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In this methodological article, I introduce a qualitative research method, called the visual focus group (VFG), which incorporates a collective drawing task within the structure of a focus group. The VFG was specifically developed to support engaged research about how activists conceptualize the political role of technology, by stimulating participants to reflect on their unspoken assumptions about digital technologies. After reviewing the relevant literature on focus groups and graphic elicitation techniques, the article presents two types of VFGs: diagnostic and speculative. While diagnostic VFGs are primarily a research tool meant to enable researchers to assess how people envision technology, speculative VFGs encourage participants to imagine better digital technologies. I describe the structure of both types of VFGs and offer examples of their outputs; I then discuss the limitations of this method and propose other research topics for which it might be used.

Research on sport migration spans many disciplines and strands of inquiry, with some studies seeking to analyse the academic outputs. However, these studies sometimes are focused on certain specific contexts or offer only qualitative analysis. This present study aimed to analyse the literature on sport migration. Through a systematic review, we combined data from the articles to propose a classification of the sport migration research field. The results show that research in sport migration have focused on athletes who are mostly men, working in elite sports, and with attention to more globally practiced sports, such as football. Regarding migratory flows, they are often carried out from peripheral countries to central countries. Considering all advances in academic output on sport migration, this line of research needs to broaden, observing other dynamics involved, such as other migratory routes, groups of migrants, and social agents.

This study reports on an unique opportunity to compare four quantitative/qualitative datasets from 2017 to 2021, before and after the activist Greta Thunberg became known to the general public. Through a mixed-methods approach, we develop a model to distinguish between three forms of climate reflexivity: (1) reflexivity as ranking; (2) reflexivity as recognising; and (3) reflexivity as qualifying. Our findings imply that in 2019 and the following years, Greta Thunberg became a unifying inspiration for young people already concerned with the climate crisis in Norway. Even though two indicators suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic did divert young people's reflexivity from climate issues, we also find that a subset of the participants expresses rich reflexivity, addressing nature and the need for transition and solidarity. Finally, we argue these forms of reflexivity shape commonalities that may have relevance across social classes, identities and nation-states.

AbstractWith smart speakers diffusing into society, artificial intelligence is moving from the imaginative reservoirs of dystopian storytelling into vernacular living. How do users perceive communication with it? Are Alexa and Siri considered simple devices, sentient assistants, or even artificial friends? Based on nine qualitative interviews with former smart speaker users in Germany, this study analyzes smart speaker use and related personal epistemologies within a media repertoire perspective. By presenting six interrelated action-guiding principles explaining smart speaker use and people's ambivalent sensemaking, we argue that smart speakers appear neither as friends nor as mere neutral devices to their users. The identified principles explain the peripheral role of smart speakers within media repertoires as handy but suspicious gimmicks. For future smart speaker adoption, whether smart assistants are interpreted as simple-minded, exploitative gimmicks or relevant, reliable, and trustworthy companions will be crucial.

AbstractThis study investigates how configurations of bureaucratic autonomy, policy complexity and political contestation allow international public administrations (IPAs) to influence policymaking within international organizations. A fuzzy‐set Qualitative Comparative Analysis of 17 policy decisions in four organizations (FAO, WHO, ILO, UNESCO) shows that all IPAs studied can be influential in favorable contexts. When policies are both contested and complex, even IPAs lacking autonomy can influence policy. If either complexity or contestation is absent, however, it is the variant of autonomy of will that helps the IPA exploit procedural strategies of influence. Low autonomy of will, among other factors, explains why IPAs cannot exert influence. Conversely, the variant of autonomy of action appears largely irrelevant. The study provides new insights into the role of bureaucracy beyond the state, exemplifying how research of bureaucratic influence can yield more systematic results in various empirical settings.

Under what conditions do secessionist parties advance identity, socioeconomic or political frames for constitutional change? By performing a Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) of 93 party manifestos from six Western regions, the results identify a key variable that plays an important role in rhetorical strategies: the governmental status of the party. In linguistically distinctive regions, parties tend to put forward identity frames when in opposition. Instead, being in office is a condition for framing their position in socioeconomic terms. The results concerning political frames are highly complex, although patterns around office holding have also been identified. Hence, the present article shows that office-seeking strategies imply a fundamental change in how these parties frame their claims. Minority nationalist parties take the opportunity of being in office to enhance their credibility as governing parties by downplaying identity issues in favour of a more inclusive and policy-oriented appeal.

To Bourdieu, interaction with culture has symbolic power and drives the manifestation of social stratification. Many have adapted his theory and methodology, developing new models of cultural engagement. Here, to further integrate these theoretical and methodological approaches, Bourdieu's tools were used to operationalise and interpret a Latent Class Analysis of cultural engagement in the Understanding Society dataset. Six classes of increasing engagement were established, and were increasingly correlated with youth, capital and social advantage. However, some qualitative differences in engagement were also seen. The classes also varied by which characteristics correlated with membership. For example, economic capital was associated with sports engagement, while advantaged social position was associated with broad-scale engagement. Overall, this analysis combined Bourdieusian theory with contemporary methodology in the largest representative UK dataset and highlights the broader relevance of cultural engagement patterns in indicating (and possibly generating) status, identity, capital and social position.

In 2001, the government of Lesotho increased access to schooling for all learners by incrementally eliminating school fees in primary schools. As a result, the admission of children with learning disabilities (LD) in primary schools also increased. Despite these important gains in the restructuring of the education system towards full inclusion during the past two decades, the national policy on teacher training and implementation and school- and classroom-based challenges, remain. Data for this qualitative study were generated through meetings with two groups of participants (Grade 1 teachers). Free-attitude interviews were also conducted in the meetings to conduct an in-depth investigation in the study and the generated data were analysed using conversation analysis. The study concludes that all identified challenges are surmountable and therefore require careful planning, dedicated effort and financial assistance to enable teachers to act as a driving force for inclusive schooling.

Demotivation while learning a foreign language is a widely analysed pheno menon for English, but the same cannot be said for Spanish. For this reason, in this paper, first, we perform a brief theoretical review of the existing research about demotivation and also, we introduce the terminology in Spanish. Then, a preliminary and exploratory qualitative study is presented, whose sample is based on open questionnaires. The analysis of the responses was carried out through the classification of clusters and under the theoretical conception of Complex Dynamic Systems. Finally, these first results are evaluated to improve the questionnaire to carry out massive data collection work in the future, and recommendations based on these first indications are offered both at the structural level of the educational system and at the classroom level for improvement of the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language.

Securing, and negotiating, privacy with intimate bodily needs is an ordinary but often hidden feature of our personal lives. Drawing upon a UK-based qualitative study that utilised diaries and follow-up interviews to explore everyday life with the health condition irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), this article explores the navigations of privacy when anticipating or experiencing symptoms. Building upon sociological understandings of privacy and personal life, this article maps the intimate and mobile ways in which privacy is sought out – disrupted or achieved – in domestic, material and public realms. It does so by following the paths to privacy and the personal belongings carried as they move through personal life. The article demonstrates how privacy is embodied and spatially, temporally, relationally and materially shaped. In doing so, the article argues that privacy comes to shift through everyday contexts and social relations with intimate materialities in mind.

AbstractRecently, there is increasing awareness of the magnitude of anti‐Black racism. As a consequence, several school administrations reiterated their commitment to foster an inclusive school climate and to challenge discrimination, including anti‐Black racism. Critical hope is a theoretical concept that is considered essential to accomplish in‐depth transformations to fight social injustices. Duncan‐Andrade (2009) distinguishes three elements that produce critical hope in school settings: material hope, Socratic hope, and audacious hope. This article draws from data collected during a bilingual qualitative study conducted with African Canadians in Nova Scotia, including immigrants and African Nova‐Scotians. The analysis of semi‐structured interviews and focus groups conducted with 60 participants revealed the role of critical hope within critical pedagogy frameworks, including an anti‐racist approach, to promote the development of concrete actions and critical consciousness among school personnel, while avoiding false hopes, cynicism, discouragement, or fatalism.

This is a qualitative interpretative case study. Its aim is to explore how instructional strategies shape the teaching practices of Natural Sciences teachers in the classroom. The following question guided the study: How do instructional strategies shape the teaching practices of Natural Sciences teachers in the classroom? Semi-structured interviews and observations were used to collect data from two purposefully sampled participants. The findings reveal that instructional strategies have a more significant effect on the teaching practices of natural science teachers. Further, Natural Sciences teachers still use the old way of teaching, which is the rote-learning which promotes meditation instead of understating scientific concepts. This consequently led to the learner's lack of interest and poor performance in the subject. It is thus sensible to recommend that the Department of Basic Education (DBE) provides adequate support in terms of workshops to teachers on instructional strategies.

Ethnic Chinese is an ethnic group that has long been part of the people of Bangka Island. The harmonious relationship between the ethnic Chinese and the indigenous population shows that the habituation process is going well so that their existence is accepted as a social reality. This study uses descriptive qualitative methods to collect data from interviews and observations in regencies/municipalities within Bangka Island. This research finds that the existence of the Chinese ethnicity has been processed by strengthening the four main capitals of the Chinese ethnicity (Bourdieu's view): economic capital, social capital, cultural capital, and symbolic capital. Capital control has encouraged good role-sharing politics because capital control is carried out transformatively. It is not surprising that the Chinese minority subculture, although in many ways it feels dominant, can still be accepted as a social reality that forms intercultural harmony on Bangka island.

AbstractDuring their early political socialization young people start to recognize their agency as political actors and to develop their political identity. This article presents the findings of a comparative study across different types of youth activism in two cities, Athens and Cologne, which differ in their youth cultures of participation and the opportunities they provide to mobilize. Our data derive from in-depth qualitative interviewing, which is considered to be most fruitful for the exploration of the reasons behind activists' trajectories. We identified three groups of influences: micro-, meso- and macro-level influences, with micro-level influences being most visible in the path of social movement-related activism, meso-level influences being dominant in the path of partisan activism, and macro-level influences prevailing in grassroots activism. Finally, the implications of the differential impact of the studied socio-spatial contexts are critically discussed.

Given the violent conflict and spiraling human rights violations over the last 3 years in Ethiopia, the mass killings and genocide have received little scholarly attention. This phenomenological study investigated the lived experiences of Amhara survivors of the Maikadra massacre, which occurred November 9–10, 2020, in northwestern Ethiopia. In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 survivors who were purposefully selected to understand the meaning and essence of their lived experiences of the massacre. Data were transcribed, translated, and thematically analyzed using a qualitative phenomenological approach. Thematic analysis yielded seven themes centered on premassacre oppression and discrimination, traumatic experiences, emancipation, exacerbating stressors, postmassacre injustice, survivors' primary needs, and coping mechanisms of massacre survivors. The article underscores the role of social workers and community workers in providing professional psychosocial programs and interventions to address massacre survivors' specific needs as individuals, families, and communities.