A critical analysis of interpretive research studies in cooperative education and internships

Much research in co-op has utilized a quantitative or experimental approach within a positivist paradigm. Here we present a critical analysis of interpretive/qualitative studies in terms of output, diversity, quality, along with an overview of the topics investigated. Our analysis suggests that interpretive work is a substantial part of co-op research output, and that is spans a wide range of programs, disciplines and geographical locations. Similar themes to those investigated by a quantitative approach are investigated by interpretive researchers, but there is emphasis in interpretive work on understanding more details of co-op issues in relation to the educational context

Capitalization of Above Market Financing: Condos and Co-ops

Prices and characteristics were collected for two similar, adjacent buildings. One building, a co-op, has a master mortgage with a prepayment lock-out, while the other building, a condo, has no master mortgage. They provide a natural experiment to isolate the capitalization of financing terms. The research provides the clearest demonstration to date of the impact of financing terms on sales price. The value of the prepayment lock-out is estimated, using a stochastic simulation, as a function of the level of interest rates, rate of volatility, and time remaining on the lock-out provision. Prices for co-op units are found to fluctuate with the value of the prepayment lock-out. The value of the lock-out is overcapitalized in the price of co-op units. Co-op status reduces the value of apartments by about 9%.

“Putting Money Where My Mouth Is”: Motivations and Experiences among Food Co-op Members

Of the variety of alternative grocery stores that offer natural, organic, local, and health foods in the United States, food co-ops are one of the more unique business models for alternative foods. Unlike traditional retailers, they are collectively owned and democratically operated. Prices tend to be higher in co-ops because they carry high-quality foods that are generally fresh, locally sourced, or artisanal in nature. What motivates people to join co-ops and spend more money for their membership and foods compared to other stores? This article provides ethnographic and interview data with member-owners at a relatively new co-op in South Bend, Indiana. Eighteen students enrolled in an Undergraduate Qualitative Research Methods class in the spring semester of 2017 spent two months as participant observers at a co-op and collaboratively conducted 45 semistructured interviews with its member-owners. Several noneconomic issues factored prominently in the member-owners’ decisions to invest in the co-op. The majority viewed their decision to join the co-op and shop there out of a sense of responsibility for the economy and environment in their region, and to participate in and strengthen the community

Fragmented Laws, Contingent Choices: The Tragicomedy of the Village Commons in China

Defining the direct conflict between law and social norms as a tragedy and their reconciliation as a comedy, this paper serves as a case study of the mixture of tragedies and comedies of collective land governance in China. The term tragicomedy encapsulates such a mixture. This paper presents two contrasting cases of collective land governance: one village co-op is captured by a mafia and the consequent mafia-style land development business is maintained through violence and the bribing of government officials; the other village co-op from time to time takes actions “in the name of law” in their bargaining for legal property rights with the government and with a hold-out couple who refused to submit their “nailhouse” to the village co-op for redevelopment. This paper reveals that the different identities that village leaders simultaneously assume under different social control systems are key to understanding the co-evolution of property law and norms. It also highlights the essential roles of the laws and communities’ legal strategies in governing common-pool resources

THE EFFECT OF MARKETING COOPERATIVES ON COST-REDUCING PROCESS INNOVATION ACTIVITY

This paper examines the market and welfare effects of cooperative involvement in cost-reducing process innovation activity in the context of a mixed oligopsony where an open-membership marketing co-op competes with an IOF. The presence of the marketing co-op is shown to result in increased producer prices and welfare gains for all farmers, members and non-members of the co-op. The effect of the marketing co-op on process innovation activity depends on the relative quality of its final products, the degree of producer heterogeneity, and the size of innovation costs.Agribusiness,

INNOVATION ACTIVITY IN A MIXED OLIGOPOLY: THE ROLE OF CO-OPERATIVES

This paper develops a sequential game theoretic model of heterogeneous producers to examine the effect of co-operative involvement on innovation activity in the agricultural input-supplying sector. Analytical results show that the co-operative involvement in R&D can be welfare enhancing and, thus, socially desirable. The presence of the co-op can increase the arrival rate of innovations and productivity growth while reducing the prices of agricultural inputs. The effectiveness of the co-op is determined by the size of R&D costs.Agribusiness, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

MENGEMBANGKAN KEMAMPUAN BERPIKIR KRITIS, PENALARAN, DAN HABITS OF MIND MATEMATIS SISWA SMA MELALUI MODEL PEMBELAJARAN KOOPERATIF TIPE CO-OP CO-OP

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menelaah pengaruh model pembelajaran kooperatif tipe co-op co-op terhadap peningkatan kemampuan berpikir kritis matematis dan penalaran matematis ditinjau dari keseluruhan dan kemampuan awal siswa. Selain itu, ditelaah pula bagaimana dampak pembelajaran tersebut terhadap habits of mind matematis siswa. Kemudian, diungkap pula interaksi antara faktor pembelajaran dan kategori kemampuan siswa. Desain penelitian yang digunakan dalam penelitian kuasi eksperimen ini adalah kelompok kontrol non ekuivalen untuk aspek kognitif, sedangkan untuk aspek afektif menggunakan perbandingan kelompok statik. Instrumen yang digunakan berupa tes kemampuan berpikir kritis matematis dan penalaran matematis, skala habits of mind matematis, dan pedoman observasi. Populasi penelitian ini adalah seluruh siswa kelas XI salah satu SMA Negeri di Sumedang dengan sampel penelitian dua kelas yang dipilih secara purposive dengan rincian 35 siswa kelas eksperimen dan 37 siswa kelas kontrol. Analisis kuantitatif dilakukan dengan menggunakan uji-t, uji Mann-Whitney, dan uji ANOVA dua jalur. Analisis kualitatif dilakukan dengan menelaah hasil skala habits of mind matematis dan pedoman observasi. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa ditinjau dari keseluruhan siswa, pencapaian kemampuan berpikir kritis dan penalaran matematis kelompok kooperatif tipe co-op co-op lebih baik dibandingkan kelompok konvensional. Jika ditinjau dari KAM siswa, untuk kemampuan berpikir kritis, hanya siswa dengan kelompok tengah pembelajaran kooperatif tipe co-op co-op yang memiliki pencapaian kemampuan yang lebih baik dibandingkan kelompok konvensional. Untuk kemampuan penalaran matematis, siswa kelompok atas dan tengah pembelajaran kooperatif tipe co-op co-op yang memiliki pencapaian kemampuan yang lebih baik dibandingkan kelompok konvensional. Secara keseluruhan siswa, peningkatan kemampuan berpikir kritis matematis kelompok kooperatif tipe co-op co-op tidak lebih baik dibandingkan kelompok konvensional. Jika ditinjau dari KAM siswa, hanya siswa dengan kelompok tengah pembelajaran kooperatif tipe co-op co-op yang memiliki peningkatan kemampuan yang lebih baik dibandingkan kelompok konvensional. Secara keseluruhan, peningkatan kemampuan penalaran matematis kelompok kooperatif tipe co-op co-op lebih baik dibandingkan kelompok konvensional. Jika ditinjau dari KAM siswa, hanya siswa kelompok atas dan tengah pada pembelajaran kooperatif tipe co-op co-op yang memiliki peningkatan kemampuan yang lebih baik dibandingkan kelompok konvensional. Tidak terdapat interaksi antara faktor pembelajaran dan kemampuan awal siswa terhadap pencapaian kemampuan berpikir kritis dan penalaran matematis. Secara keseluruhan dan KAM siswa, habits of mind matematis kelompok kooperatif tipe co-op co-op lebih baik daripada habits of mind matematis kelompok konvensional. Terdapat asosiasi antara kemampuan berpikir kritis dan penalaran matematis; bepikir kritis dan HOM matematis; serta penalaran dan HOM matematis

An endogenous group formation theory of co-operative networks: The economics of La Lega and Mondragón

This paper develops a theory of endogenous league formation and considers its implications for policy in developing countries. We generalize from features of the two most prominent European co-op leagues, Mondragón and La Lega, to develop the first formal model of the endogenous formation of co-operative networks and their constituent member coops. We show that if co-op leagues are formed through an open membership game, there can be two Nash equilibria, one with and one without a co-op league; and in this case, the equilibrium with a co-op league Pareto dominates the latter. In examining the formation of constituent co-operative firms, we show that, when payoffs to joining a co-op for potential worker members are initially increasing in membership and then decreasing, the outcome of the game depends on the rules of co-op formation. If payoffs are equal to the alternative wage at a single, unique membership size, then open membership and exclusive membership rules of the game yield the same outcome that either no co-op will be formed, or all co-ops formed will have the same number of members; but the coalition unanimity game has a unique outcome with co-op formation. If worker member payoffs exceed the alternative wage, our three alternative rules of co-op formation yield different outcomes. In the open membership game where some workers work for conventional firms, coops will be formed at the largest size for which co-op payoffs are equal to the alternative wage. However, if co-op payoffs exceed the conventional wage only when all workers join coops, then equilibrium co-op sizes can potentially include a wide range of membership sizes. In the exclusive membership game, all co-op sizes in the interval for which co-op payoffs are at least as large as conventional wages are equilibria. Finally, in the coalition unanimity game, only co-op sizes at which the highest income per member is achieved are equilibria. Only the latter result corresponds to the traditional neoclassical Ward-Vanek labour managed firm literature (though not necessarily with its comparative statics implications). A series of modelling extensions are discussed. Implications for existing and potential co-op leagues in developing countries are appraised, and implications for policy examined