Alberto Crescentini

Qualitative research articles: guidelines, suggestions and needs

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to give ideas and suggestions to avoid some typical problems of qualitative articles. The aim is not to debate quality in qualitative research but to indicate some practical solutions.Design/methodology/approach – The paper discusses the design of qualitative research and the structure of a qualitative article giving some methodological suggestions to make it better for the reader and the reviewer.Findings – The paper finds that the main criteria to getting published are that the article must be transparent regarding the process followed in the research and it must well structured so it can be understood by readers.Originality/value – If these guidelines are followed the review process of articles will be smoother and the number of rejected papers should decrease. The paper will benefit young researchers who can find suggestions on writing a paper for the Journal of Workplace Learning.

Patient satisfaction and communication as competitive levers in dentistry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the most relevant quality factors and communication activities that are suitable as competitive levers in dentistry.Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on a model that highlights the reciprocal influence between patient satisfaction and dentist reputation. The model points out that experience/behaviours, explicit communication and word‐of‐mouth are antecedents of both patient satisfaction and dentist reputation. This research is based on interviews with senior dentists, focus groups with patients and a survey of dentistry patients.Findings – The most important quality factors for patient satisfaction are the doctor‐patient relationship and the clarity of information about treatment and cost. Key communication levers are first, the implicit communication that arises from successful treatment and overall service quality; second, the explicit communication that arises from interpersonal relations with the dentist and the staff, and the refer...

Valori e mass media: un modello di analisi per lo studio dei processi di comunicazione

The aim of this article is to explain the importance of mass media in the study of values and social representations; mass media can be investigated by using instruments of analysis such as quantitative content analysis. We have summarized the main contributions coming from literature about the concept of value and the mass media as driver of the process of making sense: mass media contribute to build-up values and social representation. We have presented a study in which the methodology and the results explain how mass media contribute to build-up and maintain shared values. To this aim we have pointed-out some social representations related to the phenomenon of abandoning children, and the values associated to them in mass-media communications.

Validation of a Short Scale in Italian to Measure Teacher Burnout

This study creates and validates a short, Italian-language scale to measure teacher burnout. To this end, we used two scales from the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory which had already been translated into Italian in a previous study. We administered this measure to two samples of teachers (n1 = 2688 and n2 = 676) in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. The final scale consisted of 10 items that measure teacher burnout on the dimensions of work- and student-related burnout. We performed exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to assess the psychometric properties of the instrument as well as conducting analyses of invariance between the sexes and across school sectors. Results showed that work- and student-related burnout were significantly correlated with the constructs of perceived workload, optimism, and life satisfaction. Moreover, neither dimension of burnout was associated with sex, age, seniority, or family status, although both dimensions of burnout were significantly correlated with professional status and percentage of working hours per week. Overall, the analyses show that the final short scale is a valid instrument for measuring teacher burnout. Because of its brevity, this scale can easily be integrated into surveys conducted by public health institutions and education departments.

A cross-cultural study of Italian and U.S. children’s perceptions of interethnic and interracial friendships in two urban schools

Abstract This cross-cultural and cross-sectional study investigated Italian and US children’s perceptions of interethnic and interracial friendships, also known as intergroup friendships. A total sample of 226 children attending two urban, elementary schools in a middle-sized Northeastern US city and a middle-sized northern Italian city, were interviewed employing the questionnaire. Results indicate that Italian and US children’s perceptions of intra-racial and interracial friendships differed with students of color in the US rating intragroup friendships more positively than intergroup ones. In addition, students of color in Italy and white students in the US rated intergroup and intragroup friendships similarly.

Work values and aging workforce. a perspective on value orientations and motivations for post-retirement activities

Population ageing is not only linked to social or health problems, but it also concerns economic and HRM strategies and policies in work organizations. Elderly and retired workers are often still active and recent literature in social sciences has indeed focused on the management and motivation of ageing workforce. The present work aims to explore the relationships between reasons to stay active and the work values of elderly workers, by examining how value orientations affect the reasons behind post-retirement activity. A questionnaire was administered to a sample of 480 north-Italian elderly, retired from different jobs who continued to work. Part of questionnaire adopted the Work Important Study/Work Values Scale (WIS/SVP) to explore the work values of aging workforce. As a result, people in retirement appear to be moved mainly by reasons of social connections and usefulness. More personal dimensions related to the need of being appreciated, self-realized, or the need of keep themselves active and busy are considered less important. Interestingly, financial reasons and work continuity are considered not important. In addition, work values and value orientations influence to various degrees these motivations to stay in activity after formal retirement. These findings suggest that HRM practices and policies, capable of motivating older workers to continue to work, should address social and relational issues rather than financial related aspects or continuous career development.

EVALUATION AND MONITORING: PROBLEMATIC ROLES IN STUDYING INNOVATION

In Ticino, the Italian speaking canton of Switzerland, in past years a reform of the secondary school system has been implemented. This reform originates from some preliminary reflection started during the ‘90ies. During the academic year 2004/2005 started the first visible transformation in school. Using a multi-focus research design a study on this process of change has been conducted during the years 2006 - 2012. This project has several aims: define a theoretical framework to study future innovations; give some feedback to stakeholders; implement a monitoring process. Different sources of information have been used: public documents; interviews to stakeholders; four case studies and data from a questionnaire administered to the teachers. This paper is mainly devoted to explore the theoretical implication and to make a general reflection on evaluation and monitoring processes. This research process has been used to reflect on the different role of researchers in evaluation and monitoring processes. The data collected make possible to validate and up-date the initial theoretical framework based mainly on the work of Fullan (1993, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003) and Huberman & Miles (1984), to demonstrate that in an organizational change the energy spent in the consolidation phase need to be proportional to the depth of the changes.