through felt data for further exploration.