Qualitative analysis of qualitative evaluation: an exploratory examination of investigative interviewers’ reflections on their performance

Self-evaluation of interviews conducted by law enforcement professionals is a principal feature of a prescribed interview framework in England and Wales, underpinning their practice development. However, self-evaluation has been found in prior research to be neglected. Building on our recent study (which found that interviewers regularly over-rated themselves, when compared to our independent ratings), the same interviewers assessed their interview skills by way of completing an extensive reflective log. We found that those we regarded as skilled in our prior study tended to be more accurate in identifying their strengths and areas for improvement, while planning to correct such shortfalls in their future practice. On the other hand, those we had earlier rated as least skilled tended to be much less reflective, being both descriptive and inaccurate in their understanding of key interview tasks. They also remained inaccurate concerning their own interview skills, failing to be prospective in planning to improve their skills. As such, while reflective logs appear to be, for skilled interviewers, both a prompt for accurate self-assessment and a catalyst for planning further professional development, we also caution that such tools need further refinement to achieve the same goals for those either less reflective or less skilled.N/

Unspooling: artists & cinema

The 20 international artists featured in UnSpooling – Artists & Cinema, present current reflections and interpretations of cinema and new possibilities of future cinematic production, spectacle and storytelling. The research underpinning the exhibiton explored how in the age of the digital expansion into the possibilities of what cinema can be, artists are returning to analogue techologies and possibilites, to imagine future and further possiblities for the cinematic.The exhibition was co-curated by myself and Dave Griffiths as an extension of research arising from our artistic practices. This expands on a recurring artistic urge to sample film, first echoed in the makeshift cinema-going activities of Surrealists André Breton and Jacques Vaché. This exhibition presents unexpected models of the moving image and explores how something so intimate has become so pervasive, whether picking it apart, creating personal archives or playfully nodding to its forms and characteristics. UnSpooling – Artists & Cinema, gathers a wide range of works that explore text, image, sound, chemistry, gesture and spoken word, through painting, drawing, film and video. The exhibition included 10 new comissioned artworks from 7 artists. This major exhibition seeks to re-imagine Cornerhouse Galleries and cinema building as a 'fourth cinema space' in which to review the relationship and concerns of art and cinema, presenting contemporary artists' current reflections and interpretations of its form. The exhibition was part of Abandon Normal Devices festival and was Cornerhouse galleries 25th Birthday celebratory exhibition. The exhibition was previewed in AN (Oct 2010) and Flux Magazine (Autumn 2010), The Guardian (2nd Oct. 2010) and The Times (2nd Oct. 2010) and was reviewed in Art Monthly (no 341)

Effective supervision

Considers the complexities of academic supervision that operate at a variety of academic levels, arguing that at the core of the process is an interpersonal relationship that has the potential to enable and validate learning or, conversely, to hinder and subdue it. Their chapter outlines what this complexity means for the practice and process of academic supervision, explores some new perspectives on the different elements that constitute the process, and suggests some practical responses to the many challenges generated by the complexity of supervision today

Preparing Versus Persuading: Inequalities between Scottish State schools in University Application Guidance Practices

A university education is often regarded as a means for increasing social mobility, with attendance at a leading university seen as a pathway to an advantaged socio-economic status. However, inequalities are observable in attendance levels at leading UK universities, with children from less advantaged backgrounds less likely to attend the top universities (generally known as the Russell Group institutions). In this paper, we explore the different levels of assistance provided to state school children in preparing for their university applications. Guidance teachers and pupils at a range of Scottish state schools were interviewed. We find that inequalities exist in the cultivation of guidance provided by state schools, with high attainment schools focusing on preparing applicants to be desirable to leading universities, whilst low attainment schools focus on persuading their students that university is desirable

A review of data sources for studying social interactions between the incumbents of occupations

In the ESRC project ‘Social Networks and Occupational Structure' (or ‘SoNOcS', seewww.camsis.stir.ac.uk/sonocs), we are interested in exploring empirical patterns ofsocial connections between occupations. We focus upon the incumbents ofoccupational positions, and seek to obtain data on the occupations held by otherindividuals with whom meaningful social connections are measured. This style ofanalysis has a long history in projects which explore social interaction distancesbetween occupations on the basis of patterns of friendship, marriage or cohabitation(e.g. Chan, 2010a; Laumann & Guttman, 1966; Prandy, 1990; Stewart, Prandy, &Blackburn, 1973; Stewart, Prandy, & Blackburn, 1980). Our own plans are to usethese data resources to study average patterns of social distance between occupations,and network patterns in social connections between occupations

Growing older in Scotland: health, housing and care

This research briefing shows the range of activities and experiences that relate to the standard of living of older people in Scotland.  The data furthers our understanding of housing, health, unpaid care and the inequalities that relate to these as people get older

Textility of Code: A Catalogue of Errors

This article presents a series of informal experiments in software and weaving, most of which were conducted as part of the Weaving Codes, Coding Weaves project. Different aspects of weaving, including plain weave, a four-shaft loom, tablet weaving and warp-weighted weaving are simulated, in order to gain greater understanding of the craft from the perspective of computer science. The production rules of L-Systems are employed to begin to explore the expansive possibilities offered even by our simple simulations. In order to test our models and gain deeper understanding, the languages we produce are interpreted both as computer simulations and by our human selves, through the weaving of textile by hand. Physical user interfaces are introduced, in order to help communicate the structures and thought processes of weaving. Finally, we share our approach to representing a weave from the point of view of a thread. Throughout, our aim is not to simulate a weave in its entirety, but to gain and share insights into its complexity, and begin see how the long history of weaving, as a fundamentally digital yet ancient craft, can inform the younger fields of computer science and engineering. This is the open-access author’s version of a closed access article published by Taylor and Francis in TEXTILE: Journal of Cloth and Culture, May 2017. It is shared under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license, with doi: 10.5281/zenodo.832582

Get rid of private schools? We’d be better tackling inequalities between state schools

First paragraph: Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is the 20th Etonian to become prime minister of the UK. Most of his cabinet is composed of privileged, privately educated people, with two-thirds of his ministers among the 7% of the population who went to fee-paying schools.https://theconversation.com/get-rid-of-private-schools-wed-be-better-tackling-inequalities-between-state-schools-12180

Evaluating interviews which search for the truth with suspects: but are investigators’ self-assessments of their own skills truthful ones?

Self-evaluation of one’s own performance has been found in prior research to be an enabler of professional development. The task of evaluation is also a core component of a model of the investigative interviewing of victims, witnesses and suspects, being increasingly used throughout the world. However, it remains the case that there has been little research as to how practitioners approach the task itself. The present study examined the topic through the lens of observing how effectively 30 real-life investigators in the UK undertook evaluation of their interviews, representing almost the entire investigative frontline workforce of a small law enforcement agency in this country. Using an established scale of measurement, both investigators’ and an expert’s ratings of the same sample of interviews were compared across a range of tasks and behaviours. It was found that in almost all the assessed behaviours, requiring of the investigators to provide a self-rating, their scores tended to significantly outstrip those applied to the sample by the expert. Reasons are explored for the investigators’ overstated assessments. Implications for practice are then discussed.N/

Grape Expectations: A Survey of British Vineyard Land Management Practices From an Environmental Perspective

Traditional vineyard landscapes are generally intensively managed with heavy reliance on synthetic pesticides. Viticulture is one of the fastest-growing sectors of English agriculture and information on land management is essential to secure a sustainable future. We surveyed viticulturists to ascertain vineyard pest presence, pest control, inter-row ground cover and wildflower use. The majority of viticulturists reported the presence of vineyard pests and relied heavily on pesticides, with 74% using synthetic pest control, 40% using herbicides, 40% using fungicides. Inter-row, 66% of vineyards have grass-only cover and frequent summer mowing, with only 6% sowing wildflowers. However, 60% use natural pest control, 80% reported existence of wildflowers in headlands, and 29% mentioned reduced mowing. We discuss spontaneous and sown wildflowers and benefits for biodiversity, integrated pest management and the commonly perceived barriers to adaptation. We conclude there is huge variation in management styles and more evidence-based environmental advice for viticulturists is needed