A scoping review of action research in higher education: implications for research-based teaching

Several scholars argue for a closer association between research and teaching in higher education, but it is unclear how research-based teaching can be actualized. Action research (AR) offers designs that position students as actors of the research processes, for example by doing research themselves or co-researching. Therefore, AR and research-based teaching can be considered mutually nested pedagogical and methodological processes. In this scoping review, we explored studies methodologically framed as AR which involve higher education students in the Humanities and Social Sciences as participants. We focused on (1) the research characteristics and (2) how the students were positioned in the identified studies. By reviewing 218 studies in line with inclusion criteria, we found three student positions: students as researchers, as learners and active contributors to research, and as source of information. We discuss implications for teachers/researchers who adopt AR and how they can develop research-based teaching involving students as researchers.publishedVersio

Høytlesning av personaliserte bøker for førskolebarn : foreldres barneperspektiver og opplevelser

Litteratur er en mulig skattkiste for barn og voksne. Personaliserte bøker, som er bøker unikt utformet for enkeltbarn, er relativt nytt i Norge, og er gjort til lite gjenstand for forskning. I denne studien analyserer vi foreldrenes opplevelser og medierte barneperspektiver på høytlesing av personaliserte bøker for førskolebarn. Datagrunnlaget er fem barnetegninger og 11 spørreskjema, med åpne svarkategorier som foreldre fylte ut på vegne av seg selv og barna. Ved hjelp av tematisk analyse utforsket vi foreldrenes barneperspektiver og opplevelser. Funnene viste at bøkene vekket interesse, engasjement og glede. Ved utforsking av hva de trekker frem som betydningsfullt viste funnene opplevelse av identifisering, og å oppleve seg som midtpunkt i sosiale fellesskap. Foreldrenes barneperspektiv trekker også på pedagogiske komponenter. Vi diskuterer funnene i lys av relevant forskning og litteratur om «barneperspektiv» og peker på noen implikasjoner av å lese personaliserte bøker med førskolebarn og anviser mulig fremtidig forskning på dette området.publishedVersio

Ethics of care in technology-mediated healthcare practices: A scoping review

Background Introducing new technologies into healthcare practices may challenge professionals' traditional care cultures. The aim of this review was to map how the ‘ethics of care’ theoretical framework informs empirical studies of technology-mediated healthcare. Method A scoping review was performed using eight electronic databases: CINAHL with full text, Academic Search Premier, MEDLINE, the Philosopher's Index, SocINDEX with Full Text, SCOPUS, APA PsycInfo and Web of Science. This was followed by citation tracking, and articles were assessed against the inclusion criteria. Results Of the 443 initial articles, 18 met the criteria and were included. We found that nine of the articles used the concept of ‘ethics of care’ (herein used interchangeably with the terms ‘feminist ethics’ or ‘relational ethics’) insubstantially. The remaining nine articles deployed care ethics (or its equivalent) substantially as an integrated theoretical framework and analytical tool. We found that several articles suggested an expansion of ethics of care to encompass technologies as part of contemporary care. Furthermore, ethics of care contributed to the empirical research by recognising both new relationships between patients and healthcare professionals as well as new ethical challenges. Conclusion Ethics of care is sparsely used as a theoretical framework in empirical studies of technology-mediated healthcare practices. The use of ethics of care in technology-mediated care brings new dilemmas, relational tensions and vulnerabilities to the foreground. For ethics of care to be used more explicit in empirical studies, it is important that it is recognised by research community as an adequate, universal ethical theory.publishedVersio

Children and childhood in Chile

English This study explores understandings of children and childhood among 21 social workers from five child protection services in Chile. To help grasp multiple ideas about children and childhood, we use Q methodology and the ‘child visibility’ concept. The object is to explore dissimilar and/or similar views on child visibility among social workers and the characteristics of these viewpoints. The results reveal three distinct views on child visibility. Based on the characteristics of these perspectives, we have conceptualized the workers associated with them as: activists, buffers and experts. The activists vigorously seek children’s own perspectives, and produce an image of capable children with unique perspectives. The buffers and the experts, however, typically define children’s needs from their own perspectives. Nevertheless, through differing logics, the experts focus on children’s vulnerability and protection needs, while the buffers are more inclined to view children in terms of their contextual risk and on the margins in an underfunded child protection context. Despite these differences, there are shared viewpoints among the social workers, for example, by understanding children as relational. The results are discussed in light of current theory within childhood studies. Spanish Niños e infancia en Chile: Perspectivas de los trabajadores sociales. Este estudio explora las concepciones que sobre los niños y la infancia desarrollan 21 trabajadores sociales de cinco servicios de protección infantil en Chile. Para comprender estas múltiples ideas, utilizamos la Metodología Q y el concepto de “visibilidad del niño”. El objeto es explorar perspectivas similares o diferentes respecto a la visión que tienen los trabajadores sociales sobre este grupo social, así como las características de esos puntos de vista. Los resultados revelan tres tipos de visión distintivos sobre los niños. Con base a las características de estas tres perspectivas, hemos conceptualizado a los trabajadores sociales asociados con ellas como: activistas, baluartes, y expertos. Los activistas buscan vigorosamente las perspectivas de los propios infantes y producen una imagen de que los niños poseen capacidades y perspectivas únicas. Los otros dos grupos, sin embargo, típicamente definen las necesidades de los niños desde sus propias representaciones. A través de lógicas distintas, los expertos se enfocan en la vulnerabilidad de los infantes y sus necesidades de protección; mientras los baluartes están más inclinados a ver a los niños en términos de sus propios riesgos contextuales, y en los márgenes de un contexto de protección infantil con financiación insuficiente. A pesar de estas diferencias, existen puntos de vista comunes entre los trabajadores sociales, por ejemplo, al entender a los niños en términos relacionales. Estos resultados son discutidos a la luz de las teorías actuales dentro de los estudios de la infancia

What are the perspectives of children in child protection work among social workers in Norway and Chile?

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child outlines universal standards for children’s welfare and position in society. Among other aspects, the convention advocates for a balance between seeing children as part of a family and as competent individuals in their own right. Nonetheless, countries have different conditions for meeting the rights outlined in the convention. This study explores social workers’ perspectives of children in child protection work in Norway and Chile. Q methodology was applied, as it is suitable for exploring and comparing perspectives. Thirty-eight social workers participated in the study (21 in Chile and 17 in Norway). Analysis revealed three distinct perspectives, with perspectives 1 and 2 predominately held by Chilean participants and perspective 3 by Norwegian participants. Perspectives 1 and 2 understand children through relational and structural lenses. Workers with these perspectives believe children’s needs are insufficiently met in family practices and at policy levels. Nevertheless, while perspective 1 tries to compensate for these inadequacies by giving children agency in local child protection work through child–social worker interactions, perspective 2 sees limited space for children’s agency in child protection work due to structural restraints. Perspective 3 sees children’s independence and believes children have agency in child protection work and family practices. Results are discussed in light of ideas regarding agency and child protection and welfare characteristics of Chile and Norway.publishedVersio

The Inclusive Working Life Program: An Inductive Qualitative Study

Abstract The Inclusive Working Life (IWL) program is a tripartite cooperation between the Norwegian government, labour organisations and employers associations. IWL aims to prevent and reduce sick leave levels, increase employment of employees with disabilities and increase average retirement age. The IWL program has been evaluated on several occasions. Few measurable effects have been discovered in quantitative studies so far, still the program has been reinstated, last for the period 2014-2018. Qualitative studies can contribute to understand the IWL limitations to meet own targets. As a contribution to enhance knowledge of the IWL implementation process – the present study accessed practical experiences with the IWL program. A total of twenty-four informants with first-hand experience of IWL were interviewed, more specific employers with personnel responsibility and support staff. Through inductive analysis it was discovered that the informants experienced the external IWL program as representing something different than the internal, general work environment (GWE). The internal GWE was broadly characterized by strengths. These strengths were thematically connected to (1) resources, (2) proactivity and (3) Quality of Working Life (QWL) principles for public administration. The IWL program was mainly characterized by weaknesses. These shortcomings concluded that the IWL program was understood as (1) reactive, (2) deviated from success criteria for effective work environment interventions, (3) associated with demands, (4) held a stress perspective on the work environment and (5) was in line with New Public Management (NPM) principles for public administration. This concludes that the IWL program contrasts today s knowledge-based work environment perspectives. GWE indicates to buffer the recommendations the external IWL program imposes

Ways of Seeing Children: Perspectives of Social Workers in Chile and Norway.

The overall aim of this project was to gain extended insights into social workers’ perspectives of children in child protection work in Chile and Norway. Q methodology was applied to meet this aim, as it is suitable for exploring and comparing subjective perspectives. The findings are based on the perspectives of 38 social workers (21 in Chile and 17 in Norway). This project adopts an exploratory design, and during the research process, I discovered that a review of previous research on social workers’ perspectives of children in child protection work was lacking from the literature. Hence, the second aim of this project was to fill a research gap in the literature by providing a comprehensive portrayal of child protection social workers’ constructions of children through an integrative review. The body of this dissertation contains three research papers. Paper 1 explores child protection social workers’ practices and ideas about children and childhood in existing research. Findings are based on an analysis and synthesis of 35 empirical articles. Papers 2 and 3 present findings from the Q methodological study. While Paper 2 focuses on the perspectives of children among social workers in Chile (n=21), Paper 3 has a comparative approach to study the perspectives of children among social workers in Norway and Chile (n=38). The findings show that social workers in Norway are inclined to see children’s independence, while social workers in Chile tend to see children as relationally and structurally conditioned. Conducting an analysis and synthesis of previous research enabled a juxtaposition of findings from Chile and Norway against what was found in the integrative review. A key finding of the review is that children generally were understood in light of psychological knowledge such as developmental psychology, attachment theories and individualistic psychology. Less focus was directed towards contextual knowledge of children such as children’s neighbourhoods, friends and teachers and variation among children. A predominance of studies in the review were from U.K. or other Northern European countries. Hence, a key question that transpired from looking at findings across the three papers is whether the independent child is a predominant understanding of children among child protection workers in Northern European countries. There is still a lack of research, particularly in English, on social worker perspectives in Latin America. An important focus for future research should be to explore whether the perspective emphasising the relational and structural child that was reflected among the social workers in Chile transcends to a more general level among social workers in Chile and possibly to other Latin American countries. If these findings are identified in more large-scale studies, they may contribute to the building blocks of empirical and theoretical understandings, for example, regarding current knowledge on child protection systems. Moreover, such findings may extend the knowledge of how children’s rights are balanced among social workers internationally. This project contributes to extending previous knowledge by illuminating perspectives of children in child protection work among social workers in different welfare contexts. The perspectives identified in this study indicate different ways of seeing children which may orient social workers’ attention towards some aspects and away from others, particularly regarding the independent versus relational child. These orientations may have significant implications for interpretations and decisions made in child protection work

Children and childhood in Chile: Social worker perspectives

This study explores understandings of children and childhood among 21 social workers from five child protection services in Chile. To help grasp multiple ideas about children and childhood, we use Q methodology and the ‘child visibility’ concept. The object is to explore dissimilar and/or similar views on child visibility among social workers and the characteristics of these viewpoints. The results reveal three distinct views on child visibility. Based on the characteristics of these perspectives, we have conceptualized the workers associated with them as: activists, buffers and experts. The activists vigorously seek children’s own perspectives, and produce an image of capable children with unique perspectives. The buffers and the experts, however, typically define children’s needs from their own perspectives. Nevertheless, through differing logics, the experts focus on children’s vulnerability and protection needs, while the buffers are more inclined to view children in terms of their contextual risk and on the margins in an underfunded child protection context. Despite these differences, there are shared viewpoints among the social workers, for example, by understanding children as relational. The results are discussed in light of current theory within childhood studies.publishedVersio

Lessons for child-computer interaction studies following the research challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has been experienced differently in and within individual countries and thus has had a different impact on the individual researchers in the child–computer interaction studies. There were several challenges that our research group experienced during the pandemic period, with a rapid transition to digital working conditions and a society managing altered living conditions. The changes happened on all levels of the society, and they affected our key participants — children, teachers, designers of children’s digital books and publishers. In this Viewpoint article we highlight the lessons learnt from the changes in our study designs and data collection processes due to lockdown and other restrictions related to the pandemic. We draw on three case studies to showcase the adjustments we made and the impact such changes have had on the quality of data, participants’ attitudes towards data collection and the studies’ outcomes. The theoretical frameworks of ‘funds of knowledge’ and ‘funds of identity’ structure our discussion on the new knowledge, skills and resources that were mobilized during the pandemic from diverse community members. We propose the concept of ‘community of practice’ to guide future developments in child–computer interaction studies to support and sustain collectives of multi-disciplinary, trusted networks of diverse stakeholders.publishedVersio