A note on Phenomenological Research

Phenomenological Research

Phenomenology is an approach to qualitative research that focuses on the commonality of a lived experience within a particular group. The fundamental goal of the approach is to arrive at a description of the nature of the particular phenomenon (Creswell, 2013).  Typically, interviews are conducted with a group of individuals who have first-hand knowledge of an event, situation or experience. The interview(s) attempts to answer two broad questions (Moustakas, 1994): What have you experienced in terms of the phenomenon? What contexts or situation have typically influenced your experiences of the phenomenon (Creswell, 2013)?  Other forms of data such as documents, observations and art may also be used. The data is then read and reread and culled for like phrases and themes that are then grouped to form clusters of meaning (Creswell, 2013). Through this process the researcher may construct the universal meaning of the event, situation or experience and arrive at a more profound understanding of the phenomenon.

With roots in philosophy, psychology and education, phenomenology attempts to extract the most pure, untainted data and in some interpretations of the approach, bracketing is used by the researcher to document personal experiences with the subject to help remove him or herself from the process. One method of bracketing is memoing (Maxwell, 2013).

In my study of the factors that drive employees to use compliance hotlines, I used the phenomenological approach and methods glean answers. Of the five approaches described by Creswell, the approach most closely aligned with the study’s objectives. While the question was not ultimately resolved, the richness of the mined data produced further opportunities for inquiry.

References

Creswell, J.W. (2013). Qualitative Inquiry & Research Design: Choosing Among the Five Approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. (pp. 77-83)

Maxwell, J.A. (2013). Qualitative Research Design: An Interactive Approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. (pp. 135-136)

Courtesy: Blogs@Baruch

ERIC, BLOG and Ubuntu and inflibnet: Note on Some Technology/online support for Education

ERIC, BLOG and Ubuntu and inflibnet: Note on Some Technology/online support for Education

ERIC: a brief note

ERIC is a web resource of educational content. It is an online reservoir of educational information, content and activities. Any scholar can freely make use the content from Eric and it is a platform to publish educational research papers, articles and events.

Eric is a resource for educational matters launched by US department of Education. Specifically ERIC is the abbreviation of Education Resources Information Centre (ERIC). It is an online digital library of education research and information. The sponsor of ERIC is the Institute of Education Sciences of the United States Department of Education.

ERIC is broadly provided materials on research in education. ERIC is aimed to provide a comprehensive, easy-to-use, searchable, Internet-based bibliographic and full-text database of education research and information for educators, researchers, and the general public. Education research and information are essential to improve teaching, learning, and educational decision-making.

ERIC provides access to more than 1.5 million records (citations, abstracts, research papers, educational articles and other pertinent data) of journal articles and other education-related materials. Scholars add hundreds of new records to Eric every week. A key component of ERIC is its collection of literature in education, which is largely available in full text in Adobe PDF format. ERIC usually includes education related articles in its database from all sectors of the education scenario.

The ERIC Collection, begun in 1966, contains records for a variety of publication types. They are: journal articles, books, research syntheses, conference papers, technical reports, dissertations, policy papers, andother education-related materials

ERIC provides the public with a centralized Web site for searching the ERIC collection and submitting materials to be considered for inclusion in the collection. Users can also access the collection through commercial database vendors, statewide and institutional networks, and Internet search engines. To help users find the information they are seeking, ERIC produces a controlled vocabulary, the thesaurus of ERIC Descriptors. This is a carefully selected list of education-related words and phrases used to tag materials by subject and make them easier to retrieve through a search.

Edmodo

Edmodo is an educational technology company offering a communication,  collaboration, and coaching platform for teaching learning process. Edmodo provides educational assistance for teachers and schools from K to 12 (kintergarten to 12^th). The Edmodo network enables teachers to share content, distribute quizzes, assignments, and manage communication with students, colleagues, and parents. Edmodo is very teacher-centric in their design philosophy. It is like an active online teching system edmodo works like n interactive web portal. Students and parents can only join Edmodo if invited to do so by a teacher. Teachers and students spend large amounts of time on the platform, both in and out of the classroom. Edmodo is free to use, but it also offers premium paid services.Edmodo can be made use by teachers as a platform for design and practice online teaching.

UBUNTU

Ubuntu is opening system software for computer. It is free software that individual users can make use without any payment. Ubuntu is same as Windows opening system in its functional aims, but windows is a paid software. Ubuntu is a popular operating system for cloud computing

It is comprised with the LINUX server. Ubuntu releases updated versions of its software system every six month. Ubuntu is developed by Canonical Ltd, which is UK based soft ware company under the funding of South African industrialist Mark Shuttleworth.

Ubuntu contains a wide range of software that includes Libre Office, Firefox, Thunderbird, Transmission, and several games such as Sudoku and chess. The Libre Ofice is like the MS Word to prepare office documents. The default installation of Ubuntu will provide free access to all these software packages. Additional software can also accessible from the Ubuntu platform.  Ubuntu operators claimed it as a non-profit organization Software in the Public Interest.

Ubuntu packages are based on packages from Debian's unstable branch. Debian is of Linux.  (Debian GNU/Linux is a Linux distribution composed of free and open-source software, developed by the community-supported Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock on August 16, 1993) 

EDUBUNTU

Edubuntu is Linux based operating system targeted for primary and secondary education. It is freely available to make use with community based support. The Edubuntu community is built on the ideas preserve in the Edubuntu programme. The edubuntu software, especially for education, should be available free of charge and that software tools can be usable by people in their local language and despite any disabilities.

Edubuntu itself is a teaching-learning resource for primary, secondary and higher secondary level content. Learners will get sufficient information from Edubuntu on all the major content.

All teachers or educators may not have technical knowledge to make use. The primary goal of Edubuntu is to enable an educator/teacher with limited technical knowledge and skills to set up a computer lab or an on-line learning environment in an hour or less and then effectively administer that environment for teaching/learning.

The Edubuntu is designed with centralized management of arrangement, users and processes. It can use independently or together with facilities for working collaboratively in a classroom setting. Equally important is the gathering together of the best available free software and digital materials for education. Edubuntu Website declares: "Our aim is to put together a system that contains all the best free software available in education and make it easy to install and maintain”.

BLOG

A blog is an informational website consisting of distinct or informal text entries (posts) or pictures or contents published on the World Wide Web. It is almost like a website. Person with a Gmail account can start a blog at any time. A blogger (one who post text in blog is blogger and the activity of using blog is Blogging) use the blog for various purposes at any time. The account is free. The term blog is coined and propagated by Jorn Barger Peter Merholzand Evan Williams

Posts in a blog are typically displayed in reverse chronological order, so that the most recent post appears first, at the top of the web page. Until 2009, blogs were usually the work of a single individual occasionally of a small group, and often covered a single subject or topic. In the 2010s, "multi-author blogs" (MABs) emerged, featuring the writing of multiple authors and sometimes professionally edited.

Many blogs provide commentary on a particular subject or topic, ranging from politics to sports. Teachers can use blog as a supporting device for teaching. Texts or notes or classes can be uploaded – posted- in the blog and students can use it at any time through their mobile or computer with internet connection.

A typical blog combines text, digital images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic.. Types of blogs include Personal blogs, Collaborative blogs or group blogs, Corporate and organizational blogs, Aggregated blogs (Individuals or organization may aggregate selected feeds on specific topic, product or service and provide combined view for its readers. This allows readers to concentrate on reading instead of searching for quality on-topic content and managing subscriptions) and reverse blog. Reverse Blog is a type of blog that is characterized by the lack of a single, specific blogger. In a traditional blog a blogger will write his or her comments about a given topic and other users may view and sometimes comment on the bloggers work. A reverse blog is written entirely by the users, who are given a topic. The blog posts are usually screened and chosen for publication by a core group or the publisher of the blog.

INFLIBNET

Inflibnet is the Information Library Network.

INFLIBNET Centre (Information and Library Network Centre) is an autonomous Inter-University Centre of the University Grants Commission (UGC) of India under Ministry of HRD (MHRD). The centre is located in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. It became an independent Inter-University Centre in June 1996.

INFLIBNET is involved in

·         Modernizing university libraries in India  

·         Connecting the university and college libraries and information centres in the country through a nationwide high speed data network using the state-of-art technologies

·         Assure most advantageous utilization of library information and researches held in universities in India.

·         Promoting scholarly communication among academicians and researchers in India. INFLIBNET provides various educational resources from all the universities in India under single technological roof. For eg: Shodganga is a reservoir of thesis and operates via inflibnet. Shodganga provides all research theses in single reservoir.