Muckraker websites (American and European examples)

The goal of the article is to compare contemporary websites used by investigative reporters for organising their inquiries and propagating their outcomes. To achieve that goal, I compare the experiences of American and European muckrakers in conducting investigative activities through websites. I analysed 10 such projects in total, 3 from the USA and 7 from Europe. The discussed criteria include the modes of financing, the size of annual budgets, the modes of operation, and HR policies.The goal of the article is to compare contemporary websites used by investigative reporters for organising their inquiries and propagating their outcomes. To achieve that goal, I compare the experiences of American and European muckrakers in conducting investigative activities through websites. I analysed 10 such projects in total, 3 from the USA and 7 from Europe. The discussed criteria include the modes of financing, the size of annual budgets, the modes of operation, and HR policies

Getting away with murder

Where once children aspired to the science careers of astronauts, surgeons or vets, now the career of choice (apart from ‘celebrity’) is Crime Scene Investigator. Popularised by many TV shows, CSI is a fascinating and accessible starting point for practical activities in the classroom, and particularly effective in encouraging even the most reluctant young scientists to flex their investigative muscles

Investigative psychology

The domain of Investigative Psychology covers all aspects of psychology that are relevant to the conduct of criminal or civil investigations. Its focus is on the ways in which criminal activities may be examined and understood in order for the detection of crime to be effective and legal proceedings to be appropriate. As such Investigative Psychology is concerned with psychological input to the full range of issues that relate to the management, investigation and prosecution of crim

Dissecting the Workforce and Workplace for Clinical Endocrinology, and the Work of Endocrinologists Early in Their Careers

[Excerpt] No national mechanism is in place for an informed, penetrating, and systematic assessment of the physician workforce such as that achieved by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the periodic evaluation of the nation’s scientists and engineers. Likewise, knowledge of the workforce for clinical research is enigmatic and fragmentary despite the serial recommendations of “blue-ribbon” panels to establish a protocol for the recurrent assessment of clinical investigators early in their careers. Failure to adopt a national system for producing timely, high-quality data on the professional activities of physicians limits the application of improvement tools for advancing clinical investigation and ultimately improving clinical practice. The present study was designed as a pilot project to test the feasibility of using Web-based surveys to estimate the administrative, clinical, didactic, and research work of subspecialty physicians employed in academic, clinical, federal, and pharmaceutical workplaces. Physician members of The Endocrine Society (TES) were used as surrogate prototypes of a subspecialty workforce because of their manageable number and investigative tradition. The results establish that Web-based surveys provide a tool to assess the activities of a decentralized workforce employed in disparate workplaces and underscore the value of focusing on physician work within the context of particular workplaces within a subspecialty. Our report also provides a new and timely snapshot of the amount and types of research performed by clinically trained endocrinologists and offers an evidenced-based framework for improving the investigative workforce in this medical subspecialty

Investigative Designing: usage-oriented research in and through designing

In this paper, we discuss the practice of investigative designing. The notion is currently being used to denote a variety of ideas in design research, and we first seek to clarify some of them. We then present our own, specific take on this notion, while acknowledging that it is being used broadly. We adopted the notion as an umbrella term for our combined research and design activities: as investigative designers. We use it for the exploration of how designers can integrate designing and researching within a design process. The two main concerns we are pursuing within this are to clarify the role of a designer with research skills, and to explore the implications of a usage orientation in design. We present two studies in this paper in which we investigated how usage research for design can be specifically geared to the needs of design, and what helps designers (and what does not) in designing with usage information. In the first study, we ourselves conducted usage research, developed design ideas on the basis of that, and reflected on this process. In the second study, we observed how three other designers engaged with the same user data and developed design ideas. Our findings include that the designers tended to prefer to develop their own design ideas independently from the data, only checking or adapting the ideas to the data. Furthermore, the capacity of designers for dealing with data needs to be taken into consideration. Lastly, the form of data presentation influences how well designers can engage with it in designing. Keywords: Investigative Design; Designing; Designer; Product Usage; User Research</p

Teaching the Dynamic Earth: Will My Gravestone Last?

This activity will allow students to investigate the resistance to weathering of headstones in a cemetery. This field study offers scope for developing many of the investigative skills involved in planning, obtaining and presenting evidence, considering evidence and in evaluating it. Students will have to consider key factors that need to be taken into account when collecting evidence, and how evidence may be collected in contexts in which the variables cannot readily be controlled. The site also contains teacher notes and suggestions for extended and follow-up activities. Educational levels: High school, Middle school

An examination of the types of leading questions used by investigative interviewers of children

Purpose &ndash; The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of leading questions used by a representative sample of investigative interviewers of children. In particular, it examined whether these interviewers use the type of questions that are known to elicit reports of false activities or events among child samples.Design/methodology/approach &ndash; A total of 82 police officers who were authorized to conduct interviews with alleged child abuse victims conducted individual mock interviews with children aged 5-7 years. The focus of the interviews was an event that was staged in the children\u27s school a week earlier. Prior to the interview, each officer was provided with accurate and inaccurate information about the event, including details about an activity that did not occur. The officers\u27 task was to elicit as detailed and accurate account of the event as possible using the techniques they would &ldquo;normally&rdquo; use in the field.Findings &ndash; Although the officers refrained from using coercive interview techniques, two problematic types of questions were relatively common. These include: questions that presumed that an activity/detail occurred that had not been previously mentioned by the child; and questions that included highly specific details about an activity. Both of these techniques had featured in prior laboratory research on children\u27s false event narratives.Research limitations/implications &ndash; These results support the need for better training techniques for assisting officers to avoid the use of leading questions.Originality/value &ndash; While it is well established that investigative interviewers do sometimes use leading questions when interviewing children, this is the first study to specify the incidence of various types of leading questions.of leading questions.<br /

The IRS and Nonprofit Media: A Step Forward Toward Creating a More Informed Public

This is a follow up to the 2013 report, The IRS and Nonprofit Media: Toward Creating an More Informed Public and reviews the current state of IRS determinations and rules surrounding nonprofit media organizations. Nonprofit media organizations are making vital contributions to society by providing coverage on important public topics that are being abandoned by commercial organizations, such as investigative and in-depth pieces on the state of health careand schools or stories that explore the experiences of minority, ethnic, or low-income communities. Although nonprofit media organizations are providing news and information that is useful to individuals and beneficial to communities, the field would continue to benefit from updated IRS guidance on the standards for their exemption as well as a checklist to help them prepare exemption applications