Evaluation of a Multi-case Participatory Action Research Project: The Case of SOLINSA

Abstract

Purpose: Scholars agree that evaluation of participatory action research is inherently valuable; however there have been few attempts at evaluating across methods and across interventions because the perceived success of a method is affected by context, researcher skills and the aims of the participants. This paper describes the systematic evaluation of participatory action research with 17 European networks (LINSA) as part of a research project titled SOLINSA: Support of Learning and Innovation Networks for Sustainable Agriculture.

Methodology: Participatory action research was carried out over three years in collaboration with the 17 LINSA using a learning-oriented evaluation that was adapted to SOLINSA. The collaboration was evaluated using a structured evaluation instrument that was developed in the project.

Findings: The primary achievements of the interactions were based around enabling LINSA to reflect on their state and their practices. Joint reflection; facilitated by a member of the research team and in collaboration with the LINSA, stimulated internal engagement, enabled rethinking of the network's positioning, contributed to strategy development, and enabled creation of concrete outputs. Participation in the reflection process served to encourage commitment to the LINSA by individuals while improving relationships within the LINSA. Researchers and participants expressed that collaborative action research can be considered successful when both parties give and gain benefits, such as new knowledge or improved practical solutions.

Practical implications: Comparison of self-evaluation of different networks using a single tool enabled the identification of common factors that contribute to successful collaboration. Included in these common factors was the need to identify and build a working relationship with key partners based on mutual trust and commitment, and to gain a balance between guidance and listening, interactions and freedom, and positive and critical reflection: a fragile equilibrium that is difficult and time consuming to establish.

Originality: The adaptation of learning-oriented evaluation, by including a structure to allow comparison between the wide range of contexts, provides a useful instrument for evaluating participatory action research processes.     

Phenoxyethanol-Based Embalming for Anatomy Teaching: An 18 Years' Experience with Crosado Embalming at the University of Otago in New Zealand

Embalming fixatives such as formaldehyde and phenol have been associated with occupational health hazards. While anatomists aim at replacing these chemicals, this seems presently unfeasible in particular for formaldehyde. Furthermore, fixation protocols usually require well-equipped facilities with highly experienced staff to achieve good fixation results in spite of only a minimal use of formaldehyde. Combining these aspects, a technique robust enough to be carried out by morticians is presented, resulting in durable tissues with minimal formaldehyde use. An embalming protocol involving phenoxyethanol was established, using concentrations of 7 and 1.5 Vol% of phenoxyethanol in the fixative and the conservation fluid, respectively. Visual, haptic, histological, and biomechanical properties and their perceived potential to positively influence student learning outcomes were compared to standard embalming techniques. The phenoxyethanol technique provides esthetic, durable, and odorless tissues. Bleaching is less pronounced compared to ethanol- or formaldehyde-based protocols. The tissues remain pliable following the phenoxyethanol-based embalming and can be used for biomechanical experiments to some extent. Phenoxyethanol-fixed tissues are well suited for undergraduate teaching with perceived positive learning outcomes and partly for postgraduate training. Phenoxyethanol tissues provide the option to obtain well-preserved histology samples, similar to those derived from formaldehyde. The provided protocol helps replace the use of phenol and formaldehyde for conservation purposes and minimizes the use of formaldehyde for the initial injection fixation. Phenoxyethanol-based embalming forms an effective alternative to standard embalming techniques for human cadavers. It is simple to use, allowing fixation procedures to be carried out in less sophisticated facilities with non-anatomy staff.     

A good hustle: the moral economy of market competition in adult webcam modeling

In this article, we examine how models working on Chaturbate, one of the world’s most popular adult webcam platforms, negotiate and make sense of the dynamic ways in which this platform configures their competitive environment. By combining different perspectives from the field of economic sociology, we demonstrate how competition on Chaturbate is shaped by various market devices whose strategic negotiation informs – and is informed by – the moral economy articulated on web forums where models gather to discuss their work experiences and market strategies. We first introduce Chaturbate and the ways in which it organizes market competition, surveying the environment models have to negotiate. We then zoom in on two controversial strategies for beating the competition, each of which upset the moral economy of Chaturbate’s model community. Subsequently, we turn to what models term ‘the hustle,’ which encompasses a number of competitive strategies and criteria judged to be fair and thus legitimate. The final part of our analysis considers the limitations of the hustle, as well as the meritocratic and entrepreneurial discourse that surround it, in light of what we identify as Chaturbate’s ‘manufactured uncertainty.’     

The Indonesian Killings and economic redistribution: a reply to Hilmar Farid

Abstract

In 2005 Hilmar Farid published “Indonesia's original sin: Mass killings and capitalist expansion, 1965-66,” the to date only scholarly attempt to interpret the destruction of the Communist Party of Indonesia, which led to the Killings of 500,000 people in the years 1965–1966, according to a classical Marxist framework. His argument is that the real story about the violence is one of massive transfers of agricultural land, which alienated millions of peasants from their means of subsistence and paved the way for a wide-ranging capitalist transformation of the country. Empirical analysis shows that it is unlikely that such a massive alienation has happened. Many other scholars who have studied the Killings conclude that the violence was not solely driven by capitalist expansion. However, Farid has uncovered an important connection between political violence and economic redistribution that should be detached from the Marxist framework he has used in order to unfold its full significance for our understanding of the Killings.     

Narrative Development in Monolingual Spanish-Speaking Preschool Children

Research Findings: The purpose of this study was to describe differences in the narratives produced by 3-, 4-, and 5- year old Spanish-speaking (SS) children. Narrative productions of 104 typically developing children were collected using a story-retelling task and coded using the Index of Narrative Complexity. The results of this study indicate that 3-year-old SS children produced stories containing characters and actions. Four-year-old SS children’s stories were characterized by the use of characters, actions, and internal responses. Five-year-old SS children retold stories containing characters, settings, initiating events, actions, internal responses, formulaic markers, temporal markers, and knowledge of dialogue. Practice: Developmental information to assist educators working with SS children.     

Parent Reading Belief Inventory: Reliability and Validity With a Sample of Mexican American Mothers

Research Findings: The purpose of the current study was to (a) evaluate the internal consistency of the 7 scales of the Parent Reading Belief Inventory (PRBI), (b) assess the factor structure, and (c) examine concurrent validity in a sample of Mexican American mothers from low-income homes.

Two hundred and seventy-four mothers of preschool children completed the PRBI and the Home Literacy Activities Questionnaire.

Five of the seven scales demonstrated adequate internal consistency. Principal component and parallel analyses revealed that one component provided the best summary of the observed variables. Preliminary evidence of concurrent validity was revealed. Practice or Policy: Future qualitative research is needed to explore mothers' interpretations of the items and to examine modifications to the PRBI.     

Framing for scientific argumentation

In recent years, research on students' scientific argumentation has progressed to a recognition of nascent resources: Students can and do argue when they experience the need and possibility of persuading others who may hold competing views. Our purpose in this article is to contribute to this progress by applying the perspective of framing to the question of when and how a class forms and maintains a sense of their activity as argumentative. In particular, we examine three snippets from a sixth‐grade class with respect to how the students—and the teacher—experience, or frame, what is taking place. We argue that they show dynamics of framing for individuals and for the class as a whole that affect and are affected by students' engagement in argumentation. We close the article with implications of this perspective for research, teaching, and instructional design. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 49: 68–94, 2012     

Ethanol-glycerin fixation with thymol conservation: a potential alternative to formaldehyde and phenol embalming

Anatomical fixation and conservation are required to prevent specimens from undergoing autolysis and decomposition. While fixation is the primary arrest of the structures responsible for autolysis and decomposition, conservation preserves the state of fixation. Although commonly used, formaldehyde has been classified as carcinogenic to humans. For this reason, an adequate substitute was developed. Ethanol-glycerin fixation and thymol conservation are described and compared with formaldehyde and phenol in this technical report. The setup, tissue qualities, financial aspects, and health concerns of this method are discussed. Ethanol-glycerin fixation and thymol conservation provide outstanding haptic and optic tissue qualities. Typical formaldehyde and phenol effects, such as skin, airway, and eye irritation, as well as carcinogenic effects, can be circumvented by using ethanol-glycerin and thymol instead. Ethanol-glycerin fixation is more expensive than formaldehyde and requires an explosion-proof facility. However, the absence of health effects and its convincing tissue qualities balance these higher costs. Therefore, ethanol-glycerin fixation and thymol conservation provide a potential alternative and complement established fixation techniques. The use of carcinogenic formaldehyde and toxic phenol can be effectively restricted through the use of the described method.     

Knowledge, writing, and language outcomes for a reading comprehension and writing intervention

Many students struggle with gaining knowledge and writing about content text material and therefore require effective intervention. In a randomized controlled trial study, 77 low-achieving fourth-grade students received reading comprehension instruction or reading comprehension plus writing instruction or were assigned to a no-treatment control. Knowledge outcomes were evaluated through students’ retelling and performance on a standardized reading test. Written language-based outcomes were analyzed using a computer software program for semantic and syntactic measures. Analyses indicated that students in reading comprehension instruction and reading comprehension plus writing instruction outperformed the control group on oral and written retelling, a standardized reading test, and semantic measures. Syntactic measures, however, did not show statistically significant differences by treatment or control group. Implications for including language instruction and assessments within multi-component instruction are suggested.