Communities of practice: a research paradigm for the mixed methods approach

The mixed methods approach has emerged as a ‘‘third paradigm’ ’ for social research. It has developed a platform of ideas and practices that are credible and distinctive and that mark the approach out as a viable alternative to quantitative and qualitative paradigms. However, there are also a number of variations and inconsistencies within the mixed methods approach that should not be ignored. This article argues the need for a vision of research paradigm that accommodates such variations and inconsistencies. It is argued that the use of ‘‘communities of practice’ ’ as the basis for such a research paradigm is (a) consistent with the pragmatist underpinnings of the mixed methods approach, (b) accommodates a level of diversity, and (c) has good potential for understanding the methodological choices made by those conduct-ing mixed methods research

Art and Design in a Multicultural Society

The Art and Design in a Multicultural Society (AIMS) project is based in the Leicester Polytechnic Centre for Postgraduate Studies in Education and is part of a long-standing concern in the Centre for cultural diversity in art and design. In 1982 a Local Education Authority Research Assistantship was allocated to the Centre to undertake a particular research project into the development of art and design curricula for schools which recognised both the multicultural nature of art and design and the multicultural nature of the schools' populations. Chris Toye was appointed as a Research Assistant to carry out the project and registered for a research degree with Brian Alli~on and Martyn Descombe as Director of Studies and Research Supervisor respectively. The research project reported here continued through from January 1983 to December 1985

I wanted to feel the way they did: Mimesis as a situational dynamic of peer mentoring by ex-offenders

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Deviant Behavior on 10/10/2016, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01639625.2016.1237829Despite growing enthusiasm for peer mentoring as a criminal justice intervention, very little is known about what actually happens within these relationships. Drawing on an ethnographic study of peer mentoring in the North of England this article will foreground the concept of inspiration” in these settings. It will argue that Rene Girard’s theory of mimesis offers a framework with which to analyze role modeling in mentoring relationships and that a Girardian reading also offers interesting insights into the unresolved problem of the origins of personal change

The role of research proposals in business and management education

NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in The International Journal of Management Education.. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in The International Journal of Management Education, 11 (3), pp. 142-149, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2013.03.001This paper explores the use of research proposals within business and management education. The implicit learning objectives contained in producing research proposals are described and evaluated in terms of learning about research and research methodology. Particular consideration is given to the potential of research proposals to work in an educative sense as stand-alone entities quite separate from their role as a prelude to engaging in research activity. The benefits and limitations of using research proposals in separation from the actual experience of conducting empirical research are discussed. It is concluded that research proposals, used as stand-alone learning exercises, can prove particularly valuable where there might be concerns about gaining access to appropriate settings or getting ethical approval for practical research activity. They can also be of particular value in the context of courses where students' primary concern is with commissioning or evaluating research rather acquiring the skills to undertake research projects for themselves (e.g. MBA students)

The length of responses to open-ended questions: a comparison of online and paper questionnaires in terms of a mode effect

The existence of a mode effect is assessed using data from two matched groups of 15- to 16-year-olds (n = 466) who completed a questionnaire either as a Web-based online version or an “optical mark recognition ” paper version. This article focuses specifically on the length of answers to four open-ended questions included in the questionnaire. It was found that although the online answers to three of the four questions tended to be slightly longer than those from the paper version, the differences were not statistically significant. Other factors, specifically gen-der and educational aspirations, appeared to have much more influence on the length of answers to open-ended questions than the mode of delivery per se. The findings do not provide conclusive evidence of any mode effect with respect to the online delivery of questionnaires