Child art has long been a subject of research. Books and papers on the issue inspired me to look at rock art through the prism of studies on the artistic works of the little ones. This paper discusses a pilot study that I have conducted and offers some theoretical considerations on reading art.
Enormous investments had been made in Malaysian education sector of the economy especially in the higher education towards fulfilling a target of creating an attractive environment, conducive to learning and academic excellence. Building facilities account for a significant portion of investments in the sector. Since no building has immunity against fire, it has become imperative to research ways of ensuring the safety of built facilities and users from fire disaster. This research proposed a framework for effective fire safety management for buildings in Malaysian Higher Education Institutions. The report aims to display the results of the pilot study conducted among staff and students from selected universities in Johor Malaysia before carrying out the core survey to collect information from respondents. The pilot study sought to minimise errors in the questionnaire, makes the survey runs smoothly, facilitate the response rate, and provide a useful and valuable inquiry. The results include the descriptive statistics, reliability test, content and construct validity, and the normality test. The summary of the reliability test for each construct of the users’ questionnaire, are Management, 0.910; fire safety equipment/system, 0.907; building components safety design, 0.917. Furthermore, users’ awareness and knowledge of fire safety, 0.948; users’ attitude on fire safety, 0.885 and the effectiveness of fire safety management have a value 0.913 for Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient. The aggregate Descriptive Statistics results for Users/Occupants Questionnaire show mean values between the ranges of 3.34 to 3.76. The questionnaire had low dispersion and standard deviation values of less than 1. The values of skewness and kurtosis were all within the recommended threshold of -/+2, an indication that all the constructs of the study were normally distributed. The results are a favourable indicator for proceeding with the core survey using the instrument.
The decision to use reverse mortgage is influenced by a myriad of factors among which some are behaviourally related. Identification and validation of these behavioural factors are necessary to be able to objectively explain their interrelationships and effect on individual’s decision to use the product in the future. This paper reports a pilot survey result that aimed at validating a questionnaire designed specifically to collect data on the behavioural factors that might likely influence individual’s intention to use reverse mortgage in the future. Using a convenient sampling strategy, a total number of 102 sampled respondents were used in the study. The data were analyzed with the aid of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23 where a factor analysis and reliability analyses were conducted. The result revealed that out of the 53 items that originally formed the questionnaire items, only 41 were retained. A total of 10 components emerged from the data which were named in accordance with their underlying constructs. All the factor loadings in reported satisfied the acceptable threshold of .50. The reliabilities of the items and the respective scales were also within the acceptable range of .70. It was therefore concluded that the questionnaire was reliable and can be used for the purpose to which is was designed for.
The aim of the pilot study is to examine the possibilities of mobile phone location data in geographical research of the everyday life and individual spatial mobility of the population. Developing and testing a new research instrument thus represent the key aims of the pilot study. The proposed technique is ‘tried out’ on a group of young people living or working in Prague. Their daily activities and spatial mobility are explored and discussed against the everyday and geographical context of the young people´s lives. Theoretically the study draws on the strong tradition of time geography as well as on the new geography of everyday life. Methodologically the research combines two different types of data sources and the relevant analytical tools. First, mobile phone location data are used to record the daily trajectories of the participants. Second, deep interpretative interviews are carried out to understand the reasons and motives behind the recorded daily trajectories. Despite a few technical obstacles in mobile phone location data processing, the pilot study proved the very promising potential of this source, especially in combination with interviews, when studying the patterns of the everyday life and individual spatial mobility of an urban population.
The publication presents the analysis of the own research results related to the mercantile attitudes of youth active in social media. Pilot studies were carried out on a sample of 83 people aged 15–21, concerning the formation of a mercantile attitude among youth active in social media.. In the exploration procedure, the diagnostic survey method was used, using own research tools. The presented results are to be a starting point for further analyzes in this area.
The article presents an analysis and evaluation of research tools used in a pilot study of an image of Other created by third grade students. The image is tightly connected to determining children’s approach towards Others, for example by estimating their social distance to culturally distinct groups. The research was of mixed type containing both qualitative and quantitative methods. Furthermore, the article’s goal is to show the important question of how lower grade students view culturally distinct Others in a wider context of multiculturalism as a challenge for modern Polish education.
PL
W artykule zostaje przedstawiona analiza oraz ocena narzędzi badawczych wykorzystanych w badaniu pilotażowym, dotyczącym zagadnienia obrazu Innego konstruowanego przez uczniów klas trzecich. Obraz ten ściśle związany jest z określeniem stosunku dzieci do Innego, m.in. poprzez ustalenie ich dystansu społecznego wobec grup innych kulturowo. Badanie to miało charakter mieszany i zawierało zarówno ujęcie jakościowe jak i ilościowe. Ponadto artykuł ma na celu zwrócenie uwagi na istotną kwestię postrzegania Innego kulturowo przez uczniów klas młodszych w kontekście tematyki wielokulturowości jako wyzwania współczesnej polskiej szkoły.
W czasie trwania pandemii COVID-19 odnotowano wzrost w zakresie doświadczanego lęku i stresu w wielu populacjach. W sposób szczególny dotknęły one wybranych grup zawodowych, w tym nauczycieli. Wśród strategii radzenia sobie z lękiem i stresem obiecujące rezultaty dają działania wykorzystujące muzykę jako narzędzie służące obniżeniu napięcia. Dla celów niniejszego badania skonstruowano protokół interwencji terapeutycznej wykorzystującej różne aktywności bazujące na muzyce. Przeprowadzono badanie pilotażowe, mające na celu z jednej strony wstępną ocenę skuteczności interwencji, z drugiej – sprawdzenie wykonalności proponowanego eksperymentu w wymiarze metodologicznym i praktycznym. W badaniu udział wzięło 13 uczestników (n=13); zastosowano mieszany schemat badania z trzykrotnie powtarzanym pomiarem (Kwestionariusz lęku uogólnionego GAD-7). Wyniki zinterpretowano zarówno w perspektywie indywidualizującej, jak i eksperymentalnej, z analizą statystyczną (ANOVA, test t-Studenta). Sugerują one, że autorska interwencja muzyczna przyczyniła się do zmniejszenia poziomu lęku w przebiegu czasowym. Ze względu na liczebność próby oraz pilotażowy charakter badania wyniki traktować należy z dużą dozą ostrożności.
EN
During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in anxiety and distress in many populations. They particularly affected selected professional groups, e.g. teachers. Among the strategies for coping with anxiety and stress, interventions using music as a tool to reduce tension are showing promising results. For the purpose of this study, a therapeutic intervention protocol using various music-based activities was constructed. A pilot study was carried out to initially assess the effectiveness of the intervention, and – on the other hand – to check the feasibility of the proposed experiment in terms of methodology and practice. The study involved 13 participants (n = 13); a mixed study design with a triple-repeated measures was used (the GAD-7 Generalized Anxiety Questionnaire). The results were interpreted both in an individualized and experimental perspective, with a statistical analysis (ANOVA, Student’s t-test). They suggest that the original musical intervention contributed to the reduction of the level of anxiety in the time course. Due to the size of the sample and the pilot design of the study, the results should be treated with caution.
The article presents an analysis of the cognitive interviews that constituted the first stage of the pilot of the interview questionnaire as part of the “Adult Learning in Poland” study. The available results of international studies indicate a relatively low level of adult participation in education in Poland, whilst also pointing to differences in the values of indicators between the studies. From the literature review it can be concluded that these discrepancies result from differences in operationalization, ways of category aggregation, and other factors. It was assumed that the use of cognitive interviews, including the ‘thinking aloud’ and ‘verbal probing’ techniques, would make it possible for the respondents to find ways to interpret concepts and understand questions, as well as enabling the the researchers to identify issues with a high level of sensitivity. A discussion of the analysis of the collected empirical material; the methods of conceptualizing the terms used by the respondents; and the issues causing them discomfort – were all discussed based on the results of the observation conducted during the interviews. The proposed modifications of the interview questionnaire are presented. These changes were implemented in order to reduce the risk of obtaining incorrect results with a high risk of measurement error, and to ensure the well-being of the respondents during the interviews. The conclusions concerning the use of the cognitive interviewing technique as an element of the pilot survey – as well as the methodological conclusions regarding the cognitive interviewing technique – were also presented.
PL
Artykuł przedstawia analizę wywiadów kognitywnych, które stanowiły pierwszy etap pilotażu kwestionariusza wywiadu w ramach badania „Uczenie się dorosłych Polaków”. Dostępne wyniki badań międzynarodowych wskazują na relatywnie niski poziom uczestnictwa osób dorosłych w edukacji w Polsce, a zarazem różnice w wartości wskaźników w poszczególnych badaniach. Na podstawie przeglądu literatury wnioskować można, że rozbieżności te wynikają z różnic w operacjonalizacji, sposobie agregacji kategorii, jak również innych czynników. Założono, że wykorzystanie wywiadów kognitywnych, w tym technik thinking aloud i verbal probing, umożliwi dotarcie do sposobów interpretacji pojęć i rozumienia pytań przez respondentów, a także pozwoli badaczom na identyfikację zagadnień o wysokim poziomie drażliwości. Na podstawie wyników obserwacji prowadzonej w trakcie wywiadów oraz analizy zgromadzonego materiału empirycznego omówiono rozbieżne od pierwotnie założonych przez badaczy sposoby konceptualizacji terminów przez badanych, a także kwestie wywołujące dyskomfort respondentów. Zaprezentowano zaproponowane modyfikacje kwestionariusza wywiadu, których celem jest redukcja ryzyka uzyskania wyników nietrafnych, obarczonych wysokim ryzykiem błędu pomiaru oraz troska o dobrostan respondentów związany z sytuacją badania. Przedstawiono również wnioski dotyczące zastosowania techniki wywiadów kognitywnych jako elementu pilotażu badań sondażowych oraz konkluzje o charakterze metodologicznym dotyczące techniki wywiadów kognitywnych.
Reflection in teacher development is important as it can help both experiencedand novice teachers to better understand the processes theyare involved in. It can also be used to aid evaluation processes. This paperpresents a small scale study that involved undergraduate Englishphilology students from Gdańsk University who were studying for theteacher specialisation. One of its purposes was to trial a strategy forfeedback that could be used to mediate an already existing model ofassessment for students’ taught lessons, which previous to the studyused only a prescribed set of assessment criteria. Another purpose wasto promote a reflective turn in both the student-teacher and academicmentor (myself), which would then inform the discussions that tookplace after each observed lesson. In addition to this, I was interested tofind out if this strategy would generate a suitable quality and quantityof information, so that it might be used for further research. Overall,the strategy proved a useful aid to reflection in relation to the students’teaching practices. As a research tool, it also generated usable data.
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