The purpose of research synthesis is to produce new knowledge by making explicit connections and tensions between individual study reports that were not visible before. Every effort of synthesizing research is inevitably premised on certain epistemological assumptions. It is crucial that research synthesists reflect critically on how their epistemological positioning enables them to pursue certain purposes while preventing them from pursuing other purposes. The literature on research synthesis methods is dominated by publications premised on positivist assumptions. The rhetoric of systematic reviews, best-evidence synthesis and What Works Clearinghouse privileges syntheses with positivist orientations. Contesting the hegemony of positivist research syntheses, this paper makes a case for research syntheses that are informed by diverse epistemological orientations. It illuminates how research syntheses with distinct epistemological orientations can serve complementary, equally worthwhile, purposes.

Epistemological pluralism in research synthesis methods

This article reviews literature to provide context for a reflective narrative on a collaborative research project undertaken by disabled people, practitioners and academics. This approach required ...

Working together – innovative collaboration in social care research

This paper seeks to explore the development of the relationship between a group of early childhood academics from the same university and practitioners from a particular early years setting in the North of England into an innovative professional development and research project. The paper uses Foucauldian notions of heterotopia to theorise an approach to professional development and research concerned with examining the discourses and practices associated with provision for two-year-old children. In place of a transmission model of professional development and scientific preoccupations with research purity, we explore what is offered by an alternative approach that offered a broader engagement with ideas, feelings and the body and the layering of research complexity. We consider what emerges when the practitioners take the learning from the project back into their own settings and conclude by considering the possibilities and complexities of academics and practitioners working together to research and represent what emerged from the project.

/pdf/working-with-the-cracks-in-the-rigging-in-researching-early-3nvbibvzox.pdf

Working with the cracks in the rigging in researching early childhood professional development

Midlevel Manager Strategies to Improve Employee Engagement in Small Businesses by Patricia Ann Silva MBA, Upper Iowa University, 2004 BS, Upper Iowa University, 2000 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Business Administration Walden University September 2016 Abstract The ability to improve employee engagement in small businesses is critical, not only to workers but also to midlevel managers who want to retain productive employees in the workplace. Supervisors who lack efficient managerial practices also risk decreases in productivity, profitability, and sustainability. The conceptual framework for this qualitative, exploratory single-case study was Kahn’s theory of personal engagement andThe ability to improve employee engagement in small businesses is critical, not only to workers but also to midlevel managers who want to retain productive employees in the workplace. Supervisors who lack efficient managerial practices also risk decreases in productivity, profitability, and sustainability. The conceptual framework for this qualitative, exploratory single-case study was Kahn’s theory of personal engagement and disengagement. The population consisted of 2 midlevel managers from a single, small, franchise company in metropolitan Alabama, both of whom used engagement practices, and managed at least 5 subordinates in the company. Data collected, analyzed, and triangulated were from semistructured interviews, direct observations, and a review of company documents. Coded interview responses aligned with the research question, conceptual framework, and emergent themes resulted in identifying successful engagement strategies that midlevel leaders to use. Two critical themes that emerged were management and communication. Supportive management behaviors and leadermember exchange yielded positive employee engagement and increased job performance and productivity. These results could be used to help midlevel managers develop strategies that improve employee enagagement and job performance. Social change implications included leaders developing new strategies that encourage positive relationships among top-level and midlevel leaders, lower level employees, and customers. Midlevel Manager Strategies to Improve Employee Engagement in Small Businesses by Patricia Ann Silva MBA, Upper Iowa University, 2004 BS, Upper Iowa University, 2000 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Business Administration Walden University September 2016 Dedication I am dedicating this doctoral study to my loving husband and mother, Deloris. Without their unconditional love, accomplishing my personal and professional goals would not be possible. I also dedicate this study to my four children Kenny, John, Crystal, and Michael. May they one day understand that without love, happiness, peace, balance, and knowledge of self, one cannot truly experience life. Acknowledgement The completion of this doctoral study would not be possible without the support of so many people. I would first like to thank God for granting me the strength, knowledge, ability, and understanding to complete this study. Without God nothing is possible. I would also like to offer a special thanks to my husband, children, and mother for their unconditional love, continued support, and sacrifice during this journey. Life is what we make it. We must win in our minds, before we win in our lives. I would like to acknowledge my amazing committee. Dr. John House, thank you for your patience, push, and constant encouragement. My success is a reflection of your knowledge, wisdom, and commitment. Dr. Ify Diala and Dr. Judith Fisher-Blando, thank you for your support and expertise. Dr. Freda Turner thanks for believing in my work and assisting me throughout my journey. Lastly, thank you to my colleagues. Your constant support and encouragement will forever remain in my heart. Thank you all for believing in me.

/pdf/midlevel-manager-strategies-to-improve-employee-engagement-49ubnk07mm.pdf

Midlevel Manager Strategies to Improve Employee Engagement in Small Businesses

This paper relates to an ethnographic study of a group of eighteen-year-old girls, in their final school year, in a secondary school in Ireland. The ethnography explored social class and gender discourses that presented in the girls’ various relationships in the school and in broader peer culture. This paper outlines the methodological phenomena I experienced as the ethnographic researcher and a teacher in the school. In this paper, I explore my insider positionality as a teacher-ethnographer from perspectives such as: access, ethics, power and relationships, within the specific context of this girls’ Catholic school in Ireland. The paper makes a specific contribution to the particular and contextualised insider-outsider positionality of the teacher-ethnographer. This dual role required me to transition back and forth between the roles of teacher and researcher, in order to access the cultural stories of the girls’ lived experiences. This dual role was informed by my strong reflexive stance throughout the process. This paper argues that despite significant existing research on the insider-outsider methodological debate, there are benefits to exploring and reviewing new contexts and varied approaches to teacher-insider research. The teacher-ethnographer is a role fraught with ethical and logistical dilemmas, but this paper offers some contextualised generalizability to other practitioners considering this insider approach.

/pdf/on-being-a-teacher-ethnographer-nestling-the-ethical-and-4hiud4hgqm.pdf

On Being a Teacher-Ethnographer: Nestling the Ethical and Logistical Dilemmas among the Joys of Insiderness

This literature review looks at the way in which the researcher–practitioner relationship is described in research publications. The main finding of this review points to: a limited description and discussion of the relationship; a similarly limited, sometimes confusing, understanding of the notion of collaboration; as well as limited self‐reflection, sometimes accompanied by taken‐for‐granted attitudes on the part of the researchers.

Exploring the nature of the researcher–practitioner relationship in qualitative educational research publications

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Exploring the nature of the researcher–practitioner relationship in qualitative educational research publications