Focusing on what counts: using exploratory focus groups to enhance the development of an electronic survey in a mixed-methods research design

This paper illustrates the use of exploratory focus groups to inform the development of a survey instrument in a sequential phase mixed-methods study investigating differences in secondary students’ career choice capability. Five focus groups were conducted with 23 Year 10 students in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Analysis of the focus group data helped inform the design of the instrument for the second phase of the research project: a large-scale cross-sectional survey. In this paper, we discuss the benefits of using focus groups as an initial exploratory phase in a sequential phase mixed-method design and demonstrate how the findings from this initial exploratory phase informed the development of the survey questionnaire to be used in the main phase of the research. The paper will be of interest to researchers considering the use of exploratory qualitative methods to enhance the quantitative phase in a mixed-methods study.     

Making ethnic citizens: The politics and practice of education in Malaysia

This paper examines the politics and practice of education in Malaysia within the context of ethnicity and nation building. Public education in Malaysia—particularly, but not exclusively, at the pre-university level—is promoted as a nation-building tool, seeking to inculcate a sense of Malaysian-ness and patriotism. Simultaneously, however, public education—particularly, but not exclusively, at the university level—is used as a tool for the promotion of ethnic Malay interests. These two objectives are not necessarily contradictory; indeed the assertion that a vital ingredient in the creation of a ‘Malaysian nation’ is the eradication of inter-ethnic economic disparities has been at the heart of the Malaysian regime's discourse on nation building since the ethnic riots of May 1969. Hence, in this view, preferential policies for the economically disadvantaged but numerically dominant Malays are a necessary component of the nation-building project. Nonetheless, there are at least clear tensions between these two functions of education—tensions, which, I shall argue, help explain both the particularly sensitive politics of education in Malaysia, and the discursive stance the Malaysian regime has adopted within the educational field.     

Research note: Some corrections and suggestions for working with the national faculty survey databases

Our ability to understand the faculty work environment has been greatly enhanced by the availability of largescale national surveys of the professoriate since the 1950s. This technical note identifies ways to improve data comparability among the national faculty surveys. It begins by identifying the national surveys and some of their attributes. The study then estimates faculty sizes and calculates weights for faculty in selected disciplines and institution types. The weights are designed specifically for four surveys conducted in 1969, 1975, 1980, and 1988.     

Sociology and Music Education: a response to Swanwick

This paper is a response to Professor Swanwick's critique of our sociological perspective on music education. A detailed presentation of the sociology of music thesis demonstrates that accusations of ‘social determinism’ and ‘referentialism’ are both misconceived. Moreover, Swanwick's position leads to difficulties in his approach to music aesthetics, where at times he makes assumptions concerning the work of theorists such as Meyer and Keil which these authors have themselves explicitly repudiated. We then relate certain observations which Swanwick makes concerning the processes of schooling to wider sociological theories of schooling that help make sense of the kinds of constraints Swanwick correctly identifies. Finally, we accept Swanwick's challenge to be more explicit concerning both our response to his charge of relativism and our practical recommendations for the reform of music teaching.     

Deconstructing deep and surface: Towards a critique of phenomenography

The notion of 'deep' and 'surface' approaches to learning is critiquedalong with phenomenography, the associated methodology and theory ofknowledge. A number of reasons are suggested to explain why the deep/surfacenotion has attained what is tantamount to foundational status within highereducation research, practice and development. These include its ability toboth cohere with the past while at the same time enabling a new generation ofresearchers to rise within the discourse; the contemporaneous growth ofeducational development centres and staff developers within higher educationinstitutions; the simplicity, universality and power of the metaphor.Some elements of a critique of phenomenography are suggested followingboth postmodern and philosophy of science objections regarding theobservational and interpretive neutrality of the researcher. These point tothe importance of the understandings of researchers in the construction ofresults. It is also suggested that the 'qualitative' nat ure of the researchis undeveloped and does not exhibit the hermeneutical values usuallyassociated with 'human' as opposed to positivist science.The idea of deconstruction is then introduced and the deep/surfacemetaphor discussed in terms of the post-structural critique of binaries.Finally, the question of power within the higher education developmentdiscourse is raised.