Sebnem Cilesiz

Educational Computer Use in Leisure Contexts: A Phenomenological Study of Adolescents’ Experiences at Internet Cafés

Computer use is a widespread leisure activity for adolescents. Leisure contexts, such as Internet cafés, constitute specific social environments for computer use and may hold significant educational potential. This article reports a phenomenological study of adolescents’ experiences of educational computer use at Internet cafés in Turkey. The purposes of the study were to understand and describe the phenomenon in depth and arrive at the essence of adolescents’ experiences with the phenomenon. Data were collected through series of in-depth phenomenological interviews with six adolescents and analyzed using phenomenal analysis. The results include potential benefits of Internet cafés as specific social leisure contexts of educational computer use for adolescent development. Implications for designing and studying computer-based informal learning environments are presented.

Demystifying Interdisciplinary Qualitative Research.

This article seeks to demystify, through deconstruction, the concept of interdisciplinarity in the context of qualitative research to contribute to a new praxis of knowledge production through reflection on the possibilities and impossibilities of interdisciplinarity. A review and discussion of disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity leads the authors to formulate and explore the following questions: What is interdisciplinary knowledge? What is it that researchers observe as interdisciplinarity? Why do researchers pursue it? In demystifying interdisciplinarity, the authors focus on the legitimacy of the sign interdisciplinary and the process of (interdisciplinary) knowledge production. After investigating the former, the authors explore the latter by metaphorically mapping the terrain of knowledge production and conclude by proposing that interdisciplinarity, as a sign, may have the function of enabling knowledge-producing organizations to leverage resources by symbolically alluding to desired characteristics of knowledge-production processes whereas, as an act, it may de facto reproduce and maintain the disciplinary organization of knowledge and knowledge production.

Rigor, Transparency, Evidence, and Representation in Discourse Analysis: Challenges and Recommendations

Discourse analysis is an important qualitative research approach across social science disciplines for analyzing (and challenging) how reality in a variety of organizational and institutional arenas is constructed. However, the process of conducting empirical discourse analyses remains challenging. In this article, we identify four key challenges involved in doing discourse analysis and recommend several “tools” derived from empirical practice to address these challenges. We demonstrate these recommendations by drawing on examples from an empirical discourse analysis study we conducted. Our tools and recommendations aim to facilitate conducting and writing up discourse analyses and may also contribute to addressing the identified challenges in other qualitative methodologies.

High-Poverty Urban High School Students' Plans for Higher Education: Weaving Their Own Safety Nets.

This qualitative study investigates high-poverty urban high school students’ views of and plans regarding higher education, using Bourdieu’s theory of reproduction in education as theoretical framework. Interview data from 76 students from six high-poverty urban schools in a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States were analyzed using grounded theory. Findings suggest that students (a) viewed higher education as rewarding in many ways, (b) perceived attending college to involve multiple risks, and (c) devised risk-minimizing strategies to facilitate their intended pursuit of higher education.

The Philosophy of Science and Educational Technology Research

Educational technology—the study and practice of using technology to support learning and instruction—is influenced by developments in various fields such as cognitive science, information and communications technologies, and psychology. To address the broad range of questions that make up the domain of educational technology research, a variety of approaches to scientific research are relevant. To facilitate the pursuit of a diverse research agenda relying on various approaches, we discuss scientific research in the domain of educational technology, present three philosophical approaches to scientific research that are relevant to educational technology research (namely, postpositivism, constructivism, and phenomenology) along with examples, and then discuss the larger landscape of approaches to scientific inquiry. With this, we aim to contribute to expanding the domain and diversity of scientific approaches within the discipline of educational technology, thereby informing and improving subsequent educational technology research.

Shoes, Dues, and Other Barriers to College Attainment: Perspectives of Students Attending High-Poverty, Urban High Schools

Facilitating economically disadvantaged students’ access to higher education is an important goal of educational policy. However, some practices toward this goal are based on theories and assumptions not informed by the students’ conditions or needs. The purpose of this study was to understand the challenges faced by students from high poverty, urban high schools in their yearning for a college education. Analyses of interview and observation data from a yearlong study in six high-poverty schools revealed that economically disadvantaged students face contextual challenges that necessitate additional efforts and resources not required by others, including money, time, knowledge, courage, sacrifice, and taking risks. The findings are discussed in light of Bourdieu’s theory of capital in education. Implications for educational policy and practice are outlined, including increased attention to non-psychological, structural factors impacting college attainment such as systemic and cumulative disadvantage resulting from lack of various forms of capital.

Critical and Poststructural Approaches to Strategy Research: Theoretical and Methodological Suggestions

Purpose – In this chapter we highlight the potential of critical and poststructural paradigms and associated qualitative research approaches for future research in strategy. In addition, we aim to contribute to the proliferation of applications of qualitative methodologies as well as to facilitate the diversity of qualitative inquiry approaches in the strategy field. Methodology/Approach – Building on insights from standpoint theory, we discuss the importance and necessity of cultivating critical and poststructural paradigms in strategy. Furthermore, we review three related qualitative inquiry approaches (i.e., discourse analysis, deconstruction, and genealogy) and develop suggestions for their utilization in future strategy research on emerging market economies. Findings – We highlight key concepts of critical and poststructural paradigms as well as of the selected approaches and provide a variety of examples relevant to strategy research to illustrate potential applications and analytic considerations. Originality/Value of chapter – Critical and poststructural paradigms and related research methodologies are underutilized in strategy research; however, they are important contributions to paradigmatic and methodological diversity in the field generally and necessary approaches for developing our understanding of strategy phenomena in the context of emerging market economies specifically.