scholarly journals Change in store? An investigation into the impact of the book superstore environment on use, perceptions and expectations of the public library as a space, place and experience

2009 ◽  
Vol 28 (88) ◽  
pp. 13-26
Author(s):  
Helen Cartwright

The book superstore is promoted not just as a place to buy books but also as a community resource in which to read, learn and socialise: traits that have in combination traditionally been the preserve of the public library. This study investigates the impact of the bookstore environment on public library space. The attitudes and behaviours of library and bookstore users were examined through focus group interviews and a self-completed questionnaire. Clear areas of overlap in the functions of the two sites were found, as was evidence of age and income-related splits in use and perception of bookstores and libraries. Results suggest attention should be paid to the beliefs and behaviours of young people and middle-income earners (the groups most noticeably increasing their use of the bookstore) and to the desired balance of education and recreation in the image and nature of the public library.

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 228-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erinn Bentley ◽  
Madison Workman ◽  
Alex Overby

Purpose In order to prepare new members of the education profession, it is imperative that teachers enter their classrooms with the confidence, knowledge, and skills to serve their students from day one. One method for preparing such teacher candidates or student teachers is through school-based field placements during their preparation program. The purpose of this paper is to describe one example of a yearlong field placement and the mentoring relationships that emerged among participants. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative study used the following data sources: focus group interviews among the teacher candidates, focus group interviews among the mentor teachers, field placement reflections and teaching analyses composed by the teacher candidates, and interviews conducted among teacher candidates and mentor teachers. Findings Analysis of the data revealed that the yearlong field placement promoted positive mentoring relationships between teacher candidates and their classroom teachers. Specifically the following themes emerged: the “adoption” of teacher candidates into the high school classrooms, risk-taking within the classrooms, the mentor teachers’ use of constructive feedback, and collaborative “mentoring-down-the-hall.” Originality/value In recent years, various scholars have investigated the impact of field placement experiences on teacher candidates; however, these studies have lacked a detailed analysis of how such experiences impacted mentoring relationships among candidates and their mentor teachers in a collaborative setting. This paper provides an in-depth study of the perceived experiences of mentor teachers and their candidates.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ka-Huen Yip

Abstract Objective To explore insights of young people’s experiences and motivations in Pokémon GO in Hong Kong. The perspectives of young people through qualitative focus group interviews. Results Eight focus group discussions with young people (n=45; age from 18-25 years old) recruited in Hong Kong. We analysed the discussions using a thematic approach. Five theme categories emerged from data analysis: missing out or self-regulation, childhood memories of Pokémon, extending virtual-reality exploration, spending more time outdoors for walking and exercise, gathering together and socially interacting with others. This study sets the way for a deeper analysis of motivation factors to young people that indicate the increasing playing location-based game (LBG) via smartphones worldwide among all cohorts of society. This relatively new phenomenon of LBG may impact players’ movement, social activity, and behaviour to gain a common goal into the preferences and effects of playing LBG for young people.


2021 ◽  
pp. 147-162
Author(s):  
Oscar H. Gandy Jr.

This chapter is focused on the perceptions of the public about the panoptic sort and its likely influence on society. Although the focus within the scholarly community was on surveillance, the term was not in broad use within the population, and as a result, estimates of public opinion at the time were limited to a focus on privacy as an issue of public concern. A broad variety of issues and concerns were explored in previously published and specially designed surveys of the U.S. public. The approach taken to understand the views of the public was shaped by the analysis of a series of focus group interviews that are described within this chapter. In addition to seeking discussants’ understanding of the generation and use of consumer and citizen profiles, the members of these focus groups were also invited to share their views about the kinds of limits they thought needed to be established to govern the use of profiling technologies. Of particular importance were their views about the sharing of personal and transaction-generated information with third parties. Most of these focus group members were quite knowledgeable about marketing activities, and only a small minority expressed strong criticism of their use.


2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 17-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanja Storsul

Abstract This article presents a study of how politically engaged young people use social media for political purposes. There has been a growing optimism that social media can stimulate political participation and deliberation, especially among young people. Based on focus group interviews with Norwegian teenagers, the article argues that social media have become an important platform for young people to participate in political activities. Whether the purpose is internal meetings or external mobilization, social media provide platforms for planning, reporting and communicating political activities. At the same time, politically engaged young people are hesitant about using social media for political deliberation. They are concerned about how they present themselves, and they are reluctant to stand out as highly political. One important explanation for this is that social media integrate different forms of communication and collapse social contexts. This causes teenagers to delimit controversies and try to keep political discussions to groups with more segregated audiences.


2014 ◽  
Vol 153 (1) ◽  
pp. 138-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kath Albury ◽  
Paul Byron

Recent Australian research on ‘sexting’ (the production and exchange of naked and semi-naked digital pictures) has observed that formal legal and educational discourses have failed to fully account for young people's understandings and experiences. While there is a proliferation of scholarly and popular texts focusing on the risks that sexting might pose to young (heterosexual) women, there is a relative absence of academic, educational or popular discourse acknowledging same sex-attracted young people's participation in cultures of creating and sharing pictures via dating and hook-up apps. This article draws on focus-group interviews with young people in Sydney (aged 18–26) to present alternative accounts of sexting, and reflect on same sex-attracted men and women's strategies for negotiating safety and risk within online and offline sexual cultures.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 36-45
Author(s):  
Ana Silva ◽  
André Moura ◽  
Paula Batista

Assessment is a regulatory and fundamental element of the teaching-learning process (Dutra et al., 2018), which in the perspective of the Assessment for Learning allows fostering the learning (Broadfoot et al., 1999). This study aimed to analyse students’ involvement and motivation in the Assessment for Learning processes and the impact on learning. The participants were 21 students of a class of the 11th grade of the Scientific- Humanistic Course of Science and Technology, with an average age of 17.23. The instruments used were focus group interviews, audio recordings of teacher feedbacks, several self and peer assessment moments and the teacher’s diary. Auto evaluation data were analyzed using descriptive measures (average and mode) and the information from pear observations, focus group interview and teacher board diary were analyzed using the content analysis procedures (Bardin, 2008).The data showed that students raised their level of involvement and motivation for the sessions, especially in the construction of the gymnastic scheme. In addition, the application of this methodology has enhanced learning in the acquisition of knowledge, as well as in the dynamics of the different groups.


Author(s):  
Abir Mullick

The study focused on the impact of bathroom design on user performance. It used a qualitative research method, focus group interviews, to learn from users about their bathroom needs and preferences. It examined the need for universal bathroom design features that have inclusive applications. It offers design suggestions for use by all people living at home.


Author(s):  
Cara A. Lamb ◽  
Eishin Teraoka ◽  
Kimberly L. Oliver ◽  
David Kirk

This paper reports on the findings of two studies concerned with pupils’ motivational and emotional responses to pedagogies of affect in physical education in Scottish secondary schools. Pedagogies of affect explicitly focus on learning in the affective domain, or what is known in Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) as ‘personal qualities’. Personal qualities include motivation, confidence and self-esteem, determination and resilience, responsibility and leadership, respect and tolerance, and communication. In one study, led by Teraoka, the researchers explored the ways in which pupils responded, through focus group interviews based on Self-Determination Theory, to teachers who claimed to value and be committed to teaching explicitly for affective learning outcomes. In another study, led by Lamb, the researchers investigated the impact of an activist intervention on girls’ experiences of physical education, through their conversations in focus group discussions. Both studies reveal that pupils responded favorably, both in motivation and emotion, to pedagogies of affect in physical education, and that these responses offer a promising basis for future developments.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioana Margineanu ◽  
Christina Louka ◽  
Maria Vincenti-Gonzalez ◽  
Antonia Morita Iswari Saktiawati ◽  
Johannes Schierle ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Digitally delivering healthcare services is very attractive for tuberculosis (TB) management as this disease has a complex diagnosis and lengthy management and involves multiple medical and nonmedical specialists. Especially in low- and middle-income countries, eHealth could potentially offer cost-effective solutions to bridge financial, social, time, and distance challenges. OBJECTIVE The goal of the research is to understand what would make eHealth globally applicable and gain insight into different TB situations, opportunities, and challenges. METHODS We performed focus group interviews with TB experts and patients from 6 different countries on 4 different continents. The focus group interviews followed the theory of planned behavior framework to offer structured recommendations for a versatile eHealth solution. The focus group interviews were preceded by a general demographic and technology use questionnaire. Questionnaire results were analyzed using basic statistics in Excel (Microsoft Corporation). Focus group interview data were analyzed using ATLAS.ti 8 (ATLAS.ti Scientific Software Development GmbH) by assigning codes to quotations and grouping codes into the 5 domains within the framework. RESULTS A total of 29 patients and 32 medical staff members were included in our study. All medical staff had used the internet, whereas 31% (9/61) of patients had never been online. The codes with the most quotations were information in relation to eHealth (144 quotations) and communication (67 quotations). The consensus among all participants from all countries is that there are important communication and information gaps that could be bridged by an eHealth app. Participants from different countries also highlighted different challenges, such as a majority of asylum-seeker patients or lack of infrastructure that could be addressed with an eHealth app. CONCLUSIONS Within the 6 countries interviewed, there is high enthusiasm toward eHealth in TB. A potential app could first target information and communication gaps in TB, with additional modules aimed at setting-specific challenges.


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