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This article describes a multi-method approach for usability testing. The approach combines paper prototyping and think-aloud with two supplemental methods: advanced scribbling and a handicraft task. The method of advanced scribbling instructs the participants to use different colors for marking important, unnecessary and confusing elements in a paper prototype. In the handicraft task the participants have to tinker a paper prototype of their wish version. Both methods deliver additional information on the needs and expectations of the potential users and provide helpful indicators for clarifying complex or contradictory findings. The multi-method approach and its surplus benefit are illustrated by a pilot study on the redesign of the homepage of a library 2.0. The findings provide positive evidence for the applicability of the advanced scribbling and the handicraft task as well as for the surplus merit of the multi-method approach. The article closes with a discussion and outlook. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs150379

The applied connection between quantitative and qualitative methods of social research, dealt within this paper, is based on a pre-study model. The different levels of quality refer to the quality of structure, process and outcome in this research context. These have to be measured within the complex context of academic life. Only selected information from the entire report on the search for proper indicators of quality using empirical data is presented in this paper. Moreover it exemplifies the challenges of developing new indicators for process quality (here: quality of learning, teaching and consultation). The combination of group discussions and paper & pencil inquiries is a good methodical mixture to generate these specific indicators for quality in the complex and hierarchical setting of academia. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs040231

In this paper, we explore the use of a generative metaphor for analyzing qualitative interviews on abortion attitudes. U.S. abortion attitudes are notably complex and multidimensional, thus, requiring subtle, complex, and multidimensional tools of study. We used the generative metaphor of a "doorway" as an analytic tool to enable new understandings of abortion attitudes as expressed across 24 one-on-one semi-structured qualitative interviews with U.S. adults. The doorway metaphor gave us an understanding of the ways in which participants thought of their abortion attitudes as open to revision or change to some degree while also being closed to revision in other ways. This spectrum of openness and closedness does not come into view when examining abortion attitudes through the dichotomous framings. In this methodological paper, we thoroughly describe how we used the metaphor to explicate the complexities and multi-dimensionalities of a person's abortion attitudes.

The black swan event in education systems of the whole world has generated a surge in the demand for web based teaching and learning. Starting as inevitability, online education turned into an emergence of numerous educational platforms, tools and methods. The saying presuming that black swans did not exist-has become reinterpreted to rare events that are beyond the realm of normal. The general understanding that online education as a whole does not exist —has become reinterpreted to the most up-to-date and commonly used way of teaching. Getting used to an absolutely digital way of delivery is a long process, which requires supporting our learners throughout this journey of digitalization. This paper explores which lesson conducting patterns, such as various activities and games, can help overcome psychological barriers related to the lack of interpersonal communication and one-on-one support in online teaching. It also addresses how university students can benefit from the online delivery of ESL courses and examines the strategies that make the students more successful in a new normal. This paper raises questions how to best support English preparatory program university students in a way that they can take the most out of e-learning. This study was designed to analyze the psychological determinants of the learners’ behavior relevant to online learning. The number of psychological challenges that the students are facing in online medium of communication, and how these issues can be addressed. This study, based on the students being surveyed, focused on English Preparatory Program university students, who are currently combining faculty courses and English language course. The research study was conducted through the questionnaire and sent to the students via Google Forms. The students got open ended and Yes/No questions pertaining to the online environment, and structure of the course in terms of benefits, pitfalls and suggestions to take into consideration, when learning in a new reality. All the questions were answered anonymously.

In this paper, we present and discuss mixed methods research in the context of research on learning and instruction. Education as a field of research can be viewed as highly complex. This complexity is reflected at various levels of the educational system, which are highly interrelated, and where multiple perspectives must be considered, as well as in the reciprocal and intertwined relationships between factors related to learning and instruction. Therefore, we first introduce one of the central theories on the quality of learning and instruction: the offer-and-use model. Second, we review the methodological foundations of research on learning and instruction. Two methodological approaches are discussed in more detail and their strengths and weaknesses are elaborated. Third, we present two studies from our research program and focus on their methodological implementation. Thus, we illustrate significant challenges and opportunities for implementing a mixed methods study in schools. Finally, we discuss the implications for school-based mixed methods research. We conclude the paper with general suggestions on how mixed methods approaches might be further advanced in applied school-based research.

This paper explores the nexus between Translation Studies and Oral History on Romanian communism. As such, it aims to map out the challenges posed by the translation of historical interviews from Romanian into English. More specifically, inspired by Portelli’s theoretical framework, the paper illustrates the orality of transcribed historical accounts by bringing into focus their rich imagery. To instantiate the case, relevant data have been extracted from two main books on the era: Memorial of pain: darkness and light, by Hossu Longin, 2013 and The Survivors: testimonies from Romanian communist prison, by Anca & Raul Ştef,2014.

Recording and transcribing interviews in qualitative social research is a vital but time-consuming and resource-intensive task. To tackle this challenge, researchers have explored various alternative approaches; automatic transcription utilising speech recognition algorithms has emerged as a promising solution. The question of whether automated transcripts can match the quality of transcripts produced by humans remains unanswered. In this paper we systematically compare multiple automatic transcription tools: Amberscript, Dragon, F4x, Happy Scribe, NVivo, Sonix, Trint, Otter, and Whisper. We evaluate aspects of data protection, accuracy, time efficiency, and costs for an English and a German interview. Based on the analysis, we conclude that Whisper performs best overall and that similar local-automatic transcription tools are likely to become more relevant. For any type of transcription, we recommend reviewing the text to ensure accuracy. We hope to shed light on the effectiveness of automatic transcription services and provide a comparative frame for others interested in automatic transcription.

Q methodology was created as a means to explore and map subjective viewpoints in a systematic, relational and holistic manner. In this paper, we discuss Q methodology as a promising hybrid approach and present methodological takeaways from an online Q study on the meanings of reconciliation in Colombia, based on data obtained in 2021. Q is a method of capturing subjectivity that conveys an aura of objectivity, because researchers seldom explicitly engage subjectivity We provide a brief overview of our research project, showcase some results, and offer a lens through which to reflect on the entanglement of qualitative and quantitative moments in Q methodology. We spell out its interpretive layers, highlighting the role of subjectivity in two key phases of the research: the design of the study (image-based Q items) and the interpretive process (factor analysis). Although the quantitative moments of Q are seductive in their promise of objective factor analytical measurement, we argue that Q requires researchers to practice reflexivity and to explicitly engage with their subjectivity.

The current paper represents a partial bibliography about the life and the works of Publius Ovidius Naso, reflected in the papers written between 2001-2017. The bibliographic inventory made in the bimillennial year of the death of the great Latin poet exiled at Tomis contains reviews, text quotations, monographies, translations and evocations dedicated to Ovidius

This paper starts from the premise that interrogative structures have significant impact on verbal behaviour and human behaviour, in general. Our analysis of this particular type of discourse is based on the assertions of E. Benveniste, according to whom interrogation is one of the fundamental speech acts of interhuman behaviour, alongside of assertion and imperative structures.

This paper aims to comparatively present the means of expressing intensity in Romanian and Spanish from a predominantly synchronic perspective, without neglecting the importance of the diachronic study of language facts and the etymological clarifications, where needed. We have chosen to discuss only one aspect of the complex act of evaluation, more specifically, the means of rendering highest and lowest intensity, because of the complexity of this phenomenon which constantly expands its linguistic encoding forms.

Observing new findings and directions in the field, the present paper approaches the development of research methods in neology in Romanian. It means to explore new methods and strategies for gathering valuable linguistic material using innovative methods based on social networks communication and crowdsourcing. The main objectives of the present study, the first in a series of three on this subject, are to observe if it is possible to apply the strategies of crowdsourcing to the analysis of neologism in Romanian and to present the main findings about the presence of neologisms related to touchscreen gestures in Romanian. We think that the conclusions of the present paper will illustrate the way the native speakers of Romanian adapt and use new loan words.

The present paper aims at analysing some specific aspects regarding the functioning of compliment and self - compliment - speec h acts belonging to the category of positively perceived expressives - in a literary text, Nicolae Filimon‟s novel “ Ciocoii vechi şi noi ” 1 . The purpose of the paper is to highlight the role of these subtypes of speech acts in contouring a human typology cha racterized by a specific relational system. The following parameters are taken into account: the environment in which the speech acts are produced, the target addressees, the object of the speech acts (concrete or abstract, moral or physical features of th e addressee) and the value ( inherently positive or attributed by the speaker) of the elements that mark the illocutionary force as positive. In the novel under consideration, there is a dichotomy between the characters with high moral qualities and the par venus – a social type definitory for the Phanariot times. Author‟s intention is to emphasize the victory of good and healthy moral principles.

Any theoretical analysis of a fragment of reality is carried out by means of abstract models and aims to capture the specificity of a phenomenon. Theorising may nevertheless prove insufficient if its descriptive analysis is not doubled by the establishment of regularities, so that the current state of the phenomenon and its subsequent evolution may be explained. This general framework also includes linguistic intensification, which reveals one’s permanent need to evaluate everything that enters one’s sphere of perception: objects, beings, states, processes etc. The means of expressing “intensity” are most diverse and, implicitly, sensitive to any type of nuancing of the speaker, because it uncloses the shape its mental representation socially takes. This paper aims to highlight a certain aspect in the complex act of evaluation, namely expressing highest/lowest intensity by means of suffixes. The study relies on the analysis of two modern related languages, Romanian and Spanish, and the corpus has been essentially selected from the most modern form of human communication, the computer-mediated one.

Taboo words usually reflect nonverbal taboos of cultural, religious or social realities. Speakers tend to avoid them and replace them by using euphemistic phrases or idioms. The present paper describes the evolutionary stages of a specific meaning for German notions related to madness and idiocy. It also focuses other aspects of language use for political correctness and for purposes of detabooisation.

Since the early 2000s, personalized medicine (PM) has been a much-hyped field of healthcare. HIV treatment optimization tools were one of the first successful examples of PM, and have since their development been used to find tailored and optimized treatment for HIV-positive people. In this paper on a case study of the social arena of personalized HIV therapy I show how social worlds worked on both shared and distinct goals within the arena. I highlight the simultaneous centering and marginalization to which people seeking HIV therapy were subjected discursively in the social worlds. I also demonstrate that the further patients were from practitioners' daily work, the more they were reduced to their blood samples, rather than being constructed as complex and human.

In this paper, I reflect upon the methodological implications of digitization and digital methods for situational analysis. I carefully read Noortje MARRES's argument for and development of what she called situational analytics. I ask how her proposal would be incorporated within a situational analysis project of digitization and funerals. I develop a provisional research design, as a kind of thought experiment, weaving my reflections on situational analysis and digital methods through an autoethnographic account of mourning in the enforced digital of the COVID-19 pandemic. I conclude with the argument that such digital methods are necessary for situational analysis to reckon with, and yet also pose a risk of erasing the embodied and affective elements of a situation. I contend that the poiesis of ethnographic research—where mediated and embodied interactions qua situations are experienced and written into language, and writing forms a necessary but always also impossible task—remains rooted in bodies and affects that are always also elements in situational analysis. We cannot lose track of those elements that also defy the digitized elements of any given situation.

In this paper, we explore urban cultural politics and policy-making in Austria through the conceptual lens of the arena. In relation to this, we apply the methodological toolbox of Adele CLARKE's situational analysis. With a focus on the dynamics of cultural political conflicts and negotiation, we analyze urban cultural policies and programming. A particular focus is placed on a city-wide cultural program in the city of Graz. Via interpretive analysis of interviews and situational mappings, we aim to analytically unpack the continuous and contingent processes of cultural political negotiation with conflictual consensus as a sensitizing concept. With this objective, our analytical engagement is situated at the intersection between radical democratic theory, referring mainly to Chantal MOUFFE and Oliver MARCHART on the one hand, and social worlds and arenas theory by Adele CLARKE on the other. We hope to contribute to a theoretically sensitized and empirically informed cultural policy research effort by operationalizing the notion of conflictuality in constellations of cultural political actors and negotiation processes in cultural policy-making.

In this paper, I reflect on various ethical, practical and methodological challenges encountered in the field during my anthropological inquiry into the legacies of the Bosnian genocide at home and abroad. I focus on the importance of the researcher's honesty and self-reflexive engagement with the subject(s), particularly in sensitive contexts such as genocide. I discuss my experience of negotiating various social roles ascribed to me in the field, and how they shaped my research process. I also consider the methodological challenges of working with difficult stories of surviving the genocide and the absences of family members who perished in it. Drawing upon a mixed ethnography approach in combination with narrative inquiry and elements of participatory action research (PAR), I demonstrate complexities inherent in long-term ethnographic engagement with the community life that almost vanished. I reflexively engage with the question of how we maintain intellectual, emotional and ethical engagement with the subject of research without sacrificing our academic integrity or human connection embedded within these interactions? Subsequently, I argue for a supportive scholarly space that welcomes discussion about vulnerabilities, ambiguities and fears encountered in the ethnographic field and emerging subjectivities which further shape the final interpretation of cultures.

The aim of this paper is to analyze the use of different types of set phrases (idiomatic or non-idiomatic) in English and Albanian. The paper is divided into two main parts; one reveals some theoretical background information about set phrases in both lang uages, and the other is more analytical by trying to collect concrete examples. It is based on the novel The Fifth Child (2001) by Doris Lessing and its Albanian variant Fëmija i pestë (2007) translated by Etleva Pushi. The main strategy for translating se t phrases from English into Albanian is that of paraphrase. The others include idiom to idiom translation (similar in meaning and form or similar in meaning, but dissimilar in form) and omission. This is the best way to contrast these units and discover si milarities and differences that exist among them.

What is the meaning of ‘nature’ in Asian cultures? How do Asian people perceive their relations to nature? What types of environmental ethics do Asian cultures exhibit? This paper considers these questions in two major Asian traditions, Indian and Chinese. It points out that the concept of nature has played a crucial role in Asian people’s lifestyles, beliefs, and ethical thinking. To them, nature is seen not merely as a means of livelihood, but rather the fountain of harmony, spirituality, and inspiration. The paper examines whether Asian environmental ethics is anthropocentric or nonanthropocentric. It concludes that, despite some limitations, Asian traditions nourish an alternative environmental ethic, which is a companionship with nature, and should be granted as a valuable resource for environmental education.

Tourism has witnessed continued expansion and deepening diversification over the decades. Tourist discourse can be seen as a pivotal tool of propaganda. The language use in tourist discourse, with the purpose of promoting consumption, is deliberately designed to build a positive image and exert an unconscious impact on the targeted audience. The paper provides a systematic analysis of the manipulative means in British tourist discourse from the perspective of language structure: phonological, lexical, semantic, and syntactic levels.

The current academic economic paradigm is shaped by the actual economic schools of thoughts and the systems of generating economic knowledge – universities, research institutions, academic publishing actors and business elites. The cumulated contributions of these actors have transformed economics into a mature science whose practical and governance implications were tested by the 2008 world financial crisis. The challenges faced in these times by governments, households and businesses have severely questioned both orthodox and non orthodox economic wisdom and the legitimacy of the economist as a professional. Irrespective of their economic orientation, most economists have agreed that the models of socio-economic development should be revisited, with a high need of a focus on the moral and ethical standards of the human, economic and political actions. The purpose of this paper is to analyse some of the major inconsistencies that the current academic economic paradigm is perpetuating through its systems of generating economic knowledge, mainly universities and research institutions. From the methodological point of view this paper uses a qualitative analysis, based on a conceptual and highly explorative approach.

This paper conceptualizes landscape from a temporal and spatial perspective which emphasizes peoples’ interactions and activities as an inherent part of understanding the landscape itself. Today, peoples’ interaction with the landscape has become more complex, largely owing to the changing notions of place in contemporary urban living. In this context, the paper examines the role and significance of the landscapes of everyday life in urban environment and delineates how it (re)constructs ordinary human and social meanings that are necessary conditions for our existence. The paper is presented in three sections. In the first section, it discusses the concept of everyday life and its relevance in the contemporary urban living. In the following section, it examines the complexities encountered in urban landscapes today .The third section of the paper discusses how meaningful interaction experienced with everyday landscapes offer valuable insights for addressing the challenges posed by the complexities of urban city living. The paper concludes by highlighting the need for attention towards the largely neglected or overlooked domains of ‘ordinary’ everyday landscape by designer professionals, which plays a crucial role in creating meaningful relationship between people and place.

In our paper we discuss and criticize an idea which is often taken for granted in methodological discourses about mixed methods: namely that social researchers in general and mixed methods researchers in particular have to adopt a specific epistemological paradigm (a set of beliefs which have to be accepted a priori) before they can meaningfully perform research. By examining different versions of this model of paradigm-bound methodology which Yvonna LINCOLN and Egon GUBA had developed between the 1980s and 2010s, we will discuss implications of the notion paradigm and show that several of the paradigms proposed as the basis of research (e.g., positivism or constructivism) are ill-defined, lack coherence and are only superficially related to actual developments in the history of philosophical thought or contemporary epistemological debates. As an alternative to paradigm-bound methodology we will propose that researchers apply methods in an epistemologically informed way by employing epistemological concepts not as immutable givens but as heuristic devices which are used to identify and solve methodological problems. We will exemplify our approach by means of data from our own mixed methods study in which we simultaneously drew on realist and constructivist concepts to foster the understanding of contradictory statistical results.

In this paper I explore processes of knowledge production and circulation within a specific research community: the self-identified community of mixed methods scholars—i.e., the group of researchers adopting a mixed methods approach and using the label mixed methods—during the phase of its emergence and institutionalization. I focus on citations within this community, considering that the act of citing is linked to the intention of scholars to position their work not only within a research area but also within a community contributing to that specific area. I employed strategies from citation network analysis (CNA) to understand the fields involved, as well as the structure of the community in relation to citation practices. I identified the most common subjects and methodological fields in which mixed methods are mentioned by isolating sub-communities and the most influential authors in the network. I discuss the implications of this network structure with regard to power relations and hegemony. This also includes the function of nodes which appear to be marginal, but are relevant in citation practices since these authors play a bridging role across the various sub-communities.

Mit performativen Sozialwissenschaften erhalten Fragen von Wissenschaftskommunikation und von Gegenstandsangemessenheit neue Bedeutung. Dies wird in diesem Beitrag veranschaulicht, indem wir den Entstehungszusammenhang und die Hintergründe des Webcomics "Pragmatism Reloaded. Die Siedlerinnen von Chicago" in den Blick nehmen, in dem die Geschichte des Forscherinnenkollektivs des Chicagoer Hull House Settlements und insbesondere die Entstehung der "Hull-House Maps and Papers" (RESIDENTS OF HULL-HOUSE 2007 [1895]) erzählt wird. Für unsere Auseinandersetzung mit dem Gütekriterium der Gegenstandsangemessenheit verbinden wir Aspekte der Wissenschaftskommunikation mit der Debatte um performative Sozialforschung und performatives Lernen und argumentieren, dass durch den Webcomic und seinen Entstehungsprozess wesentliche Merkmale der Lebenspraxis von Hull House – methodische Pionierinnenarbeit durch die Nutzung von Visualisierung und die Bedeutung von Kunst für die Gestaltung demokratischen Zusammenlebens – aufgegriffen und in neuer Form verarbeitet wurden.

The aim of this paper is to highlight one of the frequently discussed periods of the Albanian history; that of the years between 1921 and 1939, whose said and unsaid facts have very frequently been misjudged. Its focus is to bring evidence of the way English visitors, writers, missionaries and journalists of the time have perceived the religious co-existence and the problems that accompanied it, the formal measures undertaken by the government to improve the spiritual relations and the sharp contradictions between both main religious faiths at the time. The paper will also bring evidence of other religious sects in Albania and the way they worshiped God through symbols, customs and principles, which made them a means of introducing light and knowledge even in the most remote areas of the country. The data, descriptions and analysis have been mainly withdrawn from books, published diaries and articles written by foreign visitors of the time or later historians of the Albanian life.

A consequence of the multi linguistics is the apparent facilitation of the scientific communication in the international community, through the quasi-unconditioned loan of the terms from one language to another. But the loan is not without lexical-semantic variations that can affect considerably the accuracy of the scientific communication. This theory is demonstrated in the present paper, mainly, by introducing the concept lexical-semantic discrepancy. To exemplify we chose the economic domain, where the mentioned phenomenon is very frequent. This paper deals with economic Romanian terms proceeded from French, but characterized by lexical-semantic discrepancies, sometimes difficult to see at first sight (Rom. afacere; business / Fr. affaire ; Rom. marca; brand / Fr. marque ; Rom. promovare; promotie / Fr. promotion ). The linguistic analysis proves that the similarities between the respective terms are associated with lexical-semantic discrepancies that can affect the accuracy in communication. The results of this analysis are useful for avoiding the mentioned negative effect.

The League of Nations and the United Nations Organization were two post-World War (World War I and World War II) organizations established for the maintenance of peace and security in the international system. One of the cardinal objectives of these organizations was the promotion of a Collective Security System which was considered as vital in the pursuit of global peace and security. In other words, Collective Security is an institutional mechanism established to address a comprehensive list of major threats to peace and security around the world. With the escalation of conflicts and wars in different parts of the world, there is therefore the need for collective responses at global, regional and national levels in conflict situations. The achievement of collective security in the international system would be based on the principle that any attack on any member of the United Nations would be considered as an attack on all the members. After a panoramic discourse of the meaning and nature of Collective Security, the paper also examines the problems of collective security in the international system; its failure under the League of Nations and the United Nations. The paper concludes that the weaknesses inherent in the system do not make it unuseful as it is a relevant factor in the maintenance of international peace and security.

Starting from the New Enlightenment, announced by Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka to be emerging in the post-postmodern era, a conflict is possible to manifest between the positive spirit in the name and the awareness of today’s societal and cultural problems. The paper focuses to resolving this conflict. The idea of New Enlightenment comes out of Tymieniecka’s phenomenological analysis of the logoic networks of life with identification of logoic unification of reason and intuition, and the insight into the ontological self-poiesis of life, i.e. ontopoiesis. Scientific progress takes place due to the ontopoietic self-disclosure of life. Understanding the ontopoiesis refocuses attention from trauma to the growing loci of the self, and creates an emergent alternative to existential pessimism of postmodern therapies. The paper examines healing aspects of ontopoietic direct intuition that mediate living engagement with the real. Human subject is not thrown into existence against the will, but is integrated into the flow of life and posesses selfreflective freedom of choice. This reframing of existential yearning invokes new clinical theory. The expanded interpretation of self and other, of health and disease calls for transformation of the mind towards the rise of ontopoietic intuition and direct perception of logoic ontopoiesis.

Currently, most health researchers or donor organizations considerinducement as a vital part in promoting research. They propose benefits, such as post research free medical treatment, food, insurance facilities, or even cash, in order to meet sufficient number of subjects. So, inducement may influence one to participate in a research. Is it ethical to offer inducement to human subjects? What are the risks in such practice? What will happen if the donor agencies use subjects by hiding possible risks from them? When an inducement can satisfy ethical criteria? The CIOMS, FDA, and other ethical guidelines hold that inducement is unethical because it involves enough risk for voluntary informed consent. Supporting this position, a group of ethicists has argued that inducement undermines voluntariness especially when subjects are poor and vulnerable, and thus, unethical. In contrast to them, others argue that inducement contributes to discover new knowledge which can improve miserable condition of the poor. In their view, an inducement maintains all ethical criteria including subject’s autonomy, and therefore, morally permissible. The paper focuses this debate and analyzes both types ofargument. It examines whether inducement invalidate informed consent.Even if inducement may not violate the basic components of informedconsent, the paper concludes, subjects may claim a prima facie right to enjoy research outcomes.

Compared to the Habsburg era, when Yiddish writings were hardly printed in Bukovina – due to the centralized policy of Vienna and the openness towards integration and assimilation on the part of numerous Bukovinian Jews, as well as because of the status of Yiddish as the language of uneducated Jews – the Yiddish printing industry, as well as the Yiddish libraries didn’t develop until the early 1920s, simultaneously with the emergence of national identity concepts. This paper is based on descriptive research and discusses the importance of these institutions in shaping trajectories of cultural, national and linguistic identities.

The old discussion about the purpose of translations in shaping a culture has been very often revisited in the last decades. This paper provides a number of examples, some very substantial, capable of illustrating the valences of translations. Even when they are not very successful, translations may change the mentalities of the receiving community, may entail the foundation of a great literature, may save a language from death or, in any case, may delay its natural disappearance, may sustain an ideology. The liberation from the ‘pure language’ of the original is a gain for both the source text and the target text.

An in-depth study on the functioning of schools in the Democratic Republic of Congo reveals a certain indiscipline to varying degrees to such an extent that this situation negatively influences the teaching-learning process. In this study, we aim to identify the factors undermining the education authority in a school learning situation in schools in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This paper leads to some concrete proposals for improving the teachinglearning process by re-establishing the educational authority, particularly the viable relation between teacher and pupil.

This paper tries to synthesise the evolution and specificity of Latin mythology. Its primitive forms were mostly rural, with minor indigenous deities, and consisted mainly of ritual for practical purposes (invoking protection for agricultural crops, wars and family). An absorption of the rich Greek and Oriental mythological corpus followed. In the imperial age, in Rome, “there are so many gods that it is easier to meet one than it is to find a man” (Petronius Arbiter). A large part of this heterogeneous and complex corpus was inherited by the European Romanic and non-Romanic peoples. All around, written culture has copiously fed on traditional unwritten mythology.

“LOVERS-FRIENDS”, THE ALTERNATIVE TO EROS? A PARATOPIC INTERPRETATION OF THE COUPLE IN PANAÏT ISTRATI’S ONCLE ANGHEL AND PRÉSENTATION DES HAÏDOUCS Panaït Istrati used to grant a considerable place on his oeuvre to his experience and thought. However, their impact on his love and couple’s representations remains littleknown yet despite their influence on the writer’s paratopias, on his Oncle Anghel and Présentation des haïdoucs and on their originality. This paper aims to examine the effects of two paratopias on the vision of Oncle Anghel and Présentation des haïdoucs on the couple’s love and to measure its originality, compared to the author’s first plots and contextualized in the period of the interwar.

R. K. Narayan is regarded as one of India’s great short story writers. He portrays his characters in the background of local towns and its surrounding environment. Initially, they seem mundane but as the story progresses they emerge as representative of Narayan’s ideology. This is clearly reflected in the case of both major and minor characters. The minor characters in Narayan’s stand tall along with their peculiar qualities such as enduring personality, witty dialogues, positive approach and amicable behaviour and attitude. This research paper is based on descriptive research and discusses importance and contribution of minor characters in the select short stories of R. K. Narayan.

Causal (aka cognitive) mapping emerged in the late 1970s as an innovative method for capturing and analyzing political decision-makers' and organizational phenomenological and causal belief patterns. Since then, in particular comparative causal mapping (CCM) has become widely used especially in management and organization (MOC) and IT-studies in the UK and USA. This paper provides an overview of the conceptual underpinnings and main variants of CCM to introduce the approach to qualitative researchers interested in new methods and research tools. Next, the paper presents new non-commercial Windows software, CMAP3, designed for small and medium size-N CCM-studies. Finally, to describe CCM-methods' versatility and potential, the paper discusses six types of CCM-studies, which represent different conceptions of target phenomena and research objectives and apply different modifications of the basic CCM-platform. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1202133

This article focuses on the experiences of two researchers, Wolff-Michael ROTH and Luis RADFORD, using cultural-historical activity theory in mathematics education. The aim is to provide insights into the ways these researchers see and engage with activity theory, how they have come to adopt and expand it, and some of the challenges and concerns that they have had using it. These questions are not usually addressed within typical scientific papers. Yet, they are important for understanding both the dynamics of research and the practical use of cultural-historical activity theory. Since the format of research report papers is not necessarily well suited to convey personal experiences and thinking, the present article takes the form of a conversation, which provides an effective vehicle for exploring and articulating these matters. This provides a basis for understanding more deeply the underlying assumptions of this theory; its dynamics and how it is applied in research of mathematics practice, thinking, and learning; and insights into the manner in which experienced researchers grapple with the theoretical dimensions of their research. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1202232

Over recent years, the new sociology of knowledge has become increasingly interested in issues and debates about the ways in which the body features in people's actions and experience of the social world—debates that over the past two decades have also arisen within the sociology of the body. The edited collection reviewed here is based on the contributions to a conference jointly organised in 2010 by two sections of the German Sociology Association's (DGS): the section "Sociology of Knowledge" and the section "Sociology of the Body and Sociology of Sport." The book contains a variety of theoretical and empirical papers that analyse how "knowledge of the body" features in people's actions and everyday experiences, as well as how it is communicated. To guide the debate, the editors use their introductory chapter to differentiate between "knowledge of the body" and "knowledge about the body." This distinction proves very useful in drawing relationships between the individual contributions, which are based on studies from very diverse domains, including the discourse on sexuality, cosmetic surgery and General Practice, as well as exhibitions about the body, pedagogical concepts of the body and the body in martial arts training. It also supports linkages between the theoretical papers in the first part of the volume and the empirical analyses of the later contributions. This edited volume will be of interest to anyone with a background in the sociology of knowledge and the sociology of the body conducting research and contributing to sociological debates on the relationship between the body and knowledge. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs120216

Research in young people by young people is a growing trend and considered a democratic approach to exploring their lives. Qualitative research is also seen as a way of redistributing power; with participatory research positioned by many as a democratic paradigm of qualitative inquiry. Although participatory research may grant a view on another world, it is fraught with a range of relationships that require negotiation and which necessitate constant self-reflection. Drawing on experiential accounts of participatory research with young people, this paper will explore the power relationship from the perspective of the adult researcher, the young peer researcher and also that of the researched. It will explore the self-conscious exchange of power; and describe how it is relinquished and reclaimed with increasing degrees of compliance as confidence and security develops. Co-authored by a peer researcher and adult researchers, this paper will illustrate a range of practical examples of participatory research with young people, decode the power struggle and consider the implications. It will argue that although the initial stages of the research process are artificial, self-conscious and undemocratic it concludes that the end may justify the means with the creation of social agency knowledge, experience and reality. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs120192

The key epistemological assumption in participatory research is the belief that knowledge is embedded in the lives and experiences of individuals and that knowledge is developed only through a cooperative process between researchers and experiencing individuals. There are various notions about the nature and processes of participation in this type of research. This paper focuses on specific processes that are used for a "genuine" participation by experiencing individuals as research participants. It also identifies processes that are critical for researchers to engage with, in order to become pro-participatory in their approaches to qualitative research. The paper draws on a particular project as an exemplar—"The Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Project." This project uses various participatory research processes to elicit and include voices of health-care professionals, service users, and family members. The main objective of the research project is to develop knowledge for new forms of community-based practices for people experiencing mental health crisis. We present the participatory research methodology applied in this research, and discuss two sets of processes used to enhance "participation" in research—one set to encourage and elicit participation by research participants; and the other set to engage researchers in reflection within the participatory research process. This will mitigate the paucity of literature regarding the processes and approaches necessary to make participatory research truly "participatory" both for research participants and researchers. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs120117

This paper addresses the application of observation to online settings with a special focus on observer roles. It draws on a study of online observation of a virtual community, i.e. an open source software (OSS) community. The paper examines general and specific advantages and disadvantages of the observer roles in online settings by relating these roles to the same roles assumed in offline settings. The study suggests that under the right circumstances online and offline observation may benefit from being combined as they complement each other well. Quality issues and factors important to elicit trustworthy observational data from online study settings, such as OSS communities, are discussed. A proposition is made concerning how threats to credibility and transferability in relation to online observation (i.e. lack of richness and detail, risk of misunderstandings) can be diminished, while maintaining the level of dependability (which is potentially high due to a greater degree of anonymity and "isolation" in online settings). The paper thus suggests that the less participative the researcher's online observer role is, the more s/he should consider introducing offline data collection techniques rather than adopting a more participative role in the observed online setting. This methodological discussion forms the basis for making a well-considered choice of online observer role rather than passively sliding into a role assigned by the setting. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs110358

This paper addresses science communication problems: How do researchers convey social science representations and findings to the researched? How are the latter described in research reports? How do they react when they read or hear such reports and when they subsequently engage in discourse with researchers? Typically, social science researchers approach a field site with an attitude of curiosity that is unburdened by an immediate pressure to act. The field inhabitants, by contrast, are subject to the practical constraints of these everyday worlds; they identify personally with their milieu and its protagonists, and they are correspondingly sensitive. The present paper describes their defensive reactions, taking as an example the reception of a research project presented at conferences attended by a mixed audience. It highlights the reactions and strategies displayed by the researched in the contexts of discourse and meaning negotiation in response to unwelcome representations. And it offers several interpretations of the interactions between the researchers and the researched. Field members may oppose the revelation of contextual and causal factors construing it as "washing dirty laundry in public". Researchers react to this in their textual representations, and their reactions may take the form of score-settling. The present paper asks how such contradictory, conflict-laden constellations and perspectives in the discourse between the observers and the observed can be productively dealt with. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1102233

Drawing on the perspectives of ethnography and discourse analysis, this paper first gives an overview of the emerging body of research bringing together the epistemologies and the methods of these two perspectives. It then presents a novel analytical framework for computer-assisted ethnographic discourse analysis. The paper outlines how close analysis of discursive practices—in this case journalistic writing practices—can provide insights into struggles over meaning and hegemony in contemporary knowledge work. The case study explores the production of a financial news story about the supply of gas to French consumers, and the way the practices in question subtly write Russia as a threat. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1101183

When teaching people how to use qualitative software, a number of factors influence what functions in the software are covered. This paper will discuss the teaching of short intensive small group courses on qualitative software and identify the features in the software that influence the structure of the course and the material covered. I have taught QSR software (N4, N5, N6, NVivo2, NVivo7 and NVivo8) to small groups of researchers in universities and research organisations for 15 years. Participants have had various levels of research experience including members of faculty with extensive qualitative experience and Masters and first year PhD students. Participants have come from a wide range of disciplines. The design of each course is generally different to meet the needs of the group, their experience, the practical facilities and when known, the requirements of their project. But how significant is the software in the design of a course? This paper will use records of past courses to identify the elements taught and the reasons for the selection of topics and ordering. The paper will compare the impact of the software user interface, structure, and features by comparing the teaching of similar courses in N6 and NVivo7. The paper will conclude by reflecting on the impact of course design on the use that participants make of qualitative software. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1101277

In this paper we discuss learning about using visual methodologies in a research project exploring social networks, neighbourhood spaces and community in an inner city-area of a British northern city. We draw on the substantive and methodological experiences of visual researchers and provide an account of the ways in which we discussed, developed, and reflected on the value and possibilities of visual methods in our data collection and analysis. We present the paper as a dialogue to represent how, as a research team, we engaged in an on-going iterative engagement with the visual methods we used. Our dialogue considers visual data we collected through a walkaround method, focusing on how these data contributed to our understanding of the field, data analysis, the refinement of research questions, and theoretical development in the research. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1101360

This paper is based on a project created for the KWALON conference in April, 2010. Due to time constraints and the lack of research experience of some of the people working on the project, we took a team based approach to develop the analysis, and focused on descriptive coding. This paper addresses both the items for reflection in the "instructions for developers" and the research question posed. Though the analysis of the data was done using software which enabled more to be done than would otherwise have been the case, it is argued that the results obtained are influenced by the researchers themselves, and factors such as the time available, rather than the software itself. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1101234