Computer Supported Qualitative Research: World Conference on Qualitative Research (WCQR2023) (Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems) 3031313453, 9783031313455

Table of contents :
Preface
Contents
Text and Image Combination Through Qualitative Analysis Software: A Scoping Review
1 Introduction
2 Methods
3 Results and Discussion
3.1 The Production of Textual and Visual Data Through Qualitative Research
3.2 Software-based Techniques of Text and Image Analysis
3.3 The Combined Analysis of Textual and Visual Data Through Software
4 Final Remarks
References
A Qualitative Study of Management Practices & Influence on Middle Managers’ Morale in Public Sector Banks Using ATLAS.ti
1 Introduction
1.1 Employee Morale
1.2 Management Practices
1.3 Research Gap
1.4 Issues Emerged from the Pilot Study
2 Objectives, Methodology, and Research Stages
2.1 Field Challenges During Data Collection
2.2 Data Analysis
3 Results
3.1 Thematic Findings
4 Themes
4.1 Interpretation of Management Practices
4.2 Thematic Network of Management Practices
4.3 Interpretation of Middle Managers' Morale
4.4 Thematic Network of Middle Managers’ Morale
5 Discussion
5.1 Model of Middle Managers’ Morale
References
NVivo as a Tool for Supporting Teamwork in the Context of Qualitative Research Conducted Remotely - Opportunities, Limitations, and Practical Tips
1 Introduction
2 Pursuit of Research in Teams During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Under Remote Work Regimens
3 Methodology Note
4 Variants of Team Members’ Work Integration Through NVivo Software
4.1 Project-Sharing-Based Teamwork
4.2 Leveraging the Possibility of Exporting and Merging Project Copies
4.3 Teamwork Facilitation Through NVivo Collaboration Cloud and NVivo Collaboration Server
5 Tools for Monitoring and Evaluation of Team Members’ Outputs
5.1 Teamwork Monitoring
5.2 Assurance of Coding Consistency Across Team Members
5.3 Practical Tips
6 Conclusions
References
The Contribution of Interactions to Teachers’ Professional Development: A Qualitative Analysis Assisted by Atlas.ti
1 Introduction
2 Methodology
3 Results
3.1 Results from the Professional Sphere
3.2 Results from the Personal Sphere
4 Conclusions
References
Bibliometric Analysis of Virtual Reality in School and University Contexts
1 Introduction
2 Materials and Methods
3 Results
3.1 Performance Analysis
3.2 Science Mapping
3.3 Extended Analysis of Most Cited Articles
4 Conclusions
References
Leaders in the Face of Cultural Diversity: Managing Challenges
1 Introduction
1.1 Challenges of Managing a Culturally Diverse Workforce
1.2 Using TABEIS to Understand the Management of Cultural Diversity Leadership Challenges
1.3 Research Purpose
2 Method
2.1 Case
2.2 Informants
2.3 Collection Instruments
2.4 Collection Procedures
2.5 Analysis Procedures Using NVivo® (QSR)
3 Results and Discussion
3.1 Challenges of Managing a Culturally Diverse Workforce
3.2 Strategies to Manage Cultural Diversity Leadership Challenges
4 Conclusions
References
The Dimensions of Educational Coaching and Emotional Intelligence in the Supervision of Curriculum Departments: A Study with WebQDA® Software
1 Introduction
1.1 Emerging Rationalities in Curriculum Departments
1.2 The Dimensions of Educational Coaching and Emotional Intelligence: (Re)Configuration of Senses
2 Methodology
2.1 Personal and Professional Characterization of the Participants
3 Presentation and Discussion of Results
4 Final Considerations
References
The Metaphenomenon as a Genesis in the Triangulation Process of Qualitative Research in the Digital Age: The Reframing of the Object
1 Introduction
2 Triangulation of Qualitative Methods in a Complex Society
2.1 Conceptualizing (Meta)phenomenon, Subject and Object
2.2 The New Object and the Internet of Things
3 Final Considerations
References
Integration of Education and Clinical Learning in Nursing: A Qualitative Study Supported by Qualitative Data Analysis Software
1 Introduction
2 Method
3 Results
4 Discussion
5 Final Considerations
References
Organizational Self-recognition Process: Web 2.0 as an Extended Environment to Observe Identity Projection
1 Introduction
2 Self-recognition Process from the Psychological Perspective
3 The Role of Sensemaking in Organizational Self-recognition
4 Organizational Use of Social Networking
5 Method
5.1 Participants
6 Process of Self-recognition in the Daily Organizational Life
6.1 Identity Projection on Social Networks
7 Conclusions
8 Limitations
References
Dubai and UAE’S Context of Happiness as a Government Policy in 2021 and 2022 Content Analysis of Government Communication
1 Introduction
2 Theoretical Framework
2.1 Government Communication
2.2 Happiness and Well-Being
3 Methodology
4 Data Collection, Analysis and Results
5 Final Considerations
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
References
Observational Study of Experiential Activities Linked to Astronomy with CAQDAS NVivo
1 Introduction
1.1 The Theoretical Framework of Experiential Activities
1.2 Experiential Activities for the Teaching and Learning of Astronomy
2 Method
2.1 Research Design
2.2 Research Participants
2.3 Research Instrument
2.4 Data Analysis
3 Results
4 Discussion
5 Conclusions, Limitations and Further Research
References
Observing the Transition and Visibility of Alternative Journalism to the Digital World – Qualitative Study
1 Introduction
2 Theoretical Framework
3 Reporters Sans Frontières
4 Methodology
5 Results and Discussion
6 Final Considerations
References
Analysis of the Conceptual Structure of Information Recorded in Patents
1 Introduction
2 Methodology
3 Application of the Methodological Approach to Patent Analysis
4 Exploratory Thematic Analysis
4.1 Thematic Map of the CPC Subclass Codes
4.2 Thematic Map of the Abstract Bigrams
4.3 Thematic Evolution
5 Conceptual Structure and Content Analysis
6 Conclusion
References
“A Home to Live in or Monetize?” An Exploratory Textual Analysis of the Potential Uses of Lisbon and Porto Real Estate During the COVID-19 Pandemic
1 Introduction
1.1 Real Estate Market and Advertising in Times of Financialized Housing
1.2 Goal and Research Questions
2 Method
2.1 Data Collection
2.2 Data Analysis
3 Results
3.1 Characterization of the Sample of Advertisements
3.2 Textual Analysis
4 Discussion
5 Conclusion
References
The Use of WebQDA® in the Analysis of the Experiences of a Group of Pregnant Women with Breast Cancer
1 Introduction
2 Methodology
3 Results and Discussion
4 Final Considerations
References
Validation of the Educational Technology “Early Childhood is the Right Time to Plant” by Health and Education Professionals
1 Introduction
2 Methodology
2.1 Study Design
2.2 Population and Sample
2.3 Data Collection
2.4 Data Analysis
2.5 Ethical Considerations
3 Results
4 Discussion
5 Final Considerations
References
Competencies for Considering Cultural Diversity in Primary Care and Nursing Education
1 Introduction
2 Methodological Process
3 Results
4 Discussion
5 Final Considerations
References
Recurrence of Venous Ulcer: The Experience of Prevention Measures by a Qualitative Analysis Software
1 Introduction
2 Theoretical Framework
3 Methods
4 Results and Discussion
5 Final Considerations
References
Clinical Teaching During the Pandemic: Analysing Clinical Judgment Learning in the Undergraduate Nursing Degree with webQDA® Software
1 Introduction
2 Methodology
3 Results
4 Discussion
5 Final Considerations
References
Methodological Dilemmas of Virtual Ethnography in the Field of Health Research
1 Introduction
2 The Procedure of Virtual Ethnography in the Field of Health Research
2.1 Researcher’s Entry into the Community: Informed Consent
2.2 Data Collection: The Role of the Researcher
2.3 Data Analysis and Interpretation: Raw Data De-identification
3 Methodological Solutions for the Implementation of Virtual Ethnography
3.1 The Researcher’s Entry into the Community
3.2 Data Collection
3.3 Analysis and Interpretation of the Data
3.4 Other Stages
4 Implementing Virtual Ethnography: Did Methodological Solutions Work?
4.1 Results of the Study
4.2 Putting Methodological Solutions into Practice
5 Conclusions and Future Research Directions
References
Post-Digital University Students and Faculty Members Learning Lives Entanglement: A Collaborative Autoethnographic Case Study
1 Introduction
2 The Post-Digital Turn and the Current Context of University Work: Precarisation, Bureaucratisation, and Dehumanisation
3 TRAY-AP: A Study of How Young University Students Learn
4 CAE as a Research Method
4.1 Room 1. Aingeru
4.2 Room 2. José Miguel
4.3 Room 3. Estibaliz
5 The Living Room as a Discussion Stance: Post-Digital Governance in the University and Re-signification of Pedagogical Relationships
6 Final Reflections
References
Visualising Bibliographic Metadata Using CAQDAS in the Research on the Gender Gap in STEM Studies in Higher Education
1 Introduction
2 Methodology
3 Data Analysis
4 Results and Discussion
4.1 Visual Representations of Metadata
4.2 Research on the Gender Gap in Higher STEM Studies
5 Conclusions
References
Author Index

Citation preview

Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems 688

António Pedro Costa · António Moreira · Fábio Freitas · King Costa · Grzegorz Bryda   Editors

Computer Supported Qualitative Research World Conference on Qualitative Research (WCQR2023)

Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems

688

Series Editor Janusz Kacprzyk, Systems Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland

Advisory Editors Fernando Gomide, Department of Computer Engineering and Automation—DCA, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering—FEEC, University of Campinas—UNICAMP, São Paulo, Brazil Okyay Kaynak, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Bogazici University, Istanbul, Türkiye Derong Liu, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, USA Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China Witold Pedrycz, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, Alberta, Canada Systems Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland Marios M. Polycarpou, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, KIOS Research Center for Intelligent Systems and Networks, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus Imre J. Rudas, Óbuda University, Budapest, Hungary Jun Wang, Department of Computer Science, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong

The series “Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems” publishes the latest developments in Networks and Systems—quickly, informally and with high quality. Original research reported in proceedings and post-proceedings represents the core of LNNS. Volumes published in LNNS embrace all aspects and subfields of, as well as new challenges in, Networks and Systems. The series contains proceedings and edited volumes in systems and networks, spanning the areas of Cyber-Physical Systems, Autonomous Systems, Sensor Networks, Control Systems, Energy Systems, Automotive Systems, Biological Systems, Vehicular Networking and Connected Vehicles, Aerospace Systems, Automation, Manufacturing, Smart Grids, Nonlinear Systems, Power Systems, Robotics, Social Systems, Economic Systems and other. Of particular value to both the contributors and the readership are the short publication timeframe and the world-wide distribution and exposure which enable both a wide and rapid dissemination of research output. The series covers the theory, applications, and perspectives on the state of the art and future developments relevant to systems and networks, decision making, control, complex processes and related areas, as embedded in the fields of interdisciplinary and applied sciences, engineering, computer science, physics, economics, social, and life sciences, as well as the paradigms and methodologies behind them. Indexed by SCOPUS, INSPEC, WTI Frankfurt eG, zbMATH, SCImago. All books published in the series are submitted for consideration in Web of Science. For proposals from Asia please contact Aninda Bose ([email protected]).

António Pedro Costa · António Moreira · Fábio Freitas · King Costa · Grzegorz Bryda Editors

Computer Supported Qualitative Research World Conference on Qualitative Research (WCQR2023)

Editors António Pedro Costa Department of Education and Psychology University of Aveiro Aveiro, Portugal Fábio Freitas Polytechnic of Leiria Portugal and Research Center on Didactics and Technology in the Education of Trainers (CIDTFF) Aveiro, Portugal

António Moreira Department of Education and Psychology University of Aveiro Aveiro, Portugal King Costa Global Centre for Academic Research South Valley University Roodepoort, South Africa

Grzegorz Bryda CAQDAS TM Laboratory, Institute of Sociology, Faculty of Philosophy Jagiellonian University Kraków, Poland

ISSN 2367-3370 ISSN 2367-3389 (electronic) Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems ISBN 978-3-031-31345-5 ISBN 978-3-031-31346-2 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31346-2 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Preface

This book contains a selection of the works accepted for presentation and discussion at the seventh World Conference on Qualitative Research (WCQR2023), held during 25– 27 January 2023 in the Algarve, Portugal (hybrid conference). WCQR2023 was organised by the Escola Superior de Educação e Comunicação (ESEC) from the University of Algarve and Ludomedia of Portugal. The conference organisers also had collaboration or sponsoring of several universities, research institutes, and companies, including the Research Centre on Didactics and Technology in the Education of Trainers is a Research (CIDTFF) from the University of Aveiro, the University of Alberta, the National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM), the Asian Qualitative Research Association (AQRA), the Adventus University, Nursing Research, Innovation and Development Centre of Lisbon from ESEL, Vivekanand Education Society Institute of Management Studies and Research (VESIM), the Society of Qualitative Studies and Research (in portuguese Sociedade de Estudos e Pesquisa Qualitativos), the Ibero-American Congress on Qualitative Research (CIAIQ), the Action Research Network of Americas, the Global CAR, Atlas.ti, Timberlake, and DiscoverText. The conference focused on qualitative research with an emphasis on methodological aspects and their relationship with research questions, theories, and results. This book focuses mainly on using Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS) to assist researchers in using the correct methodological approaches for qualitative research projects. WCQR2023 featured four main application fields (education, health, social sciences, engineering, and technology) and seven main topics: rationale and paradigms of qualitative research (theoretical studies, critical reflexion on epistemological, ontological and axiological dimensions); systematisation of approaches to qualitative studies (literature review, integrating results, aggregation studies, meta-analysis, meta-synthesis, meta-ethnography); qualitative and mixed methods research (emphasis on research processes that build on mixed methodologies with priority to qualitative approaches); data analysis types (content analysis, discourse analysis, thematic analysis, narrative analysis, etc.); innovative processes of qualitative data analysis (design analysis, articulation, and triangulation of different sources of data images, audio, video); qualitative research in web context (e-Research, virtual ethnography, interaction analysis, Internet latent corpora, etc.); and qualitative analysis with the support of specific software (usability studies, user experience, the impact of software on the quality of research and analysis). After carefully reviewing each article with at least three independent reviewers, 13 high-quality works from WCQR and 10 from CIAIQ were selected for hile-publication. These articles comprise 65 authors from 8 countries, including Brazil, Colombia, India, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, and Spain. We want to take this opportunity to express a particular word of acknowledgement to the members of the WCQR2023 organisation, Conceição Ferreira, Jaime Ribeiro, Fábio Freitas, Hugo Mártires, Mfanelo Ntsobi, Marisa Mártires, Grzegorz Bryda, King Costa, Elizabeth Pope, and Sónia Mendes for their intricate and delicate work on the scientific

vi

Preface

management, local logistics, publicity, publication, and financial issues. We also express our gratitude to all members of the WCQR Programme Committee and the additional reviewers, as they were crucial in ensuring the high scientific quality of the event. We also acknowledge all authors and delegates whose research work and participation made this event successful. Finally, we acknowledge and thank all Springer staff for their help in the production of this volume. March 2023

António Pedro Costa António Moreira Fábio Freitas King Costa Grzegorz Bryda

Contents

Text and Image Combination Through Qualitative Analysis Software: A Scoping Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lucimara Fabiana Fornari and Rosa Maria Godoy Serpa da Fonseca

1

A Qualitative Study of Management Practices & Influence on Middle Managers’ Morale in Public Sector Banks Using ATLAS.ti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ajay Gupta

18

NVivo as a Tool for Supporting Teamwork in the Context of Qualitative Research Conducted Remotely - Opportunities, Limitations, and Practical Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ´ ezak Jakub Niedbalski and Izabela Sl˛ The Contribution of Interactions to Teachers’ Professional Development: A Qualitative Analysis Assisted by Atlas.ti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Iris Estévez, Alba Souto-Seijo, and Mercedes González-Sanmamed

38

60

Bibliometric Analysis of Virtual Reality in School and University Contexts . . . . Judita Kasperiuniene and Filomena Faiella

72

Leaders in the Face of Cultural Diversity: Managing Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mafalda Sousa, Edite Saraiva, and Catarina Brandão

93

The Dimensions of Educational Coaching and Emotional Intelligence in the Supervision of Curriculum Departments: A Study with WebQDA® Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Ana Cabral and Susana Sá The Metaphenomenon as a Genesis in the Triangulation Process of Qualitative Research in the Digital Age: The Reframing of the Object . . . . . . 121 Simone Antoniaci Tuzzo, Claudomilson Fernandes Braga, and Inês Guerra Santos Integration of Education and Clinical Learning in Nursing: A Qualitative Study Supported by Qualitative Data Analysis Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Cristina Lavareda Baixinho, Óscar Ramos Ferreira, Marcelle Miranda da Silva, Marcelo Medeiros, and Ellen Synthia Fernandes de Oliveira

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Organizational Self-recognition Process: Web 2.0 as an Extended Environment to Observe Identity Projection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 Gabriel Velandia Pacheco, Adalberto Escobar Castillo, and Manuel Garzón Castrillón Dubai and UAE’S Context of Happiness as a Government Policy in 2021 and 2022 Content Analysis of Government Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 Diamantino Ribeiro and João Ribeiro Observational Study of Experiential Activities Linked to Astronomy with CAQDAS NVivo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 Juan Luis Cabanillas-García, Carlos Javier Rodríguez-Jiménez, María Cruz Sánchez-Gómez, Ángel Losada-Vázquez, María Losada-Moncada, and José María Corrales-Vázquez Observing the Transition and Visibility of Alternative Journalism to the Digital World – Qualitative Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 Luís Barbosa Analysis of the Conceptual Structure of Information Recorded in Patents . . . . . . 209 Eduardo Amadeu Dutra Moresi and Isabel Pinho “A Home to Live in or Monetize?” An Exploratory Textual Analysis of the Potential Uses of Lisbon and Porto Real Estate During the COVID-19 Pandemic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 Raquel Ribeiro The Use of WebQDA® in the Analysis of the Experiences of a Group of Pregnant Women with Breast Cancer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 Patrícia Simões and Maria Helena Presado Validation of the Educational Technology “Early Childhood is the Right Time to Plant” by Health and Education Professionals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 Ruth Silva dos Santos, Maria Wanderleya de Lavor Coriolano Marinus, Adelia Karla Falcão Soares, Mirelly da Silva Barros, and Gabriela Cunha Schechtman Sette Competencies for Considering Cultural Diversity in Primary Care and Nursing Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281 Francisco José Passos Soares and Lígia Fernanda Passos Bezerra Santos Recurrence of Venous Ulcer: The Experience of Prevention Measures by a Qualitative Analysis Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301 Filipe Gomes, Agostinha Corte, Ana Monteiro, and Helena Loureiro

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ix

Clinical Teaching During the Pandemic: Analysing Clinical Judgment Learning in the Undergraduate Nursing Degree with webQDA® Software . . . . . 314 Fátima Mendes Marques, Sandra Neves, Carlos Pina David, Patrícia Vinheiras Alves, and Maria José Pinheiro Methodological Dilemmas of Virtual Ethnography in the Field of Health Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331 Vestina Vainauskien˙e Post-Digital University Students and Faculty Members Learning Lives Entanglement: A Collaborative Autoethnographic Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349 José Miguel Correa Gorospe, Aingeru Gutiérrez-Cabello Barragán, and Estibaliz Aberasturi-Apraiz Visualising Bibliographic Metadata Using CAQDAS in the Research on the Gender Gap in STEM Studies in Higher Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371 Sonia Verdugo-Castro, Mª Cruz Sánchez-Gómez, Alicia García-Holgado, Francisco José García-Peñalvo, and António Pedro Costa Author Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389

Text and Image Combination Through Qualitative Analysis Software: A Scoping Review Lucimara Fabiana Fornari(B)

and Rosa Maria Godoy Serpa da Fonseca

School of Nursing, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil [email protected]

Abstract. Human beings express their emotions through different kinds of language. Combining verbal and non-verbal language enables a wider understanding of meanings and a deeper knowledge of a given social phenomenon. Software tools aim at supporting the process of analyzing combined data. This study aims to map the scientific production of using software tools for the combined analysis of text and images in qualitative research. This scoping review was conducted on four international databases and one grey literature database from September 2021 to January 2022. A semi-structured instrument was developed for data collection. The Rayyan QCR application and the webQDA qualitative analysis software tool supported the data analysis and treatment process. The final sample of this review comprised 14 studies, most of them in the health field, published from 2014 to 2022. The publications involved four qualitative analysis software tools. Photographs were the most common means of visual data, whereas focus and discussion groups were noteworthy in producing textual data. Thematic analysis was employed in most of the publications, and the software tools provided essential support in the phase of combined data coding. Software-supported combined analysis of texts and images was shown to be so far on the rise as a methodological procedure, given that this review has identified only 14 studies published in the last eight years. Keywords: Review · Qualitative Research · Data Analysis

1 Introduction Human communication is based on both verbal and non-verbal language. Their combination creates meaning and narrative sequences [1] while also broadening senses and deepening the understanding of social phenomena under the scope of qualitative analysis. The systematic qualitative analysis aims at the objectivation of a type of knowledge supported by opinions, considerations, expositions, relations, and human actions [2]. Verbal and non-verbal language may thus become a data source to make meaning of social phenomena. The combined analysis of verbal and non-verbal language data has increased visibility since social, economic, and technological changes emphasise new means of communication. The development of digital technology has played a role in the emergence © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 A. P. Costa et al. (Eds.): WCQR 2023, LNNS 688, pp. 1–17, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31346-2_1

2

L. F. Fornari and R. M. G. S. da Fonseca

of new contexts of research and tools for collecting, storing, and analyzing data. Consequently, multimodal methodologies began to explore participants’ utterances, writings, drawings, projections, visualizations, and means of interaction in in-person and virtual meetings [3]. Multimodality refers to several means and tools employed for communication, including image, sound, gestures, and posture. It is conveyed through different unique and complementary languages, each aggregating a particular value to the whole [4]. The representation of a kind of language is always plural and partial, challenging researchers to theorize the interpretive space and the processes which give meaning to a set of contexts [5]. The multimodal analysis considers that verbal language is one among other meaningmaking resources. The various means of analysis are organized into a domain, in which they are treated differently, as a connected cultural resource to enable meaning construction among participants of a given social group in each historical moment. In addition, the several means are understood as equal due to their capacity of contributing with meanings to a more complex analysis [6]. Meanings can be expressed verbally and visually. However, some messages are better conveyed through verbal or visual language, which shows the necessity of achieving a methodological understanding of the different means of analysis and how they are combined. This understanding provides an analysis of the connection and interaction among several systems of meaning and modes of analysis [7]. The methodological challenge of multimodal analysis is related to the use of tools of analysis developed primarily for textual data and which do not translate directly to visual data. Consequently, they cannot be applied to multimodal data [7]. The change from the traditional, paper-based means of producing texts and images to digital resources and multimodal platforms has reiterated to researchers that they should reflect on the analysis of communication and representations in current times [5]. In the context of digital resources, the use of Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS) as a support for researchers is noteworthy, since it supports transparency, reliability, depth, and credibility of data analysis results. In contrast to manual analysis, software tools provide quick application, retrieval, review, and comparison of code, data organization, text search, creation of audit processes, and optimization of teamwork [8]. The CAQDAS are tool packages to support otherwise complex, imprecise, and long processes in qualitative research. These packages enable researchers to store and encode data into text, audio, video, and image formats, as well as to search for content, find and explore relations among codes, and relate visual and textual data [4]. In addition, current times present a higher interconnection and convergence of the media, which demands qualitative research supported by multiple data sources to investigate and portray reality. From this perspective, CAQDAS assist the efficient and effective management of the large volume of multimodal data [4]. Nevertheless, the decision to use CAQDAS demands from researchers important methodological considerations, since the procedures prescribed by the research method and those facilitated through software must be respected. The diversity of software

Text and Image Combination Through Qualitative Analysis Software

3

functions demands a thorough description of the resources employed to conduct data analysis to justify its relevance and inform new users [9]. By considering the advantages of the use of CAQDAS as support for qualitative research, this study had the objective of exploring how this type of software is currently used in the scientific literature for multimodal data treatment (texts and images) with the aim of providing scientific evidence to support and optimize further research involving the combination of different kinds of language. To achieve this goal, this study aimed at mapping the scientific production on software use for the combined analysis of texts and images in qualitative research.

2 Methods This is a scoping review abiding by the recommendations of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMAScR). This type of review is applied to map evidence, explore the literature, and inform further research by identifying and analysing knowledge gaps on a particular theme [10]. The PCC strategy elaborated the review question, which suggests constitutive elements the following mnemonic acronym: P – Population, C – Concept and C – Context. The following elements were defined to map the evidence: P – software, C – a combined analysis of texts and images and C – qualitative research (Table 1). Thus, the following review question was posed: How is a software employed for the combined analysis of texts and images in qualitative research? Table 1. PCC strategy Population (P) Concept (C) Software

Context (C)

Visual methods OR thematic analysis OR linguistic OR Qualitative research interview OR photovoice OR multimodal analysis OR multimodality OR interaction analysis OR co-design methods OR elicitation OR data analysis

The eligibility criteria were studies published in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, with no restrictions on publication date. The included studies were those with a qualitative approach, employing software for data analysis and involving texts and images simultaneously. Those excluded comprised review, methodological, and reflexive studies, research protocols, and abstracts presented at scientific events since the scoping review sought concrete examples related to text and image analysis through software. Four scientific databases were consulted: Scopus, Excerpta Medical Database (EMBASE), Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), and Web of Science, and a grey literature database: Google Scholar. These scientific databases were selected due to presenting a multidisciplinary interface and peer reviewing as an editorial policy. The grey literature database was selected to broaden the mapping of publications with different perspectives of scientific communication. In addition,

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there was a manual search of references cited in the studies selected at the first moment of this review; those matching the eligibility criteria were included after a complete reading of the text. The search strategies adopted for each database are presented in Table 2. They were conducted in September 2021 and updated in January 2022. Table 2. Boolean search strategies by database Database

Strategy

Scopus

KEY (software AND (“visual methods” OR “thematic analysis” OR (“multimodal analysis” OR multimodality) OR “data analysis”) AND “qualitative research”)

EMBASE

software:ti,ab,kw AND (‘visual methods’:ti,ab,kw OR ‘thematic analysis’:ti,ab,kw OR ‘multimodal analysis’:ti,ab,kw OR multimodality:ti,ab,kw OR ‘data analysis’:ti,ab,kw) AND ‘qualitative research’:ti,ab,kw

MEDLINE

software AND ((“visual methods” OR “thematic analysis” OR (“multimodal analysis” OR multimodality) OR “data analysis”)) AND “qualitative research”

Web of Science

software AND (“visual methods” OR “thematic analysis” OR (“multimodal analysis” OR multimodality) OR “data analysis”) AND “qualitative research”

Google Scholar

software AND “multimodal analysis” AND “qualitative research”

Two independent reviewers and divergencies selected the studies were solved through a virtual meeting on the Google Meet platform due to the protective measures adopted for fighting the COVID-19 pandemic as of the conduction of this scoping review. The study selection had two phases. In the first phase, the titles and abstracts of the publications identified through the search strategy were analyzed, with a pre-selection of potentially eligible studies. In the second phase, a complete assessment of the preselected studies was conducted to confirm eligibility (Fig. 1). The studies were selected according to title and abstract through the Rayyan QCR digital tool [11]. This free tool provides researchers with automatic identification of duplicate studies, independent reading of titles and abstracts, independent selection of publications, and the insertion of justifications for the inclusion or exclusion of studies in the first phase of the review. The studies selected in the databases were imported to Rayyan QCR in BibTex format (Fig. 1). In Rayyan QCR duplicated publications are identified automatically and highlighted to be analyzed by the reviewers. This function enables verifying whether the title and abstract are identical, as well as a second verification before the complete exclusion of the sample. The digital tool also admits the inclusion of notes justifying publication exclusions after the eligibility criteria of the review protocol. In addition, Rayyan QCR enables collaborative work among reviewers since it is possible to register more than

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Fig. 1. Publication selection with Rayyan QCR.

one user per project. It is left to the manager’s discretion whether to hide or present all information to those involved. Another relevant aspect of this digital tool is that it can be accessed free-of-charge. In this review, the Rayyan project manager is the first author. She was responsible for the insertion of database files and the second verification of duplicated publications. Subsequently, she hid her actions regarding publication selection from the second author, making them visible only after both reviewers independently read all titles and abstracts. A virtual meeting was assembled to discuss studies presenting divergencies between the reviewers regarding inclusion or exclusion decisions. When the uncertainty about selection remained, the study moved on to the next phase, complete reading. The publications selected for complete reading were saved as Portable Document Format in a shared folder between researchers on Google Drive. After the complete reading and application of the eligibility criteria, the data were extracted. To this end, a semi-structured instrument was elaborated. It contained the following information: type of document, country, language, field of knowledge, year of publication, type of software, type of data collection, type of data analysis and how the combined analysis of textual and visual data was conducted through the software tool. The instrument was adapted into an XML spreadsheet, which was saved in the shared folder on Google Drive. Its columns indicated the information mapped during the review and the lines corresponded to the selected studies (Fig. 2). In the data treatment process, a critical assessment of the publications was conducted according to the expertise of the reviewers, who have a consolidated background in developing software-supported qualitative research. The quality of collection description

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L. F. Fornari and R. M. G. S. da Fonseca

Fig. 2. Publication selection with Rayyan QCR.

and data analysis were assessed with particular emphasis on elaborating better qualitative syntheses. The instrument used for data collection was incorporated into the Web Qualitative Data Analysis (webQDA) software (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. Filled semi-structured instrument inserted into webQDA.

The webQDA software is directed at researchers in different fields of knowledge who aim to analyse qualitative data individually or in collaboration, synchronically or asynchronically. Its advantages are being easy to learn and use and its adaptability to different types of research. This software tool can be accessed through the web and is compatible with all operational systems. It supports treating text, image, video, and audio sources. Users may edit, visualize, relate, and organize documents and create categories, codes, controls, filters, and consultations to answer the qualitative analysis questions [12]. A paid license is required to use webQDA. Both authors were trained to use webQDA. The first author has completed the advanced course, and the second has concluded the introductory course. Consequently, the first author was the research project manager in the software tool. In webQDA, the XML file was inserted into the Sources System through the automatic import function. The data corresponding to the characterization of the studies was automatically codified in the Coding System as Descriptors (type of document, country, language, field of knowledge, year of publication, and type of software) (Fig. 4). This functionality has provided an automatic calculation of the number of publications in each descriptive category. This aspect reduced the time required for reviewers to analyze the data, facilitating the association of information contained in the descriptive and empirical categories. Other information associated to the empirical data (type of data collection, type of data analysis, and how the combined analysis of text and image was conducted through the software tool), imported to the Internal Sources system, were codified through the Coding System, using the Tree Codes tool (Fig. 5). The first author of this study was

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Fig. 4. Automatic coding of the data using the Descriptors.

responsible for data coding and the second author performed its validation through the hidden coding tool.

Fig. 5. Data coding through Tree Codes.

To elaborate the Tree Codes, thematic content analysis was employed, following the phases of pre-analysis, exploration of the material, treatment of the results, interpretation, and inference [13]. In pre-analysis, the first intuitions and ideas on the data were registered through the notes function of webQDA. This process was performed through a floating reading of the complete material to systematize the qualitative analysis. In exploring the material, the authors coded, decomposed, and enumerated the texts through the tree codes, enabling the construction of empirical categories and subcategories. To this end, repeated readings were performed to facilitate an approximation with the content and understanding the meanings of the texts. During data treatment, the texts were coded and grouped into themes according to the frequency of the codes for a representation of the contents. This review grouped the codes in webQDA according to the information collected through the semi-structured instrument, defined before data treatment. During the interpretation, the

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codes’ groups were analysed per the software-supported qualitative research framework. Finally, in the inference phase, the contents were submitted to reflexive analyses, with overall and individual observations corresponding to each of the selected publications. Although webQDA has not been used in all phases of the scoping review, it was fundamental for the empirical data’s management, treatment, and analysis. The authors’ knowledge and previous experience on the methodological process of reviewing, the data analysis technique, and the functions of the software tool was crucial to formulate syntheses of qualitative evidence.

3 Results and Discussion After a search in scientific and grey literature databases, 5,071 potentially eligible publications were initially mapped. After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 14 studies were included in the final sample, as shown in Fig. 6.

Fig. 6. Data coding with Tree Codes.

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Out of the 14 selected studies, 13 were scientific articles and one was a book chapter. All studies were published in English. The field of knowledge with most publications was health (n = 9), followed by education (n = 2), psychology, engineering, and environment (n = 1). Regarding the field of knowledge with most publications on this review’s theme, a bibliographic search on qualitative health research has identified that although an increase in publications is observed both in the Brazilian and international contexts, there is a diversity of references which hinder terminological, methodological, conceptual, ontological, and epistemological approximations. In face of this situation, the authors of the bibliographic search emphasize the necessity of qualifying health researchers concerning the ethical, political, theorical, methodological, and technical and operative dimensions of qualitative research [14]. Regarding the countries where the authors’ institutions were located, Canada was the most frequent, with five studies. In contrast, the United Kingdom had two studies, followed by Botswana, China, South Korea, Denmark, Spain, and Uganda, with one study each. One identified study was a multicenter study with authors from the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Cameroon (Table 3). This result reflects the prevalence of research using combined analysis in North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia, exposing an absence of research employing this methodological approach in South America. On this continent, this review was conducted. The first study was published in 2014, followed by continuous production in subsequent years. This aspect reveals that publication on software-based combined analysis has gained prominence only in the last eight years. This result also corroborates a different review of qualitative analysis software. Its authors identified an increased publication rate per year for these studies in the last decade, mainly in journals related to the health sciences [15]. About the qualitative analysis software tool employed for combined analysis, NVivo was observed to have been used in nine studies, Atlas.ti in three, and MaxQda and QDA Miner Lite were present in one study each. It should be noted that the first computer program dedicated to content analysis was created in 1963 and was known as The General Inquirer. In 1982, NUD*IST was created in Australia and its name was changed to NVivo in 1999. In 1989, MAX and Atlas.ti were created in Germany. In 2001, MAX was renamed MaxQda. Although they were created nearly six decades ago, qualitative analysis software tools had more space for dissemination among researchers and broadened functions only after the expansion of the internet [16]. However, the potentialities and limitations of their use in qualitative analysis has been under discussion since the first software tool was launched. A Polish study with participants of a workshop on Nvivo and Atlas.ti has observed that most participants recognized the benefits of using qualitative analysis software tools in their research projects [17]. Another Brazilian study with software users has verified that the reasons for using these tools were the limitations of the traditional (manual) model and the fact that the teaching institution required them. The participants have also indicated that although software tools might have positive effects, their use does not automatically

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L. F. Fornari and R. M. G. S. da Fonseca Table 3. Characterization of the selected studies.

Title

Field of knowledge

Country

Year of publication

Software tool

Understanding hospital meal experiences by means of participant-driven-photo-elicitation

Health

Denmark

2014

NVivo

How community environment shapes physical activity: Perceptions revealed through the photovoice method

Health

Canada

2014

NVivo

Dreaming of toilets: Using photovoice to explore knowledge, attitudes, and practices around water – health link ages in rural Kenya

Environment

Canada

2015

NVivo

To be seen or not to be seen: Photovoice, queer and trans youth, and the dilemma of representation

Psychology

Canada

2015

NVivo

Supporting youth and community capacity through photovoice: Reflections on participatory research on maternal health in Wakiso district, Uganda

Health

Uganda

2016

Atlas.ti

Using photovoice methods to explore older people’s perceptions of respect and social inclusion in cities: Opportunities, challenges, and solutions

Health

United Kingdom

2016

NVivo

A study on the packaging design of agro-food using a qualitative research technique

Engineering

South Korea 2017

NVivo

Double Jeopardy: Plight of female students with disabilities in Botswana’s higher education

Education

Botswana

2018

Atlas.ti

Using photovoice methods as a community-based participatory research tool to advance uptake of clean cooking and improve health: The LPG adoption in Cameroon evaluation studies

Health

Multicenter

2019

NVivo

(continued)

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Table 3. (continued) Title

Field of knowledge

Country

Year of publication

Software tool

Young internal migrants’ major health issues and health-seeking barriers in Shanghai, China: a qualitative study

Health

China

2019

Atlas.ti

Photovoice and dramatization in the Health classroom with nursing students: An exploratory study to raise awareness of the cultural and social dimensions of violence against women

Spain

2021

MaxQda

Photo-narrative frames: Using visuals with narrative research in applied linguistics

United Kingdom

2021

QDA Miner Lite

Towards an integrative self: a digital Health photo-elicitation study of resilience among key marginalized populations of sexual and gender minority youth

Canada

2021

NVivo

Drawing out experience: Arts-informed qualitative research exploring public perceptions of community pharmacy services

Canada

2022

NVivo

Education

Health

guarantee the quality of data analysis, which depends on the researcher’s competence [18]. The choice of software is a main concern for researchers – beginners in particular – and developers since the digital tool must be intuitive, easy to understand, and commercially competitive [19]. Furthermore, they must provide for the analysis of different data source types, overcoming the exclusivity of textual data. In this context, this review has explored the use of software for a combined analysis of texts and images in qualitative research. Based on the thematic content analysis of the studies selected in the review and considering the methodological procedures associated with software use, three empirical categories emerged: The production of textual and visual data through qualitative research; Software-based techniques of text and image analysis; The combined analysis of textual and visual data through software. 3.1 The Production of Textual and Visual Data Through Qualitative Research The primary textual data source in the first empirical category was focus and discussion groups (n = 10), followed by interviews (n = 9). Photographs (n = 13) and drawings

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L. F. Fornari and R. M. G. S. da Fonseca

(n = 1) were noteworthy among visual data. Some studies are emphasized to have used more than one data source simultaneously. Regarding the technique of data collection for producing textual data, a study has emphasized the increase of focus groups over the last decades in several fields of knowledge [20]. In the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, an adaptation of in-person focus groups to the online format through video communication platforms was observed. From this perspective, an integrative review of online focus groups has identified that this technique can produce high-quality data and allows researchers to save time and money; it also enables higher participation of subjects inserted in distinct geographical spaces [21]. Concerning the data collection technique for producing visual data, a scoping review of photographs in qualitative health research has shown a rising number of publications. A combination of photographs with other data types was identified in 67.4% of publications, whereas thematic analysis was present in 23.3% of the publications and software-based analysis in 12% [22]. These data show that although an expressive number of publications using combined photographs was identified, using software tools in the analysis was scarce. 3.2 Software-based Techniques of Text and Image Analysis In the second empirical category, thematic analysis was present in six studies; thematic content analysis and phenomenological analysis were present in two studies each; the semiotic analysis of text, reflexive image content analysis, and analyses based on the constructivist grounded theory were used in one study each. Two studies were also observed to describe the analysis process generically without naming the adopted type of analysis. About the type of analysis adopted by the researchers, a study shows that thematic analysis, in comparison with other qualitative approaches, is remarkable for being possibly used regardless of the theory and epistemology adopted in the study. Thus, applying this type of analysis is broad and flexible enough to encompass various theoretical frameworks [23]. This aspect may justify the high prevalence of this analysis in the selected studies. Another noteworthy aspect of this empirical category was that a share of the authors of the selected studies needed to describe in depth the process of analysis built through the combination of an analysis technique and software functions. This aspect may be related to the absence of the domain of the software terminology or the need for more methodological knowledge [19]. Thus, as a continuation of the results of this review, a consultation of the authors of the studies employing the combined analysis of texts and images is suggested to understand their perspectives about the analysis technique and the functions of the software tool. 3.3 The Combined Analysis of Textual and Visual Data Through Software In the third empirical category, the selected studies were shown to use three types of data combination: a crossover of textual and visual data [24–27]; a parallel analysis of textual and visual data [28–31]; and the analysis of visual data as a basis for the analysis

Text and Image Combination Through Qualitative Analysis Software

13

of textual data [32–36]. Only one study considered that the images were illustrative of the participants’ discourses, performing only textual coding [37]. The sample of selected studies emphasized that the independent analysis of the texts and images is consolidated. However, studies still need to be identified to use the technique of combined analysis of the two data sources. Despite this, different functions made available through the software tools were observed to enable and facilitate the combination of codes corresponding to texts and images. Although textual analysis is a prevalent option in qualitative approach studies, a literature review on visual methods has verified its importance in improving the quality and depth of the data since they facilitate and stimulate free expression by the participants. In addition, these methods were used as a complement to oral or written communication due to stimulating participant reflection [38]. This aspect was also observed in a study about using auto-photography and photo elicitation in mental health, in which photographs were used to give depth to the interview. Its authors report that the visual methodological approach was enhanced by incorporating more traditional data collection methods, such as verbal or written data. The combination of methods provided participants with more time to reflect on the concepts discussed during data collection, as well as with different means to communicate their perceptions [39]. In this review, most of the studies were observed to employ software for data coding [24–30, 32–36]. Whereas five studies established associations and comparisons among the empirical categories [25–27, 34, 36], other studies mentioned the use of the word count function [27] and matrices [36]. Eight studies reported collaborative and interactive work among researchers throughout qualitative analysis [24–26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 35]. A review of software tools in qualitative studies also identified the expressive use of the data coding function. The review’s authors verified that in 99.6% of the studies, software tools were used to support analysis and manage data, with no exploration of the different potentialities of these computer programs. The main sources of data were interviews (73%), focus groups (23%), documents (12%), observational field notes (11%), and answers to open questions (10%) [15]. Another scoping review on using qualitative data analysis software within the postgraduate nursing programs in Brazil has identified that most software tools were used in the data analysis phase (61.9%), followed by the data treatment phase (22.6%). The authors of the review identified that software tools provided the following benefits: data organization (20.9%), the possibility of different kinds of analysis (18.4%), optimization of time dedicated to analysis (12.6%) and methodological rigor (7.5%), the possibility of analyzing different sources of data (3.3%), being easy to use (0.4%), and the analysis by groups of researchers (0.4%) [40]. About the development of the software-based analysis by a group of researchers, a Portuguese study on the functions of a qualitative analysis software tool has verified that the participants attributed little relevance to tools which optimize collaborative work. This aspect may indicate problems ranging from a lack of understanding of researcher collaboration in qualitative analysis to a lack of interest or knowledge on this theme [41].

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A study on challenges related to digital tools for developing qualitative research also emphasised the users’ lack of knowledge of software use. The study’s authors emphasized the necessity of preparing new researchers since a reduced number of university programs is observed to offer systematic support to software use, directly influencing the quality of qualitative research [42]. Training to use the different analysis possibilities provided by software tools is understood as fundamental for researchers. To this end, they may participate free of charge in online courses, workshops, tutorials, and discussion boards [4]. Although the results of this review represent a sample limited to 14 studies, the necessity of a broader discussion on the use of qualitative analysis software tools with different combined data sources is emphasized. This is aimed at a deeper reflection on this kind of qualitative analysis, supporting researchers using different data analysis techniques with software tools and collaborating to improve functions in qualitative analysis software tools. This scoping review is limited by the number of databases consulted, including the main multidisciplinary health databases. However, this limitation does not invalidate the qualitative syntheses emerging from this scoping review. The results show that the combined analysis of texts and images is an emerging method, as is the use of qualitative analysis software tools. Therefore, broadening and periodically updating this review is recommended to follow the process of consolidation of this type of analysis in the theoretical and methodological field of qualitative studies.

4 Final Remarks The combined analysis of textual and visual data supported by software tools was an innovative methodological procedure, considering that the scoping review identified only 14 studies published in the last eight years. Although potentialities were identified for the use of software for the development of this type of analysis, limitations were also found in the selected studies regarding detailed descriptions of the analysis techniques employed for texts and images, the use of functions of the digital tools beyond coding and a greater depth about how textual and visual data were combined to produce qualitative results. These limitations directly impact the proposition and development of further research to fill this knowledge gap. Based on this scoping review, the combined analysis of texts and images provided a wider and deeper understanding of participants’ perceptions of a given study object. The use of software was also observed to be powerful in supporting the analysis of different data sources, mainly regarding coding and data management. However, researchers who aim at using the combined analysis admittedly must master the different data analysis techniques and software functions for better use of these tools. Within the domain of knowledge production on qualitative methodology, this study has detected a potential for using the Rayyan QCR digital tool for an independent, transparent, and auditable selection of publications. In addition, it has shown the possibility of using thematic content analysis supported by the webQDA software tool for developing the scoping review and, consequently, for generating qualitative syntheses. The use of the digital tool and software was essential to optimize the reviewing process and

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reduce the interpretive bias of data analysis by promoting collaborative work between the authors of this review.

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A Qualitative Study of Management Practices & Influence on Middle Managers’ Morale in Public Sector Banks Using ATLAS.ti Ajay Gupta(B) VES Business School, Mumbai, India [email protected]

Abstract. Employee morale is a problem in Indian public sector banks. The issues are addressed in very few literatures. The study had a significant impact on revealing factors that influence middle manager morale. The research aims to study middle managers’ morale and its influencing factors. The questionnaires were created using literature and a pilot study. Purposive sampling was used to collect data from 23 respondents (CMD, former CMD, General managers, Union directors, and middle managers) via semi-structured in-depth audio-recorded interviews and field notes. A phenomenological research design has been used. After verbatim transcripts were prepared, ATLAS.ti 22 was used to analyze the data using an inductive approach. Five key themes emerged from thematic analysis concerning research questions influencing middle managers’ morale. The code coefficient and groundedness were used to determine the significance of themes. Themes have been discussed, and appropriate suggestions have been made to improve low-middle managers’ morale, thereby creating a high-middle managers’ morale culture. A model to develop middle managers’ morale has been suggested. Themes have practical relevance for policymakers, organizational leaders, and management in rethinking and developing policies to improve middle management morale. Keywords: Qualitative Study · ATLAS.ti 22 · Thematic Analysis

1 Introduction Managers’ motivation in public sector banks is the key issue. Periodic promotions and benefits programs are not enough to maintain the high morale of branch managers (Khandelwal et al. 2010:69). A regular employee climate survey can provide a useful understanding of the motivation level of branch managers. Such a survey can provide a proper diagnosis to banks about the policy gaps that will help appropriate design interventions. The ex-chairman and managing director expressed concern about low employee morale in public sector banks that were at the lowest ebb on account of the failure of technology to take off, and restoration was the priority (Panda 2020). The trade union was resistant to introducing technology, which caused a severe blow to business, and the © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 A. P. Costa et al. (Eds.): WCQR 2023, LNNS 688, pp. 18–37, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31346-2_2

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employees’ morale was at its lowest. Another issue that lowers morale in banks is the off-the-clock working culture. According to Robello and Mehta (2016), management raided branches to check their sitting hours, leading branch managers to long hours at work. This does not stop here. Officers work even on weekends, holding camps to open new accounts. In addition, branch officials are being harassed by customers. This has created a psychosis among officers in public sector banks. They constantly live in fear that they can be targeted. Bankers’ fear and the impact on employee morale can worsen if the situation does not become normal. Long sitting hours can create employee burnout that impacts employees’ morale, according to a report, “a public sector perspective: human capital trends” 2021. It further impacts productivity and overall employee retention. Therefore, leadership must infuse well-being into the work structure, allowing employees to weigh in on the flexibility and programming that will empower them and make them successful. One reason for long working hours, fear, and employee harassment is faulty human resource practices. According to Chakrabarty (2014), the performance measurement system needs an overhaul that should include fairness, incentivizing talents, transparency, and an effective promotion policy. Transparency and fairness in performance management will enhance human resource morale. There is a trend in a promotion exercise where the HR department conclude that few people are promotable but not postable. But certain others are postable but not getting promoted. And the reason is a faulty performance management system in public sector banks. It is highly subjective or impressionistic and often determined by factors other than actual performance at the workplace (Chakrabarty 2014). Instead of remaining reactive, HR should take a front seat in driving their organization towards positive change as an advisor and leaders. Employees with low morale can divert their attention, leading to lapses. According to the report on the Indian banking fraud survey (2015), fraud not only undermines profits and operational efficiencies but can also have a severe impact on organizational reputation. In addition, it can have a negative impact on employee morale and employee confidence. To overcome negligence and irregularities, banks need to introduce responsible guidelines. According to Lele (2021), new guidelines on staff accountability in public sector banks will surely boost employees’ morale. The responsible officers with malafide intentions will be treated with punitive measures. In contrast, officers with bonafide mistakes will be treated with compassion. Management practices greatly influence managers’ morale. For example, as per the BCG report named “Indian banking 2020,” when the middle management debates the careers of their team members, the credibility of their career management goes up. It enhances morale, empowers middle management, and supports everyone (Indian banking 2020, 2010:33). Management support in the organization is crucial in influencing branch managers’ feelings. Since most middle-level branch managers are younger in average age, they need to be energized with suitable engagement interventions and incentive programs. Top management must begin by challenging their mindsets to ensure this (FICCI, Indian banking 2020, 2010:5). Therefore, empowering senior and middle management cadre is of utmost importance. Empowered and supported branch managers contribute significantly by putting in more effort. According to Kamal and Sengupta

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(2009), the non-cooperation of the top management becomes a stumbling block in any organization’s smooth functioning. Further, it leads to the dissatisfaction of the employees. It is important to develop an employee value proposition to help organizations engage and retain managers over the long term (Deloitte 2012:18). Further, according to a report on the Indian banking fraud survey in 2012, fraud negatively impacts branch managers’ morale (Indian banking fraud survey 2012: 6). Management influences branch managers’ morale. For example, Morale problems are management problems (John Seddon 2010). In banking, managers serve as linking pins. They translate top management objectives into achievement. For example, by serving as linking pins, middle managers translate top management priorities into operating realities on the frontline (Floyd and Wooldridge 1997). Each management level adds value to the adjacent (higher and lower) levels (Jacobs and McGee 2001). It means that top management can add value to the lower management level. Similarly, senior management can add value to the middle level of management. And middle-level management or branch managers can add value to their lower-level management, i.e., non-managers, award, and sub-staff. It indicates that values have a topdown disseminating effect. And it provides a clear indication that top-level management can add value to branch managers. Hence, they can translate top management priorities into realities much more effectively. Similarly, value dissemination can have a bottom-up effect. For example, branch managers can add value to senior managers, and senior managers can add value to top management. This is significant in management parlance to create value for the organizations. The current research studies middle managers’ morale in public sector banks in India. These banks are nationalized and located across the country. Both banks have head offices at the Mumbai location. One bank is large-sized, and the other one is a medium-sized bank. Management practices are top management activities, behaviors, and beliefs toward business and branch managers. These practices are mainly related to business, branch managers’ growth, relationship, and administration. Middle managers are branch managers in the research and are directly or indirectly affected by management practices. So, the relationship between management and branch managers has a role in influencing branch managers’ feelings. It means management practices influence branch managers’ feelings. And such feelings affect branch managers’ morale. 1.1 Employee Morale Morale is one of the outstanding dimensions of a healthy organization. Pattnaik and Jena (2020) define employee morale as “a state of mind that reflects enthusiasm, zeal, satisfaction, contentment, and an overall attitude toward one’s work.“ Most theorists have emphasized the theoretical and practical significance of organizational morale as a precise and delicate variable and the most effective factor in job performance (Rauktis et al. 1994; Chambers 1996; Cox 2001 and Analoui 2000). High morale compensates for the weakness in other required resources for increasing productivity. Employee morale is important in any organization (Gemmill and Oakley 1992; Schwartz 1990). It enhances employees’ confidence and teamwork approach (Wofford 1971). It influences employees’ behavior, productivity, and satisfaction in organizations.

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High morale can achieve organizational goals and increase productivity (Denney 2003; Ford et al. 2003). On the other hand, low morale tends to create ill health, fatigue, irritability, and restlessness (Savery 1989), and poor professional behavior, low performance, professional negligence, and absenteeism (Anderson and Bateman 1997; Denney 2003 and Ford et al. 2003). Low morale greatly impacts fraud, increasing nonperforming assets because of employees’ professional negligence, fatigue, and restlessness. Morale is an important component that plays a significant role in organizations. Morale has been described differently by various researchers. Differences range from psychology to social psychology perspectives. The psychological perspective of morale is about individual attributes. In contrast, the social psychological perspective of morale is collective attributes. According to different researchers, morale can be defined as a variety of things, including good personal adjustment (Getzels et al. 1968), ego involvement in one’s work (Porter and Lawyer 1968; Hertzberg 1968), a propensity to put in extra effort (Guba 1958), group cohesion (Viteles 1953), a collection of work-related attitudes (Burns 1951–1952), and identification with the organization’s goals (Houser 1938). Staff morale involves pride in the organization, satisfaction with its goals, commitment to its leadership, and a sense of shared purpose, loyalty, and allegiance to others (Stewart and Spence 1996). Unnecessarily complex procedures and a lack of staff consultation can severely impinge employee morale (Murphy et al. 1997; Vandenberg et al. 1999). High expectation of receiving a desired reward contributes to high morale. Chambers (1999) defines morale almost in military terms: discipline and confidence, pride, fixity of purpose, and faith in the cause fought for. High morale means the employee is satisfied with the job, puts in the effort, is creative, takes the initiative, is committed to the organization, and focuses on achieving organizational goals rather than personal goals. Employees who reported higher work morale perceived their work performance more positively reported more positive workgroup climates for service and perceived their services as more satisfying to customers than those who reported lower morale. High morale may increase productivity by being associated with greater levels of “flow” rather than greater effort. Paths Connecting Morale and Productivity As discussed above, the most straightforward possibility is that workers with high morale are willing to put more effort into their jobs and that more effort leads to more productivity. People with high morale are generally positive, optimistic, cooperative, and supportive of their team’s vision and mission. In public sector banks, morale is particularly low at the middle management. Since they are the point of interaction with the customers for offering products and services, their morale plays a much bigger role in deciding performance, effectiveness, and organizational health. The literature on middle managers’ morale in the banking sector is scarce. The literature on morale is available in the military, nurses, and teachers’ context. Very little literature discusses middle managers’ morale in business organizations in general and public sector banks in particular.

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1.2 Management Practices Management controls are a broad set of managerial approaches to encourage branch managers to move toward desired objectives, including various types of specific controls like accountability (Tetlock 1985), feedback (Earley 1986), incentives (Jenkins 1986), and empowerment/ autonomy (Breaugh 1985). It is important to understand that key components of management practices are accountability, incentive, autonomy, and organizational objectives. These components have the potential to boost branch managers’ attitudes toward goals and hence increase morale. Further, various controls are useful and relevant to the design dimension of management practices. In public sector banks, the key management practices that have a bearing on middle managers’ morale are practices related to professional growth, rewards, target setting, HR practices, etc. However, components of middle managers’ morale and influencing factors need clarity. 1.3 Research Gap Literature on morale mainly uses the employees, staff, and managers with a generic focus. Middle managers are mid-level hierarchies in the power structure of the banking industry. Their morale is mainly influenced by policies and practices exercised by their superiors in regional and head offices. Tangible and intangible components related to professional growth are influenced by top management. In business development, middle managers play a great role in developing business as they directly interact with customers. Their mental, emotional and psychological state can directly affect the quality of services and performance. Therefore, the present research aims to study middle managers’ morale in public sector banks in India. Existing studies have used quantitative and survey techniques to study employee morale. Morale is a construct that has many concepts, such as motivation, satisfaction, engagement, happiness, confidence, etc., that need to be studied using holistic methods. Therefore, qualitative research has been used to capture holistic information to understand influencing components that influence middle managers’ morale. Other studies on morale relate to nurses, teachers, and workers. Therefore, their components and characteristics may not work in the business context, which is the context for the current study. However, there could be common components of morale that can be used in the banking context, Some studies have suggested variables that influence morale, but their application to the banking context and the middle manager is questionable. Of course, they present some useful information, but there is a space to create components that boost middle managers’ morale in public sector banks. Most importantly, the research aims to suggest management practices that influence middle managers’ morale. Therefore, a pilot study has been conducted. 1.4 Issues Emerged from the Pilot Study The pilot study was conducted by inviting experts from two banks. They have engaged informally in discussions to understand their views on middle managers’ morale. The

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several contextual factors, policy, practices, promotion, transfer, welfare, and career growth, have been discussed to understand the contextual dynamics and factors. They have been exposed to available concepts on morale in other contexts to know their application in the current environment. Precaution has been taken to ensure that experts are unknown to each other. The idea is to bring more insights without hesitation or fear. Two hours of pilot studies revealed many concepts that have the potential to influence middle managers’ morale. They are -Target setting exercises, fairness in performance appraisal, Favour in promotion, transfer, and postings, leave process, Management accountability and attitude, Management support Rotation policy, and Reward practicesmerit or connection based. Based on literature and pilot study, the questionnaire has been developed to cover all dimension that captures information about middle managers’ morale. Emerging concepts from pilot studies and literature, the questionnaire has been designed to capture holistic information to understand management practices and the influence of each practice on middle managers’ morale. After designing the questionnaire, it was reviewed by experienced people employed and retired from the bank to ensure its relevance to studying the concept.

2 Objectives, Methodology, and Research Stages There are two research questions to study middle managers’ morale and how management practices influence it. The first research question is- how does middle managers’ morale develop in public sector banks? And second research question is how management practices influence it. The research question explores the prevailing management practices and how they influence middle managers’ morale in public sector banks. The next process was to identify the respondents and seek their informed consent by ensuring ethical guidelines to protect their identity, information, and organization name. Purposeful sampling was used, and four categories of respondents were selected to capture data. The rationale for selecting four categories of employees was based on the pilot study, literature review, and power relations that directly or indirectly affect management practices and thereby influence middle managers’ morale. The respondents were middle managers, senior managers, regional managers, executive directors/chairman, managing directors-working and retired, and union directors. The research setting was banking, and two banks were taken for the study. The permission was sought using the email that contains general information about the purpose of the study and expected benefits to the respondents and their organizations. This includes the ethical guidelines for anonymity, privacy, and confidentiality. According to Punch (1994), many institutions and public figures are nearly impossible to obscure, so their participation in research may expose them to some degree. In such cases, ensuring the confidentiality of portions of the data may be important to participants and influence their willingness to participate. After repeated requests and reminders through telephones and emails, the researchers got informed consent. Sometimes, even after getting assurance, the consent was never received. In many cases, there was no response at all.

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2.1 Field Challenges During Data Collection Data collection started after getting informed consent from participants. The interview took place at workplaces around 5 pm, as suggested by respondents. The duration of the interview was from 18 min to 43 min. Bracketing of information and sensitizing concepts has been considered. The average experience of respondents was 20 years, ten years minimum, and 30 years maximum. They were working across diverse regions and locations. The interview started with a generic question to put the respondent at ease. The researcher noted facial expressions, body language, avoidance, excitement, anxiety, and shyness during the interview. After the interview and during the informal conversation, researchers politely tried to seek answers to such moments. During the interview, a probing technique was used to elicit information from interviewees but also experience an emotional interdependence with their interviewees (Ezzy 2010). Observed information before, during, and after the interview has been documented and used for analysis along with the transcript (Fig. 1).

In the field

Audio-recorded interview

Before the interview

During the interview

Aer the interview & informal conversaons

Fig. 1. Field notes strategy

2.2 Data Analysis Researchers should not permit their presumptions to influence the data collection process or impose their interpretations on the data. This method is called bracketing (Crotty 1996). Bracketing is a method for establishing the validity of the data gathering and analysis methods, removing researcher bias from the study (Porter 1993). Sensitizing concepts are concepts that sensitize the researcher to capture the meaning of an emergent concept/word/thought, facilitating the discovery of the concept’s meaning in the current situation. It aids researchers in developing social constructs that may be used to investigate other social environments (Blumer 1954).

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Six phases of thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke 2006) have been used to analyze the data. The researcher should be familiar with the data, generate initial codes, search for themes, review themes, define and name themes, and produce the report. All steps have been followed. Code categories and code groups have been created between initial codes and searching for themes. All audio-recorded data have been transcribed into word format. Verbatim transcripts and field notes have been coded using ATLAS.ti 22 through the lens of research questions. Qualitative analysis falls into three key groups- categorizing, connecting, writing memos, and presenting (Coffey and Atkinson 1996; Dey 1993; Maxwell 2006). Memos help to stimulate and capture ideas about data. Displays (Miles and Huberman 1994), which include matrices or tables, networks or concept maps, and various other forms, also serve two other purposes: data reduction and the presentation of data or analysis in a form that allows the researcher to see it as a whole. Substantive categories are often inductively developed through a close “open coding” of the data (Corbin and Strauss 2007).

Significan t segments (quota o ns)

Inducitve coding

Code categorie s (axial coding)

Code groups

Themes (Smart groups)

Fig. 2. Data analysis steps

The data analysis starts with inductive coding of the responses using research questions (Fig. 2). Quotations are relevant pieces of useful information and are shreds of evidence about the phenomenon (Weiss 1994). They are necessary to convince readers that the researcher’s claim is valid. According to Blauner (1987) and DeVault (1990), quotations are crucial to qualitative analysis and reporting. Researchers must have a clear sense of what information they are looking for in the data. A good code captures the qualitative richness of the phenomenon (Boyatzis 1998). A code is typically a word or short phrase that assigns a summative, salient, essencecapturing attribute to a portion of text-based or visual data (Saldana 2016). The relevant information has been inductively coded (Frith and Gleeson 2004). Forty-one codes have been generated during the initial coding process. The inductive coding method is datadriven, and there are no preconceived codes (Boyatzis 1998). During the initial coding, invivo codes were used to acquire a comprehensive grasp of the subject under examination using the respondents” own words (Strauss 1987 and Saldana 2016). Word cloud has been used to sense the information from the data, and inductive coding has been shown in Fig. 3. Forty-one codes and forty-five quotations emerged during the initial coding process. The next step was categorizing codes (Strauss and Corbin 1998) using axial coding. A category is a process of sorting codes to find patterns (Bernard 2006 and Grbich 2007). Richards and Morse (2013) explain, “Categorization is how we move from the diversity of data to the shapes of the data, the types of things represented.” Axial coding describes

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Fig. 3. Inductive codes

the relationships between categories and subcategories (Saldana2016). According to Boeije (2010), axial coding is used to identify which (codes) in the research are dominant and which are less significant. The next step after the code categorization is code grouping which involves grouping codes and code categories. Four code groups have been created, including three for management practices and one for middle managers’ morale. Code groups are emergent themes. According to Rubin and Rubin (2011), a theme is a process of discovery where concepts that support themes are embedded throughout interviews. Themes are necessary for capturing important features of qualitative data. They are directly related to the research question and represent some patterned response or meaning within the data set. Finally, three code groups (themes) have been created using smart groups, which include all code groups under the management practices. The textual, excel, and network can be generated, presented, and interpreted using a smart group. The theme has been generated. A theme captures something important about the data concerning the research question and represents some patterned response or meaning within the data set (Braun and Clarke 2006, p.82.) (Fig. 4).

3 Results 3.1 Thematic Findings Management practices have three dimensions-admin, business, and people practices that have been created using code categories. Table 1 shows management practices and code categories in the order of significance calculated using the code-coefficient. The code coefficient measures the concept’s significance based on the c-value. C values are calculated using the formula-C value-code co-occurrence/(number of first code + number of second code) −1. The c value is between 0 to 1, and values towards 1 are significant. The Sankey diagram in the code co-occurrence table shows the flow of

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Fig. 4. Themes based on code-coefficient

information based on the code-coefficient. The detailed process of theme creation is shown in Table 1. Three management practices-admin, business, and people-have emerged that influence middle managers’ morale. Code categories, codes, and grounded (quotations) have been shown in the table above. Quotations under each theme are evidence to support the claim concerning research questions. Tables 1 and 2 display the thematic findings, their related codes, and relations. In the network below-poor management practices have three management practices has seven code categories. G represents the groundedness, i.e., several quotations connected with the code categories, and D represents the number of codes associated with the code categories. Quotations are evidence that supports the code categories and themes. The key quotations in verbatim have been shown in the table below. These quotations have been segregated under each theme.

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Smart Group (Theme)

Code Groups

Code Categories

Codes

Grounded

Admin practices Leave challenges 8 of middle managers Business practices

Subjective target-setting process

Target setting unclear

5

subjectivity in target-setting exercise

5

Target setting based 2 on whims & fancies of mgmt

Connection based promotion

Poor management practices

Favor in promotion and transfer

target allocation based on branches

1

the gap between policies and practices

3

head office employees favored

2

management does favor

2

weak trade union

1

uncertainty in transfer

1

the communication 1 gap between mgmt.. & union no management support to achieve the target People practices

unfair practices unfair transfer policies

1

5

unfair promotion practices

4

missing fairness

1 (continued)

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Table 1. (continued)

Poor middle managers’ morale

management accountability missing

no management accountability

1

low middle managers’ morale

low morale

7

subjective morale

2

low middle managers’ morale

2

toxic practices leading to low middle managers’ morale

1

4 Themes 4.1 Interpretation of Management Practices Three management practices are unhealthy, i.e., admin, business, and people. The contents of each practice can adversely affect the environment, the working culture, and the middle managers’ morale. Management owns no accountability in practicing policies. They are more concerned about their practices keeping aside the policies. Admin practices are related to employee leave issues, challenges, and prevailing practices. Business practices are related to target-setting exercises, promotion, transfer, and favor-related practices. People practices are about unfairness and transparency in promotion, growth, and management attitude. Table 2. Key quotations of management practices Smart Group (Theme)

Code Groups

Poor Management practices Admin practices

Selected Key Quotations If you communicate well in advance, you will get the leave. Management will ask for a postponement if it is not in advance. In certain cases, they discourage you, also. They will not easily grant the leave Tremendous work pressure and leave sanction has been an issue in our bank. The person will be asked to go for five days when he applies for ten days. And all these things are because of a shortage of staff (continued)

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A. Gupta Table 2. (continued) When you want to apply for leave, you must apply through HR net, which is automatically forwarded to the concerned authority. If the higher authority does not approve, it should automatically be forwarded to the next higher authority, i.e., the zonal authority. But it remains with the next higher authority. So, the position is the same as the old ones. There is a policy and not the proper implementation Business practices It depends upon the mood of the person. The person sitting on the top, having a good connection with someone and having a soft corner, gets an easy target, and others get the difficulty target. If you cannot flatter them, you will get tough targets; when you do not achieve that, they will target you. So, target setting is based on relationship; there is no scientific method, and hypothetical There are no guidelines for target achievement. There could be guidelines for the regional office, but for the branch, there are no guidelines. If employees are not pressured for targets, I think the entire targets are possible, but they create a lot of pressure to achieve it Yes, promotion is based on the relations and connections approach rather than merit and performance. Transfer and promotion at the branch level differ from the regional and head office levels Yes, of course, regional office and head office people get favorable postings and transfers because they have a connection with the boss who is engaged in the transfer and promotion, so they get favorable transfer and promotion For promotion, you need to be from a specific region or caste and have a connection with the top management. You should be able to serve them all the way, butter them, and favor them. That is the criteria for promotion and transfer (continued)

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Table 2. (continued) Pause…. Performance is not connected with promotion. But the rest are primary, like relationships, connection, buttering, etc People practices

One example I can recall is when I was transferred, and it used to take four and a half hours to reach the branch from one way. That time I felt very unhappy Top management’s priority is to do a favor for someone, and they ask branch managers to do a favor regarding loans and advances to their relatives, friends, etc. When branch managers do not follow them and discuss policies, they are treated differently and eventually transferred as a punishment, posting to remote areas, Naxal-affected areas, rural areas, etc. Employees who do not follow the oral instruction for favor are harassed like anything Management does not provide any support to achieve the target. I have never seen any management supporting branch managers in achieving targets

4.2 Thematic Network of Management Practices 4.3 Interpretation of Middle Managers’ Morale Middle managers’ morale is poor in public sector banks. Key quotations are indications of low morale situation. All quotations point toward unhealthy practices that directly and indirectly affect employees’ satisfaction, confidence, and enthusiasm (Fig. 5).

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Fig. 5. Thematic network of management practices & their components

Table 3. Key quotations of middle managers’ morale Poor middle managers’ morale

Low middle managers’ morale

There are no such practices. Promotions are not performance-based. If you perform for 8 to 10 years and others do not perform for a similar period, you will get a similar treatment. HRM creates a division between morale and mindsets. It means those who have a longer period of service get promoted The struggle between fairness and favors created low morale. When they saw their top management has entices by favor (continued)

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Table 3. (continued) Poor middle managers’ morale

Low middle managers’ morale

There are no such practices. Promotions are not performance-based. If you perform for 8 to 10 years and others do not perform for a similar period, you will get a similar treatment. HRM creates a division between morale and mindsets. It means those who have a longer period of service get promoted They should play a role in improving the employees’ morale because they were made for that purpose and negotiation with the management only. The earlier union was strong, but today, it is not strong. They want to help employees, but they do not have power. Management makes its own decisions For branch-level employees, barring managers, it is around 60 to 65%, which is reasonably good. Still, branch managers, as I am a branch manager and representing employees in my branch, are quite unhappy, and morale is down by 20 points. It means the morale level is 40–45% among branch managers There are various aspects. Certain aspects are happy, and I do not know if they realize whether they are unhappy. Morals vary for bankers, but it could have been better in decision-making. Morale is different at a different level for different levels

4.4 Thematic Network of Middle Managers’ Morale Two questions have been shown in Fig. 6 and their associated codes to show the status of middle managers’ morale. Detailed quotations are shown in Table 3.

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Fig. 6. Thematic network of middle managers’ morale

5 Discussion Management practices in public sector banks under study are unhealthy. They have enough potential to influence middle managers’ morale adversely. They are present in all areas, such as promotion, transfer, posting, target setting, leave sanctioning, management support, and their attitude and treatment for middle managers. 5.1 Model of Middle Managers’ Morale Model of middle managers’ morale have been shown in Fig. 7 that make the middle managers’ morale in public sector banks. Addressing them can tremendously improve middle managers’ morale, whereas avoiding them can shatter them and lead to toxic and unhealthy working environments. They are components of middle managers’ morale that shape or break the middle managers’ morale in public sector banks. The presence of these components in a positive form can boost middle managers’ morale, and absence can shatter the middle managers’ morale. Public sector banks that suffer from middle managers’ morale issues should address the management practices. This step will help to improve morale, thereby

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Fig. 7. A model to develop middle managers’ morale

improving performance, employee engagement, and enthusiasm, lowering employeremployee conflict, and improving organizational competitiveness, reputation, image, and overall development of the bank.

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NVivo as a Tool for Supporting Teamwork in the Context of Qualitative Research Conducted Remotely - Opportunities, Limitations, and Practical Tips Jakub Niedbalski(B)

´ ezak and Izabela Sl˛

The Faculty of Economics and Sociology, University of Lodz, Łód´z, Poland [email protected]

Abstract. Computer-mediated measures are becoming more popular for completing consecutive stages of research projects. These measures feature appropriate tools for the remote communication of research team members and for the analysis of the data collected. The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic and monthslong lockdowns contributed to the growing reliance on this form of research. The factors mentioned above prompted many social scientists to pursue qualitative research remotely. We have set out in our article to review the solutions available in the NVivo software as far as collaborative research is concerned. We also aim to highlight the opportunities and limitations of such a workflow modality. The tools available in NVivo allow qualitative researchers to implement research at both the conceptual and analytical stages without the need for direct face-to-face contact. Applying CAQDAS tools in research by teams poses several technical and organizational challenges for researchers. However, using CAQDAS tools in team research significantly reduces the cost of research, limits physical contact insofar as it could jeopardize the physical or psychological safety of the interacting partners, and can even warrant undertaking an otherwise unfeasible study. Keywords: teamwork · qualitative methods · NVivo · remote work · research practice

1 Introduction Regardless of skepticism and critical opinions [1], CAQDAS has rapidly gained popularity among qualitative researchers over the past few decades. NVivo is one of the leading programs used by academics representing various scientific disciplines and researchers outside academia. It is a versatile tool with many features for systematically analysing qualitative data. The application of NVivo makes it possible to perform subsequent steps of the analytical process to an extent and within such a timeframe as would be difficult to achieve with traditional research methods [2]. The software features functionalities suited to teamwork [3], which proved all the more useful when the coronavirus pandemic brought social life to a halt for months, trapping many people at home and © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 A. P. Costa et al. (Eds.): WCQR 2023, LNNS 688, pp. 38–59, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31346-2_3

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sparking a massive migration of professional and social activities to the online zone. At that time, social researchers faced serious dilemmas and challenges regarding the possibility of starting novel research projects or continuing those already underway [4–9]. The situation became particularly daunting for researchers involved in team research. Not only did the COVID-19 pandemic interrupt the field phase of research, but it also complicated analytical work. Restrictions imposed by national governments on freedom of movement, travel, and meetings made it difficult or impossible to hold face-to-face meetings, consultations, and working briefings. All the above prompted a reorganization of researchers’ activities and forced many to find alternative solutions to conduct team research. One such solution was the more extensive use of CAQDAS programs and applications that enable online communication [7, 10]. Regarding the above, we have set a goal for ourselves as authors of this study to present, from the dual perspective of qualitative researchers and CAQDAS users, the potential and methods of taking advantage of selected NVivo features supporting the remote work of research team members. The tools described require expertise in operating qualitative data analysis software and basic familiarity with the NVivo software environment. However, the tools help (in conjunction with online communication) to overcome the limitations of face-to-face contact between research team members. We intended to present NVivo features designed to support the teamwork of qualitative researchers who use various analytical methods while working primarily online. The creators of NVivo pursue a policy of providing universal tools that meet the expectations of distinct groups of researchers and are careful not to impose methodological restrictions or enforce any specific research profile. Likewise, we dedicate our study to a broad audience without prescribing a particular method or paradigm that would show the highest affinity with the program characteristics. We want to emphasize that our selection reflects the sum of our individual experiences and information gleaned from the literature on the practices of other researchers using CAQDAS tools for teamwork. Regardless of our best efforts, we recognize that the expectations of individual users may vary. NVivo (or CAQDAS in general) is likely less helpful to some researchers. Rather than urging anyone to use it, we merely wish to point out the program’s advantages and show how it can “technically” facilitate teamwork.

2 Pursuit of Research in Teams During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Under Remote Work Regimens Qualitative social research has traditionally been viewed as an individual endeavor carried out by a single researcher [11]. This may be the rationale behind the underrepresentation of teamwork in the methodological literature on qualitative research. It is typically overlooked in textbooks how to organize the work of small teams, even if it is mentioned that collaboration and joint interpretation can be beneficial to the quality of analysis [11– 14]. However, the prevailing trend is for research projects to be conducted by a team of researchers [14]. This state of the matter is corroborated by how research is pursued. It has become increasingly common for funding institutions to prefer larger grants from bigger teams of researchers. These are often multidisciplinary, and multi-national teams set up to study a problem across several countries [14]. To consider the matter from

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another perspective, it is believed that working in a diverse team can enhance creative thinking and intellectual rigor, significantly enriching the coding and analysis process [10–12]. Teamwork may also provide job satisfaction for individual members, allowing members to offer mutual support [12]. Thus, in an era of increasing globalization and internationalization of science, it is becoming ever more common for projects to be carried out collaboratively by researchers representing not only different academic centers or scientific communities but also residing in distant corners of the world [11, 14]. Taking advantage of the opportunities provided by the development and widespread availability of technology, researchers seek more opportunities to use online communication in the work of research teams. This is usually the case if members are geographically dispersed and working meetings can be held primarily via video conferencing software (e.g., Skype, Zoom, MS Teams). In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to implement personal hygiene regimen behaviors (e.g., physical distancing and working from home during the pandemic) popularized this way of work organization also among the naysayers. It was mainly the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic that posed severe difficulties for many research teams. On the one hand, the very pursuit of research was constrained (or ultimately thwarted for instance, in terms of meeting with the respondents and other research team members). On the other hand, even research that could theoretically be continued had to be remodeled to a greater or lesser degree to accommodate the altered circumstances, thereby raising methodological and ethical concerns [6, 7, 9]. Another factor that drove many researchers to seek methods beyond the “gold standard” of face-to-face work was the time pressure arising from their research schedules associated with the implementation or continuation of research they had already begun. They resorted to online interviews to meet their obligations towards project funding institutions or their employing entities and academic institutions [15]. Researchers with expertise in conducting scientific investigations (also before the pandemic) using mediated communication (primarily via the Internet) point to many advantages. Such research is more flexible, can usually be completed more quickly and cost-effectively than face-to-face studies (especially in the case of geographically dispersed populations), and gives respondents more control over the data collection process. Additionally, both parties enjoy the security of remaining within the friendly confines of one’s home, which proved particularly important during the pandemic [16]. Researchers were also sure to note that reducing business travel (e.g., travel to the respondent or to work team meetings) benefits the environment [17, 18]. Of course, such research mode encounters its sort of limitations. The respondent (and sometimes the researcher) may lack the right quality equipment and internet connection. Poor internet connection quality may result in meeting interruption, problems with video and audio synchronisation problems, or even image freezing during the online meeting [19]. Online research risks violating the privacy of respondents by unauthorized parties. This was especially the case in the first months of the pandemic when applications (such as Zoom) were not geared up to ensure the total security of teleconferences [6]. Furthermore, it is indicated that the interactional situation is disrupted due to the inability to analyze non-verbal communication [16, 20] and an impaired capacity to show empathy towards the interlocutor [21]. On the downside, it is also worth noting that certain groups and

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categories of people are potentially excluded from research conducted in this manner, e.g., based on their social status, age, place of residence, or health status [22]. This brief roundup of strengths and drawbacks shows what methodological and ethical ambiguities must be tackled in research carried out using remote techniques. It should be borne in mind, however, that the arguments cited often cancel one another out (which is perhaps a consequence of the different experiences of their authors). Moreover, they are mainly concerned with issues related to the stage of data collection, not data processing or analysis. Some significant methodological insights can be gleaned from debates within the qualitative research community. For instance, the British Oral History Society published guidelines on its website early in the pandemic on conducting research during COVID-19 [50]. However, while the posted information indicates that most researchers are skeptical about collecting data through online communication, the inability to meet for an interview does not automatically mean that the project is on hold. Indeed, other research activities, such as transcription, analysis, querying, etc., can be completed during this time. Thus, online communication raises much less controversy at subsequent stages of research execution, including data analysis, interpretation, and compilation, than it does regarding data collection. Another reason why online work (including analytical work) evokes less and less resistance or exasperation is the simple fact that, as Bröer et al. [13] write, newcomers to the qualitative research community are “digital natives” who expect to work online. These individuals are familiar with online chatting and are accustomed to sharing their thinking processes. Even though the Net generation is not homogenous, with a considerable variation in the scope of abilities, competencies, and skills concerning digital technologies and networked communication [23, 24], as well as the willingness to use them for research purposes, there is a growing acceptance among the researchers to use online communication tools for research teams (especially for group meetings). Meanwhile, researchers seek tools to facilitate analytical teamwork beyond a given place and time limitations. Online analytical collaboration can be particularly fruitful (not only in a pandemic situation) in participatory research with non-academics and in community research, as it allows for the actual inclusion of researchers at the stage of analysis, thanks to the flexible form of participation in team meetings. As a result, there is a higher chance that they will become co-authors of the study not only at the data collection stage [13]. The actual data analysis was performed online by research teams employing various available solutions or creating new ones. Hopper et al. [25] used an available open-source software (Google DocsTM) to improve extensive online collaboration. This allowed them to carry out collaborative coding in parallel without real-time group coding. The software for Open Online Research (OOR) is of great interest, prototyped and tested by Bröer and team [13]. The tool they developed enables collaborative qualitative analysis in groups using online communication. Thus, it is possible to overcome the limitations of distance and time and allow real collaboration between more significant numbers of participants, including those outside academia. Many researchers have also used licensed (and therefore mostly paid) CAQDAS programs for teamwork. NVivo is a prominent choice, as it facilitated collaborative teamwork as fully integrated into the research project as early as two decades ago [12, 26–28]. To meet

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researchers’ expectations, successive versions of NVivo included more and more tools to improve teamwork. The latest versions feature tools that facilitate cooperation as collaboration on an independent project by regularly combining the outputs of individual team members. A more advanced collaboration mode allows all team members to work on the same project employing NVivo for Teams (formerly NVivo Server) as part of Collaboration Cloud. With this solution, all users connect while working on their NVivo programs. In the remainder of our article, we showcase the ways of organizing remote teamwork, drawing on the relevant literature and our experiences of using NVivo (specifically, NVivo 12, and NVivo 1.0 since it was made available in March 2020 including subsequent updates – a PC version in both cases).

3 Methodology Note The purpose of this article is to present NVivo features designed to support the teamwork of qualitative researchers who use various analytical methods while working primarily online. Our knowledge of and an extensive experience with CAQDAS guided our selection of NVivo from a range of additional software for qualitative data analysis. It is highlighted in the literature that NVivo is a tool to support research projects within the scope of discourse analysis, grounded theory methodology, conversation analysis, ethnography, and phenomenology-based research, as well as others, including mixed methods research [29]. NVivo thus stands as a universal tool with various practical functions that should meet researchers’ expectations representing different theoretical schools and research methods. [3]. This is also corroborated by the program developers, who, in pursuit of their policy of providing a universal tool, do not impose methodological restrictions or target their product at a particular group of researchers. Our expertise largely stems from research projects in which grounded theory methodology was used as the research method. We hope our article will be interpreted as a voice in the discussion concerning the applicability of CAQDAS in research conducted in distributed research teams. Our primary intention, however, is for this paper to promote the practical and applicative dimension of the tool presented.

4 Variants of Team Members’ Work Integration Through NVivo Software 4.1 Project-Sharing-Based Teamwork The most readily accessible way for team members using NVivo to collaborate is to work with a single file. However, this means that at any given time, only one user can open the project and work on it. Thus, the work progresses in “steps,” with each team member doing a specific volume of work at a particular time agreed upon with the others. Likewise, other team members proceed sequentially. There are many arguments in favor of this solution [3]. For one, it is the cheapest option for collaboration, as even a single software license is sufficient for a team of researchers. For another, it

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also involves the lowest odds of potential technical difficulties and does not generate additional administrative work required upon merging the copies of databases. It should be borne in mind. However, the serial use of software on one project could increase the issues massively. First of all, such a strategy involves a prolonged period of execution of the analysis, a significant reduction in the independence of its members, and a substantial risk associated with the security of the project. A permanent concern looms that one team member will inadvertently destroy the current copy of the project and void the work performed by other team members, which is why regular backups are recommended. It also merits consideration that while it’s technically possible for several persons to work on a single software license, it is, unfortunately, illegal and violates the terms of use and end user license agreement (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Project properties dialog window with a display of the project user list

Should the team decide on this mode of cooperation for their project’s implementation, managing the profiles of software users becomes critical (although this issue is not exclusive to this variant). Project-wise, a user profile serves to verify the identity of individual researchers as well as to monitor the work output of each team member [3]. All team members set up their user profiles. They should also ensure they use the correct profile whenever they access the project. Although it is possible to switch between user profiles without exiting the project, it is advisable to activate automatic logon to rule out possible confusion. Upon this setup, team members are prompted to enter their account every time they launch NVivo. In practice, when one team member finishes working on a project, they should shut down NVivo so that the following user is forced to run the program and enter their user profile. NVivo allows the means to perform several other operations on user profiles, such as a current user profile check, a change of initials associated with the project’s user

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profile, or an adaptation of the default NVivo user profile. It is worth remembering that if we change the default NVivo user profile, a new profile will be established during the next round of work on the project. The work done since will be associated with a new project user profile. Thankfully, the upheaval caused by the accidental creation of two separate profiles in a project can be reversed. The profiles may be merged by deleting one of them and assigning all related project content to one user. User profiles may be toggled by redefining the default NVivo user profile (name and initials). This feature may prove helpful when team members share a particular computer and want to continue working without leaving NVivo. In such a situation, “automatic user prompting” may be disabled to allow for the specification of the user profile on each entry into NVivo. An exciting way of working on a single copy of a project was employed by Naganathan et al. [10] during the community-based research (CBR) project Sexual Health and Diasporic Experiences of Shadeism (SHADES). They called their approach collaborative Zoom Coding (CZC) because they used the Zoom meetings application to facilitate collaborative data analysis processes. This was their response to the constraints of social distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which made it impossible to organize face-to-face analysis work sessions. Because the research team consisted of individuals with diverse identities, the scope of knowledge, and research experience, they needed to be able to perform data analysis together in real time. In practice, the analytical work progressed along the following lines: a researcher with access to NVivo software would run the “share my screen” function in Zoom and share a transcript section with all team members. One by one, each researcher would read aloud a paragraph of text, after which everyone would consider how it should be coded. The researcher who shared the screen saved the code in NVivo, including daughter and parent codes. This workflow was essential for those team members who had little experience with NVivo but could still fully participate in the analysis process. Online communication also comforted team members belonging to marginalized minorities, as they could participate in meetings from their secure private spaces. Thus, it helped dismantle the hierarchy of power. We applied a similar practice in a project wherein we acted as an expert in CAQDASbased analysis. Our working term for it was “hybrid”, as it combined the ability to work remotely through the Teams platform with conducting analysis using a single copy of NVivo. As the case of the Naganathan et al. [10] team discussed above, we also used a single computer on which NVivo was installed during the initial phase. It must be borne in mind, however, that our objective was not to carry out all the data analysis in the project but to demonstrate to the other team members how to perform certain activities using the software. Our agenda was primarily driven by training and educational goals. It helped the other researchers realize what was asked of them for them to proceed with the analytical work on their computers. Based on our experience, we have come to share the belief of Naganathan mentioned above et al. [10] that innovations such as CZC can contribute to further democratization within CBR and be helpful for all qualitative multi-team, multi-center projects, including international projects and research conducted within remote and underserved communities.

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4.2 Leveraging the Possibility of Exporting and Merging Project Copies Another form of collaboration among research team members based on the functionalities available in NVivo is exporting and merging project copies [3]. As part of this project-sharing option, more than one user can work on a project simultaneously. To achieve this setup, a “master” project copy must be established. Thereupon, derivative copies of the project must be provided to each team member (for example, via e-mail as an attachment to a forwarded message). Team members carry on their work on their respective copied projects and import the results into the main project regularly. All team members operate on their user profiles in the project simultaneously. This clear-cut structure facilitates cooperation and division of labor and guarantees the visibility of each researcher’s contribution. However, no user authentication is required (users do not have to confirm their declared identity), so team members must ensure they use the correct user profile. To effectively apply this kind of collaboration, three elements are essential. The first is to export and create copies of the project to be passed on to each team member. The second is to combine independent copies of the project into a single whole. The third is to check the changes and progress of the work done individually by each team member. This three-step process should be reiterated as the team makes headway until such analysis results satisfactorily (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. Visualization of the teamwork process based on project copy exporting and merging

It is recommended that all team members use the same software version. This is because the various program versions lack mutual compatibility (e.g., NVivo R1.6 is incompatible with 1.5). This is why team members should best avoid using different platforms, Windows vs Mac, due to the existing differences between software versions, which can generate problems in teamwork mode. Making copies of the project regularly is a helpful feature in protecting the work done by the researcher. This functionality is also used to create copies, which can be shared with individual team members for their work. It is worth noting that when a

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project is first saved, NVivo creates a “project recovery file” to secure against data loss. This option may prove vital if the project becomes corrupt, for example, if it cannot be opened. NVivo, from the project recovery file, can then restore it. Every time a project is saved, NVivo checks the project recovery settings (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. Dialog window with the settings of NVivo program features, showing the contents of the project recovery tab

Teamwork greatly benefits from the possibility of importing and merging copies of a project. It proves crucial in handling projects that have been previously subdivided and distributed among project team members. Indeed, it makes it possible to reassemble all the copies into a whole and perform the relevant operations on such a merged project (e.g., a checkup of the coding done by individual project members) (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4. Project copying dialog window

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For example, such a workflow was employed by a team of researchers in a project created for the KWALON conference in April 2010, the results of which are described by Wiltshier [28]. After importing the data into NVivo, a copy of the project was prepared for each team member. The researchers decided that each person would analyze a different data source, so each person’s copy of the project contained the specific data they would code. The researchers exchanged the results of their work by sending the project file electronically. Milford et al.‘s [11] team followed an analogous work methodology, conducting contraception research in three developing countries in the Global South (Zambia, South Africa, and Kenya). After the researchers collaboratively developed and tested codes and themes and prepared a shared codebook in a team, analysis was carried out using NVivo (Version 10) at the level of teams in each country participant. The data was organized per country to allow for individual country data management and cross-country data comparisons. Teams worked on separate databases in each country, which were then merged into a single master file. This specific setup warranted that the analysis outputs were appropriate to the regions yet comparable across countries. We implemented this setup through NVivo version 12 for the research we were invited to participate in as experts in computer data analysis. Our task was to assist members of the CONCISE (Communication role on perception and beliefs of UE Citizens about Science) research team in task-sharing as part of data interpretation when the universities were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and no physical contact was possible. Since each researcher (within the Polish group) was equipped with an NVivo license installed on their laptop, it was resolved that the best solution would be to divide the work by creating duplicates of the whole database for all participating researchers. As CAQDAS experts, we were asked to carry out this process and exercise control over its proper conduct. Accordingly, we appointed a team leader to provide copies of the database (so that all other team members would have identical ones) and then handed the copies to the respective researchers so they could start working on them. Each researcher was held accountable for a specific scope of analytical work. Once a designated period was up, we collected copies of the project database from all the team members and integrated them with the team leader’s copy of the database. Subsequently, we redistributed updated project copies to the research team members. We repeated this activity several times. As a result, firstly, each researcher had an updated copy of the project on which they could carry out further actions related to the division of analytical work. Secondly, we ensured the process remained continuous, taking care to integrate the database systematically. Linguistic diversity among the team members posed a challenge to workflow in the modality mentioned above. Although they all spoke English, it was not their mother tongue, which resulted in differences in the understanding and use of nodes and even confusion in this area. Problems also arose in connection with, among other things, the multiplication of identical codes and categories, which, while taking on slightly different names (labels), de facto overlapped in meaning. We, therefore, recommend that all issues related to the definition of codes should be clarified on an ongoing basis to develop a ‘standardized’ linguistic framework. This should help reduce the risk of such potential and not entirely predictable problems.

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4.3 Teamwork Facilitation Through NVivo Collaboration Cloud and NVivo Collaboration Server While multiple researchers can collaborate on an independent project thanks to the aforementioned feature of exporting and merging project copies, NVivo Collaboration is a dedicated tool that provides advanced support for teamwork. Two solutions may be adopted for its employment: one cloud-based (NVivo Collaboration Cloud), whereas the other relies on access to a shared server (NVivo Collaboration Server). NVivo Collaboration enables research teams to work together on a single project, regardless of where the members are located. All project data is stored in the cloud, and each team member can download it to their computer to conduct the analysis offline. After that, the analysis results may be uploaded to the NVivo Collaboration Cloud so that the project manager can merge the projects being developed by individual team members into one master project. This service provides easier and much more efficient collaboration. To benefit from NVivo Collaboration Cloud, all team members must use the latest version of NVivo on the same operating system. Not everyone needs to subscribe to Collaboration Cloud. For teams working in one central location, NVivo Collaboration Server supports the real-time collaboration of all team members. This solution shall prove well suited to large teams working in a central location (e.g. a research center) when fast and secure access to large amounts of data is required. It allows multiple users to access a project simultaneously, which means that everyone on the team can work on the same project simultaneously. Team members can, for example, code, annotate, or merge source content in parallel. In addition, NVivo Server supports the organization and storage of NVivo projects on the server. With appropriate security measures in place, it enhances the project’s security and all associated data. Users access projects on the server via the NVivo computer application. Access to the server project is controlled by the project administrator (usually the person who created the project). The project administrator (a.k.a. owner) can add a project member to a specific user group, which involves a particular level of project authorization. A project user group is a set of users authorized to perform the same activities within a project. Thus, placing a user in the appropriate group restricts the extent to which the user may modify the project. NVivo Server software may discern three user groups: Readers, Contributors, and Project Owners. Each project user group is assigned a different authorization level within the project: readers have minor access rights - they can only view the project; contributors can view and modify the project but cannot perform project management tasks, while project owners have the highest level of authorization. They can modify project content and perform project management tasks such as modifying project properties and managing user access. The project owner (and, therefore, the project administrator) can make all modifications and adjustments related to the project users and check the current status of any team member and the scope of their authorization. Thanks to such a solution, it is possible to diversify the project access level for different participants. For instance, this solution allows inviting additional participants to the analysis (e.g., members of the community under study, experts, consultants) with curated access to project features. NVivo Collaboration Server also allows ‘autonomous’ control over potential conflicts at the project editing level between

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users, likely to happen when several users are working on a project simultaneously. If this is the case, the Editing Mode feature proves crucial, preventing individual team members from making conflicting changes to the content of data sources. To modify the content of a given source (for example, edit the text in a document source or add transcription lines to a video), it must be open in Editing Mode. If Editing Mode is not enabled, other users can view the source but cannot edit, code, annotate, or link its content. While in Editing Mode, users can add annotations, coding, and link sources. Conflicts that arise during the work process are resolved by the NVivo server. For instance, if two users try to edit an existing annotation, the user who completes the change first will be able to approve it. Meanwhile, the other user’s changes will be rejected, and the screen will be refreshed to display the latest annotation version. Similarly, if two users try to change the project properties, the first user who completes the changes will be able to approve them. The second user’s changes will be rejected. It is worth remembering that Project Owners control access to their projects, but the server administrator manages access to the NVivo server. The administrator is the one who assigns users to server user groups, each of which has specific authorization levels to perform actions on the server. All server user groups can connect to the server, but only members of specific users can create new projects. While NVivo Collaboration Cloud uses the cloud to host and merge projects, enabling inter-institutional collaboration, it does not allow team members to work in real-time. Work must be either done offline, or data must be backed up. This means that the project needs to be downloaded to a PC or laptop to carry out the analysis, and when the work is complete, the file needs to be saved and uploaded to the cloud so that the contribution can be added to the main project. With NVivo Collaboration Server, on the other hand, work on a project may proceed in real-time, but only if all team members are within the same local network. Since all users are required to hold their accounts within the same network and be able to log in (this is often locked to those outside the organization for increased user security and data protection), this solution prevents inter-institutional collaboration. It can therefore be said, in a somewhat simplistic way, that what is a strength of a cloud-based measure is, in turn, a weakness of a server-based solution, and vice versa.

5 Tools for Monitoring and Evaluation of Team Members’ Outputs NVivo offers tools that allow not only to organize the work of a research team in various ways but also to monitor the work of its members on an ongoing basis and verify the consistency of data coding, thus validating the analysis conducted based on the data. 5.1 Teamwork Monitoring Monitoring teamwork is possible because NVivo identifies team members based on user profiles. In server-based projects, this profile is based on the user’s Windows login, while in standalone projects, it is based on the name and initials the user enters when starting NVivo. With that said, whether working on a standalone project (that is, as part of a

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team but without access to the server version of the program) or a server project, NVivo provides tools that make it easier to collaborate and identify the work done by individual team members. In an NVivo Server project, NVivo automatically refreshes the project view as work progresses to capture the latest changes made by individual team members. NVivo reloads the view whenever specific actions are performed in the workspace, such as navigating to another folder or opening sources and nodes. If NVivo is left idle, the workspace is not automatically updated. Alternatively, the workspace can be refreshed manually at any time in NVivo. To do so, it is necessary to press the Refresh option in the Workspace group located in the Home tab. In case a user tries to make a change that conflicts with a recent change made by another team member, NVivo reports the conflict and refreshes the workspace so the researcher can try to make changes again. NVivo Server also gives the ability to display a project event log to keep track of who made specific changes, when the changes were made, and what elements of the project were changed. Another option is to filter the log to see changes made by particular team members. It is a good practice to clean the event log at regular intervals to optimize its performance. If the data in the project event log is to be preserved, it can be exported to a spreadsheet or document file before the log is cleaned. Still, another way to gain insight into the headway made by individual team members is to use graphs. For example, it is possible to create a graph showing the percentage of coding at nodes (A, B, C, etc.) done by individual users (1, 2, and 3) in a selected source (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5. Sample graph made in NVivo showing the percentage of coding at nodes (A, B, C, etc.) by individual users (1, 2, and 3).

Tracing the work done by individual team members can also be done by running the reporting tool in-built into NVivo. The easiest way is to launch one of the predefined reports:

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– Run a Project Summary - to see which team member created or last updated a project item or – Run a Coding Summary - to see how many team members have coded the source in a given node. A custom report may also be devised to track teamwork, e.g., showing a list of team members and the nodes they have created over a given period. Tools such as report generators and data exporters enable ongoing review and verification of one’s work or the progress of others, but also a prompt examination of a selected thread that emerges in the project. It is also possible to present the results and advances of analytical work to a broader audience, using the ability to work with data in other applications and computer programs (including Word or Excel). It is worth remembering, however, that the reports do not include the content of source materials or category definitions. To access the content, data query tools must be employed (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6. NVivo window with a sample report display

5.2 Assurance of Coding Consistency Across Team Members Since in a team project (especially in the initial phase of analysis), many researchers code the same material, of use may be a feature to check the consistency of the coding they have done. NVivo has various tools to verify consistency and check coding agreements [3]. The first choice for verifying the coding done by team members is to display certain information using the so-called coding strips. By hovering the cursor over a strip representing a particular user, it is possible to see what nodes (categories) that user applied to code certain materials. Another convenient method for reviewing the coding done by

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individual users is to use the data filtering option. When viewing codes, the content can be filtered to display only references coded by specific users. Much as the tools mentioned earlier prove convenient, a range of dedicated Coding Comparison Query functions is available to check the consistency of coding between team members. They offer a much more advanced and by far the most exciting solution. They provide two solutions to validate the degree of coding agreement across users (in other words, to verify the coding reliability). The first method is to calculate the agreement expressed as a percentage. Percentage agreement is the number of agreement units divided by the total value of those units, expressed as a percentage. The second method uses the kappa coefficient (Cohen’s κ score), a statistical measure for assessing the level of agreement between cases. Suppose users agree, the kappa coefficient (K) = 1. Suppose there is no agreement among evaluators. The kappa coefficient (K) ≤ 0.

Fig. 7. The outcome of a query performed using the Coding Comparison tool. (Color figure online)

The green columns visible in the Fig. 7 represent the percentage agreement: Agreement column is the sum of columns A and B and Not A and Not B, where: • A and B are the percentages of the content of specific data items coded with particular nodes (codes) by both user group A and user group B, • Not A and Not B is the percentage of content of specific data items that have been left UNCODED with particular nodes (codes) by both user group A and user group B; • Accordingly, the red columns correspond to the disagreement percentage: Disagreement Column is the sum of columns A and Not B as well as B and Not A, where: • A and not B is the percentage of content of specific data items coded with particular nodes (codes) by user group A but have been left uncoded by user group B, • B and not A is the percentage of content of specific data items coded with particular nodes (codes) by user group B, but have been left uncoded by user group A;

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Presented and explained in the table below are examples of the use of the agreement coefficient and the kappa coefficient (Cohen’s κ score) (Table 1). Table 1. The agreement coefficient and the kappa coefficient Percent agreement is the content percentage from specific sources two users agree to code by particular codes (nodes). For example, if the source document count is 1,000 characters, of which: - both users code 50, - 150 are coded by only one of them, - any user has not coded the remaining 800 characters, then the degree of agreement is calculated as a percentage of (800 + 50) ÷ 1000 = 85%. For other types of sources, the following are used as conversion units: - for audio and video materials, the unit of measurement is a second of the recording, - for images - the area of the image expressed in pixels. Cohen's kappa coefficient is a statistical measure of reliability that many researchers find more useful than percentage agreement because it considers the predicted frequency of agreement in specific cases. NVivo calculates the kappa coefficient individually for each combination of nodes and sources. If two users reach 100% agreement on coding content in a given source, then the kappa coefficient is 1. If there is no agreement between two users, the kappa coefficient is ≤ 0. A value between 0 and 1 indicates partial agreement. The kappa coefficient is calculated as described below. It should be noted, however, that the units of measurement used in the calculation depend on the source type. For instance, for a text document unit of measurement is characters, and for audio and video, the units of measurement are seconds of the recording. First, the predicted frequency of agreement between users on a given case (ΣEF) is calculated by summing: - the number of source units that have been coded with a specific code (node) by user A, multiplied by the number of units in that node coded by user B, and then divided by the total number of units in the source (EF1), - the number of units of the source that were not coded with the specified code (node) by user A, multiplied by the number of units in that node not coded by user B, and then divided by the total number of units in the source (EF2). The expected frequency (EF) in a given case = EF1 + EF2. The kappa coefficient (K) is therefore equal to the total number of units agreed upon by the two users (TA) minus the expected frequency (ΣEF), divided by the total number of units (TU) of the source, minus the expected frequency (ΣEF): K = (TA ΣEF) ÷ (TU - ΣEF).

We have applied the aforementioned Cohen’s κ score in various situations involving team and individual projects. In the latter case, we request another researcher (usually one of our immediate colleagues) to analyze short excerpts from our data. After that, we draw a comparison with our way of coding. On several occasions, this cross-referencing

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tactic allowed us to detect inaccuracies in our interpretations of the data and look at the data from a slightly different angle, thus uncovering new themes and exploring topics we had not previously considered. Hence, it is worth emphasizing that Cohen’s κ score does not have to be treated merely as a numeric measure of reliability. This recommendation proves all the more in place upon considering that calculating the kappa coefficient in NVivo can lead to a bias – it is assessed using the individual characters rather than at the sentence or paragraph level, thus potentially decreasing the agreement levels between coders [30]. Some researchers [11] used Cohen’s κ score beyond reliability measurements in their project as a departure point for discussing data and codes. The score allowed them to assess whether team members shared an understanding of code definitions. If there were discrepancies in this regard (as indicated by Cohen’s coefficient), discussions were held until an agreement was reached among the research team members. 5.3 Practical Tips Given the growing demand for remote and online exchange, any collaborative platform that allows the implementation of group projects is sure to be a preferred online solution among researchers. The NVivo features we have covered undoubtedly increase its usefulness, making it a versatile tool for efficiently implementing team research. The program is equipped with functionalities that make it possible not only to collaborate synchronously and asynchronously but also to check the reliability of coding or the progress of the work of individual members involved in the project. All the above ensures that NVivo proves its worth for both individual work and real-time analysis by team members. However, regardless of how research team members resolve to interact, there are a few key principles that need to be observed. These principles are (1) appointing a research team leader, (2) organizing regular meetings of team members, (3) successfully taking notes at every stage of the analysis. These principles designate what may be called good practices [3]. Drawing on our experience, it is a good idea to appoint a team leader to chair the group and make final decisions on the most important aspects of the project. In addition, it is also advisable to hold regular team meetings to discuss individual interpretations, solve problems and assign tasks. Another optimization to put in place is to have all team members take notes on an ongoing basis, detailing the progress of their work but also covering ideas, suggestions, or questions that came up while using the program. Such memos help identify any difficulties experienced by individual team members. They can also be a source of inspiring analytical leads for all researchers working on the project. We have used such forms and means of optimizing collaboration between members of research teams on multiple occasions. We believe that the adopted measures enhanced the efficiency of the team’s operation to a considerable degree and, consequently, led to better results in the completed analyses. A situation of a deadlock in the analysis of one of the key threads of the project is a case in point. We eventually overcame these difficulties by keeping notes to monitor the progress of the team members and the successive use of descriptions for codes and categories. The transparency of the individual team members’ activities and their conscientious (albeit labor-intensive) execution of dense descriptions proved crucial here. It can therefore be concluded that, in this case, there was a synergy

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effect. Such a phenomenon may derive from the potential of teamwork, provided that this teamwork is carried out with equal commitment and conscientiousness on the part of all team members. Since team members initially code the same set of files, it is helpful to make successive comparisons of the results of each member’s work. Tools such as coding strips or comparison queries can be leveraged. The success of online teamwork as well as the development of team reflexivity [14], are contingent on smooth, regular, quality communication between team members. If members are dispersed, this is the only way to ensure that all team members are always up to date on study progress, understand what code modifications entail, and can critically and creatively address them. It is of utmost importance that the team members work on a jointly developed structure of nodes (code books and categories). Therefore, the code trees or node hierarchies (parents and children) should be developed as a result of regular consultation and discussion (e.g., by using popular remote communication platforms), with their sophistication and reorganization postponed to subsequent stages. The research project of Milford et al.‘s [11] team, during which a series of meetings in various forms took place between sub-teams located in different countries, may serve as an example of what such communication can entail. The coordinating team schedules these meetings and holds them either in-person or online (e.g., via web-based teleconferencing such as Skype). Initially, they occurred biweekly and then weekly as study activities intensified. Ad hoc conference calls and team e-mails for any in-between issues supplemented communication. While some of the video conferences lasted many hours, which could be cumbersome, online communication made it possible to stay in touch regularly, which is especially important when the team does not have the opportunity for frequent faceto-face meetings. In the Jarzabkowski et al. [14] team’s project, apart from face-to-face and online communication (e.g., e-mails, text messages, and Skype sessions), it was essential to get acquainted with memo/ethno notes, field notes, and data protocols created by team members, which were imported into NVivo. Analysis was shared and constructed through NVivo files. The annotations function can also be used for asynchronous communication between team members, as in the Wiltshier team’s [28] study, when each researcher recorded specific comments on sections of data using annotations as the analysis progressed. With each person using these tools for the same purpose, researchers can see the evolution of their colleagues’ way of thinking about the data and stay abreast of what they have done in the project. For everyone in the project to share an understanding of the nature and specificity of the codes and categories, it is imperative to use descriptions, which should serve as a kind of definition for each concept. As we have learned from our own experience, it is also a good idea, for the sake of transparency of the activities of individual team members, to make regular comparisons and summaries of the work completed at the respective stages using the comparison and report tools available in NVivo. It is worth noting that, until recently, it was impossible to search the content of annotations, which made working on the project complicated. Fortunately, with version R1.7, this problem has been solved, and there are no longer any obstacles to carrying out such searches.

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Last but not least, as evidenced by the cited literature on the subject and our personal experience, while ensuring the consistency of data analysis, it is worth preserving the relative independence and autonomy of team members so as not to lose new insights and fresh ideas beyond the framework developed so far in the project.

6 Conclusions Our objective in this article was to show how features of one of the most popular qualitative data analysis programs today can be leveraged for teamwork. We wanted to share advice on ways of harnessing the potential latent in NVivo’s increasingly advanced and technically sophisticated features. We showcased NVivo options designed to support the teamwork of qualitative researchers representing different schools and using various analytical methods [1, 31–33]. We aimed to make the case that the work of research teams, including online collaborations, can be improved in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity by using CAQDAS tools. We used the NVivo software as an example, subject to the provision that the ultimate choice of these options depends on the needs of a particular team of researchers. The demand is, in turn, shaped by the methods used and the issues addressed and personal preferences [34, 35]. However, it is worth investigating whether the reluctance to employ CAQDAS, branded as a personal preference, is driven by prejudice or technophobia, keeping the researcher from exploring this option. It must be borne in mind, however, as we indicated more than once in our publications [2, 36–39], that using NVivo, and thereby computer-assisted qualitative data analysis, is not equivalent to opting for the best way to design and conduct research. It only serves as an alternative to traditional research methods [36]. Indeed, the final modality of research, i.e., traditional vs CAQDAS-assisted, seems secondary. What takes precedence is the adoption of the proper techniques, methods, and research tools to align with the activities scheduled by the analyst [40, 41], followed by the recruitment of an appropriate team if a group of researchers carries out the research. Most importantly, it is crucial to recognize the auxiliary nature of the software employed [3, 42, 43]. No software, even the most sophisticated and technologically advanced of the lot, may supersede the researcher(s) [1, 44, 45]. The researcher(s) must take liberties when using CAQDAS to creatively use the program’s tools to achieve their research goals and strategies [3, 41]. The outcome of the conducted analysis relies on the depth of reflection of the team members, their expertise, and know-how [3, 35, 46–48]. A collective pursuit of research goals also necessitates discussions held at the respective stages of analytical work and a smooth transfer of information between team members. Without the exchange of ideas and comments, it might be difficult to capitalize on the potential of the teamwork tools that NVivo contains. This type of software should not be regarded as a remedy for conceptual problems or difficulties with data interpretation. The expected results can be achieved by combining the roles of an informed researcher-analyst, the user of a given program [49], and applications that allow remote communication (synchronous and asynchronous) with other members of the research team. Finally, we would like to emphasize that the need to adapt to the changes that are taking place both in the socio-cultural context and social sciences is making researchers

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more open to new technologies involving data analysis software. A visible manifestation of these trends is precisely the changes taking place in terms of the functionalities that are available in CAQDAS programs. Given the impending changes, much of what is detailed in this article is about to become redundant with the next version of the collaboration cloud (likewise, ATLAS.ti or Quirkos now have live collaborative environments, which is where it is all headed). Acknowledgements. We would like to extend our thanks to the editors and reviewers for their lovely comments and feedback, which helped us refine our article and look at some issues from a different, more holistic, and, at the same time, critical perspective. We would also like to express our appreciation for the invaluable linguistic assistance we received from our dedicated and unfailingly supportive colleague Dr. Katarzyna Kobos.

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The Contribution of Interactions to Teachers’ Professional Development: A Qualitative Analysis Assisted by Atlas.ti Iris Estévez1(B)

, Alba Souto-Seijo1

, and Mercedes González-Sanmamed2

1 University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

{iris.estevez.blanco,albamaria.souto}@usc.es 2 University of A Coruña, A Coruña, Spain [email protected]

Abstract. The emerging ecological theory states that learning is multimodal and multidirectional and occurs in multiple contexts made up of various elements. One of the key elements is related to the interactions established between people, since they are fundamental to the design and creation of knowledge networks. This study aimed to analyze the influence of interactions on the professional development of university teachers in the field of health sciences. This qualitative study is framed in the tradition of Case Study research. The participants, selected through a sample of homogeneous cases, were the five best health sciences teachers at the University of A Coruña (Spain). Data was collected via semi-structured interview. Data analysis consisted of content analysis using Atlas.ti software. The results show how valuable interactions have been for the teachers’ professional development. Even though the relationships most valued by the participating teachers were those with their colleagues and students, that is, in the professional field, they also alluded to the influence of more personal interactions, although those had a less significant influence on their learning processes and keeping their teaching up to date. Keywords: teaching learning · learning ecologies · professor of higher education · Health Sciences · CAQDAS

1 Introduction The professional development of teachers is an important influence in increasing the quality of the teaching-learning process in higher education [1]. The primary objective of teacher professional development is to trigger changes in conceptions, knowledge, skills, and abilities that lead to an improvement in professional practice. It is this improvement in teaching expertise that will in turn lead to an improvement in student performance and learning. Even though there are several terms related to the construct of teacher professional development, such as permanent or continuous training, it is worth clarifying that professional development is not on the same level as training processes but is instead a © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 A. P. Costa et al. (Eds.): WCQR 2023, LNNS 688, pp. 60–71, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31346-2_4

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more encompassing term. Training is one more component within teacher professional development [2], but there are several elements that play a key role in this process. Although there are various theories that try to explain how teacher professional development occurs, each professional experiences this process in a particular and unique way. Each teacher builds their own identity, which determines how they each face and experience their professional development process. In addition, it is undeniable that the social context has undergone significant changes in recent years. New constructs have emerged, such as Learning Ecologies (LE), that allow all the elements making up the learning process related to teaching professional development to be interpreted and analyzed intra-dependently and inter-dependently [3, 4]. LEs are the set of contexts that are accessed and offer opportunities for learning [5]. This set of contexts consists of unique configurations of activities, material resources, relationships, and the interactions that emerge from them, and are found in physical or virtual spaces co-located in such a way that technology can help to remove the barriers that existed in the past [5, 6]. In the present study we focus on the analysis of one of the substantial elements that make up teachers’ LEs: interactions. They are key in the creation, persistence, and enrichment of everyone’s LEs [6, 7] in their professional development processes. From an ecological perspective of learning, there are several authors who have noted the important role of interactions with one’s peer group [8], with those who share one’s professional sphere, and with one’s own students [9], because of the feedback it provides. The present study aims to analyze the influence of interactions on the professional development of university teachers in the field of health sciences. The research question that guided the study is: How, and how much, do the different types of interactions contribute to the professional development of teachers in this field from an ecological perspective?

2 Methodology The Hopscotch conceptual model for the development of research methodological designs, created by Jorrín-Abellán [10, 11], was used for this study. As Fig. 1 shows, Hopscotch proposes a 9-step scheme, which must be considered recursively to build a consistent methodological design, with the goal of answering the research questions and achieving the formulated aims of the study. The metaphor on which this model is based is the traditional children’s game, whose rules accurately envision the progressive, dynamic, and iterative style of the phases of a methodological design. The key to the procedure lies in the fact that, in order to move on to a subsequent phase, each of the previous steps need to be reviewed, considering that any modification has a significant influence on prior phases [11]. In addition, it has a web tool that supports the theoretical model and that greatly facilitates the work of the novice researcher. Each of the steps making up the conceptual scheme is explained below. Table 1 also summarizes how the model was implemented in the framework of this study. Step 1: According to the Hopscotch Model [10, 11], the definition of the researcher’s paradigmatic view is the first aspect to consider when starting an investigation process.

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Fig. 1. Phases of the Hopscotch Model [11]

Taking Creswell [12] as a reference, the researchers who did this study identify with the pragmatic worldview. Step 2: The second step deals with the objectives of the study. Researchers must reflect on the motivations, goals or purposes that have led them to start the study. At a general level, the intention with this study was to increase knowledge and understanding on the topic of Learning Ecologies. Particularly, this focuses on one of the key elements forming the contextual dimension of the LE, the main objective being to analyze the influence of interactions on the professional development of university health sciences professors. Step 3: The construction of a conceptual framework that supports the research is key and allows the researcher to identify solid arguments to justify the relevance and importance of the research topic. Specifically, the literature on the following topics was reviewed: Learning Ecologies, Teacher Professional Development, Lifelong Learning, Professors, Interactions. Step 4: The fourth step focuses on defining the research design or tradition that best fits the study of the identified research problem. This qualitative study is part of the Case Study research tradition [14, 15]. This was a suitable design which allows for in-depth analysis of particular social realities and contribute to the study of well-defined systems in action [15]. According to Yin [16] this study follows a multiple case design. The participants were selected by means of a sample of homogeneous cases. With this type of sampling, the aim is to describe some subgroup in depth [17]. The participants must have common experience around the thematic core of the study, in our case the participants were all professors from the same institution (University of A Coruña), in the same scientific field (health sciences), with excellent results in the Activity Evaluation Support Program Professor of the University Teaching Staff (Docentia Program). The Docentia Program was launched in 2007 by the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation (ANECA), in close coordination with regional assessment agencies, to support universities in the design of their own mechanisms for managing the quality of the teaching activity in their universities and promoting teacher development and recognition. The data produced by this Program is confidential; this meant that it was the chancellor’s office of the university who contacted each of the professors to find out if they would be willing to participate in the study. Subsequently, and with the good fortune that the five best teachers in health sciences agreed to participate, the

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chancellor’s office provided us with their names, and we contacted them directly. The 5 selected teachers were contacted via e-mail: Marie, Adam, Jack, Tristan, and Sohpie (pseudonyms are used to maintain participants’ anonymity). They were aged between 46 and 64 years old, and their teaching experience ranged from 19 to 27 years. One is a full professor, three are deans of departments and the other is a permanent associate professor. With the support of the Hopscotch web tool, we created Fig. 2, which graphically illustrates the qualitative design (Case Study) that was implemented within the research framework. Step 5: The fifth step is to define the research questions. Specifically, the question that guided this study was, how do interactions contribute to the professional development of university health sciences teachers?

Fig. 2. Methodological design of the study generated by the Hopscotch 2.0 web tool

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Step 6: The sixth phase focuses on data collection, which in this study was via semistructured interview, since that was the type that best suited our research question. An interview script was prepared with a battery of questions based on prior knowledge on the topic, leading to three semi-structured interviews for each participant in the case. The first interview was biographical, to identify the most important aspects of the teacher training process throughout the subject’s life, highlighting significant influences that have shaped how they learn and their development at a national, personal, academic, and professional level. The second interview dealt with professional practice from the beginning to the present and was designed to better understand the participant’s route to university teaching, their first years working, and their current teaching tasks. Finally, the Learning Ecologies interview was designed to ask about the mechanisms that teachers use to continue training, the use of digital technologies for training, the environments where they self-train, and the importance of interactions with others in this range of environments. Figure 3 gives some examples of the questions making up the initial scripts. Biographical interview • How have family, friends and peers colleagues influenced your learning? • What impact might extracurricular experiences have had on your formative processes, both at that time and later? • What aspects of your current professional development might in some way be due to your personal and academic experiences during your school years? Professional exercise interview • How and when did the idea of being a university teacher come up after having done a degree related to health sciences? • How would you say that you have “learned to be a teacher”? • When you encounter any difficulties in your teaching, who do you turn to? LE interview • How have you kept up to date since you received your initial training? • How do your colleagues' keeping up to date influence your own keeping up to date? • What type of ICT tools do you use in your professional field and for what purpose?

Fig. 3. Examples of some questions from the interview scripts.

When the teachers were contacted, they were given information about the interviews, the interview was scheduled, and their permission was sought for the recording. The three interviews took place in three different sessions due to time constraints. The audio of all the meetings was recorded with the consent of the participants. Subsequently, the data was transcribed for analysis. Data was collected from 15 interviews, which produced 6 h and 17 min of recording. Finally, the comments, reflections, and interpretations that will be shown in the Results section are supported with extracts from the different content analysis techniques. Each citation is referenced in the text of the article with the following structure: firstly, with the letters CS-UDC, which refers to the scientific field of health sciences and the

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University of A Coruña. Next, a number from 1 to 5, which refers to the participant (Marie = 1, Adam = 2, Jack = 3, Tristan = 4 and Sohpie = 5). The next number corresponds to the number of the interview (1 = biographical interview, 2 = interview about professional practice, 3 = interview about Learning Ecologies). Finally, the page number corresponding to that excerpt in the transcription is given (e.g.: CS-UDC.4.3. p.1.). Step 7: The next step was data analysis. This is a challenging task given the large amount of information that is often collected in qualitative research [18]. This complex stage of the research process is key, which is why Miles, Huberman and Saldaña [19] presented an analysis model facilitating the approach to textual datasets. This model provides three recurring steps that constitute the basic analytical process, common to most studies that work with qualitative data: a) data reduction, b) summarized data representation, and c) drawing conclusions. The objective of analyzing the interviews was to provide in-depth information about all the relational elements making up the teachers’ Learning Ecologies in their professional development processes. The analysis used Atlas.ti (Version 7.3), which is commonly-used software in Social Science research [20]. We decided to perform a computer-assisted qualitative analysis (CAQDAS) to produce consistent, reliable results, and to make the analysis more transparent and facilitate external evaluation and discussion of the results [21]. The analysis was a collaborative process. In the first place, the Hermeneutical Unit was created, where all the transcriptions of the interviews were stored. Even though Atlas.ti can work with audio files, we decided to transcribe all the interviews. Although this is a laborious process, it is useful because, as stated by Kvale [22], it is an initial analysis. The Hermeneutical Unit was made up of 15 primary documents. Then, to make the data accessible and facilitate analysis, data reduction was performed. A category scheme was developed to do this in a consistent and coordinated manner. This was discussed in some detail between the researchers responsible for the study. This initial category scheme served as a guide for the integration and analysis of the data collected. It was based on the study objectives, research questions, and existing theory on Learning Ecologies. It had a flexible, open structure rather than being used rigidly. Subsequently, we proceeded analytically, in line with the content analysis strategy [15]. We began by creating a system of analysis categories followed by a process of inductive-deductive analysis based on that scheme. The different segments of the interviews were identified with codes. As the citations were coded, the category system was modified, and the citations were re-read to ensure consistency. This coding process is not without its difficulties, but as Linneberg and Korsgaard [23] noted, “It represents the gritty craftmanship that enables artful and creative interpretation and analysis of the data” (p. 261). At the end of the coding, the category system presented in Fig. 4 had emerged. Step 8: The eighth step refers to the rigor of the study, ours was based on the four principles established by Guba [24]: credibility, transfer, consistency, and reliability. Step 9: Finally, step nine deals with the ethical principles of research. We adhered to the principles proposed by Lichtman [25], which include: do no harm, provide total privacy and anonymity to the participants, declare the confidentiality of the information

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Contextual Dimension of the LE of the Case

Interactions Personal sphere

Professional sphere

Teaching models

Peer colleagues

Students

Relatives

Friendships

Fig. 4. Final category system at the end of the case data analysis process.

received; obtain the informed consent of the participants; keep the principle of relationship and friendship, avoid any form of intrusion into the personal life of the participant; make no false statements, misinterpretations, or fraudulent analysis of the data obtained. Table 1. Application of the Hopscotch Model [11] in the present study. Step 1. Paradigmatic position

Pragmatic Worldview [12]

Step 2. Problem and objectives

To analyze the influence of interactions on the professional development of university health sciences teachers

Step 3. Conceptual framework

Learning Ecologies, Teacher Professional Development, Lifelong Learning, University Faculty, Interactions

Step 4. Research design

Traditions of qualitative-interpretive research. Case study

Step 5. Research questions

How do interactions contribute to the professional development of university health sciences teachers from an ecological perspective?

Step 6. Data collection

Semi-structured interview

Step 7. Data analysis

Computer-assisted qualitative analysis (Atlas.ti)

Step 8. Reliability and validity

Procedure established by Miles, Huberman and Saldaña [19]

Step 9. Ethical principles

Credibility, transfer, consistency, and Confirmability [24]

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3 Results Relationships and interactions with people from different fields emerged within the contextual dimension of our teachers’ LEs. These relationships and interactions produce learning that contributes to the development and shape of their Learning Ecologies. The results have been structured in two main sub-extensions based on the environment these interactions take place in: Interactions with people in the professional field (colleagues, other professionals, students) and interactions with people in a more personal sphere (family and friends). Figure 5 is a network diagram that illustrates the codes comprising this element, the relationship between these codes, the frequency of appearance, and their density (see Fig. 5), demonstrating triangulation of the observed data.

Fig. 5. Network Diagram of the Interactions’ contextual element (Atlas.ti).

3.1 Results from the Professional Sphere Within the professional sphere, interactions with other people stand out significantly as a fundamental element at the beginning the teachers’ careers to shape their teaching identity, and currently to continue developing professionally. Along these lines, we can differentiate between identifying models to imitate (or reject), and colleagues or peers. Marie explained, “since I was an assistant teacher, I had a tenured professor who was my reference point, for good and bad. It’s not that I copied him, but somehow, I tried to make him my example when it came to behaving as a teacher” (CS-UDC.1.2. p.3). For his part, Adam commented that "There are several cases of people who I like the way they teach, how they treat the students… And those people have influenced me” (CS-UDC.2.1. p.7), “you see, like others, they teach content or classes, because from there you also get ideas or resources. And, logically, the interaction with other teachers, with classmates, or in the CUFIE standard courses. You go with people from other degrees, and you see that the problems are common. And that is

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an amalgamation of things that allow you to improve” (CS-UDC.2.2. p.8). Similarly, Jack continues to resort to colleagues to a greater extent in the knowledge area he was trained in initially when he has a particular training need. In his own words, "I come from the medical school, so when I have a training problem, or a specific area in which I want to train, let’s say… With greater intensity, I go to the medical school, I have colleagues from the area” (CS-UDC.3.3. p.12). In the same way, Tristan also noted interaction with colleagues and professionals in the field as a fundamental element in professional improvement, “one must always look at what other people do in their own niche. From this point of view, I see the exchange of information with colleagues, with other professionals, with other universities as very positive” (CS-UDC.4.3. p.15). Finally, Sohpie, in the same vein as her colleagues, added, “With colleagues too. Asking them: How do you do that? - I was never ashamed to ask and show my ignorance. I think that is very important. I think that people who are a few steps ahead of you can give you great ideas, and then you take that knowledge as your own, change it or modify it and that’s it.“ (CS-UDC.5.2. p.17). Another of the most notable results stemmed from information about students. Several of the participants highlighted the importance of interaction with students as an essential element in their process of improvement and staying up-to-date as a teacher. For example, Tristan said that “You learn a lot from the experience of others. Sometimes even the students teach us. For example, presenting a piece of work. Well, I pay attention to how they explain something that is very difficult for me to explain. And sometimes you discover… Well, wow, the way this person must explain it seems fantastic to me” (CS-UDC.4.2. p.11); “But in this sense, I think I have received feedback. For example, if the students in a class fell asleep or didn’t participate, I would say: well, there is something…wrong here”. And well, that allows you to change the tone, change the presentations, change the way of giving the class. In this sense, I believe that the people who have taught me the most have been the students” (CS-UDC.4.2. p.14). In the same way, Sohpie added “And the students! The students are great, come on, some of them are astounding! I sometimes schedule a tutorial with them so that they teach me things, when I see a group that presents work with something different, I tell them, I fully accept my ignorance, I have no problem… and, in fact, they were teaching me how to use Prezi” (CS-UDC.4.3. p.18). 3.2 Results from the Personal Sphere Now we turn to analyzing the interactions in more personal areas, such as relationships with friends or family that have contributed—explicitly or tacitly—to our interviewees’ professional improvement. Marie commented, “yes, sometimes things happen at your children’s school, related to their health or that type of thing, that make you think about elements that you can bring to your classroom, to be able to reflect with your students” (CS-UDC.1.3. p.5). In a similar sense, Jack noted that the family sphere was an extremely important element in his daily learning, “…having a partner who is a high school teacher gives me a different perspective, and I try to see how successful they may be when explaining something specific that I dedicate myself to transferring to my field. Also, I have 2 daughters, so of course, what students do is criticize the teachers, criticize, and praise,

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but always criticize. And I am alert to these criticisms. I always try to compare myself to their criticism and see if it would apply to my way of doing things” (CS-UDC.3.3. p.12). In this case, although both spheres were important drivers in professional development, the professional sphere had significantly more influence than the personal sphere.

4 Conclusions For a long time, there has been no doubt that all professionals must continue training throughout their lives. This training is first done to become professional and establish the skills of professional socialization, and later to find solutions to problems in the work they do [1]. At this point, it is essential to bear in mind that no pedagogical training is required to teach in higher education in the Spanish system. The authors [1] are therefore rather critical of the processes of access and professional promotion at Spanish universities, noting the lack of a regulated, structured teaching-learning process that would ensure—to a certain extent—the acquisition of the require teaching skills. The authors’ proposal, although desirable, is a long way from the current reality of teachers in higher education in our context. The inference is, therefore, that university teachers develop through a process of secondary socialization that is more unconscious and fortuitous. According to García-Galindo [26], this process lies on the following elements: a) The experience that teachers had as students; b) the model presented by their teachers; c) the pressure exerted by the system or the institutional organization (e.g., the department) and d) the expectations of students in professional practice. In this regard, our results confirm some of those points and add some complementary information. Our results show that the figure of the mentor teacher was indicated as a cornerstone of university health science teachers’ professional development processes. Work colleagues (department, area, research group, etc.) also exert a significant influence. Finally, the data indicate that student feedback is another key piece that can stimulate or inhibit teacher development and learning processes [9, 27]. Our study also indicated the influence exerted by the personal sphere (family and friends) in shaping the best teachers’ LEs [3]. It is worth noting that these types of relationships the teachers referred to always had some association with the academic or educational field. For example, in the family context, the informants referred to their children’s school experiences, as well as to conversations with relatives or friends who were also teachers (in higher education or other educational stages). Consequently, in line with Estévez, Souto-Seijo and Romero [28], we conclude that daily experiences, personal trajectory, and the sociocultural environment significantly influence a teacher’s knowledge, skills, and identity. Interaction may be said to be an essential part of the teacher socialization process. The socialization process is in turn triggered in parallel to other processes, such as the acquisition of professional learning, shaping a teaching identity, and teachers’ professional development. In addition, interactions are both means and ends for many learning activities, as is the case with digital resources. In other words, according to LE theory, all

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the elements (constituent parts of the personal and contextual dimension) are interconnected in a network of bidirectional connections [7]. Therefore, the relational element of the LE (interactions) is not only a source of learning, creating the teaching self, and the shaping of values and beliefs around training, but it also stands as a powerful motivator for the individual to undergo all of those processes. This study contributes to the development of qualitative research since its orientation is essentially interpretive. Furthermore, the research tradition framing the research was the Case Study, one of the most widely used and established designs in the academic and research environment [13, 14]. Likewise, the study was carried out based on the fundamental principles of rigor and exhaustiveness typical of qualitative trends. The complexity of some individual and social phenomena, such as teacher development and the unique configuration of their LEs, necessarily calls for an end to quantitative supremacy, and for the consolidation of rigorous methodological practices, whether qualitative or mixed. Acknowledgements. This study was carried out within the framework of the research project: “Ecologías de aprendizaje en la era digital: nuevas oportunidades para la formación del profesorado de educación secundaria” [Learning ecologies in the digital age: new opportuni-ties for training secondary education teachers] (ECO4LEARN-SE), partly financed by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities (Reference RTI2018-095690-B-I00).

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Bibliometric Analysis of Virtual Reality in School and University Contexts Judita Kasperiuniene1(B)

and Filomena Faiella2

1 Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania

[email protected] 2 University of Salerno, Salerno, Italy [email protected]

Abstract. Bibliometric analysis has become an extremely popular research method with the dramatic increase in scientific publications and other textual and numerical online data. Using bibliometric analysis in combination with qualitative content analysis, it is possible to discover important characteristics of scientific articles and to gain insights into the progress of other researchers’ work, scientific trends, most cited authors, the relationships between keywords recurring in publications, and other important parameters of scientific texts. Our study aims to explore the topic of virtual reality in education using bibliometric analysis of scientific publications with the aid of visualization tools and keyword co-occurrence analysis. The WoS and Scopus databases were chosen because of their popularity and wide use in bibliometric studies. Data from 2012 to 2022 were collected and analyzed using the search query “School” OR “University” as the topic AND “Virtual Reality” as author keywords, with a focus on journal articles and no restriction on the scientific field. A qualitative content analysis of the ten most cited articles was also done. We found that since 2016, there has been an intense growth of publications on this topic. Four main themes have emerged in research on virtual reality in education over the last decade: research on virtual reality technologies and innovative solutions for education, research on the impact of virtual reality on learners of different ages, research on the adaptation of learning materials to virtual reality, and research on learning with virtual reality. The results of the qualitative content analysis revealed the main topics of the most cited publications. The bibliometric analysis provides insights into the diversity of research on the chosen topic. These insights allow researchers and practitioners to understand virtual reality’s landscape in education better and choose less explored areas when planning their new research. This study also demonstrates the combination of bibliometric analysis and qualitative content analysis methods. Keywords: Bibliometric analysis · Citation databases · Co-occurrence analysis · EdTech · Education · Science mapping · Virtual reality

1 Introduction Virtual Reality (VR) is a human-computer interface that simulates realistic-looking worlds to offer users an interactive sensory experience. The key features of VR are © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 A. P. Costa et al. (Eds.): WCQR 2023, LNNS 688, pp. 72–92, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31346-2_5

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interactivity, immersion (sense of presence), sensory feedback, and the virtual world [32, 33]. Sensors, effectors, and reality simulators create a realistic artificial environment (virtual world) that makes every user feel like they are there (immersion), respond to real-time user input (interactivity), and stimulate a certain sensory system (sensory feedback). There are five different categories of virtual reality: non-immersive, semiimmersive, and fully immersive simulations, augmented reality, and collaborative VR [34, 35]. Non-immersive virtual reality systems (or virtual desktop reality) are the most common and widely used. They are three-dimensional simulated environments accessed through a computer, laptop for virtual machines, or video game consoles. This category of VR uses input devices to allow users to control characters and activities from within the software. Semi-immersive technology provides users with a partial virtual experience, usually strictly visual, remaining connected to their physical surroundings. This category of VR can be in the form of a three-dimensional space or virtual environment that a user accesses through a computer screen, a VR box/headset, or some glasses or headset. A fully immersive virtual technology gives users a sense of being present in a simulated environment [12] and interacting with objects due to immersing users equipped with wearable technology (such as helmets, gloves, and body connectors with sense detectors) connected to a powerful computer. Augmented reality (AR) superimposes computer-generated perceptual information on a user’s view of the real world via any device. Collaborative virtual reality allows different users from various locations, usually in the form of three-dimensional or projected characters, to interact and communicate within a simulated environment via microphones and headsets [39]. Virtual reality has a wide range of uses and many valuable applications also in the realm of education, especially for those lessons that are difficult, dangerous, expensive, or impossible to implement in the real world, but also all those based on the possibility of representing abstract concepts and virtually manipulating them, or also all those which allow students to collaborate with peers to experience the educational process as participation [37]. Universities, more than schools, generally show a strong interest in VR, especially for those working on online distance learning, due to virtual reality can create the conditions for implementing virtual laboratories to provide effective skill acquisition and hands-on experience, especially in STEM disciplines, in low-risk virtual environments [38]. Smutny, Babiuch and Foltynek considered the research literature on virtual reality and identified five ways higher education institutions can benefit from utilizing virtual reality [36]. Indeed, these authors claim that VR is adequate to support understanding better science subjects that students find to be abstract (visual learning), to provide effective skill acquisition through the activation of the feeling of being inside a virtual world (feeling of presence) or the manipulation of a simulated model of the processes (virtual laboratory) or the implementation of “hands-on” experiences (learning by doing). Moreover, they believe the virtual reality environment can increase students’ interest in learning through emotional engagement in the background and task (emotional reaction) [13, 36]. Despite an increase in interest in recent years, also because of the pandemic from COVID-19, unfortunately, there are no precise results on the effects of virtual reality environments on students’ learning. However, we can use Hattie’s Visible Learning Metax (https://www.visiblelearningmetax.com) to understand if virtual reality impacts

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students’ outcomes. Indeed, it analyzed four meta-analyses comprising 114 studies revealing an effect size of 0.54 for virtual reality, representing a medium positive effect size. On the contrary, research results are widely varied [27–31]. For instance, there are incredible results achieved in knowledge, cognitive, and mathematics skills, with a highly significant difference between the VR groups and the control groups [29] but also disappointing learning outcomes, which are usually attributed to cognitive overload [27, 28]. However, it also seems that the conditions of the virtual environment, and in particular the manipulable visual information, can bring better conceptual solutions to the abstract analogical problem, helping students to show higher cognitive performance [30]. In this view, the following article provides an overview of research on VR. It does not aim to provide a comprehensive literature review. Instead, it sets out to unpack the topic’s evolutionary nuances and key findings. A study on VR in education uses bibliometric analysis and content analysis to investigate the cited publications in the Scopus and WoS databases. The aims of the bibliometric analysis are to describe characteristics of articles published on VR in School and University contexts: number and type of publications, most cited publications, authors, countries they hail from, and emerging topics. Then, the content analysis examines the ten most cited publications to discover patterns within the documents on definition, features, categories, and what benefits it offers in learning. We raised the following research questions: (RQ1) How many and what type of publications on virtual reality in school and university contexts can be found in the WoS Core Collection and Scopus databases? (RQ2) What are the most cited publications on virtual reality in education? (RQ3) Which authors and from which countries are the most published? (RQ4) What are the motor and emerging topics related to the topic studied? (RQ5) Which key findings concerning the effects on learning performance and the benefits of affective variables are discussed in the most cited Scopus and WoS publications?

2 Materials and Methods Bibliometric methodology encompasses the quantitative review and analysis of publications in numerous scientific databases. With the dramatic increase in the volume of scientific publications and other textual and numerical online data, bibliometric analysis has become a prevalent research method [1, 14]. Using bibliometric analysis in combination with content analysis, essential characteristics of scientific articles could be discovered, and insights into the progress of other researchers’ work, scientific trends, most cited authors, the relationships between keywords recurring in publications, and other essential parameters of scientific texts could be gained [15]. For the bibliometric analysis, we chose two scientific databases - Scopus and WoS. These databases were first selected because of their popularity among leading academic institutions and scholars. The second and third criteria for choosing these databases were that they bring together high-quality publications and have advanced analytics and technology solutions. Also, both databases are interdisciplinary. We have chosen the last ten years (2012–2022) for our analysis, as the last decade has seen more research on VR in

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schools and university contexts. The search was done using “School” OR “University” as the topic AND “Virtual Realit*” as author keywords. The bibliometric analysis was done with Microsoft Excel software, R programming language for statistical computing [17], and the VosViewer software tool for constructing and visualizing bibliometric networks [16]. Four stages of the bibliometric analysis process are mapped in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. Four stages of the bibliometric analysis process.

Content analysis [19] was used to investigate Scopus and WoS most highly cited publications. We considered the first five most cited publications in the Scopus database and WoS for our extended content analysis. So, we obtained ten articles, of which two appeared in both databases, and finally, we only considered eight documents. Content analysis research focuses on describing or interpreting qualitative data following contentanalytical rules that make the categorization process as controlled as possible. So, we analyzed the content of these publications through a classification process for identifying themes or patterns. We compiled a list of aspects to be considered in the eight articles based on the literature review summarized in the Introduction. So, we checked A) the topic and the educational context in the articles, B) the definition, features and categories of virtual reality described in the articles, and C) the effects on learning if they are discussed in the articles. Above all, we summarized the key findings from these studies about the effects on learning performance and the benefits of affective variables of students using virtual reality.

3 Results For this study, we combined bibliometric analysis with qualitative content analysis. In the Performance analysis part, we explain RQ1, RQ2, and RQ3; in the Science mapping part, we explain RQ4. In the Extended analysis of the most cited article part, we answer RQ5.

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3.1 Performance Analysis Answering RQ1 on how many and what type of publications on virtual reality in education can be found in the Scopus and WoS Core Collection databases, we found that in the Scopus database, 1760 scientific publications were published in the last decade (2012–2022), the majority of which were articles and conference papers. In the WoS database, slightly fewer publications were published in the same period – specifically, 1254. For further analysis, we have selected articles, conference or proceeding papers, and book chapters at their final publication stage (see Table 1). Table 1. Document types (Scopus and WoS). Document Type

Scopus

WoS Core Collection

Record count

% of 1760

Record count

% of 1254

Article

893

50.74

741

59.09

Conference or Proceeding Paper

843

47.90

516

41.15

24

1.36

7

0.56

Book Chapter

When researching the number of publications per year, we found a sharp increase in interest in VR in School and University settings from 2017 to 2021. Although our research was carried out in October - November 2022, and the data for 2022 is not yet complete, a downward trend in interest in the researched topic can be observed in 2022 (Fig. 2). When analyzing which publications are cited the most (RQ2), we found the same three most cited publications [5, 10, 11] in both databases. The articles cited more than 150 times during the last decade (2012–2022) are provided in Table 2 and Table 3. Our analysis proves that scholars tend to rely more on the Scopus database than the WoS database when searching for scientific evidence, research sources, and empirical results on using VR in school and university contexts. Answering RQ3 on the most productive researchers, we found that 22 authors submitted more than five scientific publications on researched topics in Scopus and 13 in WoS Core Collection journals. The most actively publishing authors were Jong [6, 7], Makransky [4, 5], Mystakidis [8, 9], Ke [3], and Kersten [2]. Analyzing the most productive researchers, we can conclude that the Scopus database could be characterized by various authors publishing on VR in school and university contexts. Still, the WoS database contains almost all the authors whose publications appear in Scopus. The records of the most frequently published authors can be found in both databases (Table 4). Researchers from the US, China, and Taiwan have published most studies on using VR in education. Researchers in the United States publish almost three times as many studies, and in China, almost twice as many studies compared to European countries. The leading European countries in this research area published in English are the United Kingdom, Germany, and Spain. Italy is left not far behind. Spain is the only one of the

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No. of publicaons per year (circa 2012-2022) 400 350

350 308

300 248

250 200

163

150 96

100 50 0 2010 -50

65

64

64

29 37 37

48

57

64

45

2012 Scopus

2014 WoS

2016

199 136

302 245

200 170

87

2018

2020

Linear (Scopus)

2022

2024

Linear (WoS)

Fig. 2. Growth of Scopus and WoS Core Collection publications on VR in School and University contexts during 2012–2022. Linear shows trends.

world’s most publishing countries around VR in school and university contexts, with an almost equal publications in both databases (see Fig. 3). Other researchers can use our results to analyze the most cited publications further. 3.2 Science Mapping To answer (RQ4) on the motor and emerging topics, we analyzed the most important research topics on VR in school and university contexts and topic evolution over the last decade. We considered scientific publications to be linked if one publication can be found in the reference list of another publication. We performed a co-keyword analysis on author keywords examining publications. We assumed that keywords often found together may be interlinked thematically, i.e., they explain the same or a very similar topic. The limitation of this technique was that we found some very general keywords, such as “virtual reality”. This generalized keyword has often been repeated in each year’s publications. We kept it because other keywords that are equally important to us were co-occurring around it, though not as often repeated.

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J. Kasperiuniene and F. Faiella Table 2. The list of publications that were cited more than 150 times in Scopus.

Scopus No Title

Authors

1

Adding Makransky G., immersive Terkildsen T.S., virtual reality Mayer R.E to a science lab simulation causes more presence but less learning [5]

2

Publication Year Total Citations Average Citation per Year 2019

416

104.00

Virtual laboratories for education in science, technology, and engineering: A review [20]

Potkonjak V., 2016 Gardner M., Callaghan V., Mattila P., Guetl C., Petrovi´c V.M., Jovanovi´c K

414

59.14

3

The effectiveness of virtual and augmented reality in health sciences and medical anatomy [21]

Moro C., Štromberga Z., Raikos A., Stirling A

2017

352

58.67

4

Learning with Lee E.A.-L., virtual desktop Wong K.W reality: Low spatial ability learners are more positively affected [10]

2014

204

22.67

5

Interactive augmented reality system for enhancing library instruction in elementary schools [22]

2012

189

17.18

Chen C.-M., Tsai Y.-N

(continued)

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Table 2. (continued) Scopus No Title

Authors

Publication Year Total Citations Average Citation per Year

6

A structural Makransky G., equation Lilleholt L modeling investigation of the emotional value of immersive virtual reality in education [11]

2018

187

37.40

7

Teaching based on augmented reality for a technical, creative design course [23]

Wei X., Weng D., Liu Y., Wang Y

2015

169

21.13

8

The effect of virtual reality gaming on dynamic balance in older adults [24]

Rendon A.A., Lohman E.B., Thorpe D., Johnson E.G., Medina E., Bradley B

2012

169

15.36

Analyzing the keywords and their co-occurrences from 2012 to 2022, we found that there has been a significant increase in new research and publications on VR in education since 2017 (see Fig. 4).

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J. Kasperiuniene and F. Faiella Table 3. The list of publications that were cited more than 150 times in WoS.

Web of Science Core Collection No

Title

Authors

Publication Year

Total Citations

Average per Year

1

A Literature Freina, L., Ott, Review on M Immersive Virtual Reality in Education: State of The Art and Perspectives [25]

2015

350

43.75

2

Adding Makransky, G., 2019 immersive Terkildsen, T. S., virtual reality to Mayer, R. E a science lab simulation causes more presence but less learning [5]

309

77.25

3

Augmented Scholz, J., reality: Smith, A. N Designing immersive experiences that maximize consumer engagement [26]

2016

166

23.71

4

Learning with virtual desktop reality: Low spatial ability learners are more positively affected [10]

2014

161

17.89

5

A structural Makransky, G., equation Lilleholt, L modeling investigation of the emotional value of immersive virtual reality in education [11]

2018

156

31.20

Lee, E. A., Wong, K. W

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Table 4. The most productive authors (Scopus and WoS). Authors whose publications can be found in both databases are highlighted.

0.52 0.46

1 2

3 4-10

SCOPUS Authors Record Count Jong, M.S .Y. 9 Makransky, 8 G. M ystakidis, S. 7 Andone, D. 6

0.40 0.35

4-10 4-10 4-10

Frydenberg, M . Ip, H.H.S . Ke, F.

6 6 6

4-10 4-10

Kersten, T.P. Latoschik, M .E. Mazikowski, A. Rebelo, F.

11-22

Southgate, E. Vilar, E. Barrile, V. Bouchard, S. Cardoso, A. Li, C. M ajgaard, G. Muntean, G.M. M urphy, D.

11-22 11-22 11-22 11-22 11-22

Noriega, P. Redondo, E. Tsoupikova, D. Vergara, D. Wei, X.

1 2

4-10 4-10 4-10 4-10 11-22 11-22 11-22 11-22 11-22 11-22

WOS % of 1760

Authors Makransky G. Jong M.S .Y.

Record Count 8 7

% of 1254 0.64 0.56

3-6 3-6

Ke F.F. Kersten T.P.

6 6

0.48 0.48

0.35 0.35 0.35

3-6 3-6 7-13

Kim J. Palkova Z. Ip H.H.S .

6 6 5

0.48 0.48 0.40

6 6

0.35 0.35

7-13 7-13

5 5

0.40 0.40

6

0.35

7-13

5

0.40

6

0.35

7-13

Kim H. Mazikowski A. Muntean G.M. Rebelo F.

5

0.40

6 6 5 5 5 5 5 5

0.35 0.35 0.29 0.29 0.29 0.29 0.29 0.29

7-13 7-13

Southgate E. Vilar E.

5 5

0.40 0.40

5

0.29

5 5 5 5 5

0.29 0.29 0.29 0.29 0.29

Using the method of co-occurrence of keywords provided by the authors in scientific records of the selected years, we found that in 2012, various themes related to virtual reality in school and university contexts were explored, such as computer experiments in VR, interactive learning environments, Second Life, learning cultural heritage with VR, etc. The links between these themes were weak. Some themes highlighted the importance of technology – 3D printing and 3D navigation in VR systems, and others focused on pedagogical solutions – attitudes towards VR technology and children using VR (see Fig. 5).

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Countries with the highest numbers of publicaons 400 344

350

287

300

247

250

198

200 150

108 79

100

95

89 68

86

72

80 82

63

78

58

53

50

34

0 United States

China

Taiwan United Australia Germany Spain Kingdom

No. of records (Scopus)

Italy

Japan

No. of records (WoS)

Fig. 3. Countries with the highest publications (2012–2022) in Scopus and WoS databases.

Author keyword co-occurence per year (2012-2022) 1101

1200

1043

1000

925 823

800 600

517

400 200 0

146 2012

204

2013

262 243

2014

178

2015

199

2016 AK

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

CK

Fig. 4. The growth of author keyword co-occurrence during the last decade. AK – all keywords; CK – connected keywords.

We found the merging of themes and the formation of thematic clusters in 2013. The Augmented reality (AR) thematic cluster with gesture recognition, immersion, AR and rehabilitation issues stood out. Another thematic cluster grew out of cultural heritage research, with cultural heritage and education with VR, cultural heritage and arts with VR, and art perception through VR. The third thematic cluster links technological

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Fig. 5. Keyword co-occurrence heat map on virtual reality in school and university contexts in 2012. A higher-density yellow color indicates the more frequently used theme or topic. All keywords – 168; connected keywords - 146.

solutions - 3D printing technology, VR and/in e-learning, VR and simulation techniques (see Fig. 6).

Fig. 6. Keyword co-occurrence heat map on virtual reality in school and university contexts in 2013. A higher-density yellow color indicates the more frequently used theme or topic. All keywords – 251; connected keywords - 204.

In 2014, we continued to see the same themes merging and new clusters forming. The use of VR in medical education, such as clinical education in medicine with VR, decontamination, and VR laparoscopy - has become a frequent theme. Although the number of publications increased, the variety of research topics stayed wide (see Fig. 7).

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Fig. 7. Keyword co-occurrence heat map on virtual reality in school and university contexts in 2014. A higher-density yellow color indicates the more frequently used theme or topic. All keywords – 266; connected keywords - 243.

A small variety of interlinked topics was also observed in 2015 and 2016. In 2015, no new topics of particular interest emerged, and the research continued in the same areas as in 2014. In 2016, research in hybrid reality and STEM education started to increase. Scholars began to publish more on VR solutions related to computer vision technologies (see Fig. 8).

2015 AK = 228, CK = 178

2016 AK = 226, CK = 199

Fig. 8. Keyword co-occurrence heat maps on virtual reality in school and university contexts in 2015 (left) and 2016 (right). A higher-density yellow color indicates the more frequently used theme or topic. AK - all keywords; CK - connected keywords.

Research in augmented reality applications continued to grow in 2017. Scholars started to discuss and publish more on learner health issues related to VR use and anxiety. However, this year was marked by the emergence of new topics related to virtual worlds in education and the application of VR in collaborative education. Same as in 2016, three main clusters of research themes were observed - augmented reality and its applications (especially in medical education), the impact of VR on teaching

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and learning (e.g., interaction, immersion, raise of motivation), and teaching/learning methodologies (e.g., collaborative education) – see Fig. 9.

Fig. 9. Keyword co-occurrence heat map on virtual reality in school and university contexts in 2017. A higher-density yellow color indicates the more frequently used theme or topic. All keywords - 313; Connected keywords - 262.

In 2018, a strong convergence of research themes was observed. New topics related to the inclusion of people with disabilities in education emerge - research on VR applications teaching persons with autism spectrum disorders and various types of disabilities, VR rehabilitation issues, mental balance, and health promotion. Research on topics of gaming and game-based learning grows. Scholars have started to publish more on the use of 360 videos in education (see Fig. 10).

Fig. 10. Keyword co-occurrence heat map on virtual reality in school and university contexts in 2018. A higher-density yellow color indicates the more frequently used theme or topic. All keywords - 572; Connected keywords - 517.

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The year 2019 marked a noticeable interconnectedness between all key themes observed previously. That year was highlighted by research into VR use in language teaching, learning, and bodily sensational-type games. In addition, the search for the theoretical and methodological background was highlighted, with researchers relying more actively on the technology-acceptance model framework (see Fig. 11).

Fig. 11. Keyword co-occurrence heat map on virtual reality in school and university contexts in 2019. A higher-density yellow color indicates the more frequently used theme or topic. All keywords - 852; Connected keywords - 823.

In 2020, research themes were also strongly interlinked. It was a year marked by exclusion, isolation, enclosure in personal and educational bubbles, and the Covid-19 lockdown. Key themes of the year were the use of VR in virtual labs and classrooms and learner engagement with VR solutions. Another important topic was VR anxiety in education (especially for teachers) and discussions on overcoming it (see Fig. 12). In 2021 and 2022, a new research topic emerged - the use of VR in various educational processes in Covid-19. The other themes have remained practically the same. In 2022, research on VR and AR was increasingly interlinked. Researchers explored the phenomena of situated learning and learning autonomy. A new research area is emerging - digital twins in education (see Fig. 13). The most significant limitation of this part of the bibliometric analysis is the incomplete data for 2022. The data was collected from October - November 2022. It is likely that some of the scholarly research, particularly the citation results of the most popular publications in Scopus and WoS, will be recalculated at the beginning of the year 2023. The incompleteness of the 2022 records is particularly evident in Fig. 2 and Fig. 4. However, we have purposely collected results from the most recent year to overview the most recent trends and highlight emerging themes and research topics. Also, it is essential to note that this limitation is unlikely to distort the overall picture because it only marginally affects one year’s results.

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Fig. 12. Keyword co-occurrence heat map on virtual reality in school and university contexts in 2020. A higher-density yellow color indicates the more frequently used theme or topic. All keywords - 976; Connected keywords - 925.

2021 AK = 1142, CK = 1101

2022 AK = 1074, CK = 1043

Fig. 13. Keyword co-occurrence heat maps on virtual reality in school and university contexts and topic evolution through 2021–2022. A higher-density yellow color indicates the more frequently used theme or topic. AK – all keywords; CK – connected keywords.

3.3 Extended Analysis of Most Cited Articles Answering RQ5 on which key findings concerning the effects on learning performance and the benefits of affective variables are discussed in the most cited Scopus and WoS publications, we did a content analysis. Considering the first five most cited publications in the Scopus database and WoS, ten articles were obtained, of which two appeared in both databases, so we only considered eight documents. Except for one record, the eight most cited publications on virtual reality in educational contexts were published between 2012 and 2019 in peer-reviewed scientific journals. That record is a conference proceeding. The publications span a wide array of topics. Five of the eight documents focus on some subject matter (STEM subjects, biology (n = 3), and anatomy]. One paper focuses on the fundamental design decisions marketers need to make when planning an augmented reality campaign, another looks

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at the literature published in 2013–2014 on immersive virtual reality in education, and another study looked at an expanded reality library instruction system. Five of these eight documents describe research conducted in an educational context: three were with university students, one in secondary schools, and another in an elementary school. Most of the most cited publications (5 out of 8 analyzed records) define VR. What is immediately noticeable from these articles is that there is no primary definition, which all share, and that the authors used different references for defining VR. Also, each of these definitions of VR possesses its substantive terms [environment (n = 2), simulation, user interface, computer graphics system]. Still, all conclude that VR is an environment or a simulation of an environment. Surprisingly, only three documents of the eight studied describe features of VR. One will note that all three talk about immersion and that just one adds two more features: interaction and user involvement with the environment. Four out of eight publications highlighted the difference between just two of the five categories of VR: non-immersive and fully immersive virtual reality. One of these four articles also shows signs of augmented reality. Two of the eight most cited articles are entirely dedicated to augmented reality. Five of eight publications present the effects on learning performance and the benefits of affective variables. These publications confirm the conflicting results found in the literature regarding the effects of virtual reality environments on students’ learning. Indeed, while some of them [21, 22] indicated that VR generates equivalent learning performance as other ways of presenting the material, in contrast, two other studies suggested that students learned more when they used desktop VR [5, 10] than when they used immersive VR. We can add that experimental results described in the publication of Chen and Tsai [22] demonstrate that student learning performance is improved significantly by using a library’s learning environment based on innovative augmented reality interactive technology. Similarly, the study of Moro et al. [21] showed no significant differences between the students’ mean scores using VR, augmented reality, and tablet-based applications for studying anatomy. On the other hand, the very detailed research of Makransky et al. [5] and Lee and Wong [10] findings conclude that students learned more via desktop VR than via immersive VR. Moreover, both studies related the virtual reality instructional intervention to the cognitive load theory. While Lee and Wong [10] have assumed that the desktop VR intervention has helped increase extraneous cognitive load and reduce germane cognitive load, Makransky et al. [5] used an electroencephalogram to obtain a direct measure of cognitive processing during learning. So, they concluded that «students were more overloaded during learning later in the session when they were learning in immersive VR than when learning with a desktop computer» (p. 232). It’s also worth pointing out that the study of Lee and Wong [10] established that «low spatial ability learners benefit most from the VR-based learning environment because they have difficulty mentally reconstructing their visualization» (p. 51). By contrast, there is more remarkable agreement about the emotional value of VR. For instance, Moro et al. [21] found that VR and augmented reality provide intrinsic benefits, such as student engagement, interactivity, and enjoyment. Furthermore, the emotional value (such as presence, motivation, the immediacy of control, and enjoyment)

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of the immersive version of VR seems to be also greater than the desktop version. Indeed, the significant empirical contribution of Makransky and Lilleholt’s publication [11] concerned the emotional value of immersive VR, which seems to be significantly more important than the desktop VR version. Makransky et al. [5] also showed that students reported a greater sense of presence when the material was presented via immersive VR than a desktop computer. Table 5. An extended analysis of the 10 most cited publications (Scopus and WoS). Other metrics

AUTHORS Freina & Ott [25]

Scholz & Smith [26]

Makransky & Lilleholt [11]

Makransky et al. [5]

Lee & Potkonjak Wong [10] et al. [20]

Moro et al. [21]

Chen & Tsai [22]

Database

WoS

WoS

WoS

WoS & Scopus

WoS & Scopus

Scopus

Scopus

Scopus

Type of publication

Conference proceeding

Article

Article

Article

Article

Article

Article

Article

Publication year

2015

2016

2018

2019

2014

2016

2017

2012

Topic

review of literature

marketing

biology

biology

biology

STEM subjects

anatomy

library instruction system

Educational context

–

–

university

university

secondary schools

–

university

elementary school

Definition

Yes (VR)

yes (AR)

Yes (VR)

–

Yes (VR)

Yes (VR)

–

yes (AR)

Features

yes

–

yes

yes

–

–

–

–

Categories

yes

–

yes

–

yes

–

–

–

Effects on learning

–

–

yes

yes

yes

–

yes

yes

Moro et al. [21] are also the only of the ten most cited in Scopus and WoS publications that discussed the adverse effects of VR, such as general discomfort, headache, dizziness, nausea, and disorientation. The symptoms have shown those usually exhibited in cybersickness. The participants in the VR groups experienced significantly more symptoms than those in the augmented reality and tablet groups. See Table 5 for an extended analysis of the 10 most cited publications.

4 Conclusions Bibliometric analysis aims to summarize large quantities of bibliometric data to present the state of the intellectual structure and emerging trends of a research topic or field [14]. Our bibliometric analysis of 1760 Scopus and 1254 WoS publications provides insights into the diversity of research on virtual reality in education in the last decade (circa 2012–2022). These insights allow researchers and practitioners to understand better virtual reality’s landscape in school and university contexts and choose less explored areas when planning their new research.

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Although there is a relatively large number of literature and scoping reviews on VR in education and specifically on the application of VR in school and higher education environments (e.g. [18]), and the number of studies has been increasing in the last years, our bibliometric analysis is unique in the sense that we not only highlight the most frequently analyzed keywords, their co-occurrences, themes, and topics over the last decade, but also present the most cited and famous authors, and their publications. Additionally, our research revealed that virtual reality in school and university settings is still changing. Scholars provide different definitions of this phenomenon and analyze the most varied aspects of it: immersion, interaction, learner involvement, and enhancing student cognitive development. We found that four main themes have emerged in research on virtual reality in school and university contexts over the last decade: research on virtual reality technologies and innovative solutions for education, research on the impact of virtual reality on learners of different ages, research on the adaptation of learning materials to virtual reality, and research on learning with virtual reality. We also investigated the most highly cited publications in Scopus and WoS, summarizing the key findings of the effects on learning performance and the benefits of affective variables when students use virtual reality. Our study confirmed the conflicting results on the impact of virtual reality environments on students’ learning and, conversely, the more excellent agreement on presence, motivation, immediacy, and enjoyment reported by students using virtual reality. The radical increase in publications on this topic makes bibliometric analysis an excellent method for researching scientific sources. Author keyword co-occurrence heat maps allow seeing new and emerging topics. In our analysis, we provided an example of how with VOSviewer and R package, researchers could find emerging themes and the clusters that connect them. This study also demonstrates the combination of bibliometric analysis and content analysis. Authors Contributions. The research was done equally by both authors. The contribution to article writing is as follows: JK contributed to the Abstract, Research Methodology, and Bibliometric analysis parts; FF contributed to the Abstract, Introduction, and Extended analysis of most cited articles. Both authors write conclusions.

References 1. Cobo, M.J., López-Herrera, A.G., Herrera-Viedma, E., Herrera, F.: Science mapping software tools: review, analysis, and cooperative study among tools. J. Am. Soc. Inform. Sci. Technol. 62(7), 1382–1402 (2011) 2. Kersten, T., Tschirschwitz, F., Deggim, S.: Development of a virtual museum including a 4D presentation of building history in virtual reality. In: TC II & CIPA 3D Virtual Reconstruction and Visualization of Complex Architectures, 1–3 March 2017, Nafplio, Greece, pp. 361–367. Copernicus (2017) 3. Ke, F., Lee, S., Xu, X.: Teaching training in a mixed-reality integrated learning environment. Comput. Hum. Behav. 62, 212–220 (2016) 4. Makransky, G., Andreasen, N.K., Baceviciute, S., Mayer, R.E.: Immersive virtual reality increases liking but not learning with a science simulation and generative learning strategies promote learning in immersive virtual reality. J. Educ. Psychol. 113(4), 719–735 (2021)

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5. Makransky, G., Terkildsen, T.S., Mayer, R.E.: Adding immersive virtual reality to a science lab simulation causes more presence but less learning. Learn. Instr. 60, 225–236 (2019) 6. Lin, H.C.S., Yu, S.J., Sun, J.C.Y., Jong, M.S.Y.: Engaging university students in a library guide through wearable spherical video-based virtual reality: effects on situational interest and cognitive load. Interact. Learn. Environ. 29(8), 1272–1287 (2021) 7. Geng, J., Jong, M.S.Y., Luk, E., Jiang, Y.: Comparative study on the pedagogical use of interactive spherical video-based virtual reality: the EduVenture-VR experience. In: 2018 international symposium on educational technology (ISET), pp. 261–263. IEEE (2018) 8. Mystakidis, S., Cachafeiro, E., Hatzilygeroudis, I.: Enter the serious E-scape room: a costeffective severe game model for deep and meaningful E-learning. In: 2019 10th International Conference on Information, Intelligence, Systems and Applications (IISA), pp. 1–6. IEEE. (2019) 9. Mystakidis, S.: Distance education gamification in virtual social reality: a case study on student engagement. In: 2020 11th International Conference on Information, Intelligence, Systems and Applications, IISA, pp. 1–6. IEEE (2020) 10. Lee, E.A.L., Wong, K.W.: Learning with desktop virtual reality: low spatial ability learners are more positively affected. Comput. Educ. 79, 49–58 (2014) 11. Makransky, G., Lilleholt, L.: A structural equation modeling investigation of the emotional value of immersive virtual reality in education. Educ. Tech. Research Dev. 66(5), 1141–1164 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-018-9581-2 12. Markowitz, D.M., Laha, R., Perone, B.P., Pea, R.D., Bailenson, J.N.: Immersive virtual reality field trips facilitate learning about climate change. Front. Psychol. 9, 2364 (2018) 13. Viberg, O., Gronlund, Å.: Cross-cultural analysis of users’ attitudes toward the use of mobile devices in second and foreign language learning in higher education: a case from Sweden and China. Comput. Educ. 69, 169–180 (2013) 14. Donthu, N., Kumar, S., Mukherjee, D., Pandey, N., Lim, W.M.: How to conduct a bibliometric analysis: an overview and guidelines. J. Bus. Res. 133, 285–296 (2021) 15. Cheng, M., Edwards, D., Darcy, S., Redfern, K.: A tri-method approach to a review of adventure tourism literature: Bibliometric analysis, content analysis, and a quantitative systematic literature review. J. Hosp. Tour. Res. 42(6), 997–1020 (2018) 16. Van Eck, N.J., Waltman, L.: Text mining and visualization using VOSviewer. arXiv preprint arXiv:1109.2058 (2011) 17. Chambers, J. M. Software for data analysis: programming with R (Vol. 2). Springer, New York (2008) 18. Rojas-Sánchez, M.A., Palos-Sánchez, P.R., Folgado-Fernández, J.A.: Systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis on virtual reality and education. Educ. Inf. Technol. 28, 1–38 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-11167-5 19. Neuendorf, K.A.: The Content Analysis Guidebook. Sage, London (2017) 20. Potkonjak, V., et al.: Virtual laboratories for education in science, technology, and engineering: A review. Comput. Educ. 95, 309–327 (2016) 21. Moro, C., Štromberga, Z., Raikos, A., Stirling, A.: The effectiveness of virtual and augmented reality in health sciences and medical anatomy. Anat. Sci. Educ. 10(6), 549–559 (2017) 22. Chen, C.M., Tsai, Y.N.: Interactive augmented reality system for enhancing library instruction in elementary schools. Comput. Educ. 59(2), 638–652 (2012) 23. Wei, X., Weng, D., Liu, Y., Wang, Y.: Teaching based on augmented reality for a technical creative design course. Comput. Educ. 81, 221–234 (2015) 24. Rendon, A.A., Lohman, E.B., Thorpe, D., Johnson, E.G., Medina, E., Bradley, B.: The effect of virtual reality gaming on dynamic balance in older adults. Age Ageing 41(4), 549–552 (2012)

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25. Freina, L., Ott, M.: A literature review on immersive virtual reality in education: state of the art and perspectives. In: The international Scientific Conference elearning and Software for Education, vol. 1, no. 133, pp. 10–1007 (2015) 26. Scholz, J., Smith, A.N.: Augmented reality: Designing immersive experiences that maximize consumer engagement. Bus. Horiz. 59(2), 149–161 (2016) 27. Moreno, R., Mayer, R.E.: Learning science in virtual reality multimedia environments: role of methods and media. J. Educ. Psychol. 94(3), 598–610 (2002) 28. Richards, D., Taylor, M.: Comparison of learning gains when using a 2D simulation tool versus a 3D virtual world: an experiment to find the right representation involving the Marginal Value Theorem. Comput. Educ. 86, 157–171 (2015) 29. Alhalabi, W.: Virtual reality systems enhance students’ achievements in engineering education. Behaviour & Information Technology 35(11), 919–925 (2016) 30. Passig, D., Tzuriel, D., Eshel-Kedmi, G.: Improving children’s cognitive modifiability by dynamic assessment in 3D Immersive Virtual Reality environments. Comput. Educ. 95, 296– 308 (2016) 31. Noah, N., Das, S.: Exploring evolution of augmented and virtual reality education space in 2020 through systematic literature review. Comput. Anim. Virtual Worlds 32(3–4), 1–9 (2021) 32. Sherman, W.R., Craig, A.B.: Understanding Virtual Reality: Interface, Application, and Design. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, San Francisco (2018) 33. Dalgarno, B., Lee, M.J.W.: What are the learning affordances of 3-D virtual environments? Br. J. Edu. Technol. 41(1), 10–32 (2010) 34. Hand, C.: Other faces of virtual reality. In: Brusilovsky, P., Kommers, P., Streitz, Norbert (eds.) MHVR 1996. LNCS, vol. 1077, pp. 107–116. Springer, Heidelberg (1996). https://doi. org/10.1007/3-540-61282-3_11 35. Jacobson, L.: Welcome to the virtual world. In: Swadley, R. (ed.) On the Cutting Edge of Technology, pp. 69–79. Sams, Carmel (1993) 36. Smutny, P., Babiuch, M., Foltynek, P.A.: Review of the virtual reality applications in education and training. In: Proceedings of the 2019 20th International Carpathian Control Conference (ICCC), pp. 1–4. IEEE, Krakow-Wieliczka (2019) 37. Billingsley, G., Smith, S., Smith, S., Meritt, J.: A systematic literature review of using immersive virtual reality technology in teacher education. J. Interact. Learn. Res. 30(1), 65–90 (2019) 38. Pellas, N., Dengel, A., Christopoulos, A.: A scoping review of immersive virtual reality in STEM education. IEEE Trans. Learn. Technol. 13(4), 748–761 (2020) 39. Garzón, J.: An overview of twenty-five years of augmented reality in education. Multimodal Technol. Interact. 5(7), 1–14 (2021)

Leaders in the Face of Cultural Diversity: Managing Challenges Mafalda Sousa1(B)

, Edite Saraiva1 , and Catarina Brandão1,2

1 Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação, Universidade Do Porto, Porto, Portugal

[email protected], [email protected] 2 Center for Psychology at the University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

Abstract. Considering the possible new challenge of managing a diverse workforce, it is crucial to understand how leaders manage this challenge. The Theory of Attachment-Based Exploratory Interest Sharing (TABEIS) provides a robust framework to understand how managing a diverse workforce is experienced by leaders and if it is experienced as a threat, with a response of fear (i.e., the selfdefence system activated) or defensive caregiving, or as an opportunity to explore new ideas and be creative (i.e., the exploratory interest sharing system activated). Focusing on cultural diversity, a qualitative exploratory and descriptive single-case study design was employed to identify cultural diversity leadership challenges and the strategies employed when managing these, using the TABEIS framework. Information was collected from 11 Portuguese leaders in the same organization; using semi-structured and critical incident interviews and written narratives. Information was analyzed with categorical content analysis, using NVivo. To manage cultural diversity challenges, leaders often act as caregivers (exploratory: 58.5%, defensive: 5.6%), followed by a self-defence/fear response (17.0%), sometimes associated with a defensive care-seeking response (3.8%; exploratory careseeking was 1.9%). Leaders also activated their exploratory interest-sharing system (9.43%) or their internal environment system (3.77%) on specific challenges. Cultural diversity challenges can be experienced as threats to leaders’ well-being. However, challenges are often perceived as learning opportunities for leaders, the team, and the organization. These results can be a tool for training leaders, helping them better understand how to address challenging situations while promoting the well-being of all organizational actors. Keywords: Cultural Diversity Leadership Challenges in Organizations · Theory of Attachment-Based Exploratory Interest Sharing (TABEIS) · Case Study Research · Content Analysis

1 Introduction This paper focuses on the leadership challenges of managing a culturally diverse workforce and the strategies used to manage these challenges. These strategies were also analyzed through the Theory of Attachment-Based Exploratory Interest Sharing (TABEIS; Heard et al. 2012) framework. This paper also addresses how NVivo® (QSR), a qualitative data analysis software, was used to support content analysis. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 A. P. Costa et al. (Eds.): WCQR 2023, LNNS 688, pp. 93–108, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31346-2_6

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1.1 Challenges of Managing a Culturally Diverse Workforce A current leadership challenge is the management of an increasingly diverse workforce (Ng and Sears 2020), especially on a cultural level, given the intensification of globalization (Samnani et al. 2012). In organizations, cultural diversity is a workforce composed of different cultural groups (Seymen 2006), that share values, norms, and systems of thought (Ferdman and Sagiv 2012). Although cultural diversity is often associated with ethnicity, the empirical study of Desmet et al. (2017) reveals that there are better measures of this diversity. Rather, cultural diversity can be measured as national diversity (Shore et al. 2009; Ferdman and Sagiv 2012), which is associated with both visible (e.g., language, communication styles, physical characteristics) and non-visible artifacts (e.g., beliefs and values; Buengeler and Den Harto 2015). Organizations can vary in different ways regarding cultural diversity management: some may be mainly homogeneous (i.e., monolithic organization), others promote somewhat cultural diversity both in number and policies (i.e., plural organization), while others promote the full inclusion of cultural diversity (i.e., multicultural organization; Cox 1991). In the last 25 years, little literature has been found on the leadership challenges of managing a culturally diverse workforce. An interesting work focused on diversity in general is the one developed by Joplin and Daus (1997), where six major leadership challenges were outlined across a diversity intolerance-acceptance-appreciation continuum that organizations can exhibit. These challenges are: (1) shifting power dynamics of minorities, (2) diversity of opinions, (3) perceived lack of empathy, (4) real or perceived tokenism, (5) participation, and (6) overcoming inertia. Challenges may also arise when a diverse work team is experiencing intergroup bias or engaging in information elaboration (Homan et al. 2020). For these challenges, the best management is the one that acts upon the team and its members’ needs by respectively adopting a person or task-focused behavior to promote team performance (Homan et al. 2020). As diversity is not self-manageable, Joplin and Daus (1997) prescribe necessary behaviors (e.g., being patient and not showing favoritism when dealing with power dynamics) but also skills (e.g., conflict resolution and political intelligence) to effectively manage diversity challenges. Other authors (e.g., Chang and Tharenou 2004; Homan et al. 2020) have also identified leadership competencies to manage multicultural workgroups, such as cultural empathy, cultural intelligence, and emotional intelligence, but also multicultural experiences. Considering the possible new challenge that is managing a diverse workforce (e.g., increased creativity and decision-making, but also more significant conflict and poorer communication; Hebl & Avery, 2013; van Knippenberg et al. 2004; van Knippenberg and Schippers 2007), it is crucial to understand how leaders manage this challenge. For such, we can identify the strategies employed when managing a challenging situation, which reflect the activation of leaders’ biological systems, as defined by the Theory of Attachment-Based Exploratory Interest Sharing (TABEIS; Heard et al. 2012). 1.2 Using TABEIS to Understand the Management of Cultural Diversity Leadership Challenges TABEIS framework proposes the existence of instinctive behavioral systems in human beings, which allows us to survive with well-being (Heard et al. 2012). These systems

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are care-seeking, caregiving, self-defence/fear, exploratory interest sharing, affectional sexuality, the internal environment, and the external environment (Heard et al. 2012; McCluskey 2010). All (except the internal environment) cease to be active once their goal is reached (i.e., are goal-corrected systems; McCluskey 2010). Despite all systems working with each other, the fear inherent to activating the self-defence system is a significant system as it will contaminate other systems and people’s responses to situations. Thus, once a person experiences (consciously or unconsciously) a threat to wellbeing, the self-defence system is activated and the exploratory interest-sharing system stops being active until well-being is restored (Heard et al. 2012). In trying to defend themself from any threat, two systems are activated: the fear system and the attachment/caregiving system. In the first, responses to prevent the self from danger are produced (LeDoux 1996) in the form of avoidance (i.e., flight), acting out (i.e., fight), or disorganization (i.e., becoming blank, incoherent, or disorientated; Heard et al. 2012; Brandão et al. 2016). If a fear response is not adopted, the self seeks care from someone with whom has a secure or insecure attachment, thus activating the attachment/caregiving system. Only if effective (empathic) caregiving is made, the experience of well-being is restored, including the capacity to explore (Heard et al. 2012). This capacity is visible when people feel enlivened while sharing a mutual interest and being creative (Heard et al. 2012). Applying this framework to the current research, managing a cultural diversity challenge may be experienced by leaders as a threat (i.e., the self-defence system is active), thus leaders can either seek care or respond with fear. These responses also depend on how supportive the leaders’ internal environment is (e.g., the perception of their competence to manage the threat). However, leaders may also perceive challenges as opportunities to explore new ideas and to be creative (i.e., exploratory interest sharing system active). Here, their internal environment is supportive enough for leaders to give effective care to subordinates (i.e., without being defensive). We seek to apply these conceptual ideas to the context of cultural diversity leadership challenges. As this framework considers human interactions, it is expected to also apply to remote interaction between leaders and subordinates. 1.3 Research Purpose The present study aims to identify and describe the strategies employed when managing cultural diversity leadership challenges using the Theory of Attachment-Based Exploratory Interest Sharing (TABEIS) framework. Identifying which situations leaders perceive as cultural diversity leadership challenges was also necessary. Thus the following research questions were created: (1) What constitutes a challenge for leaders when managing a culturally diverse workforce? and (2) How do leaders manage the challenges of a culturally diverse workforce?

2 Method To answer the research questions, a qualitative exploratory and descriptive single-case study (Yin 2009) design was employed.

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2.1 Case The case was a Portuguese industrial organization, with a strong technological component, present in several countries, which we classified as a plural organization (Cox 1991), since (a) the level of structural integration (i.e., presence of cultural diversity) is partial, (b) it follows policies to ensure equal opportunities (e.g., formal procedures to press charges in situations of discrimination), but (c) inclusion mechanisms are yet to be developed (e.g., plan for promoting diversity and inclusion). The units of analysis were leaders of culturally diverse teams. 2.2 Informants Information was collected from 11 first and second-level Portuguese leaders belonging to the same organization (case), who manage at least one culturally diverse work team (department or project). All leaders are male, and all, except one (L05), have previous experience managing a culturally diverse workforce. The majority (n = 9) has been in the organization for over 10 years and works outside Portugal (n = 6). See the detailed characterization of informants in Table 1. 2.3 Collection Instruments To collect information, we used instruments to characterise the case and answer the research questions. To characterize the case, we used: (a) Cox’s (1991) model for classifying the organization’s degree of structural integration (i.e., presence of cultural diversity) measured in our research as the percentage of non-Portuguese employees, and (b) an organizational diversity diagnosis questionnaire, adapted from the Guideline for Implementing Equality Plans in Companies (Pernas et al. 2008), to characterize the policies and guidelines adopted by the organization regarding diversity. The instruments used to answer the research questions were: (a) a semi-structured interview to address general challenges experienced and strategies used to manage those, (b) a Critical Incident Technique (CIT; Butterfield et al. 2005; Flanagan 1954) interview to address specific challenges (coded as Critical Incidents [CIs]) and its management strategies, and (c) a written narrative to address leaders’ experiences of managing a culturally diverse workforce. All three instruments were subject to a pilot study with a leader who fulfilled the inclusion criteria thus improving the research quality. 2.4 Collection Procedures To recruit the case organization and informants, a Portuguese organization where cultural diversity exists regardless of promoting or not inclusion (i.e., being a multicultural organization; Cox 1991) was identified through an online search. An electronic contact was then made to present the research purpose. The case study protocol was also presented, and potential informants were identified according to the inclusion criteria (i.e., being a Portuguese leader and managing a culturally diverse team). Thus, purposeful mixed sampling was employed, combining criterion and convenience (Patton 2002).

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Table 1. Informants characterization. Informants (Units)

Age group (years)

Organizational tenure

Tenure as a leader a

Workplace Location

Interaction with culturally diverse subordinates

L01

45–54

1–5 years

1–5 years

Outside

In-person & Remotely

L02

45–54

10+ years

5–10 years

Portugal

In-person & Remotely

L03

45–54

10 + years

10+ years

Portugal

In-person & Remotely

L04

55–64

10+ years

1–5 years

Outside

In-person & Remotely

L05

45–54

10+ years

10+ years

Portugal and Outside

In-person & Remotely

L06

55–64

1–5 years

1–5 years

Outside

In-person

L07

45–54

10+ years

10+ years

Portugal and Outside

In-person & Remotely

L08

35–44

10+ years

5–10 years

Outside

In-person

L09

35–44

10+ years

0–1 years

Portugal

Remotely

L10

45–54

10+ years

10+ years

Outside

In-person

L11

35–44

10+ years

5–10 years

Outside

In-person

a As a leader of a culturally diverse team in the case-organization

An email was sent to 13 potential participants, and for those interested in participating, an email was sent to schedule the interview and send the informed consent. Eleven participants agreed to participate and signed the informed consent. Participants were informed of the research goals, the use of audio recording for transcription purposes with posterior deletion, and the ensurance of anonymity (both of the organization and participants). Participants were also informed that participation was voluntary and that they could refuse to participate or leave at any moment with no consequences for themselves. The General Regulation on Data Protection from the European Union was followed. Information was collected during April and October 2020. All 11 interviews were conducted online using a digital platform due to geographical (i.e., leaders working outside of Portugal) and contextual reasons (i.e., the COVID-19 pandemic). Narratives were collected two to four months after using a text-based interview (Salmons 2010, as cited in Salmons, 2015), also in a digital platform. Only three written narratives were received, interviewed, and analyzed. To ensure the organization and informants’ anonymity, no country name was mentioned, being replaced with an arbitrary code letter.

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2.5 Analysis Procedures Using NVivo® (QSR) Information collected from interviews and written narratives was analyzed using Bardin’s (2011) categorical content analysis with the support of NVivo® (QSR) software. Bardin’s (2011) chronological phases were followed: (1) pre-analysis, (2) exploration of the material, and (3) results treatment, inference, and interpretation. In the first phase, the interview transcripts and written narratives, as the analysis corpus, were imported to NVivo® (QSR). In this process, each document was associated with a case (i.e., informants) whose different attributes were expressed in a case classification sheet (see Table 1). The rules of coding, enumeration, and categorization were also defined in this phase. Hence, the theme was chosen as the unit of registration, measured by the frequency of a theme (i.e., a response or biological system more frequent than others), its presence or absence (e.g., if a biological system is never activated when managing a challenge), and its co-occurrence (e.g., a biological system is only active when managing certain types of challenges). We elaborated categories both deductively and inductively. As for the second phase – the analysis per se – the rules of coding, enumeration, and categorization defined previously were applied. Thus when a theme from the corpus of analysis was identified, a code was generated in NVivo® (QSR), and its definition was elaborated. To increase the quality of the coding process, we followed Bardin’s (2011) criteria of mutual exclusion between categories, homogeneity within a category, pertinence for the research, and objectivity and reliability. The categories system, including the definition of categories, was discussed between two researchers. To keep track of ideas that emerged during the analysis, we used NVivo® (QSR) memos to improve the quality of the research, namely in terms of dependability (Lincoln and Guba 1985), given the importance of registering every step of the research process. Finally, the last phase encompassed a statistical treatment of the results, which allows for a simplified representation of data (e.g., tables, figures, diagrams; Bardin, 2011). For this purpose, NVivo® (QSR) is an innovative software as, for instance, it is possible to create a Matrix Table, as seen in Table 2. The frequency represented in Table 2 translates the number of times the data coded as a biological system (a category) was also coded as a cultural diversity challenge. We also used NVivo® (QSR) bar plots (see Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5) to present the results for the second research question. Considering our research questions, note that the same information was coded as a strategy (i.e., cognitive, behavioral, or emotional response to the challenge) and as a biological system defined by TABEIS (Heard et al. 2012). Note also that all the information that referred to a strategy employed and its contextual background was sufficient to be coded using the TABEIS framework.

3 Results and Discussion 3.1 Challenges of Managing a Culturally Diverse Workforce Five types of challenges experienced by leaders were identified (see Fig. 1). Most CIs were isolated (8 out of 11) rather than in recurrent situations.

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Fig. 1. Cultural diversity leadership challenges

Subordinates’ Culturally Shaped Counterproductive Work Behaviors (CWBs). The work behaviors described by leaders translate counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs; Gruys and Sackett 2003) which they considered as being shaped by subordinates’ culture. CWBs refer to «any intentional behavior on the part of an organization member viewed by the organization as contrary to its legitimate interests» (Gruys and Sackett 2003, p. 30). They may target the organization or its members. In our data, three challenges were found: (a) misusing and damaging the organization’s resources, such as goods and money (n = 2; e.g., «We came to realize… that the invoices they presented […] were false. […] It was quite hmm delicate because […] they were not being honest with me, ah and often took, take the money and don’t spend [the money on what it is meant to be spent] and spend [it] on other things, as it complements the salary, which is little, I am aware, but then again I can’t change it», L06, CI-03), (b) dealing with inverted power dynamics, considering the perception of dominant and non-dominant cultures (n = 1), and (c) dealing with (real or potential) charges from national/local subordinates against the organization (n = 2). In total, these challenges were identified by four leaders in four critical incidents. In all these challenges, the influence of culture is clear in shaping subordinates’ behaviors. One of these challenges was somewhat similar to one identified by Joplin and Daus (1997) as it involves a change in power dynamics. However, note that these behaviors may not always be perceived as counterproductive in the local countries where leaders are expatriates, but about leaders’ home country and culture. Subordinates’ Economic and Financial Difficulties. These challenges related to (a) the difficulty of securing the job for subordinates due to factors external to the organization (e.g., lack of projects given the COVID-19 and the country’s socioeconomic

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situation; n = 1), (b) the difficulty motivating national/local subordinates due to differences in compensation and benefits between them and expatriates (n = 1), and (c) dealing with subordinates’ lower performance or absenteeism, due to their socioeconomic difficulties (n = 4; e.g., «Nobody remembered those guys don’t have food at home, they live off the little that they work and blow up the money quickly [to give to their families]. […] Not eating associated with not sleeping, led the guy to collapse during work. […] And why is this a different sociocultural issue? Because if he were an expatriate, none of this would happen. The expatriate has another financial condition», L08, CI-06). In total, these challenges were identified by four leaders in one critical incident. These leadership challenges are contingent on the country’s socioeconomic situation where leaders and national/local subordinates work and majorly impact subordinates’ work motivation, productivity, and absenteeism. These challenges can be somewhat expected to occur since in some countries people are more culturally sensitive to pay inequity (e.g., Kim et al. 1990), hence situations of significant compensation gaps are complicated to manage in these countries (Adler and Aycan 2018). Organizational Challenges. Here we find challenges associated with (a) implementing Portuguese norms, rules, and procedures in local organizations1 (n = 6), (b) the (positive or negative) impact of leaders’ decisions on subordinates (e.g., deciding dismissals while also considering subordinates’ socioeconomic difficulties; n = 3), and (c) perceived lack of commitment of subordinates towards the organization (e.g., in terms of task performance), due to the sociocultural work aspects of the country (n = 2; e.g., «[In country L where] bosses and companies fire people, and employees leave one company for another, [so] you stop committing the company and the employee, and it becomes […] an economic relationship. […] it was the lack of ability of people to make things happen […], and people were always conning, conning, conning, conning to be successful. That is the challenge», L03, CI-02). In total, these challenges were identified by seven leaders in three critical incidents. Here, cultural differences reflect (perceived) differences in organizational norms, rules, and procedures and task commitment levels. Interestingly, as in this research’s case, the first organizational challenge might be particular to organizations whose branches are present in other countries. Relational Challenges. These challenges concern the relationships and interactions between leaders, subordinates, and teams, represented as (a) the difficulty of communicating with subordinates, due to (real or possible) language barriers (n = 3; e.g., «[people from country H] are very proud, so we cannot joke [around]. Either we know people very well […] or else hmm we make the mistake of ahh being hmm misunderstood, hmm and we may even create a situation of, of insecurity for ourselves […] [So] you have to know people, you have to promote their affection, hmmm know how far you can go so as not to offend them», L06), (b) the participation and integration of subordinates in the organization (n = 4), (c) (real or possible) task and socioemotional conflicts, which were shaped by subordinates’ cultural background (n = 2), and (d) social exclusion between 1 Refers to the case-organization’s branches which are located in other countries other than

Portugal.

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subordinates of different cultures (n = 1). In total, these challenges were identified by seven leaders in three critical incidents. Relational challenges were expected to occur considering the literature on cultural diversity (e.g., more significant conflicts and poorer communication; Hebl and Avery 2013; Van Knippenberg et al. 2004; van Knippenberg and Schippers 2007) and diversity in general (e.g., the diversity of opinions challenge; Joplin and Daus 1997). In our data, intergroup bias affected both the relationships within the team and performance. Indeed, as intergroup bias disrupts the elaboration of task-relevant information and perspectives, it will disrupt performance (van Knippenberg et al. 2004). Adapting to Different Cultures. This challenge reflects leaders’ experiences adapting to different cultures, particularly when these experiences occur in two countries that are culturally the «inverse» of each other. This challenge was only experienced by one leader: «[In country L, I was] […] I even had to force myself to do something I didn’t like that much, which is talking […] And then I came to a [country M] culture that’s much more straightforward than in Portuguese [culture], they hate everything that is small talk, especially during work hours, [which is] everything that [country L] is, loves, and needs. […] for me it is very difficult honestly [laughter] to arrive at a place, talk to a person, talk about one thing and end the conversation and leave.» (L11). This leadership challenge addresses expatriate adjustment (as a subjective perception), where the previous international experience was a negative antecedent of the adjustment in the second country (Puck et al. 2017).

3.2 Strategies to Manage Cultural Diversity Leadership Challenges Leaders used different strategies to manage cultural diversity challenges, thus revealing the activation of different biological systems (see Table 2). Leaders often act as caregivers to manage cultural diversity challenges (64.1%). Of the 34 caregiving behaviors, only three represented defensive caregiving (i.e., fear-driven responses), while the other represented exploratory caregiving (cf. Neath and McCluskey 2019). The second most frequently activated system was the self-defence/fear system (17.0%), through either a fight or avoidance response, with no disorganization (e.g., freeze) response. Additionally, some responses of careseeking were also found (5.7%). Despite this response being activated due to fear, only in 1 out of the 3 careseeking behaviors (1.9%), leaders were able to keep an exploratory state. The other two (3.8%), for being contaminated with the self-defence/fear system, were defensive care-seeking responses. Lastly, leaders only activated their exploratory interest sharing system (9.4%) and the internal environment system (3.8%) when managing specific challenges. The first system was only active when managing organizational and relational challenges. In contrast, the internal system was active only when managing the challenges of culturally shaped CWBs and adapting to different cultures. The activation of this last system is particularly interesting because as it refers to our internal working models, which are constantly changing and always active, but not always cognitively aware for the person (Heard et al. 2012; Neath and McCluskey 2019), its activation is of difficult perception.

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Table 2. Activation of biological systems when managing cultural diversity leadership challenges. Fear

Caregiving

Care-seeking

Exploratory interest sharing

Internal environment

1

8

3

-

1

-

1

6

-

-

-

-

-

4

10

-

3

-

Relational challenges

-

-

1

10

-

2

-

Adapting to different cultures

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

Total (N)

2

0

7

34

3

5

2

A

D

F

Subordinates’ culturally shaped CWBs

2

-

Subordinates’ economic and financial difficulties

-

Organizational challenges

Note. A = Avoidance, D = Disorganization, F = Fight. The numbers translate the frequency that each biological system was activated when managing cultural diversity challenges.

Managing Subordinates’ Culturally Shaped Counterproductive Work Behaviors (CWBs). These challenges were those which activated a greater variety of biological systems. It is noteworthy that only while managing CWBs challenges, the careseeking and avoidance responses were seen. In Fig. 2 we see the number of times each strategy was used by leaders when managing CWBs challenges. These strategies activated different biological systems. Note that the same leader may have used the same strategy more than once. The most frequent strategy adopted to manage subordinates’ culturally shaped CWBs was preventing harmful situations for subordinates, mainly by conversing in a pedagogical way with subordinates to promote their awareness of situations: «obviously well we had to, the bosses had […] to have educational actions, awareness actions with them […] so that [the misuse of business expense accounts] wouldn’t happen again.» (L06, CI-03). This strategy, accompanied by previously having empathically listened to subordinates (i.e., searching for clarifications and trying to understand the situation), reflects an effective caregiving response where an exploratory state was kept. Thus a goal-corrected attunement was achieved between the caregiver and the careseeker (Heard et al. 2012; Neath and McCluskey 2019). On the other hand, the same strategy of preventing harmful situations for subordinates, in a different situation, can reflect ineffective caregiving (i.e., defensive caregiving): «I tried to go to him to talk a little more calmly […] I was going with a certain perspective, confident that I was going to reach a consensus, and trying to appeal to

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the employee’s common sense, to put behind the differences that separate them.» (L08, CI-05). This strategy is more dominant, rather than exploratory, as the leader had already defined how he wanted the conversation to follow.

Fig. 2. Frequency of strategies adopted to manage CWBs challenges aggregated by biological system

Managing Subordinates’ Economic and Financial Difficulties. While managing these challenges, leaders activated mostly the caregiving system, and only once the self-defence/fear system (see Fig. 3). To manage these challenges, leaders tended to act as a caregiver, mainly by compensating and benefiting their culturally diverse subordinates (e.g., by proving meals and benefits for subordinates). Interestingly, only one fight response was seen in the strategy of finding work for subordinates: «I can’t give guarantees of work to these teams, it’s, it’s extremely painful, and tiring [pronounced with a tired tone]. It’s tiring to arrive at the weekend, preparing the work for the next [week] for the team, and thinking ‘Hey, I only have work for these guys for more, more 2, 3 weeks. We have to find work for them here!’ […] this is exclusively tiring for us because the teams do not feel this.» (L08). While this response may initially be perceived as caregiving, the leader acts by himself when finding new projects whilst feeling frustration and tiredness, revealing the activation of self-defence/fear system, as a fight response (Heard et al. 2012; Neath and McCluskey 2019). Thus, subordinates’ socioeconomic hardships are also felt by leaders, making them act vigorously (“fight”) against the situation instead of giving care to subordinates, as often seen. Managing Organizational Challenges. To manage organizational challenges, besides the caregiving and self-defence/fear system, we see also the activation of the exploratory interest-sharing system (see Fig. 4).

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Fig. 3. Frequency of strategies adopted to manage economic and financial challenges aggregated by biological systems

Despite adapting communication to subordinates (i.e., clarifying/explaining organizational procedures, goals, and performance) being the most frequent strategy to manage these challenges, we would like to highlight the strategy of acting as mediators or filters, as it involves the simultaneous activation of two biological systems – the caregiving and the exploratory interest sharing: «We internationals, we have to do the filter here in two ways […] and we have to realize what makes sense and what doesn’t. […] Sometimes I have to speak as someone who represents the organization here, and other times I have to be on the other side speaking as someone who represents the organization from there, right? Seeking consensus, and seeking the best solution between the parties.» (L07). Indeed the exploratory interest sharing system is active since (two or more) participants interact to reach a joint goal and new levels of understanding (Heard et al. 2012). However, the caregiving system is also active since they act as mediators and offer solutions (Neath and McCluskey 2019). This mediation strategy was accompanied by caring for the subordinate’s cultural identity, as one’s cultural identity may be disregarded in an international environment. Managing Relational Challenges. To manage relational challenges, the caregiving system was frequently activated, but also the exploratory interest sharing and self-defence/fear systems (see Fig. 5). Likewise, with the organizational challenges, the most frequent strategy was adapting communication to subordinates by simplifying communication, slowing speech rhythm, and being cautious not to offend subordinates’ cultural identity. For instance: «I made sure that everyone introduced themselves, and that immediately caused […] some strangeness, […] because I perceive a much greater hierarchical distance, but which is not part of my culture, […] my leadership style. […] In a culture where this is not a habit, you cannot be so provocative and you have to be more motivating, […] [by] not asking too complex questions hmm so they won’t feel bad giving their opinion in front of their colleagues.» (L09, CI-07). Here the caregiving system was active as the leader motivated subordinates to talk about themselves whilst giving them time to

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Fig. 4. Frequency of strategies adopted to manage organizational challenges aggregated by biological system

feel comfortable enough to further explore into the conversation (Neath and McCluskey 2019). Hence effective caregiving occurred.

Fig. 5. Frequency of strategies adopted to manage relational challenges aggregated by biological system

Managing the Adaptation to a Different Culture. To manage this challenge only one biological system was activated – the internal environment – in the strategy of assessing one’s willingness to adapt their behavior to a new culture based on past experiences of managing cultural diversity: «[In country L, I was] too hard, too rude […] I even had to force myself to do something I didn’t like that much, which is talking […] And then I came to a [country M] culture [which is] everything that [country L] is, loves, and

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needs. […] [It’s] difficult for me to be able to restrict myself to that again, because […] I don’t want to adapt 100% to them, I want to have something mixed.» (L11). Recalling an experience of managing a culturally diverse team and adapting to it reveals the activation of the internal system, which is related to how the self perceives to be (McCluskey 2010).

4 Conclusions From our data, we understand that cultural diversity leadership challenges can refer to the team, the organization itself (including its several branches worldwide), or the leader. In all challenges, the country’s influence is present, whether it be economic, industrial, legal, cultural, or sanitary. These influences (except the sanitary) were also identified by Shore et al. (2009) as contextual factors external to the organization which may influence the prevalence and impact of diversity in organizations. Moreover, cultural diversity challenges are sometimes experienced as threats to leaders’ well-being. However, challenges are often perceived as learning opportunities, where leaders act as exploratory caregivers. Even though we did not interview subordinates, it seems that leaders adopt inclusive behaviors, as inclusion refers to the employees’ perception of belonging to and being a valued member of the organization (Shore et al. 2011). We also highlight the leaders’ role as mediators or filters between the organization in Portugal and the local organizations. This seems to be a specific leadership role only performed by expatriate leaders or leaders who, despite working in their own country, remotely manage culturally diverse employees. We should note, however, that our results should be carefully applied to other organizations, as they refer to an organization with specific attributes: (a) firstly, for being present across the world, leaders work as expatriates in the different branches; this differs from an organization whose non-native employees are the ones to work in the leader’s country, and (b) the percentage of male subordinates within this organization was considerably higher, which also explains why all participants of this research were male. Regardless, these results can be a tool for training leaders, helping them better understand how to address challenging situations while promoting the well-being of all organizational actors. Acknowledgements. Catarina Brandão was supported by national funding from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (UIDB/00050/2020).

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The Dimensions of Educational Coaching and Emotional Intelligence in the Supervision of Curriculum Departments: A Study with WebQDA® Software Ana Cabral1

and Susana Sá2(B)

1 Grouping of Schools Dr. Mário Fonseca, Nogueira, Portugal 2 Catholic University of Brasilia under the Aegis of the UNESCO CHAIR, Brasília, Brazil

[email protected]

Abstract. This study falls within the scope of supervision in Curricular Departments. Understood as a contribution to reflect on the supervisory practice of Curricular Department Coordinators, we look at the emerging dimensions in educational coaching and emotional intelligence that the performance of their position entails. To this end, we use a methodology of a qualitative nature, making use, as information gathering techniques, of interviewing and document analysis. To be applied for data processing, the content analysis technique will be used. Data processing and interpretation will be performed using the webQDA® software. The main conclusions relate to the fact that the Coordinators of the Curricular Department present an adequate knowledge of the legal references, supporting some practices recommended by the current norm of school management. In terms of the dimensions observed, there is a lack of knowledge of them, not verifying certainties of implementation and conscious dynamization of these dimensions in the seat of the Curriculum Department. Keywords: Supervision · Curricular Department Coordinator · Curricular Department · Educational Coaching · Emotional intelligence

1 Introduction Educational institutions, in recent decades, have been the target of multiple reflections, with a particular focus on human behaviour and dynamics and the understanding of the causes and consequences of their actions within school-res organizations. Since our object of study is the educational actors, as hegemonic entities, present in all spaces and processes, like tiny points, with different dimensions and times, this project was envisaged to perceive the structures of middle management, called Curricular Departments. Thus, in a perspective of change, the field of action of the Curriculum Department Coordinators is combined with an emphasis on improving the dimensions of Educational Coaching and Emotional Intelligence and, in profound articulation with the other © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 A. P. Costa et al. (Eds.): WCQR 2023, LNNS 688, pp. 109–120, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31346-2_7

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teachers who constitute the structures of educational coordination. Through an active attitude towards the institution he represents, the Curriculum Department Coordinator must contribute to the promotion of organizational performance and reflect the quality of the work carried out by those he coordinates, plausibly assuming the role of relevance that he is entitled to. Considered vital structures in the dynamics of schools, they emerge as vehicles capable of giving sustainability to new organizational models. Based on the conviction that new praxis is forged, conquered, and built collectively, and not in individual isolation, there must be a commitment from the Curriculum Department Coordinators to the acquisition and development of knowledge and skills in supervision, with particular emphasis on the dimensions of Educational Coaching and Emotional Intelligence. Research on these attributions, as well as the consistency between decisions, actions, and organizational learning, demand the empowerment of all those who construct a new concept for Curriculum Departments. It is within this framework that the dimensions presented are perceived, understanding them as fundamental for changing pedagogical praxis and professional improvement/development, highlighting the behavioural approach and the mutual benefits that may arise for the different elements of these structures and, unequivocally of the quality and effectiveness of the school organization itself. 1.1 Emerging Rationalities in Curriculum Departments With the publication of Decree-Law n.º 75/2008, of April 22 [1], in the wording given by Decree-Law n.º 137/2012, of July 2 [2], the reality of educational organizations is the subject of significant transformations, with visible consequences for the different hierarchical structures of the schools, namely the intermediate management structures of the Curricular Departments, as well as their respective leaders, the Curricular Department Coordinators. Through legislative reinforcement, Curriculum Department Coordinators emerge as drivers of collaborative dynamics, strengthening their leadership role. This strategic positioning derives from its important position in the educational community’s context and its proximity to its peers. From the lawfulness conferred by the legal diplomas, it has the power to propose and implement monitoring, follow-up, guidance (pedagogical and curricular) and professional training of a reflective nature in a spirit of mutual help, mobilizing teachers to improve teaching and learning, to the qualification of the school and promotion of educational success [3–5]. In this regard, the published legislation reinforces their competences and functions. It provides that these are supported by their professional training, leading us, once again, to emphasize the growing value of specialized training for these educational actors. Through legislative reinforcement, the configuration of the Curricular Department Coordinator role is now understood in a complex matrix of leadership, supervision and coordination, whose process of accountability and continuous construction is conceived in partnerships and work projects and whose primary objective enables the school the implementation of internal organizational policies that promote the improvement of the spirit of cohesion, efficiency and quality of the school organization.

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1.2 The Dimensions of Educational Coaching and Emotional Intelligence: (Re)Configuration of Senses Faced with a scenario of change, all education professionals must master a wide range of knowledge. We believe that the teaching profession is at the centre of these social demands and expectations, being constantly pressured to integrate into their portfolio of skills a set of tools that emerge from new fields of knowledge. Thus, emphasis is given to the concept of supervision, which, according to Alarcão and Tavares [6], comprises an interpersonal and dynamic relationship, facilitating the development and conscious and committed learning, aiming at maximizing the abilities of the supervisee through the progressive development of its decision-making capacity. On the other hand, Sá-Chaves [7] states that it aims at an accompanied, interactive, collaborative and reflective practice of teachers and intends to contribute to the development of a framework of values, attitudes and knowledge, as well as of skills and competences. Given this panorama, it is essential to break with “classic” forms of supervision and become the target of transformation. As such, we focus on this field of action on the impositions of a new supervision paradigm and reflect on the need to implement supervisory forms linked to other areas to promote the improvement of teachers’ professional performance and collaborative learning capacity. In this sense, all professionals must have a greater capacity to mobilize intervention techniques and strategies, which consubstantiate an effective change with visible results among those entrusted to them. At the same time, we refer to coaching, which presents itself as a multidisciplinary field that combines theories and practices from social and human sciences such as psychology, sociology, linguistics, and anthropology [8]. It is conceptualized as a process of practical guidance aimed at promoting and encouraging learning based on goals related to personal and professional development. Catalão and Penim [9, p. 3] state that their process “is operationalized through human relationships, and these are established, managed and deepened through interpersonal communication”. Its intervention is guided by action strategies supported by methods, techniques, and tools that, based on a dynamic communicational close to Socratic maieutic, can generate a space for the co-construction of solutions that are coherent and give purpose to the mobilized action. From the original concept of coaching, a new dimension emerges supervision in Educational Coaching because of the emergence of empirical evidence about the benefits of rooting this dimension in the school organization [10]. According to Bécart and Ramirez [11], the success of this methodology is due to two factors: i) its nature, intrinsically conveyed to the processes and alignment of educational missions, based on “[…] to release the potential of a person to maximize their performance” [11, p. 10] and the centralization of the educational mission that encompasses the holistic transformation of a person, in fact, in the words of Aranda [12, p. 1]: “it can be considered as an integral, physical, social, cognitive and emotional transforming model”. Another emerging dimension concerns Emotional Intelligence. This term formally emerged in the early 1990s at the hands of Salovey and Mayer [13] and is characterized by the ability to monitor one’s feelings and emotions and those of others, to distinguish and to use that information to guide thinking and action. Miguel, Rocha and Röhrich

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[14]) state that Emotional Intelligence represents the ability to reconcile emotions and reason: using emotions to facilitate reason and intelligent reasoning about emotions, that is, intentionally putting emotions at our service to guide our conduct and reflect on ways to improve our purposes. Later, Goleman [15] would redefine Emotional Intelligence as the ability to understand, recognize, and manage feelings, emotions and, above all, relationships. Lima [16] reinforces this by presenting Emotional Intelligence as a skill that allows the strategic positioning of emotions, intending to improve the management of an individual’s behavioural reactions. In this regard, several authors have also focused on the profile of the emotionally intelligent leader. Goleman [15] refers to the need for leaders to have their EI well developed. According to Decker and Cangemi [17], this leader must be guided by humility, respect for others and seek to structure a positive and democratic organizational environment where everyone has the right to have a voice. To be successful, it is up to the school to be open to new challenges, so its leaders (top and intermediate) and other teachers are vital elements for the promotion of a supervisory pedagogy in the school’s culture, the implementation and articulation of forms of collaborative work, and for the creation of opportunities for professional improvement that lead teachers to reflect on practices based on self-assessment and supervision processes. In this way, leaders must respond to current challenges and act following the new socio-educational demands of the 21st century. In this sense, the supervision process assumes a logic of “interactive, dialogic, interpersonal and developmental dimension” [18, p. 491]. However, the reality of our schools, the resistance to new forms of school restructuring, the individualism of the teaching class that is confined to the classroom and a disciplinary corset, the difficulty in leaving their comfort zone in the face of approaches to interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary integration and the perspective of supervision felt as a practice imposed by the guardianship of control and evaluation, bring constraints to those who advocate new trends. Indeed, this process will inevitably have to go through leadership management, collaboration and supervision, key concepts for promoting a positive interaction that converges with the purposes of the school institution. The consolidation of these purposes, namely at the level of the Curriculum Department structures, seeks the action of the Curriculum Department Coordinator in collective mobilization and the development of teamwork, intending to promote learning and improve the quality of the educational process and the personal and professional development of teachers. Based on these assumptions, a system is intended to change and improve the processes influencing personal and professional relationships within education. Since no change comes about through obligation, promoting a culture of common interests is necessary, which enhances the resolution of intrinsic group problems and its adaptability to the external and internal environment, strategically located in a global interface with the school mission.

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2 Methodology The research fits into the qualitative paradigm, intending to understand subjects and phenomena in their uniqueness individually. That is, it seeks to discover meanings in individual actions and social interactions from the perspective of its participants [19, 20]. Being considered the most adequate, this aspect is therefore chosen with an eminently descriptive and interpretative approach. In the present research, after analysing the content [21] obtained from the two interviewees and the structuring documents of the Grouping in the internal sources - the Educative Project of the school [22] - a skimming reading was carried out. In this way, the ideas were cut into reference units, words or phrases, texts contained in the informative material produced, which corresponded to clear, objective, and significant ideas in the research context. Subsequently, after deep reading, the reference units were grouped into indicators, which later allowed us to clarify the definition of each of the categories. As a frequency unit, we took the reference unit and counted as many times as there were in the speech. The data analysis and treatment work were carried out with the support of the content analysis software in qualitative research, webQDA® [23], through open procedures, corresponding to a permanent process of progressive creation, in which the reflection and analysis of data are rigorously and constantly triangulated. For the elaboration of the present study, a Qualitative methodology of a descriptive nature was used to describe the dimensions of Educational Coaching and Emotional Intelligence in the strategies used by specific Curriculum Department Coordinators (CDC) [19]. In the analysis of the results, we made a reference to a phenomenological and hermeneutic nature (a word of Greek origin that means the art or technique of interpreting and explaining texts or speeches) since we used the speeches of teachers [19, 24]. The study assumes an interventionist perspective because, with the results obtained through the study, we plan to carry out, in the future, an intervention in the student’s learning processes based on peer intervention [19, 24]. We started by carrying out bibliographical research using Eric, b-on, Google Scholar, Scopus, Elsevier and Scielo as search bases, considering studies since 2010 (last 13 years). The following keywords were used: “Pedagogical Supervision”, “Pedagogical InterVision”, “Learning”, “Supervision”, “Curricular Department Coordinator”, Curriculum Department”, “Educational Coaching”, and “Emotional intelligence”. As there was too much literature to analyse, most of it with therapeutic purposes and difficult to contextualize, we decided to carry out the research considering the last 10 years (since 2013), using the same keywords, but excluding the keywords key “Supervision” and “Curricular Department”. Thus, 2 works developed in 2 countries were selected: Spain and Portugal. These works have the particularity of signalling the difficulties that exist in their countries for the effectiveness of their actions in the dimensions of Educational Coaching and Emotional Intelligence in teachers. These works helped to carry out our analysis of results. Considering the stated question (Table 1), we prepared an interview guide validated by specialist professionals in the field of education and psychology. With this guide, in January 2022, we interviewed two teachers of CDC, from two departments with different curricular areas, from a School Grouping in the North of the Country. These professionals authorized the recording in audio format and the treatment of their interviews through

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A. Cabral and S. Sá Table 1. Systematization of the investigation.

Research Question

Objective to Achieve Data Analysis

Prediction of key Results

What strategies are used by Curricular Department Coordinators, as dynamic agents of curriculum coordination structures, to promote the quality and effectiveness of their actions in the Educational Coaching and Emotional Intelligence dimensions in Curricular Departments?

Understand the mechanisms inherent to the position of Curriculum Department Coordinators to improve the quality and effectiveness of their action in the dimensions of Educational Co-aching and Emotional Intelligence within the Curriculum Departments

Main contributions of pedagogical supervision in student learning and the improvement of teaching practices

Content analysis of the interviews and structuring documents of the grouping of schools, with the support of the webQDA® software

Source: Authors

informed consent. The interviews were later transcribed into Word, and the respective interviewees validated their transcription. The group’s structuring documents were also collected, such as the Educative Project of the school [22]. All compiled information was treated using the content analysis technique supported by the webQDA® [23], software [19, 24]. This software made it possible to organize and systematize data analysis, enhancing the definition of dimensions [24], necessary for the descriptive and qualitative methodology we used in this study. More specifically, in the system of internal sources of webQDA® [23], the text files referring to the transcription of each interview and the information collected from the structuring documents of the Grouping were inserted. We started by searching for the most frequent words in the interviews and the structuring documents, eliminating words with less than 4 characters, which resulted in a word cloud. These results guided the start of the codification of the sources (interviews and structuring documents). With this base, we start inferences by reading the data inductively. Readings of the answers to each question were performed, looking for patterns and comparing the data. As the interview guide was made up of open questions, the information collected in each one was not only directed towards that question in question but considered globally. Thus, the categorization was done by text segments inductively. This led us to an organization by thematic according to the information compiled and not according to the order of the questions. Next, an analysis of the frequencies of the categories related to each theme was carried out. The research subjects were indexed to “Classifications” so we could connect them to the analysis categories on the webQDA® [23] platform.

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From the frequency of categories, we moved on to “Questioning”, making comparisons between respondents, using the “Matrices” tool on the webQDA® [23] platform. For that, we exclude the categories linked to the structuring documents using the “Restrictions” tab of the “Matrices” menu. These results were exported to Excel and transposed into percentages for analysis purposes. Considering the bibliographical research carried out and our research objective – to identify relationships between coaching and emotional intelligence – we then set out to present the data obtained and their analysis. There was an idea for the investigation design; see Table 1. The research design proposes a map of methodological procedures to reach the previously listed objective, guaranteeing the transparency and justification of the options taken. From this phase onwards, the data were questioned, the respective matrices were drawn up, and the triangulation was carried out. This justifies the pertinence of this study. As such, it is important to know the strategies and mechanisms used by the Curricular Department Coordinators in the organizational development of the Curricular Departments in the pursuit of objectives outlined and strategically defined by the Alfa School Group. This grouping of schools is in the north of Portugal, in the district of Porto, more specifically in the region of Vale do Sousa and Tâmega. The methodological option adopted for our study was based on Cozby’s convenience criteria [24]. The Curriculum Department Coordinators of the Group of Schools under analysis will be the protagonists of the study, which is why, below, a systematization of our investigation is presented. 2.1 Personal and Professional Characterization of the Participants A brief characterization of the study participants is presented, in Table 2, below. Through the analysis of Table 2, identified below, it appears that both participants have vast professional experience throughout their careers. The characterization of the data is placed in the attributes, e.g., if it is an Educational or Normative Project, the gender of the Respondents, ages, and length of service, etc. However, it should be noted that to exercise the functions of Coordinator of the Curriculum Department, they do not hold specialized training in the areas of Educational Administration, Pedagogical Supervision or Evaluation of Teaching Performance, as provided for in point 5 of article 43 of Decree-Law n.º 137/2012 [2]. It should also be highlighted the absence of training in the dimensions of Educational Coaching and Emotional Intelligence. However, guardianship does not legislate the realization of this type of training. Ethical concerns were considered at all stages of the research process, respecting the principles established by it. Thus, authorization was requested from the group’s direction to carry out the present study. About the participants, the declaration of informed, free, and informed consent was elaborated. Having taken into account the guidelines of an ethical nature, respecting the principles established by it, so taking into account the concern for the well-being and protection of the participants, everyone will be guaranteed the right to anonymity and confidentiality, safeguarding the legal requirements in force regarding the Protection of Personal

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Data, “to guarantee its security, integrity, legality and transparency” [25, p. 12] and proceeding with the identification of the participants through the codes: P1 and P2. Finally, regarding the semi-structured interview survey, it was submitted and approved by the Ethics Committee of the authors institution. Table 2. Personal and Professional Characterization of the Participants. Factors

Participant 1 (P1)

Participant 2 (P2)

Age

59 years

53 years

Sex

Male

Feminine

Literary Abilities

Graduation

Graduation

Disciplinary Group

620- Physical Education

230- Mathematics and Natural Sciences

Service Time

34 years

29 years

Positions Held

Curriculum Department Coordinator Coordinator of Class Directors Member of the Examinations Secretariat Member of the Teacher Performance Assessment Section Class Director

Curriculum Department Coordinator Disciplinary Area Coordinator Class Director Internal and External Evaluator

Specialized Training

There Is Not

There Is Not

Training in Educational Coaching and Emotional Intelligence

There Is Not

There Is Not

Source: Authors

3 Presentation and Discussion of Results From the analysis of Table 3, it appears that in the category “Legal Framework” and, in particular, the indicator “knowledge of regulations” (n = 5), the teachers reveal difficulties in approaching certain subjects, so its guidelines only pass on the decisions made by the Pedagogical Council. For example, “I am aware of Decree-Law n.º 137/2012, although I recognize that there are issues that I have difficulty addressing” (P2); regarding the indicator “ Practices in compliance” (n = 21), it could be seen that the coordinators are aware of the regulations regarding the school management model and add that they seek to adopt practices in compliance “In my case, I guide whatever is deliberated in the Pedagogical Council…” (P2). As defended by the study by Bolívar [5]. Regarding the second category, “Conceptualization”, and the indicator “Supervision” (n = 11), the Curricular Department Coordinators roughly conceptualize supervision,

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Table 3. Categorization Matrice. Categories

Indicators

Frequency Units (n)

Legal Framework

Knowledge of Regulations

5

Compliance Practices

21

Supervision

11

Supervision in Educational Coaching and Emotional Intelligence

23

Implemented Supervision Models

19

Difficulties in Implementing Supervision

15

Implemented Supervision Strategies

17

Contribution of Supervision in Curriculum Department Coordinators

2

Contribution of Supervision to Teachers

4

Contribution of Supervision to Student Learning and Academic Outcomes

5

Conceptualization

Context Organizational

Evaluation

Source: Authors

falling short of the concept of Alarcão and Tavares [6] and Sá-Chaves [7], as we can see in the following statements: “an activity that aims at the development and learning of professionals. In the case of teachers, these professionals supervise and manage the development and learning of their students” (P1) and “supervision implies a very close partnership with all sub-coordinators and teachers of the Department to identify the most effective practices and disseminate them to the rest the doubts/difficulties felt in the teaching/learning relationship” (P2). About the indicator “Supervision in Educational Coaching and Emotional Intelligence” (n = 23), the interviewed teachers expose a total lack of knowledge of the new possibilities of the scope of action in terms of these dimensions: “…I have never heard of these concepts, very although, yes, I have heard about coaching, but from a perspective related to sport” (P2). In this sense, it is not possible to corroborate the conceptions advocated by the authors Catalão and Penim [9] and Becart and Ramirez [10]. In the analysis of the “Organizational Context” category and concerning the “Implemented Supervision Models” indicator (n = 19), both interviewees refer that no specific model is enshrined within their grouping, as well as in its educational coordination structure. Adding that “supervision is practically centred on the support, guidance and regulation of activities in the subject areas, by itself, or between them” (P1) and that in a general way, it is only done “a regular analysis of academic results, the degree of compliance with the Annual Plan of Activities and the analysis of Teacher Performance Assessment reports, according to a manual of procedures sent to teachers on time” (P2). We consider, therefore, that the implemented strategies fall short of the guidelines recommended by the current model of school management, Decree-Law n.º 75/2008, of July 22 [1], in the wording given by Decree-Law n.º 137/2012, of July 2 [2].

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About the indicator “Difficulties in Implementing Supervision” (n = 15), there were no difficulties in articulating actions with their curricular departments, as can be seen in the statement “At the level of supervision, there are no difficulties” (P1). As for the indicator “Implemented Supervision Strategies” (n = 17), they state that their intervention is limited to filling the needs revealed by their peers and making the most of the inherent characteristics of their position: “to be attentive, clarify, encourage, guide, serve as an example, give an opinion, be judicious” (P1) and “Coordinate the tasks inherent to the position, ensure articulation between the department and the Director, between group and department delegates, between groups and within the department, between the Pedagogical Council and the disciplinary groups, between our department and other departments… In addition, I try to implement a document sharing dynamic (google drive), constant updating of new guidelines, mutual help at various levels (completing documents, preparing personalized forms, digital literacy support…)” (P2). Finally, in the category “Evaluation” and, more specifically, in the indicators “Contribution of Supervision in Curricular Department Coordinators” (n = 2), “Contribution of Supervision in Teachers” (n = 4) and “Contribution of Supervision in the Learning of Students and Academic Results” (n = 5) it was not possible to verify if there was any document prepared for the purpose, such as the internal evaluation report of the grouping, which reflected more concrete considerations on the contribution of supervision on the action of the supervision over themselves, over the teachers who make up their Curriculum Departments and over their contribution to student learning and, consequently, to their academic results. Likewise, no reference was made to any document covering these balance sheets. It was only mentioned that “… Supervision seems to have provided better school performance by students and respective personal, social and academic success” (P1) and “Since we have not implemented a follow-up and monitoring system for this supervision process. I cannot point to a suitable answer. However, I am convinced that new practices can positively affect the students’ learning process” (P2). These results lead us to an urgent need for reflection, follow-up, and monitoring of the supervision process in educational, and organizational systems to contribute significantly to student learning and improve teachers’ pedagogical practices.

4 Final Considerations According to the authors Reis-Cabral, Sá and Pascoinho [26, p. 9], the idea is reinforced that the use of qualitative research methodology is justified “in the sense of listening to the perception of teachers and the pulse of the organizational community school, based on an innovative perspective, on the Supervision and Monitoring of Curriculum Departments, in the dimensions of Educational Coaching and Emotional Intelligence”. It can be concluded that although the Curricular Department Coordinators have adequate knowledge of the legal references, there are some weaknesses in the supervision process in the organizational context of the Curriculum Departments, falling short of the potentialities referenced by the scientific literature. In terms of the dimensions studied, namely Educational Coaching and Emotional Intelligence, it was also found that there was a lack of knowledge about their existence. It was also verified that there was no concrete evidence or balance reports of the supervision process in the Alfa School

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Group that would reveal a contribution of these structures to the improvement of the quality and effectiveness of the school organization, although the participants of the study consider that the implemented actions contribute positively to the level of professional performance, both in the action of the Curriculum Department Coordinators and in the other professors of the Curricular Department; as well as the level of academic performance of students, namely, in terms of learning and results. The study’s limitations were the small number of teachers in the school organizational community, which were assumed to be correct from a similar study. The number of participants is too small to be able to generalize. Still, it will be interesting to carry out this study in other educational institutions with a broader range of participants. As a final balance, the continuity and systematization of the Curriculum Department Coordinators’ action in pursuit of the outlined general objective are substantiated as an essential contribution to the effectiveness of these coordination structures and the school organization itself.

References 1. Decreto-Lei n.º 75/2008, de 22 de abril. Diário da República n.º 79/2008 – I Série. Lisboa: Ministério da Educação 2. Decreto-Lei n.º 137/2012, de 2 de julho. Diário da República n.º 126/2012 – I Série. Lisboa: Ministério da Educação 3. Barroso, J.: Autonomia das escolas: da modernização da gestão ao aprofundamento da democracia. In: Costa, J., Mendes, A., Ventura, A. (eds.) Liderança e Estratégia nas Organizações Escolares, pp. 165–183. Universidade de Aveiro (2000) 4. Fullan, M.: The NEW Meaning of Educational Change. Routledge (2007) 5. Bolívar, A.: Melhorar os Processos e os Resultados Educativos: o que nos ensina a investigação. Fundação Manuel Leão (2012) 6. Alarcão, I., Tavares, J.: Supervisão da Prática Pedagógica. Uma Perspectiva de Desenvolvimento e Aprendizagem, 2nd edn. Livraria Almedina (2003) 7. Sá-Chaves, I.: Formação, Conhecimento e Supervisão, 2nd edn. Universidade de Aveiro (2007) 8. Brock, V.: Grounded theory of the roots and emergence of coaching. Dissertation - Doctor of Philosophy, International University of Professional Studies, Maui (2008) 9. Catalão, J., Penim, A.: Ferramentas de Coaching, 8th edn. Editora Lidel (2018) 10. Becart, A., Ramirez, J.: Fundamentos del coaching educativo: caracterización, aplicaciones y beneficios desde los cuatro pilares del saber (2016). https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/art iculo?codigo=5920225 11. Whitmore, J.: Coaching, el método para mejorar el rendimiento de las personas. Paidós (2011) 12. Aranda, A.: El coaching como estrategia pedagógica para la mejora del autoconocimiento de los educadores deportivos. Revista de Educación, Motricidad e Investigación (1), 1–13 (2013). https://doi.org/10.33776/remo.v0i1.2254 13. Salovey, P., Mayer, J.: Emotional Intelligence, Imagination Cognition, and Personality. Baywood Publishing (1990) 14. Miguel, A., Rocha, A., Röhrich, O.: Gestão Emocional de Equipas. Em Ambiente de Projeto, 5th edn. FCA – Editora de Informática (2014) 15. Goleman, D.: Trabalhar com Inteligência Emocional, 5th edn. Editora Temas e Debates (2018) 16. Lima, C.: Inteligência emocional e satisfação no trabalho. Universidade Federal do Brasil (2019). https://lume.ufrgs.br/bitstream/handle/10183/198029/001099268.pdf?sequence=1& isAllowed=y

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17. Decker, J., Cangemi, P.: Líderes Emocionalmente Inteligentes e Comportamentos AutoExistentes: Algum Relacionamento. Estados Unidos da América (2018) 18. Pereira, F., Gonçalves, D.: A supervisão pedagógica na liderança das estruturas intermédias (2016). http://repositorio.esepf.pt/handle/20.500.11796/2382 19. Coutinho, C.: Metodologia de Investigação em Ciências Sociais e Humanas: Teoria e Prática, 2nd edn. Edições Almedina (2021) 20. Minayo, M.C., Costa, A.: Técnicas que fazem uso da palavra, do olhar e da empatia: pesquisa qualitativa em ação. Ludomedia (2019) 21. Bardin, L.: Análise de conteúdo, 4th edn. Edições 70 (2011) 22. Projeto Educativo do Agrupamento de Escolas Alfa (2017–2021) 23. Costa, A., Moreira, A., Souza, F.N.: webQDA - Qualitative Data Analysis. Aveiro University and MicroIO (2019). www.webqda.net 24. Costa, A.P., Amado, J.: Análise de conteúdo suportada por software. Ludomedia (2018) 25. Sociedade Portuguesa de Ciências da Educação (SPCE): Instrumento de Regulação ÉticoDeontológica (2020). http://www.spce.org.pt/assets/files/CARTA-TICA2.EDICAOFINAL2020-COMPACTADO.pdf 26. Reis-Cabral, A., Sá, S., Pascoinho, J.: Supervisão e Monitorização das Estruturas de Coordenação Educativa e Supervisão Pedagógica: As dimensões em Coaching Educacional e Inteligência Emocional. New Trends Qual. Res. 12, e609 (2022). https://doi.org/10.36367/ ntqr.12.2022.e609

The Metaphenomenon as a Genesis in the Triangulation Process of Qualitative Research in the Digital Age: The Reframing of the Object Simone Antoniaci Tuzzo1(B) , Claudomilson Fernandes Braga2 and Inês Guerra Santos3

,

1 ISMAI, Universidade da Maia, Maia, Portugal

[email protected] 2 Universidade Federal de Sergipe, São Cristóvão, SE, Brasil 3 CIAC/ISMAI, Universidade da Maia, Maia, Portugal

Abstract. The triangulation process of qualitative research developed by Tuzzo and Braga (2016) adopts a theoretical-methodological reasoning to explain that triangulation in qualitative research can be understood differently. The multimethod proposal initially elaborated by researchers materializes in the definition of the object, the subject, and the phenomenon which suggests, as in the original study, that the vertices of the triangulation are actually new levels of investigation. This article presents a new perspective on qualitative research in light of the digital revolution, the advancement of the internet, and the emergence of digital social media platforms. Under this new perspective, the subject and the object of the research are substantially modified due to the change that occurred in the phenomena itself, more specifically in its genesis. Thus, the possibility of triangulation, even within qualitative perspective, seems to be an approach that is sustainable and makes sense as it offers the researcher multiple and different views of the same place of speech. This reflection shows that triangulation can be carried out in the same research modality – qualitative, which is now expanded and can occur physically or digitally. As a phenomenon is only part of the diverse phenomena that make up the metaphenomenon category, choosing the phenomenon, object, and subject as well as the mode (physical/digital) explains and enables the performance of qualitative research from the perspective of the metaphenomenon. Keywords: Qualitative Research · Triangulation · Digital age · Metaphenomenon · Genesis

1 Introduction The second phase of qualitative research started in 2014, which gave rise to the idea that the triangulation process of qualitative research can be understood from the metaphenomenon as genesis (2016), aimed to study the multiple and diverse perspectives on the complexity to which social actors and their personal and work environments have © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 A. P. Costa et al. (Eds.): WCQR 2023, LNNS 688, pp. 121–132, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31346-2_8

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been exposed. However, this scenario has been increasingly modified with the advent of information and communication technologies - ICT and the vulgarization of the internet, especially digital social media platforms. At the time, the study proposed to present a new qualitative methodological strategy, considering the subject, the object, and the phenomenon as the perspective in the triangular research. Tuzzo and Braga (2016) argued that by doing research and triangulation, another problem can be raised, and randomly, it can generate a new qualitative or quantitative research or even a new triangulation, within a dialectical process. What was not considered was that, a few years later, the interference of technology in social phenomena would be so strong as to change the existing relationship between subject, object, and phenomenon. As such, within the scope of the studies started in 2014, it is possible to confirm the possibility of a triangulation of the qualitative research established within itself; however, it is no longer possible to confirm the maintenance of the same original perspective regarding subjects which are no longer the same. Thus, it (the subject) is still the subject of the research, but its relationship with the multiple objects of the social world has been substantially altered and we are now talking about a technological mediation in all senses of everyday life. What before could be an almost mediated relationship, as Thompson (1995) says, it is now considered an online-mediated interaction (Thompson 2018). In other words, if interactions were modified due to technology, what about subjects, objects, and phenomena in a new highly technological environment? When presenting the research development, we suggested in 2014, that the investigations were based on the tripod: method, subject, and phenomenon. It is important to stress that the object that appears on this research tripod was previously contemplated in the phenomenon axis. In this way, we found that the phenomenon is complex, the method is plural and the subject is mutable, absolutely dependent on the environment and the social conditions where the research is carried out and where other interferences can generate mutations in the researched phenomenon. The proposal of a new conceptualization of the subject, the object, and the phenomenon, having as reference the notion of metaphenomenon as genesis, remains, but it is now updated because the subject, the object, and the phenomenon have been modified and, consequently, the notion of a metaphenomenon as genesis, too. Here we must also stress that a new triangulation may result from the fact that the object is also susceptible to the technological environment. If in our last theoretical incursion, we discussed the role of technology in relation to the metaphenomenon; now we question the changes that occurred, due to the advent of new technologies, from the point of view of the object, once it is the object that, in a certain way, internalize all these changes; what is known as the internet of things.

2 Triangulation of Qualitative Methods in a Complex Society Triangulation of qualitative methods is a complex task due to the multiplicity of social agents involved to think about their responses. The complexity considered here is based

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on studies by Morin (2005), for whom complexity does not produce or generate intelligibility, which can incite the researcher subject’s strategy/intelligence to consider the complexity of the question under study. At the same time, the complexity that Morin (2005a) speaks of is not in the object, but in the researcher’s gaze, in the way he studies his object, and in the way, he approaches phenomena, now in a more complex way than before. It is understood that the qualitative approach, as a research exercise, does not present itself as a rigorously structured proposal, allowing imagination and creativity to lead researchers to propose works that explore new approaches, as well as suggests that qualitative research offers the researcher a vast field of investigative possibilities that describe routine and problematic moments and meanings in the lives of individuals. This idea reaffirms the certainty that each practice guarantees a different visibility to the world. However, this world is now interconnected in real-time. For example, the notion of geographical and linguistic distances disappeared due to technological mediation due to the complexity that is only possible to overcome with the adoption of multimethods that allow for a multifaceted look at the research. Tuzzo (2016) states that the complexity of the modern world requires a complexity of methodologies capable of considering the views towards and prisms of the same object, which has several sides and many ways of being contemplated and which, on several occasions, is impossible to be seen in its entirety from just one angle. Here the perspective of considering multiple prisms to account for the complexity of the social world had already been considered and again it is important to stress that everything has become even more complex with technology. Now the world is at the touch of the computer screen. Totality can only be a representation of the whole. Hence, the central idea is that when carrying out research using the triangulation method, a new problem can be generated, something which had not been considered at the beginning of the search for data and information. This new problem can lead to new qualitative or quantitative research or even a new triangulation. Tuzzo (2016) states that conducting research is like a ray of light that, when illuminating an object, offers us a perspective, yet if the light increases, we can see other angles, and other sides… Our perception also changes regarding shape, size, and color. Carrying out research is writing a sonnet of light. The light that comes from the object, but materializes in the clarity of new ideas from a multifaceted universe of research, art, and life. Qualitative research fosters a multiplicity of studies which generates new possibilities of triangulation carried out by authors such as Duarte (2009), who states that the emphasis in qualitative research is not on the search for quantity based on numbers and statistics but on the quality and depth of data and findings resulting from the phenomena. 2.1 Conceptualizing (Meta)phenomenon, Subject and Object To conceptualize the metaphenomenon, which is one of the main points of discussion in this study, we will consider the thought of Benjamin (1985), a theorist of the Frankfurt School, who described the process of the here and now (hic et nunc). The idea defended is that the metaphenomenon can only be understood within a social context. Under this

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perspective, the characteristics of each research study need to consider the hic et nunc.In the attempt to make an analogy and adequacy to the term, we respect Benjamin’s idea (1985) by stating that the here and now include the physical presence and the place where something was produced to guarantee the uniqueness of a work of art, taking into consideration, its duration, tradition, manners, customs and history, and may even extend to a religious connection, which the author called aura, giving the work of art an idolatry of cult and exclusivity. Benjamin (1985) also argues that, when reproduced, it would lose and no longer be a work of art. But still working with the idea that the social context in which the research is carried out is fundamental, the well-known term hic et nunc was adopted to explain the importance of the subject in the process and all the complexity that involves human existence. Aristotle had already discussed the complex relationship between the whole and its parts, always concerned with unity and distinction. Morin (2005) states that culture, which characterizes human societies, is organized/organizational using the cognitive vehicle of language based on the collective cognitive capital of acquired knowledge, learned skills, lived experiences, of historical memory, as well as the mythical beliefs of a society. The author goes on to develop studies on the “paradigm of complexity” (Morin 2005a), which explains the dependence of what we call subjects, objects, and phenomena and the interdependence existing among them. Although explained separately, they can only be understood as a whole. To speak of complexity is to speak of relations that are simultaneously complementary, concurrent, antagonistic, recursive, and hologrammatic among these instances. Therefore, this study is also based on the studies of Kerckhove (2009) for whom senses and sensations are fundamental in the communicational process of today’s society. The author finds support in one of the most important aphorisms coined by McLuhan (1964) who stated that in the age of electricity, we use all humanity as our skin. Kerckhove (2009) explains that this electronic extension of the body, i.e., a perception of the skin, makes it no longer just a form of protection but becomes a communication device capable of processing information faster than our mind. This reaffirms the idea of hic et nunc and the paramount role of the researcher in conducting research. As such, according to Gil (2005), the metaphenomenon can be understood as a bundle of forces, an experience beyond consciousness or in other words, a place of experience, of events and facts, which, incorporated into the reality of the social world, support, behave and enable the subjects’ psychosocial functioning. It is the metaphenomenon that incorporates and offers research on all these elements, allowing the researcher to identify the other categories of the vertex subject, object, and phenomenon. It is important to highlight that the subjects (researched) can be multiple (people, documents, printed and television reports, etc.) and complex, as stated by Morin (2005). In other words, the research subjects pervade everyone and everything that can be investigated due (or not) to the approach adopted in the data collection. Adopting the qualitative method for investigation as a logic, we must consider that the subjects are effective participants in the research study and in all its complexity and that it will certainly demand multi-methods. Only this way will it be possible to identify, collect and appropriate the information necessary for the processing of interpretation and conclusion

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of research data, bearing in mind that everything we determine as a composition of complexity for the subject researcher is also true for the subject under study. Regarding the object, discussed later on, the third and last tripod of this construct, we return to the concept of metaphenomenon, which offers the researcher the phenomenon that will be investigated, here called object. It is the object/phenomenon that will support the entire research process adopted in the proposed methodological architecture. In other words, objects and phenomena are similar in form and content. They are inseparable in the act of research. It is through the phenomenon that the belonging subjects are identified; the metaphenomenon that originates and supports the phenomenon itself and the object that is, in essence, the genesis of the phenomenon itself. It is, therefore, in the subject and in the object that the phenomenon is installed, operationalized, and constructed as a place of research. Given this theoretical construct, we realize that the phenomenon is still part of the metaphenomenon, which, in turn, is also the object. What we cannot do in this new reality of technology is to ignore or underestimate the role of the internet and its devices and platforms. Phenomena have been substantially altered and shared on a global scale. The notion of locality is deconstructed and supplanted by the notion of globality. Cultural aspects that are so important in understanding phenomena and objects were (re)signified by breaking down cultural barriers. Never has hic et nunc been so possible for everyone. The here and now that Benjamim (1985) mentions in The Work of Art in the Age of its Technical Reproducibility has become the here and the now for everyone and moreover, the here and the now also has also become everyone’s production. The exclusivity of the locus ceased to exist once everyone has access to it. Now that ethnography is also digital, it was converted into netEthnography. Going into the field for non-participant observation was made possible by Google Earth. It is no longer necessary to travel to the real world. The real has expanded and become accessible to the movement of the mouse and/or to the touch of a screen. 2.2 The New Object and the Internet of Things Returning to the initially proposed concept that the object/phenomenon supports the entire investigation process, it is considered that, although this object contains the phenomenon, when placed in this condition, the object is faced with all the technological environments mentioned so far the concept of metaphenomenon of the Digital Age. What has not been mentioned so far, or at least has not been discussed in depth, is how much the object has been altered due to technology, namely due to the worldwide computer network – the internet. Here the object has been substantially reframed and altered and, in an attempt, to explain how this process has occurred, the concept of what is known as the Internet of Things has been taken as a reference. For researchers, it is the everyday equipment that has undergone the most changes in technological terms. Televisions, refrigerators, electronics, and many other pieces of equipment have been substantially modified to function in this new technological environment. However, it is not only the equipment but also the social facts that have

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changed. Relationships, the world of work, communication, and so many other objects of life have changed and are still changing due to the internet. This is why John Romkey developed a toaster in the early 90s that could be connected remotely via the internet. The internet of things appears. But it also comes as a consequence. More than comfort, this technological modernity represented behavioral changes, relational changes, and everyday changes. By changing the routine, the position of social actors about this routine also changes. In this sense, the Internet of Things apparently changes inanimate and technological objects, However, it also has an impact in a more than symbolic way, it changes the life of beings and things in a conceptual way. According to Godoi & Araújo (2019, p. 5), “the Internet of Things is a technological revolution of interconnected items aimed at facilitating and organizing day-to-day tasks […]” and by putting things in these terms, the authors indicate that everyday life has been reorganized according to technology which certainly gives rise to new perspectives and new points of view to previous social objects. It doesn’t seem possible to change things without life in society also being changed. Things are more than objects; they are tools of life in society. The authors still consider what the Internet of Things has changed to be important, “With the arrival of the Internet of Things, it is possible to automate our daily processes due to the lack of time in modern life, allowing equipment to exchange information with each other, performing routine tasks and helping its users” (Godoi & Araújo 2019, p. 12). Here, the concept encompasses new perspectives and raises new concerns: The absence of time and space that people talk about with the emergence of the internet did not, in fact, simply cease to exist. It seems more appropriate to say that this space and this time were occupied by technology and so it gave a new look and a new functional speed, giving the impression of non-existence. In other terms, it is possible to speak of a substitution. In practical terms, we could say that instead of personally going from one point to another, we send a video message of the places we visit but we are only represented using our virtualized presence. The example of the toaster that turns on by itself through programming also explains it. We don’t need to turn on the equipment in person. We do this remotely. It is the distance from our corporeal presence, but not the distance from our symbolic presence sub-established by technology, by the internet. According to Galegale et al. (2016), citing Singer (2012), Friedewal, and Raabe (2011), the Internet of Things tends to be much broader than what has been demonstrated. For the authors, the application ranges from intelligent environments to computing, the web of things, the internet of the future, up to smart cities. The authors also reveal that the Internet of Things has advanced and has provided new forms of communication, creating a new communication paradigm, according to the infographic below (Fig. 1): Here lies the great novelty of reframing objects. We are talking about the communicational object that has been reinvented and put to the test every time that technology shows itself to be different. Here, the research triangulation process, even in the digital

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Fig. 1. New Communication Paradigm Fonte: ITU 2005.

age, is definitively redefined. We no longer have the same objects. We only know that objects are still the fundamental locus of phenomena and their genesis. Methodological Proposal for Triangulation: Subjects – Objects – Phenomena The systematic triangulation method can be understood in Flick (2009) based on the combination of perspectives and appropriate research methods, which are appropriate to take into account as many different aspects of the same problem as possible. There are four determining aspects: the definition of the type of research, the appropriate collection instruments; the target population for sampling construction; and analysis methods. Regarding bibliographical research, authors such as Minayo (2000), Marconi and Lakatos (2007), and Flick (2009), defend its importance in the support for carrying out empirical research. With regard to the Field of Empirical research, they are responsible for social transformation. The research material is to be found in society and the colloquial is a big laboratory. Hohlfeldt (2011) states that opting for empirical research forces us to leave the tranquility of our home. The willingness to go out into the field, see and listen to others. Authors like Braga and Campos (2016); Havelais (2011); or Dencker and Da Viá (2001) reinforce this idea by saying that the main purpose of empirical research is to answer questions about social phenomena. It is in empirical research that the current reality has been transformed. What was yesterday, today is no more. Changes occur at the speed of technology. Access to the field has been changed and given way to new visibility. However, it has become much more complex.

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A trip to the field can also be a trip to the computer. All fields are, to a certain extent, represented there. What previously required the researcher to move physically is no longer necessary. If on the one hand, here empirical research, has become democratic, on the other it runs the serious risk of trivialization, of superficiality. Therefore, extra care is required of the researcher. Phenomena circulate in networks and are altered and modified by the acting beings mentioned by Latour (2013). Concerning data collection instruments, Souza (2011); Minayo (2000); Flick (2009), and Triviños (1987) provide the clues for the production of a structured or semi-structured script that could allow research based on interviews or focus groups; case study; personal experience; insight; storytelling; artifacts; texts and cultural productions; observational, historical, interactive and visual texts; ethnographic observation and more recently, netethnographic or participant observation (which aims to understand the social processes of the conception of a phenomenon from the researcher’s own perspective and not only from the report of an external participant). Just as the possibilities of the types of research, the types of collection are also multiple. Construction methods and sample analysis complete the process. In this context, we take as reference the theory of causality (different from cause and effect), inspired by the statistical perspective, in which this (causality) suggests that the metaphenomenon can and should indicate the phenomenon of interest to the researcher. This is not always obvious although we tend to focus on the obvious. The obvious is close to common sense. It is this distance that the researcher needs to see with magnifying glasses beyond the obvious. Even if causality can be understood as a relationship between an event (the cause) and a second event (the effect), in which the second event is understood as a consequence of the first. We opted for the view that it is also in causality that the place of this perspective is built, where the relationship between a set of factors (causes) gives rise to a phenomenon (the effect), which we call object–phenomenon. Based on the premises that steer this article, i.e., the realization of qualitative research from the vertices object, subject, and phenomenon, now with a more adjusted look to current times, we take as first example research on the printed newspaper. In this case, the subjects are the readers, the printed newspaper is the object and the phenomenon is the reading process, which nowadays can be carried out on printed paper or electronic media; where the phenomenon, in this case, is characterized by the type of physical or digital reading or both. In this sense, the concept of metaphenomenon arises, where the phenomenon is always something that cannot be dissociated from research, and the triangulation between phenomenon, object and subject is the qualitative research on three levels, three exploration vertices. In an attempt to seek an answer to the central question: What is the role of the printed newspaper in times of internet and social networks? The research carried out by Tuzzo between 2013 and 2016 in Brazil and Portugal showed us that triangulation only based on qualitative research is possible and desirable. First, research with readers carried out in Brazil based on interviews and semistructured scripts led to a response that the practice was associated with pleasure and the senses not only of reading but of social practice.

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In the second phase, the research carried out in Portugal, the ethnography method stood out for data collection and analysis. The social reading that emerged from this process was a determining point in addition to the questions that made up the interview script and the research in Brazil was also complemented. To conclude, research, interviews, and research scripts were also carried out with journalists and printed newspaper editors in order to understand whether the meaning of reading for readers was in line with those who produce the printed newspaper. The results point to the fact that this group continues to read the printed newspaper in a digital society because they like the smell of the ink; the sound of turning pages; the texture of the paper being a pleasure to the touch; of the calm that reading in the printed format of the newspaper brings, which is also a pleasant sensation for the eyes. In addition, many mention the pleasure associated with a coffee. This is very interesting, in the sense that reading the newspaper began to sharpen the five senses. At first, it stimulated sight, touch, hearing, and smell, but as taste was not present, coffee completed the process for Brazilian readers. The information gains a physical-sensorial meaning (Tuzzo 2016). In all these research studies, the object that conducted the research was the printed newspaper. The subjects (readers, editors, journalists) were changed due to the complexity of the research itself and the phenomenon: the reading of printed newspapers gave shape and content to the research. Here is where the metaphenomenon lies: reading as something which permeates social life. Thus, as Gil (2005) argues, this bundle, this experiencing beyond consciousness, which signifies the metaphenomenon are, ultimately, the essence of this qualitative research perspective: the subjects, objects, and phenomena. Using the research example, the operational complexity of the triangulation was verified, however, research favored at the time, field collections with trips to the field itself, and documentary collection in databases. If we reformulate the questions with new goals for the same research described here, we see that it is absolutely possible to operationalize this study online via digital platforms, still considering a multi-collection of triangulations through qualitative research. In technological terms, qualitative research requires applications and software from the researcher that allow for maintaining the linguistic quality of the collected and/or identified speeches, whenever there is a great amount of content. In this process, we chose IRAMUTEQ as a support software, which focuses on textual analysis. According to Camargo and Justo (2013), the textual analysis consists of a specific type of data analysis, which is specifically about the analysis of transcribed verbal material, texts produced under different conditions such as: originally written texts, interviews, documents, essays, netnographic source content, etc. IRAMUTEQ is a free software and developed under the logic of open source, licensed by GNU GPL (v2). It is anchored in the statistical environment of the R software and in the python language. Among the possible analyses, IRAMUTEQ offers the classic lexical analyses; the descending hierarchical classification method; the similarity analysis, and the word cloud. These analyses, according to Camargo and Justo (2013, p. 4) “[…] can be performed either from a group of texts on a given topic (corpus) gathered in a single text

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file; as from tables with individuals in line and words in a column, organized in spreadsheets, as is the case of databases built from free evocations tests. Texts or tables should preferably be generated by OpenOffice.org or LibreOffice software, to avoid coding bugs”. In the research carried out both in Brazil and in Portugal, IRAMUTEQ collaborated in the organization of the speeches to allow the researcher to have computer assistance to speed up the reading of qualitative data and to have access to parameterized results of the information, which ultimately streamlined the analysis and offered a range of robust interpretative possibilities for the research and the collected data. Originally developed in French, IRAMUTEQ started to be used in Brazil in 2013. Like in this article, it has been used with some frequency, including in the original text ‘The metaphenomenon as genesis in the triangulation process of qualitative research in digital era’ that inspired the writing of this article.

3 Final Considerations It is already possible to state that under the same roof of qualitative research, one can broaden one’s horizons and look for possibilities of collection and analysis in a triangular, broad, and (almost) unlimited way in an attempt to meet the needs of the phenomena, especially since the phenomena happens simultaneously in real life and on digital platforms, which is no longer a parallel reality. On the contrary, real lives are now physical and digital. We found that “triangulation” presents multiple potentialities: as validation, as a way of integrating different perspectives in the phenomenon under study, as a way of discovering paradoxes and contradictions, or as a way of development, in the sense of sequentially so that the use of the initial method informs the use of the second method. As such, the possibility of triangulation, even when dealing with the same perspective – qualitative – seems to be an approach that is sustainable and makes sense insofar as it offers the researcher multiple and different views of the same place of speech. This conclusion is strengthened and new possibilities are added to it. This triangulation, which, as we have already highlighted, can be carried out in the same research modality – qualitative – is now expanded and can occur in two ways: physically and digitally. Digitally, above all, with the advent of the Internet of Things. In turn, the whole and the parts are keywords in this triangulation model. What emerges in the research are the thoughts of complexity and meanings in a multiple societies in the perspective of people and events. The complexity of the phenomena demands other research strategies. Here it is noteworthy to emphasize the richness of these possibilities when referring to, for instance, the number of approaches and methodologies for analyzing the universe of qualitative research, which suggests that it is in the metaphenomenon that the phenomenon is created. If we open the possibility of multiple research, observing the mode we can expand the understanding of the object, since the object is part of the phenomenon. At the same time, when it is investigated physically and digitally, we expand its understanding, allowing it to be possible to triangulate the subject, object, and phenomenon

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in the physical and digital environments with the possibility of obtaining completely different results. It is also seen that the reframing of the object as a function of technology has created almost infinite possibilities for understanding and research. If we had triangulation in a physical and now digital way, we can risk saying that we also have multidigitizations of the object, namely as a function of what has been called the new paradigm of communication. As a phenomenon, it is only part of the diverse phenomena that make up the metaphenomenon category, choosing a phenomenon, an object, or several objects, depending on the locus, a subject and a mode (physical/digital) explains and enables the performance of qualitative research to from the perspective of the metaphenomenon. It is in it that the possibility of multiple forms of research becomes real, it is in it that the complexity of that research may be understood, and even more, it is the genesis of the whole investigation process.

References Benjamin, W.: A obra de arte na era de sua reprodutibilidade técnica. Brasiliense, São Paulo (1985) Camargo, B.V., Justo, A.M.: IRAMUTEQ: um software gratuito para análisede dados textuais. Temas em Psicologia 21(2), 513–518 (2013) de Denker, A.F, Da Viá, S.C.: Pesquisa empírica em Ciências Humanas. Futura. Rio de Janeiro (2011) Duarte, T.: A possibilidade da investigação a 3: reflexões sobre triangulação (metodológica), n. 60, pp. 1–24 (2009) Flick, U. Introdução à pesquisa qualitativa. Artmed, Porto Alegre (2009) Galegale, G. P. Col. Internet das coisas aplicadas a negócio: um estudo bibliométrico. JISTEM J. Inf. Syst. Technol. Manag. Revista deGestão da Tecnologia e Sistemas de Informação 13(3, Set/Dez), 42–438 (2016) Gil, J.: A imagem-nua e as pequenas percepções. Estética e Metafenomenologia. Relógio D’água, São Paulo (2005) Greene, J.C., Caracelli, V.J.C.: Towards a conceptual framework for mixed-method evaluation designs. Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. (Rumo a uma estrutura conceitual para projetos de avaliação de métodos mistos. Avaliação Educacional e Análise de Políticas) 11(3), 255–274 (1989) Godoi, M.G., De Araújo, L.S.: A internet das coisas: evolução, impactos e benefícios. Revista Interface Tecnológica, [S. l.] 16(1), 19–30 (2019) Havelais, A.: Métodos de pesquisa para internet. Sulinas, São Paulo (2011) Hohfeldt, A.: É possível a pesquisa empírica num país preconceituoso e de tradição escravagista?! In: Barbosa, M., de Morais, O.J. (eds) Quem tem medo da pesquisa empírica, pp. 91–103. Intercom (2011) de Kerckhove, D.: A Pele da Cultura. Annablume, São Paulo (2009) Latour, B.: Investigácion sobre los modos de existência. (Research on modes of existence). Paidós, Paris (2013) Malhotra, N.: Pesquisa de Marketing: uma orientação aplicada. Bookman, São Paulo (2010) Marconi, M. de A. Lakatos, E. M. Metodologia do trabalho científico. Atlas. Rio de Janeiro. (2007) McLuhan, M.: Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. McGraw-Hill Book Company, São Paulo (1964) de Minayo, M.C.S.: O desafio do conhecimento: Pesquisa qualitativa em Saúde, 7th edn. Hucitec, São Paulo (2000) Morin, E.: Ciência com consciência, 8th edn. Bertrand Brasil, São Paulo (2005)

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Morin, E.: O método 4: As ideias, 4th edn. Sulinas, São Paulo (2005a) Souza, J.P.: Quem tem medo da pesquisa empírica? Seguramente, não os pesquisadores portugueses em jornalismo. In: Barbosa, M., de Morais, O.J. (eds.) Quem tem medo da pesquisa empírica, 1st edn., p. 305. Intercom (2011) Thompson, J.B.: Media and Modernity: A Social Theory of the Media. Polity, São Paulo (1995) Thompson, J.B.: A interação mediada na era digital. Matrizes 12(3 set/dez) (2018) Triviños, A.N.S.: Introdução à pesquisa em ciências sociais: a pesquisa qualitativa em educação, 4th edn. Atlas, São Paulo (1987) Tuzzo, S.A., Braga, C.F.: O processo de triangulação da pesquisa qualitativa: o metafenómeno como génese. Revista Pesquisa Qualitativa 4(5), 140–158 (2016) Tuzzo, S.A.: Os sentidos do Impresso. Gráfica UFG, Goiânia (2016)

Integration of Education and Clinical Learning in Nursing: A Qualitative Study Supported by Qualitative Data Analysis Software Cristina Lavareda Baixinho1,2(B) , Óscar Ramos Ferreira1,2 Marcelle Miranda da Silva2,3 , Marcelo Medeiros4 , and Ellen Synthia Fernandes de Oliveira5

,

1 Nursing School of Lisbon, 1900-160 Lisbon, Portugal

[email protected] 2 Nursing Research, Innovation and Development Centre of Lisbon (CIDNUR), 1900-160

Lisbon, Portugal 3 Anna Nery School of Nursing, Stricto Sensu Graduate Program in Nursing, Federal University

of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-901, Brazil 4 Faculty of Nursing, Federal University of Goiás, Goiânia, Goiás 74605-080, Brazil 5 Graduate Program in Collective Health, Federal University of Goiás, Goiânia 74690-900,

Brazil

Abstract. In the literature, it is observed that the integration of nursing students in clinical practice contexts is important for the development of a sense of belonging, which influences learning, as well as their well-being. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, clinical nursing teaching underwent changes, with clear changes in the processes of integration and supervision of students, making socialization and theoretical-practical approximation of clinical learning difficult. The objective of this qualitative study, carried out between December 2020 and April 2021, was to understand whether the participation of nursing students in extracurricular activities, in the services where the clinical internships took place, influenced the integration and the development of a sense of belonging. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 13 students who were in the last stage of their nursing degree. These had the opportunity to participate in knowledge transfer activities for the clinic in health services. For the content analysis, according to Bardin, the WebQDA® software was used, which helped in the organization and qualitative investigation of the findings. The study was authorized by an Ethics Committee (09/2019 HVFX). As a result, four categories emerged: I) Integration and participation; II) Motivation; III) Collaborative work and IV) Belonging, which are interrelated and allow the understanding of how a successful integration and the existence of collaborative work with professionals enables new learning opportunities, motivates the student, and emphasizes the development of a sense of belonging to the context that facilitates learning. The findings of this study are limited to a specific experience but point out ways for education and research in nursing. Keywords: Learning · Evidence · Integration · Sense of Belonging · Students · Nursing

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 A. P. Costa et al. (Eds.): WCQR 2023, LNNS 688, pp. 133–143, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31346-2_9

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1 Introduction A much-discussed topic in the literature has been the issue of integrating undergraduate nursing students into clinical practice environments [1–8] and how this can result in the development of a sense of belonging [4, 7, 8], given that successful integration influences the clinical learning process [9], but also their mental health, well-being, and behavioural, emotional, and cognitive responses [1, 4]. This issue is of no lesser importance in nursing curricula, since, in the training of these health professionals, clinical teaching hours can reach up to 50% of the total number of hours of the degree. Thus, this teaching typology is assumed to be vital for learning nursing care, but also for improving knowledge, attitudes, and skills at the level of Evidence-Based Practice [2, 3, 10]. Thus, allowing the integration of theoretical knowledge in contexts, the development of instrumental skills and contact with studies, research methodologies and various activities of knowledge translation [4, 5], with a positive impact on motivation for research and for its importance in improving health care [6]. The feeling of belonging, defined as the need to be and the perception of being involved with others at different interpersonal levels [4, 10], is influenced and influences self-esteem and contributes to the sense of connection of each one [10] and according to Ditzel the development of this feeling involves four elements: adherence, influence, integration, satisfaction of needs and shared emotional connection [11]. However, its importance and the results of other studies warn that, in most cases, students are absorbed by the magnitude and complexity of the contexts in which health care takes place [7, 8], and health professionals do not always have the temporal availability and/or training to ensure successful integration [4, 10], with negative translation on the quality of clinical education [4, 12]. To overcome the difficulties, the authors of the area advocate that the tutorial orientation of the clinical nurses and the professor assumes itself as a strategy that promotes the development of the student, in the clinic, maximizing the benefits of education in terms of the acquisition of knowledge and skills, safety and professional socialization [12, 13], but the emergence of the Pandemic by SARS-CoV-2, in addition to the complex challenges imposed on health systems, changed the education of health professionals [14]. In a first phase, when a period of mandatory confinement was decreed, the students had their clinical experiences suspended. After three months of interruption, they returned to clinical contexts, with some students staying at the forefront, witnessing the effects of the disease on the different life transitions of the population [14], inserted in teams that were modified to respond to the growing number of infections and services in constant (re)organization. The investigation reports difficulties in the clinical teaching of nursing students, not only due to the workload of nursing professionals that reduced their availability for adequate integration of students and effective support throughout the educational process [1, 12–14], but also because of the students’ fear and the temporary distance from contexts, which brought greater insecurities regarding practical skills, manual dexterity, and clinical reasoning in nursing [14].

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These difficulties and the failure to achieve full integration processes in contexts can have disastrous consequences for students in the short and medium term, with consequences for mental health, leading to isolation [5, 14, 15] and negatively influencing their own perception of nursing and health care [15]. In view of the above, the objective of this study was to understand whether the participation of nursing students in extracurricular activities, in the services where the clinical internships took place, influenced the integration and development of the sense of belonging.

2 Method The research question “How do nursing students see the influence of participation in extracurricular activities on their integration into the service where they perform Clinical Teaching?” guided the present study with a qualitative and interpretive approach and which sought to understand the experiences, behaviours, attitudes, and perceptions of participants who had a similar experience [16]. In the methodological path, the following eligibility criteria were defined: nursing students who, during the internship of integration into professional life, carried out in the last semester of their degree, were involved in extracurricular activities (knowledge creation and/or application of knowledge in the clinic), in the services where they interned, that they were successful in the internship and that they agreed to participate voluntarily and clearly. Of the 15 possible participants, 13 agreed to participate in this research. A first contact was made with the research participants to inform them of the objective of the study and to find out about their potential interest in collaborating. Subsequently, an email was sent with an informed consent form, clarified and free to participate in the study (according to the Declaration of Helsinki and the Oviedo Convention), and the participation rules, including estimated time of duration of the interview (45 min). A guide was prepared for the semi-structured interview based on the research question with the aim of narrowing down to more specific questions related to the experience, integration in the team, and how integration in the extracurricular activity contributed to integration in the service and development of the feeling of belonging. The script was checked by the research team. The 13 interviews took place between December 2020 and April 2021, online, through the colibri® platform. After recording and transcription by the researcher who performed them, they were analysed independently by two researchers from the team, following the steps defined by Bardin [17]. Qualitative data analysis software (webQDA®) [18, 19] was used to facilitate the organization of findings, enable collaborative work and validation of categories by researchers. The process of analysis and validation of the results involved transcription, reading, codification, definition of categories and return of the interpretation to the participants so that it could be validated [17, 19]. The researcher who carried out the interviews and transcribed the codification of the free codes, ensuring their completeness, representativeness, homogeneity, and relevance [20]. Another researcher using the software performed the analysis of the findings independently, after which the team met to validate the content analysis performed. The analysis carried out by the researchers was

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sent by email to the participants, who were asked to read and comment on the categories and subcategories and whether they considered that the interpretations reflected their experiences/ideas/feelings. This validation of the data by the participants reinforces the external validity and the saturation of the findings [20]. The use of QDAS webQDA® made it possible to organize information and in-depth analyses resulting from the 13 interviews. The definition of categories inductively, coding and recoding, as well as visualization of the data by the team and communication during the analysis process were also ensured [18]. This study was approved by an Ethics Committee (Opinion 09/2019 HVFX). Throughout the process, ethical and formal principles were guaranteed, from authorization to the right to opt out. Sociodemographic questions that would allow the identification of the respondent were not asked. Data were anonymized by assigning a code and a number to each participant by the main investigator.

3 Results At the time of data collection, participants had already completed their degree, working on average for 4 months and 12 days, as nurses (Nu) of general care in Portuguese hospital institutions. Respondents are mostly women (n = 9), with an average age of 26.6 ± 3.14 years. The average duration of the interviews was 40.44 ± 12.99 min. In the content analysis, the categories emerged: Integration and participation, Motivation, Collaborative work, and Feeling of Belonging (Table 1). Table 1. Corpus of Content Analysis. Lisbon, 2022. Category

Subcategory

RU

Integration and Participation

Integration Participation Interpersonal relationship opportunities

65

Motivation

Success Implementation Decision making ‘Hands on’

46

Collaborative Work

Negotiation Autonomy Leadership

46

Sense of Belonging

Valuation Confidence Safety

34

Total

191

Source: Survey data

Regarding the category ‘Integration and participation’, which presents a greater number of Registration Units (RU) in the speech of former students (RU = 65), it

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is clear that participation in extracurricular activities, which despite having objectives different from Clinical Teaching, it is carried out in the same hospital service, it facilitated integration into the service and participation in ongoing activities. Participants observe that carrying out other activities, concomitantly, creates new opportunities for contact with the guiding nurse and the multidisciplinary team, which promotes greater student autonomy in terms of learning and increases individual responsibility for adopting strategies of integration, as recorded in the following excerpts from the interviews: “a capacity for autonomy and initiative, which I wouldn’t be absolutely sure of if I didn’t have it in the safe transition project and I was only in the internship, because at the same time I worked with the team on the project and then in the service during the internship, which made me it helped me to get to know the team and them me and gave me greater security, and greater recognition from the clinical supervisor and the rest of the team and that made the transition to the professional environment much easier, due to the security and knowledge” (E4). “It wasn’t just with the nurses, we worked with the doctors and the social worker, side by side, on the project, so when the service needed something from them, I asked or asked directly” (E7). The integration in the project and in the service increased the students’ participation and learning opportunities, explicit in these speeches: “It wasn’t just the integration, the very dynamic that exists between the service, the school and the definition of what is expected of the students who are going to do an internship there also influences our attitude, the connection between teachers and services, which is a very consistent connection, favours integration but we also manage to go a little further because there are other opportunities for other activities” (E1). “By being part of the project, I ended up paying more attention to the dynamics of the service and the way in which the articulation between the hospital and the community was handled, that is, the continuity of work and I think that if it were not included in the project, I would not have paid so much attention to it right from the beginning of the internship, because we ended up being focused on so many other things and not so much on that part” (E1). Integration into the extracurricular activity generated opportunities for interpersonal relationships and collaborative work that allowed ‘being with’ the team in building something together and made students more aware of the team and of themselves within it. The realization that integration is achieved led the student to take more initiative and be more active in conducting their learning process: “I think I gained confidence and that today it helps me to ask colleagues what to do in situations I don’t know, for example, if I have doubts, I ask a colleague and discuss our points of view with her. I see some colleagues who find it difficult to do this, perhaps because they are new and afraid that they will think they don’t know yet, but as in the project everything was discussed and talked about and we realized that the nurses also had many doubts, I think it helped to understand that having doubts is good and asking is even better because it allows you to solve things” (E11). ‘Motivation’, with 46 RU, is a category that emerges associated with the success of the integration. Full integration and participation opportunities encourage the student to

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participate in various activities, not only to carry out the tasks in progress, but also to participate in planning and decision-making meetings, which are described as motivating for their development because they feel they can respond to requests and that they are developing as future professionals with transversal and scientific skills: “This project should be for all students to participate because we know that it was very good for us!… Despite being a lot of work and having forced a schedule to control so much, but that was another type of learning, it is not just learning, it was the challenge, that almost unique opportunity to be producers of knowledge and that motivates us because we always had so many projects, they weren’t projects, there were so many activities in the project that we gathered and said what are we going to do now, and on what are we going to focus on?” (E2). “…it’s a bit like a dream, in the sense that, we think about being nurses, we think about the practical part when we do our work, truth be told, we can be interested or not, we do the work because we have to do it, period final on the subject! it is part of the competence of the student and to be a nurse we have to take the course and it is part of the course and it has to be like this (…), but here it was different we worked and we had recognition of our work and as the option was ours [referring to participation in extracurricular activities] I was more involved and more careful that everything went well” (E3). “I was being, let’s say, being a vehicle to empower that person and that made me motivated because I knew there would be gains from that research” (E12). The relationship with the team, the opportunity to collaborate, or as a former student refers to “the ‘hands on’” (E11), and the direct observation of the results obtained with some of the activities in which they participated were the motives for motivation. Regarding the third category ‘Collaborative work’, with 46 RU, the respondents report that the methodology of the extracurricular activity, generated opportunities for collaborative work that allowed them to develop the transversal skills necessary for professional practice: “Another good thing was on the part of the multidisciplinary team that welcomed us (…) we developed skills in terms of working as a team, because I think there was a lot of teamwork there, that is, we depended a lot on the surgeons, but they began to understand that part of the consultation and they recognized that we knew the patients better, that is, they came to us and said: _ So, that patient who has that problem, is he done? Have you come to the appointment yet?” (E10). “Each one giving their opinion, always as a team and therefore learning ends up involving a lot of everyone, and of the whole project and also for that reason we managed to be very involved, because from the beginning there began to be an expectation not only on the part of from the school, but also from the service because it was a project that they really wanted” (E9). The methodology of involving students in the project to transfer knowledge to the clinic is expressed, creating opportunities for collaborative work with the team, which extends to the development of transversal skills for personal and professional development as students and in the first months of professional practice. The feeling of belonging appears in the speeches of all participants (RU = 34) as an outcome resulting from integration in the service, good interpersonal relationships,

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participation in activities and definition of common goals between students, school, and professionals to carry out the extracurricular activity and which is extensible to the very achievement of the learning outcomes of the internship, expressed in the oral discourse of the participants: “… This was the CE where I actually felt more useful, more welcomed and also more respected by, perhaps for bringing something new to the service and perhaps because of that, it was where I felt more respected by the entire multidisciplinary team” (E10). “Yes, it helped, for example, on the part of the team that ended up realizing that we weren’t there to work and contribute, because this was not an easy phase in terms of nursing, with a lot of staff, but without hiring and therefore in the other internships I felt that I was there, that I was a student, and that I was almost like a number and that I was a weight for the team. Here the team itself saw that we had something new for the service and ended up relating much more to us and from all stages, there it is! it was what I was saying was the stages in which I felt more respected and in which I felt like part of the team.” (E8). Content analysis of the 13 interviews made it possible to assign meaning to this experience and its contribution to integration into complex clinical practice environments. The feeling of belonging gradually emerges with integration, opportunities for participation and collaborative work with clinicians around a goal that is common to all – the project of the extracurricular activity that takes place in the service (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Relationship between categories. Lisbon, 2022.

4 Discussion The results of this qualitative research corroborate those of other investigations that advocate that the Sense of Belonging is important for the integration of nursing students in clinical practice environments, motivation, and quality of the clinical experience [1, 4, 5, 7–10, 21–23]. An environment that promotes learning, which guarantees welcoming, pedagogical strategies appropriate to the presence and, simultaneously, to the development of the student, combined with strategies that favour their acceptance by the team

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and with the pedagogical triad involved (student, guiding nurse in close and effective collaboration with teachers) [19] are facilitators of this feeling. Although consensual as a central element in the pedagogical process in clinical learning [19], evidence on the subject does not always result in good practices, because students continue to have fewer positive experiences during undergraduate nursing internships [10, 15, 24], with emotional consequences, isolation and repercussions on learning, productivity, and performance, negatively influencing the perception of nursing and health care [15]. Some researchers associate this impasse with difficulties in integrating theory versus practice, limited material and human resources in the clinical area, discriminatory attitudes towards students and communication barriers [7, 10, 25]. The results of this study reinforce that the feeling of ‘Belonging’ is a universal characteristic of the human being and is a basic human need [26] and that its satisfaction enables these future health professionals to work more reliably in the environment clinicians and point out that understanding and recognizing this distinctive feature can reduce stress and strain [27] and promote learning [5]. A good example of research in this area was the design and validation of the ‘WANTED’ framework (Welcome – legitimization of the student role; Attitude – compassion for self and students; Nurture – encourage sociable Exchange; Talk – involve in-ward and work discussion; Encourage – appropriate autonomy for completion of tasks; Delight - in a supportive relationship and success) with the aim of creating experiences of belonging, with a team approach, for nursing students undertaking clinical internships [1] and that promotes learning in the day day-to-day work, feedback, positive reinforcement, questioning/reflection, guidance, shared discussion and problem solving [1]. The findings reinforce the team’s role in learning, integration, opportunities for participation and collaborative work, which goes against the results of other studies that state that team support is a contribution to the development of capacities, in the student, to communicate and solve problems more fruitfully, relieving the levels of stress and anxiety associated with this type of teaching methodology [28, 29]. Participants make clear the importance of successful integration for motivation, with translation into the construction of professional identity [10, 30], interdisciplinarity, based on critical thinking to develop quality care [30]. The learning environment, even though it is highly complex and not always easy to predict or control, should motivate students, and contribute to their feeling of security, including when asking questions to achieve learning outcomes [28]. In the analysis of the findings, the existence of the extracurricular activity and the finding that the knowledge transfer projects for the clinic result in better health care for people who are hospitalized [29] emerge as positive for motivation. Integration, participation, and motivation are an increase for proactivity and responsibility for the learning process itself, leading the student to be more active in the search for evidence and transfer of knowledge to practice [26]. On the other hand, as their participation is more active, the feeling of belonging is reinforced, with students considering that they are part of the team when they are known personally and professionally [10]. Future studies, with qualitative methodology, should make it possible to understand the

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process that results in this feeling of belonging, as well as how it influences learning and professional identity. This study ends reinforcing the opinion of Levett-Jones and Lathlean, [8] that the re-conception of nursing students’ clinical learning experiences through a “belonging lens” provides a new perspective and reveals still unexplored perceptions. However, and although we have a strong conviction that belonging is a prerequisite for clinical learning, making students feel that they belong to the internship location and enabling different, active learning experiences that allow learning evidence in the clinic is a challenge. The limitations of the study are related to the very nature of the study, method, and data collection technique. The intentional choice of participants and the concrete experience of having participated in the Safe Transition project limits the results to the context. The interaction between researcher and participant may have influenced the response to what is socially accepted.

5 Final Considerations Participation in extracurricular activities in the services where undergraduate nursing students carry out internships allows the development of a sense of belonging, because the activity facilitates integration, increases participation in the service, generates learning opportunities, both in the project and in in the internship, and allows collaborative work, motivating the student, creating a sense of success, and making him feel that he belongs to the service. Despite the aforementioned limitations, it is reinforced that the qualitative nature of the study allowed understanding the students’ perspective on the integration process and the potential of the methodology used. The use of software for the qualitative analysis of the findings allowed the organization of the findings and contributed to increase the rigor in the process of analysis, codification, and selection of illustrative excerpts of the emerging categories. What stands out for Nursing Education is the need to rethink, design and implement strategies that promote the integration of students in clinical contexts, designed by the triad involved (student, guiding nurse and professor), with clarification of the integration objectives, strategies, and role of each participant, so that the student feels welcomed and can achieve the learning outcomes outlined for that learning context. For the investigation, longitudinal studies are suggested that allow a deep understanding of how the feeling of belonging influences clinical learning and the construction of professional identity.

References 1. King, C., Russell, K., Bulsara, C.: Promoting student belongingness: “WANTED” - the development, implementation and evaluation of a toolkit for nurses. Aust. J. Adv. Nurs. 34(3), 48–53 (2017). doi/https://search.informit.org/10.3316/informit.946609282590270 2. Mena-Tudela, D., González-Chordá, V.M., Cervera-Gasch, A., Maciá-Soler, M.L., OrtsCortés, M.I.: Effectiveness of an evidence-based practice educational intervention with second-year nursing students. Rev. Lat. Am. Enfermagem 26, e3026 (2018). https://doi.org/ 10.1590/1518-8345.2502.3026

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3. Kitson, A., et al.: Using complexity and network concepts to inform healthcare knowledge translation. Int. J. Health Policy Manag. 7(3), 231–243 (2018). https://doi.org/10.15171/ IJHPM.2017.79 4. Baixinho, C.L., Ferreira, Ó.R., Medeiros, M., Oliveira, E.S.F.: Sense of belonging and evidence learning: a focus group study. Sustainability 14(10), 5793 (2022). https://doi.org/10. 3390/su14105793 5. Cardoso, M., Baixinho, C.L., Ferreira, O., Nascimento, P., Pedrosa, R., Gonçalves, P.: Aprender prática baseada na evidência pelo envolvimento em atividades de investigação – autopercepção dos estudantes. Cogitare Enferm. 26, e79806 (2021). https://doi.org/10.5380/ce.v26i0. 79806 6. Hurlbut, J., Elkins, M.: Redesigning an undergraduate nursing research course using innovative teaching strategies. SM J. Nurs. 4(1), 1017 (2018). https://doi.org/10.36876/smjn. 1017 7. Levett-Jones, T., Lathlean, J., McMillan, M., Higgins, I.: Belongingness: a montage of nursing students’ stories of their clinical placement experiences. Contemp. Nurse 24(2), 164–174 (2007) 8. Levett-Jones, T., Lathlean, J.: Belongingness: a prerequisite for nursing students’ clinical learning. Nurse Educ. Pract. 8(2), 103–111 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2007. 04.003 9. Loura, D.S., Bernardes, R.A., Baixinho, C.L., Henriques, H.R., Félix, I.B., Guerreiro, M.P.: Nursing students’ learning from involvement in research projects: an integrative literature review. Rev. Bras. Enferm. 75(1), e20210053 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1590/0034-71672021-0053 10. Baixinho, C.L., Ferreira, Ó.R., Silva, M.M., Medeiros, M., Oliveira, E.S.F.: Integração em projetos na educação em enfermagem para translação de conhecimento: Um estudo qualitativo. NTQR 13, e687 (2022). https://doi.org/10.36367/ntqr.13.2022.e687 11. Ditzel, L.M.: Sense of community among nurses: results of a study. Int. J. Nurs. Stud. 2(2) (2017). https://doi.org/10.20849/ijsn.v2i2.191 12. Esteves, L.S.F., Cunha, I.C.K.O., Bohomo, l.E., Negri, E.C.: Supervised internship in undergraduate education in nursing: integrative review. Rev. Bras. Enferm. 71(Supl. 4), 1740–1750 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1590/0034-7167-2017-0340 13. Iglesias-Parra, M.R., García-Mayor, S., Kaknani-Uttumchandani, S., León-Campos, A., García-Guerrero, A., Morales-Asencio, J.M.: Nursing students’ and tutors’ satisfaction with a new clinical competency system based on the Nursing Interventions Classification. Int. J. Nurs. Knowl. 27(4), 193–200 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1111/2047-3095.12102 14. Baixinho, C.L., Ferreira, Ó.: Being a nursing student in times of COVID-19. Esc Anna Nery 25(spe), e20200541 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1590/2177-9465-EAN-2020-0541 15. Smith, C.R., Gillespie, G.L., Brown, K.C., Grubb, P.L.: Seeing students squirm: student nurses’ bullying experiences in clinical settings. West J. Nurs. Res. 38(10), 1397–1398 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1177/0193945916658207 16. Pathak, V., Jena, B., Kalra, S.: Qualitative research. Perspect. Clin. Res. 4(3), 192 (2013). https://doi.org/10.4103/2229-3485.115389 17. Bardin, L.: Análise de conteúdo: edição revista e ampliada, p. 70. Edições, São Paulo (2016) 18. Costa, A., Reis L.: Vantagens e desvantagens do uso de software na análise de dados qualitativos. RISTI (23), ix–xii (2017). https://doi.org/10.17013/risti.23.0 19. Costa, A.P.: CAQDAS and Ethics: starting point for something bigger [editorial]. Rev. Esc. Enferm. USP 54, e03598 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1590/S1980-220X2020ed0103598 20. Belotto, M.J.: Data analysis methods for qualitative research: managing the challenges of coding, interrater reliability, and thematic analysis. Qual. Rep. 23(11), 2622–2633 (2018). https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol23/iss11/2/

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Organizational Self-recognition Process: Web 2.0 as an Extended Environment to Observe Identity Projection Gabriel Velandia Pacheco1(B) , Adalberto Escobar Castillo1 and Manuel Garzón Castrillón2

,

1 Universidad de la Costa CUC, 08003 Barranquilla, Colombia

[email protected] 2 Grupo de Investigación FIDEE, 08003 Barranquilla, Colombia

Abstract. When exhaustively reviewing the literature on absorption capability, certain theoretical gaps are found regarding identifying and assessing knowledge to be absorbed, mainly if it is analysed from the point of view of the subjectivities involved. The first phase defined the concept and process of organizational self-recognition. This second phase aims to refine the analysis and expand it with the organizational projections of identity through their profiles on social media. This research is part of the Grounded Theory tradition and studies seven organizations applying non-participant observation and semi-structured interviews. Data is analysed with Atlas.ti® version 7.5.7. The findings allow an understanding of how subordination in labour relations affects the creation of company identity and how organizational history neutralizes individual subjectivities. Likewise, data triangulation of the first phase with the identities projected in social networks proved to be a methodological strategy that involves the use of technologies and increases confidence in results. Keywords: Web 2.0 · organizational identity · social media · knowledge management

1 Introduction An organization’s survival depends on multiple factors; one of the most studied in literature is organizational competitiveness. From the current that understands companies as a repository of resources and capabilities, it is argued that a company is more competitive if it configures its dynamic capabilities, which are capable of providing timely responses to demands in unstable and rapidly changing environments [1–3]. Authors such as Cohen and Levinthal [4]; Kogut and Zander [5]; Grant [6]; Zahra and George [7]; Camison and Julian [8], and Hoque et al. [9] study dynamic capability to absorb knowledge and understand it as the organizational capability to identify the value of new information, introduce it to the company and use it to achieve its objectives successfully. In this current, Zahra and George [7] determine the components of this capability as acquisition, assimilation, transformation, and use. In addition, they define the acquisition of © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 A. P. Costa et al. (Eds.): WCQR 2023, LNNS 688, pp. 144–165, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31346-2_10

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knowledge as the ability to identify, evaluate and acquire knowledge that is relevant to organizational processes. For their part, Pertusa-Ortega et al. [10] and Rosenbusch et al. [11] argue that the organizational ability to recognize some information considered valuable has positive effects on innovation and performance; however, the process of defining knowledge as applicable is highly ambiguous, loaded with uncertainty, and affected by subjectivities. A first approximation that intends to describe how organizations assign relevance to specific knowledge is presented by Velandia et al. [12] in the first phase of this research, where it is stated that the process of assigning meaning and value to knowledge is strongly associated with the company’s ability to identify itself. Therefore, organizational self-recognition is understood as a company capability that is manifested through the clarity of objectives, mission, and vision; in a constant search for the meaning of the position, the recognition and confidence in the abilities of the employees; that mediates the relationship between the utility of knowledge and the absorptive capability and contributes to the consolidation of organizational identity. In this sense, it is understood that, in an intersubjective process of assigning value and meaning, organizations absorb specific knowledge, and this activity is affected by the ability of the company to recognize itself. However, from the individual’s perspective, the self-recognition process comprises a complex set of factors that give shape and meaning to the characteristics accepted as their own [13]. In context, it is associated with the concept of “Identity Construction” [14]. The vision that an individual builds of himself is conditioned by a series of external elements and introspections stimulated by signals from the environment, which has a heteronomous character and generally acts as a nebula that prevents people from really knowing each other, without However, the capability for self-recognition generates certain advantages that allow the individual to perform more efficiently in the designation and achievement of their objectives [15]. When talking about organizations, understood as organized groups of individuals [16], like individuals, these often use self-reference strategies, which, according to Luhmann [17], consists of the ability of a company to consider an object or organism and that gives it the possibility of analyzing the features that differentiate it from other companies. This idea is consistent with what was stated by Mead [18]; DeCerteau [19]; Larrain [20]; Ravasi and Van Rekom [21], and Burke and Cerven [22], who study selfreference as a means of building one’s own identity. For his part, Ocampo-Villegas [23] shows that using the self-reference strategy has contributed to developing associations through communication. Based on this background, it can be deduced that organizations, like individuals, also build group identity through self-reference processes. In addition, Tafesse [24] and Swani and Labrecque [25] assert that companies carry out self-presentation actions through the technologies available on web 2.0, making more and more use of the options provided by social networks and their possibility of interaction between users. They use the relationship connections that customers make with brands to have some effect on the decisions that consumers make. In this order of ideas, companies project the organizational identity in social networks. However, since companies are made up of organized groups of people who share common objectives [16], the high load of subjectivity and tensions that are inherently

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involved in the process of assigning group meaning and, in this way, building an organizational identity, which will affect the decisions to give value to the knowledge that will be absorbed through the absorption capability to try to be more competitive, this makes many aspects of the self-recognition process mediators in the relationship between absorptive capacity and usefulness of knowledge not identified in the literature. Authors such as Cohen and Levinthal [4]; Rothaermel and Deeds [26]; Minbaeva et al. [27]; Jansen et al. [28]; Todorova and Durisin [29]; Grimpe and Sofka [30]; Kostopoulos et al. [31]; Ritala and Hurmelinna [32] and Hoque et al. [9], agree on this. This restricts a theoretical gap that deserves to propose as an objective of this research, to deepen the analysis of the organizational self-recognition process, expanding the observation field toward the identity projections carried out by companies in social networks. Therefore, on this occasion, linking technologies available on web 2.0 to fieldwork is considered adequate. In this sense, this research is mainly oriented by the questions: Can the linking of web 2.0 technologies be considered an expansion of the field of qualitative research for observation in the organizational context? How does the self-recognition process occur in organizations? How does the projection of corporate identity take place in web 2?0? Y? Is the projected identity in web 2.0 consistent with the initial findings? This restricted the horizon of the work, so it was decided to re-analyse in depth the data collected during the non-participant observation and semi-structured interviews conducted with the seven organizations involved in the study. It was necessary to return to the field to refine the understanding of the process from an experiential expansion and try to capture the subjectivities and their effects on organizational operations. In the research work of Velandia et al. [12], a limitation was presented by Minichiello et al. [33], who assert that, in this type of field approach, there is always the possibility that interviewees mix part of their ego into the interviews and try to tell a “good story”. Another limitation was the limited use of images of organizational life in the study, which, according to Davison et al. [34], offers ample possibilities in the analysis process. To counteract this and based on Gandhi and Kar [35] and Elenurm [36] state that companies communicate periodically through social networking platforms introduced in web 2.0 to improve the consumer experience; on this occasion, we made use of this easily accessible technology as a tool that allows us to observe the organizational identity that the companies studied project. This activity made it possible to triangulate what was stated by the interviewees, what was observed in the field, and the organizational reality in terms of identity. Consistency between the narratives of the interviewees and the identity projected in the social networks was evidenced. This is considered an easily applied methodological strategy that allowed for increased confidence in the results and enriched the findings. The results also highlight the effect of the subordination of labour relations on the process of self-recognition and the moderating role of organizational history between individual subjectivities and the assignment of a value in the construction of corporate identity.

2 Self-recognition Process from the Psychological Perspective Recognizing yourself involves excellent talent, experience, and discipline in developing that ability. According to Galán and Sánchez [37], Codina [15], and Marín et al. [38],

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individuals or groups of them have in their memories a series of experiences, thoughts, and feelings that they consider painful, successful, or intense that they will try, innately, to repeat or repress, depending on how the experiences are valued. This process causes people to be distracted by observing new opportunities in the environment. Thus, individuals will assign value to certain aspects such as knowledge, values, ideas, and procedures, among others, through judgments or estimates and whose decisions are based on their own experiences and the interpretations of others. Valuations can be understood as the different impressions, estimates, judgments, and expectations that are formed within individuals on specific topics and situations, which generally take the form of internal dialogue and are far from objectivity involved in this process: family background, belief systems, experiences, skills possessed, among others [39]. Self-recognition will help one understand one’s assumptions, trigger points, sensitive lines, comfort zones, strengths, and weaknesses, among others, and is made up of four main aspects: values, learning style, change orientation, and interpersonal direction [40]. Values define an individual’s basic standards about good or bad, desirable or undesirable, true or false, moral or immoral. Learning style determines individual thought processes, perceptions, and methods of acquiring and storing information. It determines not only what kind of information is received but how it is interpreted, how it is judged, and what response is given. The change orientation identifies individuals’ adaptability, tolerance for ambiguous conditions, and the degree to which they accept personal responsibility for their actions under changing conditions. Finally, interpersonal orientation determines behaviour patterns in interactions with other individuals [22, 40]. For his part, Larrain [20], consistent with Mead [18], De Certeau [19], and Burke [41], argue that the concept of identity does not refer to a set of internal dispositions that remain fundamentally the same throughout life, if not to a process of permanent construction in which people define themselves in a close symbolic relationship with others. Thus, in the individual’s ability to introspect the attitudes and expectations of others, the person himself becomes the object of reflection on which he builds a narrative that describes him. The individual experiences himself indirectly and becomes aware of whether he fundamentally considers the attitudes of others toward it. This process is only possible in social relations mediated by symbols; therefore, identity is a symbolic project that the subject never finishes building, and symbolic materials are acquired in interaction with others [42]. However, when people are organized in groups (organizations), they also have their own independent identity from the individuals that make them up, despite being influenced by them. In this context, the construction of group identity and the sense of individual belonging are stressed because the subjects, in their daily interactions with other individuals in the group and with other groups, select the cultural repertoires that respond to their interests and aspirations, turning collective identity, like individual identity, into a tense, subjective and changing activity [43]. The identity of organizations is also affected by professional identity, which corresponds to particular constructions that identify characteristic features of groups and that can be understood as a sphere of personal identity and whose result is built and internalized at work [44, 45]. Finally, from a psychological perspective, self-recognition can be understood as a subjective process strongly influenced by the individual’s past. Four main aspects come

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together: values, learning style, change orientation, and interpersonal orientation. It is a process of reflection on one’s being that is elaborated from the interaction with other individuals and built through symbols; meanwhile, it is a symbolic process that remains in constant construction and evolution and occurs in individuals and groups of people.

3 The Role of Sensemaking in Organizational Self-recognition The sensemaking concept is initially worked on by Frankl [46] and later by authors such as Weick [47]; Seiling and Hinrichs [39]; Djaballah et al. [48]; Godden [49], among others, who agree that it is a process through which individuals assign meaning to the world they perceive in an ambiguous and changing environment and take a position in it. It involves indispensable aspects that shape actions, such as freedom to act, understanding of the environment, capability to perform, trusting environment, and access to necessary information and influences. Sensemaking allows considering changes in the characteristics of its central structure (Rigidities). The search for meaning in existence is necessary to face indecision and direct efforts toward more transparent and favourable decisions. In this process, individuals receive signals from the environment, which often diverge from people’s representations of themselves. Depending on the strength and source of the dissenting information, the individual will initially attempt to justify their previous condition or self-image by activating the psychological maintenance system [50]. Often, the individual manages to explain his position before himself and his audiences; however, the frustration and crisis generated by the inconsistency drive the individual to give in to changes that assign meaning to his worldview (Fig. 1). The sensitive line is the point at which people become especially receptive and susceptible to information from outside. It manifests in a shocked state due to incoherence between their representations and the signals from their audiences. Suppose the organization recognizes itself in such a way that it identifies its trigger points, sensitive lines, comfort zones, strengths, and weaknesses, among others. In that case, it will have more control over the change process. This approach suggests that self-recognition wins importance, such as recognising what interests a company, its characteristics and those of its environment.

4 Organizational Use of Social Networking Currently, the rapid growth of social networks has created a virtual space for interaction between individuals and organizations that have become an integral part of communication [51]. In this context, Tafesse [24] and Swani and Labrecque [25] state that companies carry out self-presentation actions for their brands or logos through social networks, also using the relationship connections that customers make with brands to impact customers’ decisions. Similarly, Gandhi and Kar [35] assert that organizations use at least two strategies to publish images on social networks, such as presenting human faces that influence followers with their gazes and showing the company logo. Likewise, Smaoui et al. [52] state that is linking humour in the messages issued by social networks positively affects the attitude toward the publication, influencing

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Others’ expectaons Distracon Identy perceived by others Discrepancy in expressed and perceived identy

Sends signals of the constructed ideal identy

INDIVIDUAL Life instrucons

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PROCESS OF ISSUING JUDGMENT AND VALUATION Referencing own experiences Internal dialogue of a subjecve nature

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Fig. 1. Evaluation of external information. Taken from Velandia et al. [12]

the user to participate. The positive attitude of the user towards the messages shared by companies on social networks is critical because, according to Kraus et al. [53], the logic underlying the communication efforts of organizations serves mainly two purposes. The first is to improve the external perception of the company, and the second is to spread a signal of change within the organization. However, Mayes [54] shows that account managers’ intentions, in terms of organizational image projection on social networks, are sometimes different from what is projected.

5 Method In the first research phase, a team of two researchers conducted non-participant observation in two organizations: one from the industrial sector and the other from services, which stand out for their seniority and experience in technological leadership. The nonparticipant observation sessions were given continuously, allowing moments of interaction with the subjects involved, a space used to ask some contextual questions that allowed a better understanding of the facts. Leaders and others involved were always helpful and responsive if approached promptly. This first fieldwork made it possible to identify that the people in charge of making decisions related to new knowledge do not do so homogeneously. This was achieved by comparing the decisions and justifications presented by individuals to support those decisions. This situation was observed even within the same company and department. It was possible to watch how specific individuals adhered more rigidly to the organisation’s values, and others tended to be a little more flexible, stating that the values could be modified.

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Based on these initial findings, it was then decided to approach the available literature, and in going back and forth from the field to the literature, the construct of organizational self-recognition was reached, which is initially understood as an intersubjectively constructed aspect, which is the key and that influences knowledge identification and evaluation decisions. On this basis, it was then decided to extend non-participant observation and semi-structured interviews to other organizations, which were chosen one by one, giving preference to those that seemed to offer an environment that would enrich the construction of the concept of organizational self-recognition. Considering the existing literature as a guide that organizes the researcher’s ideas rather than a previously established rigid framework [55], the questionnaire used was refined, resulting in 10 questions that sought to inquire about the general interpretations that the people involved have. Of the observed processes, allowing the emergence of more specific aspects that arose during the interviews themselves and that allowed opening the discussion to other elements defined by the interviewees themselves [56]. The interviews were carried out under the role-play scheme, in which the researcher takes the apprentice role and the interviewee that of expert [57]. Each interview was carried out independently [58] in several sessions that lasted approximately one hour. Following Neuman [59], only one daily interview was conducted to avoid fatigue and promote data quality. To contextualize the participants, they previously sent the question form. Additionally, each session began with a space for verbal and visual contextualization so that both parties could adapt to the work environment and encourage trust. In the confidentiality agreement, it was made clear that the interviewees could openly refuse to answer any question if they considered that it was about privileged information of the organization; however, all the questions were answered. As a limitation, the refusal of six of the companies studied to take photographs or videotape the interview sessions or observations should be noted. All interviewees agreed to audio record the interview sessions. This allowed researchers to focus on relevant aspects, striving to interpret and capture new elements that interviewees linked and were not contemplated in the questions guide. A second researcher attended interviews for taken field notes. In addition, he captured gestures, movements, and any other aspect that can be triangulated and contributed to assigning meaning to interviewees’ answers [60]. Researchers used the Grounded Theory tradition [61], as it is widely used in previous studies related to administrative disciplines [62]. The information collected was analysed to reconceptualize the construct based on participants’ experiences. The analysis sought the differences, similarities, and relationships between data through a rigorous and careful process of open and axial categorization, which started from the answers and previously defined categories [57, 60, 62]. The categorization was initially done for the material obtained from the first two companies. Three researchers participated in this work simultaneously, and the first open categories were defined, which served as a guide to analysing the interviews of the other organizations. In this phase, the researchers divided the analysis work and continued individually with the categorization guided by the open categories defined as a team. Eighty-three open categories resulted from this activity, leading to sixteen closed ones, which gave rise to four emerging ones. During this process, the field was returned

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many times, and literature was constantly analysed to generate findings that could be critically continuously analysed [55]. When a new category arises or when finding it difficult to assign some segment of the interviews to the existing ones, the researcher who detected it calls a meeting for the entire team to analyse and discuss the name and justification of the new category, which was recorded in the analysis log under codes that facilitated its subsequent consultation. At the same time, the entire team could use it in the rest of the analysis. Throughout the process, field notes, available literature, diagrams, flowcharts, and other support material built during the observation sessions supported the rigorous work of creating categories. Finally, the process of closing and emergence of emerging categories was carried out by the entire team of researchers through several discussion and analysis sessions. The information was processed with the support of the Atlas software. Ti ® Version 7.5.7. Throughout the research process, the online files were used to share documents such as analysis field logs, among others, within the team, which are necessary to be available and updated for each of the members of the research team and thus guarantee the homogeneity and rigor in the analysis and observation. In addition, the use of Atlas software. Ti ® facilitated the analysis work of the transcribed interviews in the first and second phases of this research. Likewise, this software constituted a critical support at the moment of the construction of the semantic networks, facilitating the availability of previously constructed categories and providing great visual comfort, which made it easier for researchers to propose relationships and links between the different concepts in a schematic and more organized. However, the version used did not have many advantages for creating open categories. This was understandable to the extent that, in the different traditions used in qualitative research, it is up to the researcher to create the categories from the hermeneutic exercise carried out with the fragments of interviews; therefore, at least in open categorization, they were not found differences when using a data processing sheet such as Excel and the software used. Fortunately, in the most recent version, the option of categories proposed by the software itself was incorporated, bringing to the fore an epistemological and even ethical discussion about this Atlas. Ti ® software application, as a mechanized creator without feelings of categories, a process that moves away from the hermeneutic exercise that the qualitative researcher naturally performs and is closer to the use of algorithmic modelling. It is therefore considered that the new application of category creation by software must be treated with great care because if it is seen as an option that allows observing words that the software considers relevant (in a way far from interpretation), this can mean a helpful tool that would show elements that would possibly go unnoticed. After all, the researcher can focus his attention on the points that subjectively stand out, representing a value-added advantage to the use of the software. However, it is considered that adopting or accepting the categories proposed by the software without the due process of traditional analysis of the field data can generate some important disadvantages in qualitative research methodologies, mainly in the research context in which they are carried out. Many researchers are currently immersed and succumb to the pressure of time and the demand for results from financing entities. In different circumstances, they would have at hand a first automated draft of results that would tempt them to use it

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without further analysis to fulfil their research commitments. This risk can be minimized with the ethical responsibility of the researchers and thus use the technologies linked to qualitative research from their benefits without losing the introspective and experiential character that allows the researcher to be an instrument for measuring social reality. In this order of ideas, this software application should not distance the researcher from linking and interpreting the expressions, gestures, and feelings in the data and the analysis process, which constitute the wealth of qualitative research. Finally, for the visual content analysis process, the software was used as follows: following Tafesse [24] and Swani and Labrecque [25], initially, the identity projections of the organizations were observed through their publications. In social networks, with which the researcher wrote the impressions arising from the observation of the published images, in notes in the field log. Each organizational profile was analysed by three researchers independently. The field notes made by the different researchers regarding the same company were contrasted, and the elements considered relevant for each organization were refined. Once the observation notes were purified and refined as descriptive text, they were uploaded to the software and analysed as text segments, just as was done with the interviews. This work was supported by logs and analysis hangers, diagrams, and discussions within the team. The available theory contributed to building an analogy between the literal environment in which companies operate and the virtual environment, as well as identifying the elements, details, intentions, and messages issued, among others, that organizations make implicit in their publications. Similarly, the findings of the first phase of the investigation were triangulated with the second, which links the use of web 2.0 to corroborate whether the results are consistent. It was observed that, in this way, adequate use of the software could be made to carry out a qualitative analysis of the organizational images. 5.1 Participants During the first phase, through a committee of experts with whom a total of eight sessions were held, the interview guide was validated, and the inclusion/exclusion criteria were defined to identify key informants. The central aspect of this criterion was that the interviewee had experience as a technological development and innovation leader. In total, interviews were conducted with nine executives from seven private-sector companies. The first sessions of non-participant observation and interviews were carried out in companies E1 and E7. They were gradually extended to the other organizations until category saturation was reached. For forty-two months, non-participant observation was carried out in ten companies. Nevertheless, at the time of applying for the interviews, certain difficulties emerged that forced two to be dispensed with, mainly due to not being able to arrange a meeting with any of the people who met the criteria of the key informant. Table 1 shows the companies approached while keeping their name confidential. For the second phase of this research, it was necessary to return to the field to delve deeper into the process of self-recognition. On this occasion, two managers were interviewed again. Companies E1 and E7 were chosen mainly for two reasons, the first because of the degree of contributions made by the organizations in the first phase, and the second one because of the atmosphere of trust that was perceived during the first interview

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sessions. These interviews were given as informal conversations in which details of the processes involved in the study were inquired about and served to corroborate ideas and refine the analysis, which was carried out with the data from the first and second phases. Similarly, Tafesse [24], Swani and Labrecque [25], and Gandhi and Kar [35] searched for the profile of the seven companies on Facebook and Instagram, with which the identity that the organizations intended to project to their audiences was identified. To achieve this, the implicit messages in the images of the shared photographs, comments, and responses to remarks made by their followers were analysed, giving rise to categories that capture the concepts that contribute to defining the projected identity. Table 1. Participating organizations Company

Characteristics

E1

Large industrial metalworking company

E2

Medium and growing food products company

E3

A large subsidiary of a commercial industrial company

E4

Medium and growing technological-software-support company

E5

Medium and growing services company

E6

Medium and growing retailer with headquarters based in the USA

E7

Large services company

Source: Velandia et al. [12]

Web 2.0 technology is characterized by being a web page model that facilitates the transfer and use of information in an inter-operative and collaborative manner in which the individual user gains considerable value as an active and not a passive subject [63]. In this sense, web 2.0 is understood as the expansion of the field in which the qualitative researcher carries out his observation work, thus opening the analysis and observation options of the companies as a plentiful source of data that speaks of the organizational history, relationships with its customers and other interested parties and mainly for the perspective of this study, the image projected by the company. It is necessary to highlight the advantage of this study, the possibility of being able to appreciate the first-hand identity that a company projects. Doing this from an ideal and specialized space such as social networks, which are beyond what a person can express in an interview, a little freer from individual opinion and closer to the identity of the organization (as a group of people), considerably enriches the results with new information that can be disserved. This work generated the possibility of refining the observation of organisational history’s role in the identity construction process. Something that was not identified in the first phase and that, from the perspective of this study, seems to have different effects than those found in the available theory. However, web 2.0 has some recognized disadvantages. For example, the fact that some discretion is granted to different users gives rise to the existence of users who pass through anonymously, causing changes, sharing confidential information, or accessing it, which hurts the virtual environment. Also, interactivity allows users to misrepresent

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messages originally sent by the transmitter. These elements, understood from the theoretical perspective of Frankl [46]; Weick [47]; Seiling and Hinrichs [39]; Djaballah et al. [48], and Godden [49], find a coherent position by taking the place of the audiences that interpret the messages sent by the companies and return a signal that the company interprets as coherent or divergent and influence their identity decisions. In this sense, it is concluded that, from the perspective of this study in the virtual environment of web 2.0 technology, the same elements are occurring in literal environments and therefore constitute a favourable environment to develop this study.

6 Process of Self-recognition in the Daily Organizational Life Regarding the process of self-recognition, it is evident that the E1 company, throughout its history, responded to different needs of the environment, starting as a trading company and then as an industrial company that manufactures its products. This company is “a reflection of what the board of directors does; what they decide, then, is like an x-ray that is sent to everyone, that is, it acts under a family example”. The E2 company attaches particular importance to whoever leads the process. In the experience of this organization, a change of management has managed to modify the necessary aspects. He expresses that knowing where he wants to go has been the most significant thing in building a self-concept. The company asserts that self-recognition “is built over the years, but thanks to good leadership offered by the managers of the organization, since this will have an impact on the workers, which will later reach the clients” The company E3 says that self-recognition is achieved through managers “It is built following the guidelines that the company has because they are the ones who transmit the information to the employees through the leaders they have. The E4 company also alludes to its history. It asserts that the search for and taking advantage of opportunities have been the issues that have made the company what it is today, going beyond the services offered at the beginning of the organization. It states that self-recognition is achieved as a response to technological changes, says that they are in constant construction of their identity. That ambition makes them bet on various things, but that it would be better to define an identity to bet totally on it”. The E5 company, recounting part of its history, asserts that everything arose at the initiative of a group of workers who organized to form a cooperative and provide a service in the company where they worked. Like the previous ones, they gradually adapted to the company environment’s changes and opportunities. This has helped them generate an organizational identity. According to this company, organizational identity comes from different processes that arise in response to taking advantage of opportunities to improve and grow the business. E6 company shows how taking advantage of opportunities gives meaning to what an organization decides to be: “The company is relatively new. The company was founded in 1998 in the United States by two people. A couple started as a scientific discovery of the product, and it started more as helping people and making the product known. Later, the business opportunity was seen in marketing networks, so initially, this couple led

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it; then they hired more people, and two a year later, it arrived in Bogotá and it worked. Then a branch was opened in Cali, but only products were delivered. People placed their orders through the call centre in Bogotá.” The E6 company states that the organizational identity must guarantee customers’ trust since the products they work with are for human consumption and are related to health. In this sense, the identity construction occurs through the need for recognition in the market and the trust of its customers in it. For its part, the company E7, like the previous ones, alluded to its history and justified the position that it currently has in the market. “The organization started very small in France approximately 40 years ago, and well, it understood that could provide a hotel service and did so, but little by little manager saw that the market demanded that the company provide more services and the manager decided to offer them depending on the need. In this way, it managed to become a multinational. Today we provide logistics, maintenance, gardening, and cleaning services here in Colombia…” E7 expresses having a strategy, which consists of not using commercials or advertising, but instead providing an excellent service. The identity is built from customer satisfaction. In this order of ideas, they constantly monitor and train employees so that they know and promote the organizational identity from the guidelines of the leaders. This company relies on its global status and imposes indicators and position in the market to present its identity to others.

Fig. 2. Organizational recognition process. Taken from Velandia et al. [12]

However, based on this information, it can be stated that the identification of conditions themselves and their characteristics better define the set of processes that a company carries out to recognize itself. In this process, since it is not an individual, but an organization (group of people), leaders play a fundamental role in defining the key aspects

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to form that representation that reflects self-knowledge. Furthermore, consistent with Whetten and Cameron [40]; Galán and Sánchez [37]; Codina [15]; Marin et al. [38], and Burke and Cerven [22], it can be said that this representation is influenced by: the desire to be something (vision), business activity (mission), information from abroad, especially if it comes from sources influencers such as customers, the path already travelled (history) and even the discrepancy that may arise between the image that the organization believes it projects and the one that others perceive (Fig. 2). It is considered that companies with a greater capacity to recognize themselves will have better opportunities to overcome the demands of the environment. These findings reinforce the approaches of Zacarés and Linares [44]; Mercado and Hernandez [43], and Ruvalcava-Coyazo et al. [45], who argue that an organization can be studied as an individual. From another dimension of the analysis, it is observed that the group of categories used in the creation of the emerging category “identity construction” is related to the theory related to the sensemaking processes worked by Frankl [46]; Weick [47]; Seiling and Hinrichs [39]; Djaballah et al. [48]; Godden [49] and with what was raised by Dyer [50]. The closed categories used allow us to understand how the organization builds its identity and justifies what it thinks of itself (Table 2). The difference between constructed identity and sensemaking is revealed. The latter is understood as a search or construction of meaning (process), and the construction of identity results in an image (product) of one’s own being built by the individual or organization. Table 2. Identity construction concept Closed categories

Concept emergency

Constancy in the construction of the mission Interactive mission building Constancy in the construction of the vision integration of meanings Indicators identity projection Constancy in the construction of objectives Coherence between objectives/actions Associate Employees Constancy in the search for consciousness integration of meanings

Identity construction

Source: own elaboration

Regarding how the organization can come to build identity and identify itself, it was possible to observe that the E1 company attaches high importance to identifying the capacities and leadership of each employee to carry out an inventory of organizational faculties. The E2 company expresses that they do it through the study of real situations that have arisen in the organization and that serve to observe how the company has reacted in certain conditions. The E3 company supports this process in the leaders, who transmit to each worker what the company is. Likewise, it considers the experience of former workers essential to study their roles and try to obtain benefits.

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On the other hand, E4 company asserts that it focuses on this aspect from staff rotation. In this company, the process of building identity lies in the ability for everyone to replace any other. The staff is rotated in different positions so everyone can homogeneously support the workgroup. Along the same line, E5 considers socializing different functions inside the group important. For his part, E6 contemplates that the identity construction process should be done through constant training from organization leaders. E7 considers the same, evidencing a more complex and complete process. Based on studied companies, the self-recognition process can be classified into four groups: those located in the identification of employee faculties, those found in the study of the reactions of the organization in certain situations, those understood as employee ability to know the most of organizational functions and those situated in training processes. In all, leadership plays a vital role. Returning to E7, this company, in addition to providing constant training, uses its leaders to hold constant and scheduled meetings, to listen to workers in search of identification of what they call “divergent thinking”, which according to E7, must be identified for two things: as an information source that can generate changes into the organization and as a signal of workers does wrong interpretation regarding his functions and organizational image. In the first case, E7 takes advantage of information that the worker can obtain when dealing with daily duties with clients, suppliers, and other actors. The company recognizes in workers a valuable information source to be considered in its process of self-recognition (building identity). In the second case, the company manages to identify the error, and a training process immediately arises. The concept of “divergent information” can be associated with what has been proposed from the Sensemaking theories worked by Frankl [46]; Weick [47]; Seiling and Hinrichs [39]; Djaballah et al. [48]; Godden [49] who state that changes arise from discrepancies between individual and information from the environment. The alert systems of these discrepancies can be an excellent strategy to achieve the objectives of organizational self-recognition. In the self-recognition processes, it can be noted that all the companies studied alluded to their history, which would imply in the process an identification of the organizational past, but that, consistent with Codina [15], Marín et al. [38] and Galán and Sánchez [37] can act as a nebula that does not allow a clear identification of the situation. However, what is observed in the organizations studied is that history serves as the basis for constructing group identity. It constitutes an essential reference to define the business horizon beyond the convergences of individual subjectivities. When defining the organizational identity, companies consider the opinions of their clients, recognizing that this is a constant construction process that requires the availability of reconstruction of concepts and processes. This demonstrates consistency with what was stated by Mead [18]; Luhmann [17]; DeCerteau [19]; Larrain [20]; Pertusa-Ortega et al. [10]; Rosenbusch et al. [11] and Ocampo-Villegas [23]. Interviewees highlighted the consideration of the clarity of objectives, mission, and organizational vision to guide and prevent ideas from dissipating in unnecessary activities. Leaders play an important role, especially in projecting the constructed identity, not only towards the outside but also inside the organization, finding consistency with Whetten and Cameron [40]. Generating individual traits that give characteristics to the group, these findings are consistent with Zacarés and Linares [44] and Ruvalcava-Coyazo

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et al. [45]. All this process can be defined as a constant work of evolution or constancy in the identity construction process and consistent with what was exposed by González [42] and Mercado and Hernández [43]. 6.1 Identity Projection on Social Networks Company E1, a large company in the industrial sector, has a social network profile that looks very much like a salesroom. The images shared contain their products, trying to convey a conversational tone, alluding to farmers and ordinary people using their products, accompanied by engineers or consultants who try to convey a sense of confidence in advising product users with their knowledge. Consistent with Smaoui et al. [52], the images and videos are not devoid of humour and familiar elements and share a few intimate images of the organization, such as group photos of workers in the factory or offices. They always respond to comments or questions from followers. For its part, the company E2 was visually more enriching for research. It must be taken into account that it belongs to the food sector and has several offices in the city where it was established, with premises open to the public since 1936. This is evident in its images shared on social networks and constant allusion to nostalgia and history. Trying to intertwine black and white, the company’s history with that of the city where he was born; However, it presents in vivid colour its products that are considered successful and innovative. The company’s images are a mixture of the modern with the past, of faces of former and current employees. They want to convey without words the idea that going to their establishments is going to a symbolic place in the city. Contrasting this with what was stated in the interviews, a link can be found when they state that when building identity, they strongly refer to former workers; In addition, these observations are consistent with what was expressed by Gandhi and Kar [35], who assert that organizations use as a strategy to publish images of human faces that influence followers with their gazes, as well as the company logo. It is interesting to note that nostalgic black and white images are enlarged on walls of establishments, contrasting with colourful ones of current exclusive products. Their managers openly stated that researchers could take photos or record videos if they needed it. The organization does not refrain from revealing intimate images of the organizational history and from telling it in comments they make to photos shared on social networks, trying to intermingle the city’s past with that of the organization and thus generate in the client worldview an association between city and brand. They seem to achieve their goal because there are constant comments from followers who write phrases like “how much I love [E2] my father used to take us there when we were kids, I am convinced that you make the best ice creams, a big hug for the whole family” or “[E2] belongs to the history of the city. A whole generation, my father and mother used to go to [E2], then my generation also went, then the children came, and now my two little grandchildren also take them to [E2]. Congratulations”. These findings are consistent with what was stated by Tafesse [24] and Swani and Labrecque [25], who assert that companies carry out self-presentation actions using customer relationship connections with their brands to impact their decisions. For E5, the environment that is perceived in its social networks is a service environment. Mainly profile photos are shared in which the company’s façade is observed

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E5 considers socializing different functions inside the group important, and others with groups of uniformed workers posing inside the facilities. The comments built about the photographs are informal, and the answers are intended to be easy and conversational. Finally, the profile of E6 has a more personal aspect despite having offices in several countries, with extensive use of messages through short text memes, home videos, and additional promotions of general interest talks provided by the same company. The latter encourages followers to respond to messages after interest in participating in one of the free chats. In addition, your profile on the networks allows you to publish matters that turn out to be personal aspects of the account administrators. In general, it is observed that organizations try to communicate their identity to their followers through four elements (closed categories). Use institutional colours to set the profile on social networks, repeated presentation of the company logo, repeated images of featured products, and advertising slogans. This is consistent with Kraus et al. [53], who state that companies are motivated to publish to improve the company’s external perception and spread a signal of internal change within the organization. Technologies such as web 2.0 made it possible to expand significantly the observation work, from which it follows that linking web 2.0 technologies can be considered an expansion of the qualitative research field for observation in an organizational context. Analysing company profiles on social networks (Facebook and Instagram) allowed us to demonstrate coherence between the assertions of interviewees and projected identity. However, analysing four profiles (E1, E2, E5, and E6) was only possible. For its part, no profile was found on the social networks of E3 and E7. In addition, E4 has a profile that needs to present more information, limiting the analysis. Consistently, E7 stated in interviews that they did not use commercials in their identity projection strategy and that they mainly sought to stand out for the quality of their services. In the same way, this organization does not strive to project its identity on social networks. It also highlights the fact that E2 is the organization that has the richest images for analysis, and it openly allowed its facilities to be photographed.

7 Conclusions The approach to the organizational reality based on the content published on social networks made it possible to expand the elemental analysis of the field data collected during the observation sessions and the interviews carried out in the study’s first phase. This is a beginning in which E2 stood out as a particular case of an organization with a rich use of images, revealing the wide possibilities of linking web 2.0 technologies to qualitative research practices. It should be noted that, in the first phase of this study, which did not link the analysis of identity projection in social networks, it was not enough to fully note the richness of E2 in terms of the use of images of organizational life. In addition, this approach made it possible to identify that companies communicate their identity through institutional colours, logos, featured products, and advertising slogans. The study of organizational identity projected in networks is a line of work that is just beginning, and that offers a field full of opportunities at the hand of practically anyone because they are cheap and widely available technologies and that, in addition, handle information made public. Likewise, the triangulation of the field data analysed with the

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identities projected by the companies in social networks proved to be a methodological strategy that involves the use of available technologies and increases confidence in the results. Qualitative research methodology finds a way to evolve as different uses of available technologies are incorporated. Social reality becomes, and the incorporation of technologies into daily social life has strongly promoted this process of evolution. In this sense, the qualitative researcher must find ways to approach the new social scenarios and interpret the relationships that occur in particular contexts as those generated by incorporating web 2.0. There are precedents in the available literature and several clearly defined lines of research that have begun to address the organizational social reality from this perspective and undoubtedly constitute a main alternative to better understanding the behaviour of organizations and the individuals that make them up. On the other hand, the incorporation of software or other technologies into the investigative practice (for the analysis of the information), although it generates an indisputable accumulation of advantages that are more developed every day, encourages us to think about the conflict that can arise from the contrasting “human interpretation through the experiential introspective” and “computer applications based on algorithms that try to contribute to the work of interpretation”. From the methodological point of view, it is worth asking to what extent technology can contribute to the information analysis process without negatively affecting the human interpretation of the researcher. This question remains on the table, trying to point out a topic that deserves further discussion in subsequent works. However, in terms of organizational self-recognition, the analysis of field information and the discussions given considering the literature allowed us to reach some reflections presented as descriptive proposals of the process. One of the points that drew particular attention was the concept of “divergent thinking” manifested by E7 because, based on the detection of divergence, the organization can capture information that can be used to evolve. The alert systems of these discrepancies can be a good strategy for achieving the objectives of organizational self-recognition. Now, if the organization is understood as a group of individuals [16], it must be considered that there are subordinate relationships between them. Therefore, some companies define the organizational identity from the board of directors and forcefully lower it to all employees. The analysis of the information from the E7 company inspires us to believe that subordination in labour relations could be working as an enemy of honest organizational self-recognition by not allowing it to be built from each individual that forms it, from praxis specific to the position he performs, which would be more coherent with the concept of organizational identity. The board of directors does not know in detail each problem the company faces in daily interaction with the environment and therefore has fewer criteria to define the organisation’s identity. Although it is up to her to create it, it is pertinent to listen to each one of the workers and link their opinions in the construction of the organizational concept, just as E7 does, who takes advantage of this information (the justification of the deviation) either to modify or to correct misinterpretations by workers. In this sense, the approach is beneficial in two ways: managing to preserve more in each worker and strengthening self-recognition or finding new information that simultaneously allows the

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continuous construction of their identity. Exploit the alert systems of these discrepancies to achieve the objectives of organizational self-recognition. It can be an intelligent organizational strategy. On the other hand, forcing the team to adopt an identity that does not consider daily organizational information is understood as the hierarchical imposition of a subjectivity that may be rejected by the rest of the team, even though said rejection is not openly manifested thanks to the subordination that exists in labour relations. Another aspect that drew attention is that, in self-recognition processes, it can be noted that all companies studied alluded to their history, which would imply an identification of organizational past, which, in coherence with Codina [15], Marín et al. [38] and Galán and Sánchez [37] when it comes to individuals, this can act as a nebula that does not allow a clear situation identification. However, when talking about organizations, it is observed the contrary history serves as the basis for group identity construction. It constitutes a valuable reference to define the business horizon beyond the convergences of individual subjectivities. The organizational history works socially as an objectifying referent of multiple subjective ideas with which each one of the participants tries to influence the group. The organizational history can be considered a neutral and objective reference; therefore, it favours that the group of individuals (organization) be understood by each one of its members as a different person, even though ontologically, the company is nothing more than the acceptance of a social agreement that legitimizes the union of themselves and not a material entity that has a life of its own. It strengthens the biological metaphor (Group of people = organism) with which administrative disciplines currently think of organizations [17]. In this way, it is legitimized that the group has a name, a history, and a future, putting it above the individualities of each of its members and making each of them an individual more easily governable. It alleviates the tensions arising from the confrontation of the different subjective charges that, according to Cohen and Levinthal [4]; Rothaermel and Deeds [26]; Minbaeva et al. [27]; Jansen et al. [28]; Todorova and Durisin [29]; Grimpe and Sofka [30]; Kostopoulos et al. [31]; Ritala and Hurmelinna [32] and Hoque et al. [9] interact in organizational processes. Figure 2 demonstrates how the self-recognition process observed in organizational practice is presented. In organizations, the construction of identity is sometimes shown collectively, by others, according to the guidelines presented by the organization’s leaders. There is an identity of the organization, which is an image that the company has of itself and that it seeks to project in society and this is affected or influenced by the information it receives from abroad, from audiences considered important; who sometimes present inconsistencies between the projected identity and the identity perceived by people abroad. This process is described as something evolutionary and constant. Each organization adds in its narrative a different nuance to its experience in the self-recognition process. This observation is consistent with what Mead [18] presented; DeCerteau [19]; Larrain [20]; Ravasi and Van Rekom [21]; Seiling and Hinrichs [39]; Burke [41]; Codina [15]; Galán and Sánchez [37]; Marín et al. [38] and Gallagher et al. [13]; who agrees that in the process of identity construction, particular aspects of the individual’s life history are involved, turning it into a subjective process. Based on these results, the following assertions are proposed:

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• The development and linking of technologies to qualitative research procedures encounter an obstacle when attempting to address activities that directly involve the hermeneutical work of the researcher. • The use of web 2.0 provides an extension of the field in which the qualitative researcher carries out his work of observing the behaviour of organizations. • Subordination in labour relations, moderated by leadership style, affects the recognition process of organizations. • Organizational history moderates individual subjectivities and the assignment of a value in constructing organizational identity.

8 Limitations Consistent with Rodríguez et al. [62], the results show that the use of the traditional Grounded Theory [61] is relevant to the study of organizational reality, especially if the research objectives link subjective aspects of organizations. Likewise, the ideas of Luhmann [17] are reinforced, who affirms that an organization can be considered an object or organism with features as individuals possess them. However, as a relevant limitation for this work, there is the one presented by Minichiello et al. [33], who assert that in this type of work, there is always the possibility that the interviewees mix part of their ego in the interviews and tend to tell a “good story”. To counteract this and be consistent with Davison et al. [34], the contents of social networks were used to triangulate their content with what was expressed by the interviewees and the data collected in the observation sessions. This action made it possible to enrich the results and improve their confidence because what was found on social networks did not contradict what was found in the interviews and observations. Unfortunately, the scope of visual data available on the web was only possible for four companies, finding E2 as the richest in content and uses of visual elements; For this reason, it is proposed to carry out specific work on the analysis of the contents in social networks of organizations that stand out for the use of images.

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Dubai and UAE’S Context of Happiness as a Government Policy in 2021 and 2022 Content Analysis of Government Communication Diamantino Ribeiro1(B)

and João Ribeiro2

1 Doutorado em Economia, Universidade de Évora, Évora, Portugal

[email protected] 2 Doutorando na Universidade da Covilhã, Covilhã, Portugal

Abstract. We have been studying Dubai and the UAE government’s communication focusing on the concepts of happiness, positivity and well-being as government policy for several years. Our qualitative studies have demonstrated that it is possible to implement successfully initiatives related to abstract concepts such as happiness, positivity and well-being. In 2016, Dubai and the UAE appointed a Happiness Minister. In the May 2020 government reshuffle, the ‘Quality of Life and Happiness’ portfolio was moved to the Ministry of Community Development. This study’s main objective is to understand the impact of the extinction of the Ministry of Happiness on policies for happiness, positivity, and well-being. We also want to understand the presence of these topics in government communication. We retrieved news published online in English from January 2021 to the end of November 2022 (in English) and information from the government website. We listed the news headlines and conducted a content analysis to the Ministry of Community Development mission statement using webQDA software. Qualitative methodology and content analysis using webQDA software were of utmost importance in validating our conclusions, thus adding scientific value to the studies. The results show that policies for happiness, positivity, and well-being are no longer frequently mentioned in the news. However, the concepts of happiness and well-being still play an important role in that statement. The study allowed to conclude that there are two distinct realities: in one hand a significant decline in initiatives; and the government’s commitment to continue working for a happy society on the other hand. We chose the qualitative methodology and content analysis with the webQDA software was of utmost importance for validating our conclusions and thus added scientific value to the studies. Keywords: Content analysis · Government Communication · Happiness Portfolio · Qualitative Research

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 A. P. Costa et al. (Eds.): WCQR 2023, LNNS 688, pp. 166–179, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31346-2_11

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1 Introduction Over the last 20 years, Dubai and the United Arab Emirates have earned a global reputation for innovation, creativity and long-term vision for the Emirates and its society. They surprised the world with the most fantastic infrastructure and innovative programmes such as 2117 Mars Project (that aims to establish human settlement on that planet). One of the most important aspects of Emirates development is innovation at the political level, including creating unique ministries such as the Ministry of Happiness (MoH). We have studied the phenomenon of happiness as a government policy in Dubai and UAE since 2014, and from a government communication perspective since 2016, after the establishment of the above-mentioned ministry. In 2016, Dubai and the UAE appointed a Minister of State for Happiness and Well-being. During the mandate of Her Excellency Ohood bint Khalfan Al Roumi, several initiatives were implemented, including those involving private entities and civil society. These initiatives were largely communicated through the media and social media. During this period, Dubai and the UAE improved their scores in the World Happiness Report [1]. Over the years, we have examined specific programs implemented by the government and how they were communicated. We also conducted an in-depth qualitative analysis of important documents such as the Dubai Charter or the Eight Principles of Dubai [2], highlighting the vision and legacy for future generations. The main findings of our qualitative studies indicate that happiness as a policy can be successfully implemented, and that Dubai and UAE government communication follows the canons and trends of modern communication [2–4]. Moreover, we have been able to prove that it is possible to implement successful initiatives related to abstract concepts such as happiness, positivity and well-being. One of the critical factors for the success of those policies is the importance of government communication [2, 3]. However, in the run-up to the pandemic, there was a major government reshuffle in the UAE and the so-called happiness portfolio was incorporated into the Ministry of Community Development (MOCD) [5]. In this context, it was considered pertinent to understand the impact of the transfer of the Happiness Portfolio to the MOCD, whether or not there was continuity in the programmes previously implemented, and whether or not new initiatives were created. It is also important to understand the role of government communication in relation to the Happiness Portfolio. Thus, in this paper, we analyze the status of the Happiness Portfolio and its associated visibility under the coordination of the MOCD. This study falls within the scope of the social sciences and communication. The sources are essentially written, so we chose to use the qualitative methodology and conducted a qualitative study, mainly using the content analysis technique. Additionally, webQDA software was used as a supporting tool to ensure accurate results. Data were retrieved from the internet corpus latente.

2 Theoretical Framework We have been studying the creation and development of the Ministry of Happiness’s (MoH) happiness and well-being policies from the perspective of government communication, and this work is no exception. In this sense, as a theoretical basis, we have

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reviewed the perspectives of some authors on the definition and characteristics of government communication since government communication was a key element in the dissemination of the Ministry of Happiness initiatives [2, 3]. We also reviewed the literature on happiness and well-being, focusing on the growing interest of academia and public and private organizations. 2.1 Government Communication Public and especially government communication is very complex in terms of goals, needs, target groups, definitions and resources when compared to the corporate sector [6–8]. What exactly is meant by government communication varies from author to author. Canel and Sanders note that the task of defining state communication can be approached at different levels - by looking at its actions (what it does) or what it is [9]. For example, Pasquier, defines government communication in its broadest sense as all activities of public sector institutions and organizations aimed at communicating and exchanging information, primarily to present and explain government decisions and actions, promoting the legitimacy of these actions, defending recognized values and contributing towards the maintenance of social bonds [10]. Canel and Sanders defined government communication broadly as the field of practice and study of communication directed at key stakeholders in the pursuit of political and civic goals. This communication is carried out by executive politicians and officials who usually work under the control of public institutions that have been established based on the indirect or direct consent of citizens and are mandated to enforce their will [11]. Undoubtedly, government communication is a central feature of political life. In recent decades, the increase in resources allocated to communication has been a major trend in the organization of the political executive. It appears that governments everywhere have allocated more and more resources to communication, both in terms of expenditure and personnel [12]. Government communication is characterized by and can be conceptualized as the following: (1) the institutional and organizational structures, (2) the process and (3) the management aspects. The latter includes the role of the staff, what they actually do and where the lines are drawn between government employees who are non-partisan and partisan government staff. The question is whether all these government communication institutions and practices of government communication are institutionalized to the extent that there is institutional stability [12]. In the midst of change, seemingly dramatic or radical change, there may well be greater continuity and stability [13]. In any case, government communication goes hand in hand with professionalization and there are “specialized organizations and experts to help governments achieve better policy outcomes” [14]. Traditionally, government communication functions have focused on managing media coverage of their policies. Now, “there is evidence of a growing recognition that an effective government communication function must also: interact directly with citizens on social media; produce high-quality, rapid content; run long-term, strategic

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communication campaigns to change behavior; help citizens access digital public services across multiple touch points; integrate communications across online and offline channels; create direct channels to engage with the public, allowing governments to communicate with citizens without the “filter” of the media” [14, p. 27]. Moreover, according to the WPP Report, “digital technologies and fragmented media have created a whole new dynamic between governments and the people they govern” [14, p. 27]. Thus, more than ever, governments are communicating in a fast-paced, rapidly changing environment. 2.2 Happiness and Well-Being By definition, “happiness is a subjective affective feeling” [15, p. 25]. Yew-Kwang Ng defines “happiness, subjective well-being and the welfare of an individual as essentially equivalent terms, with only two minor differences in usage. First, we tend to use ‘happiness’ to refer to the current feeling. Second, we tend to use ‘happy’, ‘happiness’ in a less formal way and ‘subjective well-being’ and ‘welfare’ in a more formal way” [15, p. 15]. Up until a few years ago, the idea of a policy of happiness was something of a novelty. Now, in many countries there has been a surge of interest in making happiness an explicit goal of policy consideration in much of the world. However, attention has largely shifted to a broader focus on well-being, reflecting not only happiness but also other well-being concerns of citizens, and dozens of governments now include well-being measures in their national statistics [16–18]. Now, policymakers around the world increasingly regard happiness as an important and overarching public policy objective. At the suggestion of the OECD, almost all of its member countries now measure the happiness of their citizens annually. And the European Union is calling on its member countries to put well-being at the heart of public policy [1, 19]. Measurement, is based on the idea that people are able to report their subjective experiences in ways that can meaningfully support individuals and societies on the path to a better life. Just as important as this foundation for well-being needed by politicians and scientists is the change in narratives that is crucial for society to prioritize the human experience in its conception of progress [16, 19]. There are several examples of a growing audience for the theme, including in the academy. The international, peer-reviewed Journal of Happiness Studies is devoted to theoretical and applied advances in all areas of well-being research. It addresses issues related to both the hedonic and eudaimonic perspectives that characterize well-being studies. The former involves the study of cognitive dimensions such as satisfaction with life, positive effect and emotions. The latter involves the study of constructs and processes related to optimal psychological functioning, such as meaning and purpose in life, character strengths, personal growth, resilience, optimism, hope and self-determination [20]. In addition to papers assessing life as a whole, the journal also accepts papers that explore these issues in relation to specific areas such as family, education, physical and mental health, and work [20].

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Supported by the United Nations and sponsored by leading global organizations, the World Happiness Report (WHR) has actively contributed to the perception of happiness in over 150 countries. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the World Happiness Report, which uses global survey data to report how people evaluate their own lives in more than 150 countries worldwide. The World Happiness Report 2022 reveals a bright light in dark times. The pandemic brought not only pain and suffering but also an increase in social support and benevolence. As we battle the ills of disease and war, it is essential to remember the universal desire for happiness and the capacity of individuals to rally to each other’s support in times of great need [1]. Society also plays an important role in the concept’s dissemination. The Happiness Research Institute, for example, is an independent think tank that researches why some societies are happier than others. Its mission is to inform decision-makers about the causes and effects of human happiness, to bring subjective well-being into the public policy debate, and to improve the quality of life of citizens around the world. A scientific approach to improving quality of life [21]. As for the future, the outlook for happiness depends on a whole range of factors, including the further course of the pandemic, the extent of 2022 military conflict in Ukraine, etc. However, an important contribution will come from improvements in the science of happiness [1]. In summary, the literature allowed to understand, on the one hand, the importance of government communication and how it is perceived today, and on the other hand, to understand it as a professionalized communication mechanism supported by the most modern means, such as social media. The happiness policies from the perspective of academia, public and private organizations show the interest in this abstract concept and consequently confirm the importance of studying it as a policy implemented by the MoH.

3 Methodology Qualitative research can be defined as the study of the nature of phenomena and is particularly well suited for answering the question of why something is (not) observed, for evaluating complex interventions consisting of several components and for improving interventions. Qualitative research is defined by Philipsen and Vernooij-Dassen as “the study of the nature of phenomena”, including “their quality, their various manifestations, the context in which they occur, or the perspectives from which they may be perceived”, but excluding “their magnitude, frequency and place in an objectively determined chain of cause and effect” [22]. A more pragmatic rule of thumb can complement this formal definition: Qualitative research generally involves data in words rather than numbers [23]. The most common data collection methods are document study, (non) participant observation, semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Field notes and audio recordings are transcribed into protocols and transcripts for data analysis and coded using qualitative data management software. Criteria such as checklists, reflexivity, sampling strategies, piloting, co-coding, member checking and stakeholder engagement can be used to improve and assess the quality of the research conducted [24].

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The literature highlights three definitions: – Any technique used to draw conclusions by systematically and objectively identifying particular features of messages [25]; – An interpretive and naturalistic approach. This is both observational and narrative and relies less on the experimental elements normally associated with scientific research (reliability, validity and generalizability) [26]; – A research technique for objectively, systematically and quantitatively describing communication’s manifest content [27]. There are two general types of content analysis: conceptual analysis and relational analysis. The conceptual analysis identifies the existence and frequency of terms in a text. Relational analysis develops conceptual analysis further by examining the relationships between concepts in a text. Each type of analysis can lead to different results, conclusions, interpretations and meanings [28]. In conceptual content analysis, the researcher creates content categories to guide the coding process. Each content category represents an idea, behavior or attitude relevant to the research question. The investigator then combs through the text, coding specific words relevant to each content category to explore conceptual meanings and/or look for patterns of occurrence [29]. In relational content analysis, the researcher examines how two or more concepts relate to each other within each text sample. This research process is similar to the conceptual content analysis approach. However, the researcher must now develop a narrower research question so that no concept can be reinterpreted by others. Relational content analysis is well suited to the following types of research: a) exploring how people react emotionally or psychologically to an event or piece of information (called affect extraction); b) determining whether two concepts are related, such as fear of climate change and financial support for sustainable clothing (called proximity analysis); c) creating a visual model of how multiple concepts are related (called cognitive mapping), including the results of both affect extraction and proximity analysis [29]. Data sources may come from interviews, open-ended questions, field notes, conversations, or any communicative language occurrence (such as books, essays, discussions, newspaper headlines, speeches, media, and historical documents). Different forms of text can be analyzed in a single study. To analyze the text using content analysis, the text must be coded or divided into manageable code categories for analysis (i.e., “codes”). Once the text is coded into code categories, the codes can then be further categorized into “code categories” to summarize the data further [24]. Content analysis usually has two main disadvantages. It can be extremely time consuming and is subject to an increased margin of error, especially when a relational analysis is used to achieve a higher level of interpretation [30]. To mitigate those disadvantages, many researchers use Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS) to help them with qualitative data analysis. Instead of analyzing data manually with pen and paper, they use computer assisted software, either an online web tool or desktop software, that aids the analysis process [31]. Qualitative tools and CAQDAS software can help to:

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display data in different ways, and show interrelationships between concepts search for keywords or phrases across a dataset. keep track of counts and frequencies of phenomena make comparisons between attributes and demographics enable collaboration between teams that analyze the same dataset together increase rigor and reduce bias by keeping your analysis process organized so it can be reviewed later by oneself or a peer researcher.

Qualitative data analysis tools do not analyze data for researchers, but instead act as aids to help researchers keep their data organized and make their analysis process more efficient [31]. Among several available CAQDAS tools, webQDA software supports qualitative data analysis in a collaborative and distributed environment. webQDA software is directed towards researchers in different contexts that need to analyze qualitative data, individually or collaboratively, synchronously or asynchronously [32]. The user-friendly approach and academic recognition were the main reasons we chose this tool. Thus, qualitative methodology, anchored in content analysis technique was chosen mainly because of the amount of content to be studied. In order to obtain more accurate results, we used webQDA software, following the theoretical coordinates, especially those related to codification and categorization. First, the data were collected, followed by several readings, according to which the news titles were systematized in a table. Special attention was also paid to the content provided on the government websites and especially on the MOCD website. We then used the webQDA software as a specific tool to develop the content analysis of the text related to the MOCD’s mission and objectives. Codifications were created to check the occurrence of key concepts in the text.

4 Data Collection, Analysis and Results The study’s main objective is to understand the impact of the abolition of the Ministry of Happiness on policies for happiness, positivity, and well-being. We also aim to understand how the government has communicated these policies following the 2020 government reshuffle. Two researchers were involved. For data collection, we used the internet corpus latente i.e. “we searched data on documents located on open access websites” [33]. We started by accessing the government website and the Ministry of Community Development webpage to search for information about the Happiness Portfolio. We then searched for and listed the news headlines (in English) published online on the government’s happiness and well-being initiatives. From January 2021 to the end of November 2022, we were able to find only 33 articles directly or indirectly linked with these themes. No request was made to the government as all data was obtained from open sources. Table 1 lists the headlines and their sources: As can be seen from the above list, out of 33 headlines, the word ‘happiness’ is mentioned in only 13. It is interesting to note that 10 headlines are related to the recent government initiative “We the UAE 2031”, a 10-year vision for the development of the Emirates. Other titles containing the word happiness refer mainly to happiness centres or happiness surveys.

Dubai and UAE’S Context of Happiness as a Government Policy in 2021 and 2022 Table 1. Online News Headlines in English #

Date

1 22.02.2021 2 22.02.2021

3 20.03.2021 4 15.08.2021 5 25.01.20222 6 03.02.2022 7 07.03.2022 8 20.03.2022 9 20.03.2022 10 20.03.2022 11 20.03.2022 12 20.03.2022 13 20.03.2022

14 20.03.2022 15 25.04.2022 16 09.05.2022 17 28.06.2022

18 01.07.2022 19 08.07.2022 20 22.07.2022 21 30.07.2022 22 10.08.2022 23 28.08.2022

24 22.11.2022 25 22.11.2022 26 22.11.2022 27 23.11.2022 28 23.11.2022

29 23.11.2022 30 23.11.2022 31 24.11.2022 32 28.11.2022 33 30.11.2022

Title UAE's Ministry of Economy closes all its customer happiness centres UAE: Sheikh Mohammed announces launch of government vision for 2031 Quote by HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA, on the occasion of International Day of Happiness 2021 Hessa Buhumaid lauds ministry's customers happiness centres MoHAP launches world's first Metaverse customer happiness service centre MoIAT digitises its Dubai Customer Happiness Centre services 2021 Happiness Index for Dubai Government Employees International Happiness Day: Positive vibes all over UAE UAE a beacon of enhanced wellbeing and happiness Hessa Buhumaid launches National Wellbeing Survey 2022 International Day of Happiness International Day of Happiness; UAE unveils 2nd National Wellbeing Survey 2022 UAE ministry launches National Wellbeing Survey 2022 Quote by HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA on International Day of Happiness 2022 UAE residents quizzed about happiness, health and finances in national survey Public Participation in National Wellbeing Survey Extended Till 16 May Summer Community Platform Ministry of Community Development launches 'Community Summer Platform' targeting 10,000 people Ministry of Community Development launches 'Social Summer Platform' Ministry of Community Development organises summer programme across UAE Hessa Buhumaid attends summer programmes at social development centre Survey: Happiness in the UAE in 2020 5,688 participants at summer social platform at Ministry of Community Development Mohammed bin Rashid witnesses the launch of ‘We The UAE 2031’ during the UAE Government annual meetings Sheikh Mohammed announces ‘we the UAE 2031’ vision Sheikh Mohammed announces ‘we the UAE 2031’ plan to double GDP We The UAE 2031: Sheikh Mohammed unveils 10year vision Sheikh Mohammed unveils ‘We The UAE 2031’ HE Al Owais: ‘We The UAE 2031’ Strategy Another Inspirational Success Story For A Country That Knows Nothing Impossible Sheikh Mohammed announces launch of ‘We The UAE 2031’ WE THE UAE 2031: Sheikh Mohammed reveals national plan to double gdp and deliver ‘We The UAE 2031’ project to make the UAE the best country in the world ‘We the UAE 2031’ vision

Source Gulf Today Khaleej Times Government of Dubai Website Minister of Community Development by News Agency - WAM Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) by News Agency - WAM Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology by News Agency - WAM Government of Dubai Website Khaleej Times Gulf Today News Agency - WAM Expo 2020 Dubai UAE Emirati Times Gulf News Government of Dubai Website The International UAE MOCD UAE Government website (Page content is available in Arabic only.)

News Agency - WAM News Agency - WAM News Agency - WAM News Agency - WAM Which School Advisor News Agency - WAM

News Agency - WAM Arabian Business Time Out Dubai Whatson UAE MEP Middle East

Press Release Network Gulf Business ITA / AGENZIA ICE Time.News UAE Government website

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A relevant point is that, since April, we could only find 1 headline containing the word happiness. Considering the results of previous years, such as 2018, where we were able to identify 57 titles in 2018 [3], all related to happiness and positivity, we can say that there has been a significant decrease. Since the so-called Happiness Portfolio has been transferred to the Ministry of Community Development (MOCD), we decided to conduct an in-depth analysis of MOCD’s perspectives to try to understand their vision of Happiness. We conducted a content analysis of the text retrieved from the MOCD website (see Appendix 1) using webQDA software. First, we searched for the most frequently occurring words; the results are shown in the word cloud below (Fig. 1):

Fig. 1. Word cloud.

The highlights are Development, Social, Community and Emirates. After applying the code ‘happiness’, the software indicated that the word ‘happiness’ was only used twice in the text. We therefore carried out further readings in order to extract additional results and to understand the context in which the concept of happiness is constructed in the text. That leads us to the perspective of its application as government policy. For the MOCD it means: “building and development by adopting a long-term strategic plan derived from the vision of wise leadership of government aiming at bringing happiness to society and consolidating the country’s position as a place of happiness”. According with the results, some topics that used to play an important role in government communication [2, 4], such as well-being, positivity, future or legacy, are not mentioned at all in this ministry’s outlook. It should be noted that the use of qualitative methodology, and in particular content analysis using software, in this case webQDA, was of utmost importance in validating our conclusions, thus adding scientific value to our findings. Finally, although there is no specific information on the Happiness Portfolio, there is a reference on the MOCD website to a Customer Happiness Charter (see Appendix 2), a kind of code of conduct for visitors to the Happiness Centers. However, these centers

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are being closed, and the corresponding services we moved to online platforms, as the government set itself the goal of becoming 100% digital a few years ago. So, regarding happiness as a government policy, the integration of the Happiness Portfolio into another ministry seems to have reduced the visibility of the concept and relevant policies [2, 3], as shown by: a) the content analysis of the MOCD’s mission statement, b) the absence of events on happiness and positivity on the government’s website, and c) the significant reduction in headlines on the topic. The exception is the Happiness and Well-being surveys [34]. It is important to note that the Dubai and UAE government communicates via media and social media on a wide range of issues and is very active, including at the highest levels such as the Crown Prince.

5 Final Considerations The idea of a happiness policy was something of a novelty until a few years ago as pointed out Haybron. From 2016 to mid-2020, the governments of the UAE and Dubai have proven that it is possible to implement successful initiatives related to abstract concepts such as happiness, positivity and well-being. In our opinion, one of the key factors in the success of these policies has been the importance of government communication and professionalization. Some authors raise the issue of stability in relation to government communication [12, 13], which does not apply in this case. Moreover, previous studies have demonstrated that the Dubai and UAE government follow the canons of government communication, using new media and experts to produce content [2, 3] by “allocating more and more resources to communication, both in terms of expenditure and personnel” [12]. However, in terms of government communication, this study does not allow to infer that the government has changed its practices, nor that there is a decrease in terms of regularity or use of social media. The study suggests that under the responsibility of the MOCD, the happiness and well-being policies have lost relevance and impact in terms of government communication. The results also indicate that no new initiatives were developed and implemented during the reporting period. Furthermore, there is no evidence of continuity of previous Ministry of Happiness programmes in government communication on this issue, with two exceptions: the ‘Well-being Surveys’ and the ‘Happiness Centres’. Overall, we were able to answer the research questions as follows: a. the changeover of the happiness portfolio had a negative impact on happiness and well-being policies; b. there was no continuity of previous programmes; c. no new initiatives were created. Globally, the study leads to two major conclusions: on the one hand the concept of happiness has lost relevance in terms of government communication with the extinction of the Ministry of Happiness although the concept is included in the MOCD vision statement and on the other hand the government’s decision to extinct the Ministry of Happiness is not in line with the growing interest of academia, public and private entities in the topic of happiness and well-being [1, 20, 21], as described in Sect. 2.2. Nevertheless, as results demonstrate, the MOCD states that the government aims to “bring

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happiness to society and consolidate the country’s position as a place of happiness” (see Appendix 1). For further study, an analysis of Dubai’s and the UAE’s scores in the World Happiness Report is considered very relevant to understand if there was any impact during the Ministry of Happiness’s mandate and whether there was any impact after its dissolution.

Appendix 1 Ministry of Community Development (United Arab Emirates). About MOCD. The MOCD is seeking to improve the social development in Emirates by achieving the objectives of national agenda for the Emirates Vision 2021, strengthening the society and family coherence and finding a society which participates effectively in the building and development by adopting a long term strategic plans derived from the vision of wise leadership of government aiming at bringing happiness to the society and consolidating the position of country as a place of happiness. It is also working to reinforce the partnership and cooperation between both the public sector and private sector for the purpose of consolidating the culture of social responsibility deemed as a basic value of the consolidated values system in the Emirati society and moving from the social care to the concept of social development in accordance with fixed bases upon which the objectives of national agenda for the Emirates vision 2021 are relied. These objectives are represented in the common responsibility, determination, knowledge and prosperity. The Ministry’s programs and initiatives are focusing on all concerned categories of society in relation to the activation of children rights, enabling of the entrepreneurial family and merging the people of determination in the society. They are also focusing on the development of social security policy, enabling the weak categories to be merged in the society, strengthening the stability of Emirati families and reinforcing the relations among the members of society by the permanent innovation for the purpose of providing the services in accordance with the highest world standards of quality, efficiency and transparency. The responsibilities of MOCD as follows: • Develop and implement policies, strategies and programs for the development and advancement of society. • Develop social benefits policy and social empowerment. • Prepare the policies and controls of social work in various fields and sectors and evaluating the inputs and outputs of development programs and community care. • Propose and prepare federal legislation related to community development. • Strengthen the participation of governmental and private institutions and individuals to develop and support social work and community development. • Establish social welfare institutions and implement development projects for the family in all its members, especially those with a stake, and enable them to integrate and participate effectively in society. • Draw-up the general policy for granting marriage. • Adopt the recommendations relating to the discharge of marriage and supervising the procedures for its disbursement.

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• Provide technical and material assistance to the Member States to enable them to implement the above-mentioned legislation. • Oversee the spending of the financial allocations stipulated in the budget of the Union for Social Affairs according to the urgent need of some Emirates in agreement with the authorities of the Emirate concerned. • Supervise the foreign and international bodies and institutions that provide material or concerned assistance and engage in social welfare and charity work or supervise them as well as supervise their registration and guidance and support their efforts in serving the community. • Any other functions vested in it by law or the decision of the Council of Ministers.

Appendix 2 The MOCD is keen to provide distinguished services that achieve customer satisfaction and exceed their expectations. Our obligations towards you are as follows: – – – – – – – – – –

We will deal with you with interest, respect and display. You will receive a distinct and fair service. We will handle your needs professionally and do our utmost to meet them. We will provide our services through a knowledgeable, knowledgeable staff who understands your needs and can answer your queries. We will provide you with the requirements of each service and the dates of delivery. We will respond to your requests in a timely manner and without delay. We will reduce the number of procedures to provide you fast and chain service. We will provide you with accurate information and proper service procedures. We will provide service at times and through channels that suit you as much as possible. We welcome your comments and suggestions to share with you the development of our services. What we want you to provide a distinct service to you:

– – – – –

Appreciate the efforts of our staff at your service to deal with them with mutual respect. Provide identification papers as required. Processing the documents required in advance to complete the transaction. Let us know as soon as possible if there is an error or modification in the data. Notify us of any change in personal information or conditions relating to the completion of the service. – Respond to customer service team inquiries to serve you better and on time.

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References 1. Helliwell, J.F., et al.: World Happiness Report. Sustainable Development Solutions Network, New York (2022) 2. Ribeiro, D., Costa, A.P., Remondes, J.: Comunicação governamental – a magna carta do Dubai. New Trends Qual. Res. 4, 406–421 (2020) 3. Ribeiro, D., Costa, A.P., Remondes, J.: Government communication - the Dubai and United Arab Emirates Ministry of Happiness. In: Costa, A.P., Reis, L.P., Moreira, A. (eds.) WCQR 2019. AISC, vol. 1068, pp. 226–238. Springer, Cham (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3030-31787-4_19 4. Ribeiro, D., Costa, A.P., Remondes, J.: Felicidade, bem-estar digital e segurança digital infantil – Comunicação do Ministério da Felicidade do Dubai e dos Emirados Árabes Unidos em 2019. REVES - Revista Relações Sociais (2021) 5. Ribeiro, D., Ribeiro, J.: The reshuffle of the United Arab Emirates government in 2020 and the new context of happiness as a government policy - content analysis with WebQDA. In: Costa, A.P., Moreira, A., Sánchez-Gómez, M.C., Wa-Mbaleka, S. (eds.) WCQR 2022. LNNS, vol. 466, pp. 278–291. Springer, Cham (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04680-3_18 6. Canel, M.-J., Sanders, K.: Government communication: an emerging field in Political Communication research. In: Semetko, H., Scammell, M. (eds.) The Sage Handbook of Political Communication, pp. 85–96. SAGE, London (2012) 7. Da Silva, R.B.L.: Boosting government reputation through CRM. Int. J. Public Sect. Manag. 20(7), 588–607 (2007) 8. Liu, B.F., Horsley, S.J., Levenshus, A.B.: Government and corporate communication practices: do the differences matter? J. Appl. Commun. Res. 38(2), 189–213 (2010) 9. Sanders, K., Canel, M.-J.: Mapping the field of government communication. In: Sanders, K.C.M.J. (ed.) Government Communication - Cases and Challenges, pp. 1–26. Bloomsbury Academic, London/New York (2013) 10. Pasquier, M.: Government communication. In: Encyclopedic Dictionary of Public Administration, pp. 1–3 (2012) 11. Canel, M.-J., Sanders, K.B.: Government communication. In: The International Encyclopedia of Political Communication, pp. 450–457 (2016) 12. Johansson, K.M., Raunio, T.: Government communication in a comparative perspective. In: Johansson, K.M., Nygren, G. (eds.) Close and Distant: Political Executive–Media Relations in Four Countries, pp. 127–148. Nordicom, Göteborg (2019) 13. Bellamy, C., Taylor, J.: Governing in the Information Age. Open University Press, Buckingham (2019) 14. WPP: The future of government communication. WPP Government & Public Sector Practice, Online (2017) 15. Ng, Y.-K.: Happiness—Concept, Measurement and Promotion. Springer, Singapore (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4972-8 16. e. a. Bartolini 17. Barrington-Leigh, C.P.: Trends in conceptions of progress and well-being. In: World Happiness Report 2022. Sustainable Development Solutions Network, New York (2022) 18. Haybron, D.: Happiness. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford (2020) 19. Sugden, R., Teng, J.C.-Y.: Is happiness a matter for governments? A Millian perspective on Richard Layard’s “New Science.” In: Bartolini, S., Bilancini, E., Bruni, L., Porta, P.L. (eds.) Policies for Happiness, pp. 36–57. Oxford Academic, Oxford (2016) 20. Springer: J. Happiness Stud. Springer. https://www.springer.com/journal/10902 21. Wiking, M.: The Happiness Research Institute. The Happiness Research Institute. https:// www.happinessresearchinstitute.com/

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22. Philipsen, H., Vernooij-Dassen, M.: Qualitative research: useful, indispensable and challenging. In: Qualitative Research: Practical Methods for Medical Practice, pp. 5–12 (2007) 23. Punch, K.F.: Introduction to Social Research: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches. Sage, London (2013) 24. Busetto, L.W.W., Gumbinger, C.: How to use and assess qualitative research methods. Neurol. Res. Pract. 2, 1–10 (2020) 25. Holsti, O.R.: Content analysis. In: Handbook of Social Psychology, vol. 2. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA (1968) 26. Rolly, C., et al.: Ethnography, Observational Research, and Narrative Inquiry. Colorado State University, The WAC Clearinghouse (1994–2022) 27. Berelson, B.: Content Analysis in Communication Research. Free Press, New York (1952) 28. C.P. Health: Content Analysis, 07 June 2022. https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/res earch/population-health-methods/content-analysis 29. Reis, K.: Content Analysis in Social Research (2021) 30. Busch, C., et al.: Content Analysis (1994–2022). https://wac.colostate.edu/repository/resour ces/writing/guides/ 31. Delve: Ultimate Guide to CAQDAS. https://delvetool.com/caqdas 32. webQDA: webQDA. https://www.webqda.net/o-webqda/?lang=en 33. Bartolomé Pina, A., Souza, F., Leão, A.: Investigación Educativa a partir de la Información Latente en Internet. Revista Electrônica de Educação 7(2), 301–316 (2013) 34. Kumar, A.: UAE ministry launches National Wellbeing Survey 2022 (2022)

Observational Study of Experiential Activities Linked to Astronomy with CAQDAS NVivo Juan Luis Cabanillas-García1(B) , Carlos Javier Rodríguez-Jiménez2 María Cruz Sánchez-Gómez1 , Ángel Losada-Vázquez3 , María Losada-Moncada2 , and José María Corrales-Vázquez2

,

1 University of Salamanca, Paseo de Canalejas, 169, 37008 Salamanca, Spain

[email protected] 2 University of Extremadura, Av. de la Universidad, s/n, 10071 Cáceres, Spain 3 Pontifical University of Salamanca, C. Henry Collet, 90, 98, 37007 Salamanca, Spain

Abstract. The current education model for key competencies sets a guided path through the official curriculum, often delivered through an autonomous and repetitive approach by the education centres. Therefore, based on Dewey and Kolb’s experiential learning concepts, several experiential activities have been designed for Astronomy education to be offered by a multidisciplinary team of specialists. To analyse its efficiency, our research team proposed the following question: What key benefits and competencies can be acquired through experiential learning activities related to Astronomy? The team applied a qualitative methodology and an interpretative approach to the observational study. It involved the participation of 42 first-year students of Compulsory Secondary Education, divided into two equal groups. An observation checklist was designed and validated for data collection, and 60 photographs of nature were selected. CAQDAS and, in particular NVivo 12, were the tools used for data analysis. One of the most significant findings is that the students who received an enriching experience through the proposed learning model show a higher level of attention, engagement, interest, participation, and reflection on the activities. The results and the learning, with hypothetical situations, help them derive, channel and apply the knowledge to their daily lives. Keywords: Qualitative research · Experiential learning · Inquiry-based activities · Content analysis · Astronomy

1 Introduction We live in a rapidly changing society. With technological progress and the need to adjust to an uncertain world, we must constantly adapt, and learning should continue throughout life. The latest trends indicate that a degree or qualification is no longer sufficient to achieve success and happiness. Professional performance no longer depends solely on experience or specialised training. It incorporates an extensive range of key competencies, our ability to communicate and relate, our attitude, and the flexibility to adapt to the challenges and opportunities that arise in the changing world. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 A. P. Costa et al. (Eds.): WCQR 2023, LNNS 688, pp. 180–198, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31346-2_12

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Participatory methods connect both contexts allowing one to train and acquire personal skills to contribute to the integral development of the individual in this society. Therefore, the research team arrived at the question: What benefits and key competencies can be acquired through experiential learning activities related to Astronomy? The following was established as the general objective of the research: Analyse the benefits and key competencies acquired through experiential learning activities related to Astronomy. Furthermore, the specific objectives were defined as follows: – Determine the differences between a group that works with all the advantages and merits of experiential learning and another that only performs certain activities (SO1). – Analyse experiential learning in Astronomy from the perspective of the stages of Kolb’s learning cycle (SO2). – Observe the acquisition of key competencies (SO3). 1.1 The Theoretical Framework of Experiential Activities The development of experiential learning is based on the classic approaches of [1] cited in [2] that emphasise the potential of experience to promote knowledge, considering that individuals learn when they find meaning in their interaction with the environment. The author’s experiential learning model is divided into four stages: Concrete Experience, Reflective Observation, Abstract Conceptualisation, and Active Experimentation. According to this theory, learning begins from a concrete experience, which the individual interprets through reflection and conceptualisation. The last stage, derived from Dewey’s experiential learning theory, involves active experimentation, which requires applying new knowledge to other situations. In addition, this theoretical framework underlines the vital role of the individual’s prior knowledge and experiences throughout the learning process. On the other hand, according to [3], the learning model of [4] has had a significant impact on the field of education as he claimed that individual learning styles emerge from three components: our genetics, life experiences and the demands of our current environment. Besides revealing four different learning styles, he also developed the experiential learning theory [5]. As per this theory, no two individuals learn in the same way or at the same speed. This has nothing to do with the information, nor with time, but with the fact that everyone has a different way of perceiving reality. Other factors such as stimulation, age and cultural background can also influence learning and, especially, the learning process. This diversity makes knowledge appropriation much more exciting and, thus, promotes the constant development of educational practice. The term “learning style” describes that, when processing information, each individual utilises or adjusts a technique with different skills that give a general idea of what they want to learn. The four learning styles proposed by Kolb are Accommodating, Diverging, Assimilating and Converging. Figure 1 shows Kolb’s learning styles based on the Dewey’s learning cycle stages. Our proposed educational model, in turn, incorporates elements of other most recent methodologies influenced by Dewey and described by [7]:

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Fig. 1. Kolb’s experiential learning cycle. Retrieved from [6].

– Problem-based learning. This model places the student at the centre of the learning process to promote critical thinking, allowing them to develop a viable solution for the given problem. To do this, the analysis of sociological, psychological and educational elements must be put into practice, among others [8]. – Project-based learning. This model ushers the student towards the search for a concrete solution, creating a final product in response to a pre-defined problem. It provides a learning experience that engages the student in a complex and meaningful project to develop: skills, abilities, attitudes and values. This model combines different profiles in a team-oriented towards the same goal [9]. 1.2 Experiential Activities for the Teaching and Learning of Astronomy According to [10], although Astronomy is fully integrated into the curriculum from the early stages of education, numerous studies reveal the challenges associated with its teaching and learning process and point towards some attributes that favour the development and persistence of alternative conceptions. These authors highlight the students’ sensory perceptions, the teachers’ alternative conceptions and the numerous inaccuracies found in textbooks and other educational resources as the primary obstacles in teaching and learning Astronomy. [11] designed an educational approach for the teaching and learning the Sun-EarthMoon system, analysing the conceptual change in the interpretation of everyday phenomena (day-night cycle, lunar phases and seasons) through recreational and experiential activities. They found that using tangible models and interactive teaching strategies enhances the learning process of everyday astronomical phenomena studied during primary education. Likewise, it was discovered that simulation software improves understanding of astronomical phenomena as students can perceive changes that would require long periods of direct observation.

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In the research carried out by [12], an immersive and experiential methodology was designed, where a group of thirty students from the morning and evening sessions were guided through a model based on technological mediation for astronomy education and the recognition of the territory. The research has shown that contextual learning translates into an immersive and experiential learning process since it focuses on practical application in diverse and alternative scenarios, far beyond the regular and routine classroom tasks. Furthermore, if technological mediation is incorporated into this experiential learning, the students manifest higher motivation levels. Another aspect that contributed to the development of this experience was the multidisciplinary approach. It offered the possibility of different perspectives on a phenomenon and the simultaneous analysis of several elements during the learning process. Integrating teachers from different academic disciplines brings diversity and variety to learning and extensively complements the acquired knowledge and skills. This is especially true for field-based learning because such a scenario encompasses different social, physical and natural perspectives and phenomena that require collaborative work between teachers from each specialisation towards knowledge construction. The pedagogical approach “Beyond Heaven” developed by [13] involves the implementation of a module based on Kolb’s learning cycle for the fourth year of primary education. It comprised an analysis of the classroom activities: drawings, writings, evaluative and experimental tasks, and debates, among others. One of the most important conclusions of the authors was that children learn better with a play-based approach rather than just traditional textbook learning (where the teacher imparts information and the student receives it). Moreover, the children’s prior knowledge and most of their perceptions are conceived by the different social relationships in their environment, such as television programmes and their friends and family. Contrary to popular belief, space science (Astronomy and Meteorology) is a subject that children quickly grasp and enjoy. Since their curiosities about the phenomena associated with this field are part of their daily life, they like to reflect, engage, imagine and question the presence of the phenomena to which they are introduced. [14] designed a set of experiential activities for Astronomy education that have been implemented in teacher training workshops. This author highlights the importance of observation and experimentation while teaching Astronomy. The author also emphasises the need for “better”, profound, more stable, and thus “more significant” knowledge construction in this field when the trainee is experientially engaged in the phenomena and situations being studied, observing, feeling, experiencing, and identifying with the process. Likewise, the trainer must be creative in terms of the approach to the activity itself and on the aspects of reality they will ask questions from the students. [15] developed a pedagogical strategy that could significantly contribute to the concept building for astronomical phenomena, where it is necessary to identify the possible challenges involved in learning this discipline, and the teachers’ methodologies, to design a relevant set of activities along those lines. The model was named “The sky and its curiosities: challenges and basic concepts”. It was intended for teachers-in-training, who saw an improvement in their conceptual proficiency but still had difficulty understanding the use of cardinal points as a reference system and their role in observing the stars with the observer’s latitude.

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Experiential learning approaches, such as those developed by [16] and [17], show that it is essential for students to be mindful of their learning process and directly influence their efficacy while planning the activities. They are intended to play an active role in the performance of these activities, encourage peer collaboration, and awaken their interest and curiosity. However, as the students grow conscious of their learning process, the lack of experience becomes prominent, implying that they are not aware of the characteristics and objectives of the activities. Moreover, their learning process has demonstrated a clear improvement in encouraging student participation and fostering their curiosity and ability to question.

2 Method This section provides information on the research design used, the participants, the instrument and all the processes developed in the data analysis. 2.1 Research Design This qualitative research was conceived using the interpretative approach for an observational study that contains extensive and detailed descriptions. The data was used to create conceptual categories and to illustrate, defend or challenge theoretical assumptions upheld before collecting the data [18]. It meets the criteria described below, which validate the rigidity and credibility of the design used: – Collective. Since the interest of the research lies in a phenomenon, population or general condition (in this case, the education community of the IES Vía Dalmacia). – Observational. Since the study’s focal point is an organisation and, in particular, the performance of an activity with the students. – Interpretative. Since extensive and detailed descriptions will be compiled for developing a categorical system that defends or argues the existing theoretical framework before the data collection. The design is based on a series of stages that constitute a research process. It is a systematic process that leads to a series of measures to establish some conclusions since a simple collection of data or facts would not suffice to complete the research. For the systematisation of the research, the different stages conceived in this analysis will be taken into account. These stages as shown in the following diagram (Fig. 2): 2.2 Research Participants For selecting the research participants, non-probability sampling was used for convenience. According to [21], qualitative research utilises “small, non-random samples, which does not mean that naturalists are not interested in the quality of their samples, but that they apply different criteria to select the participants” (p. 1). Thus, 42 students from the first year of Compulsory Secondary Education of the IES Vía Dalmacia were selected and divided into two groups of 21 students each. One of

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Fig. 2. General outline of the research design. Developed by authors based on [19] and [20].

them, called the “experiential group”, participated in the experience-based activities and was introduced to all the contents, objectives and reflection on the learning process. The other group was the “non-experiential group”, which participated in some activities. Still, it did not receive the contents or objectives or participate in the reflective observation. Regarding the research’s ethical considerations, the participants’ parents signed informed consent for their children to participate in the research and to allow the use of their images. Likewise, the management team members of IES Vía Dalmacia authorised the pupils and teachers’ participation and provided the facilities for their benefit using a collaboration agreement.

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2.3 Research Instrument An observation checklist was used for data collection, and 60 photographs of nature were taken in the context of the activities. The design of the observation checklist was carried out in three phases described below: – Bibliographic search. This entailed a review of the literature on previous studies that used observation as a data collection technique in a context linked to the performance of experiential activities. – Design of the first version. A first version of the observation checklist was produced and would undergo the validation process based on the inputs of [22] described below. The expert judgment technique was used for content validation, determining the degree to which an assessment adequately represents the targeted construct. A group of six multidisciplinary experts participated in the study (two experts from the Department of Didactics, Organisation and Research Methods of the University of Salamanca, two expert members of the management team of the educational centre and two experts from the field of physical education, with extensive knowledge in the development of experiential activities). The group of experts performed a quantitative (on a scale of 1 to 10) and a qualitative analysis (remarks on the improvement in each section of the observation checklist). The analysis measured the degree of adequacy of the categories at the conceptual level, the degree of relevance to the object of study and the degree of adequacy at the level of definition and comprehension. The degree of understanding and adequacy in defining and drafting the explanation of each stage of Kolb’s learning cycle was recorded. – Design of the final version of the observation checklist. Once the experts completed their analysis, the relevant modifications were made to finalise its design. Figure 3 shows the front and back of the observation checklist. The observation checklist consists of three sections: – The first section contains general information such as the activity’s completion date and data collection date, starting and finishing time, the participating group for which the observations are carried out and the action that has been performed. – The second section classifies each observation made according to Kolb’s learning cycle to which it corresponds, allowing its subsequent analysis and identification of every attitude, behaviour and perception in each stage. – The third section covers the most prominent key competencies and the general observations made during all the learning activities.

2.4 Data Analysis The data analysis was based on the classic content analysis according to the methods described by [23]. The following is a description of the processes carried out:

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Fig. 3. Final version of the observation checklist (front and back). Developed by authors based on [4].

– Data reduction. A separation of the units of analysis was performed to select and classify the elements. Subsequently, the textual units were synthesised and grouped based on their similarities. – Disposition and transformation. The data were synthesised, arranged and grouped for this process using the different graphical resources available on the Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS). This makes it possible to define relationships between the variables and discover the extensive structure of the text, graphical representations or visual images of the relationships between concepts [24] and [25]. In this case, the CAQDAS used in data analysis was NVivo 12. – Obtaining results and conclusions. The results and conclusions of the research were drawn from the analysis of the graphical resources obtained and the concurrence of the categories. The resources and analyses used in the process are detailed below. A word frequency analysis was performed on the observations with the help of the “word cloud” tool. Following that, the “word tree” tool was used to establish the relationships between the most repeated and prominent words in the observations. Subsequently, the comparison and contextualisation between the two research groups were performed through a multi-method analysis. It entailed using metaphors and analogies and including strips, where narrative fragments and interpretations of the research team appeared along with their conversion into numerical values. Likewise, the image analysis function, one of the most effective tools of CAQDAS, was used to describe the key competencies recognised in the image.

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After that, a mind map and a project map were created with NVivo to compare the differences between the theoretical references and the research findings. This development is based on Grounded Theory, using substantive codes that derive directly from the original empirical data of the academic discipline. The theoretical codes are generated from the classification, organisation and integration of memos in theory. These codes are more abstract than substantive codes and provide a theoretical framework that helps organise and integrate substantive codes around aspects with greater significance and “in vivo” codes that originate directly from the language used by the participants. These codes are distinguished because the people who use them assign them a precise meaning so that they have a unique interpretative significance in the substantive part of the research [26]. The assessment of content allocation to the corresponding category or subcategory was carried out on two levels, intracoder and intercoder until an agreement was reached. The hierarchical map of the codes was also created to visually examine the coding frequency of each category and subcategory of the analysis. Finally, it should be noted that the CAQDAS helped us to synthesise, arrange and organise the collected information to present the research results adequately. The data processing helps the researcher get an overview of the object of study. The amount of data that can be obtained from observation protocols, etc., must be treated with powerful tools that allow the effective use of this information [27].

3 Results First and foremost, Fig. 4 reveals the word tree generated in the process. It shows how the word “students” (236 references) stands out since they are the centre of experiential activities, and the whole process is oriented towards them. Another highlight is the “activities” (226 references), since they are the fundamental means for knowledge acquisition, together with the “specialists” (214 references) that made the development of this entire learning strategy possible with their expertise and contributions. Some of the most prominent competencies noted were observation (148 references), attention span (206 references), flexibility (106 references), problem-solving (96 references), questioning and analysing (88 references), and teamwork (80 references). Figure 5 below shows a word tree that represents the students. It demonstrates how well the students paid attention during the learning process (very attentive and focussed; keenly watching; engrossed in the stage play), discussed and asked questions (asking the specialist; talking about the process; debating with each other; talking about content; together talking about) and actively participated (actively playing a; reading and trying to; starting to create). It must be pointed out that most engagements were attributed to the experiential group (82.42%) than the non-experiential group (15.58%). This indicates more significant educational enrichment for the group that worked with an experiential methodology. With an in-depth analysis of each category under study, Fig. 6 shows a hierarchical map obtained from the codification of the observations made. It represents the attitudes and behaviours defined in each stage of Kolb’s learning cycle and the visual analysis of the competencies observed. The figure highlights the different competencies noted during the learning process followed by the phases of Kolb’s cycle, arranged in the order

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Fig. 4. Word cloud of the encoded text. Developed by authors.

Fig. 5. Word tree of the key concept “students”. Developed by authors.

of their importance, where experience is referenced the most and experimentation the least. Figure 7 analyses the differences in referencing between the “experiential” and “nonexperiential” groups. It shows that in the first stage, there are more references to the nonexperiential group since both groups performed the activities. However, the highlight is

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Fig. 6. Hierarchical map of the codes. Developed by authors.

that the experiential group is more frequently referenced in the reflection and abstract conceptualisation stages since its participants received the explanations, reviews, enrichment and value addition from the proposed model, while the non-experiential group performed the activities without any feedback. Therefore, in these stages, the most enriching experience ensues based on Kolb’s experiential learning theory.

54.69% 75%

Concrete experience 21.22% 15.90%

Reflecve Observaon Abstract conceptualisaon

“Experienal” Group

18.37% 6.82%

“Non-experienal” Group

5.71% 2.27%

Acve experimentaon 0%

50%

100%

Fig. 7. Coding frequency of Kolb’s learning cycle stages according to the group. Developed by authors.

The next phase is an in-depth analysis of each stage of Kolb’s cycle’s references in the completed learning activities (Table 1). In the first stage, it can be observed that

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the “experiential” students presented a better attention span and flexibility to adapt to unforeseen events. They were also much more involved since they found the learning process more enjoyable. For example, “student EXP1 showed an active engagement at the end of the game-based learning”, and “student EXP9 responded to the activity of the play Selena with very enthusiastic participation”. In the second stage, it is seen that the “experiential” students reflected more on the activities, their learning, and the results achieved. For example, “student EXP8 reflected and made modifications in the experiment to verify the result in the fun science activity”. On the other hand, “student EXP11 made assessments on what they had learned, comparing it with their perception before the last session”, and “student EXP18 reviewed the experience with surprise, trying to make sense of the result obtained”. Meanwhile, the highlight of the third stage is that the “experiential” students created hypothetical situations that helped consolidate the learnings from the activities. For example, “students EXP7 and EXP8 proposed and presented hypothetical astronomical events as part of the planetarium activity”. Similarly, although to a lesser extent, they made comparisons that helped them consolidate new knowledge based on what they already knew or the other activities they completed. Such as, “student EXP10 compared what they learned in other experiences with the play Selena, to explain why things were presented in that way or what their significance was”. Finally, in the fourth stage, the “experiential” group showed more references that indicate that this group has acquired knowledge and can transfer it to other activities and implement it in daily life with a positive attitude towards teamwork. Concerning the key competencies observed in the analysis of the photographs, Fig. 8 reveals that these are numerous and distinctive. Among the most recurrent competencies are problem-solving (40 references), attention (30 references), observation and communication (26 references), result orientation (24 references), and active participation and teamwork. Figures 9 and 10 demonstrate the potential of CAQDAS to effectively transform images into text, offering an accurate visual perspective of the pixels in which the references are found.

4 Discussion Response to the research question “What benefits and key competencies can be acquired through experiential learning activities related to Astronomy?” it has been established that students have a strong interest in Astronomy. However, this discipline requires continuous research and development. We agree with [10] on the existence of elements that hinder the teaching and learning of Astronomy, such as the teachers’ alternative conceptions and the numerous inaccuracies in textbooks and other educational resources. Using the experiential learning approach, developed by [1] and subsequently perfected by [4], for designing an educational approach for the teaching and learning of Astronomy in secondary education has allowed us to analyse a new model (Figs. 11 and 12). Thanks to CAQDAS, we could perform graphic editing from the established categorical system. Significant differences have been observed between the students who received value addition and skill enhancement and those who performed the activities without the educational approach. It must be pointed out that the actual difference in skill

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Table 1. Engagements and frequency of each competency covered in each stage according to the group. Developed by authors. “Non-experiential” Group

“Experiential” Group

14

41

Stage 1: Concrete experience Attention Commitment

3

3

Active listening

3

3

Flexibility

5

17

Involvement

11

43

Interest

4

19

Leadership

0

1

Motivation

0

7

Participation

3

32

Proactivity

0

2

Question their prior knowledge

1

3

Piece together

0

2

Stage 2: Reflective Observation

Inquire

1

8

Emotional reflection

0

1

Reflection on the result

2

13

Reflection on the activity

4

26

Reflection on their learning

0

14

Compare

1

10

Considers that games can aid learning

0

1

Creates hypothetical situations

0

15

Empathy

0

3

Generalisation

0

5

Generates hypotheses

2

4

Innovation

0

7

Interrelates

0

1

Collaboration

0

5

Communication

1

1

Environmental awareness

0

1

Stage 3: Abstract conceptualisation

Stage 4: Active experimentation

(continued)

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Table 1. (continued) “Non-experiential” Group

“Experiential” Group

Channelling

0

4

Projection

1

1

Transfers knowledge into daily life

0

4

Observed competencies Reflecon Acve parcipaon Orientaon to results Organizaon Observaon Memory Inquiry Manipulave skills Acve listening Fun Concentraon Communicaon Compeción Compeon Problem-solving Aenon

8 19 24 6 26 2 14 12 4 4 10 26 3 19 40 30 0

20

40

60

Fig. 8. Competencies observed in the images during activities. Developed by authors.

acquisition lies in the reflection and abstract conceptualisation stages, which allow the students to attribute the acquired knowledge and competencies to themselves. This is a clear distinction from the traditional model, which gave more importance to the concrete experience stage, based on the student’s previous knowledge, and active experimentation, where the student implemented the acquired knowledge in a new context. The results have shown that the concrete experience stage marks the development of competencies related to the student’s interest and fascination for Astronomy. Among these, the most prominent ones are involvement, attention and participation. These findings coincide with previous studies [12, 13]. It has been observed that this interest can be developed by presenting the students with dynamics different from routine classroom learning. In the second stage, students reflect on various aspects, such as the activity, the result of the experience, and their learning.

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Fig. 9. Image linked to problem-solving. Developed by authors.

Fig. 10. Image linked to attention. Developed by authors.

On the other hand, the main highlight of the abstract conceptualisation stage is the students’ creation of hypothetical situations. This allowed them to compare their learning experiences and acquired knowledge with daily life situations, enriching the learning process and promoting the acquisition of key competencies. In the last stage, the active experimentation stage, students collaborate with colleagues facing challenges and, with experimentation, utilise and disseminate the acquired knowledge and skills

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Fig. 11. Mental map of Dewey and Kolb’s traditional model for experiential learning. Developed by authors based on [1] and [4].

Fig. 12. Project map of the work. Developed by authors based on [1] and [4].

to their environment (friends, family, etc.). Thus, they follow the lines of the previous works, such as those contributed by [16] and [17].

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Finally, in analysing the photographs from the perspective of the natural environment, the students demonstrated excellent learning capacity, focus, ability to solve problems when faced with challenges, effective communication and teamwork. It should be noted that the assessment of these acquired competencies has been possible thanks to the powerful tools of CAQDAS. In addition, it should be noted that the key competencies are of great importance, not only for students but also global citizenship, as they are an essential part of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) mentioned in the 2030 Agenda, as they should be worked on together with the key competencies. This methodological proposal has shown that the key competencies of the 2030 agenda are improved, such as systematic thinking, anticipation, respect for rules, strategy, collaboration, critical thinking, selfawareness and conflict resolution. For this reason, it is necessary to include project-based work in a cross-cutting and interdisciplinary way to promote sustainability competencies, being included in official curricula with proposals such as the one presented in this research.

5 Conclusions, Limitations and Further Research With the extensive work carried out, it has been possible to respond to the research objectives by establishing the following conclusions: – (SO1). Significant differences have been observed between the “experiential” and “non-experiential” groups, in favour of the former with the better acquisition of competencies and a far more enriching experience in the learning of Astronomy. – (SO2). Dewey’s classic model of experiential learning, perfected by Kolb, serves as a theoretical basis for developing approaches related to Astronomy education. However, our research has shown that the concept must be changed. More importance must be given to the reflective observation and abstract conceptualisation stages, traditionally to the concrete experience and active experimentation stages. – (SO3). The implementation of the new approach to Astronomy education has resulted in the acquisition of a multitude of key competencies, both formal and informal. The most prominent ones are attention, involvement, flexibility, interest, active participation, reflection on the result, the activity and the learning, and problem-solving skills. The use of qualitative methodology has allowed the research team to offer a new perspective in analysing key competencies, which have been commonly treated and analysed from a quantitative perspective. They have been analysed from an inductive and holistic viewpoint, in a natural learning environment, with a plurality of perspectives, which has helped build experiential learning knowledge. Moreover, the richness of the textual, visual, verbal, sensory, emotional and affective data is a human product derived from social action, from intentionality and which has been contextualised to give it meaning, allowing us to capture its significance, establishing a clear relationship between the participants, the fieldwork and the data obtained, helping to enrich the qualitative perspective of the research.

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As the main limitation, it should be noted that for the implementation of this learning approach, the collaboration of the teachers and the management team of the centre is imperative, together with the contribution of a multidisciplinary team for the development of the activities. On the other hand, future research is expected to involve an analysis of the results focused on the active experimentation stage. It would examine the dissemination of the knowledge acquired by the students in their environment and its impact on climate change awareness. The authors thank the education community of the Vía Dalmacia Secondary Education Institute (students, teachers and families) for their support in the implementation of the proposed methodological frameworks and the local and regional institutions that have participated in each of the scheduled power outages. Juan Luis Cabanillas Garcia is a beneficiary of the Margarita Salas Grant of the Requalification Programme of the Spanish University System (MS-08).

References 1. Dewey, J.: Experience and Education. Macmillan, New York (1938) 2. Romero, M.: El aprendizaje experiencial y las nuevas demandas formativas. Antropología Exp. 8(10), 90–102 (2010) 3. Espinar-Álava, E.M., Vigueras-Moreno, J.A.: El aprendizaje experiencial y su impacto en la educación actual. Revista Cubana de Educación Superior 39(3) (2020) 4. Kolb, D.A.: Experiential Learning. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs (1984) 5. Rodríguez, R.: Los modelos de aprendizaje de Kolb, Honey y Mumford: implicaciones para la educación en ciencias. Sophia 14(1), 51–64 (2018) 6. McLeod, S.A.: Kolb - learning styles. https://www.simplypsychology.org/learning-kolb.html. Accessed 05 Dec 2022 7. Gezuraga, M., García, Á.: Recepciones de la pedagogía experiencial de Dewey en diversos enfoques metodológicos: el valor añadido del aprendizaje-servicio. Educatio Siglo XXI 38(3), 295–316 (2020) 8. Vizcarro, C., Juárez, E.: ¿Qué es y cómo funciona el Aprendizaje Basado en Problemas? In: Julia, G. (eds.) EL APRENDIZAJE BASADO EN PROBLEMAS EN LA ENSEÑANZA UNIVERSITARIA, pp. 17–36. Universidad de Murcia, Murcia (2008) 9. Maldonado, M.: Aprendizaje basado en proyectos colaborativos. Una experiencia en educación superior. Laurus 14(28), 158–180 (2008) 10. Varela, M., Pérez, U., Ulla, A.M., Arias, A.: Problemáticas del proceso de enseñanza y aprendizaje de la astronomía. Boletín das ciencias 25(76), 107–109 (2012) 11. Vílchez-González, J.M., Ramos-Tamajón, C.M.: La enseñanza-aprendizaje de fenómenos astronómicos cotidianos en la Educación Primaria española. Revista Eureka sobre enseñanza y divulgación de las ciencias 12(1), 2–21 (2015) 12. Puertas-Montalvo, G.A., Romero-Álvarez, A.A., Vanegas-Garzón, S.L.: El M-learning para el desarrollo de habilidades investigativas como estrategia de aprendizaje en básica secundaria y media: una experiencia en el colegio Los Alpes IED (tesis de grado). Universidad Santo Tomás, Bogotá (2016) 13. Cerón, T.A., Echavarría, J., Hernández, I.: Más allá del cielo: astronomía y meteorología en niños y niñas del grado cuarto de primaria (tesis de grado). Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín (2019) 14. Camino, N.: Diseño de actividades para una didáctica de la astronomía vivencialmente significativa. Góndola, enseñanza y aprendizaje de las ciencias 16(1), 15–37 (2021)

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15. Lugo, N.D., Bautista, M.J., Molina, J.N.: Fortaleciendo el aprendizaje de conceptos básicos de la astronomía en docentes en formación a través de una secuencia didáctica potenciada por la observación diurna y simulaciones tridimensionales. Investigacões em Ensino de Ciências 27(1), 137–159 (2022) 16. Rodríguez-Jiménez, C.J., Corrales, J.M., Sánchez-Gómez, M.C., Cabanillas-García, J.L., Losada-Vázquez, Á., Losada-Moncada, M.: Análisis de la percepción del profesorado sobre la conciencia del aprendizaje del alumnado en las actividades participativas. Revista INFAD de Psicología. Int. J. Dev. Educ. Psychol. 1(1), 483–496 (2022) 17. Rodríguez-Jiménez, C.J., Corrales-Vázquez, J.M., Sánchez-Gómez, M.C., Losada-Vázquez, Á., Cabanillas-García, J.L., Losada-Moncada, M.: Reflexiones del profesorado de secundaria sobre la utilidad y viabilidad de las técnicas participativas en el sistema educativo formal. New Trends Qual. Res. 12, e636 (2022) 18. Álvarez, C., San Fabián, J.L.: La elección del estudio de caso en investigación educativa. Gaceta de antropología 28(1), 1–12 (2012) 19. López, N., Sandoval, I.: Métodos y técnicas de investigación cuantitativa y cualitativa. Documento de trabajo, Sistema de Universidad Virtual. Universidad de Guadalajara, México (2016) 20. Cabanillas-García, J.L., Veríssimo, S.M., Luengo, R.L.: Contraste en la percepción sobre el uso de una plataforma virtual para la mejora de la enseñanza y aprendizaje de las matemáticas. RISTI-Revista Ibérica de Sistemas e Tecnologias de Informação 38, 33–47 (2020) 21. Martín-Crespo, M.C., Salamanca, A.B.: El muestreo en la investigación cualitativa. NURE investigación: Revista Científica de enfermería 27, 1–4 (2007) 22. Hernández-Hernández, E., Palao, J.M.: Diseño y validación de un conjunto de instrumentos de observación para valorar la ejecución de los gestos técnicos en la iniciación al voleibol. J. Sport Health Res. 5(1), 43–56 (2013) 23. Martín, M.V., Sánchez-Gómez, M.C.: Análisis cualitativo de tópicos vinculados a la calidad de vida en personas con discapacidad. Ciência Saúde Coletiva 21(8), 2365–2374 (2016) 24. Cabanillas-García, J.L., Luengo-González, R., Carvalho, J.L.: Analysis of the use, knowledge and problems of e-learning in a distance learning master’s programme. In: Costa, A.P., Moreira, A., Sánchez Gómez, M.C., Wa-Mbaleka, S. (eds.) WCQR 2022. LNNS, vol. 466, pp. 25–47. Springer, Cham (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04680-3_3 25. Cabanillas-García, J.L., et al.: A qualitative study and analysis on the use, utility, and emotions of technology by the elderly in Spain. In: Costa, A.P., Moreira, A., Sánchez Gómez, M.C., Wa-Mbaleka, S. (eds.) WCQR 2022. LNNS, vol. 466, pp. 248–263. Springer, Cham (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04680-3_16 26. Cuñat, R.: Aplicación de la teoría fundamentada (grounded theory) al estudio del proceso de creación de empresas. In: Decisiones basadas en el conocimiento y en el papel social de la empresa: XX Congreso anual de AEDEM, p. 44. Asociación Española de Dirección y Economía de la Empresa (AEDEM), Palma de Mallorca (2007) 27. Palacio, B., Gutiérrez, A., Sánchez-Gómez, M.C.: NVIVO una herramienta de utilidad en el mundo de la comunicación. In: Vicente-Mariño, M., González-Hortigüela, T., PachecoRueda, M. (eds.) SIMPOSIO INTERNACIONAL SOBRE POLÍTICA CIENTÍFICA EN COMUNICACIÓN, pp. 1003–1017. Universidad de Segovia, Segovia (2013)

Observing the Transition and Visibility of Alternative Journalism to the Digital World – Qualitative Study Luís Barbosa(B) CICANT - Centre for Research in Applied Communication, Culture, and New Technologies, Universidade Lusófona, Porto, Portugal [email protected]

Abstract. Alternative journalism is generally associated with political engagement but can also cover various other topics. The internet has facilitated many communication processes but has created more complexity. Social networks have provided the basis for the broader dissemination of alternative journalism. The persistence of some forms of alternative journalism and the expansion of social spaces for dialogue and participation remain essential for the healthy functioning of society. This qualitative study aims to understand the visibility of alternative journalism in the digital world and how Reporters Sans Frontières, an organization with a great tradition and worldwide recognition, has transitioned from traditional media to the digital world. The study was developed according to qualitative methodology using content analysis techniques. The results suggest that several alternative journalism organizations are active and use the tools provided by digital technologies to reach a wider audience, including social media. According to our findings, alternative journalism is active in the digital world, but its visibility under this designation is not quickly and clearly displayed online. Regarding Reporters Sans Frontières, the results show that the organization is making full use of digital technologies to produce and share content on the issues for which it was founded, in particular, to defend freedom of expression and press freedom and to report on attacks on journalists, media workers and democracy around the world. Thus, we concluded that Reporters Sans Frontières has successfully transitioned from traditional to digital media. Keywords: Alternative journalism · Content analysis · Press Freedom Index · Qualitative research · Reporters sans Frontières

1 Introduction Considering the enormous technological leap of the last decades, its impact on the media and the emergence of social networks, the subject of alternative journalism, often associated with activism, continues to be a topic of debate inside and outside academia. The persistence of some forms of alternative journalism (AL) and the expansion of social spaces for dialogue and participation remain essential for the healthy functioning © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 A. P. Costa et al. (Eds.): WCQR 2023, LNNS 688, pp. 199–208, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31346-2_13

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of society. While some researchers and commentators have viewed alternative journalism as entirely separate from the mainstream, others have noted more of a “continuum” of practices and content [1]. As Harcup points out, some of this type of journalism fills in the gaps left by the mainstream, with some practitioners using a hybrid mix of alternative and mainstream approaches and techniques. In contrast, others are concerned with playing a deliberately counter-hegemonic role in the public sphere [1]. We have been studying alternative journalism from the perspective of communication for development and, in particular, the impact of technology on this form of journalism. In our opinion, technological development, especially the internet and social networks, has been a very important innovation for journalism and, consequently, for alternative journalism. In this context, it is essential to understand how visible alternative journalism is online and how a long-established alternative journalism organization, such as Reporters Sans Frontières, has transitioned from traditional to digital media. The study was developed according to qualitative methodology using content analysis techniques. As for the theoretical framework, we briefly reference alternative journalism, its origins, and the context within communication and mass media. Then we look at the impact of technological developments on journalism and alternative journalism.

2 Theoretical Framework Today’s society, considered global and based on the dynamics and dominance of different powers (political, economic, competitive and others), is increasingly oriented towards mediatization [2]. This mediatization refers to the so-called mass media, such as radio, television and newspapers, which represent a particular type of communication that entails specific conditions for the activity, which include, first and foremost, the type of audience, the communicative experience and the communicator [3], to which the internet and, in particular, social networks have been added. Journalism and, in the same way, alternative journalism have been inserted into a ‘special kind of communication’ [3]. Journalism has “several legitimate registers, which contribute in different ways to the functioning of democracy. For this reason, universities established first and foremost to serve society should teach different ways of doing journalism, rather than only one approved way”, as James Curran writes in the foreword to his book Alternative Media Handbook [4, p. v. XVI]. These registers include the interpretive and subjective styles of journalism found in many of the media described as alternatives. For Curran, these are media forms that allow different social groups to define and constitute themselves, facilitate internal strategic debates, and promote the robust transmission of their concerns and views to a broader public [4]. Studies of alternative journalism have shown, among other things, that “alternative journalism emanates from dissatisfaction not only with mainstream coverage of particular topics and issues but also with the epistemology of the news. Its critique emphasizes alternatives to, among other things, the conventions of news sources and presentation, the inverted pyramid of news texts, the hierarchical and capitalized economy of commercial journalism, the professional, elitist basis of journalism as a practice, the professional norm of objectivity, and the subordinate role of the public as recipients” [5, p. 1].

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Initially, alternative media were not accessible to the general public. Still, with technological development, information capacity, storage and data transmission, there are now many creators and followers, as technology enables small communities to state their issues, concepts and opinions and make themselves known far beyond their geographical and cultural boundaries [6]. Technological development, especially the internet and social networks, thus represent an essential innovation for journalism and, consequently, alternative journalism and have contributed to its visibility and power. The content created in the media and social networks takes on an often-unplanned scale, spreads quickly, and reaches many views and reproductions [7]. For this reason, the media can be considered part of a mighty revolution that influences decisions, sustains, or destroys brands and elects presidents [7].

3 Reporters Sans Frontières Based in Paris1 , Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) is an independent NGO with consultative status with the United Nations, UNESCO, the Council of Europe and the International Organization of the Francophonie (OIF). Its foreign sections, its bureaux in ten cities, including Brussels, Washington, Berlin, Tunis, Rio de Janeiro, and Stockholm, and its network of correspondents in 130 countries give RSF the ability to mobilize support, challenge governments, and wield influence both on the ground and in the ministries and precincts where media and internet standards and legislation are drafted. Registered in France as a non-profit organization since 1995, RSF has distinguished itself in China by its protests during the 2008 Beijing Olympics; in Africa by creating the only independent radio station broadcasting to Eritreans in 2009; in Haiti by creating a media support center after the January 2010 earthquake; and more recently in Syria by providing training to journalists and bloggers. Well-known internationally, RSF has received awards throughout the world. RSF issues daily multilingual publications in French, English, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese (Brazil), Persian, and often in other languages (Chinese, Russian, etc.). The organization publishes reports and communiqués on the state of freedom of information in the world and its attacks, as well as daily news (under the heading ’actualités’). RSF’s communication campaigns go around the world. Interventions in the international press raise public awareness and influence policymakers on specific cases or overarching issues. The economist and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen defines development as “expanding the real freedoms people enjoy.” Freedom of information is unquestionably one of the freedoms that help to develop the “capacities” of individuals, understood in the sense of their ability to successfully use public health and education systems and public debate, in short, to have control over their lives. Freedom of information is a sine qua non of growth in all the social, economic and political possibilities available to the individual. There can be no freedom of thought without knowledge of reality. In 1948, the United Nations said in article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that “freedom 1 The content for this outlook (Sect. 3), was retrieved from https://rsf.org/en.

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of opinion and expression” implies the right to “seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers”. Since 2012, RSF has published the Press Freedom Index annually. The index ranks 180 countries according to the freedom available to journalists and draws attention to any deterioration in freedom of information in the previous year. The criteria used to elaborate the Index are pluralism, media independence, media environment and selfcensorship, legislative framework, transparency, and the quality of the infrastructure supporting news and information production. The premise for the Press Freedom Index is that states will want to imitate and follow the steps of the best-ranking countries in the Index [8]. As an evaluation and advocacy tool, the Index is increasingly used by such bodies as the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the World Bank, and the Millennium Challenge Corporation in determining the allocation of development aid. Their reliance on the Index has helped increase governments’ attention to freedom of information. At the turn of the 21st century, nearly half of the world population still lacks access to free information. Deprived of knowledge essential for managing their lives, denied their very existence, they are prevented from living in pluralist political systems in which factual truth serves as the basis for individual and collective choices. Freedom of information is the freedom that allows you to verify the existence of all the other freedoms, defended Win Tin2 (quoted by Reporters Sans Frontières)3 . From our perspective, ultimately, Freedom of expression4 and information will always be the world’s most important freedom.

4 Methodology Qualitative methodology was chosen to develop this study. Qualitative methodology “explores and understands the meaning that individuals or groups attach to a social and human problem” [9]. The main characteristics of qualitative methods - the analysis of human behavior from the actor’s point of view - are naturalistic observation, subjectivity, focus on discovery and process, exploratory, descriptive and inductive character, and non-generalization of results [10]. The term qualitative implies an emphasis on the qualities of entities as well as processes and meanings: a qualitative study values the socially constructed quality of reality and takes into account a constructivist framework, the closer relationship between researcher and object of study, and the situational constraints that shape the research [11]. Whichever method is chosen, the analysis reduces the volume of text collected, identifies and groups categories, and seeks understanding. In a sense, the researcher tries to be ‘faithful’ to the text and to achieve trustworthiness [12–15]. The qualitative content analysis presents data in words and themes, making interpreting the findings possible [16, 17]. 2 The Legacy of Writer and Activist Win Tin. The Diplomat. Source: https://thediplomat.com/

2014/04/the-legacy-of-writer-and-activist-win-tin/. 3 See: https://rsf.org/en. 4 Article 10: Freedom of expression. The Human Rights Act. Equality and Human Rights

Commission. Source: https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en.

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These were the main assumptions that anchored our research. The research has been divided into 2 parts. In the first part, we worked on identifying the online alternative journalism organizations and in the second part, we studied the Reporters Sans Frontières organization. This work was developed between October and December 2022. To identify alternative journalism/media organizations, we googled the keywords ‘alternative journalism’ and ‘alternative journalism organizations’. Then for ‘alternative journalism platforms’, ‘alternative journalism websites’ and ‘alternative news sources’ - always in English. We repeated the search in French, Spanish and Portuguese. The search results mostly showed information about alternative journalism, so it took several attempts to find the AL websites. We retrieved 12 units for analysis. After reading the organization’s mission (if available), the content was viewed. Then the data were retrieved and coded by ‘name’, ‘mission’, ‘typology’, and ‘website’ in an Excel file (see Table 1). Entries were inserted in the order in which they were found. Due to the limited number of entries, we decided not to use any protocol to select the entries to include. In general, the websites indicate the type of work they are developing. The contents of Table 1 have been checked for duplicates. We then studied the content of RSF’s online platform and produced the outlook presented in Sect. 3. To validate the news content and assess the organization’s global presence, we retrieved the headlines of all the news published in December 2022 under the “actualités” segment in English (see Table 2). Finally, we developed a content analysis of Sect. 3’s outlook (see Fig. 1). Regarding the qualitative research, we have been able to implement the guidelines of Downe-Wambolt [12], Morse and Richards [13], Patton [14], and Silverman [15] by trying to be faithful to the text and achieve trustworthiness.

5 Results and Discussion To assess alternative journalism organizations’ digital presence and activity, we coded and listed the data as described in Sect. 4. The results are shown in Table 1 below: The 12 organizations we identified as alternative journalism are connected to political issues to varying degrees, with half falling into this typology. The ‘conspiracy theories’ typology is given by outside readers/users; it represents 3 out of the 12 organizations, and the content is essentially political. 4 organizations develop investigative journalism. An exciting aspect is the reduced environmental content (only organization #6 mentions it), as it is one of the significant current socio-political issues. We have also accessed the social media of these organizations. Some of them use channels on YouTube to spread their message. Their presence on social media is considered very relevant in their use of digital technologies, allowing them to reach a wider audience. The results confirm the “continued existence of some forms of alternative journalism and the expansion of social spaces for dialogue and participation” [18, p. 63]. As far as we have verified, none of the organizations listed (see Table 1) has a printed version or publication, so we can infer that the digital space is now their preferred channel allowing them to expand far beyond the limits of traditional printed media.

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L. Barbosa Table 1. Alternative journalism organizations

#

Name

1 European Alternatives

Reporters Without Borders 2 (RSF) ICIJ: International 3 Consortium of Investigative Journalists 4 The Corbett Report 5 Moon of Alabama 6 Global Research News

7 Consortium News

8 ProPublica

9 Periodismo alternativo Fumaça - Podcast de 10 Jornalismo de Investigação (fumaca.pt)

11 Off Guardian

12 21st Century Wire

Mission European Alternatives works to promote democracy, equality and

Typology

culture beyond the nationPolitics state and imagine, demand and enact alternatives for a viable future for Europe.

Act for the freedom, pluralism and independence of journalism and defend those who embody these ideals. To show people how the world really works through stories that rock the world; forcing positive change. not available not available In an era of media disinformation, our focus has essentially been to center on the “unspoken truth”. Founded Consortium News in 1995 as the first investigative news magazine based on the Internet. To expose abuses of power and betrayals of the public trust by government, business, and other institutions, using the moral force of investigative journalism to spur reform through the sustained spotlighting of wrongdoing. not available

https://euroalter.com/mission-andvalues/

Politics

https://rsf.org/en

Investigative Journalism

https://www.icij.org/

https://www.corbettreport.com/ Conspiracy theories' Ukraine Open Thread 2023 https://www.moonofalabama.org/ Social, political, economic, https://www.globalresearch.ca/ cultural, strategic and environmental issues

Investigative journalism & political review

https://consortiumnews.com/

Investigative Journalism

https://www.propublica.org/

Conspiracy theories'

https://periodismo--alternativo.com/

Fumaça is a podcast of independent, progressive, Investigative Journalism dissident investigative journalism, done with depth and time to think. OffG is dedicated to open discourse and free expression, and will often host articles on both sides of any particular issue. to challenge the prevailing narrative and mainstream orthodoxy.

Website

https://fumaca.pt/

Politics & 'Conspiracy theories'

https://off-guardian.org/

Geopolitical and social issues

https://21stcenturywire.com/

Regarding the construction of debate and the presentation of alternatives mentioned by Coyer, Dowmunt and Fountain, and Atton & Hamilton, our observation is that these are different from standard practices within the websites of these organizations. An interesting aspect is the presence of content that we have identified as conspiracy theories; this content goes beyond political content. According to Britannica Encyclopedia, a “conspiracy theory is an attempt to explain harmful or tragic events as the result of the actions of a small, powerful group. Such explanations reject those events’ accepted narrative; the official version may be further proof of the conspiracy (…). The content of conspiracy theories is emotionally laden, and its alleged discovery can be gratifying. The evidentiary standards for corroborating conspiracy theories are typically weak and usually resistant to falsification” [19]. “Conspiracy theories increase in prevalence in

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periods of widespread anxiety, uncertainty, or hardship, as during wars and economic depressions and in the aftermath of natural disasters like tsunamis, earthquakes, and pandemics” [19]. Based on the content published on the websites of the organizations (#4, #9, #11 in Table 1) that we labeled “conspiracy theories,” it was possible to identify several of the characteristics included in the definition of the concept, such as “emotionally laden” discourse and “gratifying alleged discoveries”. In the second part of the study, we aimed to understand how Reporters Sans Frontières had transitioned from traditional media to the digital world. We have accessed the organization’s website over and over again. We retrieved all content related to the history, mission, global presence, financial data, etc. This information was fundamental to developing the outlook in Sect. 3. We observed that RSF’s website is carefully designed to catch the reader’s attention in design, color, solid headlines and impressive photos. The real-time barometer [20] and the online Press Freedom Index are digital tools that attract readers’ attention. In terms of content, it remains political, as it has been since the organization’s inception, focusing on press freedom, the mistreatment of media workers, and reporting on attacks on people’s freedom of expression and democracy [21]. In Table 2 we have listed the news headlines published from 1 to 31 December 2022: The above list confirms that RSF’s work focuses on the arrest and mistreatment of journalists worldwide and threats to democracy and the media. RSF’s presence in more than 100 countries and its extensive worldwide network of correspondents is reflected in the news it publishes, as evidenced by the diversity of its geolocations. Some of these locations are mentioned in Table 2: Philippines, Myanmar, Greece, Hong Kong, Mexico, Morocco, China, and Turkey. We completed our qualitative study with a content analysis of RSF’s outlook presented in Sect. 3. We searched for the most frequent words in the outlook and created the following figure: As shown in Fig. 1, “freedom” is the most frequent of the 600 words in the Outlook. It points to the organization’s primary concern and is consistent with its mission (see #2, Table 1). 2 of the 17 “freedom” words appear in the repetition of the name of the Press Freedom Index.

6 Final Considerations The internet has facilitated many communication processes and created more complexity, which is true of alternative journalism. It’s now so complex that finding the organizations in this segment online is difficult. Nevertheless, the study allowed us to observe that several organizations are active and use digital technology tools to attract a wider audience, including through social media. We concluded that the studied organizations mainly produce political content. Still, these findings do not suggest that the organizations listed in Table 1, “can be considered part of a mighty revolution that influences decisions, sustains or destroys brands and elects presidents” [7].

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L. Barbosa Table 2. RSF Online News Headlines (December 2022) Date

Headline

31.12.2022

Kafkaesque arrest and muzzled media in Algeria

31.12.2022

Turkey disgraces itself by placing leading journalist on terrorism wanted list

31.12.2022

1,668 journalists killed in past 20 years (2003-2022), average of 80 per year

29.12.2022

Journalist’s imprisonment is “distressing and dangerous,” RSF says

28.12.2022

Crimean court sentences Ukrainian journalist to seven years in prison

28.12.2022

Tajikistan: Up to 10 years in prison for independent journalists, Rakhmon's regime gags criticism

27.12.2022

Three journalists sentenced, another arrested in Myanmar’s endless terror

27.12.2022 23.12.2022 23.12.2022

China: RSF urges for release of ailing Covid-19 journalist Zhang Zhan on the second anniversary of her sentence Hong Kong: RSF calls for release of freelance journalist sentenced to 15 months for “possessing offensive weapons” RSF condemns gag-lawsuits in Spain and urges the government to provide a protective legislation for media

22.12.2022

Moroccan prison authorities persecuting jailed investigative reporter

22.12.2022

Why a group of democracies should take over Twitter and turn it into a public service

21.12.2022

RSF calls for tougher sanctions against Myanmar’s junta after three more journalists get prison sentences

21.12.2022

After an increase in attacks on journalists in Kosovo, police and international forces asked to provide better protection

20.12.2022

Draconian bills resubmitted to Iraqi parliament

19.12.2022

There’s nothing democratic about Elon Musk’s polls

16.12.2022

Turkey: 25 journalists imprisoned in half a year

16.12.2022

Well-known Mexican TV news anchor survives shooting attack

16.12.2022

Musk/Twitter: establish democratic control before it’s too late

15.12.2022

Press freedom must be a priority for Tunisia’s future parliament, RSF says

15.12.2022

Philippines urged to decriminalise defamation after another reporter is sentenced to imprisonment

15.12.2022

French regulator orders Eutelsat to stop carrying three Russian propaganda TV channels

14.12.2022

Senegalese reporter released provisionally two weeks after RSF visited him in jail

12.12.2022

Myanmar’s generals up journalist’s combined sentence to 12 years in prison

12.12.2022

RSF Press Freedom Awards 2022 ceremony in the presence of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dmitry Muratov

10.12.2022

Yemen’s Houthis carry out journalists’ death sentences slowly by torturing them

10.12.2022

Hong Kong: detained press freedom symbol Jimmy Lai gets an additional 5 years and 9 months for alleged fraud

09.12.2022

French regulator told to reconsider RSF’s request for ban on Russian propaganda broadcasts by Eutelsat

09.12.2022

“We will crush you,” Ugandan president’s son warns journalists

07.12.2022

UK: National Security Bill poses alarming threats to journalism and press freedom

07.12.2022

China: amid protests, RSF and 48 NGOs urge the regime to respect human rights, including press freedom

06.12.2022

Myanmar junta imposes record 15-year jail sentence on freelancer

06.12.2022

Latvia’s censorship of Russian exile TV channel is shameful, says RSF

06.12.2022

Greece’s Predatorgate – draft law on surveillance falling short of European standards must be amended, says RSF

06.12.2022

Shireen Abu Akleh’s murder: RSF alongside Al Jazeera to support its complaint before the ICC

05.12.2022

RSF urges Latvian regulator not to withdraw TV Dozhd’s licence

05.12.2022

RSF urges Burkina Faso to lift ban on French public broadcaster

05.12.2022

For law protecting journalists, “ball is now in Pakistan government’s court,” says RSF

05.12.2022

South Korea: RSF concerned by president’s hostile moves against public media

05.12.2022

Algeria’s judicial harassment of independent media director must stop, RSF says

03.12.2022

The Taliban step up war on media by silencing FM broadcasts of Radio Azadi and VOA’s

02.12.2022

After being blocked for five years, Burundian news site is accessible again

01.12.2022

RSF visits Senegalese journalist Pape Alé Niang in prison

01.12.2022

Hong Kong: RSF urges for release of media founder Jimmy Lai on the second anniversary of his detention

An interesting finding was that, except for one organization, climate change is not directly addressed in the mission or typology of these alternative journalism groups. This is a point for further study due to the current relevance of the subject. An unexpected aspect revealed by the study was the “conspiracy theories” typology. Surprisingly, it appears under the ‘umbrella’ of alternative journalism. Often associated with fake news, we think it is also an important issue to be studied at the academic level.

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Fig. 1. Frequent Words on RSF Outlook (Sect. 3)

On the whole, alternative journalism is active in the digital world. Still, the search engine must quickly display its visibility under this designation. Concerning Reporters Sans Frontières, an organization with a great tradition and worldwide recognition, we can say that it has made a successful transition from traditional media to the digital world and that it is very active, not only in terms of the quantity of news it produces but also through additional reports such as the annual Press Freedom Index. The online Barometer - which shows abuses worldwide in real-time to reporters - and media workers and the Press Freedom Index are additional sources of information that create attractiveness and interaction with readers. Our findings indicate that RSF is using digital technologies to produce and share content on the issues for which it was founded to defend freedom of expression and press freedom and to report on attacks on journalists, media workers and democracy worldwide. In our opinion, RSF’s work fits into a vision that several legitimate registers (of journalism) contribute in different ways to the functioning of democracy. Overall, we were able to conclude that Reporters Sans Frontières has made a successful transition from traditional to digital media. Acknowledgement. Sponsored by CICANT - Centre for Research in Applied Communication, Culture, and New Technologies.

References 1. Harcup, T.: Alternative Journalism. Communication (2019) 2. Lopes, R.: The Power of the Media in Contemporary Society. Universidade da Beira Interior, Covilhã (2004) 3. Sant’Anna, A.: Propaganda: Teoria, técnica e prática. Pioneira, S. Paulo (1998) 4. Coyer, K., Dowmunt, T., Fountain, A.: The Alternative Media Handbook. James Curran Routledge, London (2007) 5. Atton, C., Hamilton, J.: Alternative Journalism. SAGE, London (2008) 6. Carlsson, U.: Understanding Media and Information Literacy (MIL) in the Digital Age A Question of Democracy. In: Carlsson, U., (ed.) Department of Journalism, Media and Communication (JMG), Göteborg (2019) 7. Telles, A.: A Revolução das Mídias Sociais; casos, conceitos, dicas e ferramentas. M. Books, S. Paulo (2011) 8. RSF: 2022 Press Freedom Index (2022). https://rsf.org/en 9. Creswell, J.W., Clark, V.L.: Designing and Conducting Mixed Methods Research. SAGE Publications, London (2011)

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10. Serapioni, M.: Qualitative and Quantitative methods in social research in health: some strategies for integration Ciência & saude coletiva., Brazil (2000) 11. Denzin, N.K., Lincoln, Y.S.: The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research. SAGE Publications, London (2005) 12. Downe-Wambolt, B.: Content analysis: method, applications and issues. Health Care Women Int. 13, 313–321 (1992) 13. Morse, J.M., Richards, L.: Read Me First for a User’s Guide to Qualitative Methods. Sage Publications Inc., Thousand Oaks (2002) 14. Patton, M.: Qualitative, Research & Evaluation Methods. Sage publications Inc., Thousand Oaks (2002) 15. Silverman, D.: Interpreting Qualitative Data Methods for Analyzing Talk, Text and Interaction. Sage publications Inc., Thousand Oaks (2001) 16. Burnard, P.: A method of analysing interview transcripts in qualitative research. Nurse Educ. Today 11, 461–466 (1991) 17. Polit, D., Beck, C.: Essentials of Nursing Research Methods, Appraisal, and Utilization. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia (2006) 18. Rodriguez, C.: Fissures in the Mediascape: An International Study of Citizens’ Media. Hampton Press, Plainfield (2001) 19. Britannica: Conspiracy Theory, Encyclopedia Britannica (2022) 20. RSF: Barometer: World Abuses in Real Time. https://rsf.org/en/barometer 21. RSF: 1,668 journalists killed in past 20 years (2003-2022) (2022). https://rsf.org/en/1668-jou rnalists-killed-past-20-years-2003-2022-average-80-year

Analysis of the Conceptual Structure of Information Recorded in Patents Eduardo Amadeu Dutra Moresi1(B)

and Isabel Pinho2

1 Catholic University of Brasilia, Brasilia, DF 71966-700, Brazil

[email protected] 2 University of Aveiro, 30180-193 Aveiro, Portugal

[email protected]

Abstract. Patent application documents are systematically collected in a structured data format (including the application date, the applicant and inventor name, and a complete technical description of the invention) in publicly available patent databases. This paper aims to use the bibliometric analysis capabilities available in the R-Bibliometrix package to analyse the conceptual structure of the information recorded in patents to generate input for the qualitative analysis. This objective will broaden the understanding of quantitative results and allow further interpretation of research findings from selected documents using bibliometric metrics. Therefore, this work aims to answer the following research question: how can bibliometric analysis be employed in interpreting documents retrieved in searches carried out in patent databases? A search was conducted on virtual worlds in the Lens database (open access). The application of the approach allowed us to identify some performance indicators and to trace a technological map, including the annual evolution of patent production; patent documents by jurisdiction; top owners; top inventors and their institutions; inventors’ production over time; the most frequent keywords extracted from the abstracts; the most frequent CPC class codes; technology trends from the CPC subclass codes; thematic maps; technology structure evolution from CPC subclass codes and abstract bigrams. It is concluded by highlighting the potential of the R-Bibliometrix package for patent analysis to identify performance indicators and perform the technological mapping. Keyword: Patent Analysis · Bibliometrix · Technology Mapping · Virtual world · Conceptual Structure

1 Introduction Patents are valid for competitive analysis and technological trends [1] and have been employed in research and development projects to evaluate the industry’s competitive position. Patent applications are publicly available and include helpful information such as the applicant’s name, date of application, and technical details of the invention. This is a valuable source of information to help assess trends in research, as it reveals the areas of innovation that inventors are focused on. Patent analysis is also an exciting approach © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 A. P. Costa et al. (Eds.): WCQR 2023, LNNS 688, pp. 209–228, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31346-2_14

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for prospective studies because it uses textual information about intellectual property from various fields of knowledge. Analysing patent data allows one to track changes over time and to identify where most patents are being filed and by whom. They are also a rich source of technical information. Digging deeper into the substance of applications provides insight into the types of technologies that are being developed and those that are emerging, how they are applied, and the fields they cover. This helps better to understand an industry’s current profile and future direction. Patent documents contain technical information about developments in a particular field that is often unique. This is because patent applicants - first and foremost companies - will often seek patent protection without publishing related scientific papers. Patent data also inherently contain relevant business information. An applicant not only invests in the research and development of his invention but also bears the cost of filing the patent with each jurisdictional office (since patent protection is territorial). This means it is only worth doing in jurisdictions with a potential market for protected solutions. Analysing the information recorded in a patent allows tracking changes over time and identifying which jurisdictions, i.e., countries’ intellectual property offices, perform the most patenting activities. In addition, by deepening the analysis of the content on which patent protection is sought, it is possible to gain insight into the types of emerging technologies under development and those occurring and where they will be applied. Various indices have been introduced to measure technological strength as a function of patent quantity or quality. Some examples include patent citation indices and regression models [2]. Patent analysis has proven valuable in planning technology development, from studying strategy at the national level [1] to modelling specific emerging technologies [3]. Patent metadata is generally freely accessible in most countries, and several guidelines have been introduced to improve the technique using keywords and categorization. The contribution of this study highlights the importance of complementarity between quantitative and qualitative analysis to build the conceptual structure that allows extracting knowledge from patents using the R-Bibliometrix package. This paper has a twofold purpose of this paper are: 1) to present a guide that explores the bibliometric analysis potentialities available in the R-Bibliometrix package; 2) to analyse the conceptual structure of the information recorded in patents to generate input for qualitative analysis. This objective will broaden the understanding of the quantitative results and allow further interpretation of the research results from documents selected through bibliometric metrics. Therefore, this work proposes to answer the following research question: how can bibliometric analysis be employed in interpreting documents retrieved in searches carried out in patent databases?

2 Methodology This work proposes an approach to explore the information retrieved from patent databases. Figure 1 presents an approach to examine patents, including the following steps: research design; collection and compilation of patent data; metadata preparation and import; bibliometric analysis, including performance analysis and technology

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mapping; qualitative analysis; and reporting and dissemination of research results. This approach allows exploring the indicators available in the Derwent Innovations Index and Lens databases, in addition to those obtained by Bibliometrix, such as the dynamics of documents by jurisdiction, inventor production over time, and owner production over time. Technology mapping can be explored by analysing the technological structure or life cycle. Finally, qualitative analysis can underpin a critical analysis of the technology landscape.

Fig. 1. Approach to technology landscape research and analysis.

We used the Lens database [4] for data collection and open access. It covers more than 68,347,718 granted patents and 64,735,922 patent applications. More than 100 jurisdictions, including China, the United States, Japan, Germany, the European Patent Office (EPO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Brazil, Portugal, and Spain. However, the records in the patent databases don’t provide keywords. The categorization can be done using patent classification codes. There are two patent classifications used internationally: the International Patent Classification (IPC) [5] and the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) [6]. The patent classification is essential for analysing the technology life cycle. New symbols are created with each version of the IPC and the CPC, showing the technological development trends in related areas. These codes are structured into sections, classes, subclass, groups, and subgroups. The classification represents the whole body of knowledge that may be regarded as proper to the field of patents for invention, divided into eight sections. Each section is designated by one of the capital letters A through H, followed by the section title, which is a broad indication of its contents: A - Human Necessities; B - Performing Operations; Transporting; C – Chemistry; Metallurgy; D - Textiles, Paper; E - Fixed

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Constructions; F - Mechanical Engineering; Lighting; Heating; Weapons; Blasting; G Physics; and, H - Electricity. The CPC has an additional section called Y - General tagging of new technological developments; General tagging of cross-sectional technologies spanning over several sections of the IPC; Technical subjects covered by former USPC cross-reference art collections [XRACs] and Digests. This paper uses the R-Bibliometrix package [7, 8], which has several features for performance analysis and technology mapping. This application also offers other features for mapping document clusters and technology and social structures. As the bases don’t export the bibliographic references, some features will not work, and it will not be possible to analyse the intellectual structure with the R-Bibliometrix package. The R-Bibliometrix package doesn’t allow the analysis of patent data because the metadata tags are different. It is helpful to note that the metadata tags must be adjusted to the scholarly work format (see Table 1). It is important to note that some abstracts may be in the original language, requiring either the record deletion or translation into English. You can select the patent inventors, owners or applicants in the Author’s field. Table 1. Replacing Patent tags with Scholarly Work tags. Patent tags

Scholarly Work tags

Lens ID

Lens ID

Title

Title

Jurisdiction

Source Country

Publication Date

Date Published

Publication Year

Publication Year

Application Number

ISSNs

Abstract

Abstract

Owners, Inventors or Applicants

Author/s

URL

External URL

Document Type

Publication Type

Cited by Patents

Citing Patents

Extended Family Size

Citing Works Count

CPC or IPC

Keywords

Source: created by the authors

3 Application of the Methodological Approach to Patent Analysis To exemplify the approach presented in Fig. 1, a current research topic was defined virtual worlds. The development of virtual worlds, both in terms of technical features

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213

and concerning an increasing range of user-reported experiences, has resulted in a fragmented understanding in the literature of what is and what is not a virtual world. To further complicate this problem, the scientific research literature has a variety of terms that are used to label the technology: virtual world; virtual environment; multiuser virtual environment; massively-multiplayer online (role-playing) game; immersive virtual world; immersive world; immersive online environment; 3D virtual learning environment; open-ended virtual worlds; simulated worlds; serious virtual world; virtual social world; synthetic virtual world; and virtual learning environment [9]. The characteristics of virtual worlds influence users’ experience within these spaces. Although the parameters vary beyond a simulated environment, the following general features are necessary to achieve user experiences and meet the requirements of the virtual world framework: avatar, multiple simultaneous users, communication tools, persistence, and space representation. Therefore, two aspects of the user experience are necessary components of a virtual world that need to be considered: a sense of presence and modelling of the world. While these are broad experiences unrelated to any specific context, they can be applied in various virtual contexts and highlight the key experiential differences between physical and virtual worlds. Having combined the determining properties, it is now possible to state the definition for a virtual world (VW) as a simulated environment where many agents can virtually interact with each other, act and react to things, phenomena and the environment; agents can be zero or many human(s), each represented by many entities called a “virtual self” (an avatar) or many software agents. Every action/reaction/interaction must happen in a real time shared spatiotemporal non-pausable virtual environment. Additionally, this environment may consist of many dataspaces, but the collection of dataspaces should constitute a shared data space, one persistent shard [10]. Søraker [11] pointed out that the concept of virtuality has relevant characteristics, such as computer simulation, interactivity, indexicality, multiple users and firstperson view, and suggested the following definitions: virtual x - interactive, computersimulated x (or, x made possible by interactive computer simulation); virtual environment - interactive, computer-simulated, indexical environment; virtual world - interactive, computer-simulated, indexed, multiuser environment; virtual reality - interactive, computer-simulated environment experienced from a first-person view. The relationship between these concepts can be better illustrated in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. Relations and intersections between the different categories [11].

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The goal is to conduct an exploratory study on the topic, verifying what is patented and what is being applied for. For a more comprehensive analysis, a search was conducted in the Lens database on patents submitted and granted in virtual worlds. The search returned 6565 documents, of which 1952 were given patents, 76 were utility models, and 4537 were patent applications. Figure 3 presents the evolution of patent production from 1990 to 2023. The graph was generated by the R-Bibliometrix package. The peak occurred in 2020 with 490 published documents. The annual growth rate calculated by the R-Bibliometrix package is 18.96%.

Fig. 3. Annual evolution of patent production.

The Lens database allows the extraction of some performance indicators concerning jurisdiction, patent holders and inventors. Table 2 shows the leading intellectual property offices where the patents were registered. The United States office concentrates the most significant number of registered documents, followed by China and the World Intellectual Property Organization. Table 3 shows the top owners. IBM has the most documents, followed by Microsoft and Searete. Table 4 presents the top 10 inventors with their respective institutional affiliations. Searete has the most significant number of inventors, with a total of five, followed by Samsung and IBM, with two each and Ganz, with one. To analyse the technical structure, the R-Bibliometrix package offers several features for extracting words from keywords, titles, or abstracts. Figure 4 shows the most frequent words extracted from the abstract bigrams. The word virtual world, which gave origin to the research, stands out with 9566 occurrences, followed by the real world with 2234, virtual reality with 1020, a virtual object with 869 and the virtual environment with 844.

4 Exploratory Thematic Analysis The research identified 4021 CPC subgroup codes, 634 group codes, 169 subclass codes and 59 class codes. Table 5 presents the most frequent CPC class codes, with the frequencies and the respective subclasses. The data were extracted from the Most Frequent

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Table 2. Patent documents by jurisdiction. Jurisdiction

Document Count

United States

3923

China

738

WO - WIPO

629

Japan

366

European Patents

334

Korea, Republic of

252

Canada

111

Australia

66

United Kingdom

60

Russia

16

Germany

14

Taiwan

11

Source: Lens Table 3. Top owners. Owner

Document Count

IBM

623

Microsoft

280

Searete

192

Sony

183

Nintendo

164

Activision Publishing INC

113

Disney Enterprises INC

97

The Invention Science Fund INC

94

Utherverse Digital INC

91

Kyndryl INC

74

Google

64

Samsung Electronics Co LTD

59

Source: Lens

Words function, applying the list of synonyms that reduces the codes from subgroup to class and subclass. Class G06 – computing; calculating; counting - is the most frequent code with 30583 occurrences, followed by class A63 – sports; games; amusements. This result is consistent, considering the central concept of virtual worlds.

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E. A. D. Moresi and I. Pinho Table 4. Top inventors. Inventor

Document Count

Affiliation

Royce A Levien

204

Searete

Mark A Malamud

193

Searete

Robert W Lord

182

Searete

Rick A Hamilton II

118

IBM

Howard Ganz

109

Ganz

Seung Ju Han

90

Samsung

Edward K Y Jung

90

Searete

Clifford A Pickover

90

IBM

Eric C Leuthardt

88

Searete

Jae Joon Han

87

Samsung

Source: Lens

Fig. 4. Most frequent words from the abstract bigrams.

For the identification of technology trends, the Trend Topics function from the Documents menu and the synonym list was used to reduce the CPC codes - subgroup to subclass. The parameters were set to a minimum of 1 code frequency and 20 codes per year. Table 6 presents the technology trends for the subclass CPC codes. Codes C03C, G02C, and E21B are emerging technologies. Code C03C has two patents submitted by Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC, with registrations at the USPTO [12] and WIPO [13], concerning dichroic coatings to improve display uniformity and light safety in an optical combiner. The G02C code has two patents granted by the USPTO [14] concerning systems and methods for computer-aided operation. Code

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Table 5. Most frequent CPC codes. CPC class

Frequency

CPC subclass

g06 – computing; calculating; counting

30583

g06f (13079), g06t (8114), g06q (6971), g06n (1181), g06v (856), g06k (380) e g06e (2)

a63 – sports; games; amusements

29800

a63f (28097), a63b (1133), a63h (412), a63g (122), a63c (24), a63j (6), a63k (4), a63d (2)

h04 – electric communication technique

11256

h04l (5181), h04n (4198), h04m (743), h04w (559), h04s (330), h04r (137), h04h (40), h04q (35), h04b (21), h04j (12)

g02 - optics

4199

g02b (4037), g02f (160), g02c (2)

a61 - medical or veterinary science; hygiene

3719

a61b (2625), a61m (812), a61h (198), a61n (54), a61f (12), a61k (8), a61c (7), a61g (2), a61p (1)

g09 education; cryptography; display; advertising; seals

1702

g09g (1002), g09b (683), g10h (78), g09c (9), g09f (8)

g07 - checking-devices

982

g07f (950), g07c (32)

g16 - information and communication technology [ict] specially adapted for specific application fields

720

g16h (625), g16z(53), g16b (32), g16y (10)

g01 - measuring; testing

547

g01c (238), g01s (185), g01b (29), g01n (26), g01d (18), g01m (18), g01w (13), g01p (9), g01g (7), g01j (4)

g05 - controlling; regulating

532

g05b (342), g05d (184), g05g (6)

b60 - vehicles in general

494

b60r (222), b60w(208), b60k (48), b60q (4), b60s (4), b60t (4), b60y (3), b60l (1)

Source: created by the authors

E21B (Fixed Constructions - earth or rock drilling; mining - obtaining oil, gas, water, soluble or meltable materials or a slurry of minerals from wells) has one application by Vertechs Energy Solutions Llc, with registration at WIPO [15], concerning a method for providing augmented information in an augmented reality drilling, completion and production visualization system based on holographic projection.

218

E. A. D. Moresi and I. Pinho Table 6. Technology trends. CPC

Freq

Year_q1

Year_med

Year_q3

c03c g02c

12

2022

2022

2022

3

2022

2022

2022

e21b

2

2022

2022

2022

g01l

1

2022

2022

2022

a61f

18

2019

2022

2022

h02j

14

2017

2022

2022

h02k

20

2021

2021

2022

g16y

10

2021

2021

2022

f16m

2

2021

2021

2021

b23k

1

2021

2021

2021

h01g

7

2020

2021

2022

b60s

4

2020

2021

2022

b60t

4

2020

2021

2022

y02a

8

2020

2021

2021

h04s

347

2019

2021

2021

a61c

9

2019

2021

2021

Source: created by the authors

4.1 Thematic Map of the CPC Subclass Codes Co-word networks allow conceptual structure analysis, highlighting the links between concepts through the co-occurrence of terms. The R-Bibliometrix package allows obtaining the keyword co-occurrence network and its relationship with the thematic map. The keywords represent concepts whose density and centrality can be used in categorization and concept mapping in a two-dimensional diagram. The detected communities can be represented by two measures [16], namely the relevance degree (Callon’s centrality) and the development degree (Callon’s density). Callon centrality measures the intensity of the links between a given community and others. The value can be represented as a measure of the importance of a theme in the entire corpus. Callon density measures the internal strength of the community. This value can be defined as a measure of the development of the theme. Based on these two measures, research themes can be mapped into a two-dimensional strategy diagram with four quadrants: (1) upper right quadrant: motor themes; (2) lower right quadrant: basic themes; (3) lower left quadrant: emerging or declining themes; and (4) upper left quadrant: niche or very specialized themes. Generally, the keywords in the upper right quadrant, known as motor themes, are well-developed and essential for structuring a research field. The topics in the upper left quadrant are of marginal importance to the area with well-developed internal and unimportant external links. The topics in the lower left quadrant are poorly developed

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and marginal. They mainly represent emerging or declining themes. Basic themes are contained in the lower right quadrant and are essential but not developed. In this work, two thematic maps were generated: CPC codes and bigrams of the abstracts. Figure 5 presents the thematic map of the CPC subclass codes. Five technology communities were obtained: – g06f - computing; calculating; counting - electrical digital data processing; – a61b - medical or veterinary science; hygiene - diagnosis; surgery; identification; – g05d - controlling; regulating - systems for controlling or regulating non-electric variables; – g06k - computing; calculating; counting - reading graphic data; presenting data; supporting data; manipulating data transports; graphical data reading (image or video recognition or understanding g06v); presentation of data; record carriers; handling record carriers; – b25j - hand tools; portable power-driven tools; handles for hand implements; workshop equipment; manipulators - manipulators; chambers provided with manipulation devices; – g05b - controlling; regulating - control or regulating systems in general; functional elements of such systems; monitoring or testing arrangements for such systems or elements; – g08g – signalling - traffic control systems; – y02b - general tagging of new technological developments; general tagging of crosssectional technologies spanning over several sections of the IPC - technologies or applications for mitigation or adaptation against climate change - climate change mitigation technologies related to buildings, e.g., housing, house appliances or related end-user applications; – g02f - optics - optical devices or arrangements for the control of light by modification of the optical properties of the media of the elements involved therein; nonlinear optics; frequency-changing of light; optical logic elements; optical analogue/digital converters; – f41g – weapons - weapon sights; aiming. Table 7 shows the breakdown of the above communities and their positioning on the thematic map. It is possible to select documents that contributed to each community. The R-Bibliomnetrix package generated a table with the 6565 documents with the community identification and its influence using the Page-Rank metric [17]. 4.2 Thematic Map of the Abstract Bigrams Figure 6 presents the thematic map of the abstract bigrams. The words extracted by the R-Bibliometrix package were agglutinated into the following communities: virtual world; virtual environment; world environment; user interface; computing device; world system; computer system; real time; computer program; processing unit; reality environment; user avatar; game system; computer implemented; local information; data representation; reality game; electronic game.

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E. A. D. Moresi and I. Pinho

Fig. 5. Thematic map of the CPC subclass codes.

Table 7. Thematic map clusters of the CPC subclass code. Cluster Theme

Freq.

CPC subclass codes

g06f

Basic

13943 g06f (2961), a63f (2612), g06t (2085), g06q (1583), h04l (1138), h04n (699), g02b (505), g06n (384), g09b (300), g07f (267), g06v (266), g09g (221), h04w (218), a63h (125), a63b (117), h04m (117), g10l (98), a63g (47), y10s (58), g03b (29), g11b (25), g07c (23), y02d (20), h05b (16), h04b (16), h04q (13)

a61b

Basic

490 a61b (222), g16h (185), a61m (39), a61h (24), g01b (20)

g05d

Basic

239 g05d (82), g01c (77), b60r (41), b60w (39)

g06k

Emerging

185 g06k (73), g01s (58), g08b (30), g16z (24)

b25j

Niche

157 b25j (62), h04s (48), h04r (34), g10h (13)

g05b

Basic

118 g05b (90), y02p (28)

g08g

Niche

102 g08g (39), b64u (23), b64c (23), b64d (17)

y02b

Niche

14 y02b (14)

g02f

Motor

13 g02f (13)

f41g

Niche

13 F41g (13)

Source: created by the authors

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Fig. 6. Thematic map of the abstract bigrams.

Table 8 presents the results of the thematic map obtained by extracting the bigrams from the patent abstracts. As 268 keywords were obtained, only those with the highest frequencies were included in this table. An interesting result is that the communities related to computing are driving themes that are well-developed and important for structuring a research field. This is consistent with Callon, Courtial and Laville’s [16] definition, with the highest degrees of relevance and development. 4.3 Thematic Evolution Another essential feature of the R-Bibliometrix package is the thematic evolution, which assists in interpreting the conceptual structure. This structure is often used to understand the evolution of technologies using the CPC codes or the topics addressed by the inventors by extracting the monograms, bigrams or trigrams from the titles or abstracts and identify which are the most important and most recent concepts or technologies. Dividing time into different periods and comparing the conceptual and technological structures helps analyse the evolution of topics over time. Figure 7 presents the evolution of the technical structure of the subclasses of the CPC codes divided into five periods: 1990–2009; 2010–2013; 2014–2016; 2017–2019; and 2020–2022. Figure 8 presents the thematic evolution of the technology structure from the abstract bigrams. The central research theme stands out in all periods. In analysing the flow between the periods, it is possible to verify the conceptual routes of technology in each period. For example, from 1990 to 2009, the technology concept of virtual worlds, as a primary theme, contributes to almost all of the following periods.

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E. A. D. Moresi and I. Pinho Table 8. Clusters of the thematic map of the abstract bigrams.

Cluster

Theme

Frequency

Keywords

virtual world

Basic

11083

virtual world (4141), real-world (1080), virtual object (458), virtual reality (478), virtual space (177), augmented reality (245), display device (213), video game (138)

virtual environment

Niche

1318

virtual environment (431), includes information (46), interaction operation (39), operating virtual (39), world interaction (35), information systems (36)

computing device

Motor

1631

computing device (216), user device (191), world data (135), computer network (108), processing circuitry (95), social network (76)

world environment

Motor

946

world environment (276), virtual item (119), virtual products (100), world activities (48), acquire virtual (74)

world system

Basic

938

client device (114), virtual replica (82), world system (116), persistent virtual (75), real object (60), physical location (57), computer-implemented method (56)

computer system

Motor

764

computer system (142), physical world (110), virtual representation (93), entertainment system (50), registration code (67), user access (50) (continued)

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Table 8. (continued) Cluster

Theme

Frequency

Keywords

processing unit

Motor

736

position information (81), processing unit (96), map information (37), display data (39), virtual display (47), image processing (50)

computer program

Niche

704

computer program (212), program product (200), media content (65), sensory experience (65), artificial sensory (64), bioactive agent (47)

reality environment

Basic

532

reality environment (88), head mounted (69), mounted display (61), physical environment (43)

user interface

Basic

465

user interface (244), online game (81), game server (65), game character (36), data representative (39)

computer implemented

Motor

440

world model (44), three-dimensional space (43), computer implemented (53), implemented method (50)

user avatar

Emerging or declining

366

virtual universe (60), user avatar (81), interactive virtual (54), object based (47), user viewing (43)

Real time

Emerging or declining

276

real time (191), electronic device (47), real objects (38)

gaming system

Emerging or declining

232

portable device (35), terminal device (43), gaming system (48), world processing (39)

reality game

Niche

183

reality game (41), parallel reality (34), data storage (38), game data (32), data stored (38) (continued)

224

E. A. D. Moresi and I. Pinho Table 8. (continued)

Cluster

Theme

Frequency

Keywords

data representing

Emerging or declining

137

data representing (72), base station (33), interactive media (32)

location information

Emerging or declining

120

location information (52), communications network (34), device configured (34)

electronic game

Niche

103

electronic game (36), virtual activity (32), world users (35)

Source: created by the authors

Fig. 7. Thematic evolution of the technological structure from the patent CPC subclass codes.

5 Conceptual Structure and Content Analysis In this study, the topic is Virtual worlds. In the first stage, we perform a Bibliometric Analysis. We get an overview of the Virtual world topic from the results of both Performance Analysis and Exploratory thematic analysis. If we need to focus and deepen the knowledge about patents that interest us, we must move towards content analysis. Next, we must make a Synthesis analysis. This global, focus and synthesis approach is explained in conceptual structure (see Table 9). Considering a practical case of a company around “Virtual worlds”, it is possible to assume that it might be interested in deepening the analysis in one of the subtopics, such as “Information Location”. In other words, the company will collect relevant patents in this area and read and analyse their full content (text and images).

Analysis of the Conceptual Structure of Information Recorded in Patents

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Fig. 8. Thematic evolution of the technology structure from the abstract bigrams.

The company interprets all the results obtained in the bibliometric analysis stage (Virtual worlds). Next, select some patents considered relevant in “Information Location”. This sample of patents will be subject to content analysis to answer specific questions posed by the company itself. According to those particular questions, this documental sample will be read and analysed systematically and in-depth using the technique of Content Analysis [18]. Using Content Analysis to support a critical reading of selected patents can be the basis for a solid patent review that goes beyond the description of patents. Content Analysis is a flexible technique that fits research questions and strategies adopted, using various techniques and approaches to analysing texts, commonly referred to as the broader term textual analysis [19]. The Content Analysis process can be inductive or deductive [18]. In the inductive Content Analysis model, the research is exploratory, or the phenomenon under study still has little accumulated knowledge. The concepts resulting from the analysis emerge from the data. They are organized into categories and subcategories in the deductive model underlying the research, where the categories are determined by prior knowledge acquired on the topic. Thus, it starts from the theory and results of previous research to elaborate the initial analysis model. Applying a mixed model (inductive and deductive) influenced by the readings carried out by researchers on the topic under study is expected. In the present case, we already have a Conceptual Structure (see Table 9). We must organize, compare, and validate the data inferred and interpreted. To increase research transparency, it is necessary to detail and report how these processes occur. The qualitative analysis report must thus explain how the data and metadata were collected and worked on, how the metadata classification was carried out, the codification of the texts and the discussion of the results obtained. Some tools, such as webQDA [18], enable the collaborative space that must be supported by helpful information management [20]. It also allows the definition of dimensions, categories and subcategories of analysis, which facilitate the construction of conceptual models and the process of finding answers to research questions [21, 22].

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E. A. D. Moresi and I. Pinho Table 9. Conceptual Structure

Analysis Type Bibliometric Analysis

Inputs (metadata)

Patents Classification Codes

Performance

Number of Patents Jurisdiction Patent holders Inventors Owners Words CPC Codes Co-words networks Communities Thematic M ap

Thematic

Basic Themes Central Themes Niche Themes Emerging or Declining Themes

Thematic Evolution Content Analysis

Inputs (text) Subtopic Specific questions Tree Categories

Synthesis Analysis

Report

Patents Documents

Source: created by the authors.

This co-design is a pathway to an inclusive and collaborative approach to analyse patents on a particular topic or to answer specific questions. This space for co-creation and use of evidence can include several stakeholders: private sector representatives, scientific bodies, NGOs, government agencies, universities, and individuals to join the conversation. In these sharing knowledge spaces, the analysis of patents and literature will result in syntheses with practical and theoretical applications, increasing the degree of disruption of advances in science and economics [23].

6 Conclusion The proposed approach starts from the research design, starting with objectives definition and scope, which is essential for the choices necessary in the following steps. Although the R-Bibliometrix package does not allow the analysis of the records retrieved in the research, it was possible to convert the metadata tags of the patents to the appropriate format for import following the pattern of the scholarly work tags. There is a limitation because not all data are exported by the base, as is the case of the documents cited by the

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patents. Thus, it was impossible to explore the intellectual structure of the information registered in the patents due to the limitations regarding the references cited by the patents. Lens database allows the identification of a patent family, a group of inventions related to a specific document. In this sense, it is possible to deepen the interpretation of a technology or innovation by qualitatively analysing all the patent documents in a family. The approach was performed on the Lens database with the search expression - virtual world*. After applying filters to delimit the results to the research scope, 6565 documents were retrieved, including 1952 granted patents, 76 utility models and 4537 patent applications. The approach allowed us to identify some performance indicators and to trace a technology landscape, including the annual evolution of patent production, the documents by jurisdiction, top owners, top inventors with their affiliations, the inventors’ production over time, the most frequent keywords extracted from the abstract bigrams, the most frequent CPC class codes, the technology trends from the CPC subclass codes, the thematic of the technology structure, and the evolution map of the technology. As a future perspective, it is suggested to deepen the understanding of the functionalities of the R-Bibiometrix package, particularly regarding the interpretation of the tags exported by the Lens base for a patent and their correspondence in scholarly work tags. This will enable further analysis of the qualitative data recorded in the patents. Another possibility is to exploit the co-occurrence network of CPC codes to perform search refinement. This work can be enriched if, together with specialists in the area under study, a qualitative analysis is carried out to obtain answers to specific and profound questions that may emerge from the discussion of this exploratory study.

References 1. Abraham, B., Morita, S.: Innovation assessment through patent analysis. Technovation 21(4), 245–252 (2001) 2. Wantanabe, C., Tsuji, Y., Brown, C.: Patent statistics: deciphering a ‘real’ versus a ‘pseudo’ proxy of innovation. Technovation 21(12), 783–790 (2001) 3. Bengisu, M., Nekhili, R.: Forecasting emerging technologies with the aid of science and technology databases. Technol. Forecast. Soc. Chang. 73, 835–844 (2006) 4. Lens. https://www.lens.org. Accessed 30 Dec 2022 5. World Intellectual Property Organization. https://ipcpub.wipo.int. Accessed 30 Dec 2022 6. European Patent Office. https://www.cooperativepatentclassification.org/home. Accessed 30 Dec 2022 7. Aria, M., Cuccurullo, C.: Bibliometrix: an R-tool for comprehensive science mapping analysis. J. Informet. 11(4), 959–975 (2017) 8. Aria, M., Cuccurullo, C.: Package ‘bibliometrix’. https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/bib liometrix/bibliometrix.pdf. Accessed 30 Dec 2022 9. Girvan, C.: What is a virtual world? Definition and classification. Educ. Tech. Res. Dev. 66(5), 1087–1100 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-018-9577-y 10. Nevelsteen, K.J.L.: Virtual world, defined from a technological perspective and applied to video games, mixed reality, and the Metaverse. Comput. Anim. Virtual Worlds 29(1), e1752 (2017)

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11. Søraker, J.H.: Virtual entities, environments, worlds and reality: suggested definitions and taxonomy. In: Ess, C., Thorseth, M. (eds.) Trust and Virtual Worlds. Peter Lang, New York (2011) 12. Sakari, V.T.H., Pietari, T., Tapio, T.J.K.: Dichroic coatings to improve display uniformity and light security in an optical combiner (U.S. Patent No. US 2022/0146827 A1). U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Washington, DC (2022) 13. Sakari, V.T.H., Pietari, T., Tapio, T.J.K.: Dichroic coatings to improve display uniformity and light security in an optical combiner (WIPO Patent No. 2022/098447 A1). World Intellectual Property Organization, Geneva (2022) 14. Naveen, K.: Systems and methods for computer assisted operation (U.S. Patent No. 11,173,391 B1). U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Washington, DC (2021) 15. Qijun, Z., Dengpan, X., Yuan, G.: Augmented reality drilling, completion and production visualization system and synergy method based on holographic projection (WIPO Patent Application No. WO 2022/255995 A1). World Intellectual Property Organization, Geneva (2022) 16. Callon, M., Courtial, J.-P., Laville, F.: Co-word analysis as a tool for describing the network of interactions between basic and technological research: the case of polymer chemistry. Scientometrics 22(1), 155–205 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02019280 17. Brin, S., Page, L.: The anatomy of a large-scale hypertextual Web search engine. Comput. Netw. ISDN Syst. 30(1–7), 107–117 (1998) 18. Costa, A.P., Amado, J.: Content Analysis Supported by Software. Ludomedia, Oliveira de Azeméis - Aveiro - Portugal (2018) 19. White, M.D., Marsh, E.E.: Content analysis: a flexible methodology. Libr. Trends 55(1), 22–45 (2006) 20. Pinho, I., Rego, A., Cunha, M.P.: Improving knowledge management processes: a hybrid positive approach. J. Knowl. Manag. 16(2), 215–242 (2012) 21. Pinho, I., Leite, D.: Doing a literature review using content analysis - research networks review. In: Atas CIAIQ 2014 - Investigação Qualitativa em Ciências Sociais, vol. 3, pp. 377–378. Ludomedia, Portugal (2014) 22. Souza, F.N., Neri, D., Costa, A.P.: Asking questions in the qualitative research context. Qual. Rep. 21(13), 6–18 (2016) 23. Park, M., Leahey, E., Funk, R.J.: Papers and patents are becoming less disruptive over time. Nature 613(7942), 138–144 (2023)

“A Home to Live in or Monetize?” An Exploratory Textual Analysis of the Potential Uses of Lisbon and Porto Real Estate During the COVID-19 Pandemic Raquel Ribeiro(B) Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal [email protected]

Abstract. Housing as a financial investment prevailed in the main Portuguese cities at the beginning of 2020, along with high socio-territorial inequalities in access to housing and housing conditions. The COVID-19 pandemic abruptly affected tourism-based real estate profitability, making social disparities in health and well-being more conspicuous due to confinement. This article aims to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on real estate advertising through a comparative analysis of the discourses on the potential uses of residential buildings in Lisbon and Porto in 2019 and 2020. The qualitative descriptions of 1278 advertisements of residential properties located in the cities of Lisbon and Porto, extracted in 2020 from the online site of a national reference real estate, were analyzed with the software IRAMUTEQ and results were compared with the results of a study conducted with the same methodology in June 2019. Following the pre-pandemic study, results show that residential properties are promoted as an investment. This discourse is associated with a central location and proximity to services, public transport, educational establishments, and places of interest. It is concluded that the COVID-19 pandemic did not alter the promotion of housing as a financial investment. The consequences of this model of urban development for the (re)production of socio-territorial inequalities and vulnerabilities in times of crisis are discussed. Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic · Real Estate Advertising · Socio-territorial Inequalities · Textual data · IRAMUTEQ

1 Introduction In the Portuguese cities of Lisbon and Porto, housing is increasingly used to drive profitability through short-term rental, targeted at tourists and students [1, 2]. These housing practices are explicitly promoted in the real estate advertising of both cities (e.g., [3]). The COVID-19 pandemic and the measures to contain it (e.g., lockdown, travel restrictions, border closures, closure of non-essential commercial establishments, and prohibition of gathering in public spaces) abruptly affected this model of real estate profitability [4]. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 A. P. Costa et al. (Eds.): WCQR 2023, LNNS 688, pp. 229–246, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31346-2_15

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This article aims to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on real estate advertising by comparing the discourses on the potential uses of residential buildings for sale in Lisbon and Porto, both before and after the rise of the pandemic. It starts by briefly describing the real estate market in Portugal before the first cases of COVID-19 in the country in March 2020 and the results of a study on the qualitative descriptions in advertisements of residential properties for sale in Lisbon and Porto conducted in 2019. It then presents the results of a study conducted in August 2020 with the same methodology. It discusses the consequences of an economic and urban development model based on the monetization of housing for the (re)production of socio-territorial inequalities and vulnerabilities in times of crisis. 1.1 Real Estate Market and Advertising in Times of Financialized Housing At the beginning of the year 2020, investment in housing in the two main Portuguese cities of Lisbon and Porto was thriving [1, 5], associated with a trend of steady price growth in the preceding five years [6]. On the one hand, this was a result of the communication strategies that promoted the country as a “destination for visiting, investing in, living in and studying in” ([7], p. 2). On the other hand, there was a confluence of factors: the rent gap resulting from the suburbanization processes in the metropolitan areas of Lisbon (LMA) and Porto (PMA), liberalization of urban leases imposed by the New Lease Regime (enacted in 2012); alterations in legislation creating the possibility of local accommodation (e.g., Airbnb); and fiscal measures supporting urban rehabilitation and foreign investment, e.g. golden visas or the tax regime for non-habitual residents (cf. [1, 8, 9, 10]). In this context, the Portuguese real estate market acquired international visibility. Lisbon and Porto appeared in the Forbes Magazine list of the ‘Best European Cities to Invest In’ in 2019 and 2020, respectively [11]. This period was also characterised by almost zero interest rates on deposits and a decline in earnings from work (see also [4]). With the rise in tourism came increases in evictions from the non-renewal of rental contracts by landlords, transference of long-term rentals to short-term rentals through local accommodation licensing (e.g. Airbnb), and difficulties in accessing affordable housing by residents, giving rise to a housing crisis [5, 10, 12]. The increasing dominance of financial actors, financial practices, financial markets, financial measurements, and financial narratives in housing worldwide has been termed the financialization of housing [13]. The narratives emphasize individual responsibility, risk-taking practices, calculative evaluations in financial management, and the development of investor subjectivity as a new model of citizenship and success [14–16]. In line with several works that sought to analyze how financial discourses and representations enter the lives of ordinary people (e.g. [17]), in 2019 Ribeiro [3] analyzed the content of more than five hundred advertisements of residential properties for sale in the cities of Lisbon and Porto. This exploratory study examined the relationship between the investment-oriented discourses on the potential uses of residential buildings and the (re)production of economic and territorial inequalities. The data were collected from the website of a renowned Portuguese real estate company, containing information about: the type of property (apartment, house, or building); the number of bedrooms; gross area; sale price; and qualitative description of the property (i.e. the short descriptive text that

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usually accompanies the advertisement, along with photographs). To analyze the discourses on the potential uses of the residential buildings, the method of textual analysis developed by Max Reinert [18–20] was applied, as implemented in the software IRAMUTEQ [21]. The technique developed by Reinert consists of an algorithm that applies a downward hierarchical classification on the table of frequencies of the lemmatized forms (i.e., the words reduced to their roots) based on the chi-square distance. This lexical classification extracts different classes or clusters of words based on co-occurrence, i.e., (fragments of) advertisements that tend to contain the same words. These clusters represent “lexical worlds” [20, 22] that capture the main discursive themes present in a given corpus [23]. Moreover, the method also allows for the comparison of counts of categorical responses between two or more independent groups (supplementary variables), allowing the identification of the enunciation contexts of the different classes (see [23]). This method of data analysis, previously available only in the commercial software Alceste, has been used within the social representations theory framework to capture different representational dimensions and their anchoring (e.g. [24, 25]). Ribeiro’s study [3] included supplementary variables for the parish, type of property (apartment, house, and building), and four price categories calculated based on the median house price values in Porto and Lisbon and the parish with the highest median value. The classification results evidenced two distinct discourses on the potential uses of residential buildings associated with different city geographical locations and price categories. The first and the most significant class was organized around the terms “commerce”, “subway”, “services”, “transportation”, “near”, and “on foot”, showing that the promotion of the property was mainly based on its central location in the city, locating residents nearby (i.e. within a few minutes walk) to various services, public transport, and places of cultural and tourist interest. It also included terms such as “investment”, “opportunity”, “profitability”, and “local accommodation”. This promotional discourse stressed a possible double function of property: as owned housing, or as an investment, through long-term, local accommodation, or student rental - making explicit references to the annual occupancy rate of the capacity on Airbnb and rates of return on investment. This discourse was statistically associated with properties in the highest price category and localized in the parishes of Santa Maria Maior and Olivais in Lisbon. The second class presented a discourse highlighting features of high-quality housing: “equipped”, “balcony”, “suite”, “parking lot”, “double glazing”, “air conditioning”, “electric blinds”, “central heating”, or “central vacuuming”. It was more characteristic of properties located in the parishes of Paranhos, Aldoar, Foz, and Nevogilde in the city of Porto and Belém and Beato in the municipality of Lisbon. The author concluded that housing in the cities of Lisbon and Porto was increasingly being directed at high-income groups for two different reasons: for the acquisition of a “dream home” (see [26]) or as real estate investment for profitability. Marketing housing as an investment opportunity was found by Peirce [27] when analyzing urban development projects in London in 2001. Although the study by Ribeiro [3] does not consider the history or extent of this practice in the Portuguese context, it highlights how households looking for a home to live in the city center encounter advertising copy pervaded by financial concepts and profitability motives. The results

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illustrate a route through which narratives concerning the financialization of housing can infiltrate common sense thinking about housing, becoming part of the language, thought, and practices that constitute individuals’ social representations [28] about housing. 1.2 Goal and Research Questions The COVID-19 pandemic exposed and exacerbated existing social inequalities in housing as the home was the first line of defense against the virus [29]. Housing conditions were found to be a determinant of physical and psychological health and well-being, as lockdown measures made the home a place not only for individual and family life but also for work and children’s education (e.g., [30, 31]). The measures adopted worldwide to contain the coronavirus produced critical economic consequences for the Portuguese economy, highly dependent on tourism − representing 15.9% of the Gross Domestic Product in 2019 [32]. The number of non-residents overnight stays in tourist accommodations (hotel establishments, local accommodations, and rural/lodging) decreased by more than 70% in 2020 [33], while revenues dropped by about 80% [34]. Estimates for loss of revenue on the Airbnb platform alone were 113 million and 23 million euros in Lisbon and Porto, respectively, illustrating the substantial financial consequences of the effective cessation of tourism [35]. The real estate market and the construction sector also faced adverse economic effects from the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, for the first time since 2012, the number of housing transactions decreased, although the value of the transactions slightly increased (from a mean value of 112,500 euros to 113,100 euros). The decrease in purchase and sale contracts was mainly due to reduced urban building transactions [36]. According to the real estate sector, the pandemic left a “mark” on the residential market as lockdowns led many families to realize that they lived in spaces unprepared for this new type of reality, with telework being one of the main drivers of transformation. The consumption profile changed: the demand for larger houses with outdoor spaces, such as terraces, balconies, or gardens, in villas or apartments, led many families to leave the city centers for peripheral regions [37]. Recognizing the importance of adequate housing for human needs in pandemic times and reducing the economic downturn’s impact on housing security (cf. [29], a series of preventive measures (e.g., suspension of evictions, support measures for the payment of rents and mortgage loans for households with reduced income) were developed in many countries, including Portugal. Moreover, these circumstances were seen by some local authorities as an opportunity for promoting the return of housing under the local accommodation regime back to the residential market, with benefits for owners and tenants. The municipalities of Lisbon and Porto approved the programs “Renda Segura” (secure income) and “Porto com Sentido” (Porto with meaning), respectively. Essentially, these programs consisted of long-term rental contracts established between owners and the municipality at established market prices with tax benefits for owners and affordable rental prices for future tenants. However, these programs did not have the expected success mainly due to: the distrust of local accommodation owners, which preferred to wait for the return of tourism; the flexibility of businesses to transition temporarily to medium-term leases; the existence of properties that, either due to the poor quality of

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renovations or due to their layout, could not be converted from short-term rentals to long-term ([32]; see also [10]). As the pandemic brought with it profound changes in the prevailing model of real estate profitability, the study described in this article aims to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on real estate advertising through a comparative analysis between the discourses on the potential uses of residential buildings in the cities of Lisbon and Porto in 2019 and 2020. More precisely, it aims to respond to the following research questions: “Are there different discourses about the potential uses of residential buildings in the advertisements of properties for sale in Lisbon and Porto in 2020?” (RQ1a); “Are the different discourses anchored in geographical or architectural dimensions of the properties?” (RQ1b); “Are these discourses similar or different from the ones captured in 2019?” (RQ1c).

2 Method 2.1 Data Collection The data collection procedure followed the one adopted in the 2019 study [3], wherein the Google Chrome web scraper extension was used to download publicly available advertisements for properties for sale in the cities of Lisbon and Porto, as published on the website of a renowned real estate company1 on the 15th of August 2020. Of the content of the advertisements, only essential information for the study was collected, namely information on the type of property (apartment, house, or building); the number of bedrooms; municipality and parish of location; gross area; sale price; year of construction/refurbishment; and the qualitative description of the property. The texts of the qualitative descriptions constitute the corpus for analysis. 2.2 Data Analysis To characterize the advertised properties, calculate price categories, and compare the characteristics of the properties from the two cities, namely the proportion of advertised properties by the number of bedrooms and price categories, the Statistical Package for Social Science for Windows (SPSS) software was used. The qualitative descriptions of the properties were analyzed following the procedure adopted by [3], which consisted in applying the textual analysis method developed by Max Reinert [18–20] with the open-source software IRAMUTEQ [21]. This method makes it possible to apprehend the structure of the co-occurrence of words in a textual corpus by extracting classes of words that have similar vocabulary (and differ from other classes of co-occurring words). The classes enable the identification of different lexical fields whose qualitative interpretation as discourses facilitates answering research question RQ1a: “Are there different discourses about the potential uses of residential buildings in the advertisements of properties for sale in Lisbon and Porto in 2020?”. To characterize the enunciation context of the advertisements, the following information was included as supplementary variables: the parish where the property is located; 1 Century 21 Portugal: https://www.century21.pt.

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the type of property (apartment, house, or building); the number of bedrooms (none, one, two, three, four or more); and the asking price category based on 2020 INE data (less than 1905 e/m2 ; between 1906 and 3376 e/m2 ; between 3377 and 5550 e/m2 ; more than 5550 e/m2 ). This made it possible to associate the discourses with particular characteristics of the properties and thus answer the research question RQ1b: “Are the different discourses anchored in geographical or architectural dimensions of the properties?”. The analysis was conducted in the corpus’s original language using the IRAMUTEQ software’s Portuguese dictionary. Only the words and sentences presented in this article were translated into English. Finally, to answer the research question RQ1c: “Are these discourses similar or different from the ones captured in 2019?” the content of the word classes extracted by the software was compared with the results found in a study conducted in 2019 [3].

3 Results 3.1 Characterization of the Sample of Advertisements The application of the data collection procedure resulted in the extraction of information regarding 1296 advertisements, of which 1278 were considered valid. A comparison of the characteristics of the advertisements extracted in 2020 with the features of the sample collected in 2019 reveals a global increase in the number of ads (from 587 to 1278), which is predominantly due to the significant increase in the number of advertisements in the city of Porto (from 83 to 517). The increase is particularly important in the Historic Center parish, and the smallest housing types, i.e. studios or one-bedroom dwellings, which result from new developments or recent renewal works, as shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. Number of properties by city, year of construction/refurbishment and number of bedrooms. Source: author.

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3.2 Textual Analysis The textual analysis with the IRAMUTEQ software focused on the content of 5621 text segments (typically corresponding to the scope of a sentence) created by the software based on the corpus composed of the qualitative descriptions of the properties, of which 89.06% were classified into three classes or clusters of terms (lemmatized forms of words). Table 1 presents a summary of terms included in each of the three classes, showing the percentage of each form and the value of its chi-square of association. It also provides information regarding the supplementary variables representing the geographical and architectural character of the properties. Next, each class is described in detail from the most expressive in the corpus to the least. Class 1: Dream Home to Live In Class 1 is the largest class, including 49.2% of the total text segments, and is organized around the terms “apartment” and “m2 ”. This class grouped vocabulary mainly mentioned in advertisements of properties located in the parishes of Aldoar-Foz-Nevogilde and Ramalde in Porto and the parishes of Arroios, Lumiar, Parque das Nações, Alvalade, Penha de França, and Beato in the city of Lisbon. It refers mainly to larger dwellings (with four bedrooms or more), and in the lower category of price (less than 1905 e/m2 ). This type of discourse characterizes the property mainly in terms of its interior space, the dimensions of the different divisions of the house, the comfort it provides, and the services offered by the condominium or dwelling. References to the potential use of the building are primarily as a home to live in. This discourse suggests a conception of housing as a Dream Home to Live In. E.g. In one of the noblest areas of the city of Lisbon, more specifically on Avenida Infante Santo, is this beautiful 5-room apartment, with 181 m2 , 3 bathrooms (one en suite), 4 bedrooms and 1 living room with balcony, in an elegant and recently built luxury apartment - 2008, where you can enjoy the convenience of living in the city center, with direct access to the garage, but without the city noise, as this apartment is located on the 8th and last floor. The room, with plenty of sunlight as it faces west, has around 40 m2 and a nice balcony where you can sunbathe and see the Tagus River and the city of Lisbon. At the entrance of this exquisite building, you are faced with a hall with unusual dimensions and very airy, where you will be received by a 24-hour security guard, transmitting comfort and security to its inhabitants. Also equipped with a beautiful storage room and parking for 2 cars. Considered a luxury in this area of the city. Find your home here if you want to live in an eclectic area with great comfort. (four or more bedrooms apartment in Lisbon, Alcântara parish, price between 3377 and 5550e/m2 ).2 2 https://www.century21.pt/comprar/apartamento/lisboa/apartamento-t4-180m2-apartamento-

t4-com180m2-avenida-infante-santo-no-centro-de-lisboa-predio-com-elevador-parqueame nto-E-varanda-com-vista-rio-alcantara-infante-santo-2024731/

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Table 1. Selected representative terms associated with each class, the percentage in class and chi-square values. Class 1

Class 2

49.2%

39.5%

Form

% in class

χ2

Apartment

77.1

m2

89.6

Class 3 11.3% Form

% in class

χ2

699.0 Public 84.1 transportation

455.8 Wood

67.4

1079.4

596.5 Subway

438.6 Lacquered

98.3

936.8

Form

% in class

85.1

χ2

Area

78.4

260.3 Commerce

82.9

339.9 Brand

83.5

882.1

Parking lot

82.8

183.5 Proximity

82.0

319.4 Oak

91.1

726.9

Balcony

76.5

176.3 School

90.2

279.1 White

86.4

720.9

Suite

91.2

167.6 Services

74.4

259.8 Mdf

98.3

450.6

Storage room

87.2

141.5 On foot

88.3

166.9 Piedra

100.0 444.3

Ample

95.4

134.8 5 minutes

89.1

125.5 Smeg

98.3

442.6

View

77.0

105.2 University

86.4

76.0

Italian design

98.2

434.6

Terrace

78.2

105.2 Live

69.4

70.2

Security

58.8

412.0

Swimming poll

89.8

86.7

Investment

55.7

32.8

Thermal insulation

83.6

290.3

Laundry room

85.4

77.7

Historic center

65.1

29.8

Daikin

92.1

249.3

Gated 100.0 45.8 community

Ad also in English

72.6

28.8

Bosh

76.8

242.1

Open space 94.0

40.4

Golden Visa

100.0 10.75 Sanindusa

Property

% in class

χ2

Property

% in class

Aldoar, Foz, Nevogilde

68.5

11.0

Santa Maria Maior

Arroios

60.2

10.6

Lumiar

57.1

6.2

Parque das Nações

58.7

Alvalade

58.0

91.4

225.6

Property

% in class

χ2

59.12 26.5

Historic Centre

23.3

189.0

Campanhã

55.61 22.2

Bonfim

21.5

49.0

Campo Ourique

56.34 8.6

Lumiar

24.6

44.3

6.2

Misericórdia

50.00 6.9

Marvila

24.4

40.9

5.4

Santo António 53.95 6.8

One-bedroom 17.7

81.1

χ2

(continued)

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Table 1. (continued) Class 1

Class 2

49.2%

Class 3

39.5%

11.3%

Form

% in class

χ2

Form

% in class

Penha de França

58.4

5.2

Benfica

Beato

66.7

4.0

Ramalde

61.2

3.9

Four bedrooms or more

59.3

37.5

Less than 1905 e/m2

55.1

6.4

χ2

Form

% in class

χ2

49.64 6.2

Studio

15.5

7.0

Campolide

52.78 5.4

Between 1906 16.8 and 3376 e/m2

Higher than 5550 e/m2

43.50 3.9

78.5

Note. Critical values of χ2 with 1 df: 19.51 for p < .00001: 15.14 for p < .0001; 10.83 for p < .001; 3.84 for p < .05. Source: author.

Class 2: House to Live In or Monetize Class 2 is the second largest class gathering 39.5% of the text segments, organized around “public transportation” and “subway”. This class grouped vocabulary mainly mentioned in advertisements of properties located in the parish of Campanhã in Porto and the parishes of Santa Maria Maior, Campo Ourique, Misericórdia, Santo António, Benfica, and Campolide in Lisbon. It is also statistically associated with properties in the higher-price category (higher than 5550 e/m2 ). This discourse highlights the property’s location in the city, namely the proximity to public transportation and services within walking distance of a few minutes. The property is promoted as both a home to live in and an investment opportunity through short-term rental in local accommodation or medium- or long-term rental – a House to Live In or Monetize. Notably, associated with this class are advertisements that are also presented in another language, e.g. English or French, suggesting this discourse is not only directed to national citizens but also to foreigners. In the heart of Bairro Alto, in one of the city’s most emblematic streets, I present this very charming apartment, renovated, in excellent condition, located in one of the historic areas of the center of Lisbon - Bairro Alto. It is part of a tourist area as modern as it is traditional [...]. Situated in the local accommodation authorization

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zone, you can invest in living or opt for the short or long renting market. (threebedroom apartment in Lisbon, Misericórdia, price between 3377 and 5550 e/m2 ).3 Unique opportunity to live or invest in one of the most historic and exclusive areas of Lisbon, Castelo de S. Jorge. Next to the Castle, this apartment is characterized by its charm and generous areas, hardwood floors, decorative ceilings, high ceilings, terrace with 25 m2 . Arrange your visit. (four bedroom apartment in Lisbon, Santa Maria Maior parish, price between 3377 and 5550 e/m2 ).4 Class 3: (Re)new(ed) Brand House Class 3 is the smallest, gathering 11.3% of the text segments, and is organized around the terms “wood” and “lacquered”. Class 3 groups vocabulary that was referred to mostly in advertisements of properties located in the parishes of the Historic Centre of the city of Porto and Bonfim, and in the parishes of Lumiar and Marvila in the city of Lisbon. It is also associated with small properties of one bedroom or studio and with an intermediate price category (1906–3376 e/m2 ). These properties are described mainly by their finishing materials and brands – the (Re)new(ed) Brand House. Fantastic 1 bedroom apartment with 79 m2 of interior area and a parking space for sale […] Style: Ernesto Meda Italian design kitchens, Complete SMEG kitchen equipment, Masai Piedra counter and Fenix lacquered furniture, bathroom with high-quality materials, Multilayer oak wood flooring, Panoramic glass elevators. Comfort and Security: air conditioning, solar panels for water heating, private garden for each condominium, parking for 1 to 3 vehicles, integrated control and security systems (one-bedroom apartment in Lisbon, Marvila parish, price higher than 5550 e/m2 ).5 Duplex studio with excellent finishes and situated in a privileged area of the City of Porto with all the essential services 5 minutes away: pine floor; ceramic toilets; plasterboard ceilings (living room and bedroom); ceiling in painted waterproof plasterboard (bathroom and kitchen); lacquered kitchen furniture with Quartz Compact top; wooden window frames with double glazing (Germica); household appliances: ceramic hob, oven, fridge, dishwasher, washing machine, extractor hood (studio apartment in Porto, Historic Centre parish, price between 3377 and 5550 e/m2 ).6 3 https://www.century21.pt/comprar/apartamento/lisboa/apartamento-t3-45m2-charmoso-apa

rtamento-t3-remodelado-4-assoalhadas-lisboa-centro-historico-bairro-alto-misericordia-tra vessa-da-queimada-misericordia-bairro-alto-encarnacao-2076644. 4 https://www.century21.pt/comprar/apartamento/lisboa/apartamento-t4-168m2-apartamentode-charme-junto-ao-castelo-S-jorge-santa-maria-maior-castelo-2074674. 5 https://www.century21.pt/comprar/apartamento/lisboa/apartamento-t1-79m2-fantastico-t1prata-riverside-village-marvila-braco-de-prata-2064452/ 6 https://www.century21.pt/comprar/apartamento/porto/apartamento-t0-57m2-t0-duplexduque-de-loule-cedofeita-ildefonso-se-miragaia-nicolau-vitoria-2049325/

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In this discourse, the potential use of the property is less evident. A complementary thematic analysis was conducted to identify explicit mentions of the possible benefits of the properties: living, investment and monetization, or both. The results presented in Fig. 2 show that in more than half of the advertisements (52.9%), a potential use was explicitly stated, but percentages vary by parish. In Lisbon, 61% and 52% of the properties for sale in the parishes of Santa Maria Maior and Misericórdia, respectively, were advertised as potential investments allowing a financial return, while in Porto the higher percentages were in the parishes of the Historic Centre (40%), Bonfim (31%), and Campanhã (31%).

Fig. 2. Potential uses of the properties by parish (percentage). Source: author.

4 Discussion The results obtained in this study conducted in August 2020 evidenced three different types of promotional discourses of residential properties for sale in the cities of Lisbon and Porto: a Dream Home to Live In, which predominantly refer to a property’s architectural characteristics (e.g., area, bedrooms, suites) and utilities (e.g., swimming pool, storage); a House to Live In or Monetize, described mainly by their location and proximity to public transport, services, and points of interest; and a (Re)newed Brand House, characterized by specifics of the materials used in construction or refurbishment and the brand names of equipment and furniture. Although the three different types of discourses can be found in properties with different characteristics, the results suggest that they tend to be anchored in different geographical locations in the two cities, price categories, and property types: a Dream Home to Live In is represented more in the less central parishes, in larger properties,

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and with lower prices per square meter; a House to Live In or Monetize is described in more central parishes and in higher price categories; and a (Re)new(ed) Brand House, is represented more in the historic center of the city of Porto, but also in small properties of intermediate price. Comparing the results with the study conducted in 2019 [3], it is possible to observe that the two first discourses are very similar in terms of content, geographical location, price category, and potential uses of the buildings. Although the most representative forms are not totally coincident, specifically concerning the increased importance of the areas in square meters and storage in A Dream House to Live In, they suggest a response to changes in the demand profile due to the pandemic (cf. [37]) without, however, changes in the advertising strategy. In this study, a minor third class of co-occurring terms appeared as a discourse characterized by modern design (e.g., wood floor, white lacquered furniture) and reference to brand names in kitchen and bathroom appliances. This discourse seems to be associated with the enormous growth in advertisements for studios and one-bedroom apartments in Porto, especially in the Historical Center, situated in new developments or refurbished apartments. As recent significant residential developments consisting of apartment blocks with several units tend to advertise individual apartments with separate listings, whose content is very similar, this may explain the emergence of this small class of co-occurring terms. The potential use of the properties is less evident in this discourse which may be because, in some cases, they are still in the process of construction/renovation. However, the smaller size of these properties and their location in the central parishes of the city suggest a real estate development model that is based on the prospects of continued growth in tourism and an increasing demand for one-person accommodations (e.g., students, digital nomads), which is also corroborated by the results of the thematic analysis. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of adequate housing to support people’s basic needs (e.g. safety, work, and education). It has also exposed the weaknesses of a model of housing financialization based on the profitability of short-term rentals to tourists. However, the results of this study suggest that it did not lead to any significant change in the discourses used in real estate advertising of properties for sale in Lisbon and Porto. As mentioned, this may result from a failure of policies designed to attract properties from the local accommodation sector into affordable housing renting programs in Lisbon and Porto during this period. The low appeal of such policies to property owners (less than 10% demand) resulted from their view that such a transition would hinder the possibilities of returning to high profits once the pandemic-related confinement and mobility-restriction measures were softened [4]. Counter to other sectors of the tourism economy, the short-term rental market proved to be relatively resilient to the pandemic. It maintained profitability: it readily adapted to comply with hygiene and distancing rules, and additionally, in response to the rise of teleworking as a result of the lockdowns, it shifted to offering medium-term rental contracts that were attractive to digital nomads and high-income remote workers [38]. Moreover, foreign real estate investment in the large urban centers of Portugal continued to thrive as the country was still attractive to investors “looking for a country where there

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is some stability, some security, a good climate, and which offers some conditions that the countries of origin do not have” [37]. In 2020 and 2021, housing prices in Portugal continued to rise, following the recordbreaking trend of more than 6% increases for five consecutive years, which raised concerns about a possible Portuguese housing bubble [37]. These concerns continue to rise as the aftermath of the pandemic crisis has brought with it rampant inflation, increasing mortgage interest rates, and a geopolitical crisis [39]. The financialization of housing results in increasing unaffordability and socioterritorial inequalities [1, 12], processes of touristification, gentrification, and studentification [2, 9, 46], but also displacement [47], and substitution of permanent residents by an international “floating” population with potentially disruptive consequences, especially to smaller cities like Porto: “the dramatic speed of change and high-priced real estate threatens the city capacity to absorb and mingle richer and poorer, new things and old ones (the built environment, practices, culture), thus impacting in the city´s overall diversity, sense of place and identity.” ([46], p. 569). The promotion of residential real estate features various characteristics of the existing properties and their surrounding environment but also tends to adopt persuasive strategies that focus on social status, distinctiveness and self-benefit (cf., [40–42]). The advertising strategy of a specific property is ultimately a decision of the property owner. However, several studies in different contexts have shown that real estate professionals shape the way marketing messages lead to a signaling of the value and desirability of distinct features of the properties for other participants of the housing market (cf. [42–44]), and that may also impact the built environment (e.g., [45]). The results of this study suggest that advertising of real estate properties is also a significant mechanism by which investor subjectivity and financial concepts of real estate monetization are transmitted from specialized contexts into broader commonsense thinking, having the potential to change the social representations and practices of housing for ordinary citizens, as representations and practices are highly interconnected [28, 48].

5 Conclusion This study analyzed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on real estate advertising by comparing the results of textual analysis on the content of advertisements of residential properties for sale in the cities of Lisbon and Porto, in the first year of the pandemic, with the results of a similar study conducted in 2019. Results suggest that, despite the pandemic highlighting the indispensability of housing for human life and the huge drops in the tourism and short-term rental markets, residential buildings located in central parishes continued to be promoted as a financial asset, i.e. as a means of obtaining above-average profitability, contributing to a pervasion of the “investor subject” [14] subjectivity. The study is exploratory, and one of its main limitations is that it compares the analysis of advertisements from a single real estate agent available on a single day each year. As real estate agencies may specialize in specific market segments, the sample is not guaranteed to be fully representative. Collecting a sample of advertisements from

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different real estate agencies operating in the two cities within a more extended timeframe would allow for a more representative sample. Extending the analysis to include natural language processing or text mining [50] would increase the robustness of the results. On the other hand, a content analysis [51] of the qualitative descriptions of the advertisements would allow a more precise categorization of the promotional discourses by geographic location, the number of bedrooms or price categories. About the effects of COVID-19, as no information was collected on the date of the initial listing of the advertisements, it is not possible to differentiate those that were placed before the start of the pandemic (and that may or may not have undergone changes), from those introduced during its presence. However, using the same methodology as the 2019 study makes it possible to compare results and conclude that the small differences found in the potential uses of properties are in significant part due to the developments in the real estate market in that period, highly affected by the changes introduced by the pandemic. Moreover, a study conducted for Porto in 2021, analyzing advertisements from several real estate developments using a different methodology, has found comparable results [49]. An analysis of the advertisements of properties located in Lisbon and Porto metropolitan areas7 , and not only in the central municipalities, would allow a broader analysis of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, namely the reported change in housing preferences by national residents. This is an aspect that deserves further research. Moreover, such an analysis would also allow an understanding of whether the discourse on housing financialization is expanding the limits of the central cities due to pressures resulting from an increasing demand for housing: Lisbon and Porto have consolidated their positions as destinations for digital nomads, being in the 4th and 9th position internationally, with growth rates of 206% and 148% between 2017 and 2021, respectively [52]. The surprising recovery of tourist activity in 2022 to 2019 levels [53] and the recent approval of the digital nomads’ visa [54] suggests that the model of housing monetization that arose after the global financial crisis and that has favored the city centers’ profitability (cf. [38, 55]) is here to stay and is expanding, at least until the next crisis or a burst of the housing bubble. However, as Erik Olin Wright noted, exclusion processes and inequality are not without alternatives and result from prevailing social organizations of power and inequality [56]. In a time of housing crisis, the construction of a real utopia [57] may be possible if, instead of focusing mainly on profitability and self-interest, we would aim at “human flourishing”, “community” and “sustainability” (e.g., [58]: 2). In fact, self-transcendent values (universalism and benevolence) that appeal to kindness to other human beings, justice, equality and care for humanity, nature, and the environment are generally more appealing to individuals than self-enhancement values that stress personal achievement through wealth and power [59]. As such, real estate advertising could have a relevant role in the present housing crisis. Specifically, it could provide information about public policies that promote affordable housing among potential real estate investors (e.g., affordable lease8 ). More broadly, it could appeal to higher-order values that encourage 7 The LMA comprises 18 municipalities while the PMA comprises 17 municipalities. 8 https://www.portaldahabitacao.pt/web/guest/o-que-E-rpa-ha.

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economically and environmentally sustainable cities that offer a variety of housing solutions that meet the needs of every individual and family, as housing is a universal basic human need. Acknowledgments. The author would like to thank the two anonymous referees for their helpful suggestions and comments and welcome constructive criticisms of the first draft presented at the 7th World Conference on Qualitative Research. All remaining errors are the author’s responsibility.

Funding. This work is financed by national funds through the FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., under the project “EXPL/PSI-GER/0269/2021” and the Scientific Employment Support Program (DL57/2016/CP1341/CT0030).

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The Use of WebQDA® in the Analysis of the Experiences of a Group of Pregnant Women with Breast Cancer Patrícia Simões1

and Maria Helena Presado2(B)

1 Champalimaud Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal 2 Nursing School of Lisbon, Nursing Research, Innovation and Development Centre of Lisbon

(CIDNUR), Lisbon, Portugal [email protected]

Abstract. Breast cancer is the most frequent neoplasm associated with pregnancy. The tendency to postpone motherhood justifies the increase in its incidence. To contribute to improving health care, it is necessary to know the experiences of pregnant women with breast cancer. Understand the experiences felt by women with breast cancer during pregnancy. A descriptive study with a qualitative approach, using semi-structured interviews, with audio recording, with seven pregnant women under surveillance in an oncological reference institution in the Lisbon region, between November 2020 and August 2021, after authorization by the Ethics Committee to respond to the question: “How does a woman with breast cancer experience pregnancy?”. Data were analyzed using the webQDA® software, according to Bardin. Four categories emerged from the participants’ speeches: Experiences at the Time of Diagnosis, Experiences During Pregnancy, Support Network and Overcoming Strategies. The difficulty in decision-making is highlighted due to the ambivalence of feelings between the fear of cancer and the happiness of pregnancy. This preliminary study allowed us to reflect and arouse interest in caring for pregnant women with breast cancer, contributing to the training of professionals and improving health care, where multidisciplinary teamwork is essential. To better understand the experiences of pregnant women with cancer, it is necessary to extend the study to other reference institutions. Keywords: Experience · Pregnancy · Brest Cancer

1 Introduction Breast cancer is the most common neoplasm among women globally, with approximately 7% of cases diagnosed before age 40 [1]. Guedes and Dias [2] report that this is the most common neoplasm in reproductive-aged women, accounting for 40% of all cancers in women under 40. Breast cancer is a significant global public health challenge [3]. According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer [4] of the World Health Organization, it is estimated that the number of women with breast cancer will increase to 3.19 million in 2040, up from 2.26 million in 2020. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 A. P. Costa et al. (Eds.): WCQR 2023, LNNS 688, pp. 247–260, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31346-2_16

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According to Marques [5], breast cancer is the most common neoplasm during pregnancy, with an incidence of approximately 1 in 3,000 pregnant women, and in which 0.2%-3.8% of breast cancers coincide with pregnancy. While still relatively rare, the incidence of breast cancer during pregnancy has been increasing in recent years due to women delaying motherhood until later in life [6–9]. Pregnancy-Associated Breast Cancer (PABC) is all cancer diagnosed during pregnancy and within one year after delivery [9–11]. The risk of PABC is highest among women over 35 in their first pregnancy, which remains high during the subsequent 5 years [1]. The diagnosis, in this context, makes the emotional experience a challenge for the pregnant woman [9]. According to the first of the three theories developed to help explain the process of managing PABC [1], hormonal changes during pregnancy and lactation may increase the risk of developing PABC. These changes, which include high levels of estrogen, progesterone, IGF-1, and other growth factors, can stimulate the proliferation of breast cells and may also promote the development or progression of precancerous lesions [1]. The second theory relates to immune changes that occur during pregnancy. These changes, which include cellular immunosuppression, immune tolerance, and improved pro-inflammatory response, can lead to immune tolerance of cancer cells, allowing them to increase and survive [1]. The third focuses on the changes in breast tissue during the involution process after childbirth and the end of breastfeeding. During pregnancy, the mammary glands undergo a range of changes, including epithelial cell apoptosis, stromal remodeling, adipogenesis, and macrophage infiltration. These changes are similar to wound healing and inflammatory microenvironments that are prooncogenic. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that breast tissue after childbirth tends to have an upregulation of inflammatory genes related to the immune system, which can create a carcinogenic environment [1]. Diagnosing PABC can be more challenging in pregnant women due to several factors. For example, the risks of exposing the fetus to ionizing radiation during diagnostic tests may need to be carefully considered. In addition, an average-sized breast can double its weight during pregnancy, so the breast tissue may become denser and firmer, making it harder to interpret the results of clinical examinations and mammograms [12]. PABC often presents as a painless mass or thickening in the breast, accompanied by nipple discharge. However, since PABC may be diagnosed at a more advanced stage, pregnant women with breast cancer may have larger tumors, metastases, positive nodules, and even vascular invasion [12]. Delays in the diagnosis of PABC have a significant impact on the prognosis. An early diagnosis is essential for improving the prognosis for both the mother and the fetus. This is because it allows cancer to be evaluated, staged, and even treated safely and effectively during pregnancy [10, 13]. Thus, diagnosis and surveillance must be made as soon as possible. Treatment options are individualized and depend on the type and stage of cancer, the extent of the disease, the gestational age of the pregnancy and the impact on pregnancy and fertility, with chemotherapy being the most common [7, 10, 11]. It is essential for the multidisciplinary team and the pregnant woman to work together to choose the most targeted, effective, and safe treatment option to minimize any potential harm to the fetus while effectively treating cancer [8].

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Women diagnosed with PABC may face challenges in fully experiencing pregnancy and motherhood. This is because they may need to make decisions that prioritize their or the fetus’s health, which can be a stressful and traumatic experience. For example, some cancer treatments may not be suitable during pregnancy, while others may pose risks to the developing fetus. These dilemmas can be emotionally and psychologically challenging for the woman and her family [14, 15]. The experience of being diagnosed with PABC can be unique and challenging due to the need to balance the interests of the mother and the fetus [10]. Pregnancy and the transition to parenthood are typically accompanied by intense emotional experiences [9]. A cancer diagnosis can add an extra layer of emotional complexity, including both joy at the prospect of motherhood and fear for one’s own life. Managing PABC requires careful consideration and support to help women navigate these difficult emotions [7]. The coexistence of breast cancer and pregnancy can have significant physical and psychological impacts, as these are two very different events [8]. The rarity of PABC can make it challenging to provide counseling and make decisions that balance the well-being of the mother and the fetus. The complexity of managing PABC may lead to unexpected events, so pregnant women with cancer must receive care from a multidisciplinary team of healthcare providers. This team can help to provide the necessary support and expertise to manage the unique challenges of PABC [7, 9, 16]. Women with PABC may face unique psychological and social challenges that require additional support compared to other women facing a breast cancer diagnosis. However, there is limited research on these women’s experiences and feelings [15]. To develop strategies to support pregnant women with PABC, it is essential to understand the changes, concerns, fears and feels they experience when breast cancer intersects with pregnancy. To better understand these experiences, we conducted a qualitative study to explore how women with PABC perceive and navigate pregnancy. We aimed to answer the question: “How does a woman with breast cancer experience pregnancy?”. In this sense, we carried out a descriptive study with a qualitative approach, interviewing 7 women who were being monitored in a reference oncological institution in the Lisbon area and who agreed to participate. By receptively listening to their descriptions of the process of the studied phenomenon, we were able to understand the experiences experienced by women with breast cancer during pregnancy, answering the question “How does a woman with breast cancer experience pregnancy?” and we also contribute to the training of nurses in caring for pregnant women with breast cancer and, consequently, to improving the provision of care, responding to the needs felt by these women.

2 Methodology We conducted a qualitative descriptive study to understand women’s experiences with breast cancer during pregnancy. This study allows us to understand the phenomena under study in their context [17]. Due to the relatively small number of women who experience breast cancer during pregnancy, we had a limited number of eligible subjects for this study. In this case, 9 women were monitored at the Champalimaud Foundation, corresponding to an “exhaustion sample” [18]. Only 7 women observed at this oncological

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referral institution in the follow-up of women with breast cancer or pregnant women agreed to participate in the study. The semi-structured interview was privileged as a data collection method to answer the question, “How does a woman with breast cancer experience pregnancy?”. This is an appropriate method when you want to address sensitive issues and when there is a need to collect in-depth information about people’s experiences, feelings, thoughts and opinions, with the primary objectives: making a diagnosis; gathering information or providing help [19]. A script was then outlined with pre-defined topics referring to the characterization of the participants; the process from discovery, sharing with the family, decision-making, to treatment; the description of your experience throughout the process; as well as the opinion on what could have been different in their follow-up during the process of experiencing pregnancy concomitantly with breast cancer. The semi-structured interview allows us to have some flexibility to adapt the language as the conversation progresses, to change the order of the questions or introduce new questions and add themes that were not in the script [19]. As a method of communication, it’s essential to avoid barriers such as fatigue and interruptions [19]. This allows us to have meaningful conversations with the participants and gather more insightful data [20]. Before the interview, each participant was informed about the purpose of the study. Participation was voluntary and had no negative consequences if someone decided not to participate. The rights of vulnerable groups, privacy, and the confidentiality of personal information were all respected. After answering any questions and ensuring that the participants understood the confidentiality and anonymity of the study, they signed an informed consent form [21]. The time and location of the interview were then scheduled, and the interviews were recorded either in-person or digitally due to the Sars-Cov2 pandemic. The interviews took place between November 2020 and August 2021, with approval from the Ethics Committee and the Board of Directors of the Champalimaud Foundation on October 20, 2020. To protect the data and ensure anonymity, confidentiality, and the right to privacy, we coded the data separately from the participant’s personal information and the audio recordings. Each participant was given a numerical code, and only the researcher had access to the personal data. This ensured the participants’ identities were kept confidential and protected [20]. After transcribing the participants’ interviews, we used content analysis, as proposed by Bardin [22], to analyze the data. We used the Web Qualitative Data Analysis (webQDA®) software to help organize and analyze the text, audio recordings, images, and videos. WebQDA® [23] is a helpful tool for qualitative analysis that does not require installation on a computer and allows multiple researchers to work on the data simultaneously in an interactive environment. This contributed to the rigor and quality of our research [24]. While the webQDA® software is a valuable tool for organizing and managing data, it does not replace the researcher’s role in interpreting and analyzing the data. This technological tool allows the researcher to view, edit, organize, and connect documents, create categories, codify data, filter results, and answer research questions using various methodological tools. This helps the researcher make controlled inferences based on the

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data while allowing collaboration with other researchers in an online environment [20, 25, 26]. We followed a three-stage process for content analysis, as described by Bardin [22]. The first stage, pre-analysis, involved transcribing the interviews and uploading the files to the webQDA® software to create the “corpus” for analysis. In the second stage, exploration, we read the material more thoroughly to carry out the cutout (choice of units) and selected specific units of data to group into categories and subcategories. In this categorization/coding process, the category system was not provided, resulting in the analogical and progressive classification of the elements. The conceptual titles for each category were only defined at the end of the process [25, 26]. In the content analysis process, we used the “Most frequent words” search function in the webQDA® software to identify new categories of analysis. We also used the “Text search” function to find specific words or phrases within the documents that were relevant to the research questions. This allowed us to quickly locate and analyze the most pertinent data to our study [25]. Using webQDA®, encoding text is straightforward. Select the word or excerpt from an interview you want to encode (saved in the sources) and create free code references in a separate column. To create a hierarchical linking system between the codes, use “tree codes,” which allow you to view the encoded text units organized into codes and subcodes. The Coding System is the central component (“brain”) of a research project, where you can choose, create, and interpret the words and phrases in your data corpus and structure the data using attributes, labels, and descriptive or interpretative codes [25]. The third stage involved making inferences from the data through treatment and interpretation based on a comparative reading of the interviews. While this process is not linear, it is often after the organization and coding phases that the researcher questions the data. In a qualitative investigation, coding and categorization allow for description. Still, they do not necessarily allow for “questioning the data”, being then necessary to formulate questions and integrate the data and categories with the research questions. WebQDA® has several tools to support this process, making it possible to conduct research that would not be feasible without these resources. These tools provide indicators that can help construct the responses, not direct answers to the questions. If coding is the “brain” of a research project, questioning is the “heart.” We can delve deeper into the data through questioning and make meaningful inferences and interpretations [25, 26]. Through content analysis of the interviews conducted to answer the question “How does a woman with breast cancer experience pregnancy?”, four categories emerged: (1) Experiences at the Time of Diagnosis, (2) Experiences During Pregnancy, (3) Support Network, and (4) Overcoming Strategies. Of the 9 eligible women, 7 (32–47 years) participated in the study. Two participants held a master’s degree (29%), and the remaining 5 had a degree (71%). All the women were over 30 years old at the time of their pregnancy-associated breast cancer (PABC) diagnosis, with 3 being over 39 years old. Three participants were mothers (43%), and one had a child with her current partner. Four of the participants had given up on their plans for future pregnancies due to cancer and age (1), treatment (3), or personal choice

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(2). Only one participant was considering a future pregnancy. At the time of the study, none of the participants had become pregnant again [20].

3 Results and Discussion The analysis of the interview data using webQDA® identified the most common words used in all the interviews (Fig. 1). The word “very” was the most frequently mentioned and accurately reflects the intensity of the experience dealing with PABC. It is indeed “a lot” to handle in this life journey. Words Nº Very 238 Cancer 90 People 70 Consultation 63 Chemotherapy 59 Pregnancy 58 Husband 57 Breast 50 Doctor (female) 49 Pregnant 43 Years 40 Weeks 39 Life 39 Moment 38 time 37

Words Son Surgery Labor Important Biopsy Hospital House Baby Phase Hair Process Cry Fear Doctor (male)

Nº 37 37 36 35 34 34 33 31 30 30 28 27 27 26

Fig. 1. Most frequent words

In the category “Experiences at the time of diagnosis,” themes emerged: Crying/Shock/Stunning, Ambiguity of life events, Feeling of overwhelming, and News broadcast. Women diagnosed with PABC are inevitably faced with the conflicting emotions of dealing with two opposing events [7, 15]. Out of the 5 participants who reported individual experiences of feeling ambivalent at the time of diagnosis, one said: “it was there between two things, an ambivalence of feelings” (E7) and another said, “How does God give me life and death at the same time!? (…) how is it possible to give me a candy, but a poisoned candy: life and death” (E1) [20]. Communicating and managing lousy news is a complex process that can be distressing for all parties involved (professionals, patients/families) and can have physical, psychological, spiritual, social, and family impacts [27, 28]. Six participants reported that the way they were informed of their diagnosis had a significant effect on them: “the way I received the news was not the best” (E5); “The doctor’s reaction wasn’t the best either. He was like stopped, he didn’t even know what to say or what to say” (E3); “I remember the obstetrician telling me that it was going to be nothing, that in pregnancy only good things happen. And that phrase stuck with me” (E2). Only one participant had a more positive experience with how she was informed of her diagnosis. She received the news from a friend at her house, surrounded by her family, friends, and partner. She even described the experience as “spectacular” because, although it was one of the worst days of her life, she felt adored and supported by those around her (E3).

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The emotions experienced during diagnosis were highly individual and influenced by the participants’ life stories and family context. The most frequently mentioned emotions were crying/shock/stunned, as well as feelings of being overwhelmed: “I got to the car and started crying, crying and crying” (E7); “it’s that phase of the first impact and the shock” (E6); “I was kind of stunned” (E3); “it’s so overwhelming.” (E6). In the category “Experiences during pregnancy,” five sub-categories were identified: Psychosocial Occurrences, Emotional occurrences, Difficulties, Fears and apprehensions, and Perceptions about health care (Table 1). Table 1. Category “Experiences During Pregnancy” Sub-Categories

Indicators

Sources (N7)

References (N262)

Psychosocial Occurrences

Fertility loss

3

6

Loss of breastfeeding experience

4

15

Image change

6

18

Emotional occurrences

Difficulties

Fears and apprehensions

Perceptions about healthcare

Financial burden

4

6

Stress/Anxiety/Anguish

5

20

Anger/Revolt

4

12

Concern for the child

7

20

Decision Conflicts

7

29

Marital problems

4

7

Role of mother

6

22

Fear to die

5

11

Afraid of going through the same thing again

4

7

Fear of social stigma

4

6

Articulation between teams

7

10

Trust in teams

7

27

Treatment/Follow-up

7

46

In the sub-category of psychosocial events, the changes in image and the loss of the breastfeeding experience were prominent themes. The treatment significantly impacted these women’s lives as future mothers, making them feel different and regret the loss of specific experiences, such as breastfeeding [29]. 4 women mentioned concern about not being able to breastfeed: “not being able to breastfeed was a tremendous thing” (E4); “I realized that ok I won’t be able to breastfeed, and I cried a lot, I cried a lot…” (E6). Health professionals have conflicting opinions on breastfeeding after breast cancer, with some authors advising against it for at least four weeks after the end of chemotherapy due to the excretion of these agents in breast milk [30]. To provide evidence-based care,

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there is a need for more information and standardization of care to address the concerns and disparities experienced by these women [31]. One participant had always dreamed of pregnancy and breastfeeding, and losing the breastfeeding experience due to her diagnosis left her feeling threatened as a mother. She described experiencing “breast bullying” and reported that “they took me to an office where there were posters everywhere about the great advantage of breastfeeding! I mean, the only place where I was allowed to feed my son is full of things telling me about the consequences of not breastfeeding him,” and “at least that cubicle where I have to hide from feeding my baby unless that one is ‘clean’ of this breast bullying!” (E4) [20]. The roles of “mother” and “patient” can be conflicting and may involve social obligations that are difficult to reconcile. The need to undergo treatment that prevents breastfeeding can lead to guilt about being a good mother [29] and feelings of isolation as if they do not belong in the role of motherhood [15]. Many women seek support in coping with the fact that they cannot breastfeed due to their treatment [32]. However, despite the sadness of being unable to breastfeed, some women mentioned that “not being exclusively dependent on the mother is a help (…) That constant thing (breastfeeding) was impossible, even if I had not had chemotherapy. I am delighted to realize that you can breastfeed afterwards (…), but it is not because you do not breastfeed that you lose the bond with the baby” (E6), which supports the findings of the study by Ives et al. [15]. Of the study participants, 6 mentioned the impact of their diagnosis on their body image: “when they told me I had to have a total bilateral mastectomy, for me it was very aggressive” (E1); “one of the things that cost me the most (…) was hair loss” (E5); “she looked like a corpse, white, with sunken eyes” (E6); “it’s very strange, it moves us” (E8). These findings support previous research that has analyzed the experience of breast cancer in terms of its impact on femininity and gender identity and observed that treatment could threaten a woman’s gender identity due to, for example, breast alteration or mastectomy [20, 29]. The authors note that cancer and pregnancy made women change their plans for future pregnancies. As a result of treatment, some women became infertile or entered early menopause, reducing their possibilities of future pregnancies and the ability to fulfil the course of life they had planned [7, 11, 29], as can be seen in the following statements: “we always thought about having more children (…), But now because of this second tumor, it’s no longer possible” (E7); “and then I had to start doing a monthly injection, which I’m still taking to do the inhibition. That’s why I’m in induced menopause” (E3). Another psychosocial occurrence highlighted was the concern about the financial burden, not only for the treatments but also for the interruption of their professional careers [15]: “What was my panic? It did not have the financial capacity to bear the costs” (E5); “I had already taken out insurance to go private.” (E1); “fortunately I had financial conditions to be operated on” (E3). The fact that the institution where they received the care was private may have exacerbated this concern [20]. The most frequently reported emotional occurrences were stress/anxiety/anguish, anger/revolt, and concern for the child. Women diagnosed with PABC said the diagnosis ruined what should have been a happy phase of their lives [29]. These women described high levels of anxiety, stress, and anguish, which persisted throughout the experience of PABC and even into the postpartum period. This was due to the conflict between

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concern for the baby’s health and their health and well-being, as they tried to ensure they received the best possible treatment [15]. More than half of the participants confirmed this, stating that it was a very stressful and distressing experience: “it was not an easy situation at all (…) it is a doubly stressful moment” (E2); “I was very stressed (…) I started to realize that it was true, what was happening to me, and then it was horrible” (E3). However, they also reported that, at the time of the interview, as time passed, it became easier for them to remember and talk about the experience: “nowadays it is also easier for me to talk about this experience (…) the more time passes, the calmer I feel” (E2). In the reports, the participants described feeling angry and revolted, with their tone of voice and the way they described their experiences making it clear that they were upset. For example, one participant said, “I felt very angry when they told me (…) they could never have done this” (E1), and another said, “I was very angry.” (E3). The participants also expressed concern for their children, whether it was the baby they were currently pregnant with or their eldest child. They expressed worry about their own health and the health of their children, saying things like, “I was worried about wanting to be well (…) I was worried about my son, but also about myself (…) I was afraid for my son” (E2); “I was only interested in my baby” (E4); and “My concern has always been my son (E1). Pregnant women with cancer often face difficult decisions and conflicts, particularly regarding their role as mothers and their relationships with their spouses [20]. These women may be faced with the choice of protecting their own health or that of their unborn child, and the consequences of these decisions can be stressful and traumatic. Some women may try to find a way to prioritize both their own health and their child’s health, but this can be difficult [7, 11, 15]. Others may be faced with the decision to terminate their pregnancy to protect their health or their child. When they wanted to “try the best of both worlds, which is not easy…” (E1), they all put the child first, looking for the best treatment and care that would allow them to carry on with the pregnancy (…) they said I had to terminate the pregnancy” (E7). These difficult choices highlight mothers’ natural tendency to prioritise their children’s well-being above their own [15]. The experience of being pregnant with cancer can have a negative impact on the marital relationship. Four women in the study reported that: “it’s all very violent for the couple, not so much during the process, but afterwards” (E3); “we are at a stage where I no longer have any patience for him” (E1). Disagreements about decisions related to the pregnancy also had a significant impact on the relationship, with one woman stating that the decision to continue the pregnancy was solely hers because she was the one at risk of dying: “I said: this decision is not up to you, this decision is mine (…) the decision to proceed with the pregnancy is mine! (…) because I am the one who dies” (E6); “my husband was only worried about me and not about the baby. He even got to a certain point saying that I was putting the baby’s life above mine and that never happened” (E1). Additionally, some women experienced sexual problems because of their treatment, with one woman mentioning that a lack of libido was the biggest issue for her: “the other sequel in the middle of all this is the sexual component (…) I have no libido (…) of all this, it was the biggest sequel” (E3). These findings are consistent with the study by Ives et al. [15].

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Six participants in the study experienced difficulty dealing with the fear of being unable to care for their children or the possibility that their children may become very ill. This fear can threaten their role as mothers [15], as noted in the interviews: “physically it was very difficult (…) I felt that I couldn’t take care of the baby because I was so exhausted (…) and I felt so bad” (E3) and “there are more complicated moments, when I don’t have the strength to hold the baby or the psychological availability because I feel more tired” (E4). Despite feeling extremely tired, these mothers strongly desire to take care of their children, possibly because they see it as their last opportunity and do not want to fail in their role as mothers [29]. According to the authors, pregnant women with cancer may feel threatened in their role as good mothers when they must anticipate or schedule childbirth, receive treatment for breast cancer, or are unable to breastfeed [29]. One of the interviewees mentioned feeling upset about the anticipation of delivery, saying, “it’s fine for 38 weeks, but obviously, we had to wait for 40 because that’s the period he needs. We are calling everything into question!” (E4). This woman also mentioned feeling threatened by the constant discussion about breastfeeding, stating “it made me feel like a bad mother again” (E4). The most common fears and concerns among the interviewees included the fear of dying (mentioned by 5 of the interviewees), the fear of experiencing the same thing again: “and now, let’s deal with the idea that it won’t come back, or that it might come back. This is something that plagues me often. And I knew that was what would torment me the most” (E5), and the fear of social stigma. Interestingly, the fear of social stigma was mentioned by 4 women, even though it is not mentioned in the literature. Examples of this fear included: “initially it was difficult for me to accept, socially, myself as a pregnant woman undergoing chemotherapy (…) a bit of shame, at the beginning, of the stigma of other people, of walking on the street and of other people’s eyes” (E2) and “I was worried that people would find out I had cancer on the street” (E5); “anywhere, here or elsewhere, of course it’s strange, and everything looks (…) because it’s very strange to see a pregnant woman bald, or wearing a scarf” (E7). These findings suggest the importance of researching the emotional and social issues faced by pregnant women with cancer to understand better and address the stressors they face. Treating pregnant women with breast cancer can be a challenging clinical situation for healthcare professionals. It is essential to involve a multidisciplinary team in decisionmaking and to approach each case individually, considering the extent of the disease, the potential impact on the fetus, and the patient’s fertility planning goals. [7, 9, 10, 16]. By adopting this individualized and humanized approach to care, healthcare professionals can positively influence patients’ perceptions of the healthcare experience [20]. Six women in the study reported having had negative experiences at other healthcare institutions, where they did not feel confident, supported, or involved in the process. For example, one woman said, “I didn’t like it at all. I didn’t feel it, it was a very impersonal thing and there are things that mark us” (E7) and another woman stated: “So I said I didn’t want to be treated there. I didn’t want to! I didn’t feel protected, I didn’t! I think we as patients matter. The patient is part of the team, a significant part. She is part of the decision. She is part of the treatment and his success in the disease” (E6). These women changed their healthcare perception when they decided to seek care at a

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different institution and believed that they had made a good choice: “I was right to have been followed up at another hospital” (E3). At the medical facility where they chose to receive treatment, the women being monitored praised the work and coordination of the oncology and obstetrics teams, stating that it made them feel safe and confident in their care. It is crucial that these particularly vulnerable women have the support of healthcare professionals and can make informed decisions about their treatment, particularly during such a challenging time. [7, 9, 15, 16]. According to Peixoto and Peixoto [33], social support is vital in personal relationships and in protecting individuals, helping them cope with life’s challenges. The participants in this study emphasized the importance of their support network throughout the process of experiencing pregnancy while also dealing with breast cancer. All the participants mentioned their partner as a key source of support, while six mentioned their family’s support, and three mentioned their friends’ support. The love, emotional support, and care they received helped them to feel protected and supported during this difficult time, with one participant saying, “He is there, he is not the main figure, but he is there. And he was always there! It was very important” (E6). Another participant said: “Family support is essential (…) it was unconditional support!” (E5). According to Ives et al. [15], each woman is unique and experiences the process of pregnancy and breast cancer in a distinct way based on her beliefs and values. To reduce threats to their integrity and maintain emotional balance, the women in this study used various Coping Strategies. These strategies included: Seeking strength for the child, adopting an attitude of Acceptance and Positivity, and Seeking out and Sharing experiences with others. These strategies helped them to overcome the challenges they faced. All the participants used various strategies to cope with the challenges of experiencing pregnancy while dealing with breast cancer. For example, one participant said: ‘Holding our baby tightly, and thinking that we want to see him grow, that we want to be well’ (E4); “I focused on my pregnancy and the fact that I was extremely happy and that made me not drag myself to breast cancer” (E6); “I accepted! If so, it was because God wanted it to be. I’m going to have to learn something from this” (E1); “All this positivity also helped me a lot to overcome the process well and to have another focus. Not letting myself get too carried away by the disease” (E2). According to the study by Rees [29], sharing life experiences with other women in similar situations, which was done by six of the study participants, helped them cope with this complicated process. Sharing experiences with someone who has gone through something similar can often make a huge difference [32].

4 Final Considerations Breast cancer is a significant public health concern. Although it is not common, breast cancer during pregnancy has been increasing in recent years, likely due to the trend of women postponing pregnancy until later in life, which increases the risk of developing the disease.

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From the analysis of the study results, the experiences of pregnant women with breast cancer allow us to identify two key moments: the moment of diagnosis and the period of pregnancy concomitant with cancer treatments. The moment of the diagnosis was mentioned as remarkable by how the news was transmitted. During pregnancy, psychosocial occurrences are experienced related to the loss of fertility and the experience of breastfeeding and related to image alteration and financial burden. Emotional occurrences such as: stress/anxiety/anguish; feelings of anger/revolt, decision conflicts about treatment and marital problems. The fear of dying and fear of social stigma are highlighted. These women created coping strategies: seeking strength for their child, accepting/positively the situation, and knowing and sharing experiences with other women who experienced pregnancy and breast cancer. In the perceptions about health care, the articulation between the multidisciplinary teams, the trust in the professionals and the perceptions of the treatment/monitoring are extremely relevant. Health professionals must be prepared to help adapt and restore harmony/balance and stability, with particular attention to how the news is transmitted and reactions/feelings of ambiguity and overwhelmingness. Integrating the support network for pregnant women with breast cancer (family, friends and partners) into care is essential, as they are crucial in providing support during this time. The approach to this theme allowed us to awaken and reflect on the quality of health care provided to pregnant women with breast cancer. The study results bring challenges to clinical practice with implications for the care of pregnant women with cancer, and for the training and qualification of health professionals, contributing to improve the assistance provided to these women, with a special focus on the moment of diagnosis; pregnancy surveillance; support network and coping strategies. Understanding the phenomenon under study and the qualitative approach allows us to act as an agent of change in clinical contexts. This is a preliminary study with some limitations, only portraying the experience of pregnant women with breast cancer from a private institution of reference in the area. It is imperative to extend the study to other public and private institutions, nationally and internationally, as we believe that by increasing the number of participants and diversifying care environments, the findings could bring more interesting and complementary contributions. The study poses challenges to research, with a special contribution from and to qualitative research. It is important to emphasize the importance of using webQDA® as a facilitator in the management of time in data analysis, as well as the contributions to quality and rigor in qualitative research.

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Validation of the Educational Technology “Early Childhood is the Right Time to Plant” by Health and Education Professionals Ruth Silva dos Santos1 , Maria Wanderleya de Lavor Coriolano Marinus2(B) , Adelia Karla Falcão Soares2 , Mirelly da Silva Barros3 , and Gabriela Cunha Schechtman Sette2 1 Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, PE, Brazil

[email protected] 2 Department of Nursing Pos Graduate, Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, PE, Brazil

{mariawanderleya.coriolano,adelia.falcao}@ufpe.br 3 Child and Adolescent Health Pos Graduate, Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, PE,

Brazil [email protected]

Abstract. Introduction: Childhood is marked by rapid changes in children’s development, and this population can benefit from actions that collaborate with the full development. Objective: To validate the content and appearance of an educational technology consisting of a digital booklet on socio-emotional development in early childhood. Methods: This is a multi-method study. In the first stage, a descriptive-exploratory qualitative study was carried out. Twenty-nine professionals were recruited from three primary healthcare centers in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. The data collection occurred from August to November 2018 through semi-structured interviews, transcribed and analyzed using the Atlas TI software, version 8.0. The second stage consisted of a methodological study, with the construction and validation of an educational technology on socio-emotional development in early childhood. The contents included developmental milestones according to age group, questions for problematization with caregivers, and tips for parents/caregivers to improve child development and care during the COVID19 pandemic. Results: From the interviews, aspects emerged about the relevance of the educational technology on children’s socio-emotional development. Eleven experts participated in the content and appearance validation process. The material was considered adequate, with an overall Content Validity Index of 0.995. Conclusion and implications for practice: The educational technology was considered adequate and could serve as a subsidy for health and education professionals conducting educational activities focused on the socio-emotional development in early childhood and child care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Keywords: Child development · Health education · Educational technology

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 A. P. Costa et al. (Eds.): WCQR 2023, LNNS 688, pp. 261–280, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31346-2_17

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1 Introduction Childhood is a period marked by rapid changes in brain development. During early childhood, children can benefit from preventive or health promotion actions focused on family relationships and socio-emotional functioning, strengthening their full development (Russell and Gleason 2018). The relationships between adults and children influence child development. Scientific evidence reveals that responsive, sensitive, and affectionate caregivers generate feelings of comfort, security, and confidence, enabling the child to become competent and autonomous when interacting with the environment. Therefore, early interventions that strengthen parental care with multiple educational strategies are essential (Macana 2014; Roia et al. 2014). Educational processes should build health knowledge and empower the population to promote health. However, despite being part of the work process conducted in health services, educational actions are often neglected during the planning and organization of services (Falkenberg et al. 2014). Educational technologies (ET) contribute to expanding knowledge, skills, attitudes, and self-knowledge necessary to assume responsibilities related to the teaching-learning process and healthcare practices (Cassiano et al. 2020; Santiago and Moreira 2019). In the international literature, it is possible to identify several educational technologies in the written format developed by nurses focused on children’s mental health (Francis et al. 2018; McAllister et al. 2017; Weaver et al. 2019). However, when mapping the Brazilian national literature, there is a shortage of materials written in simple language and aimed at children’s socio-emotional development. Therefore, the construction of educational tools in written format, with accessible language and supported by images, can favor nurses and other professionals interested in the subject with subsidies to conduct educational actions aimed at the socio-emotional health of children, especially in Brazil, where there is great social inequality and many children in vulnerable situations (Bittencourt et al. 2020). Based on the relevance of the issue mentioned above, an educational technology was developed consisting of a digital booklet called “Early childhood is the right time to plant” through a literature review and a co-creative process to be used by the healthcare members of the Family Health Strategy who develop health education actions to promote child development. The material was designed to mediate the relationships between health and education professionals and caregivers of children up to six years of age. The implementation of new proposals demands evaluation to identify potentialities and limitations in care practice. Therefore, the booklet was submitted to a validation process by specialists in the field of child care. The objective of the present study was to validate the content and appearance of an educational technology consisting of a digital booklet on socio-emotional development in early childhood.

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2 Methodology 2.1 Study Design A multi-method study was conducted. The first stage consisted of a descriptive, exploratory study with a qualitative approach (Flick 2004), carried out in the municipality of Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil, between August 2018 and July 2019. The second stage was a methodological study focused on the construction and validation of the educational booklet. This study design is more used for the development of new instruments involving complex elaboration methods to obtain reliable materials that can be used in clinical practice (Polit et al. 2004). 2.2 Population and Sample Step 1 - Professionals from the Family Health Strategy (eSF). The study population consisted of professionals from four Family Health Strategy (eSF in Portuguese) teams working in two Primary Healthcare Units in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Participants who had been part of the family health team for at least one year were included. Twentynine health professionals from different backgrounds participated in the study. Step 2 - Judges with experience in “Socio-emotional development in early childhood”. The validation stage was conducted with health and education professionals with experience in assisting families and children from zero to six years, who composed a committee of specialists to act as judges. For the selection of judges, the following formula was used: n = Zα2 · P · (1 − P) ÷ d 2

(1)

where: Zα = confidence level (95%), P = Proportion of agreement among specialists (85%), and d = difference (error) of acceptable proportion between specialists (15%). The formula resulted in a sample of 22 judges, and it is considered plausible to work with 21 judges divided into three groups (an odd number in each to avoid ties). The network or snowball sampling technique was adopted for recruiting participants, asking each selected specialist to indicate others who met the eligibility criteria. Participants received an invitation letter containing an explanation of the digital booklet, guidelines for evaluating the booklet, an evaluation form, the digital booklet itself, and the informed consent form. Due to the difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, including the reluctance of professionals to participate, it was impossible to reach the number of judges preestablished in the initial planning, with a sample of 11 participants. Group A was formed by a health professional with experience assisting children under 6 years of age. Group B was composed of five professors working in the health area with experience in child health. Finally, group C comprised five professionals with experience in early childhood education.

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2.3 Data Collection Step 1 - Interviews with professionals from the Family Health Strategy (eSF) teams. Data collection took place from August to November 2018 through individual and semistructured interviews conducted by two undergraduate nursing students trained in qualitative research (theoretical and practical aspects) and tutored by the main researcher, who has experience in qualitative research. The interviews took place in the professionals’ work environment and were scheduled according to the availability of each person. Sampling was determined using the exhaustion criterion. The questions addressed the professionals’ knowledge and practices in the routine of monitoring children and training in early childhood development. The questions referring to the professionals’ experiences addressed the routine of monitoring and promoting child development, professional training, and difficulties related to child development. The interviews were recorded using a Sony MP3 Linear PCM voice recorder. The average recording time was 20 min, ranging from 8 to 54 min. Subsequently, the recorded audio was transcribed into Microsoft Word (Marinus et al. 2022). Step 2 - Construction and validation of the educational technology. The construction of the educational technology took place based on the needs identified by the interviews in step 1 and the implementation of a class called “Promotion of early childhood development”, addressing the promotion of socio-emotional child development based on the work processes developed by the eSF teams in the primary healthcare units. The dialogue between the participants provided the sharing of different knowledge related to their practices, revealing the main challenges in child health surveillance and the difficulties related to the proper use of the Child Health Handbook that is provided by the Brazilian Ministry of Health to all mothers, containing instructions on infant and maternal care. The participants suggested constructing an educational material for health education actions with caregivers in the territory, helping them address issues that permeate children’s socio-emotional development. The research team decided to carry out a content and appearance validation stage to ensure that the booklet would be adequate and suitable. Presentation of the Educational Technology. The construction of the educational technology was developed in three phases: (1) identification of the experiences and challenges of health professionals, (2) creation of the digital booklet based on the professionals’ challenges in their practical experiences, in association with the contribution of the scientific literature, and (3) evaluation of the content and appearance of the booklet by the target audience (health and education professionals) and by specialists in the subject, with the implementation of changes suggested by the participants. In stage 1, health professionals highlighted the relevance of the Child Handbook and suggested the creation of an educational material that could address child development with more clarity and information. Then, in stage 2, the interactive construction of the digital booklet took place, considering the literature on the subject and the issues frequently presented by mothers and caregivers. The booklet has an accessible language and allows caregivers to express their doubts according to each reality.

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The educational technology was created considering contributions of the scientific literature, the instrument “Ages and Stages Questionnaire – Social and Emotional (ASQ – SE)”, the Child Handbook distributed by the Brazilian Ministry of Health, and the needs and challenges pointed out by professionals. The CDC Guide “Simple Put: A guide for creating easy-to-understand materials” (CDC 2009) was initially used to address requirements such as layout, presentation, organization of information, and clarity. Subsequently, the “TOOLKIT for Making Written Material Clear and Effective” (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS] 2010) was used. The content was defined based on a literature review and the needs of the target audience, with emphasis on the following items: milestones of development according to each age group, the role and actions of the caregiver at each stage with practical examples, the use of screens, benefits of reading and playing, conflict resolution, positive parenting, and breastfeeding. Before the validation stage, the material was presented to undergraduate students and nursing professors from a research group on child health for contributions. Subsequently, a design professional produced the illustrations and arranged the content in the booklet’s layout. At first, the material contained vivid colors, such as purple and yellow, which were replaced by lighter and softer tones after evaluation. Several versions of the material were created until we found the best model to be evaluated by specialists. In phase 3, the judges evaluated the content and appearance of the booklet, and changes in the material were made according to the suggestion for content and appearance improvement. Validation of the Educational Technology. The validation stage took place via the internet, through digital forms with questions about the content, appearance, and presentation of the digital booklet. The form answered by the judges consisted of a questionnaire with closed questions about the characterization of the sample, containing sociodemographic and educational variables and questions related to professional performance and scientific background. Health professionals and professors from the health area (Groups A and B) assessed items concerning the digital booklet’s objectives, relevance, structure, and presentation. These assessments were made using an instrument that detailed the items with a blank space for suggestions. The education professionals (Group C) evaluated the content, language, cultural appropriateness, graphic illustration, and motivation using an adapted version of the Suitability Assessment of Materials (SAM) checklist (Sousa et al. 2015). After the expert evaluation, the digital booklet was adapted to be suitable for families with children in early childhood, with great scientific rigor (Saraiva et al. 2018).

2.4 Data Analysis Step 1 - Analysis of the interviews. The data from the interviews were analyzed in an interpretative way, based on Gibbs (2009), with the help of the Atlas TI software. The interviews were transcribed in Microsoft Word and imported as individual documents. Each interview was read, and excerpts for each line received at least one code. After completing the coding, the researchers grouped the codes into major codes based on

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Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological framework. The actions of health professionals were coded based on the Brazilian Policy for Child Health Care. The code groups originated the main thematic categories that supported the formulation of the educational material supporting professionals in improving communication and health education. Step 2 - Validation of the educational technology. The Content Validity Index (CVI) was used to quantify the degree of agreement among health professionals and assess the suitability or pertinence of the booklet’s items. The index made it possible to analyze each item individually and the educational technology in its entirety using a Likert-type scale ranging from 0 to 2: 0 - inadequate, 1 - partially adequate, and 2 - adequate. The formula for calculating the CVI is: CVI = responses rated as 1 or 2 ÷ total number of responses

(2)

A CVI cut-off of 0.80 was used for this study.

2.5 Ethical Considerations All professionals were invited to participate in the research, being informed about the objectives and necessary procedures. The participants signed the informed consent form. An Ethics and Research Committee approved the study under opinion number 2,489,661. This article was compiled from a prior study called “Knowledge and Practices of Family Health Strategy Professionals on Promoting Child Development”, published in the proceedings of the 11th Ibero-American Congress on Qualitative Research (July 2022).

3 Results Step 1 - Categories and themes emerged from the interviews with professionals from the Family Health Strategy (eSF) teams. Among the participants, two were physicians, four were nurses, two were dentists, four were nursing technicians, 14 were community health agents, one was an oral health technician, and two were oral health assistants. Most participants were female, had children, and completed higher education. The age of the participants ranged between 29 and 56 years and the time of experience in Primary Care ranged from 2 to 24 years. From the analysis of the interviews, aspects emerged about the relevance of the educational technology in addressing the child’s socio-emotional development (Marinus et al. 2022) (Table 1). Step 2 - Validation of the educational technology. Twenty-two invitations were sent to specialists in early childhood education and child health, and responses were obtained from 11 participants. Among the participants, four were professors from the health area, one was a healthcare professional, one was a professor and a healthcare professional, and five were teachers in early childhood education.

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Table 1. Categories and themes emerged from the interviews. Categories and themes

Participants’ statements during the interviews

Difficulties in approaching development

“There is no point in addressing more because it depends on the visit. If the mother says, “look, my son has a disability, I think he is a little late”, then we say what she demands […]” (E-16 Community health agent)

Lack of records in the Child Handbook

“(…) I use a notebook, but I don’t write. I pay more attention to the weight and anthropometric measurements, but to approach this cognitive and affective part, I usually read the handbook with the mother and say: “look, this is important; check it out”, but I don’t mark the book.” (E-4 Nurse) “I don’t fill it in. I never filled it in because I thought it wasn’t something to fill out. I thought it was just a reminder about what to expect when the child reaches, for example, the age of six months. But since the child still has one additional month to acquire the skill, I don’t score it. I never scored it. But it would be interesting to record this information and make a checklist. I had never thought about it […]” (E-11 Physician)

Parents’ demands on parental education

“[…] we are seeing a lot of psychological problems, many, many parents have been looking for us saying: “oh, I need a psychologist”. They really want to learn about the psychological development of the child, and I think that many times children need education […] I have noticed that many children have a lack of limits, and many times the problem is that there is a lack of education nowadays […]” (E-2 Community health agent)

Limitations of professionals to approach parental education

“[…] it is very dangerous for us to get into this bias “you are not educating your child well”, it may be that in the next month, I will not even enter the house. There are some things that cannot be talked about unless the caregiver approaches the situation: “look at this boy, it’s impossible”, then I say: “let’s see, let’s put him in punishment, let’s set limits, because those who are outside see it differently”. (E-21 Community health agent)

Groups A and B comprised health professionals and professors in the health area. In group A, the health professional has worked for more than ten years in public health

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institutions, while in group B, 100% of the professors work in public Higher Education Institutions, and the majority (66.7%) have more than ten years of experience with child development. Group C was composed of professionals who work with early childhood education. Among them, 80% work in private schools and 20% in public schools of the municipal education network. As for the time working in the area, 80% have worked for more than ten years and 20% for five to ten years. The assessment instrument designed for groups A and B was constructed from prior studies (Oliveira et al. 2020) considering the following aspects: objective, structure and presentation, and relevance. All instrument items received a satisfactory evaluation, 97.05% with a CVI = 1.0 and only one with a CVI = 0.83 (acceptance domain). Therefore, the general CVI was 0.995 (Table 2). The assessment instrument sent to the judges in group C was adapted and elaborated from the Suitability Assessment of Materials (SAM) checklist (Sousa et al. 2015). Table 3 identifies the questions asked, according to the attributes checked, and the number of individuals who judged the item as inadequate, partially adequate, or adequate. At the end of the evaluated items, a space was reserved for comments and suggestions at the end of the instrument, leading to adjustments in various aspects of the material. Nine participants included suggestions, totaling 14 comments or suggestions, which are described in Table 4.

4 Discussion The study revealed that the performance of professionals from the Family Health team regarding the monitoring of child development is permeated by several issues. The influence of structural conditions and existing resources in daily work stands out. Other relevant elements are knowledge, beliefs, relationship with caregivers and children, and support from other services that comprise the healthcare network. The support of materials and instruments that subsidize childcare consultation, such as the Child Handbook (provided by the Brazilian Ministry of Health), which helps in monitoring child growth and development, was also highlighted, with emerging doubts and difficulties for its use concerning developmental milestones based on objective indicators of the child’s evolution. Professionals such as community health agents noticed the living conditions of families with problems that directly interfere with the development of children, such as domestic violence. Parents’ responsiveness to positive interaction with their children has been a relevant theme for promoting the child’s development in an integral way (Merz et al. 2015). However, health professionals do not always have the tools to support parents in the challenges inherent in the education and upbringing of children. Health professionals also do not realize that all structural issues, including parental work (Bronfenbrenner 2012; Petrucci et al. 2016), directly interfere with adults’ selfregulation and ability to deal empathetically with the challenges inherent in educating and raising children. The results also point out that one of the issues related to the difficulties in positive parenting practices has been the medicalization of child behavior from the excessive

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Table 2. Responses from the judges from groups A and B. Inadequate

Partially adequate

Adequate

CVI

1.1 The content addresses 0 children’s social and emotional development from zero to six years

1

5

1.0

1.2 The content addresses, together 0 with family members, actions that can improve children’s social and emotional development from zero to six years

1

5

1.0

1.3 The content is close to the sociocultural reality of the families of children assisted by family health teams

0

1

5

1.0

1.4 The booklet helps parents implement changes that favor children’s socio-emotional development in early childhood

0

1

5

1.0

1.5 The booklet aims to promote children’s socio-emotional development in early childhood

0

1

5

1.0

1.6 The booklet is suitable for circulation in the scientific community

0

0

6

1.0

0

2

4

1.0

2.2 The booklet design is attractive 0 for health and education professionals to use as a mediating resource in health education actions

1

5

1.0

2.3 The communication is clear and 0 objective

0

6

1.0

2.4 The information presented is scientifically correct

0

1

5

1.0

2.5 The information presented is in 0 a logical chronological order

0

6

1.0

Objective

Structure and presentation 2.1 The booklet is suitable for mothers, fathers, and caregivers of children aged 0 to 6 years

(continued)

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R. S. dos Santos et al. Table 2. (continued) Inadequate

Partially adequate

Adequate

CVI

2.6 The booklet is appropriate to the sociocultural level of the target audience

0

2

4

1.0

2.7 The information is well structured in concordance and spelling

0

0

6

1.0

2.8 The writing style corresponds to the target audience’s knowledge level

0

0

6

1.0

2.9 The information on the cover, back cover, acknowledgments, and presentation are consistent

0

0

6

1.0

2.10 The font sizes of headings and 0 topics are adequate

1

5

0.83

2.11 The colors used in the booklet 0 are appropriate

2

4

1.0

2.12 Illustrations are expressive and 0 sufficient

0

6

1.0

2.13 The illustrations are consistent 0 with the text and help to understand the content

0

6

1.0

2.14 The material (paper/print size) 0 is appropriate

0

6

1.0

2.15 The booklet format facilitates its use during individual and group educational activities

0

1

5

1.0

2.16 The number of pages is adequate

0

1

5

1.0

3.1 The themes portray key aspects 0 of early childhood socio-emotional development

0

6

1.0

3.2 The information contained in the booklet is not just “good to know” but enables practical application

0

6

1.0

Relevance

0

(continued)

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Table 2. (continued) Inadequate

Partially adequate

Adequate

CVI

0

0

6

1.0

3.4 The booklet builds knowledge 0 about socio-emotional development in early childhood

0

6

1.0

3.5 The booklet critically analyzes factors that interfere with positive parenting practices for healthy development

0

0

6

1.0

3.6 The booklet is suitable for any healthcare professional with a target audience

0

0

6

1.0

3.7 The booklet is consistent with the needs of families that need guidance on socio-emotional development in early childhood

0

0

6

1.0

3.8 The booklet is relevant to be used during health education practices and home visits

0

1

5

1.0

3.9 The booklet allows changing negative parenting practices, such as punishments

0

0

6

1.0

3.10 The booklet makes it possible to understand the feelings involved in the relationship between adult caregivers and children

0

0

6

1.0

3.11 The booklet enables the implementation of positive parenting practices based on dialogue and respect between adults and children

0

1

5

1.0

3.12 The inclusion of the booklet in 0 health services will be easy

3

3

1.0

3.3 The booklet makes it possible to identify similarities between the situation proposed and the experiences of families assisted by eSF teams concerning socio-emotional development in early childhood

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R. S. dos Santos et al. Table 3. Responses from the judges from group C. Inadequate Partially adequate Adequate

Organization and content 1.1 Does the booklet show information in an 0 organized manner and with repetition of important information?

0

5

1.2 Is the amount of information per page adequate?

0

1

4

1.3 Is the objective evident, facilitating the understanding of the material?

0

0

5

1.4 Does the content help change practices, contributing to socio-emotional development in early childhood?

0

0

5

1.5 Is the proposal limited to the objectives to be understood in the minimum necessary time?

0

1

4

2.1 When you read the booklet, can you immediately understand the written information?

0

0

5

2.2 Is the reading level adequate for the family to understand?

0

0

5

2.3 Does the way in which information was written facilitate understanding and comprehension of the text?

0

1

4

2.4 Does the vocabulary used include commonly used words?

0

0

5

2.5 Does the booklet allow for greater interaction between participants in the educational action?

0

0

5

0

0

5

3.2 Is the font size used adequate? Are the number 0 of pages sufficient?

1

4

3.3 Are the illustrations adequate for understanding the main points?

0

0

5

3.4 Do the illustrations represent the main messages and help to understand the texts?

0

0

5

3.5 Does the text and figures interact with the reader, enabling problem-solving or skills demonstration?

0

0

5

Language

Graphic illustrations and motivation 3.1 Does the cover draw your attention to the use of the material and portray its purpose?

(continued)

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Table 3. (continued) Inadequate Partially adequate Adequate Usability and cultural appropriateness 4.1 Is the booklet appropriate?

0

0

5

4.2 Do you feel encouraged to use the booklet?

0

0

5

4.3 Does the booklet motivate the student to participate in educational activities?

0

0

5

4.4 Does the booklet favor learning environments? 0

0

5

4.5 Does the booklet allow for greater interaction between participants in educational activities?

0

0

5

4.6 Is the booklet culturally appropriate to the 0 target audience’s logic, language, and experience?

0

5

4.7 Are the desired behavior patterns well displayed or demonstrated?

0

0

5

4.8 Is there a motivation for behavior change?

0

0

5

search for psychological support. Parents’ lack of tools and strategies can result in transferring responsibilities to specialists, which limit the participation of primary healthcare professionals’ participation in monitoring psychological problems. The participation of health and education professionals in constructing and validating the educational technology (second stage of the study) adds an intersectoral perspective, enabling the sharing of information and knowledge through communication between professionals from different areas. The proposed educational technology can provide care considering the singularities of each family and child and the social environment in which they are inserted (Schimith et al. 2021). The participation of health and education professionals in the panel of experts was crucial for developing and validating the booklet since educational environments such as daycare centers and schools configure an important locus for educational strategies to promote health. This role is shared between health professionals working in the Family Health Strategy and the School Health Program in Brazil (Saraiva et al. 2018). According to Table 2, which concerns the responses from groups A and B as well as their respective judgments and CVIs, item 3.12, on the possible difficulties in the process of including the booklet in health services, was judged as “partially adequate” by 50% of the judges, indicating a reluctancy of healthcare professionals to monitor early childhood development. According to Santos et al. (2021), the number of nurses who assess child development is small, considering the high demand for children with developmental delays being monitored by primary healthcare. This context is a consequence of the insecurity of professionals concerning the assessment of child development due to gaps in permanent education, requiring investments in training and continuous education to increase nurses’ clinical competence to monitor child development (Santos et al. 2021).

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R. S. dos Santos et al. Table 4. Judges’ comments and suggestions on the educational technology.

Group

Item

A and B Objectives

Structure and presentation

Comments and suggestions

Adjustments made

The booklet advances in Yes “translating” a lot of information from the Child Handbook. One suggestion is to deliver the booklet in stages, according to the child’s age categories I found it extensive. Reduce it to Not 30 pages, if possible Replace colors with lighter tones Yes associated with relaxation, tranquility, and peace The population assisted by the eSF in Brazil is mainly black, and I didn’t see much representation in the material. It would be interesting to make changes in this regard

Yes

On some pages, the size and Yes color of the letters on the purple background make it difficult to read The “food presentation at Yes 6 months” section contains information about “kneading food”. This part must be reviewed since food kneading is no longer recommended in cases where BLW is possible Relevance

It would be necessary to make Yes the team aware of the issue, as not everyone is inclined to work with children in primary care As this is a digital booklet, there Yes would be adherence, but it depends on each service, requiring an approximation to validate and see possible adaptations (continued)

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Table 4. (continued) Group

C

Item

Comments and suggestions

Extra comments on

Insert a reminder about the Not vaccination schedule in each age group so that mothers keep this in mind

organization and content

Try to summarize the amount of Yes information per page so that it doesn’t get too tiring

Language

The way how the text is organized could change a little from page to page to appeal to the reader

Yes

Illustrations and motivation On some pages where the text got big, the font shrinks. The suggestion is to summarize or explain information in an ideal way

Yes

Extra comments

Adjustments made

Page 9 has repeated information, Yes as the title does not stand out from the sentence below, implying the repetition of information I noticed a misspelling on Yes page 45, which says that the child likes to make his own choices. The word is incorrectly separated

Throughout the study, we offered a class on child development to promote adherence to the educational technology and its effectiveness in the primary care context. Important discussions took place about the integrality of child care in the primary healthcare network and rising awareness of eSF and primary care professionals regarding the topic. The booklet was developed based on the experiences shared by these professionals, who identified their main difficulties in addressing child development issues with families. Items 2.1 and 2.11 of Table 2, which were judged as “partially adequate”, and 2.10, judged as “inadequate”, refer to issues related to the structure and presentation of the booklet. The colors previously used in the background (purple) and font (black) were associated with child anxiety and, thus, were replaced by lighter tones that promote relaxation, tranquility, and peace. Although the booklet is intended for use with adult caregivers, studies describe the importance of including children in the care process, valuing their uniqueness through communication and play during care in order to reduce fear and anxiety in health environments (Campos et al. 2020; Clatworthy et al. 1999).

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Item 2.6 of Table 2 was judged as “partially adequate” by two judges, who justified that, despite being adequate to the sociocultural level of the target families, the educational material could improve the representativeness of black caregivers and children. Therefore, they suggested including black people in the illustrations. Using culturally appropriate illustrations in educational materials to improve communication in health is an essential educational strategy. The easy-to-understand illustrations that portray the reality experienced by the reader inserting him/her in the explained situation, and holding attention, can take the reader out of his/her comfort zone, motivating him/her to change behaviors (Medeiros et al. 2019; Santiago and Moreira 2019). In Brazil, where most of the population declares as black or mixed, it is known that users of the Unified Health System (SUS in Portuguese) are predominantly black, as studies show that about 76% of consultations and 81% of hospitalizations in the SUS are black male and female people (Matos and Tourinho 2018). Therefore, the black population must be adequately represented in educational technology, given that they correspond to most users served by the SUS. Consequently, these people are more likely to attend public educational actions mediated by the eSF or conducted by education professionals. Therefore, the illustrations were modified to ensure a greater representation of the black population. Also, in Table 2, item 2.4, referring to the scientific nature of the information presented in the booklet, was considered “partially adequate” by one judge, who suggested the approach of the Baby-led Weaning (BLW) method. Traditionally, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that food be introduced gradually, with an adapted consistency according to the child’s development and considering chewing and swallowing skills. In contrast, the BLW method advocates an alternative approach characterized by self-feeding, in which the child is allowed greater independence in an experience of intense sensory exploration. Food is offered in pieces shaped like sticks and strips and should preferably be the same consumed by the family (Gomez et al. 2020). In families adhering to BLW, babies are more likely to consume the same foods the family consumes, sharing mealtimes. Such participation in family moments is of great relevance for child development and learning eating behaviors. It is also a positive strategy for strengthening family ties through the interaction between family members during meals (Arantes et al. 2018). Thus, the approach to the theme “food introduction” was adapted to include the BLW method to families to promote the sharing of family meals, strengthening bonds, and enhancing the child’s autonomy, being an additional possibility for food introduction, disseminated through several sources of communication. From the analysis of Table 3, it is possible to observe that one participant judged item 1.2 as “partially adequate”. He recommended that the information be redistributed on the pages to reduce the amount of information per page. Item 1.5 was also judged as “partially adequate” by only one judge, but no suggestion was given, and the other judges rated the item as adequate (4). Therefore, no changes were made in this regard. Items 2.3 and 3.2 were considered “partially adequate” by one judge, with appropriate suggestions regarding the text’s font size and organization. Items 1.4 and 4.6 were rated as adequate by all judges, indicating that the booklet is culturally appropriate and promotes behavior changes, promoting socio-emotional development in early

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childhood. In addition, the classification most frequently attributed to the other items was “adequate”, which reflects the adequacy of the material. Suggestions and comments that did not meet the objectives of the educational technology were disregarded. It is important that the educational material properly reaches the target audience and, therefore, work as a mediating tool for the professionals. Among the judges’ suggestions, one refers to the inclusion of content on the vaccination schedule. However, this suggestion was not considered due to the theme’s incompatibility with the booklet’s objective. The contents of the educational technology were chosen based on the scientific literature and by consulting health and education professionals (the target audience). The participants expect to attract greater attention from families during home visits and childcare consultations and use new strategies to approach the importance of the Child Handbook and written materials with mothers and caregivers in the community. After evaluation and adaptation, the booklet had 69 pages, which, in addition to the availability of the material in digital format, will be printed in serial album style to facilitate handling during health education actions. The content was subdivided according to the age groups that make up early childhood (0 to 60 months) and covered important information, such as the use of screens, positive parenting practices, breastfeeding, and conflict resolution. According to Silva et al. (2019), using illustrations in educational resources is considered relevant since it makes the material attractive and easy to understand, regardless of the educational level. Therefore, educational technology consists of illustrations accompanied by simple, objective, and interactive texts, enhancing the bond between caregivers, children, and professionals, making the educational action more dynamic and communication more dialogic. Comments that indicated content reduction and suggested delivery of information in stages were disregarded since the educational technology was planned, from the beginning, to be used at different times, according to the different age groups, to avoid overloading caregivers with information and meet the needs of each family. However, such comments indicate that this proposal was unclear to the study participants, so we added a brief explanation in the material to clarify the proper way to use it. According to Freire, the educator is not the holder of knowledge, which must be built from what is significant for each person through dialogue and exchange of experience between the actors of the educational process, so that individuals assume an active and critical attitude towards their health (Souza et al. 2017). In this perspective, in addition to practical guidelines on how to work with families throughout the material, there are questions to be asked by health or education professionals. The open questions, directed to the particular contexts, are intended to stimulate the dialogical and interactive educational process according to the topics in the booklet and enable greater acceptance of the singularities of each family and child in line with Freire’s pedagogy - the family and professionals work together to promote positive changes in knowledge that may reflect on the health behaviors of persons and the community. Among the suggestions, the text was recommended to be modified to attract greater attention from the reader. With this, the tool “TOOLKIT for Making Written Material

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Clear and Effective” (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS] 2010) was used, which consists of a health literacy resource containing detailed guidelines for the writing and design of educational materials, assisting in the review of the educational technology. The texts contained in the educational technology were organized according to the “reading gravity” principle presented by the TOOLKIT, which refers to the way readers are guided by the text on a printed page, usually starting in the upper left corner and ending in the lower right corner, going back and forth across the page, gravitationally. Thus, since the typical path of the reader is through a printed page, it is possible to design the pages of an educational material to anticipate and accommodate the reading creating an attractive page layout.

5 Final Considerations From the interrelation of the different components that interfere with health professionals’ knowledge and practices in promoting child development, the importance of promoting child development is ratified with the production of educational materials that respond to challenges and everyday situations. The evaluation by experts in child development demonstrated that the educational technology created has useful content concerning the objectives, structure and presentation, relevance, organization, language, graphic illustrations, motivation, usability, and cultural adequacy, reaching a high global Content Validity Index. In this study, the validation process carried out with the participation of several professionals represented a favorable aspect since it was possible to gather different perspectives on child development. Thus, it was possible to develop an intersectoral educational material that serves as a subsidy for the work of health and education professionals in educational activities focused on socio-emotional development in early childhood. As a future possibility, health and education professionals will be trained to use the material and problematize care for family members and children to meet their needs. The fact that the booklet’s content addresses particular scenarios in which healthcare teams work may constitute a limitation, as these scenarios may not be representative of the processes experienced by other family health teams working in other contexts.

References Arantes, A.L.A., Neves, F.S., Campos, A.A.L., Netto, M.P.: Método Baby-led Weaning (BLW) no contexto da alimentação complementar: uma revisão. Revista Paulista de Pediatria 36(3), 353–363 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1590/1984-0462/;2018;36;3;00001 Bittencourt, M.N., Flexa, R.S., Santos, I.S.R., Ferreira, L.D., Nemer, C.R.B., Pena, J.L.C.: Validação de conteúdo e aparência de manual educativo para promoção da saúde mental infantil. Revista Rene 21, e43694 (2020). https://doi.org/10.15253/2175-6783.20202143694 Bronfenbrenner, U.: Bioecologia do desenvolvimento humano: tornando os seres humanos mais humanos. Artmed (2012) Campos, F.V., Antunes, C.F., Damião, E.B., Rossato, L.M., Nascimento, L.C.: Instrumentos de avaliação da ansiedade da criança hospitalizada. Acta Paulista de Enfermagem 33, eAPE20180250 (2020). http://dx.doi.org/https://doi.org/10.37689/actaape/2020AR02505

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Competencies for Considering Cultural Diversity in Primary Care and Nursing Education Francisco José Passos Soares1(B) and Lígia Fernanda Passos Bezerra Santos2 1 Universidade Federal de Alagoas, Maceió, Brazil

[email protected] 2 Universidade Tiradentes, Maceió, Alagoas, Brazil

Abstract. Background: Cultural diversity in health education has been identified as a point of interest for proposition of more inclusive curriculum models. Methods: Systematic review associated with qualitative case study, based on the documentary analysis of the pedagogical project of a nursery course, in two stages: initially, the global text was analysed with the Iramuteq software to observe the general model of teaching management; also performed direct verification of the text of the menus of disciplines related to environment, health and society. The theoretical framework was the specific National Curriculum Guidelines, and Leininger’s cross-cultural theory. Results: For 13 studies addressing the theme analysed, the main challenges to cultural diversity in primary care health work derive from the difficulty of transformation in the professional profile based on knowledge and practices focused on the beliefs, values, and behaviours of various cultural groups. Iramuteq revealed three classes, profile of the graduate (35.9%); course organisation (36.2%); skills and abilities (27.9%), which define an institutional profile open to change but with vertical and technical management. The direct analysis of the menus confirmed insufficiency in the cross-cultural approach. Conclusions: The diversity of traditions, cultures and values influences morality and clinical decision-making, still poorly understood by health professionals. The analysis demonstrated a partial or insufficient curricular approach to human rights, ethnic-racial relations, and Afro-Brazilian and indigenous culture in primary health care. It is necessary to broaden the academic reflection on cultural diversity in primary care to propose a new revision of the course. Keywords: Cultural diversity · Health education · Nursing care · Primary care

1 Introduction In the context of the health-disease process, there is a diversity of knowledge, practices and institutions for promoting health, prevention, healing, and rehabilitation. This diversity is composed of symbolically mediated fields that people replicate, build and transform by way of localised power relationships in a specific social context. In the daily routine of health care teams supporting primary care, cultural knowledge is often understood as a reality of communities and sometimes negatively understood as © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 A. P. Costa et al. (Eds.): WCQR 2023, LNNS 688, pp. 281–300, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31346-2_18

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risk factors that must be eradicated or eliminated (Duque-Páramo 2007). Since primary health care should be provided in proximity to people’s lives, in order to implement comprehensive care and assistance, it is necessary that professionals working in this point of care consider the individual’s uniqueness and sociocultural setting, given the strong influence that the social and cultural universes have on the adoption of preventive or risk-taking behaviours, as well as on the use of health services. The National Curriculum Guidelines (DCN) for nursing provide guidance on adapting teaching to healthcare-related work, and to the complex demands of contemporary society, including humanization, ethics, and lifelong education (Batista and Batista 2003; Brazilian Ministry of Education 2018). The DCNs recommend that healthcare training should be based on competencies (Brazilian Ministry of Health 2018), so that students develop the ability to gather knowledge, skills, and attitudes to deal with the multiple and complex situations and dilemmas faced by individuals, social groups, and specific populations. The curriculum analysis and reformulation require that training institutions match pedagogical concepts to the actual practices in several learning scenarios. Kurimoto and Da Costa (2016) state that the narrative conveyed by the curriculum is no longer a mere way of recording subjects or pointing out themes to be worked on, but rather outlined as a training proposal to be defended. The syllabus must provide opportunities, from an early stage, for incorporating the student as a historical and social figure in professional scenarios, while bearing in mind that the work process in healthcare is collective and involves different social players: community, managers and health care providers, university and individual (Florêncio et al. 2016). The syllabus should include the approach to cross-cutting topics that involve knowledge, experiences and systematised reflections on human rights and education on gender, and ethnic-racial relationships, as well as the history of Afro-Brazilian and indigenous cultures, which provide the graduate with tools for their professional practice. Soares and Santos (2022) have noticed that the nursing curriculum model is biased and insufficient to broach the topic. Regarding competencies related to meeting individual health needs, the DCN (2018) establish that nursing courses should include the development of medical history skills that consider not only the context of life in general and biological, psychological, socioeconomic elements, but the investigation of cultural healing practices, of Afro-indigenousBrazilian origin, and other practices related to the health-disease process. These assumptions refer to what is known as cultural competence or cross-cultural competence in the international literature on occupational healthcare training. In order to take diversity in the healthcare sector into account, the qualification for teaching cultural competences should be set as a university institutional policy for the critical development of teaching activities, and for the creation and support of lifelong health education boards by the municipalities where healthcare training takes place. To ensure that proper attention is given to cultural diversity in occupational healthcare training in multi-ethnic countries, said training should be anchored in strategic curriculum documents for health education. (Loudon et al. 1999).

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Cultural diversity in health education has been identified as a point of interest and discussion for reviewing the contents of study programs and including cultural diversity in curriculum documents (Horvat et al. 2014). It is essential to question the curriculum, healthcare training, and the politicalpedagogical management of multicultural relations. Furthermore, it is worth reflecting on the potential of a training system in which the nursing syllabus, with its own epistemology, is able to build a more proportionate dialogue, thus showing greater respect and appreciation for cultural differences and know-how. This study aimed to understand the state of the art on competencies for considering cultural diversity, as well as the management organisation and teaching practices of a private nursing course from the perspective of respect for cultural diversity in primary care.

2 Methodological Process During the first stage of this article, a systematic review was carried out on the professional competencies required in health training for taking cultural diversity into account in primary care, aiming to substantiate the next stages related to the documentary analysis. The applied method, the systematic literature review, is defined by Greenhalgh (1997) “as an overview of primary studies that contains clearly stated objectives, materials and methods, and which has been conducted according to a clear and reproducible methodology.” (p. 672). The methods for preparing the reviews include: (1) formulating the research question; (2) searching the literature; (3) selecting articles; (4) extracting data; (5) assessing the methodological quality; (6) summarising the data; (7) assessing the quality of the evidence; and (8) writing and publishing the results. It is, therefore, a broad methodological approach which summarises what has been published in terms of scientific research on the topic in question (Mendes et al. 2008). The bibliographic search was carried out by consulting the journals available at the Virtual Health Library (VHL) portal. Scans were conducted between April and June 2019. For establishing the sample, the articles that met the following criteria were selected: type of document, scientific article, full texts available online, publications on the “Cultural Diversity” theme and its connection with the healthcare providers training and cultural competences in primary care. It was mandatory that the words “cultural diversity” and/or “health professionals” appear in the title, abstract, keywords or conclusion of the article. In order to minimize “junk data”, a search strategy was applied, which consisted of cross-referencing structured and free descriptors in Portuguese, Spanish and English, in addition to the association with the Boolean operator AND, in the VHL search bases. Searches were carried out using four cross-references: Diversidade Cultural AND Profissionais da saúde, Diversidade Cultural AND Saúde Pública, Diversidade Cultural AND atenção primária, Diversidade Cultural AND profissionais da saúde AND atenção primária, Diversidad cultural y profesionales de la salud, Diversidad cultural y salud pública, Diversidad cultural y atención primaria, Diversidad cultural y profesionales

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de la salud y atención primaria, Cultural Diversity AND Health professionals, Cultural Diversity AND Public Health, Cultural Diversity AND primary care, Cultural Diversity AND health professionals AND primary care. The filters used in the search bases when the scans were performed, with four crossreferences, were: full text (available), year of publication (2014–2019), and type of document (article), in three languages: Portuguese, English and Spanish. After applying the filters, all publications that did not match the aforementioned criteria, as well as duplicate articles, were excluded. The total number of publications and the number of available publications for each descriptor used, with and without the filter, were described. The analysis was carried out using the final selection of articles with the purpose of summarising, comparing, and drawing conclusions, using the Leininger’s Theory as a benchmark. For the author, the goal of transculturality is the comparative study and analysis of cultures with a view to achieving efficiency and effectiveness in healthcare. Studying the beliefs, values and practices of care as perceived and known by a given culture – their direct experiences, beliefs and values – ultimately results in the recognition of care as essential to the health professionals’ knowledge and practice (Gualda and Hoga 1992). For the critical analysis of the pedagogical project of a private nursing course, the method of qualitative documentary analysis was selected by associating the use of the Iramuteq software with the direct verification of texts from the PPC, including menus. According to Gil (2017), documentary research differs from bibliographic research in that it uses: a) material that has not yet been subject to any analytical processing, such as documents filed in public bodies and private organisations; and b) documents such as research reports, statistics tables, company reports, etc. Among the advantages listed by the author in using the documentary research are: documents are a rich and stable source of data; low cost; contact with the research subjects is not required. The text related to the current and active Course Pedagogical Project, with a class in the supervised traineeship in primary care, was considered for analysis. The PPC defines the principles and strategies for teaching and learning, the course duration, and the curriculum structure: modules, menus, learning contents, and workloads. Other PPCs of the same course with no activity in the primary care traineeship, or under construction, were excluded from the analysis. The project was approved by the Research Ethics Committee (CEP) of the Universidade Federal de Alagoas (UFAL) with the joint participation of the Universidade Integrada Tiradentes, under Opinion No. 07694919.8.3001.5641. The documents were analysed in two stages: during the first one, the general text of the PPC was processed with the Iramuteq Software version 0.7 alpha 2 (Lahlou 2001; Ratinaud et al. 2012), excluding the menus, in order to observe the general teaching management model considering cultural diversity. The Iramuteq Software enables the following types of analyses: group specificity search, descending hierarchical classification, similarity analysis and word clouds. For textual content analyses, the descending hierarchical classification, similarity analysis and word cloud techniques were used, which graphically group and organize words according to their frequency. These analysis techniques easily allow their identification through a single file, properly configured in text format (.txt) and called Rapport or

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corpus and text segments, which correspond to the original texts analysed (Camargo and Justo 2016). The multivariate analysis was performed using the Descending Hierarchical Classification (DHC) method, which consists of grouping text segments into classes. In these groupings, segments of a given class have vocabularies similar to each other and, at the same time, different from the segments belonging to the other classes. Therefore, the DHC is presented as a dendrogram and shows the relationship between the classes obtained in the textual analysis. From the PPC corpus, the text segments shown in each class were obtained from the statistically relevant words, allowing the qualitative analysis of the data to be performed. A 75% or higher rate is considered a good score (Souza et al. 2018). The second stage consisted of the analysis by direct verification of the menus of subjects geared towards primary care. During this stage, the categories of analysis (CA) and record units (RU) were defined prior to the documentary exploration in search of context units (CU), outcome processing and interpretation. CAs are defined as groups of relevant contents (in this work, regarding cultural competences) that are interrelated. RUs refer to the actual relevant contents, grouped in the CAs. CUs, on the other hand, are defined as excerpts from the documents under analysis that allow us to verify that the RUs (relevant contents) are covered in the analysed text. For establishing the CAs and RUs, the DCN for the nursing course (2018) were used as a reference, in which Chapter IV on curricular contents and the pedagogical project highlights, in Item II of Article 21, that the fundamental contents should include “contents related to the various dimensions of the individual/collectively relationship, contributing to the critical understanding of sociocultural, political, anthropological, historical, philosophical, spiritual, behavioural, psychological, ecological, ethical and legal determinants, at the individual and collective levels, that impact the balance of social needs in health and particular needs of the person or groups of the health-disease process in its multiple aspects of determination, occurrence and intervention.)”, allowing for sixteen RUs distributed among four CAs. As no CUs were found that could decode the RUs, it was considered that the content did not include them. Leininger’s Transcultural Theory (1978) was considered as a guide when analysing the results: (...) nursing is essentially a profession of transcultural and intercultural care, which assumes the centrality of care in promoting care for people, in a meaningful and consistent way, while respecting cultural values and lifestyles. We are talking about a vision that was revolutionary at the time, in which the nurse starts to recognise the individual as a cultural being; holder of a very particular way of seeing the world, according to their beliefs, values, customs and cultural practices, instead of only focusing their interest in the problems and or affected biophysiological needs. (Coutinho et al. 2017, p. 1.579)

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Chart 1. Categories of analysis and corresponding record units (Maceió-AL, BRAZIL, 2022). Category of Analysis Record Unit Social structure

1. Human Plurality 2. Ethnic-Racial Relationship 3. Principles of Equity 4. Cultural Healing Practices

Transculturality

1. Nurses’ responsibility 2. Lifelong education 3. Cultural awareness 4. Behaviourism and functionalism 5. Political ethics

Care Values

1. Dimensions of individuals and population considered in care 2. Focus of care 3. Scope of care

Context Units in the PPC

Cultural Competence 1. Cultural awareness 2. Cultural knowledge 3. Cultural skills 4. Cultural Desire

3 Results Table 1 features the total number of publications available in the databases. The search was conducted by using the descriptors included in the DeCS – Descritores em Ciências da Saúde platform, with the purpose of obtaining full texts from scientific publications on Cultural Diversity in Primary Care. From the cross-references made in the four search bases using the VHL platform, 636 scientific articles were initially found (seen in Table 1), of which only 13 were selected for analysis and reflection after applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Table 2 comprises the information about the selected articles. Among these studies, (n = 10) were primary (original studies) and (n = 3) were review studies (secondary studies). In descending order of publication, (n = 2) were published in 2019, (n = 2) in 2018, (n = 1) in 2017, (n = 3) in 2016, (n = 2) in 2015, and (n = 3) in 2014. The most predominant language was English (n = 9), followed by Spanish (n = 2) and Portuguese (n = 2). The study was systematized from the individual analysis of the articles and items: references (author, journal, year), type (research, literature review and/or others), main objective, methodology (type of study, individuals and data collection tools), outcomes, discussion and conclusion. The PPC analysis using Iramuteq yielded 610 text segments out of 21 690 words, corresponding to 84.6% of the total corpus, grouping them into three classes: class 1 graduate profile (35.9%); class 2 - course organisation (36.2%); class 3 - competences and skills (27.9%). Relations of approximation were observed between classes 2, “Course organisation”, and 3, “Competences and skills”, with a greater relation of strength, even though

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Table 1. Total number of publications and texts available in the Virtual Health Library using the cross-referencing of structured descriptors Descriptors

Total number of publications without the filters

Full texts available after applying the filters

Full texts applied in the research

Cultural Diversity AND health professionals

190

42

8

Cultural Diversity AND primary care

129

15

3

Cultural Diversity AND public health

311

26

2

Cultural Diversity AND health professionals AND primary care

6

2

0

TOTAL

636

85

13

Source: prepared by the authors, 2020

they have different meanings; Class 1 “Graduate profile” maintained a poor relation of approximation with the remaining classes. However, the conceptual interaction of these classes allows the joint operation, of political (class 2) and technical (class 3) nature, for setting the graduate profile (class 1). The direct analysis of the PPC evidences little compatibility with the predefined RUs. In the theoretical and practical cycle composed of ten subjects, all RUs were identified in each subject of the cycle related to primary care. However, 26.2% showed an incomplete approach. In the supervised traineeship (ninth period), only four CUs were found, and two (12.5%) mentioned cultural diversity.

4 Discussion The analysed studies showed that the main challenges imposed on the consideration of cultural diversity in health work in primary care derive from the difficulty to transform the professional profile and are based on knowledge and practices aimed at the beliefs, values and behaviours of various cultural groups. For Sarmiento y Montañez (2016), the micro-context where the health professional is located reveals, on the one hand, the articulation of living conditions, cultures and social practices with health care; and on the other hand, the independence of the idea of nation and unified standards of health care with social groups’ and individual needs. Clark et al. (2014) and Veliz-Rojas et al. (2019), further reinforce that addressing the needs of those for whom services and protection are provided is not enough to offset the consequences of social stratification, although overall patient access to primary health care is not routinely assessed. The multicultural reality of the contexts in which healthcare

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F. J. P. Soares and L. F. P. B. Santos Table 2. Overview of articles included in the systematic review

Topic

Year

Type of research

Study purpose

Language

Embracing diversity and transcultural society through community health practicum among college nursing students

2018

Primary

The objectives of the study were to explore the factors related to the competence of cultural care and to estimate the effects of a reinforced cultural course in the short term

English

‘Excuse me, do any of you ladies speak English?’ 2014 Perspectives of refugee women living in South Australia: barriers to accessing primary health care and achieving the Quality Use of Medicines

Primary

This study aimed to identify the barriers to accessing primary health care services and explore medicine-related issues as experienced by refugee women in South Australia

English

Cultural Competence among Maternal Health care Providers in Bahir Dar City Administration, Northwest Ethiopia: Cross sectional Study

2015

Primary

This study aimed to determine English the level of cultural competence and its associated factors among maternal health care providers in Bahir Dar City Administration, Northwest Ethiopia

Intercultural competences in primary health care: 2019 a challenge for higher education in contexts of cultural diversity

Primary

This study aims to reflect on the importance of learning and developing those competencies in health care teams supporting primary care, and to specify a list of strategies with which it is possible to acquire said competencies in previous training processes, understanding that competencies are the product of experiences and can be transformed as a result of a process

Spanish

Cultural competence education for health professionals (Review)

2014

Secondary

To assess the effects of cultural competence education interventions for health professionals on patient-related outcomes, health professional outcomes, and healthcare organisation outcomes

English

Diversity training for the community aged care workers: A conceptual framework for evaluation

2017

Primary

The proposed framework will provide an empirical and consistent method of evaluation, to assess their impact on enhancing older people’s experience of healthcare

English

(continued)

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Table 2. (continued) Topic

Year

Type of research

Study purpose

Language

Incorporating Cultural Competence for Maternal Health Care in the Quilombola Population in the Education of Health Professions

2018

Primary

Identifying the needs related to maternal health in the Quilombola population, appreciating the values, knowledge, know-how and local culture. Establishing a care strategy, with student involvement, which addresses the needs identified in the Quilombola community. Describing the knowledge, skills and attitudes required for developing cultural competences related to Quilombola women’s maternal health

Portuguese

The Policy Argument for Healthcare Workforce Diversity

2016

Primary

This perspectives article considers the potential implications an affirmative action ban would have on patient care in the US

English

The challenge of cultural competence in the workplace: perspectives of healthcare providers

2019

Primary

the general perspectives of health care professionals on culturally competent care, their experiences working with multi-cultural patients, their own levels of cultural competence and the extent to which they believe their workplaces address cross-cultural challenges

English

Reflections on moral issues in the relationship between indigenous people and health services

2015

Primary

We discuss the indigenous Portuguese perspective of moral issues in the relationship with the health services in the Alto Rio Negro region/Amazonas/Brazil

Embracing diversity and transcultural society through community health practicum among college nursing students

2018

Primary

The study objectives were to explore the related factors of cultural care competence and estimate the effects of a short-term reinforced cultural course

English

Health care and cultural difference. Access to medical care for Muslim women in Bogotá

2016

Secondary

The text looks at the relationship between cultural diversity and access to health services, based on the case of Muslim women in the city of Bogota, Colombia

Spanish

(continued)

290

F. J. P. Soares and L. F. P. B. Santos Table 2. (continued)

Topic

Year

Type of research

Study purpose

Language

Psychometric characteristics of a modified Sympathy–Acceptance–Understanding–Caring competence model questionnaire among foreign-born parents encountering nurses in primary child health care services

2016

Primary

To determine the English psychometric properties of the Sympathy–Acceptance Understanding–Caring Competence (SAUC) model questionnaire for foreign-born parents evaluating nursing encounters in the Swedish Primary Child Health Care (PCHC) services

Source: prepared by the authors, 2020

is offered requires the incorporation of theoretical models designed to understand it, in order to provide timely, quality and relevant healthcare to communities – while taking the specificities of the existing diversity into account. Competency education for health professionals associates the patient with a positive quality, albeit with a low visibility and low improvement in working with cultural and linguistic diversity of the populations under their care. The provision of health benefits and care within the field of cultural difference should include the cultural dimension in the biomedical context. To do this, it is necessary to theoretically position oneself regarding the concepts of culture and cultural relativism, as both work on decolonization in relation to the hegemonic biomedical model (Horvat et al. 2014; Veliz-Rojas et al. 2019). Another important aspect is reported by Mensah and Sommers (2016), in a study conducted in the US, who consider the possible implications in patient care in the race and ethnicity requirement, illustrating the poor geographical distribution of primary care health professionals. These options also raise the question of whether a racially diverse workforce in the health care occupations would similarly increase access to primary care by uninsured populations. As such, primary health care is understood, on the one hand, as a consequence of the sociocultural, political and economic context in which it is inserted and, on the other hand, as the recognition of the cultural production of health systems and communities. It was found that to improve assistance in primary care aimed at training geared towards cultural diversity, the authors propose strategies for adapting the care process. In Brazil, the DCN (Ministry of Education 2018) for undergraduate courses in health establish that the fundamental contents should be associated with the entire health-disease process of the individual, family and community, as well as referenced in the epidemiological and professional reality, thus providing all healthcare actions. The curriculum should include the approach to cross-cutting topics that involve knowledge, experiences and systematised reflections on human rights, education, ethnic-racial relations and the history of Afro-Brazilian and indigenous cultures. As for the challenge of training health professionals skilled in effectively interacting with ethnically diverse populations, outcomes point out the fundamental aspect for students to know the processes that influence the health and healthcare of population

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minorities, in addition to the students having the opportunity to undergo experiences related to cultural diversity inserted in their undergraduate curricula (Junior et al. 2018). Based on the references from Junior et al. (2018) and Chang et al. (2018), multicultural knowledge, which includes concepts such as culture, awareness and ethics for training, organising professionals and students to practice their cultural care skills with community populations, and developing communication skills, will help train healthcare professionals capable of identifying and implementing general care. Even though most intercultural education models encompass learning about “others” to some extent by simply assimilating the health beliefs, idiosyncrasies, and traditions of specific cultural groups, it is somewhat shallow and, as such, unlikely for crosscultural communication. It is necessary for professionals to pay attention to the perceptions, expressions and values of each user and family during care and decision-making, resorting to interpreters during the process. The recognition and respect of traditional health knowledge and practices seem crucial to cement the relationship between health professionals and users (Pontes et al. (2014) and Shepherd et al. 2019). During the second stage of the study, the analysis of the PPC carried out by Iramuteq generated three interrelated classes: Class 1 (graduate profile) more specifically refers to the elements of the health-disease process, and of the epidemiological reality, which focus on training covering comprehensive care. The training of a general professional with a humanistic and critical worldview is a generic guideline, valid for all health courses, which is related to the broader concept of health and to the change in perspective of the health system (Ministry of Health 2018). Thus, the Nursing Course, centred on the Health Care model in force, the Unified Health System – SUS (Sistema Único de Saúde), taking into account the population’s insufficient health, where social demands identify the need for a greater offer of qualified nurses, contributes to the political, social, cultural, economic, scientific and educational development, as well as the promotion, protection, maintenance and recovery of the population’s health in the State of Alagoas. (UNIT, 2015, p. 49) The PPC of the nursing course seeks to address the state’s reality by referring to the principles and guidelines of the Unified Health System (SUS). Silva et al. (2011) suggest that the diversification of practice scenarios, expansion of practice times and approximation to the SUS, in addition to the orientation towards the ethical and humanistic profile of professionals and multiprofessionalism, will guide the future nurse to not only know the epidemiological profile, but to become an intervener in such profile, contributing to improve the citizens’ quality of life. The concern about cultural diversity for training can be deduced by observing words that refer to texts on the complex and multicultural composition of Alagoas, limited by the clinical-epidemiological, welfare and interventionist approach to social determinants. As an example of its cultural diversity, an important part of the history of Alagoas is related to the formation of several Quilombola communities. In the region

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where the city of União dos Palmares now stands, the largest and most important quilombo in Brazilian history, the Quilombo dos Palmares, was formed under Ganga Zumba’s command and subsequently Zumbi’s. (UNIT, 2015, p. 31) The graduate should be able to know and intervene on the more predominant health-disease problems/situations in the national epidemiological profile, particularly in their region of action, by identifying the biopsychosocial dimensions of their determinants. (UNIT, 2015, p. 52) It can be seen that the PPC guides towards addressing the local reality, aiming at an academic-vocational training that enables the graduate to know and intervene in the population’s living conditions. As such, the curriculum organisation must provide opportunities, from an early stage, for incorporating the student as a historical and social figure in professional scenarios, while bearing in mind that the work process in health is collective and involves different social players: community, healthcare providers, university and individual. The curriculum organisation (class 2) evidences that the analysed PPC complies with the DCN/ENF [National Curriculum Guidelines for Nursing] (2018), where learning should be interpreted as a path that enables graduates to transform themselves and their context. Nursing education (...) includes the approach of cross-cutting topics, either through discussions initiated by teachers and students within the scope of their subjects, or through research and additional activities, or through events held by the course or the institution, as well as through complementary activities completed by students. (UNIT, 2015, p. 73) The institution offers its students a service policy that aims to promote access and retention of all students, regardless of their physical or socioeconomic condition, by ensuring them: equal conditions for carrying out academic activities; comprehensive training, guaranteeing participation in scientific, cultural, artistic, sports and leisure activities; digital inclusion; access to foreign language learning; access to health, etc. (UNIT, 2015, p. 102) In accordance with Ceccim (2002), who considers that four vectors stand out against the SUS challenge, i.e. training, care, management and participation in health, the following is observed in the PPC text: Units oriented towards the exercise and incorporation of students in different professional, institutional, social and multiprofessional contexts inherent to their area or field of action, with the purpose of promoting the acquisition of skills and competences specific to the professional practice in question. Subjects: Supervised Traineeship I, Supervised Traineeship II, Course Completion Work – TCC. (UNIT, 2015, p. 73) The PPC is in line with the Theory of Cultural Care Diversity and Universality, proposed by Madeleine Leininger, a nurse and anthropologist, which triggered the understanding of the social importance and cultural influence on health beliefs and people’s behaviours (Coutinho et al. 2017).

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As set out in the National Curriculum Guidelines for the undergraduate course in Nursing, contents are associated with the entire health-disease process of the citizen, family and community, a process integrated into the epidemiological and professional reality, thus providing all nursing care actions. (UNIT, 2015, p. 62) The adoption of new curriculum models allows students and teachers to move around the reality of the most disparate communities, allowing the experience, the observation alongside health professionals with different levels of training, and the reflection on social determinants, as well as on management, care and inclusion practices. This alone enables the change of attitude in training with a power to transform and overcome traditional teaching techniques, as it installs criticism in a shared, continuous and subtle way, over a long period of time. In this case, the time of community living, the development of teachers and tutors, the problematization of reality, and the teaching-service integration policy are crucial for the attitude change process. Among these variables, time has been the least clearly exposed or put in place as crucial for the development of remaining conditions to drive the change in attitude of future health professionals towards respect for cultural diversity. In class 3, Competences and skills, it is observed that many of these competences are implied in some texts, or partially included compared to the requirements in the DCN/ENF (2018). For Fontana (2019), it is necessary that nursing takes ownership of multicultural know-how in order to develop care in a humanized way and committed to the SUS principles, adding value to care. Multiculturalism, for Fontana (2019), revolves around curricular components of health courses, and has the power to minimize prejudice and develop alterity, appreciation and knowledge of the other person’s culture, required to survive. The curriculum organization and the graduate profile interrelate in a coherent way, aiming at a training geared towards the understanding of and intervention in the biopsychosocial determinants of the health-disease process, with focus on clinical and epidemiological welfare aspects, and limited by the lack of definition of competences and skills required for this challenge. These limitations may distance the students from the desired profile of working in the SUS. It is also possible to notice the gap between the intention of change in the graduate profile and the commitment to the necessary flexibility and decentralization of academic management, still vertically structured, not allowing enough space for the teacher and student protagonism in building a new PPC and strengthening the teaching-service integration. The analysis by direct verification of the menus regarding the theoretical and practical cycles and curricular traineeship allowed us to identify structuring elements of the PPC, which indicate partiality or insufficiency in terms of attention to diversity training demands. The categories included refer to those listed in Chart 1: Social Structure By the end of the last century, within the scope of the broader reflections that embodied the Report “Education: a Treasure to Discover” (Delors 1996), a clear expression was given to the need for assuming diversity as an asset. UNESCO (2001) reiterates at the turn of

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this century, with the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, that “cultural diversity is one of the sources of development, understood not simply in terms of economic growth, but also as a means to achieve a satisfactory social, intellectual, emotional, moral and spiritual existence” (p. 288). Multiculturalism is regarded as another assumption for preventing exclusion and discrimination in various areas (educational, social, cultural, among others) and for promoting equal opportunities (Candau 2002). In this context, it is essential to evidence the recognition of the need to reinforce and consolidate institutional inclusion mechanisms, particularly in vocational training. The analysed PPC refers to these premises: Stimulating and developing attitudes of respect for differences, so that everyone can socially connect, incorporating others in their cultural, ethnic, special needs, beliefs, gender and sexual orientation differences and diversities, whether in the context of academic relations and/or social relations in general. This respect and acceptance must converge towards the recognition of plurality and democratic coexistence in the realization of equal rights”. (UNIT, 2015, p. 81). Issues related to education for ethnic-racial and indigenous relations are developed through knowledge, skills, attitudes and values, in the pedagogical projects of courses through curricular contents, in transversality, complementary activities, scientific initiation and additional activities, research, production and socialisation of knowledge, and in articulation with social players involved in actions in this sector. (UNIT, 2015, p. 83) For Santos et al. (2012), human plurality in its various possibilities of expression is a primary condition for healthcare practice, despite the complexity inherent to these fields: health, nursing, care. Considering plurality and diversity, its application in health courses should be guided by a thorough and expanded medical history, paying attention to the possible human responses and life contexts of each person, based on participation and respect for autonomy. As we can see in the PPC (2015) when referring to the LGBTT population, aiming. to assist regarding the rights and needs of populations in specific vulnerability situations, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transvestite and Transgender (LGBTT) Integral Health and black population integral health. (UNIT, 2015, p. 278) This concern about specific populations demonstrates how in tune the PPC is with contemporary demands. Vargas et al. (2018) analysed how subjects related to Psychiatric Nursing and Mental Health are inserted in the curriculum structures of Brazilian nursing programs, and found great variation, and little interest in including them, considering this harmful to the education and to the population.

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The assessed PPC suggests that an individual with mental disorders should be seen as a citizen with rights and duties, and that the professional should respect them and strengthen the therapeutic interrelationship (UNIT 2015). Transculturality Transculturality is associated with care and calls for studies to improve practices (Henckemaier et al. 2014). Of the four envisaged record units, only two, nurses’ responsibility and the ethicalpolitical aspect were covered. Health results from individual or collective, and government actions, to ensure access to goods and services. (Secco et al. 2017), as partially foreseen in the PPC: Mastery of theoretical, technical and instrumental knowledge that enables professionals to intervene on the more predominant health-disease problems/situations in the epidemiological profile. (UNIT, 2015, p. 251) The nursing care practice is associated with ethical responsibility to transcend the common sense of an occasional dedication and establish a continuous, systemic and contextual care, which includes cultural issues (Andrade et al. 2016; Dalcin et al. 2019). Investing and intervening politically and technically in institutional spaces, given the socially determined health needs, as practices of the health-disease process. (UNIT, 2015, p. 277) According to Silva et al. (2021), cross-cultural care and the health-disease process in nursing are directly related to the practice in the work environment, guided by the principle of respect for the cultural diversity of each individual. Care Values For Gualda and Hoga (1992) the cultural value of care is equivalent to the most desirable or preferred way of acting or thinking, which is maintained for a period of time. For Leininger (1978), at this level, care and health are studied, and include individuals, families and cultures in the context of a health system, in search of expressions and meanings. Regarding the ethnic-racial relationship in nursing education, Ribeiro et al. (2020) state that the training of indigenous health agents as players within a multi-ethnic context is crucial, requiring that cultural meanings and values are addressed and respected even in a training for a Westernised health system. The PPC foresees this approach: Building one’s own parameters, from the perception that our culture is only one of the possible ways of perceiving and interpreting the world and that all cultures are equally valid and make sense to their participants. (UNIT, 2015, p. 298) Affirmative action policies for ethnic populations and specific affirmative action policies in education. Ethnic populations and diaspora. (UNIT, 2015, p. 298) Nascimento et al. (2020) state that the importance of recognising the ethnicracial identity is relativised, without including the perception of the specificities in

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the black population segment, strengthening the myth of racial democracy. Therefore, the adequate preparation of health and education professionals is necessary for deconstructing the eurocentric view and critical evaluation of the context, in face of the diversities/differences with which they live. The insertion of the ethnic-racial and Afro-Brazilian theme in health curricula is a way to meet emerging demands and is an opportunity to expand the knowledge about the cultural diversity of Brazilian society, its history, and influence on the local culture and the health-disease process (Conceição et al. 2018). Cultural Competence Family and community-oriented cultural competences are considered derived attributes that qualify actions due to ensuring a high level of achievement of the unique and fundamental qualities of primary care (Damasceno and Silva 2018; Gouveia et al. 2019). Cultural competence can be defined as the “ability to provide effective, comprehensive, and respectful care in a manner which is compatible with the user’s cultural health beliefs and practices, and in the user’s preferred language’, where this term was created in an American context and the most widely used in the health literature to refer to the intercultural doctor-person relationship (Anand 2010). According to the Office of Minority Health of the United States government, cultural and linguistic competence implies an ability for health care providers and organisations to understand and effectively meet cultural and linguistic needs, brought by patients to health care services situations (Helman 1994). Said competence can be identified in the analysed PPC: Building one’s own parameters, from the perception that our culture is only one of the possible ways of perceiving and interpreting the world and that all cultures are equally valid and make sense to their participants. (UNIT, 2015, p. 298) Nurses explain cultural competence as the ability to understand cultural differences in order to deliver quality care services to people. Culturally speaking, the nurses who are most sensitive to the issues inherent with ethnicity, race, culture, gender, and sexual orientation are the most competent nurses. Additionally, nurses who possess cultural competence effectively enhance communication skills, cultural perspectives and knowledge capacity connected with the health care practices of dissimilar cultures (Vilelas and Janeiro 2012). The PPC in question foresees this dimension of cultural competence: Identifying cultural, social, and behavioural factors when determining illnesses and how to treat them, enhancing culturally sensitive interventions. (UNIT, 2015, p. 278) It is necessary to rethink nursing and health through a complex perspective, with systemic care and critical reflection as an applicable focus to the innovative curriculum, since reflexivity allows, as much as possible, the intelligibility of the variety of topics simultaneously worked in life or professional practice (Netto et al. 2018). This orientation is foreseen in the studied PPC:

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Building one’s own parameters, from the perception that our culture is only one of the possible ways of perceiving and interpreting the world and that all cultures are equally valid and make sense to their participants. (UNIT, 2015, p. 298) Curricular innovations are marked by effective teaching-service-managementcommunity integration, favouring the incorporation of the student in the labour market, with contextualized learning of cultural competencies, in order to overcome the contentbased, biological and preventive paradigm (Santos and Hammerschimidt 2012; Velloso et al. 2016). However, further studies to verify effectiveness with an interventionist nature and a consensual definition of the fundamental components of cultural competence education are needed. A review study conducted by Horvat et al. (2014) showed some support for teaching cultural competences to health professionals, but with a low quality of evidence. Jowsey (2019) suggests investigating and teaching about the deeper zones of cultural competence to promote effective systemic cultural changes in health care provision.

5 Final Considerations Health should be considered as a fundamental human right. Nowadays, in a globalisation context, the importance of minorities and the respect for cultural diversity are challenges for health care providers and teams in primary care, as they involve a different approach to both health problems and interaction with users. The diversity of traditions, cultures and values influences morality and clinical decision-making, still little understood by health professionals, in addition to professional training. The refusal of health care providers, the biomedical care per se, the cultural barriers inherent in the structure and operational proposal of services – as well as the disregard for the cultural perspective on the therapeutic process – structure the conflictive elements of the relationship between primary care users and healthcare providers. The systematic review method proved to be useful for understanding the topic, also allowing the substantiation of the subsequent research stages with scientific evidence. In the documents of the analysed institution, the documentary analysis did not find a comprehensive and cross-cutting approach to contents, experiences and systematised reflections on human rights, including ethnic-racial relationships and the history of AfroBrazilian and indigenous cultures. The research identified that there was no reference in the PPC to the reality of cultural diversity in primary care, although there are occasional references to ethnic relationships, populations in specific vulnerability situations, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transvestite and Transgender Integral Health. The use of Iramuteq allowed us to observe that the institution shows elements of insertion of multicultural relations, but in a vertical way, with a pattern of management orientation of the policy for training that is very similar to the traditional biomedical model. The curriculum organisation shows a technicist bias in the description of skills and competences expected for the future nurse.

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The analysis by direct reading reveals insufficiency and distancing from the cross-cultural competences. There is a need to develop institutional policies for the humanization of training and relationships in the different teaching-learning scenarios. The methods are complementary in the document analysis of PPC, and the results can help institutional changes with more clarity of purpose, both in the political orientation and in the technical aspects related to the curriculum. The isolated analysis, by direct reading or instrumentalized by software, may not be enough for such a purpose, that of proposing changes for a new ethics, possible to overcome the barriers of paternalism, and configuring participative, cooperative, solidary, inclusive professional destinies. The methods used, whether isolated or associated, are limited and expose a partial and static institutional image, requiring new research with a participatory and interventionist methodological design for diagnosis, and to drive effective changes for a training that expands the effectiveness of care services to the entire population.

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Recurrence of Venous Ulcer: The Experience of Prevention Measures by a Qualitative Analysis Software Filipe Gomes1(B) , Agostinha Corte2 , Ana Monteiro1 and Helena Loureiro3,4

,

1 ARS Centro - ACES Cova da Beira, Covilhã, Portugal

[email protected] 2 Escola Superior de Saúde do Instituto Politécnico da Guarda, Guarda, Portugal 3 Escola Superior de Saúde da Universidade de Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal 4 IBimed – Instituto de Biomedicina. Universidade de Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

Abstract. Venous leg ulcers are the most prevalent, implying a high economic impact on health resources consumption and quality of life. To aggravate this situation, venous ulcer recurrence reaches 70% at 12 months after healing. Prevention of recurrence is essential to reduce the problem, namely using compression, limb elevation, skin care, regular physical exercise, or venous return exercises. Objective: To understand the experience of people with venous ulcers in adherence to measures to prevent their recurrence. Methods: Qualitative, exploratory, and descriptive phenomenological study, conducted in a non-probability sample, selected by convenience. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 participants, and content analysis was performed using the software WebQda®. Results: Two themes emerged, with their respective categories and subcategories, Knowledge about the origin of the wound and How do I prevent the recurrence of my wound, corresponding to the main interventions for the prevention of venous ulcer recurrence. Conclusions: Understanding the origin of the lesion is decisive for the prevention of venous ulcer recurrence, particularly for understanding its prevention measures. Prevention measures are associated with experiences of different benefits and difficulties/ limitations. Health professionals, particularly nurses, have a role to play in this knowledge and in the promotion of prevention measures. Keywords: Venous ulcer · Recurrence · Prevention · Life experience · Qualitative Analysis Software

1 Introduction The venous aetiology is the most prevalent in leg ulcers, reaching 70% to 80% (Berenguer Pérez et al. 2019; Bobbink et al. 2020; Finlayson et al. 2018; Moscicka et al. 2019). These ulcers impact health services from an economic point of view, with high consumption of resources and imply an abrupt loss of quality of life for sufferers (Finlayson et al. 2018; Probst et al. 2019). Aggravating this reality, venous ulcer recurrence is very frequent, © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 A. P. Costa et al. (Eds.): WCQR 2023, LNNS 688, pp. 301–313, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31346-2_19

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which can reach 70% of cases (Finlayson et al. 2018; Franks et al. 2016; Moscicka et al. 2019; Probst et al. 2019, 2020). Prevention of recurrence is essential to alleviate the problem where, in addition to the use of compression stockings, it includes elevation of the limbs, skin care with hydration and cleansing, regular exercise and venous return exercises (Brown, 2018; Finlayson et al. 2015, 2018; Probst et al. 2019; Wounds UK, 2016). Based on this issue, which highlights the high incidence rates of venous ulcer recurrence, a study was conducted with the purpose of identifying the factors that contribute to the adherence to measures to prevent venous leg ulcer recurrence in patients enrolled in a Grouping of Health Centres of the Regional Health Administration of the Centre, Portugal. The experience of venous ulcer patients in the adherence to measures to prevent recurrence emerged from this study, namely how the different benefits and difficulties/limitations of each of these measures are experienced and how knowledge and understanding about the aetiology of lesions influence the adoption of a therapeutic regimen with adherence to appropriate behaviours and the effective implementation of these prevention measures.

2 Theoretical Framework Venous ulcers are a manifestation of the pathology that is at the genesis of their aetiology, chronic venous disease (Franks et al. 2016), constituting the most prevalent among leg ulcers (Finlayson et al. 2018). Between 0.8 and 2.2/1000 people per year are affected by venous ulcers (Probst, Saini, et al. 2020), and for these people, they represent a decrease in quality of life (Finlayson et al. 2018; Probst et al. 2019), by association with pain, mobility restrictions, sleep limitations, inability to work, social isolation due to exudate and bad odour, feelings of low self-esteem or frustration (González de la Torre et al. 2017; Ruseckaite et al. 2020). At the same time, they carry a considerable economic burden for health services, with an estimated 2.2 million people with venous ulcers impacting health services by £6 billion annually in the UK (Probst et al. 2019). Aggravating this context, the common history of a venous ulcer is a cycle of healing and recurrence, and therefore there are high recurrence rates of these lesions, occurring in up to 70% of cases (Finlayson et al. 2018; Moscicka et al, 2019; Probst, Saini, et al. 2020), mostly 3 months after lesion closure (Finlayson et al. 2018; Probst et al. 2019), which translates into a greater loss in the person’s health-related quality of life (Ruseckaite et al. 2020). Thus, the prevention of venous ulcer recurrence is of particular importance. Traditionally, this prevention is closed using compression, namely through stockings. However, this prevention comprises a larger set of interventions (Brown, 2018; Chitambira, 2019; Moscicka et al. 2019; Probst, Séchaud, et al. 2020; Team et al. 2019). The importance of regular physical exercise and venous return exercises, the elevation of resting limbs, and skin care, not neglecting, although in a more indirect way, an intervention on risk factors and potentiating comorbidities (Brown, 2018; Finlayson et al. 2018; Probst et al. 2019).

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Interventions on risk factors and potentiating comorbidities of venous ulcers are also desirable, such as diet, smoking cessation, weight reduction, malnutrition, maintenance of healthy cardiac function, or psychosocial support (Probst et al. 2019). Venous ulcer recurrence is associated with low adherence to a therapeutic regimen that relies on self-care activities to prevent its recurrence (Bobbink et al. 2020; Brown, 2014; Team et al. 2019). It is estimated that less than 16% of people maintain self-care activities aimed at preventing recurrence (Moscicka et al. 2019) and that 60–70% are non-compression users (Brown, 2018; Chitambira, 2019). The multidimensionality of factors involved in the origin of this low adherence to the therapeutic regimen is quite high, namely a low understanding concerning the cause of venous ulcers and the benefits and effectiveness of self-care activities (Moscicka et al. 2019; Probst, Saini, et al. 2020; Probst, Séchaud, et al. 2020), or we can also mention the lack of family and/or caregiver cooperation (Moscicka et al. 2019) and conflicts with professionals (Bobbink et al. 2020). This knowledge deficit, estimated at 70% (Probst, Saini, et al. 2020), stems from inadequate therapeutic education, which does not aim at self-care or understanding the importance of this therapeutic regimen (Probst, Séchaud, et al. 2020). Due to the complexity of the phenomenon described and in order to understand it, it is necessary to consider the person as a whole, assuming that, despite their individuality, they are human beings who are influenced and influence the world around them (Orem, 2001). In fact, only with a holistic view of the person with venous ulcer and an understanding of their self-determination and all existing relational factors that may influence their adherence to the self-care process can we aspire to effectively prevent venous ulcer recurrence (Brown, 2017; Jones, 2017; Wilson, 2016). Based on this assumption, we foresee the difficulty in intervening in the phenomenon itself. It is necessary to understand the space between prevention measures and the person with a venous ulcer and, above all, how this person relates to these measures and the factors that may facilitate or compromise this relationship. Understanding these people’s experience with prevention measures will allow us to understand an essential part of the complexity of this phenomenon (Gomes et al. 2022).

3 Methods The study entitled Prevention of venous leg ulcer recurrence: The meaning assigned by the patient to preventive measures had as its main objective to identify the factors that contribute to the adherence to measures to prevent venous leg ulcer recurrence, from the perspective of patients with this diagnosis. The research addressed in this article is an integral part of this study. It seeks to understand the experience of people with venous ulcers in the adherence to measures to prevent their recurrence. With this general objective as a first guideline, a qualitative, exploratory, and descriptive phenomenological study was developed. With this phenomenological study, an attempt was made to discern the meanings, reflexively, within its world and daily living context (Van Manen, 2014), we aimed to understand people’s views about the measures to prevent the recurrence of their venous ulcer, without statistical analysis of the information, but focusing on each person’s individual experience, valuing their participation.

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The population of this study was composed of users enrolled in a Grouping of Health Centres of the Regional Health Administration of the Centre, Portugal. The sample was obtained through a non-probabilistic convenience technique, through the collaboration of nurses working in the functional units of this Grouping of Health Centres, so that they could identify and refer participants who met the following inclusion criteria: age over 18 years; patient enrolled in one of the functional units of the selected Grouping of Health Centres; previous history of venous ulcers; previous or current history of venous ulcer recurrence and agreed to participate voluntarily in the study, authorising the audio recording of the interview. As assumed in a study with these characteristics, the participants were gradually referred to until the information was saturated. The resulting sample includes 14 participants, mainly female (71.4%) and with an average age of 65.29 years. Regarding their academic qualifications, these vary between illiteracy and the 12th grade, being the 4th grade the most prevalent. In accordance with the average age, most participants are retired. As regards the mean age at which they had their first ulcer, it was 53.07 years, and the number of recurrences varied between 1 and 12 times. A semi-structured interview was used to collect information using a script. The script consisted of a header with the numerical identification of the interview, the date on which it was conducted, as well as some sociodemographic data, and the participant’s clinical history of venous ulcer and venous ulcer recurrence. It also included a first introductory part, with information about the study, its purpose, the guarantee of confidentiality, and the request for the signature of informed consent. In the second part, the following questions were asked in a non-restrictive but guiding way: In your opinion, why do leg ulcers (“sores”) arise?; Can you tell me about the care you usually take with your leg ulcer (“sores”) so that it does not re-occur (“re-appear”)? Has anyone told you about specific ways to minimise the possibility of your leg ulcer (“cold sores”) recurring? Who? Do you have anyone to help you care for your leg ulcer (“sores”)?; From your perspective, how important is it for this person to minimise the possible occurrence of recurrence (“re-appearance”) of your leg ulcers (“sores”); and, in your opinion, how can nurses from your Health Care Centre promote the prevention of recurrence (“reappearance”) of your leg ulcers (“sores”)? Finally, there was a last part where we tried to end the interview by thanking them for their participation and willingness to provide access to the transcribed interview and the study results. These questions resulted from two interviews carried out to assess whether the script provided access to information that would allow answering the study objective, the estimated time for the interview or whether the questions would be well understood, without raising doubts or ambiguities. The process began in May 2019, and 14 interviews were conducted during July 2019. The interviews were subjected to an audio recording, following the participants’ informed consent, and the information’s confidentiality and anonymity were ensured. All remaining ethical assumptions inherent to an investigation were guaranteed in relation to their self-determination, intimacy, anonymity and confidentiality, protection against discomfort and harm, and fair and equitable treatment. This procedure was previously approved by the different institutions involved and the respective ethics committees, namely: the Technical and Scientific Council of the Nursing School where the study was conducted; the Executive Director and the Clinical and Health Council of the Grouping

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of Health Centres where the study was conducted; and the Ethics Committee for Health of the Regional Health Administration of the Centre. All 14 interviews were subjected to a content analysis, which began with the definition of the documental corpus (Amado, 2013), in this case, composed of the transcription of the participants’ interviews. Its constitution respected the rule of completeness and representativeness (all interviews were subjected to analysis and the participants who composed the sample met the inclusion criteria) and homogeneity and adequacy (all interviews were obtained using the same method and conducted by the same researcher) (Amado, 2013). Each of the interviews was subjected to a coding process, in which, according to the order in which they were conducted, the interview “E” was attributed, followed by the number that corresponds to the order in which they were conducted, i.e., “E1, E2,… E14”. After transcribing the interviews, the original recordings were kept and transcription was performed by the main researcher. Through the perception obtained when the interviews were conducted, the first contact with the data obtained by fully listening to the participants’ verbal descriptions, the transcription of the interviews and the first floating readings of these transcripts, the researcher began to imbibe the experiences and respective meaning assigned by the participants concerning the phenomenon under study (Amado, 2013; Bogdan & Biklen, 2013). In this way, it was possible to start extracting meaningful statements, emerging the first groupings of similar data according to thematic areas, with a categorisation at different levels, with more general and comprehensive main codes (categories) and the subcodes (subcategories) (Miles et al. 2014). In this categorisation, some rules were naturally taken into account for its constitution, namely: homogeneity (the categories are consistent, without mixing), exhaustive (they comprise the entire message of the text), exclusive (the same element cannot randomly fit into two categories), objective (different codifiers should achieve similar results) and relevant (adapted to the content and objectives) (Amado, 2013). The coding and all the information generated were subjected to peer validation and audit. This process involved a total of four researchers, ensuring the internal and external consistency of the study. After this process, it was possible to draw a concept map and outline the first matrix, defining and hierarchising (in a tree) the themes, categories, and subcategories that emerged from the respective contents (Amado, 2013). In this content analysis phase, the webQDA® software was used to aggregate the findings of assigned meaning into subcategories and categories, thus resulting in an interpretative model of the phenomenon under study. In addition to storing and managing the documental corpus, this type of software allows for assigning and visualizing the code or the construction of categories (Miles et al. 2014).

4 Results and Discussion Through the process of content analysis, the themes: How my wound develops and How do I prevent the recurrence of my wound (Fig. 1) emerged, which allowed reflection on the phenomenon of prevention of recurrence, namely how the different prevention measures are experienced, with the barriers and benefits experienced.

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The presentation of these two themes and their interconnection immediately brings us back to the importance of knowing the aetiology of the injury to prevent venous ulcer recurrence. The theme How my wound emerges is the first theme to emerge from the analysis of the interviews, arising from the participant’s perception of the origin of the wound. For effective prevention of recurrence, venous ulcer patients must know the origin of their injury and understand the importance and impact of their behaviour on the prevention process (Probst et al. 2019; Probst, Saini, et al. 2020). Due to the multi-factoriality existing in the origin of venous ulcers (Alavi et al. 2016; Wounds UK, 2016), it is essential for the patient to understand the factors involved in the genesis of the wound, as only then can they influence them through behavioural change. Circulatory problems My poor circulation

Heat Oedema

My illnesses The contribution of my behaviour appears The legacy of my family My traumas (reappearance) Benefits experienced The use of compression stockings

experienced Accession Benefits experienced

my wound from re-appearing

Lifting my legs

Discomforts/ Limitations experienced Accession

Moisturizing my legs Cleaning my legs

Benefits experienced Accession

Exercising my legs

Fig. 1. - Theme trees How my wound appears and How do I prevent the reappearance of my wound.

The categories and subcategories derived from this theme (Fig. 1), corresponding to a wide range of answers, show that the participant’s knowledge regarding the aetiology of their injury is ambiguous and disperse. In this sense, answers related to vascular pathology emerged, organised into different subcategories: Circulatory problems (“…I think it’s due to poor circulation (…) I think it’s related to circulation and in this case with poor circulation.” E6), Heat (“…at this time of the heat is always worse, there is more tendency for wounds to appear at this time.” E1) and Oedema (“…now my legs are always swollen (…) over the years I have noticed

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that they are swelling more and that may also be related to the wounds…” E4). This lack of knowledge can be seen, for example, in the category of Circulatory problems, where varicose veins are also mentioned as one of the reasons for the aetiology of injuries, as is the case of “…my legs are full of varicose veins and I know that if I hit somewhere, I immediately cause many hematomas…”. E9, ignoring that varicose veins, like venous ulcers, are in themselves one of the manifestations of venous disease. In this first category and respective subcategories, the fact that participants showed some confusion between the factors that cause the injury and some symptomatology resulting from the chronic venous disease itself stands out, since oedema and heat sensation are, among others, manifestations of chronic venous disease (Raffetto et al. 2021; Wittens et al. 2015). The association of the origin of the lesion with the fact of having other pathologies is also highlighted (My diseases: “…I think it’s because of my platelet problem…”). E4), by a hereditary issue (My family’s legacy: “… You know it’s something that comes from your family.” E6), by one’s own behaviour (The contribution of my behaviour: “…that they appear because we walk on our feet a lot…” E1) or even, above all, by the occurrence of some traumas (My traumas: “… Leads me to believe that I touched them because I do water aerobics (…) with my leg on that “little thing” that we call spaghetti and that’s where I rubbed it and as I have very sensitive skin, that’s where I made the wound” E12). Although it is true that, in the first cases, there is an influence on the genesis of chronic venous disease, or that trauma may be the triggering factor, participants do not understand all these aspects, as predisposing factors, in an integrated, not isolated way, ignoring that the repercussions would not be the same if there were no other associated pathologies, particularly the vascular one. This lack of knowledge revealed by participants about the origin of their ulcer is in line with what is mentioned by Brown (2018), namely that by not assimilating the cause of the injury, people also do not understand the need to implement prevention measures. The prevention of VU recurrence should therefore seek to raise awareness about the aetiology of ulcers, ensuring that people understand their chronic condition (Brown, 2018; Stewart et al. 2018). One aspect to highlight is that most participants have the notion that the genesis of the recurrence coincides with the origin of the initial lesion, as reported in Why is my wound back? E5 or that “…but the problem of varicose veins and poor circulation is still here.” E3. But again, it is also apparent that there is no understanding that recurrence is unequivocally associated with the chronicity of its risk factors (Finlayson et al. 2018; Moscicka et al. 2019). However, on the other hand, they are not aware that this repetitive cycle can be broken by adopting a therapeutic regimen that includes self-care activities to prevent VU recurrence (Bobbink et al. 2020; Team et al. 2019), instead stating that “…the problem was that the first one appeared and now the others would appear again and again”. E4 or that “…only later, after some time it appeared on my other leg, then it came back to this leg and then to that leg and I started to realise that this was something cyclical.” E7, seeming to consider that there is a certain inevitability in the recurrence process.

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Participants also demonstrated their experiences regarding self-care interventions aimed at preventing venous ulcer recurrence, producing a set of findings that were aggregated in the theme How I prevent my wound. Based on this theme, we derived a set of categories corresponding to the main recurrence prevention measures, from which, according to how this phenomenon is experienced, some subcategories also emerged (Fig. 1). From the outset, the fact that most participants did not refer to all prevention measures stands out, which deduces that they do not perceive prevention as something global that integrates a set of different interventions, in which some of them enhance the effect of others. In the category The use of compression stockings, according to the type of experience that participants express with the use of compression stockings, findings such as “I don’t notice my legs are so tired when I wear them, my leg feels lighter and it helps with the swelling, it’s good for the swelling. E4 were aggregated in the subcategory Benefits experienced, highlighting the numerous gains that participants reported experiencing with the use of compression stockings. In this context, the feeling of a lighter leg, less fatigue in the legs, and a non-specific sense of well-being stand out. On the other hand, there are also many participants who focus on the discomforts/limitations experienced, thus constituting another subcategory, such as “…the tightness that it causes me and sometimes it makes me nervous, because I get to the end of the day with this tightness and my leg feels bad, it’s not even the whole leg, as I was saying, it’s the curve of the foot, it makes my sock feel bad. E1 or “… The problem is that I put on the shoes, the putting on is more of a problem than the taking off, because taking off the shoes is taken off and comes off, it’s much easier, but putting on the shoes is a problem. E4. In fact, Brown (2018) and Lurie et al. (2019) state that one of the most common barriers to the use of compression stockings is the difficulty people may experience when putting on and taking off the stockings, particularly when there are mobilisation difficulties. It is also relevant that these findings relate to participants from whom other findings also emerged and were aggregated under Benefits experienced, which means that the use of compression stockings is associated with both benefits and some discomforts or limitations. Chitambira (2019) mentions as potential discomforts in the use of compression stockings, the feeling of heat and itching, adding also a possible venous eczema or skin damage caused by putting on and taking off the stockings, which is in line with what the participants experienced, as is the case of “….it becomes a little uncomfortable, because it is very dense and it itches a lot during the day, it gets very hot, it itches a lot and it makes me hot, I feel this discomfort due to the itching and the heat (…)”. E9. Brown (2018), Jones (2017), and Chitambira (2019) further mention pain as another possible discomfort, again overlapping with the interviewed participants: “…sometimes it hurts here in the bend of my foot, more in the heat and it makes me hurt. I really have pain, it’s not a pain that I can’t stand, but it tightens me up and puts pressure on my leg and it makes me feel…” E1. However, the same author warns that these painful sensations, despite being frequent at the beginning, decrease if the compression is preserved. Concerns about one’s own hygiene or some lifestyle aspects (Brown, 2018; Lurie et al. 2019; Wilson, 2016) are another limitation experienced, as is the case of “…the

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sock holds me back in my activity, I don’t know how to explain that (…). I put the sock on, and I don’t know, I feel stuck, I feel different…” E13. Another relevant aspect is related to the high economic weight that compression stockings represent for their users. In this sense, one participant said that “… I had to buy others, but there’s no money (…), they are expensive (…) The one I have is already broken and it’s only one (…) when that one is washing, I don’t have any to put on it. E3, as this cost has to be borne by the person with chronic venous disease and venous ulcer, which is an important limitation to adherence (Franks et al. 2016; Stewart et al. 2018). In fact, these different findings in the subcategory Discomforts / Limitations may explain the low adherence to the use of compression, despite its decisive role in recurrence prevention. Even so, in the subcategory Adherence, we can find from reports of poor use (“…I had been without my stockings for a long time because since Christmas I haven’t put them on very often, so I missed a lot during the whole winter…”) to other participants. E1) to other participants who use compression stockings constantly and effectively (“…the use of the stockings, I don’t spend a day without wearing them, I put them on and walk from morning to night wearing them…”. E7). Elevating my legs, which constituted another category, continues to be recommended by many authors (Brown, 2018; Franks et al. 2016; Probst et al. 2019; Wounds UK, 2015, 2016), advocating that limb elevation favours venous return and, consequently, facilitates the reduction of oedema. Subcategories were also aggregated, according to the type of experience with the act of elevating the legs, as is the case of Benefits experienced (“…when I sat at home I would elevate my legs and immediately felt a relief and I thought it was okay to elevate the mattress of the bed so that I could have my legs higher, as a way to relieve the pain, because sometimes it’s like we have some weights here on our legs.” E9), as well as the Discomforts/Limitations experienced (“… There was a time when I put my leg up (…) but I felt neither better nor worse, I didn’t see any difference…” E5) and their adherence. These findings denote, for some participants, the pain relief and reduction of the feeling of heaviness, while others reported not experiencing any benefit with the elevation of the limbs. In line with this, Brown (2018) warns that the evidence on recurrent limb elevation as a prevention measure is inconclusive, although it seems more relevant when no compression system is used. The categories Moisturizing my legs and Hygiene of my legs, as prevention measures, are closely interconnected. This direct skin care, namely through cleaning and moisturizing, is essential and should occur on a daily basis (Franks et al. 2016; Wounds UK, 2016). In this category, only findings expressing the benefits experienced when moisturizing the limbs were aggregated, namely “Skin becomes much softer and skin does not crack so easily, I think that’s it. (…) skin becomes much more (…)”. E12 or that “The skin feels much softer, and the skin doesn’t crack so easily, I think that’s it. (…) the skin feels much softer and there isn’t that…, because I sometimes see people with scabs, like crusts, dry skin, and a few “little scabs” and I don’t have it, because I use the cream.” E12. In this case, there is a clear reference to the sensation that the skin becomes softer, and they even perceived that, in this way, lesions also do not tend to appear so easily. In this category, there was no reference to discomfort or limitations, so the respective subcategory was not created.

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As for their Adherence, we can see a very large discrepancy in their implementation, from a daily frequency, such as “… I always put cream on my body, and I put it on my legs like I put it on my body, normally. I don’t have that specific concern about the legs, I put it as I put it on the whole body, (…) it’s just so that my skin doesn’t get so dry.” E9, even to other participants who confess little rigour in its implementation, confessing that “… For cream, which I also don’t always put on, you know sometimes I get lazy.” E3. It seems clear that many participants do not see this intervention as a recurrence prevention measure, but rather as something routine, not aware of or related to the other recurrence prevention interventions. In limb Hygiene, there are findings that express a similar experience, but where there is no intentionality in limb hygiene as a prevention measure, as is the case of “Well, it’s like this, I take my socks off when I go to bed, I go take a shower logically…”. E9. Finally, in the category Exercising my legs, most participants did not recognise the existence of specific exercises that promote venous return. They only globally refer to the importance of physical exercise: “Sometimes I hear that walking, hiking on the pavement is good for circulation…”. E1 or “… I do physiotherapy to the leg, at least two days a week I do it, but that’s more because of the hip…” E6. Other participants assumed they were completely unaware of this type of exercise, as is the case of “…but I don’t do that either, because maybe nobody ever told me to do it…”. E7. In fact, participants demonstrate a lack of knowledge about the importance of muscle exercises that promote the function of muscle pumps, such as heel raising exercises on stairs, toe curl movements to pick up a towel, toe extensions, standing stretches or ankle rotation, thus improving the function of the twin muscle (Brown, 2018). The analysis of these issues shows that most participants do not know, in their entirety and in an integrated way, the main measures for the prevention of venous ulcer recurrence. They also seem not to distinguish the importance and functioning of each measure, thus perceiving a set of benefits, but also discomforts/limitations that condition a clearly low adherence (Gomes et al. 2022). The prevention of venous ulcer recurrence should therefore seek to raise awareness about the aetiology of ulcers, ensuring that people understand their chronic condition (Brown, 2018; Stewart et al. 2018), from the moment of the diagnosis of chronic venous disease and after the development of a first lesion (Meulendijks et al. 2020). Lack of knowledge about venous ulcer aetiology and prevention measures compromises adherence to the therapeutic regimen (Probst, Saini, et al. 2020; Probst, Séchaud, et al. 2020). To improve the knowledge deficit, promoting self-care for the prevention of evidence-based venous ulcer recurrence, the person’s therapeutic education will be essential (Brown, 2018; Probst, Saini, et al. 2020; Stewart et al, 2018) and will need to be multifaceted and oriented to the protective factors for preventing recurrence, seeking to increase knowledge about the pathophysiology, aetiology and capacity building on self-care measures aimed at prevention (Bobbink et al. 2020; Probst et al. 2019; Weller et al. 2016).

5 Final Considerations The management of a venous ulcer is far from over after the completion of its healing process, as the chronicity of venous disease that is at its origin implies, in addition to

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continuous surveillance that promotes the implementation of a set of self-care measures aimed at preventing its recurrence (Gomes et al. 2022). Therefore, the prevention of venous ulcer recurrence begins with the bearer’s knowledge of the aetiology of this ulcer, allowing him/her to understand the need for some behavioural changes or the use of different prevention measures. After this understanding, the use of compression is an essential component in the whole process of recurrence prevention and is perhaps the most decisive of the different measures. However, venous return exercises, limb elevation at rest, and skin cleansing and moisturizing are also included, which, when used in an integrated way, reinforce each other, and allow better tolerance of compression. Despite the identification of these prevention measures, too high recurrence rates are reported, which could potentially be avoidable. Associated with the use of prevention measures, venous ulcer patients experience some benefits, but also some discomforts/limitations which prevail over time and allow justifying the high recurrence rates. This will be the nurses’ preferred context of action, due to their proximity to people, to these phenomena, and to self-care interventions. The understanding of this phenomenon of recurrence prevention through phenomenology may allow for the development of different interventions to empower the venous ulcer patient to understand and implement the different measures for recurrence prevention, seeking to limit the difficulties/limitations and enhance the benefits (Gomes et al. 2022). This possibility of intervening in this highly complex phenomenon, which is opened by phenomenology, also reveals the importance and usefulness of this qualitative methodology.

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Clinical Teaching During the Pandemic: Analysing Clinical Judgment Learning in the Undergraduate Nursing Degree with webQDA® Software Fátima Mendes Marques(B) , Sandra Neves , Carlos Pina David , Patrícia Vinheiras Alves , and Maria José Pinheiro Escola Superior de Enfermagem de Lisboa, Avenida Professor Egas Moniz, 1600-190 Lisbon, Portugal [email protected]

Abstract. Introduction: Clinical teaching allows nursing students to develop essential skills for clinical practice, improving individualized care for the person, family, and community. In this real-world context of care, students learn how to make accurate and safe clinical judgments about the care situation in which they are involved. Case-based learning occurs in the context of clinical teaching. Its discussion among students, clinical supervisors, and individual tutors are strategies that promote the development of clinical judgment. The pandemic changed nursing education, conditioning the presence of nursing teachers in clinical contexts and multiple constraints for students. Objectives: To describe the importance of learning clinical judgment in the clinical teaching context of nursing students and to identify the factors that interfere with this learning during the pandemic context. Methods: Qualitative, exploratory, and descriptive study, with data collection occurring through an online focus group with six students in the last clinical course of the Undergraduate Nursing Program. Data analysis was performed by content analysis, according to Bardin, using the webQDA® software. Results: In the dimensions ‘Contributions of Clinical Judgment Learning in Clinical Teaching’, the most appreciated category was ‘Learning Environment’. The most valued category for ‘Factors that Interfere with Clinical Judgment Learning’ was ‘Essence for Action’. Conclusions: Clinical teaching is a privileged space for developing the necessary skills for clinical practice. From the students’ perspective, clinical judgment is essential for adequate nursing intervention. The pandemic impacted clinical judgment learning, having been considered a challenging factor in learning. Keywords: Clinical Teaching · Pandemics · Clinical Judgement · Nursing Students · Qualitative Research · CAQDAS

Teaching is not the transfer of knowledge, but rather creating the possibilities for its production or construction (...) Those who teach, learn by teaching, and those who learn, teach by learning [1] (p. 12).

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 A. P. Costa et al. (Eds.): WCQR 2023, LNNS 688, pp. 314–330, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31346-2_20

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1 Introduction Clinical teaching (CT) for nursing students allows the consolidation of theoretical learning and the development of essential skills for clinical practice [2–6], namely technicalscientific and relational skills, but also the capacity for clinical judgment (CJ) to make decisions, aiming to meet the person’s needs [7]. These skills improve the provision of individualized care to the person, family and community. Immersion, in reality, is essential to continue the acquisition of competencies, skills, and self-knowledge, supporting the learning of CJ [8, 9]. Aiming to provide quality care, nurses continually analyze, prioritize and perform CJ [10]. It is, therefore, critical that, as nursing students transition into the role of general care nurses, the development of CJ be promoted [10, 11]. Experiential learning of particular cases in CT is essential for the evolution of CJ and clinical knowledge [12, 13]. In the literature, the terms ‘clinical judgment’, ‘clinical reasoning’, ‘critical thinking’, ‘diagnostic reasoning’ and ‘decision-making’ frequently appear as synonyms [14– 16], all of which designate thought processes [15]. However, Jessee [17] states that the understanding of the relationships between the concepts ‘critical thinking’, ‘clinical reasoning’ and ‘clinical judgment’ are well established. In this study, we assume the concept of ‘clinical judgment’ as the application of critical thinking in evidence-based clinical practice [18]. CJ is a complex integrative process of discipline-specific knowledge through the cognitive and metacognitive process of clinical reasoning, as opposed to single decision-making accomplished at the end of the reasoning process [13, 19, 20]. In recent decades there has been considerable investment in CJ research, with the emergence of CJ models that guide students in using knowledge and experience to construct their thinking and make the necessary decisions for adequate and safe nursing care [17]. One of the best-known CJ models in nursing is the one by Christine Tanner [13], which promotes four stages: Noticing, Interpreting, Responding, and Reflecting. The conclusions that led to the aforementioned model increased the interest in developing clinical reasoning and CJ in the context of nursing education [17], giving rise to multiple models in this area [21–24]. However, it is common for senior nurses to mention that nursing students and even newly graduated nurses are not ready to meet the demands of clinical practice, namely in preparing a CJ [25]. Also because health contexts are currently characterized by the presence of people with complex clinical situations, with demanding and interdependent dynamics for health teams, with the need for constant updating of knowledge and adequacy of the mode of intervention, as it occurred during the COVID- pandemic 19, which represents an additional challenge for nursing students and professionals. The current young students attending nursing school to obtain an undergraduate degree have, in general, common characteristics that lead us to rethink pedagogical methodologies. They mainly belong to the so-called “generation Z”, which is considered to be predominantly composed of young digital natives, that is, with advanced technological skills, the instantaneous capacity to retrieve and transmit information, quick decision-makers, proficient in communication through technologies (SMS, social networks…), with more developed visual ability and appreciation of the visual forms of learning, focusing more on speed than accuracy [26–30]. This generation also tends to share values related to environmental concern and ethnic diversity and is globally aware

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[26–30]. Considering the characteristics of this generation, the traditional pedagogy alone, with merely expositive and transmissive characteristics, has become insufficient, and it makes sense to focus on a constructivist pedagogy, that is, on a learning process of building the student’s knowledge, with the student as the main protagonist, together with the teacher who appears as a mediator of this process [29, 31–34]. Teaching should be a problematizing activity, not a transmissive one, starting from problem situations, reflection, everything that rouses the students’ mental activity, encouraging them to create, test hypotheses and construct consistent explanations for the world phenomena [29, 31–34]. Therefore, it makes sense that the pedagogical methodologies manage to meet the characteristics of these students, improving their learning, involving and motivating them, being a student-centered process, associated to a constructivist pedagogy. Problemsolving, analysis of relevant cases, questioning, concept mapping, Problem-Based Learning (PBL), simulations, eBooks/electronic study resources and interactive technology are some methodologies and resources that can be used [26, 28–31, 33, 34]. To prepare these students for the reality of the scenarios in which they will practice their profession and for disciplinary development, in the Undergraduate Nursing Program of Lisbon School of Nursing (Escola Superior de Enfermagem de Lisboa, ESEL), in the curricular unit of Decision-Making Process in Nursing, student-centered methodologies are adopted, involving the students as co-responsible and protagonists in the learning process. Based on a constructivist perspective, students are seen as beings under construction and the main agents in the process of building their knowledge, learning at their own pace, identifying their skills, potentialities and limitations [32], aiming to develop the metacognition [33] and train the CJ, predominantly using the PBL methodology [29, 30]. This takes place in small groups, in which the tutor acts as a facilitator in the teaching-learning process. Thus, the intention is to stimulate meaningful learning for the students, preparing them for complex health contexts, so they are able to correlate the previous knowledge with the current knowledge, analyze and interpret situations, form new concepts and behaviors, based on a critical and reflective analysis, which will contribute to an expansion of their knowledge and an adequate response to the challenges and requirements of the clinical contexts and the profession [33]. In the context of CT, it is necessary to have a culture that favors the distribution of people who are the target of care among students, allowing them to develop CJ and emphasizing the prioritization of skills [25]. It is also essential that teachers/supervisors facilitate student learning and include them in the health team as valued members [35]. The learning based on cases that take place in CT, their discussion between students and tutors (teachers and clinical supervisors) and individual tutoring are strategies that promote the development of CJ [35]. In the CT of the Undergraduate Nursing Program in Lisbon School of Nursing (the Plan of Studies requires four years of study, with the CT taking place in the last two years) there are planned moments between groups of students and their professor aimed at the discussion and reflection on situations of care in CT, which we call group tutorial orientations. However, individual orientations are also provided for the debate on care situations in CT, involving students in their cognitive, affective and psychomotor development. In this context, questioning, reflection and feedback are important aspects in constructing the student’s CJ [36, 37]. Questioning

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should be guided in individual processes using questions that promote analysis and synthesis, complemented by specific and immediate feedback on the student’s thinking. To encourage the development of CJ, the teacher has to keep the discussion of the situations at the level of higher-order thinking skills currently necessary for nurses [38], including analysis, evaluation and creativity [39]. This reflection, awareness and control of their mental processes and also of their learning is called metacognition [40–42], constituting the “thinking about thinking” [41]. Metacognition is a guide for solving problems, allowing one to recognize the existence of a problem, delimitate it and establish solutions [40]. The advisor has a crucial role in developing students’ metacognition, as teaching is an important method to create it [40, 43]. The creation of learning journals is also considered by [44] as a strategy to develop students’ CJ, which is requested in CT of ESEL Nursing Program. Problematizing and reflecting on actual problem situations allow students to develop skills for a complex reality, perceiving it from different points of view. It enables students to understand the operation and meaning of the situations experienced by the people they care for [29, 31–34], helping them to develop CJ. In 2020, COVID-19 was recognized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization [45] and changed the lives of everyone and the organization of different areas of society, namely education and health [46]. At ESEL, changes were made in nursing education, which implied the immediate integration of remote learning methodologies [47]. There were also limitations on the presence of nursing professors in CT contexts, which meant that the analysis and reflection on problem situations experienced by the students started to be carried out almost entirely remotely, without the participation of the clinical advisor (due to multiple constraints) [5]. This situation was aggravated by the fact that the teachers had no previous experience in conducting remote tutoring and were unaware of the most appropriate pedagogical methodologies for carrying them out, aiming to maintain student-centered learning, promoting the development of their skills. The reflection on the changes in the operation of contexts and the unpredictability that conditioned the CT of nursing students led to the guiding research questions used in this study: What is the importance of learning CJ for nursing students in CT during the pandemic and what are the factors that influenced it? The objectives of this study are: to describe the importance of learning CJ in the CT of nursing students and to identify the factors that interfere with this learning, during the context of a pandemic.

2 Methodology The formulated investigation question and the objective of the study led us to an investigation situated in a qualitative, descriptive and exploratory paradigm. The research with a qualitative approach allows access to the meanings that the participants attribute to their experience, namely about “people’s lives, lived experiences, behaviors, emotions and feelings, and also research on organizational operation, social movements, cultural phenomena and interaction between nations” [48]. The students’ different perspectives on CJ learning during CT in times of a pandemic and their social context were considered, aiming to understand their individual perceptions [49].

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Data collection was carried out through an exploration and discovery technique called Focus Group (FG), which uses group discussion, promoting the involvement of participants in an active exposition of experiences and comparisons on the phenomenon being studied [50]. This collective and interaction characteristic between the FG participants allows an abundance of information and of perspectives, difficult to access otherwise [49, 51, 52]. The interactions that the FG provides can increase the understanding of the participants’ perceptions on the topic, in a more natural environment than the classic interview [53, 54]. This abovementioned interaction in association with a non-directive, but provocative approach by the moderator, increases the spontaneity of the participants’ attitudes and emotions [50]. Due to the pandemic context and aiming to maintain the safety of participants and researchers, we decided to use videoconferencing [54] to synchronously carry out the FG. [55] report that the use of virtual methods for collecting qualitative research data is an effective means to include target populations, whose participation could otherwise be limited by time, distance and social barriers. The choice of the synchronous format was due to the fact that it allows the participants to interact face-to-face in real time, allowing the dialogue and a freer discussion and an approximation to traditional FGs carried out in person [55]. There are several software options to conduct a FG, and it is important that they be evaluated according to the practical, methodological and ethical requirements of the investigation [52]. For the present study, we wanted a software program that would allow good audiovisual communication, as well as secure real-time communication, that is, easy recording of the audiovisual components, with low user skills and no financial burden related to software acquisition [52], so we chose Microsoft Teams©. The FG took place in August 2021, with a convenience sample [51, 55] consisting of six students from ESEL Nursing Program. The similarity of clinical experiences was taken into account, considering the diversity of CT sites, as a facilitator for group interaction and sharing of information with peers and explanation of their experiences [51, 53]. The clinical teachers suggested potential participants; these were contacted by the researchers, who informed about the study and assessed their interest in participate. There were some refusals, with the main reason being the lack of time. The student selection criteria comprised: (1) to be attending the last CT or (2) having completed the CT less than a month before. One student was attending the last CT course and five had completed it in the end of July. The female gender was predominant, with 66.7% of female participants, and age ranged between 21 and 26 years, with a mean age of 22.5 years. Two researchers participated in data collection, one as a moderator and the other as an assistant, whose role was essentially that of an observer. During the FG, the moderator maintained an impartial behavior, so as not to influence the participants’ discourse; did not interrupt while a participant was speaking and stimulated conversation about topics that were relevant to the investigation [56–58]. Although both researchers took notes, the one who assisted was essentially recording non-verbal information, such as posture, gestures and facial expressions [57, 59]. After the FG, the researchers gathered and assessed the field notes [60], one of which later transcribed the FG.

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The primary and secondary moderator roles help to focus the discussion on what is included in the FG guide, as well as enable the constant evaluation of the entire process of questioning, answering and solving logistical or technical problems [55]. It is recommended that the online discussion on a limited set of topics last between 60 and 90 min [52]. The session lasted 77 min and was fully recorded in audio and video, using the Microsoft Teams© platform. Concomitantly, an audio recording was used to guarantee the collection of all interactions that occurred [53]. The questions that allowed the discussion were: (1) What is the importance of learning CJ by the student in CT? and (2) What factors interfered with the CJ learning? After performing the FG, the recordings were literally transcribed, aiming to translate what happened in the group and allow data analysis. The listening and the visualization by the moderators was a systematic process to certify the quality of the transcripts and the objectivity of data treatment, to maximize the usefulness of the information provided by the participants [51, 53]. Content analysis was the selected methodological strategy and it is frequently used as data analysis method in FG [55]. Thus, we used content analysis in a thematic approach, which from Bardin’s perspective [61], consists of three stages: analysis organization, codification and categorization. In the first one, a fluctuating reading was carried out, and the documents to be analyzed were chosen by their representativeness, exhaustiveness, homogeneity, relevance, as well as their interpretation. Thus, creating the corpus analysis [61]. The codification consisted of separating what was said by the students into thematic units, without previous categories, which expressed the underlying idea in each one. The codification was performed based on Registration Units (RUs). In the categorization, the frequencies were counted, reflecting the intensity of each thematic unit. We used the webQDA® software, a tool widely used in qualitative analysis, because it is easy to use in the organization, analysis and interpretation of data [62–65]. This software has some advantages over other qualitative analysis software, such as compatibility with different operating systems; accessibility to the project via internet connection, without being exclusive to a particular computer; and the availability of interactive instruments that allow sharing tasks. For this reason, it provided the validation of the entire process, allowing other researchers to evaluate, either partially or entirely, the coded categories and their contents [62, 63]. With this tool’s limitations in mind, namely the need to know how to use the software, these were overcome by training on the theme that all researchers carried out [63]. The use of the webQDA® software allowed the codification of the categories, with the review and readjustment of the contents contributing to the content analysis, according to Bardin [61], as reported by Nascimento, Maeda and Egry [64]. Considering its collaborative nature, albeit it is a facilitating tool but does not exclude human codification, two researchers ensured the attribution of codes to the speeches, which the other three researchers validated. Also noteworthy in using this software is the possibility of reducing the subjectivity of the involved researchers, which results in greater precision and systematization [63]. In summary form, we present in Table 1 the data analysis process, the main component of qualitative analysis.

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F. M. Marques et al. Table 1. Description of the data analysis process [66].

Procedure

Support tools

Additional information

1

Transcription of the Focus Group

Microsoft Teams Microsoft Word

Transcript of online Focus Group recording and introduction of field notes

2

Constitution of the corpus analysis

Microsoft Word

Transcription of responses from the Focus Group script and compilation in Microsoft Word Editing responses from the Focus Group script in Microsoft Word

3

Importation of the corpus analysis to webQDA

WebQDA: Internal sources

The edited responses from the Focus Group script were uploaded to webQDA’s internal sources

4

Participants characterization

WebQDA: classifications

Importation of sociodemographic data with ‘Gender’ and ‘Age’

5

Floating reading of the corpus analysis

WebQDA: Internal sources

Clearing the meaning of the corpus analysis

6

Coding and categorization process

WebQDA: codification

Coding of the corpus analysis by two researchers Creation of tree codes

7

Categorization validation

WebQDA: codification

Three other researchers analysed concordance between tree codes and included emerging tree codes

8

Data visualization and interpretation

WebQDA: word cloud, tree codes Microsoft Excel

Creation of a word cloud with the words that appear most frequently Consultation of coding maps with the number of references in each category

Aiming to validate the investigative process, we assessed its credibility [67, 68]. To maintain it, the data were collected through open questions focused on the free expression of the students’ experience and the moderators’ intervention was minimized. The description of the participants in the investigation and the data collection procedures reflect their characteristics. The researchers used transcripts and field notes to make the less clear aspects of the audiovisual recording understandable and to complement them. The methodological procedures were monitored throughout the study and self-correction strategies were used, such as the comparative analysis between the researchers’ inferences and the data [67]. Even though the presented data allowed us to understand the

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learning of CJ and the factors that influenced the students who participated in the FG, with consonance and repetition of the data provided, we considered that a triangulation of data sources was necessary to confirm their saturation [49]. This study is part of an investigation on learning about decision-making in the care process and was approved by the ESEL Ethics Committee (n. 824/2016). Informed consent was requested from all students regarding their participation in the FG and the investigation. The privacy, security, confidentiality and risks associated with using virtual platforms for data collection were considered [55], ensuring the exclusive use of the recordings for this investigation. To guarantee confidentiality, the students’ names were coded with the letter ‘S’ (4th-year student), and a serial number was added. The characterization of gender was also added by using the letters F (for Female) and M (for Male).

3 Results The data analysis process started with the inclusion of the MSWord file in the webQDA® software, which comprised the transcription of the FG, as an internal source of the data to be analyzed. Subsequently, the content analysis was carried out, according to Bardin [61], and the construction of the coding tree was performed, with the emerged dimensions ‘Contributors to Clinical Judgment Learning in Clinical Teaching” and “Factors that Interfere with Clinical Judgment Learning” [64] (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. The coding tree by webQDA® software. Data in Portuguese.

The codification of what was said by the students resulted in 62 RUs, of which 19 correspond to the contributors to CJ learning in CT and 43 to factors that interfere with CJ learning (Table 2). In the dimension “Contributors to Clinical Judgment Learning in Clinical Teaching”, the most valued category was the ‘Learning environment’, with 23 RUs. The most valued category in the dimension “Factors that interfere with Clinical Judgment Learning” was the ‘Essence for action’, with 15 RUs.

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Table 2. Categorization of the contributors and factors that interfere in the learning of clinical judgment of nursing students in clinical teaching. Dimensions

Category

Contributors to clinical judgment learning for clinical teaching

Promotes student autonomy

2

Promotes positive results for the client

2

Essence for action

Factors that interfere with the learning of clinical judgment

Learning environment

Student’s clinical experience Total

Subcategory

RU Subtotal

Intervention basis

5

Promotes decision-making

3

Interpretation of data

3

Interpretation of data

4

Situation of care

9

Pandemic situation

12

Clinical orientation

2

Total 19

43

20 62

62

As ‘Essence for action’, the subcategory “intervention basis” emerged, in which their expressions were: “in my opinion, I think this is the main tool of our action” (S1M) and “I think that clinical judgment turns out to be the construction of the data collection that we perform and then it will also guide us in our interventions, as if they were stepping stones along the way until we get to what we want to achieve, which is to carry out relevant interventions in the patient and in the family” (S2M). The students’ discourses suggest that the CJ is crucial for an adequate nursing intervention. The ‘individualized care’ seems to be based on the fact that “we manage to individualize our interventions (…) in which each case is a case” (S5F). Compared to the “interpretation of data”, the articulation of theoretical knowledge and its application in clinical practice stands out as an essential element for learning CJ: “it is being able to correlate this theory with practice and… to transfer this theory into practice, it is necessary to have this judgment to interpret and make more individualized interventions” (S5F). Regarding “Promotes decision-making”, CJ learning seems to allow the student to select “which interventions we should carry out” (S1M), that is, to make decisions. The CJ learning in CT was considered as something that “Promotes student autonomy”, because if they could not do it, “we would depend on someone to make that judgment for us” (S4F).

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The category “Promotes positive results for the client” also emerged, as “the promotion of autonomy and… That can be achieved through these small pieces that are all combined in our judgment” (S2M). Regarding the “Learning environment”, the ‘pandemic situation’ was a subcategory with an impact on the participants’ discourse. Specifically, the duration of the CT periods, which imposed a condensation of the teaching, as mentioned herein: “Did you have 9 weeks of learning in a medicine context and 9 weeks in a surgery one? I had 6!” (S3F). This condensation of CT seems to have had an effect on CJ learning, as mentioned by the student: “even after compacting, what I find in these two contexts, maybe I need much more autonomous work … I need to condense everything, condense internship hours, condense autonomous work, condense tutorial guidelines” (S3F). The uncertainties of the context of care seem to have interfered with the students’ CJ learning, as “often, they were also the unknown, even for the health professionals who were in this institution” (S5F). The ‘situation of care’ was another subcategory considered in the detailed analysis. CJ seems to be influenced by the context in which care takes place: “because I think the context also greatly influences… Our capacity to predict” (S2M). In addition to the organization and complexity of the context, the level of care for the client also seems to be important: “it has a lot to do with the context in which we are inserted (…) of the health care users we encounter” (S1M). Regarding the ‘clinical orientation’, it emerges as relevant for the student’s CJ learning, through several types of stimuli, whether affective, psychomotor and cognitive: “sometimes even our nurses … if they start talking to and motivating us, and for our development, for our reasoning, we end up finding some situation that makes us reflect upon it and develop” (S6F). The ‘student’s clinical experience’ seems to appear as reduced and constitutes a difficulty in CJ: “I have much more difficulty, I still do, I feel that I still have some difficulty and I need a little more experience” (S4F). The type of reasoning used by the nursing student seems to cause this difficulty, as one participant explains: “predicting requires much greater mental flexibility from us and… a greater number of variables. It also implies more experience and knowledge that we must have… They request more abstract thinking and greater foresight from us, which I think, given our inexperience, we do not have yet” (S2M). This clinical experience does not end with the nursing program but will continue to develop as nursing professionals: “I feel this also comes with experience and despite having already obtained my degree, I am perfectly aware that I will learn a lot more from now on” (S5F).

4 Discussion At CT, the learning of CJ is essential, as it promotes student autonomy; the promotion of positive results for the client is the essence for action. CJ is essential for nursing intervention, as reported by Del’Angelo et al. [69], as it guides decision-making and promotes individualized nursing care. Using the articulation of scientific knowledge with clinical experience, the student initiates a process of interpretation of client data, developing their decision-making process, allowing them to provide individualized nursing care [13]. Based on the knowledge of the ‘reading of the client’ [13], they select interventions to achieve the results expected by the client [70, 71]. This comes from the fact

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that, based on the identification of the client’s needs, it is possible to create a care plan, implement it individually and evaluate the provided care [5], translating it into positive results for the client. In this study, we verified that CT allows the development of CJ learning, and the factors that interfere in this process comprise the student’s experience and the learning environment. This is corroborated by Costa et al. [72] when they state that CJ skills and abilities development begins during academic training. In the learning environment, clinical orientation emerges as a facilitator of this process. Good practices for CJ learning show that clinical orientation is an important dimension, namely through questioning, which is considered a key strategy for the development of CJ [17]. This questioning should be guided in individual processes using questions that promote analysis and synthesis, complemented by specific and immediate feedback on the student’s thinking, aiming to promote student development by guiding their reflection on the knowledge and reasoning process, with the resource of the analysis of the clinical practice situation [13, 25]. These strategies meet the specific characteristics of generation Z [26–30]. It seems that this underlying questioning in the present study can show the promotion of metacognition as a guide for problem solving, allowing the acknowledgement that a problem exists, delineating it and finding solutions [40]. Therefore, significant learning was established for the student, structured in a complex and continuous way, within a circle of questioning and reflection between previous knowledge, new contents and the present situation [33]. However, there are factors that hindered the CJ development process in CT, such as the pandemic situation, which increased the difficulties that students felt. Kerbage et al. [73] report that during the pandemic, students who had their face-to-face CT needed to adapt to new challenges. The pandemic caused restrictions in terms of experiences they could have had (decrease in clinical experiences due to service contingencies) and resources, as well as changes in care policies, which is in line with the perspective of Michel et al. [74]. Although the CT maintained the number of hours, it was necessary to condense them into a smaller number of weeks, which imposed an accelerated and uneven rhythm regarding clinical orientation, tutoring and communication between the involved actors (students, clinical advisor and teacher) [5, 75], defining the evolution of reasoning, namely CJ [17]. This difficulty in reasoning seems to underlie the difficulty in using abstract thinking, especially in this generation, which needs another type of stimulus to improve their reasoning to achieve higher order thinking skills, since they are more aware of what is immediate [30, 76]. For this purpose, a relevant resource is the integration of Socratic questioning [77], which is characterized by being a form of disciplined questioning. It can be used to explore complex ideas in depth, to discuss and analyze concepts, issues and problems, to explore meanings, discover assumptions, to differentiate what we know from what we do not know, which helps students to reflect and think critically and autonomously [77]. This questioning may include exploratory, spontaneous or content-oriented questions, and should be implemented in an atmosphere of mutual respect, acceptance, understanding and a non-judgmental attitude on the part of the teacher, facilitating learning and promoting the student’s self-confidence [32, 77], which will encourage the use of metacognition by the student in the analysis of their thinking and learning process [77].

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Clearly, we cannot disregard the role of teachers in stimulating this reasoning, since, as mentioned by Philips, Duke and Weerasuriya [38], teachers do not always ask questions that promote the development of CJ, a fact that may have happened in the period when this study took place, since it was necessary to make changes to pedagogical methodologies and strategies used in monitoring students’ CT, given the restrictions imposed by the pandemic. The restriction of the teachers’ physical presence in health care contexts and the possible overload resulting from the demands of nursing education and at a personal level [78] may have implications for the pedagogical and tutoring process. Participants in the present study also refer to the unpredictability of the context and health situations as having hindered the development of CJ. These aspects align with what Michel et al. [74] state, i.e., that health services are not prepared how to work collaboratively during a health emergency and their lack of knowledge when facing a distinctive and unpredictable health situation [5]. The emotional impact of the pandemic such as stress, anxiety and fears [79], and changes in health contexts [74] will have been experienced by students, but also by teachers and clinical supervisors, which may have influenced the development of CJ [80]. The interruption of the nursing students’ internships during the pandemic harmed their mental health [7]. All these facts have caused uncertainty, impacting the development of the CJ, and constituting a challenge to the training of nursing students. The context in which this care takes place, either because of its organization or because of the complexity of health care, interferes with CJ learning; however, it is not possible to determine whether they were a facilitating or hindering factor in their learning, which is in line with Jessee [17], who warns that the factors that can play a role in promoting student learning in CT are the partnerships between higher education institutions and the context of practice [74]. In this study, this aspect was conditioned by the impossibility of having face-to-face guidance with the involved actors (student, clinical advisor and teacher) due to the pandemic situation [74]. Also regarding clinical orientation, considered an element that promotes learning [17], it was necessary to adjust the guidance strategies between the teacher and the student, which started to be carried out mostly remotely. That leads us to question whether it was feasible to implement the principles of constructivism, which privileges student-centred and meaningful learning, and the dimension of its impact on learning [26–30, 32, 33]. This study has several limitations. First, data were collected from only one FG of ESEL students who experienced CJ learning in CT during a pandemic. The investigation could be based on methodological triangulation, such as interviews or more FG and data triangulation with different sources of information, involving, in addition to the student, other actors participating in the learning process, such as the teachers and the clinical supervisors [49]. Second, it was a convenience sample, which, together with the methodology used, did not allow extrapolation of the results.

5 Final Considerations CT allows nursing students to develop essential skills for clinical practice, promoting individualized care for the person, family and community. In this actual care context,

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students learn how to make accurate and safe CJs about the care situation in which they are involved. It is verified that the context in which the student’s clinical experience took place greatly impacted CJ learning, with the pandemic being considered a challenging factor in the learning context. Positive feedback seems to be evident in a continuous cycle of mutual subsidy between the development of the CJ and the CT. The qualitative methodology for the interpretation, comparison and synthesis of what was mentioned by the students, provided data on the importance of learning CJ in CT and the factors that influence it, allowing the envisioning of pedagogical strategies for its development. This investigation provides information about CJ learning in CT. It allowed the teaching team to reflect on and consider the implementation of student-centered pedagogical strategies, which promote higher order critical thinking and CJ learning, given the challenges of the contexts and characteristics of generation Z. Although we cannot extrapolate the results of this investigation, they can promote a reflection on CJ learning in CT in nursing education. The use of pedagogical methodologies that promote the development of CJ, adapted to current times and clinical contexts, has implications on quality nursing practice. Due to the scarcity of research on the effect of the pandemic on nursing students who remained in CT in the context of care practice in Portugal, this study could be used as the basis for future studies on the subject. Simultaneously, the results and limitations of this investigation may generate new studies on CJ learning by nursing students in CT. It is proposed that future studies on CJ learning integrate the perspective of the multiple authors involved in the process, such as students, teachers, clinical supervisors and clients.

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Methodological Dilemmas of Virtual Ethnography in the Field of Health Research Vestina Vainauskien˙e(B) Kaunas University of Technology, 44239 Kaunas, Lithuania [email protected]

Abstract. In the context of Health 4.0, cutting-edge healthcare technologies are being developed and implemented. The global pandemic has further highlighted the importance of virtual communication and online knowledge sharing. This context creates the need to study patients’ behavior in virtual environments. One of the most common approaches to studying individuals operating in virtual reality is virtual ethnography. Researching sensitive and often confidential health-related topics in a virtual context poses methodological dilemmas that require informed choices by the researcher. This paper aims to discuss the methodological choices made in virtual ethnography’s application in online health communities and to reflect on their implementation. To achieve the purpose of the study, the design of a virtual ethnography study, which aimed to understand the knowledge-sharing behavior of patients operating in online health communities, and the methodological solutions specifically necessary for this context are presented. In addition, it is discussed how the researcher’s methodological decisions were reflected when conducting the research and data analysis. The study was carried out on the Facebook platform in five closed groups of Lithuanian patients with chronic diseases such as migraine, thyroid diseases, diabetes and asthma. The observational method was used for data collection. The Research Ethics Committee approved the study. The conducted research and the author’s reflection on the construction and implementation of virtual ethnography research design in health-related topics reveal aspects of the development of virtual ethnography in health research. Keywords: Virtual ethnography · Online health communities · Methodological decisions

1 Introduction In the context of Health 4.0, cutting-edge healthcare technologies are being developed and introduced. The global pandemic has further highlighted the importance of virtual communication and sharing knowledge on social networks for patients and healthcare systems. At the intersection of these two transformative developments, the physical interaction between healthcare professionals and patients as the primary form of chronic disease monitoring and management is replaced by interactions through digital health technologies. This context creates the necessity to explore patients’ behavior in virtual © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 A. P. Costa et al. (Eds.): WCQR 2023, LNNS 688, pp. 331–348, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31346-2_21

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environments to meet their changing needs and expectations and shape and ensure their health behaviors. It has become commonplace for patients with chronic diseases to join health communities operating on social networks [1]. The significance and importance of online health communities for chronically ill patients are highlighted by the fact that they satisfy the need for social relationships [2]. Patients having 24/7 access to the community and communication with other patients experiencing the same pain, stress, and course of the disease satisfy their needs for altruism, social support and empathy, helping others with their knowledge and experience, and at the same time gaining new knowledge and improving the quality of their life with chronic illness [2]. These online communities provide an accessible way to share knowledge. By sharing knowledge acquired from other community members, patients receive information that expands their own knowledge [1]. In this way, knowledge is “grown”, which increases the ability of patients in the community to adequately self-care in their daily lives. Online health communities can be classified as virtual communities of practice, defined as informal groups of individuals who come together in a virtual environment to discuss and share their knowledge in a specific area of interest [3, 4] and thus to co-create knowledge [5]. While interacting, less experienced members learn from more experienced community members and each other. Virtual ethnography is one of the most commonly used methodologies to study individuals operating in virtual reality. Hine (2008) refers to virtual ethnography as the ethnography of online communities [6]. This is a relatively new type of ethnography, but one that has been intensively developed and applied in works from a variety of disciplines [7, 8], where the aim is for the researcher to immerse themselves in a virtual world created by the research participants to understand how they experience social interaction [9]. From a health research perspective, the use of virtual ethnography in healthcarerelated topics has intensified in the last decade, exploring aspects of healthcare professionals’ education [7, 10–12]; social networks as a means to disseminate professional health information [13]; and studying the behavior of such sensitive populations as patients in virtual space [14–16]. In the context of these works, Heyes (2016) and Pope (2005) stand out where the former analyses the implementation of virtual ethnography methodology in the study of patients as vulnerable individuals [15, 17]; while the latter explores the application of ethnography in medical settings. Both works raise questions about implementing virtual ethnography and ethnography in general in the study of health-related topics and discuss researchers’ experiences implementing this methodology. Even though the virtual ethnography approach can already be described as a traditional methodology for studying online health communities, there is a lack of research papers exploring the application of virtual ethnography to these communities. In the experience of the author of this paper, researching sensitive and often confidential health-related topics in virtual contexts poses methodological dilemmas that require informed choices on the part of the researcher. In the author’s opinion, methodological solutions to these dilemmas and their evidence-based reflection in actual case-based research could contribute to the methodology development. Therefore, this paper aims

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to discuss the methodological choices in the application of virtual ethnography in the case of online health communities and to reflect on their implementation. The article is structured in such a way that it first reveals the emerging methodological dilemmas for the researcher in constructing a research design for virtual ethnography. It then discusses the choices made by the author of the paper and reflects on implementing these choices in the study of natural online health communities. The synthesis of these aspects reveals facets of the development of virtual ethnography in health research. The author hopes their identification will draw attention to the aspects of virtual ethnography methodology to be developed for researching sensitive and confidential health topics and initiating scholarly discussion.

2 The Procedure of Virtual Ethnography in the Field of Health Research The implementation of virtual ethnography, which has become a classic approach in scholarly work, involves the researcher entering the community, collecting and interpreting data, ensuring research ethics, members checking the findings, and the researcher leaving the community [18–20]. The scientific debate is undeveloped on the procedure of virtual ethnography in health research. Therefore methodological decisions are needed at crucial stages of the implementation of virtual ethnography that are specifically relevant to studying patients in online health communities. In the field of health research, at many stages of this process, the researcher is faced with the need to make decisions considering that the units of analysis of the research are patients. They are physically vulnerable due to their disease and emotionally distressed, and their circumstances involve cognitive uncertainty [21]. It is, therefore, crucial not to increase the patient’s physical, emotional and cognitive vulnerability during the study and to ensure anonymity and confidentiality. In addition, the ethical requirement for qualitative research that subjects engage voluntarily and are not discouraged from sharing their knowledge in online health communities or exploited must be ensured [22]. These conditions are relevant in the first three stages of the implementation of virtual ethnography and make the researcher seek clear and effective methodological solutions to secure a smooth research process. 2.1 Researcher’s Entry into the Community: Informed Consent Kozinets (2002) uses the strategy of ‘lurking’ to enter the community, where the researcher does not share knowledge but is a passive observer [18]. In this way, the researcher gets to know the community and identifies a strategy to receive permission for full participation in the community. The chronically ill patient as the unit of analysis of the study and the fact that the study is carried out on an online platform brings a different specificity to the entry into the online health community regarding informed consent. Research on medical topics requires informed consent [23], so observation cannot be tolerated, even to familiarize oneself with an online health community. Facebook is not only the largest social network globally but has also been identified in academic papers as a crucial tool for building support and providing emotional and

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informational support for health communities and patients with chronic diseases [24, 25]. As a result, many online health communities, especially those classified as patient-led, develop and operate on this social platform. In many cases, online health communities are closed, and therefore, the information they contain cannot be treated as public. Thus, researchers can only enter the community and carry out research having acquired informed consent. The dynamic nature of online health communities, where others replace some members during the study period, and the fact that they have a large number of members, further complicate the task of ensuring informed consent, as the approval of every patient in an online health community is simply not possible. Meanwhile, in the context of the ethnographic methodology, the debate focuses on the meaningfulness of informed consent, not on the procedure for obtaining it. Although research ethics dogmatically demands formal informed consent, this requirement does not correspond to the specificity of ethnographic research. Delamont, Atkinson (2018) explain this ethical dilemma by arguing that the nature of ethnographic analysis is iterative and emergent in the research process, which renders informed consent meaningless as the outcome of the ethnographic study is simply unpredictable and uncertain, and therefore, by definition, subjects are not informed about what process and outcome they are consenting to [26]. Thus, a fully informed consent is simply impossible [26, 27]. In the scope of social media research, Townsend & Wallace (2016) argue that in online social spaces, where groups have a large number of members and non-public information is posted, informed consent is usually sought from the administrator of the group, who is the person representing the interests of the community members. However, the procedure for obtaining such consent is not detailed [28]. 2.2 Data Collection: The Role of the Researcher Kozinets (2002) identifies two ways of collecting data in virtual ethnography: the researcher uses live data provided by the subjects and the data available in the virtual environment; the researcher uses his/her fieldnotes, which he/she has made by observing the communities, their members, and the interactions between them [18]. Traditionally, in the context of ethnographic methodology [29], both types of data collection are implemented through an observational data collection approach, by observing the social interaction of the subjects in their natural physical setting or virtual environment. The role of the researcher in conducting research based on ethnographic methodology is paramount as it epistemologically requires that the researcher immerses himself/herself in the culture of an online health community and in overt or covert interaction with participants in the environment natural to them, is highly skilled at noticing, absorbing and interpreting the information [30]. When designing a research methodology, the researcher can choose between one of two role strategies [31]: • ensuring maximum objectivity by taking on the role of a complete observer or the role of an observer as researcher participating in a community discussion; • subjectively engaging with the community, either as a complete participant of the virtual community or as a participant-as-observer.

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Each of the choices results in the generation of ample and exhaustive data which help understand the investigated phenomenon or its context, while the observation process has to involve reflexivity on the researcher’s part [30]. The choice of the researcher’s role strategy is determined not only by the specific aspects of the research object, but also by the amount of time planned for the observation [32]. If the research objective requires researcher’s long-term engagement, the researcher-as-participant or participant-as-observer strategy is recommended [32]. Delamont and Atkinson (2019) highlight the complexity of the researcher’s choice of their role in the context of ethnographic research, arguing that during the observation of a chosen social group over a period of time its social contours inevitably change: some participants in the group are central, while others are peripheral; certain members are opinion leaders or occupy a position of formal authority, others are in a position of subordination; some members of a social group are long-term participants, others migrate constantly [26]. Whichever researcher role strategy is chosen, the ever-changing contours of the social group mean that he/she becomes the controller of the group members, as it were, withdrawing from control over the implementation of the research itself, and is, consequently, likely to feel uncomfortable and insecure with the everchanging researcher role. Therefore, according to Delamont, Atkinson (2019), there is an ethical dilemma for the researcher not only to protect the subjects, but also to protect himself/herself from the negative effects of role imbalance [26]. These insights suggest that regardless of which role the researcher chooses in performing ethnographic research, long-term engagement in observation (which is particularly characteristic of this data collection method) will condition the researcher to balance between the two poles of the researcher role. In health research, Pope (2005) explains this balancing act by arguing that when exploring health-related topics using ethnographic research methodology, the role of the researcher is neither static nor fixed: at the beginning of the research, the researcher, if he/she is not a health professional, is an objective complete observer; over time, as he/she becomes increasingly involved in observing the subjects’ interactions in the context of close proximity to the subjects, the role of the researcher shifts towards the subjective pole [17]. However, in health research, the researcher has virtually no choice which role to take at the first stage of the virtual ethnography study, as the informed consent obtained at this stage of the study to ensure anonymity and confidentiality of the patients means that the researcher can only start the observation with the knowledge of the members of the online health communities. Therefore, the role cannot be that of a complete observer. Also, the researcher cannot fully participate in patient discussions (participant) if he/she has no exposure to and knowledge of the problems of patients with a specific disease or is not an expert in medical content. Yet, given that observations in ethnographic contexts tend to take place over a relatively long period of time, it is likely that the boundaries between the observer (at the beginning of the research) and the participant (once the researcher is engaged) will blur. In the context of virtual ethnography, this boundary is likely to blur more quickly since online health communities, as already mentioned, are highly dynamic. Their 24/7 accessibility rapidly generates the data relevant to the researcher and

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accelerates the researcher’s engagement with the research setting, building the researcher knowledge on the topic under investigation. Finlay (2002) suggests using a reflective approach to direct the researcher back to his/her established objective role in the research [33]. According to Mohler, Rudman (2022), critical reflexivity of researcher subjectivity allows him/her to critically address the choice of research approach, i.e. the principal premises and research results and to define the contributions and limitations created by the researcher subjectivity [34]. Finlay (2002) categorizes reflexivity as intersubjective reflection, introspection, mutual collaboration, and social critique [33]. Intersubjective reflection focuses on reflecting on the researcher’s relationship with the research subjects during the study and identifying the challenges arising from that relationship. Meanwhile, reflexivity as introspection reflects the qualitative researcher’s immersion in the data where ongoing self-reflection centers on uncovering the connection between knowledge claims, personal experiences of participants and researchers, and the social context [33–35] in the process of developing theory. Reflexivity as mutual collaboration is directed to “hearing” different opinions and conflicting positions in qualitative research, while reflexivity as social critique focuses on balancing the power relationship between the researcher and the research participants [35]. The types of reflexivity can overlap. When constructing a research methodology in health research, the researcher should not concentrate on choosing his/her role during the research, but on selecting the type/types of reflexivity and constructing a procedure for their application to step back and re-state the boundaries of the relationship when the boundaries start to blur. 2.3 Data Analysis and Interpretation: Raw Data De-identification In health research, de-identification of patient data is one of the biggest challenges to ensure patient anonymity and confidentiality in the delivery of healthcare and in recording patient data in electronic health systems, in the sharing of knowledge between institutions and in the study of patients from a variety of different perspectives in science, health technology, and the development of pharmaceutical products [36–38]. The methodology of ethnographic research emphasizes that ethnography is both a process and a concrete textual outcome. This duality raises the ethical dilemma of differentiating between the process of ethnographic research itself and the textualization of the results obtained [27, 39]. The assurance of anonymity and confidentiality in the presentation of research findings in publications and the decontextualization of research results often also entail the risk of over-generalization, whereby unique research findings peculiar to the social groups or members of the social groups under investigation are lost. The loss of important research findings in generalizing is also emphasized by Zou et al. (2021), who argue that the increasing level of de-identification of patient data leads to their decreasing usability, and that full anonymization of the data is indicative of a minimal usability of patient health data [36]. Huh et al. (2016) use a persona-based segmentation method to identify and characterize four patient roles in online health communities [40]. Online identity (OI) encompasses the configurations of characteristics defining an individual in the online space,

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which also differentiate them from other Internet users [41]. In most cases, an individual’s online identity is not identical to his/her real-life identity, as the latter is conditioned by factors immutable and beyond control (e.g. nationality, gender, age, etc.). However, modern information technologies provide a myriad of tools for selective construction of online identities [42]. In other words, the identity created in the virtual space is the individual’s role, or persona, representing the individual’s desired characteristics on online platforms. Huh et al. (2016) identify four personas of participants in online health communities and divide them into two main categories: receivers of knowledge/information, variations of which are opportunists and adventurers, and givers of knowledge/information, variations of which are caretakers and scientists [40]. It is noteworthy that, according to the above-mentioned authors, the personas identified for members of online health communities are dynamic rather than static, mutually inclusive and transitory: at any point in time, the members of an online health community may exhibit the characteristics of several roles and may move between them in the course of time. The evolution of personas over time usually reflects the trajectory of disease development, from a recently diagnosed patient to a patient who is experienced and manages his/her disease. In the research of online health communities, over-generalization of raw data essentially means that the characteristic behavior of the personas in the community will be lost, and that changes in them over the period of observation will not be captured. However, according to the Code of Research Ethics, patients are a vulnerable group for the reasons given above. The implementation of research based on virtual ethnography methodology entails the collection of information that can help determine the real identity of the patient (e.g. a person can be identified from an IP address, from a social networking questionnaire and the information it contains, from job details; from the information obtained by linking some big data), whereby increasing their physical, emotional and cognitive vulnerability. Thus, when planning a virtual ethnography study in the field of health, there is no question of whether to de-identify the data, but rather a dilemma as to when to do this so that as little as possible of the information relevant to answering the research questions is lost – in the process of collecting the data, or after the collection of the qualitative data? Following the Code of Research Ethics, subjects must be given the opportunity to refuse to participate in the study during the research and have the right to request the deletion of any data related to him/her that was recorded during the observation. Thus, if the researcher de-identifies the data in the process of collection, it becomes extremely difficult to trace that back to a specific unit of analysis. In contrast, de-identification of data after the collection phase generalizes the patterns of social interaction of patients in an online health community where generalized models of behavior/interaction can be extracted at the data analysis stage for individual personas. However, valuable qualitative research findings are likely to be lost as it becomes impossible to specify persona dynamics in particular situations.

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3 Methodological Solutions for the Implementation of Virtual Ethnography The dilemmas discussed for the implementation of virtual ethnography were faced by the author in constructing a research methodology that sought to understand the personabased knowledge-sharing behavior of chronically ill patients in online health communities by answering the research question: what is the knowledge shared by chronically ill patients in online health communities? To achieve this aim, the implementation of virtual ethnography discussed above has been taken as a basis for making methodological choices specifically relevant to the study of online health communities. 3.1 The Researcher’s Entry into the Community The social network Facebook was chosen for the selection of online health communities. Two criteria were used to select the communities: the prevalence of chronic disease and the number of posts over the previous month. Lithuanian online health communities were studied. Five chronic diseases were selected from the following groups: heart failure, diabetes/gestational diabetes, allergy and cancer. It should be noted that the author had to broaden the search field as some chronic disease groups could not be found on the Facebook Platform (e.g. heart failure), while administrators of other disease groups did not respond to the call for participation or refused to participate in the study due to the sensitivity of the topic (e.g. cancer). If more than one patient community with a specific chronic disease was found on Facebook, the group with the highest number of posts over the previous month was selected. Using these selection criteria, 12 online health communities of chronically ill patients on the Facebook Platform were selected, from which five closed groups of patients with the following chronic conditions agreed to participate in the study: thyroid diseases, migraine, type 1 diabetes, diabetes and asthma. The procedure for obtaining informed consent: 1. For a researcher to enter an online health community, its administrator is provided with detailed information about the study (description of the study, details and emphasis on the rights of community members to withdraw from the study, procedures for refusal to participate and withdrawal from the study, principles of de-identification of the collected data, etc.) and, in the case of consent for the study to take place in their community, they are asked to sign an e-form of consent. 2. When the researcher enters the community, he/she gives a detailed presentation of the research to the community members and provides the participants with a research information form. A less formal presentation of the research, highlighting the main aspects of the research, is also provided as accompanying information. The latter presentation was expected to reduce the barrier between the researcher and the community members, allowing the researcher to successfully integrate into the observed community and the community members to identify the researcher amongst other members of the community.

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3. It is expected that due to the potential turnover of members in online health communities, the researcher will “bring forward” detailed information about the research once a week during the study period in the main discussion window, so that new members will also notice it, receive detailed information and have the opportunity to opt-out of the study. There is a possibility that community members exposed to detailed information about the study will refuse to participate in it. Actions to manage this risk are the following: a) As part of the presentation of the study, community members were provided with a link to an electronic form to opt out of the study. Twelve observed members of the online health communities refused to participate in the study. If a community member refuses to participate after the presentation of the study, a list of those who opted out is compiled, and the data they provide in the online patient community are not tracked or recorded. It is important to note that those who refused to take part in the study did not leave the community and continued to participate in the discussions. This suggests that the detailed description of the study and the fact that the study was approved by the research ethics committee gave confidence to the chronically ill people that their knowledge-sharing behavior would not be recorded in the researcher’s notes. b) If a community member withdraws from the research during the course of the study period, the participant expresses his/her wish to withdraw either to the group administrator, who will forward this information to the researcher, or by directly contacting the researcher via an e-mail or Facebook message. The participant is added to the list of the members who do not wish to participate in the study, and the data provided by the participant in the online patient community are no longer tracked or recorded. Upon request, all the data related to the participant will be removed from the tracking forms. There were no withdrawals during this study. 3.2 Data Collection To meet the research objective, an observational data collection method was used, with the researcher’s role being observer-as-participant. Members of the online health community are aware of the fact that their activities in the community are monitored by the researcher for a specific period of time, and the researcher is only minimally involved in the discussion and only when this is necessary for the research. The design of discussions in online communities includes posts by members seeking specific information, sharing knowledge or simply initiating a relevant discussion, and contributions by members responding to, commenting on, reacting to a post or raising new questions. Therefore, the study uses the manifestations of knowledge-sharing posted on the timeline of the online health community – posts, comments, reactions, shares – the analysis and interpretation of which allow for understanding the knowledge-sharing behavior of the patients participating in the groups through the lens of the personas at play in the communities. The manifestations of knowledge-sharing are uploaded into an e-form prepared by the researcher.

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At their core, online health communities are virtual communities of practice where specific knowledge products (e.g. blogs, discussions, surveys, personal conversations) are created through knowledge-sharing activities [43, 44]. In these communities, all of the published content are manifestations of knowledge-sharing. As a result, all, rather than selected, information is recorded in the researcher’s notes. It is, therefore, crucial for the researcher to maintain the chosen role not in recording information, but in avoiding involvement in the discussion and influencing the natural course of the discussion. During the observation, the intersubjective type of reflection has been used, with the idea that when the researcher feels like engaging in a discussion, he/she reflects on his/her own objective attitude towards the participants and publishes the information relevant only to the course of the study. 3.3 Analysis and Interpretation of the Data Once the researcher has completed the observation and moved on to the data analysis and interpretation phase, the first step is to de-identify the raw data. At the end of the data collection phase, the collected data are de-identified, i.e. the information elements that can identify a research participant are removed (eliminated by blacking out/deletion). Further, only de-identified data is used to reveal patterns of knowledge-sharing behavior of patient personas in the online health communities. To aggregate and analyze the collected data, the qualitative data analysis software package MaxQda 2022 was used, implementing the following logic of qualitative data analysis: • Constructing an analytical plan based on deductive coding. The content of the knowledge-sharing was represented by predefined dimensions of the patients’ knowledge structure – factual, conceptual, procedural and metacognitive knowledge. The coding is also performed with the view that this knowledge can be manifested in healthcare, disease prevention, health promotion, and digital health, indicative of patient health literacy. • Detailed reading of texts to discover themes in the text that respond to the aim of the study and to observe patterns in the knowledge-sharing behaviors of chronically ill patients to identify their personas. • Evaluation and synthesis of qualitative data when the text fragments supporting the codes in the analytical plan and the latent meanings of the texts are coded, thus analytically compressing the qualitative data generated during the observation. To ensure the reliability of the coding, an intra-coder approach based on the temporal consistency of the coder [45] was applied. • Visualization of the codes using the functions offered by the software. 3.4 Other Stages To fully ensure the ethical principles of virtual ethnography research, three aspects were taken into account: the legal and ethical requirements of Facebook as a social platform, the principle of confidentiality and anonymity of the patients involved, and the ethical principles of qualitative research.

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The observational study of the knowledge-sharing behavior of online health communities took place over a relatively long period of time (June-September 2021), with some communities being large in terms of both the number of active members and the number of posts, and with the researcher’s involvement being maximized, saturation of the qualitative data in answering the research aim was achieved. Therefore, the member-check phase was not organized. The specificity of virtuality means that even if the researcher is not engaged in the discussion and does not take any other action apart from observation, the members of the virtual community seem to feel that they are being watched (the telepresence phenomenon). Therefore, once the raw data had been collected, analyzed and interpreted, it was communicated to the online health communities that the study was over.

4 Implementing Virtual Ethnography: Did Methodological Solutions Work? 4.1 Results of the Study The analysis of the data has shown that the most active knowledge sharers during the observation period were those members of the online health communities under investigation who were in the personas of caretaker (245) and adventurer (196). Members of the communities in the persona of the scientist (56) were neither active nor passive in their knowledge-sharing activities. In contrast, opportunists were passive in knowledgesharing activities (7). After analyzing and interpreting the manifestations of knowledgesharing, aggregate patterns of knowledge-sharing behaviors emerged for patients in online health communities: • The persona of the caretaker stimulates the creation of tacit knowledge in the community in all areas of health literacy through emotional support by sharing factual, conceptual, procedural and metacognitive knowledge accumulated through long-term experience of chronic disease management. • The persona of the scientist shares procedural and metacognitive knowledge in healthcare with the community by structuring and conceptualizing the knowledge. • The persona of the adventurer reviews and integrates explicit knowledge in the community to develop an algorithm for health decision-making, by sharing procedural knowledge in the areas of healthcare and health promotion. • All of the personas in some way apply the knowledge they have gained in the online health community to their health behavior. However, in the online health community, the internalization of knowledge is most stimulated by the knowledge-sharing behavior of the opportunist. This persona often has only a basic knowledge of chronic disease and little relevant experience, but the basic knowledge shared in the online health community and the reactions of other members of the community to this knowledge become the basis for the development of the primary health behavior patterns needed for everyday health decision-making. It is noteworthy that the methodological choices allowed the authors not only to answer the research question, but also to reveal the diversity of the studied online health

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communities in terms of knowledge-sharing activity and to see the correlation between the knowledge-sharing activity and the phase of the life cycle of the community1 . The type 1 diabetes and diabetes communities were the most active in terms of knowledge-sharing, with their active members (206 and 660 respectively)2 and the number of posts (78 and 154 respectively) indicating that these are communities in their formative phase and therefore rapidly generating discussion. The migraine and shingles communities, in terms of the number of active participants (3250 and 13456, respectively) and the relatively low number of entries (82 and 255, respectively), can be attributed to the mitotic phase, when the communities are full of targeted members and have reached their maximum potential for knowledge-sharing activity. In contrast, the asthma community exhibits characteristics of the inception phase, with low numbers of active members and low numbers of entries during the observation period (145 and 11, respectively). Thus, the most active knowledge-sharing interactions between members of an online health community occur during the mitotic phase. Therefore, to investigate the activity of knowledge-sharing, it is appropriate for the researcher to use the characteristics of the mitotic phase of the life cycle as one of the community selection criteria. 4.2 Putting Methodological Solutions into Practice The Procedure for Obtaining Informed Consent. In implementing the methodological choices for the virtual ethnography study to investigate online health communities, the planned informed consent procedure had to be modified because the administrators of five (out of the six) selected groups wanted the researcher to organize a poll in the community to ask the community whether the members consented/refused to participate in the study before the administrators agreed to the participation. In all the cases, the vast majority of members, when presented with the details of the study, were in favor of the study, and only then did the group administrators consent to the publication of information about the study in the group. This step in the process of obtaining informed consent, which was not foreseen in the study design, counteracted potential resistance from the participants in all five groups before the start of the study, as the potential participants had the opportunity to express their personal views rather than relying on the subjective opinion of the administrators. Meanwhile, the administrator of the sixth online community for women with gynecological conditions agreed to the conduct of the study in her online community without any further action. When the researcher published information about the study and that the study would be conducted in this group, detailing the procedures for opting out of the study, there was an overwhelming opposition to it, as illustrated by the following few of the many authentic opinions received. This group was not investigated. Hold on, hold on, who is it coordinated with? Who gave the consents? You must be joking. I wonder how they are going to recognize the comments of those who are not involved? They will steal all the info and present it as they see it fit. You can already delete comments, 1 Source: https://www.feverbee.com/building-an-online-community/. 2 Here and in Sect. 4.1, the figures presented are for the observation period.

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delete posts. Because only members can’t take posts out of the group, but someone else can take everything and use it as they wish. I don’t want to participate. Are you serious? I don’t want to participate, my health is my personal, intimate matter and my consent information cannot be collected! The author’s experience with this study suggests that the informed consent procedure should focus primarily on the presentation of the study to the group administrators and their permission to release information about the study and to conduct a poll to ask the members whether they object to this type of study. Only if the overwhelming majority of those who respond do not object, the group administrator should be asked to sign the informed consent. The author’s experience also shows that when sensitive topics are explored, it is still important to find a way to “hear” the patient’s personal opinion on participation in the discussion, as the administrator of a patient-led online health community seems to be more of a formal person, responsible for setting up the community and creating the rules for the discussion (Selling medicines in the group is forbidden because the group has already received a warning. We wouldn’t want the group to be banned, would we?) rather than making decisions representing the members (But really, why doesn’t the group admin take care of things??). Ensuring the Chosen Role of the Researcher. When the qualitative data collection through observation began, the researcher did not feel the need to express her opinion and to move from the role of an objective participant to a subjective participant in the online health community, as she had not personally experienced the situations discussed in the focus groups and simply did not have an opinion. However, as she immersed into the situations experienced and shared by the members of the online health communities, routine chronic illness problems and traditional and unique ways of dealing with them, the researcher’s subjective opinion began to emerge in relation to the context – a chronic disease – common for the members of the online health communities under investigation. In addition, the researcher was the person who saw the whole picture of the shared knowledge, not just isolated fragments, as did the members of the communities observing only at certain points in time and only what was relevant. This led to the researcher, as she was observing the manifestations of knowledge sharing, wishing to remind the participants that something had already been discussed, i.e. that certain information had already been given or how to react to some situation related to their chronic disease. It is noteworthy that Covid’19 vaccines were widely discussed globally during the observation time. The online health communities under investigation were also affected by this issue, and in the summer of 2021, there was intense debate on whether to get vaccinated or not. This topic was very engaging for the community, with highly controversial, offensive and highly subjective opinions being expressed. Some of the many opinions: I categorically refuse (and there will be more of us) to use the services of the unvaccinated or that they’d provide services or work in any sector... Instead of discussing vaccines, you should learn more about the disease, its course and consequences. Then decide what you choose.

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Your comment smacks of a lie, none of the doctors I know speak out against vaccinations and none of them have ever had one. This not only accelerated knowledge-sharing, but also affected the researcher’s need to express her subjective opinion. Yet, the researcher managed not to intervene in the natural discussion among community members. She also did not observe the subjects sensing the presence of the researcher in the communities (the telepresence phenomenon) – this was not reflected in the knowledge-sharing behavior, and the researcher did not receive any personal attention. This is probably due to the dynamic nature of online health communities – discussions without time constraints (24/7) do not engage community members too much, and the information provided is like “fast food” for making a decision related to a current health issue. There is simply no time and/or no time to think about community-based research. In all these cases, the researcher used intersubjective reflection, reminding herself of her chosen role as a researcher in the community, which worked because she did not step outside the boundaries of her chosen role. Reflection is a process requiring not only awareness and self-reflection, but also time resources, when the actual conduct of virtual ethnographic research is extremely time-consuming and demands maximum engagement. Intersubjective reflection lacks specific techniques that are fast enough to be applied, lead to maximum efficiency and are oriented towards the qualitative researcher conducting research online. Data De-identification. The stated aim of the study was achieved by uncovering fixed patterns of knowledge-sharing behavior for the personas of the caretaker, scientist, opportunist and adventurer. However, it should be noted that the results of the study would have been more in-depth if it had been possible to identify the simultaneous manifestation of the different personas and the pattern of knowledge-sharing behavior that this combination produces, as well as the point in the discussion at which a particular participant in the study transitioned from one persona to a different one. To do this, data should be de-identified only after the knowledge manifestations of individual research participants have been categorized according to persona characteristics, and the combinations of personas used by specific research participants in the online health community identified. Thus, de-identification of the data immediately after the study allowed for the aggregate identification of persona-based knowledge sharing behavioral patterns, but not the combinations of personas applied by the study participants during the observation. To maximize the depth of analysis of raw data when applying virtual ethnography in health research, it is important to apply solutions that allow for first synthesis and then de-identification of the data, without violating the patients’ rights to confidentiality and anonymity.

5 Conclusions and Future Research Directions Studying patients as a vulnerable group to understand their behavior in a virtual environment is a challenge for the researcher, not only because of the sensitivity of the topics to be discussed and the necessity to “immerse” oneself in the everyday life of patients, but also because of the lack of an adapted virtual ethnography procedure in health research.

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The construction of a virtual ethnographic research design poses methodological dilemmas for the researcher that determine the course and outcome of the research. A dilemma is, in a general sense, a situation that requires a choice between two possible alternatives. However, practice shows that these methodological dilemmas are more theoretical in the case of research on patient-related topics, as the researcher can only “choose” one solution, which focuses on how to respect the principle of patient’s anonymity and confidentiality. The procedure for implementing virtual ethnography should then be simpler for the researcher, but this is not the case because even for a single solution to a methodological dilemma, no specific procedures have been developed in the research literature that would make it procedurally easier for the researcher to implement virtual ethnography in health research. Informed consent to conduct research in online health communities can in theory be given by the administrators of these communities. However, practice has shown that the consent of the administrators of online health communities to conduct research in the patient-led communities that they administer is not sufficient, as group administrators/moderators are not willing to represent community members in decisions of this kind. Also, in the communities, the members who only find out about the research after their administrator’s consent do not feel safe and thus resist the research. It is, therefore, necessary to develop and validate an informed consent procedure for exploring online health communities that focuses on the consent of community members. Such a procedure could involve several steps: approval is obtained from the group administrator to post information about the study in the community, then information about the study is posted in the online health community and a poll is organized to determine whether community members approve of the study; if the majority of the respondents agree, the informed consent is signed by the administrator of the online health community. The researcher can choose either an objective or a subjective researcher role strategy to explore online health communities. However, in the actual implementation of the virtual ethnography procedure, the researcher can only choose the objective role strategy when acting as an observer-as-participant. This is because by obtaining informed consent, the research participants have already consented and are aware that the researcher will conduct the observation in the community. On the other hand, the choice of a subjective role is not possible because the researcher’s participation (participant-as-observer) in the discussions may disrupt the naturally occurring virtual environment of patients in the online health community. However, as the research progresses and the researcher becomes more immersed in this environment, there is a risk that he/she will become involved in the discussion and will transition into a different role. The researcher’s constant observation not only of the community, but also of the blurring of the boundary between objective and subjective roles, complicates the implementation of a virtual ethnography. Therefore, effective time and outcome procedures are important to ensure that only the objective role of the researcher is manifested during the raw data collection phase. A researcher conducting a virtual ethnographic study in online health communities has only one option – to de-identify the research data as soon as the study is over, so as not to jeopardize the confidentiality and anonymity of the research participants. The author’s experience has revealed that this approach over-generalizes raw data, leading to the loss

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of important research findings. The elaboration of virtual ethnography methodology in health research requires the development of a pseudonymization procedure, whereby certain personal data are replaced by identifiers, so that the personal data cannot be linked to a specific data subject without the use of additional information. Yet, if necessary, it is still possible to reconstruct the affiliation of the personal data to a specific data subject. To computerize, and thus facilitate, this process, it is advisable to develop and introduce such functions in qualitative data analysis software.

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Post-Digital University Students and Faculty Members Learning Lives Entanglement: A Collaborative Autoethnographic Case Study José Miguel Correa Gorospe(B) , Aingeru Gutiérrez-Cabello Barragán , and Estibaliz Aberasturi-Apraiz Faculty of Education, Philosophy and Anthropology (HEFA – II Building), University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Oñati Plaza, 3, 20018 Donostia, Gipuzkoa, Spain {jm.correagorospe,aingeru.gutierrez-cabello, estitxu.aberasturi}@ehu.eus

Abstract. This paper addresses some of the tensions associated with the proliferation of screens in the university environment. Advances in the digitalisation of the university have precipitated a series of pressures and problems that remain unresolved. These issues are linked to agentivity in learning, the precariousness of relationships, and the economy of attention, among many others. Our participation in the TRAY-AP research project on the learning of young university students encouraged us to explore the unforeseen effects of the intensive incorporation of digital devices in higher education. To do so, we adopted a methodological approach based on collaborative autoethnography, from which we confront not only challenges associated with the advance of university technologisation but also its effects on the construction of personal and professional identities. We follow a polyphonic approach in three voices, in which we bring to our reflections the experiences of the teachers and students with whom we have been in dialogue during this project. The contribution focuses on three tensions associated with the consumption of attention by colonising digital devices. We also address the conflict linked to the degradation of personal relationships, which has been caused by over-exposure to communication through screens. Finally, with the rise of digital public profiles, university professors’ contributions and social and institutional commitments seem to have been simplified to quantifying their research results. This paper aims to reveal some of the perverse effects that the growing incorporation of digital technology in the university is having on the academic and personal lives of those who are part of it. Keywords: Learning lives · Digital technologies · University students

1 Introduction This text derives from the research project entitled Learning trajectories of young university students: concepts, strategies, technologies and contexts (TRAY-AP, PID2019108696RB-I00). Researching learning trajectories involves examining how the learner © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 A. P. Costa et al. (Eds.): WCQR 2023, LNNS 688, pp. 349–370, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31346-2_22

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relates to other people and objects, and draws on them to create deeper narratives or trajectories about their own identity [1]. This provides a way of tracking learning identities [2] across time, space, and social situations [3, 4]. In the current social climate of continuous change, accelerated by the prominence of digital technologies, understanding how young university students learn is fundamental to responding to the challenges that universities face with respect to social transformations and the permanent crisis situation in which the university institution is immersed [5]. As digital technologies continue to alter the boundaries of time and space that have traditionally been attributed to various educational environments, the very notion of learning context is also being challenged in educational research [6]. Society is in a state of permanent change and transformation. Knowledge is no longer conceived as lasting; rather, it is considered changeable and unpredictable [7]. The spectacular evolution of science and technology has meant that knowledge is now produced at dizzying speeds. In this context of transience, all areas of life – ideology, emotion, sexuality, family, culture, and politics – are subject to instability and transience [8]. Digital technologies have transformed our relations with knowledge, accessibility, transmission, and representation. The situation is more complex today than ever before, due to the increasing prevalence of digital technologies that are changing the boundaries of time and space that have traditionally been attributed to different educational environments [9]. Digital technologies have enabled new forms of presence and mobility, transforming and transgressing the boundaries that have traditionally been attributed to learning and education [6]. This rupture in the traditional temporal and spatial limits of learning favoured by digital technologies encourages the conception of learning as being permanent and occurring throughout our lives, rather than being reduced to occurring in schools or universities. The authors of this paper have been involved in a project to examine how young university students learn and what role digital technologies play in their learning ecologies. Thus, we have felt called to reflect on and share how this extensive digitalisation in the new post-digital university situation involves us as teachers and researchers. Researching how young university students learn affects teachers and researchers directly, given our responsibility. In analysing the role of digital technologies in learning, it is inevitable that we have come to understand, and wish to share, how such technologies affect us and transform our roles in the university, always from our digital vulnerability as teachers and academics. To guide this enquiry, we pose two questions based on our involvement in the project on the learning trajectories of young university students: 1. How does the influence of digital technologies on young people’s learning affect us as teachers and researchers? and 2. To what extent does collaborative autoethnography (CAE) allow us to transfer research contributions to our teaching practice? We considered research meetings conducted over the last three years an essential part of the process of answering these questions, since, in these meetings, we accept dialogic and shared discourse as a means of knowledge construction [10]. As researchers move from narrative and arts-based research to post-qualitative positions, we chose to address our research questions by continuing, echoing Virginia Wolf, a strategy of enquiry and writing that we have been following for some time [11], and that allows us to inhabit our

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research, with each of us having a room of our own while also engaging in collaborative writing. In what follows, we will focus first on analysing the post-digital context and reflecting on the precarisation, bureaucratisation, and dehumanisation of academic work in the university. Second, we will present the general lines of the project we are currently carrying out, which affects us as a problem and a trigger. The project is entitled TRAYAP. Third, we present the methodology based on CAE, the organisation of the experience, and the data. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of the findings.

2 The Post-Digital Turn and the Current Context of University Work: Precarisation, Bureaucratisation, and Dehumanisation The term “post-digital” describes a condition, state of affairs, and quality that emerged subsequent to the breakthrough event of the digital technology revolution in the 1990s, especially subsequent to its expansion thanks to the introduction of the World Wide Web. The transition from the digital era to the post-digital condition can be dated to around the first decade of the 21st century due to the massive expansion of various digital technologies. This current post-digital condition is characterised by an unprecedented everyday presence of digital and computerised solutions, by the ubiquity of technology (embedded in the environment and the subjects), as well as by permanent connectivity and new analogue–digital continuities. This critical shift began with Negroponte’s warning that “the digital revolution is over” [12]. This does not mean that digital is no longer essential, nor that it has or will disappear – although, in its literal form, digital technology is already beginning to be taken for granted. The idea of post-digital [13] is that the pursuit of technical innovation and enhancement has been abandoned, even though digitisation is seen as having happened and as unable to be fundamentally reconfigured. The post-digital condition is understood as the new normal. Nevertheless, the term describes the end of a moment characterised by determinism and technological instrumentalism; the view that technologies are neutral tools that can be implemented to realise the intentions of designers or users. It also implies the breakdown of the promised utopia of the technological era. The post-digital shifts us towards another way of conceiving reality, a vision in which digital is not synonymous with innovation, promise, or meaningful transformation. Following Jandric and Knox [14], a primary characteristic of the post-digital condition is that it goes “against” digital due to disenchantment with the digitalisation of life and criticism of its effects. The resulting interdependence comprises a second characteristic; specifically, it is impossible to separate the digital from the so-called real, physical, material, or analogue world, and this creates a digital–analogue continuum. A third characteristic of the post-digital condition refers to the transparency and invisibility of the medium, since it has become so integrated into everyday life that it often goes unnoticed. A fourth characteristic relates to visibility and invisibility – that is, permanent hyper-connectivity and its impact on society due to the expansion of the Internet and the new forms that the network has adopted. Several new artistic practices focus on this issue.

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We have recently experienced a pandemic, which has revealed much about how we organise ourselves socially and work. It has been shown that a significant portion of teaching and learning, along with many jobs in all work sectors, can be done from home and that traditional obstacles to digitalisation, such as the perceived inability to control workloads, can be successfully resolved. Experiments showed that it is often cheaper to keep workers at home, opening up new avenues to reduce fixed costs. As governments temporarily implemented lockdowns, keeping most teachers and students in their homes worldwide, online teaching and learning became widespread. The sudden shift to “emergency remote learning” [15] and the emergence of “emergency EdTech” [16] also introduced several new challenges – and, perhaps more importantly, revealed many tensions that have always been present [17]. For some, the opportunity for a “grand experiment in online learning” [18] seemed too good to miss. In this context, to increase their impact, teachers are being encouraged to use digital platforms such as Academia.edu, Google Scholar, LinkedIn, SlideShare, university erepositories, and content aggregation tools to increase their interactions and the impact of their research. The quantified academic subject, which Lupton [19] defines as the “academic quantified self”, is driven, or rather induced, to continuously collect data on their research and teaching activities and use the analysis of this data to improve their performance. At the very least, the researcher quickly falls prey to publish-or-perish syndrome, which is often accompanied by obsessive thoughts, pressure for continuous improvement, anxiety about publishing, and sleepless nights [20, 21]. In addition, the vigilance of evaluation systems forces a continual increase in work. The quantification of citations already enabled by Google Scholar, student-assessed teaching, national accreditation systems, and other increasingly imperative metrics has transformed the academic into a self-administrator whose performance must be constantly monitored. Today’s reliance on self-branding and self-promotion as fundamental elements of academic impact have plunged the academic world into a profound ethical conflict over the primary goals of contemporary research. This often leads to a rift created by the internal struggle over prioritising between the demands of governance on the one hand and personal values on the other. In addition, there seems to have been an unprecedented rupture of time, space and body. Meetings have increased in frequency due to the fact that they are subject to the click of a button, rather than travel, and uniformity has been extended by living in such a way that workers are always connected to their organisation.

3 TRAY-AP: A Study of How Young University Students Learn Today, many young people studying at university are considered to be living in the “post20th century”. A generation of young people, who are digital natives from birth, are conducting multimodal communication and information searching, giving preference to non-textual content platforms. In the same vein, they have shown a preference for being in the role of observer, looking for real, practical examples before applying their learning. They have also expressed the need to understand such applicability in order to become involved in related processes. On the other hand, many are interested in social justice issues. They have shown themselves to be much more receptive to gender identity issues and, more recently and increasingly, to environmental and climate change issues.

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However, as Livingstone [22] points out, many of the interpretations of this generational data can lead to hasty conclusions, especially concerning young people’s use of digital technologies. In order to understand this group, it is necessary to examine the changes taking place with respect to the meaning they assign to learning and knowing at university and beyond. Thus, we must consider possible problems of dispersion, superficiality, and the addictions promoted by persuasive technologies. For this reason, we set out to conduct research that would offer ways of answering the following questions: How do young people learn inside and outside the university? What are their conceptions, strategies, and contexts, and what role to analogue and digital technologies play in their learning processes? As Erstad and Sefton-Green [23] and Jornet and Erstad [24] have argued, answering these questions requires a research focus on individualised monitoring of young people’s learning trajectories. This call led us to propose the project TRAY-AP. This study focuses on young university students’ learning as part of the broader TRAY-AP project. It was designed and conducted according to the qualitative research paradigm, specifically from the perspective of learning lives. The research utilises a narrative biographical approach and an inclusive onto-epistemological ethical stance influenced by performative and relational ethics [11]. The research team is made up of 21 researchers belonging to the Elkarrikertuz (IT1586-22) and Esbrina research groups. The work started with the realisation of 50 learning lives of young university students, a narrative biographical approach based on four in-depth interviews with the students to elaborate on their learning trajectory. Fifty university students participated (Table 1) – 28 from Catalonia and 22 from the Basque Country. This included 30 women and 20 men (55.6% and 44.4%), which is close to the distribution observed in Spanish universities in the 2019–2020 academic year. Seven had special needs (14%). The data collected in the 50 learning trajectories, two focus groups with teachers, and two focus groups with students were also organised, and an online questionnaire was distributed. Table 1. Description of participants. Universities

Basque Country Catalonia

Participants

30 women 20 men

Field of Knowledge

Social Sciences and Law 18 Arts and Humanities 12 Engineering and Architecture 5 Science 6 Health Sciences 6 Double degree 3

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1) We began the project by reflecting on two fundamental issues. The first was the multimodal representation of the autobiographical experience (Fig. 1) of each researcher during their time at university.

Fig. 1. A J. Wolstenholme Illustration used by José Miguel to represent his university learning in the late 1970s; a multi-modal representation used to represent the autobiographical experience of researchers in their university days.

The second issue was how young university students learn today from our perspective (Fig. 2). The entire first step aimed to connect the research theme with our past and present biographical experiences. It represented an opportunity to recover significant fragments of our university days. 2) We conducted a series of activities to prepare for the fieldwork. Among other fundamental tasks, we defined the various data collection techniques. These included interviews, the researchers’ diary of each case, graphical representations of each student’s trajectory (Fig. 3), and students’ self-observations collected in a field notebook (Fig. 4). In this way, we defined the orientation of the interviews, their duration, and the style of the graphic representations of each student’s learning trajectory. With respect to the latter, we offered students different examples or models of field notebooks that we would give them to fill in. One of the most important issues we discussed in this second step was the ethical and inclusive positioning of the project. From the beginning, we wanted university students to be represented and involved, as well as to have the possibility to participate actively in the project. In this way, we ensured multivocality in the representation of relational ethics, of encounter and based on dialogical interaction. According to Lapadat [25], if autoethnography addresses the ethical problem of representing, speaking for, or appropriating the voice of others, CAE shifts the protagonism from individual agency to collective agency, thus offering a path towards inclusive research. This shift from the individual to the collective requires an inclusive positioning with participants and other researchers, transforming the traditionally assumed roles in social research. The research is aligned with a type of onto-epistemological and methodological positioning influenced by the perspective of performative and relational ethics [26, 27]. From this position, it was possible to transcend the mere formalism to which the ethical dimension

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Fig. 2. Author’s visual representation of how she learned (top image) and how university students learn today (bottom image).

of educational research has been relegated to date, which offered the opportunity to think about issues linked to power relations, the protagonism of the participants, the authorship of the studies, the justice of their procedures or the benefits derived from participation, among many others. Thus, we sought to establish a more horizontal relationship between researchers and participants. 3) We developed the fieldwork, wherein we conducted a self-interested sample selection, and each researcher successively interviewed the students we selected. The research applied a purposive methodology to identify participants who met two inclusion criteria and ensured the representativeness of the different areas of knowledge and the various university degrees. Participation was limited to students (over 18 years of age) who were (a) enrolled in a public higher education institution in the Basque Country or Catalonia, and (b) in their second or subsequent year of study. Due to the specificity of the subject matter of this project and, therefore, the difficulty of contacting people who met the established criteria, we decided to carry out intentional selection of participants through the chain referral strategy. This meant that the group of people we initially contacted would then suggest other possible participants, as long as these additional individuals met the previously established inclusion criteria [28]. Similarly, this second group would then suggest the next set of potential participants, thus offering us the possibility of contacting multiple social networks or “snowballs” [29].

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COVID-19 conditioned the fieldwork and the conduct of the interviews. The relationship with each student, which incorporated conducting interviews, transcription, return, and preparation of the learning lives, lasted between three and five months. The relationship with the students was oriented towards inclusion in the data collection for research through learning diaries and in the collaborative interpretation of the data. Such an inclusive and collaborative perspective on research transforms the status of the participants into subjects of autoethnography. The methodological approach included four meetings with each interviewee. In the first meeting, the research project was presented and each participant was shown a series of statements reflecting popular prejudices about young people. After the initial discussion, the central concepts of the project were presented, including the notion of the learning trajectory, and related conceptions, contexts, technologies, and learning strategies. Participants were questioned on their ideas about learning related to these terms and their expected contribution to the project. After the first interview, we asked the respondents to create a visual, cartographic, or multimodal representation of their learning trajectories. More than a hegemonic representation of reality, during collaborative working between participant and researcher these representations of learning trajectories function as a device that allows reflection, dialogue, and the generation of data on students’ learning.

Fig. 3. Graphical representation of the learning trajectory of Norah, a sociology student.

At the end of the second meeting, the participants were asked to prepare a field learning diary. The content of the learning diary was discussed and analysed during the third meeting. Figure 4, for example, shows part of a learning diary written by Alex, one of our participants. In the first paragraph, after writing the date at the top (December 6), Alex writes the following note: “Today I locked my phone in the bathroom so as not to get distracted.” In the next paragraph, he adds another thought: “To study, I write the texts and read them over and over again out loud as [this helps] me to keep them in my head.” In the last paragraph, he writes, “Monday and Tuesday the same.” Once the interviews, graphic representations, and collaborative field learning diaries had been completed, the researchers related them more directly to each theoretical axis

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Fig. 4. Learning diary written by Alex, a computer engineering student.

of the project. The researchers elaborated a narrative of the learning trajectory of the student, which was shared and discussed in a fourth meeting. From the beginning, the close collaborative and inclusive relationship with the participants affected and transformed our position in the investigation, opening us up to the revision of interpretations, constant dialogue, and negotiation of the project’s main ideas. This was also related to the post-qualitative and inclusive research perspective, which allowed participants to be the protagonists of their narratives. 4) Once the interviews had been conducted and transcribed, we carried out their thematisation, entering their content into a joint database. Each researcher carried out a reflective process in which they looked at how the experience outlined through the interviews and the fieldwork with each subject could guide the answers to the research questions. In addition, each researcher elaborated on the learning lives of the students they had been assigned, negotiating their validity and seeking to reach a co-creative consensus. To understand the relevance of the (post-)digital in the development of the project and the meaning of the text we are presenting, we have to take into account objective 4 of the project, which is to detect transitions and movements across contexts in the ways in which young people learn, as well as the role of virtual environments and digital devices. Regarding thematisation related to objective 4, the content of the interviews with the 50 students about their learning trajectories was entered into a database. This included their conceptions, contexts, strategies, and technologies, The following sections were included: 1) Visions and conceptions about digital technology, 2) Relationship with virtual environments at the university, 3) Relationship with virtual environments outside the university, 4) Learning difficulties with digital devices, 5) Addictions and digital devices, 6) Strategies to avoid dependence on digital devices 7) Changes in their relationship with digital devices, and 8) Other observations related to digital devices. From this dense and

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profound thematisation of the role played by digital devices in young people’s learning, and especially when we analyse the transcendence of Sect. 7) on changes in their relationship with digital devices, when the entanglement of the human with the human and also with the non-human arises [30], the title of this text arose. In addition, this prompted subsequent individual reflection and shared analysis on how this colonisation of digital devices impacts not only teaching, but also research, and deeply affects our academic identities in three important dimensions: bureaucratisation, precarisation, and dehumanisation. This section thus became key to understanding this text and the way it is organised. Because such changes have affected both students and teachers, we are all entangled. We use the term “entanglement” because it highlights the dependence of the parties involved – students and teachers, teaching and learning. In addition, it indicates that the relationship is not linear but is rather rhizomatic, enveloping the inside and the outside of the university. The entanglement extends to visible and invisible technologies, to how these help us and how they condition or discipline us and the power relations they perpetuate. Becoming aware of this entanglement in which allowed us to shift and enrich our analysis, from the relationship between students and technology to include teachers as protagonists. The problem pertains not only to how they learn with digital technologies but also to how we as teachers utilise these technologies, and how this protagonism of the digital is constituting our identities. As researchers, we have to look at the problem of the prominence of digital technologies by including ourselves in the text. All this conditions the selection of the content and organisation of this text, as well as the protagonism that the conversation between teachers/researchers entails. 5) We pooled the reflections and emerging themes, compiling the contents of the interviews linked to the fundamental questions of the research. We also designed the protocols for the focus groups of teachers and students. These focus groups contrasted the 50 young participants’ opinions about how they learn. In preparation for the session, the participants received an invitation with a brief presentation of the TRAY-AP project and the interview script for the upcoming focus group. The script included the sentences to be shared and discussed. The script had the following sections: (i) Sense of going to university, (ii) Conceptions of learning, (iii) Learning strategies, (iv) Learning ecologies and contextures, (v) Technologies of and in learning, and (vi) Suggestions for aspects such as improving the relationship between teaching and learning at university (here, four photographs representing university learning scenes were used). Each of the first five sections utilised two statements, which were each read out and then discussed. Each teacher gave their opinion by commenting on the sentences or on what was said by the other participants, and providing explanations for their ideas. We spent 10 min with each block of questions, collecting the thoughts of each of them. After that time, we moved on to the next block. 6) We conducted focus groups with the teachers and students. Transcription and thematisation of the contents was also carried out. The procedure followed for the analysis of the focus groups consisted of the following: (i) Teachers’ and students’ separate conversations were read; (ii) a double-entry table was created; (iii) statements read in the meeting were written on the left side of the table; (iv) statements made by the teachers that seemed to be significantly linked to conceptions, contexts, strategies and technologies were written on the rights side

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of the table; (v) emerging themes in the text were identified and linked to contexts, conceptions, strategies, and technologies; (vi) a synthetic summary of the ideas that appeared and the meaning assigned to them was added to the left side of the table; (vii) the connection between the photographs and the debate was analysed, paying particular attention to details, emerging themes, and possible reflections; (viii) the relational dynamics between teachers in the conversation group were analysed, paying attention to leadership/participation/non-participation/connection with the conversation of the different participants; (ix) a text was drafted that brought together the results of the analysis developed in an organised way. 7) We collectively wrote up the project and organised the text into articles and chapters. During the writing process, we decided to establish a group conversation about the role that digital technologies play, not only in student learning but also in the work of teachers at the university. This moved us to consider another perspective of experiencing research, from which we reviewed the web of power relations in which researchers are suspended. The learning of university students goes from being something alien to being embodied in our own professional identities. This provided an opportunity to explore the precariousness, bureaucratisation, and dehumanisation associated with digital technologies from the collective lens that positions us. We got together, talked about the findings, and recorded the conversation about details and events of our research that impact us as teachers and researchers. We then analysed the content and wrote personal vignettes about relevant aspects. We agreed that each vignette should link biographical aspects of our own professional experience and the resonances awakened during the research process via the information that emerged from analysing the role of digital technologies in the learning of university students. We then shared these individual reflections and explored their meaning and how they linked to our research. Figure 5 shows a simplified representation of the research process.

Fig. 5. The CAE research process.

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4 CAE as a Research Method One of the main consequences of researching problems related to our professional practices, using participatory approaches and inclusive methodologies, is that reflection and debate end up explaining and affecting us, putting us in a situation of vulnerability. For these reasons, and echoing the metaphor used in a previous text that takes Virginia Wolf’s room as a reference, we want to inhabit the research by proposing for each researcher a “room of their own”, and a “living room” for meetings and collaborative writing [4]. In other words, we want to allow ourselves to think about how the project in general and the aspects linked to digital technologies, in particular, singularly affect us, but also to explore this collaboratively. Following our post-qualitative positioning, we resorted to CAE [31–33] to delve into the resonances of the project and strengthen the bonds of the relationships between the trio of researchers who authored this text, deepening the understanding and meaning of the data found and making sense of our experience through collaborative writing. This methodology helped us deepen and analyse the results we were obtaining in developing our project, and to see what meaning this could have for transforming our teaching practice. CAE is a post-modern form of research [34] that blurs the boundaries between researcher and researched. Lapadat [35] defined CAE as an “autobiographical, autoethnographic and polyphonic approach to writing, recounting, interrogating, analysing, and collaboratively conducting and writing research on personal life challenges and the negotiation of personal and professional identities”. We chose CAE for this study for several reasons: (1) it allowed us the freedom to present ourselves transparently, (2) it is in line with our political commitment to the post-qualitative research model, (3) we believe it can be a powerful tool for professional development, and (4) it is a valuable method for discussing uncomfortable or sensitive ideas [36]. The authors of this study are three members of the same research group but at different points in their careers (Table 2). One is one of the project’s principal investigators and a professor of digital technologies applied to education. The other two are researchers with significant teaching and research experience. Together, we have collaborated on research and teaching innovation projects over the last few years. Following the principles of CAE, each author wrote an individual text in the solitude of their own room, addressing the resonances and feelings produced by the comments and discourses of the young students and their relationship with digital technologies. We addressed the first questions (How does the role of digital technologies in young people’s learning affect us as teachers and researchers? What are digital technologies’ central tensions and limitations in young university students’ learning?) in the “single rooms” that guided our research. These texts were initially written in Spanish and translated by us into English. After writing our vignettes, we held a meeting to share these individual texts, hence moving to the “living room”. In this room, we organised a final collective session where we discussed the meaning of the personal vignettes and gave provisional answers to the second of the research questions (To what extent does CAE allow us to transfer research contributions to our teaching practice?). In collaboration, we were free to explore tangential issues about our teaching and research responsibility and vulnerability in the current post-digital context, and to respond to the emerging themes and negotiated meanings within each vignette.

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Table 2. Research team. Researchers’ names Participants’ Self-Descriptions José Miguel

is 64 years old and holds a PhD in education. One of the primary researchers of the project, he is a professor of information and communication technologies applied to education and has taught different courses and mastered online and blended learning. During the pandemic, he was very critical of e-learning. He is very much aligned with the post-digital positioning

Aingeru

is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Education, where he has worked for the last 10 years. He teaches subjects related to communication and the educational relationship in pedagogy and social education degrees. His research relates to young people’s learning and their relationship with digital technologies from a biographical-narrative and post-qualitative perspective

Estibaliz

is a professor and researcher at the Faculty of Education of the University of the Basque Country. She paints, and has taken part in artist residencies, where she has researched the visual arts. Her research and teaching career is mainly associated with teacher education, pedagogical innovation, and research and learning of the visual arts in educational contexts

4.1 Room 1. Aingeru I can’t avoid being very curious when talking with the young participants in this research about how their digital behaviours have affected their own learning experiences (both within and outside institutional boundaries). Marc, a physics student, shared with me that “a part of the class is not interesting because it is not in the exam, and you say to yourself, ‘I’m getting bored’, and when this happens, you divert your attention to another source of entertainment: the mobile.” Or Carlota, who recognised feeling overwhelmed in the relationship she has with her devices, “We have many stimuli: the mobile, the computer… we are used to immediacy, to look for something and have it in half a second and then I think this makes it more difficult for us to pay attention to something for a long time. And I think it shows in our studies as well.” Comments like these led me to think about what Mark Fisher [37] pointed out as a pathology of late capitalism in our current difficulty in paying attention, which is possibly a consequence of being connected to circuits of entertainment and control hypermediated by a culture of consumption. And this may be the case. However, I dissociate myself from this criticism that systematically reproaches young people exclusively for being distracted or lacking in concentration. In a way, I feel that this is not just a youth thing but that we all show today, to a greater or lesser extent, the exact pathology of attention that Fisher pointed out. I teach in university classrooms full of students who are in front of mobiles, tablets, or computers. I observe them checking sports or fashion websites and platforms such as TikTok, Twitch, Instagram, and Twitter. They don’t usually take notes, but surprisingly they answer my questions and participate without hesitation in the discussions that arise. Paradoxically, they tell me that to learn, they cannot fully pay attention to the task at hand

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and that they need something like music to isolate themselves from the stimuli around them, as Itxaso pointed out to me. I see something logical in those who reproach these behaviours; however, it seems to me a useless criticism in today’s teaching. I wonder how their attention works – whether reproaching their behaviour would imply a disaffection with the subject, or whether this attitude of intermittent attention is not an unavoidable precondition. Their multi-tasking behaviour, I think, reveals a resistance to the old logic of university teaching but also a way of surviving the informational irrelevance that surrounds them. The young people we interviewed seem to speak from a different position than that of other generations. I am very interested to hear how they deal with living in a reality that constantly demands their attention. Our conversations give me a glimpse of the strategies they deploy or the maturity with which they express their relationship with technology. Some of them contradict the views that tend to infantilise their behaviour or reproach them for being captive to digital devices. Strategies include the “detox” that Carlota practices by uninstalling Instagram and thus breaking what has become a habit of constantly checking her mobile phone. Likewise, Anna highlighted to me a contradiction or paradox that many of us also recognise – that is, that she needs to deploy strategies to pay attention while studying, while at the same time she cannot do without digital technologies for her self-organisation. As a teacher, I need to recover in our own classes stories as diverse as those shared by the young people in this research. Those that allow us to think with our students about the role played by the co-occurring disorder of attention that Fisher pointed out and that seems to affect us all. Otherwise, teaching – in our case, university teaching – will lose its capacity to listen, to incorporate those important issues that cross our experience in the present and that need to be rethought in the community. In short, to establish a connection, authentic learning (as one of the lecturers we talked to reminded us) between the personal and biographical and what we try to encourage in university classrooms. 4.2 Room 2. José Miguel One of the eight professors from the University of the Basque Country who were invited to the focus group on how young university students learn commented that there are no disciplines today where you can be competitive and effective without utilising the tools that IT provides for your profession or discipline. This comment echoed my thoughts, immersing me in a reflective process about what digitalisation has brought us at university. At first, it was sold to us as innovation and progress, and we had to evolve to embrace technological change. Even with those technical novelties and their possible curricular integration, I became excited about the possibility of making learning a more active process. The expansion of digitalisation has been progressive and intrusive in our everyday working life, but it has brought an overload of tasks, responsibilities, and actions to our teaching and research work. We started to use them as an ideal tool to clean up certain materials for students. Then began the whole tangle of online communication and webpages, and, little by little, we moved on to more significant words with 2.0 technologies and subsequent derivations. Today, our professional development is mediated by technology: successive meetings, bibliographic searches, planning academic trips, teaching management, or the evaluation

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of our subjects. Public and private spaces are invaded, and screens mediate every working minute. For me, it is the perversion of just in time: without limits or frontiers, permanently connected. We have been given greater autonomy in every sphere of management – but, in most cases, to the detriment of us users. There used to be support staff managing specific areas of the work sphere. You would hand in your travel or meal tickets, and they would order them for you. Now you must manage them, upload them to the platforms, and supervise the processes. My working day may start by logging on to my email or uploading invoices to collect per diems for a recent academic trip through a platform that asks for identification, the digitalisation of invoices, and involvement in managing this bureaucratic process. Later, I might have an online meeting from 11.30 to 12.30 with a group of geographically distant colleagues to organise the writing of an article. Then, from 12.30 to 14.30, another virtual meeting with the group for the research project I am currently working on. These tasks between screens converge with teaching, which can be face-to-face or virtual. During the pandemic we embarked on virtual teaching, as if moving from face-to-face teaching to virtual teaching only consisted of a click of a button. Communication with students became rarefied, the invasion of their privacy became naturalised; the students’ response was to resist and not show their faces, to avoid getting involved in this virtual scenario. No digital resources to follow online teaching. We fantasise about the digital competencies of our students, thinking that because they are millennials they were born knowing how to handle all of these latest technologies. Moreover, what was unthinkable in the past, this succession of working meetings, has now been achieved. We don’t need to move our bodies, switch screens, or physically move around. In short, the digital demands on teachers and researchers have multiplied, not only to be good digital consumers but also to be good workers. We have become more independent and controlled in this digital complexity, always looking for rewards and recognition. 4.3 Room 3. Estibaliz I remember that in the third meeting with one of the students with low vision who participated in the research, she told me: “Yes, sometimes on the computer, I have a big mouse (…), but when there were virtual classes, it was not easy for me, because I could not follow the teacher, I don’t know.” Technological adaptation in many cases of functional diversity has been an open the door to accessibility, but not always. Learning at university can be mediated by many technological strategies, but it happens between people and is shared. When COVID-19 arrived, many universities had to adapt the material to an online platform, and, as Enma told us, this was done without taking into account the student, the people. Another student considered critical training necessary: “The other day I did an online course on new technologies because, of course, in the gazteleku.” She works with young people and considers it necessary to use technology in a reflective and critical way. Another of the students stated, “I think that most young people use [technology] relatively responsibly. I think so, and I sincerely don’t say this to save anyone or anything, in other words, it is a very frequent use, but neither is it very frequent, but it is used a lot.” The students are aware that technological resources are present and are part of their lives, but when they talk about learning, they refer to

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processes, questioning, events, experiences, etc. Listening to what they tell us allows me to reflect on the presence of technology as an opportunity for access, but as a tool that continues to chronify learning without meaning, avoiding spaces in which to be and to be able to be. Technology focuses on consumption and speed, and learning needs calm and reflection. This leads me to question my work context and my relationship with technology. There has been an intensification of meaningless work and the dedication to management tasks is more and more present. What does this university have to do with the university where I studied or the very university where I started working? From what point on is everything quantified and observed and monitored? What model of university is this? What does all this have to do with the teaching profession? When did they start with the Shanghai rankings (the world’s most influential international ranking of universities)? When did we start turning universities into companies and students into customers? When did we start following these rankings, even knowing the neglect of the human sciences? What is not part of the hard sciences, even though these rankings have little to do with teaching? On the one hand, given the kind of courses and guidance that we are attentively and effectively offered, we sense that the university library staff have put themselves at the service of improving the productivity of the teaching staff’s publications. The Rector’s Office insists that the name and acronym of our university should appear clearly on all the texts we publish. But that’s not all: they suggest we sign up for ORCID or Publons. From time to time, we are preached to about university rankings; they tell us that our university occupies a favourable position in a certain ranking, even that it is among the top 400 in some specialised subjects, and it just so happens that this highly ranked degree was from the faculty where two Nobel Prize winners were recently recruited. This information is passed on to you through the campus’s own periodicals. It seems that everything around us is organised to climb the rankings. Everything adds up, everything is quantified, everything is classified; why concentrate on other types of projects that are less scientific and more human and artistic? It seems that what is essential is social networks, making ourselves visible and publicising our work on ResearchGate, Google Scholar, Facebook, or Twitter… To be attentive to our h-index and dedicate ourselves to all the marketing operations, to become entrepreneurs or exploiters of ourselves for the benefit of the institution. To work in favour of this disciplining that undermines our social, institutional, and knowledge advancement work due to the constant struggle to improve positions in the academic rankings, orchestrated by the efficiency of digital devices and logics. And why not hire other socio-cultural actors and turn this productive purpose and promote other models of university, teachers, and students that move away from these goals of measurement and productivity?

5 The Living Room as a Discussion Stance: Post-Digital Governance in the University and Re-signification of Pedagogical Relationships At this point in the process, we each left our own rooms and met in the living room to talk together and reflect on our research process. To what extent does CAE allow us to

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transfer the insights from the research we are currently conducting on young students’ learning and the role of digital technologies in our teaching practice? Meetings between researchers have been taking place throughout the project, in a daily and dialogical manner. A series of key concepts derived from the project data has allowed us to shape our reflection and activate our narrative agentivity on the problem. Our living room meeting is an example of making visible the need for these conversations between researchers and the wealth of ideas that emerge from them. Estibaliz: Technology continues to invade every professional field. Technologies have changed our working life. And it’s not just PowerPoint, classroom canons, or digital whiteboards – we now live in a world of data and algorithms. Not only are we required to use certain programmes for planning and managing teaching, but we are also required to be more involved in the management of research, in the bureaucratic management of the projects we carry out, especially in economic matters, where, for example, we have to take charge of managing the collection and expenditure of project funds. José Miguel: In addition, our university has pushed for all of us to have an ORCID ID, to be in Publons or to put the name of our institution in a visible and standardised way to add up digital productivity data. We are already evaluated for research productivity, and financial compensation is awarded by accounting for the number of articles in different rankings (WOS, Scopus). Aingeru: It only adds up if they are indexed. The higher the qualification of the publication, the more points you get. You enter a spiral of dissemination controlled by the machines. We also have to be on the Web, make ourselves known on social networks such as Twitter and Instagram, and, of course, have a website with a blog updated with research news. We have to add to the many tasks we already carry out at the university, becoming entrepreneurs and making technology an ally of the desire imposed on us to become entrepreneurs ourselves. José Miguel: University professors are entangled with the issues of day-to-day digital bureaucracy. We have been left with no choice but to develop a broad digital competence, as the digital governance of the university requires us to do. But I am a bit sceptical about the place of ICT in university education. In the focus group we carried out with professors, the issue of the pedagogical capacity of the teaching staff to give virtual classes and their digital competencies had already come up. Technologies allow you to relate to knowledge and represent it in multiple ways, but the university does not offer a context where this can be used. There is a somewhat limited and reduced vision of what technology is. In that sense, it is pretty classic; the pandemic has led to much disillusionment. Aingeru: Teachers have been asked to keep up with the times, to evolve and adopt the latest technologies, to give an up-to-date image and not look like a relic. First, it was Facebook, then Instagram, now TikTok… and all this for what? “Let’s use TikTok!” If you don’t know, if you don’t understand! So, as young people use TikTok, we now, to be up to date and use the latest technology, have to teach with TikTok. So it seems that the ideal is that we integrate the use of TikTok or any other platform to join the latest trend of pedagogical innovation.

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Estibaliz: It seems that technology is characteristic of millennials, it comes with the youthful identity of these university students who have been born since 2000, who were born with the Internet. Today’s students use technology. They can do wonders with smartphones, and I find this freshness, this ease, incredible. But I also see a use for closed formats, which are always used in the same way and which derive from homogenised products, as if they were very commercial. Aingeru: But what do we know? We know how to make videos, but what we make… what rubbish! I dare anyone here to watch a video of a classmate more than five minutes long, no one can stand it… If that’s what videos are, what will the classes be like? At least the classes are inside the classroom, and no one can see you, but the video remains there to watch for the rest of your life… And that’s the teachers interacting with the students, but often the students can record a better video more easily and in less time. Don’t use a technology you don’t know how for teaching things, if you haven’t stopped to think about the reasons for using it in your classes. José Miguel: For me, the question is: do teaching professionals make rational use of the resources that have been available for 30 years for their teaching efficiency? For example, do students know how to use a spreadsheet well? I say well, don’t I? Well, most of them don’t, and this is a technology from 1980, it is 40 years old, and it is a basic technology that any teaching professional has to be able to use. Estibaliz: I agree with what you say. Presentations are very well done It’s related to the fact that secondary education makes use of a lot of presentations, and many students are very used to it, in terms of ICT, etc. But other students are not used to it. In the focus group, a law teacher said that when she was giving a class with first-year students, seeing that they all had their computers in front of them, she challenged them to tell her what a certain law was about. She was amazed to see that they couldn’t even think of looking it up on their computers. “The students thought they had to come to the library to look for something, it really caught my attention.” José Miguel: The technology teachers in my department, it seemed that during the pandemic we had discovered the key to online teaching. Virtual classes enriched students’ learning experiences. When we were offered to continue teaching our subject online the following year, I couldn’t refuse. At that time, I was more sensitive to a resurgence of COVID and a return to a massive lockdown than to assessing the quality of face-toface teaching, as opposed to the quality of the virtual class service we offered. What happened? We started the classes and I once again experienced the distancing of the students (they didn’t show their faces, they didn’t participate). And I decided to suspend virtual teaching despite having the material prepared. I opted to return to face-to-face teaching, to the naturalness of relationships, to feeling the proximity of the group, to seeing each other’s faces, to favouring the richness of the encounter. I was fed up with us technology teachers always having to defend the benefits of technology and to function as Apple or Microsoft salesmen. Estibaliz: But for me the key is your approach to technology. The problem is not what use is made of technology, but what position we take on pedagogical relations, the way

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you look at technology. Even though we knew that when they came to class they were separated at the tables, they couldn’t touch each other, they were wearing masks and had strict rules about doors and windows, we decided in art classes to be in the body, in the body in the classroom. We rejected the virtual, we chose the face-to-face, but the security rules were a limitation. José Miguel: I totally agree, but it is very difficult to maintain that position. Both before and after the lockdowns, I have been against attending a university classroom full of computers where students sit in front of the screen and don’t look at their classmates’ faces. Estibaliz: How technology affects us is not only to do with the positioning in the classroom. Some people naturally accept having a lot of tools as something positive in technological subjects. It’s great that I can transfer a file from WhatsApp to the computer, I can take it home, and then I can send it at the weekend. There are no problems of feeling invaded by work tasks in free or family time. But in other instances we have a hard time receiving emails at any time, or files via WhatsApp, because it stresses us out, its invasive. We can’t unhook ourselves. I have 1,500 unread messages in my inbox. I can’t work that fast. It’s a horror. And there are people who have seen you handle technology and tell you how well you’re doing, how well you’re managing it. But no, I’m not managing it well. I’m so overwhelmed, and as I don’t dare to unsubscribe from some groups, I’m saturated. The only thing technology does for me is to block the process of creating and thinking. Of course I can use technology when I’m working on Moodle or sharing materials with students, that’s wonderful. But so many sources of information, its immediacy and the speed with which it is reaching us, makes me lose the sense of the tasks I’m undertaking. It promotes bulimic, meaningless attitudes. Connecting to the latest thing published, to the latest and newest, without having time to meditate on the meaning of the information that reaches us. Aingeru: We have limits that we don’t want to exercise, and our attention is taken up by a series of technologies and messages that end up saturating us emotionally, psychologically, and sociologically. I experience technologies in the classroom as a contradiction, in the sense that I also suffer the same consequences as my students in terms of attention, although sometimes I am tempted to demand more of my students and I forget to moderate my use of technologies. José Miguel: It seems to us teachers that this generation that is currently at university has a very naturalised relationship with digital technologies. But the relationship may not be the most useful for learning. Moreover, the screen itself is the window to study, to entertainment, to social relations, to gambling, to pornography, to a wide range of things. You are left alone in front of your impulses. Some students leave their mobile phones and tablets in the next room while they study to avoid being distracted.

6 Final Reflections Two questions guided our enquiry. The first one considered how the influence of digital technologies on young people’s learning affects us as teachers and researchers, and the

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second sought to examine to what extent CAE allows us to shine a light, or make a path visible, to transfer the contributions of the research to our teaching practice. We have also explained how entanglement broadens the focus of the problem at hand. Entanglement allowed us to transcend the thematisation of the problem of the protagonism of digital technologies in university students’ learning to analyse the changes in an entangled relationship between learning and teaching, between teachers, students, and technologies, in order to construct a more complex view of the problem. Analysing and reflecting on the central tensions and limitations of digital technologies in the learning of young university students through CAE led us to examine the problem of current academic digital governance in universities and the consequences of this digitisation process on the precariousness of teaching and research work. We began this text by discussing the scope of the post-digital turn and listing some of the characteristics of the current social and academic context we are experiencing, such as the disappearance of the connected–unconnected continuum, digital academic governance and the emergence of the quantified academic subject, the influence of permanent surveillance through the quantification of citations in publications on the increase in productivity of university lecturers and researchers, and the penetration of the culture of self-branding and self-promotion. Reading The Utopia of Norms, in which Graeber [38] reflects on how bureaucracy mediates every aspect of our daily lives by subduing the imagination, which is the most fundamental characteristic of our human nature, helped us to derive our reflection on how technology mediates the teaching and research work we are currently undertaking in the university. Digital technology has invaded the most elementary life processes of university life and governance (communication, teaching, evaluation, research, reputation, etc.), becoming a powerful form of control and discipline, and leaving us with no possibility of resistance or rethinking. Once the system has been implemented, the digitalisation of the system can be seen as a machine that works like an automaton. The material and psychological dependence and catastrophic effects of its rejection make it practically impossible to consider an alternative social model, turning our work into something that is bureaucratised and precarious, close to the junk work that Graeber discusses, extending a narrative of uselessness and superficiality to many of our practices. The experience of shared analysis that CAE has offered us on university digital governance offers, rather than unlikely solutions, hope to imagine another university; one that, as Ordine [39] says, is closer to our cultural tradition, far removed from the influence and overdetermination of university rankings, from quantifiable productivity and from the values that the market wants us to embrace. This other model of the university is further away from privilege and closer to solidarity, making it accessible to citizens – a university at the service of a fairer and more egalitarian society. Acknowledgements. The research presented in this paper was partially funded by the Learning trajectories of young university students: concepts, strategies, technologies and contexts (TRAYAP, PID2019-108696RB-I00) project and the Elkarrikertuz (IT1586-22) research group.

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Visualising Bibliographic Metadata Using CAQDAS in the Research on the Gender Gap in STEM Studies in Higher Education Sonia Verdugo-Castro1(B) , Mª Cruz Sánchez-Gómez1 , Alicia García-Holgado2 , Francisco José García-Peñalvo2 , and António Pedro Costa3 1 GRIAL Research Group, Department of Didactics, Organization and Research Methods,

Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain [email protected] 2 GRIAL Research Group, Computer Science Department, Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain 3 University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

Abstract. Besides providing the consulted publication’s findings, the literature review can offer information through metadata. Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS) can support visualising bibliometric metadata through RIS files. The usefulness is to provide an interactive image of the reality and actuality of scientific production. This article presents a case study to exemplify how metadata can be analysed and visualised using CAQDAS. The topic for the case study is the gender gap in STEM studies in higher education. The study aims to identify the value and usefulness of data visualisation in representing bibliometric data to support literature review processes. The phenomenon of the gender gap in the STEM education sector is used as a case study. The research questions addressed by the study are: (1) What does CAQDAS contribute to the results obtained?; (2) What are the possible causes of the gender gap? The analysis concludes that the cultural, social, educational, family, and peer group environment generates positive and negative force fields when deciding which studies to pursue; some people follow the patterns expected of them according to their gender. Finally, data visualisation helps understand the scientific evolution of a phenomenon and supports the research on a particular topic. Keywords: Gender · STEM education · Stereotypes · Visualisation · Qualitative research · Literature review

1 Introduction Usually, when conducting a literature search and review, the process of writing up the results begins and ends with the content of the publications. It is necessary to extract the characteristics of the research, when the research was conducted, what terms were used to describe it, which instruments were used, etc. For this reason, the driving force © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 A. P. Costa et al. (Eds.): WCQR 2023, LNNS 688, pp. 371–388, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31346-2_23

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of this work is how the qualitative content analysis using data visualisation provided by CAQDAS (Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software) is applied to represent the literature metadata. A considerable amount of data and information is generated daily, and it is sometimes difficult to find, sort and understand [1]. In that sense, visualisation helps to select the correct information about the results [2]. According to Munzner [3], visualisation exploits the image as a means of communication because vision is the most “broadband” of the five senses. It is a channel to the human brain [4]. Furthermore, according to Few [5], vision is one of the five senses and the predominant and most powerful sense. Moreover, visualisation can be static or dynamic and interactive [1]. Data visualisation draws the reader’s attention to specific data. According to Andrews [6], it helps to generate visual elements in which information is synthesised and represented. Graphical models provide experiences for the reader to understand complex data differently than in writing. In agreement with Munzner [3], computer-based visualisation systems can provide visual representations of data sets to help people perform tasks better. Visualisation systems can often be interactive, i.e., there is no need to adhere to static visual outputs. Regarding how information visualisation structures are designed, Clavico Alves et al. [1] point out that the process starts with organising the raw data into a data table, from which visual forms such as bar charts, sector charts, diagrams, schemes and maps are built. Moreover, this visual structure triggers the user’s perceptual system. According to Few [5], vision rules are distributed into four groups. These groups are shape, colour, spatial position, and movement. Different relationships, patterns, and trends are perceived using these elements in visualising data. Following Corrêa da Silva, Nascimento & Ferreira and Sternadt Alexandre & Tavares [7–9], through these visual representations, cognitive support is provided through various mechanisms, which have explored the advantages of human perception and the speed of visual processing. Before the increase in the trend and use of CAQDAS, analysis tasks were done manually, but nowadays, they can be done digitally. According to Munzner [3], one area where data visualisation can be applied is the organisation of publications. When reading articles, we work with the articles’ metadata, including the references’ metadata. Thus, a large volume of metadata and content is stored. The researcher could end up with a set of billions of data, where each element has its attributes [9]. Moreover, data transforms over time, as things are not static and change. The publication flow varies over the years, increasing for specific study topics. Also, new authors emerge, and new lines of research can be detected through the keywords. Over the years, there have been variations in the publication flow according to the source type. The evolution of the changes can be viewed graphically in interactive models. The visualisation can represent the workflow of authors working on a topic, the number of publications over time, what key terms are used, what kind of publications are made, etc. Finally, according to Clavico Alves et al. [1], several software tools help in this task to generate visualisations. CAQDAS software can support researchers in their task of visualising data and results. According to Sánchez-Gómez et al. [10], since the 1990s, the importance of qualitative research has increased dramatically. This increase has also led to the creation of

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different CAQDAS. These tools aim to support researchers in carrying out their qualitative analyses. Although the first CAQDAS appeared in the 1960s, it was not until the 1980s and early 1990s that they were recognised for their application in qualitative analysis [11]. One of the CAQDAS that support the researcher in the whole process is webQDA. The qualitative data analysis process has different phases: the research approach, research objectives and research questions, data collection, data reduction (categorisation and coding), data analysis, and export of results and conclusions [12]. In the process of the emergence of CAQDAS, although they have been developed for decades, it was around 2013 that visual models began to be incorporated into the review process [13]. Supporting the role that CAQDAS plays in the visualisation process [14], a study incorporating images in the creation or collection of data may reveal some sociological knowledge that is not accessible in any other way. This is also supported by Rose [15], stating that the value of visual research methods is revealing, as images can show things that different types of analysis cannot. The study aims to identify the value and usefulness of data visualisation in representing bibliometric data to support literature review processes. The phenomenon of the gender gap in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education sector is used as a case study to exemplify the usefulness of the visualisation of bibliometric attributes. The research questions addressed by the study are: (1) What does CAQDAS contribute to the results obtained?; (2) What are the possible causes of the gender gap? This study phenomenon has been chosen because of its social relevance and current impact on the educational and employment framework [16, 17]. The STEM sector has high employment rates and is a professional field with low unemployment rates [18]. To achieve an equal and diverse STEM sector, it is necessary to promote representative equality and diversity from the educational levels [19]. In reality, female representation rates are substantially lower than male representation in STEM studies. In several European countries, the female model barely reaches 30%, compared to 70% for men [20]. The lack of representation in studies carries over to the labour market [21]. An unequal labour market system encourages horizontal segregation. In addition, it also promotes other segregation, such as vertical segregation [22, 23]. Horizontal segregation is motivated by intrinsic elements of the subject, such as motivation, interests and attitudes [24]. However, extrinsic factors also conditioned it, such as socially constructed social roles in prototypical professions for men and women. On the other hand, vertical segregation, among other reasons, is motivated by low social awareness of work-life balance and an androcentric environment in the scientific and technical sectors [25]. It is necessary to identify the elements that promote gender segregation and the gender gap for these reasons [26]. Knowledge of the reasons for this will make it possible to activate socio-educational mechanisms and strategies to combat the impact and aim to close the gap [27, 28]. To identify possible causes, a literature review has been carried out in the high-impact databases Web of Science and Scopus. Launching an optimal equation of terms using

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Boolean operators in databases of scientific rigour allows us to know the latest trends in the sector. Finally, from data visualisation, the study’s novelty is to address a research topic of current relevance, in this case, the gender gap in tertiary STEM studies. When searching high-impact databases such as ERIC in the education sector, Web of Science and Scopus with the key terms: data visualisation, gender gap and STEM, no interesting results are reported. This evidence indicates that this is an exciting field to apply this type of analysis. In addition, an analysis of the attributes has been carried out and presented visually to analyse the publications’ content. All this has been done by optimising the resources offered by a CAQDAS.

2 Methodology The study aims to identify the value and usefulness of data visualisation in representing bibliometric data. The objectives are to deepen the existing literature on gender segregation in STEM higher education and understand the relationship of the bibliometric attributes derived from the review. This topic was selected due to the current and accentuated segregation in higher education in the scientific and technical areas [25, 29–32]. The process was divided into two main phases. The first phase focused on conducting a systematic literature review about the gender gap in STEM higher education. A second phase focused on the analysis using data visualisation provided by CAQDAS. The methodology applied during the first phase was the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocol, an internationally accepted procedure for conducting systematic reviews and meta-analyses. PRISMA is based on a compendium of items required to operate and report systematic reviews. Although the objective of this work is the analysis itself, we provide the main details about the review protocol to ensure the validity and reliability of the results. In particular, the search was conducted in the primary scientific databases at the international level, Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus. A set of inclusion and exclusion criteria was applied to select those works related to gender in STEM in higher education and carried out in the European Union. This criterion was set to have similar educational systems regarding organisation and content. The full PRISMA protocol followed for developing the systematic literature review can be found in the publication by Verdugo-Castro et al. (2022) [33]. The search string was defined using WoS and Scopus’s boolean operators AND, OR, NOT and proximity operators. The search was in the title, keywords and abstract. Regarding temporality, the restriction was that the publications were from 2015 onwards, given that social phenomena constantly change. Moreover, the last few years coincide with an increase in the use of technology in people’s daily lives. Articles, books, book chapters, and proceedings were used regarding the document type. The search string used is as follows:

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( TITLE-ABS-KEY ( ( diversity OR ethnicity OR female OR gender OR “gender gap” OR intersection OR race OR stereotype OR women OR woman ) W/8 ( engineering OR mathematics OR maths OR science OR stem OR technology ) AND ( education OR “High School” OR “secondary school” OR “tertiary studies” OR “university”) AND ( slr OR “Systematic Literature Review” OR “systematic mapping” OR “literature review”) AND NOT ( health OR clinical OR animal OR animals ) ) ) AND ( LIMIT-TO ( LANGUAGE, “English”) )

Once the equation was launched into the two databases, the steps outlined in the PRISMA procedure were followed. A first filter was run to check whether the initial results met all the inclusion criteria. Once those that met the exclusion criteria were discarded, we moved on to the quality phase. During the quality phase, the publications were checked to ensure they met the minimum requirements. The quality questions were related to whether the publication was entirely linked to the topic, correctly defined the objectives and methodology, whether an intervention proposal was applied in the research or whether a methodological tool was used. It was also analysed to determine whether it was based on previous projects and whether it had been applied in a natural environment. Finally, it was examined whether the authors of the publications pointed out the study’s limitations. A total of 23 publications passed to the final phase of full reading and analysis. The selected publications were read to analyse the research content, bibliometric attributes, and metadata. On the other hand, the metadata was compiled in a RIS file for analysing the metadata. The RIS file made it possible to run analyses in CAQDAS. The analysis was therefore framed in a qualitative process, focusing on visualising the literature metadata to identify potential causes for the gender gap in STEM. At this point, the webQDA software was selected to analyse the bibliometric metadata. This CAQDAS offers a user-friendly, intuitive, and easy-to-use interface. In addition, most of the CAQDAS offers statics graphics; however, webQDA uses interactive visualisations.

3 Data Analysis Once the readings that provided answers to possible causes of the gender gap in the STEM education sector within the European framework had been selected, the files were downloaded in RIS format with the metadata. Subsequently, the RIS file is embedded in the software employing internal import tools. As a result, the attributes are read by CAQDAS as research descriptors. From the incorporation of the metadata, crosswalks can be created, called matrices. Matrices can be generated by making different crosswalks of attributes according to the researcher’s research objectives. Matrices can take different layouts according to the attribute typology. In either case, matrices are interactive. After generating the matrix, the researcher can visualise it and click on the attributes, making new displays. The metadata used are publication type (journal article, conference proceedings, book chapter, book, thesis, etc.), year, authors and keywords.

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Visual representations can be exported by executing metadata crosswalks through tables [1] and graphical outputs, combining line thicknesses, colours, shapes, and positions [5]. The export of the visual model can be done statically using JPEG and PNG formats, which can then be converted to other commonly used formats, such as TIFF. However, it is also possible to make dynamic exports through short videos. These GIFs can be generated through screen recording on the device.

4 Results and Discussion The results are presented in two blocks. First, the analysis of the metadata is presented. Second, the content analysis is presented. 4.1 Visual Representations of Metadata The descriptors embedded in webQDA from the RIS file are publication type, authors, years, and keywords. They were combined to analyse the metadata. Some examples are presented in this paper, and the visual outputs shown are interactive within webQDA; circular, oval, or ellipse-like structures can be created. As will be seen, line thicknesses, element distribution and colours are used in the visual models to relate descriptors to each other. Using the mouse cursor and moving it over the visual model, the desired data can be selected, highlighted, and information can be obtained. When combining two groups of descriptors, the connecting lines become thicker, and the colour intensifies from grey to green. Also, the characteristics are changed when crossing in the central box of the leading descriptor group. They amplify the background grey, and the outline becomes blue. Also, the spatial distribution of the data is designed to be visually harmonious. In addition, since the graphs are dynamic, they can be displayed. Clicking on any attributes displays the representation to provide more information. This makes it easier for the researcher to analyse the information. In particular, the data visualisations help to get insights that researchers would only be able to obtain indirectly from the metadata of the systematic literature review. Figure 1 converges the authors and years of the 23 final publications. There are 89 authors clustered into five years (2015–2019) due to several sharing authorship in the selected publications. The information in this matrix is interesting because it lets us know the authors’ publication flow per year. The year most authors published was 2018 (37 authors), followed by 2017 (21 authors). In 2019, 13 authors were published. In 2015, 12 authors were published; finally, in 2016, 7 authors were published. Although this data can be quantified using a spreadsheet, the visualisation and the context data provided by webQDA reduce the time invested in these tasks. On the other hand, we combined authors by publication type to know which source they tend to publish (Fig. 2). Forty-eight authors have published in journal articles, 36 have published in conference proceedings, four have published in book chapters and 3 in books.

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Fig. 1. Matrix of authors by year. Source: Own production with webQDA. To view the highresolution matrix without selections, it can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.560 4673. To view this image of the matrix in high quality, it can be accessed at https://doi.org/10. 5281/zenodo.5604679.

Another combination of attributes that could be executed would be keywords clustered by authors, or vice versa, authors clustered by keywords. These matrices provide information on which keywords are used and the frequencies. In addition, it would also be possible to know which keywords the authors use, making it possible to identify their research lines from the visual model in dendrogram format. The interaction between the authors and keywords visualisation allows each author to select and get details about the keyword used in their publications. Also, the interaction can evolve. If the researcher accesses one of the keywords, they can identify which authors use the same keyword. On the other hand, the graph is complemented with the information provided in spreadsheets to extend the visualisation information. Therefore, as it is an interactive visualisation, the information can be extracted according to the researcher’s interaction, and it is complemented with information in tables.

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Fig. 2. Matrix of publication type by authors. Source: Own production with webQDA. To view the high-resolution matrix without selections, it can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.5281/zen odo.5604686. To view this image of the matrix in high quality, it can be accessed at https://doi. org/10.5281/zenodo.5604689.

This analysis can also be replicated with keywords and years. Figure 3 shows the year descriptors crossed in the matrix with the keyword descriptors. Some keywords are used only by one author, while more than ten authors use others. The case of diversity (11 authors), self-efficacy (12 authors), STEM (21 authors) and gender (37 authors). With this analysis, the researcher can find out which keywords are most used in the publications to search for information with these terms in the databases. They can also use these terms in their publications. Understandably, gender is the most mentioned term, as it is the generic term for the gender gap. Regarding the year of use of the key terms, from the 23 publications analysed, STEM was used in 2017 and 2018 and gender in all the years covered. In addition, an analysis has been made on the type of publication where they appear as critical terms. STEM appears as a keyword in four journal articles and one conference proceedings. Moreover, gender appears in three journal articles, three conference proceedings and one book chapter.

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Fig. 3. Year matrix by keyword. Source: Own production with webQDA. To view the matrix in high resolution with the selection of the year 2015 can be accessed https://doi.org/10.5281/zen odo.5604712. To view this image of the matrix in high quality, it can be accessed at https://doi. org/10.5281/zenodo.5604774. To view the interaction of the graph in the video, with the variation by year, it can be accessed https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5604846.

Finally, the keywords used have increased over the years, implying progress in gender gap research in the STEM education sector. 4.2 Research on the Gender Gap in Higher STEM Studies A conceptual map was generated from the 23 final publications resulting from the literature review process using the procedure outlined by the PRISMA protocol. Throughout the reading of the publications, the process of category extraction was carried out. The qualitative extraction process was implemented by identifying the main topics of the publications. A shared terminology was used in those cases where different authors used different terms for the same concept to use a homogeneous category system. Thus, because of the analysis of the content of the publications, it has been possible to construct a system of codes. The categories mainly deal with the causes of the gender gap.

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The conceptual map is presented in Fig. 4. This type of representation can be designed in CAQDAS or through other visualisation resources. In this case, although webQDA provides a map, it was necessary to edit it in another tool to adapt it for publication.

Fig. 4. Conceptual map. Source: Own production. To view the image in high quality, it can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5604879.

The following sections contain the results of the reading process derived from the literature review. The results have been organised by some of the categories set out in the conceptual map. Binary Logic. Some of the theorists behind the feminist perspective indicate that it is necessary to move away from binary logic, to eliminate the mentality that there are professions aimed at men and women [34]. Future Career Prospects and Interest in Science. The Finnish study by Kang et al. [35] focuses on the correlation between future career prospects and students’ interest in science. Three variables of future career prospects are selected: results, personal time, and innovation orientations. Three characteristics of interest are also determined: unique value, enjoyment, and cognitive aspect. The work concludes that the role of the teacher in primary school is among the reasons for gender inequality in STEM studies. When choosing curriculum materials with fewer gender-biased images or texts, teachers should pay attention.

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Also, Cantley et al. [36] focus on testing the effectiveness of Izak9 and its design principles in enhancing girls’ interest and enjoyment of mathematics. The case study supports the hypothesis that using Cognitive Activation Teaching Strategies would improve girls’ attitudes towards mathematics by promoting their interest and enjoyment of the subject. Motivation. In the study by Olmedo-Torre et al. [37], the relationship between the motivation of female STEM students and other constructs, such as family and social context and attraction to engineering, is studied. They indicate that stereotypes and the family and social context are reasons for the low enrolment of women in STEM studies. Also, the study by Salmi et al. [38] addresses constructs such as motivation, attitudes towards science and future educational plans, combining elements addressed by Andrews et al., Kang et al., and Olmedo-Torre et al. [35, 37, 39]. Continuing with studies on motivation, [40] conducted a study in Germany in 2015 and proposed the Physics Olympiad as a social context for pursuing young women’s motivations and goals. The results suggest that the intervention positively affected young women’s physical identity, while no detrimental effects appeared for men. Both genders learned equally in terms of conceptual and factual knowledge. Regarding socio-educational projects focusing on the gender gap in the STEM education sector, the IRIS project supported by the European Commission [41] is framed within the ROSE (Relevance of Science Education) project. In the ROSE Project, the focus was on how 15-year-old students relate to science and technology. IRIS aims to develop knowledge and recommendations for improving the participation of young people, particularly women, in higher education in ICT. On how data is collected for the project, the IRIS partners created the IRIS Q questionnaire in the framework of the project [42]. Self-efficacy. According to Brauner et al. [43], paying attention to students’ self-efficacy is also essential. The authors use mental models to determine whether gender influences computer self-efficacy and pupils’ interest. The analysis showed that most children have a stereotypical image of computer scientists. Self-concept. On the other hand, Ertl et al. [44] investigates how stereotypes can explain the self-concept of female university students in STEM. The research focuses on factors and analyses the extent to which family factors, school-related factors and individual stereotypes can influence a woman’s STEM academic self-concept. Scientific Comprehension and Capital. Other elements that need to be studied are educational and learning capital [45]. The study by Stoeger, Greindl et al. [46] arises in the framework of STEM magnet schools; it aims to compare the STEM-related learning and educational capital of female and male students attending high-performing high schools with and without a STEM focus. Regarding the results obtained, students attending STEM magnet schools have higher levels of didactic and economical educational and organic learning capital. No significant differences were found for the other seven educational and learning capital types. According to the results, students who attended a STEM magnet school were more likely to enrol in the programme on future enrolment in an after-school programme.

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Other exciting components to study are science capital and identity, such as [47], within the framework of Think Physics. Initiatives. In terms of interventions in natural settings, there are different initiatives. The Spanish study [48] aims to increase the number of female students. The main activities within the programme can be divided as follows: (1) promoting interaction with high school students through workshops and seminars, (2) promoting interaction between female teachers and female university students, (3) increasing the professional support network, (4) promoting interaction with professional women working in STEM environments, (5) building support networks for female students, (6) promoting and supporting leadership, (7) increasing the visibility of female role models. The study [49] defines the creation of the CodePlus software to encourage women in computer science (informatics). The Bridge21 learning model was used in all workshops. For data collection and outcome measurement, girls’ intentions to study Computer Science (CS), their confidence to study CS, their perception of CS as a career, their gendered perception of CS and the computer science profession, and self-efficacy following participation in the CodePlus programme are explored. Regarding methodology, studies such as [50] apply qualitative approaches. The author chose the case study approach to delve into the skills, attitudes, behaviour and perceptions of high school and university students about Computer Science. In terms of initiatives the education system takes, there is a study [51]. The work presents the short-term results obtained from the curricular reform of the German secondary school curriculum. Meanwhile, the study [52] examines the influence of robot gender on learning when performing stereotypical female or male learning tasks. Another type of intervention is applied in the study conducted at the University of Aveiro (Portugal) by Martinho et al. [53], which is based on mini-projects. Students’ responses were analysed for gender differences in cooperation and competitiveness. Proposals. González-González et al. [54] analyse proposals by companies and communities in different European countries to reduce the gender gap in STEM. The EU tries to close the gap by developing support programmes through various organisations, such as the European Platform of Women Scientists (EPWS), WITEC and projects like the European Landscape on Gender and STEM (SESTEM), GENDERA and Genset gender action plans in science. In addition, some companies are leading initiatives to bridge the gender gap, such as LinkedIn, Salesforce, Intel, Google, Microsoft and IBM [55]. Female Role Models. Finzel et al. [56] present mentoring to motivate female high school students to study computer science. The authors’ proposal is framed in the make IT mentoring programme, and the investigation is based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). Also, according to Stoeger, Hopp et al. [57], mentoring is one possibility for effective extracurricular education for girls in STEM. The four essential aspects of successful education provision for girls in STEM are successful female role models, intervention programmes targeting girls’ interests in STEM, mentoring with mentor-mentee interaction and online mentoring, and, finally, role models of the same age and status.

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Perceived Barriers. Regarding the labour market, the study [58] aims to promote the re-entry into the STEM labour market of women who abandoned their careers. A blended learning programme is proposed to achieve it. Also, an additional innovation was to provide internships with STEM employers as part of the programme. Looking at overall satisfaction, 81.5% of the respondents expressed satisfaction with the course. Regarding the programme’s final goal, the results showed that most participants expressed confidence in their ability to succeed in returning to STEM work. The most relevant barriers they revealed that they have perceived throughout their journey are the need to retrain, build networks and attend to childcare responsibilities.

5 Conclusions This case study serves as a tool to answer two research questions: 1) What does CAQDAS contribute to the results obtained?; (2) What are the possible causes of the gender gap? The results of a previous systematic literature review are the input to answer both questions. The metadata from the 23 selected publications was analysed using a CADQDAS tool. In particular, we used webQDA due to its interactive visualisations. Regarding the first question, “What does CAQDAS contribute to the results obtained?”, despite a systematic literature review being mainly a qualitative analysis of the selected works after the search and screening process, the use of CAQDAS maintains the rigorousness of systematic literature review methods during the analysis. Using software such as CAQDAS offers the researcher a potential tool to present the trends of scientific production on a specific topic. Visualising metadata lets the researcher know which authors are working on the subject, at what stage a research peak occurs, what terms are used to categorise the results, the usual type of publication for the research lines, etc. This information sets precedents in the studies and makes it possible to determine the state of the initiatives, underway, etc. WebQDA offers an interactive resource, unlike other tools that provide visual outputs without interaction. The metadata analysis shows that more authors have been publishing on the gender gap in STEM studies in higher education over the years. In other words, far from being a dormant research topic, it is a growing one that spans different professional and educational spheres: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. However, also education and social sciences are frameworks for addressing segregation. Since 2017, publications have gained momentum, especially in journal articles and conference proceedings. Around 50% of the 23 selected publications are journal articles and conference proceedings. Also, the use of different key terms has increased over the years. This information suggests that the struggle to close the gap has positively extended to more fields, such as virtual reality, robotics in the classroom, computational thinking, or human-robot interaction. Also, other authors have previous publications related to higher education decisionmaking. These publications, such as the articles on the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) by Lent et al. [58], lay the foundation for our current knowledge. On the other hand, to the second research question, “What are the possible causes of the gender gap?”, possible causes of the gender gap include gender bias, social and

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family influence on girls and women’s motivation and gender stereotypes in computer science and electronics. Agreeing with Kang et al. [35], teachers should avoid gender bias in science classes by giving equal attention to boys and girls. Stereotypes about STEM are also influential, especially in computer science, communications, and electrical and electronic engineering (CCEEE). As Olmedo-Torre et al. [37] point out, as a result of stereotypes, not only has the number of women in these areas not increased, but it has decreased. Attention should also be paid to women’s and girls’ motivation about the STEM sector, attitudes towards science, and future study plans. Initiatives such as the study by Salmi et al. [38], which promoted improving students’ performance in the knowledge test, can be applied to ensure attraction to the STEM field. In addition to motivation, other elements, such as interest, recognition, and competence, condition the decision to pursue higher education. These elements confirm the importance of fostering the confident identity of women and girls in STEM environments, as in the case of physics, coinciding with the study [40]. However, more authors work on interests and motivation to care about educational choices based on the IRIS project, such as Henriksen et al. [41]. Other authors, such as Borsotti [50], work on interest in computer science and programming through Cognitive Activation Teaching Strategies. Advancing the possible causes for the gender gap is self-efficacy. Brauner et al. [43], children in their research see computer scientists as primarily male, especially boys. Initiatives such as CodePlus [49] are proposed to enhance self-efficacy, a programme involving computer science work with girls. Moreover, girls’ self-concept, strongly influenced by Stereotype Threats, should not be overlooked. In some studies, such as Ertl et al. [44], although the results show that students have good grades, their self-concept is weakened. Possible causes for this problem may be inadequate self-confidence or the false belief that they lack competence and ability. Interests, attitudes, future career prospects, self-efficacy, self-concept and selfconfidence, and actions such as mentoring can be considered to address elements such as motivation (autonomous and situational). This information is suggested in studies such as Stoeger, Hopp, et al. [57] to work on educational and learning capital. Also, Finzel et al. [56] propose a mentoring proposal to work on modelling based on successful female role models. However, it is also necessary to address scientific capital and identity to reduce the gender gap, thus agreeing with Padwick et al. [47]. Other initiatives to address the gender gap include learning from gendered robots, as in the study by Reich-Stiebert & Eyssel [52]. As in the study by Görlitz & Gravert [50], curriculum reforms can also be considered. Moreover, finally, other interventions can be applied outside the academic environment, especially in work settings [58] and business settings [54]. Finally, it should be noted that the study’s main limitation is managing the first results obtained in Scopus and Web of Science to decide which publications answered the research question. As a prospect, it is proposed to continue reviewing the new literature that emerges in case recent studies help reveal new advances towards closing the gender gap.

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Acknowledgements. The research work has been carried out within the PhD Programme of the University of Salamanca in the field of Education in the Knowledge Society (http://knowledgesoc iety.usal.es), and this research was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities with a grant for the training of University Teachers (FPU017/01252).

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Author Index

A Aberasturi-Apraiz, Estibaliz 349 Alves, Patrícia Vinheiras 314 B Baixinho, Cristina Lavareda 133 Barbosa, Luís 199 Barragán, Aingeru Gutiérrez-Cabello 349 Braga, Claudomilson Fernandes 121 Brandão, Catarina 93 C Cabanillas-García, Juan Luis 180 Cabral, Ana 109 Corrales-Vázquez, José María 180 Corte, Agostinha 301 Costa, António Pedro 371 D da Fonseca, Rosa Maria Godoy Serpa 1 da Silva Barros, Mirelly 261 da Silva, Marcelle Miranda 133 David, Carlos Pina 314 de Lavor Coriolano Marinus, Maria Wanderleya 261 de Oliveira, Ellen Synthia Fernandes 133 dos Santos, Ruth Silva 261 E Escobar Castillo, Adalberto Estévez, Iris 60

144

F Faiella, Filomena 72 Ferreira, Óscar Ramos 133 Fornari, Lucimara Fabiana 1

G García-Holgado, Alicia 371 García-Peñalvo, Francisco José 371 Garzón Castrillón, Manuel 144 Gomes, Filipe 301 González-Sanmamed, Mercedes 60 Gorospe, José Miguel Correa 349 Gupta, Ajay 18 K Kasperiuniene, Judita

72

L Losada-Moncada, María 180 Losada-Vázquez, Ángel 180 Loureiro, Helena 301 M Marques, Fátima Mendes 314 Medeiros, Marcelo 133 Monteiro, Ana 301 Moresi, Eduardo Amadeu Dutra 209 N Neves, Sandra 314 Niedbalski, Jakub 38 P Pinheiro, Maria José 314 Pinho, Isabel 209 Presado, Maria Helena 247 R Ribeiro, Diamantino 166 Ribeiro, João 166 Ribeiro, Raquel 229 Rodríguez-Jiménez, Carlos Javier

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 A. P. Costa et al. (Eds.): WCQR 2023, LNNS 688, pp. 389–390, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31346-2

180

390

S Sá, Susana 109 Sánchez-Gómez, Mª Cruz 371 Sánchez-Gómez, María Cruz 180 Santos, Inês Guerra 121 Santos, Lígia Fernanda Passos Bezerra 281 Saraiva, Edite 93 Sette, Gabriela Cunha Schechtman 261 Simões, Patrícia 247 ´ ezak, Izabela 38 Sl˛ Soares, Adelia Karla Falcão 261

Author Index

Soares, Francisco José Passos Sousa, Mafalda 93 Souto-Seijo, Alba 60 T Tuzzo, Simone Antoniaci

281

121

V Vainauskien˙e, Vestina 331 Velandia Pacheco, Gabriel 144 Verdugo-Castro, Sonia 371