Producing persuasive findings: Demystifying ethnographic textwork in strategy and organization research

Despite the importance and proliferation of ethnography in strategy and organization research, the central issue of how to present ethnographic findings has rarely been discussed. Yet, the narratives we craft to share our experience of the field are at the heart of ethnographic papers and provide the primary basis for our theorizing. In this article, we explain the “textwork” involved in writing persuasive findings. We provide an illustrative example of ethnographic data as it is recorded within fieldnotes and explain the necessary conceptual and writing work that must be done to render such data persuasive, drawing on published exemplars of ethnographic articles. This allows us to show how such texts, through various forms of writing and data representation, are transformed from raw fieldnotes to comprehensible findings. We conclude by asserting the value of these specifically ethnographic ways of presenting evidence, which are at odds with the canonical methods of data presentation in management studies

Reducing model bias in a deep learning classifier using domain adversarial neural networks in the MINERvA experiment

We present a simulation-based study using deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs) to identify neutrino interaction vertices in the MINERvA passive targets region, and illustrate the application of domain adversarial neural networks (DANNs) in this context. DANNs are designed to be trained in one domain (simulated data) but tested in a second domain (physics data) and utilize unlabeled data from the second domain so that during training only features which are unable to discriminate between the domains are promoted. MINERvA is a neutrino-nucleus scattering experiment using the NuMI beamline at Fermilab. $A$-dependent cross sections are an important part of the physics program, and these measurements require vertex finding in complicated events. To illustrate the impact of the DANN we used a modified set of simulation in place of physics data during the training of the DANN and then used the label of the modified simulation during the evaluation of the DANN. We find that deep learning based methods offer significant advantages over our prior track-based reconstruction for the task of vertex finding, and that DANNs are able to improve the performance of deep networks by leveraging available unlabeled data and by mitigating network performance degradation rooted in biases in the physics models used for training.Comment: 41 page

Research Diary: A Tool for Scaffolding

Diaries have long been seen as tools for reflection in learning languages, and learning about teaching. Despite this recognition of the importance of narratives in diary writing, little attention has been paid to the role of research diaries in the process of learning about research, and learning how to be a researcher. During the author\u27s own research into the construction of teaching knowledge by pre-service trainees, she became aware that her research diary was scaffolding her own construction of research knowledge. In this article the author discusses the role of a research diary based on a socio-cultural theory of learning. The diary acts as the expert other in the scaffolding of research knowledge by the novice researcher. The discussion of the nature of the scaffolding and the role of diary writing draws on examples from the author\u27s research diary written during her doctoral studies

Measurement of the muon anti-neutrino double-differential cross section for quasi-elastic scattering on hydrocarbon at~Eν∼3.5E_\nu \sim 3.5 GeV

We present double-differential measurements of anti-neutrino quasi-elastic scattering in the MINERvA detector. This study improves on a previous single differential measurement by using updated reconstruction algorithms and interaction models, and provides a complete description of observed muon kinematics in the form of a double-differential cross section with respect to muon transverse and longitudinal momentum. We include in our signal definition zero-meson final states arising from multi-nucleon interactions and from resonant pion production followed by pion absorption in the primary nucleus. We find that model agreement is considerably improved by a model tuned to MINERvA inclusive neutrino scattering data that incorporates nuclear effects such as weak nuclear screening and two-particle, two-hole enhancements.Comment: 47 pages, 31 figure

Questioning policy, youth participation and lifestyle sports

Young people have been identified as a key target group for whom participation in sport and physical activity could have important benefits to health and wellbeing and consequently have been the focus of several government policies to increase participation in the UK. Lifestyle sports represent one such strategy for encouraging and sustaining new engagements in sport and physical activity in youth groups, however, there is at present a lack of understanding of the use of these activities within policy contexts. This paper presents findings from a government initiative which sought to increase participation in sport for young people through provision of facilities for mountain biking in a forest in south-east England. Findings from qualitative research with 40 young people who participated in mountain biking at the case study location highlight the importance of non-traditional sports as a means to experience the natural environments through forms of consumption which are healthy, active and appeal to their identities. In addition, however, the paper raises questions over the accessibility of schemes for some individuals and social groups, and the ability to incorporate sports which are inherently participant-led into state-managed schemes. Lifestyle sports such as mountain biking involve distinct forms of participation which present a challenge for policy-makers who seek to create and maintain sustainable communities of youth participants

First evidence of coherent K+K^{+} meson production in neutrino-nucleus scattering

Neutrino-induced charged-current coherent kaon production, $\nu_{\mu}A\rightarrow\mu^{-}K^{+}A$, is a rare, inelastic electroweak process that brings a $K^+$ on shell and leaves the target nucleus intact in its ground state. This process is significantly lower in rate than neutrino-induced charged-current coherent pion production, because of Cabibbo suppression and a kinematic suppression due to the larger kaon mass. We search for such events in the scintillator tracker of MINERvA by observing the final state $K^+$, $\mu^-$ and no other detector activity, and by using the kinematics of the final state particles to reconstruct the small momentum transfer to the nucleus, which is a model-independent characteristic of coherent scattering. We find the first experimental evidence for the process at $3\sigma$ significance.Comment: added ancillary file with information about the six kaon candidate