Hearing what older consumers say about participation in their care

A study exploring older people's participation in their care in acute hospital settings reveals both consumers' and nurses' views of participation. Using a critical ethnographic design, data were collected through participant observation and interviews from consumers in acute care settings who were over 70 years old and nurses who were caring from them. Thematic analysis identified that older people equated participation with being independent. Importantly, consumers highlighted the complexity of the notion of participation when describing situations where they were unable to participate in their own care. The difficulties in communicating with health professionals and an inability to administer their own medications in inpatient settings were identified as barriers to participation. Understanding what consumers believe participation means provides a starting point for developing meaningful partnerships between health professionals and people receiving care.

Toddler techies: a study of young children`s interaction with computers

This article describes an ethnographic study of children's behavioural interaction with multimedia within a familiar context. The rationale for such a study was to provide data and evaluation of the capabilities of young children in an expressly modified multimedia environment and to determine the usefulness of employing technology as an adjunct to young children's play. However, hermeneutic and interpretativist concerns for the study of human action and social practice in the use of technology also informs both the structural, procedural, and evaluative management of the study. Using customised children's software, observation focused on time spent using the computer, the attitude toward the computer, the reaction to the interface, their use and adaptation of the mouse, and adult interventions. Significantly, the results differ appreciably from previous research and possible grounds for this variation is explored.

Decision making effectiveness in wildfire incident management teams

During large scale wildfires, suppression activities are carried out under the direction of an Incident Management Team (IMT). The aim of the research was to increase understanding of decision processes potentially related to IMT effectiveness. An IMT comprises four major functions: Command, Operations, Planning, and Logistics. Four methodologies were used to study IMT processes: computer simulation experiments; analyses of wildfire reports; interviews with IMT members; and cognitive ethnographic studies of IMTs. Three processes were important determinants of IMT effectiveness: information management and cognitive overload; matching component function goals to overall goals; and team metacognition to detect and counter task-disruptive developments. These processes appear to be complex multi-person analogues of individual Incident Command processes identified previously. The findings have implications for issues such as: creating IMTs; training IMTs; managing IMTs; and providing decision support to IMTs.

Bushfire incident management team decision making

Large scale bushfire (or wildfire) suppression activities are conducted under the control of an Incident Management Team (IMT) comprising four major functions: Command, Operations, Planning, and Logistics. Four methodologies were used to investigate processes determining the effectiveness of IMT decision making activities: (a) laboratory experiments using the Networked Fire Chief computer simulation program; (b) analyses of reports of significant fires; (c) structured interviews with experienced IMT staff; and, (d) cognitive ethnographic studies of IMTs. Three classes of team processes were found to be important determinants of IMT effectiveness: information sharing and management; matching of the four component function goals to overall IMT goals; and monitoring of the overall IMT situation to detect and correct task disruptive processes. Several non-rational processes with the potential for hindering IMT effectiveness were noted. Team metacognition emerged as a key process for understanding effective IMT decision making.

Using critical ethnography to explore issues in health promotion

In this article, the author outlines the need for a critical research method in the field of health promotion to explore the determinants of health. These determinants, including healthy child development, employment and working conditions, and education, for example, underlie many of the health issues that individuals experience. They are, in turn, influenced by nebulous factors such as patterns of inequality, and cultural norms, which are difficult to research using conventional methodologies. The author provides an overview of critical ethnography as a method for health promotion research. She describes specific data collection and analysis techniques, with the addition of critical discourse analysis to add scope to ethnographic findings. She concludes with an overview of the congruence between critical ethnography and health promotion research, including a discussion of the differences between critical ethnography and participatory action research.

Made which to measure? Nineteenth century science and sporting bodies

The modification of bodies to enhance performance for competitive sporting purposes originated in the mid eighteenth century. Since then, ‘science’ has informed the discourses of sports training practices, but its influence has changed significantly, now being directive rather than merely being addressed in the ethos of training. Today, sports training practices often are associated with scientific research focussed on understanding the biological processes underpinning physical achievements. However, in the first two centuries of modern sport, science, rather than directing practice, was used as a legitimating, justifying discourse that served to empower training practices.

This paper, an exercise in historical anthropology, replaces conventional ethnographic data with the texts of sports training manuals, sports periodicals and medical journals to examine how these discourses represented the influence of science on the preparation of the body for competition. The focus on the nineteenth century is instructive because, first, physiological models at the century’s start were influenced by Galenic theory, but were underpinned by modern empirical science at its end. Second, from the 1860s, amateurism inspired a major rethinking of training; the ensuing contrast with the preparation of professional athletes illustrates how science was deployed in the making of nineteenth century sporting bodies.

An evaluation framework for the qualitative investigation of a physical activity prescription program in rural Victoria

Physical activity (PA) has consistently been shown to improve ones' physical, social and mental health. Hence, the rationale for promoting regular physical activity is relatively straightforward. However, what is less clear from the literature is the mix of strategies, (i.e. 'what is working and why?'), to increase in physical activity levels within a population. Of particular interest to primary care is the concept of Physical Activity Prescription Programs (PAPPs) delivered by general practitioners (GPs).

Several examples of a PAPP exist within England, America, New Zealand and Australia. These all aim to encourage GPs to deliver physical activity advice to their patients effectively and in a timely manner. Notwithstanding, the authors of a recent review of published literature on PAPPs, reveal a deficit of evidence regarding the components for successful PA interventions.

This research through an ethnographic enquiry aims to build on the evidence formulated to date. Through a case study research design, the researcher has developed a methodology to define what is/is not working within this recent trend.

In two rural Divisions of GP, participants have been identified as key stakeholders in the implementation of a PAPPs. They are categorised according to three theoretical paradigms, namely, Policy Makers, Linkers and Adaptors. Following this the three paradigms will be studied on the contextual factors, the characteristics and behaviours of members within all three paradigms. The study has also further defined certain elements for investigation, these include the:
intention of the players
effort undertaken by players, and
effect of parties within.

Primarily qualitative data will be collected; through Desk Analysis (Policies, Strategic and Business plans), Site Visits (Participant Observation) and semi-structured interviews. This presentation defines a qualitative framework and methodology for investigating the outcome of programs that historically has been evaluated using quantitative measures. Hence, the author of this study aims to present a qualitative investigation and subsequent results, defining aspects of a PAPP that allow for successful and sustainable implementation.

Whose homework? researching parental labour in socio-economically diverse communities

Recent government education policies in Britain, USA and Australia advocate increased parental involvement in schooling. In the context of inadequate resourcing of public schools, increasingly parents assume significant responsibility for their children's education through active involvement in schools and at home. However, numerous studies have identified barriers to inclusion in the life of schools faced by families living in poverty, by families whose first language is not English, by Indigenous families. Class linked analyses of homework suggest that homework can be a source of stress in many families which serves to reinforce educational and social inequalities and underline cultural differences.


This paper reports on a feminist ethnographic study of homework which examines the nature and underlying purposes of tasks children bring from school for completion at home, the impact of homework on families, and the kinds of parental labour performed in homes where homework is completed. It reconceptualises homework as a 'field of practice' and develops a Bourdiueian analysis of parental management of homework across 2 socio-economically diverse communities. The paper argues that the pedagogical work in the home is increasingly complex and that the labour performed by parents is misunderstood and devalued in policies which shape homework.

Exploring low-income women's welfare stigma through rich point analysis

The project described in this presentation was the final component of my PhD thesis which explored how Centrelink policies mediated social citizenship for low-income women. I first analysed the Centrelink Information Handbook, and then collected ethnographic data through observations and interviews. The first two of my research questions were quite deductive in nature, as I applied Levitas' (1998) conceptual framework of social exclusion to the Centrelink Information Handbook and low-income women's experiences. This third research question, to explore how low-income women's social citizenship was socially and politically mediated, however, required a more unstructured approach.

Investigation of the factors responsible for the superior performance of male students in standardised testing at one primary school

The project set out to investigate one primary school where, for four years or more, boys have outperformed girls in standardized Year 3 and 5 Basic Skills Tests in literacy and numeracy, which contradicts general findings on male and female performance in standardized literacy and numeracy testing. The school placed a heavy emphasis on literacy programs, which appear to be making a difference to the boys. Over time, there has been a slight improvement in boys’ literacy performance but the greatest area of growth is generally boys’ numeracy, rather than boys’ literacy.

Further aims of the study were to isolate school-based factors, which are potentially responsible for this phenomenon, from community-based factors and to explore the possibility that, rather than boys being advantaged, girls were actually being disadvantaged by practices at the school. The approach adopted by the research team employed intensive case-study methods and ethnographic approaches, including interviews, document analysis, and structured and unstructured observation of a range of school activities.

This paper describes how the school has transformed itself, the effects that this has had upon the teaching and learning environment and the results that have been achieved in the key areas of numeracy and literacy.

Staking a truth claim : Constructing a document in two laws

The documentary 'Two Laws' constitutes a legal document in support of the Borroloola claim to their land and contributes to the decolonisation of the images of Aboriginal Australia, which have circulated within ethnographic cinema, television journalism and fiction film. The 'two laws' of the film's title refer to white law and 'the Law', the system which regulates Borroloola social interactions and relationships with the land.

Academic social networks affecting the adoption of e-learning in Turkey

This article reports findings from an ethnographic study of e-leaming adopters in Turkey and examines ways in which cultural factors shape the adoption and use of infonnation technology for online teaching. This research focuses on influential early adopters in the tertiary education sector in Turkey who have become change agents by inspiring small networks of their peers into e-learning. The study examines the operation of trust and inspiration in networking and teamwork in the Asian academic environment. A key finding of this research is that the early adopters of e-Ieaming tend to become change agents in small groups and networks. This research sheds light on the mechanisms by which the process of e-Ieaming adoption relies on social networks and connections.

Social policy for sport events : leveraging (relationships with) teams from other nations for community benefit

Recent work on sport events has argued that host governments should do more to leverage events in order to obtain and spread the benefits. This study uses ethnographic methods to compare two cities' implementation of a programme designed to leverage the presence of visiting teams training for the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Whereas one city formulated and implemented a detailed strategic plan to obtain benefits from its relationship with its adopted visiting team (Papua New Guinea), the other made no effort to benefit from adopting a visiting team (Wales). The city that leveraged its visiting team obtained new relationships, cultural insights, and improved organisational networks, whereas the city that did not leverage obtained no comparable benefits. The difference was due to the disparity in strategic vision by the two city governments and the vague mandate of the state programme which had caused each city to adopt its chosen team. Future work should explore factors that foster and that inhibit effective leverage before and during sport events.

From 'ECR' to 'strategic academic' : reconstucting personal narrative as institutional text

In response to a report that universities focused more on research performance than teaching performance, the Australian government in 2003 introduced a number of policy initiatives including the Learning and Teaching Performance Fund. To establish their eligibility to bid for allocations from this fund, many universities introduced teacher training programs as an integral part of their probation and promotion practices for new academic staff.

As an 'Early Career Researcher' I am currently participating in such a program, in which I must familiarise myself with institutional policies on governance, compliance, and strategic direction, and develop a career plan to position myself to achieve my personal career goals while advancing the organisational and strategic goals of my institution.

This paper uses an institutional ethnographic analysis of my experience to explicate the processes by which an Early Career Researcher actively participates in developing new ways of knowing that construct how I think, talk and write about myself, my goals and my professional work. I argue that developing the required career plan involves producing a text based account that renders selected parts of my work and professional identity visible in terms that are ultimately determined by government policy on higher education.

Cultural factors affecting the adoption of e-learning in Turkey

This paper reports findings from an ethnographic study of e-learning adopters in Turkey and examines ways in which cultural factors shape the adoption and use of information technology for online teaching. This research focuses on influential early adopters in the tertiary education sector in Turkey who have become change-agents by inspiring small networks of their peers. The study examines the operation of trust and inspiration in networking and teamwork in the Asian academic environment. The key findings of this research are that the early adopters become change agents in small groups and networks and that the process of adoption relies heavily on social networks and connections. Findings from this research can assist individuals and institutions to better understand ways in which to optimize the online teaching and learning experience for staff.