Responsible Research Papers from the Fourth Qualitative Research Conference

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1 Responsible Research Papers from the Fourth Qualitative Research Conference Petri Salo (Ed.)

2 Åbo Akademi University, The Faculty of Education Vaasa 2012 ISBN Responsible Research

3 Table of contents Introduction: On responsible research... 4 Petri Salo Exploring Traditional School Song Lyrics through Content Analysis... 9 Camilla Cederholm Designing for digital literacy in preschool. Responsible research - Why do we do the research? Karin Forsling Two small stories about self and world at grades four and five Sharada Gade Writing on a computer with auditory feedback from synthetic speech synthesis as training for children with reading and writing difficulties Britta Hannus-Gullmets We have always worked like this in our school, haven t we? About teacher s choice of working methods in science education in Swedish-medium primary schools in Finland Ann-Catherine Henriksson Everything, everywhere, all the time: Advantages and challenges in the use of extensive video recordings of children Fredrik Rusk, Michaela Pörn, Fritjof Sahlström & Anna Slotte-Lüttge The best of both worlds How to Find the Added Value of Mixed Methods in Research Annika Wiklund-Engblom, Anette Bengs & Joachim Högväg Responsible Research 3

4 On responsible research Petri Salo Åbo Akademi University, Faculty of Education In the good old times researchers and professors were allowed to alienate themselves into ivory towers. They did this in order to serve the public at a distance and according to the rules and principles of the Book of Science. Researchers interaction with the world and the ordinary people were mainly intellectual. At times they sent a survey The ethical aspect in research was mostly about collegially agreed methods and approaches to sampling, analysis and reporting. Responsible research was a matter of within the community of researchers, within the academia as a free and independent - honour and moral code, and none of these were to be questioned by the public or the politicians. Nowadays research, knowledge production, seems to be about furthering economic competiveness on an open global arena. The ivory tower has been transformed into of accountability and applicability. Research seems to be about producing apps to a growing population of adult infants. Responsibility is about how many times an app have been downloaded to a smart phone. Discussions on and the establishment new methods or controlling bodies for detecting frauds is a subsidiary aspect of the ethics of responsible research (see Varantola 2012). also the expected results. When formulating a research proposal to a funding body one Research is about quick and dirty delivery of something already almost known. The very basic idea of research, as based on human and professional curiosity, proposing and formulating open-ended research questions and choosing proper for being able to deliver some well-informed answers has diminished into a jargon formerly familiar from advertising agencies and television commercials (for example for teeth whitening toothpaste): Top-frontier research unearths overlooked opportunities, cross-disciplinary bounda- talent, furthers applications that introduce unconventional, innovative approaches, 4 Responsible Research

5 and it is able to tackle societal challenges by bridging the gaps between research breakthroughs into viable products with real commercial potential, and it relies on the further innovation-based, smart and sustainable growth by having dynamic structural, erc.europa.eu/funding-and-grants The question to be posed is how come? In human and social sciences we have witnessed a myriad of turns during the last centuries;; a cultural turn, a social turn, a linguistic turn, a narrative turn and a practice turn. The former interest in brute facts (similar to those in nature) has been replaced by an interest in social facts. Still the turnaround of contemporary social sciences is built on the ambition of understanding human intentions and actions in variety contexts. In order to do this, researchers have the viability of experiences and our capability of interpreting experiences expressed during a research interview. Knowledge is to be constructed on and in relation to lived is!). Responsibility is about a respectful and thoughtful confrontation with the other (Searle 1995, Latour 1992). the one to be researched on is allowed to contribute to knowledge construction - also out of of social relations, nature and it s laws, the very basis for science is to be explained with social and societal relations. This advertise of contemporary research politics is put together using the discourses on following website;; cordis.europa.eu/eu-funding-guide/home_en.html, frontierresearchreport.com/, ec.europa.eu/research/ho- - teachers, managers, parents) seem to be crumbling. The professional security and a moral code based on right or wrong, either-or - has diminished. Border crossing has been replaced by border disappearing (Bauman 2006). What to do? In my view we need to take a new turn, a history turn in human and social sciences. The fundamental changes in social structures that took place in the transition from an agrarian to industrial society was handled by establishing new structures for knowledge distribu- Responsible Research 5

6 tion (comprehensive schooling) and by establishing various forms of communicative spaces for collaborative and communicative action. The social innovations of that time were called for example folk enlightenment, study circles and co-operatives (Rönnerman & Salo 2012) Within research we could re-invent and re-discover the principles, approaches and methods of action research, especially the collaborative forms of it. Action research combines methodology and ideology. The aim of action research is always to enable and further change, but not as a reaction to changes taken place outside, or proposed from above. Rather, the aim is to affect the changes change the change in a socially well-informed, responsible and sustainable manner. Action research is a holistic, dynamic and boundary crossing enterprise, in which practice and theory, action and research research with collaborative and communicative action in a certain cultural-historicalsocial practice. Action research acknowledges present and future as much as tradi- critical friends in relation to practitioners. The questions of moral and ethics are not outsourced into rules and regulations outside the social practice at hand. Rather, the complexity of moral and ethics is something inherent to the research as a social practice. In the words of Wilfred Carr and Stephen Kemmis (1986, p. 162): in social situations in order to improve the rationality and justice of their own practices, their understanding of the practices, and the situations in which these practices are Stephen Kemmis (2010) has lately been engaged with the concept of praxis. In his view, and with the reference to Aristotle, praxis is action that is morally-committed, purpose is to guide researchers conduct researching - in a manner that will develop them to be better researchers - for their times and their circumstances. Secondly praxis ought to help researchers to develop a more self-conscious understanding of their col- The concept and phenomenon of learning has been on the research agenda within various social sciences for two decades. But is it enough to study the contexts, forms and outcomes of learning? As a result we now have some hundreds different labels for learning. Research on learning seems to have been about constructing new concepts. The other big research area with capital L, Leadership has in similar manner been caught into colourful carousel of innovative concepts. It is quite easy to get of the linguistic carousel of contemporary research on learning or leadership. Simply by asking the uncomfortable question of why? And then the question of ethics and responsibility might rise. Henrika Franck (2012) defended her dissertation on Ethics in Strategic 6 Responsible Research

7 Ricoueur, and by describing the aim of her study in following manner (p. 1): - people in the strategy process see themselves as subjects in relation to their sense of Henrika Franck (2012, p. 133) concludes her study by describing ethics as an attitude towards life, something inherent to managers dealing with the strategy processes. It standpoint. The conclusion she draws should in my view be extended to cover researchers, The ethical is not something that can be planned or measured, it is more an attitude towards life, or a pervading sense of rectitude that dispositionally matters that the ma- the strategic aim and the ethics of otherness, but in the moment of commitment to the Action research was disputed and neglected during the good old ivory tower times. There is a risk of the misrepresentation and misuse of it in toothpaste marketing research. As my Nordic colleagues will inform you, action research relies on trust in and the recognition of the other. Action research assumes that practitioners - such as we - are capable of distancing ourselves from our immediate reality, and that we have an interest and willingness to systematically portray the problems and challenges in certain practices as well as an inclination to tackle these. We are also able to act purposefully and consciously in different roles, get close everyday actions, but also to distance ourselves from them. We are not just able to participate;; it is necessary for us human beings to be a part of something human, such as professional learning communities, collegial networks or communities of practices. And as participants and members of social practices we urge for collective meaning making. From adult education point of view learning is merely a means of making meaning or ourselves as human beings. Finally, when coming and working together we always need to express our individual needs and aims. And when these collide ethics and politics enter the arena. Responsible Research 7

8 References Bauman. Z Journal of Philosophy of Education, 40 (4), Carr, W. & Kemmis, S Kemmis, S Research for praxis: knowing doing, 18 (1), Latour, B One more turn after the social turn: Easing science studies into the non-modern world. In. E. McMullin (Ed.) - a Nordic perspective., 32 (1), Varantola, K Tutkimusetiikka yliopiston arjessa. Tieteessä tapahtuu, 30 (4), Responsible Research

9 Exploring Traditional School Song Lyrics through Content Analysis Camilla Cederholm Faculty of Education, Åbo Akademi University, Vaasa, Finland 1 Introduction Why do some songs retain their value from one generation to another, in an ever-changing society? National song repertoires tell the history of a nation and its traditions. Their ideological message, stressing a common national and cultural identity, appears to be strong and the core songs continue to be included in the repertoire regardless of curriculum reforms. What is their actual message? These are some of the questions raised during my research project about the Finland-Swedish school song tradition. The aim of this paper is to discuss the methods used exploring the constituting lyrical content of 60 songs within this kind of repertoire. The research question is: Which typical characteristics do traditional school song lyrics have? As the approach for this sociocultural research problem is hermeneutical, descriptive content analysis is my choice of method. The song lyrics are examined through the Finnish national school curricula during the 20th century, thus connecting to my pedagogical point of view. The empirical arena for my study is the Finland-Swedish song tradition, the songs and their impact on society from the end of the 19th century until The Finland-Swedish population is a linguistic minority with its own cultural traditions, such as native songs in Swedish. This kind of song repertoire is my main interest in this study what characteristics do songs that survive over time have? In this process, the school system has had great impact on which songs have been chosen to become part of the transmitted repertoire;; the school song canon. The Finnish national school curricula include com- implicates the focus of musical education. 2 Theoretical Background ves, which are also used as a framework for the whole study: the sociocultural perspective, the music pedagogical perspective and the musico-analytical perspective. These three perspectives (see Figure 1 below) are chosen because of their possibility to enrich the hermeneutical interpretation by contributing to a broad understanding of the context from which the focal songs originate;; their societal background, the authors behind the songs, and the music pedagogical recommendations expressed in Responsible Research 9

10 for the study, while the third, musico-analytical perspective consists of the primary empirical material, the 60 songs with their musical and lyrical constituents. In this article, however, I focus primarily on methods;; the content analysis of the lyrics in the song repertoire. Figure 1. The threefold hermeneutical model three perspectives applied on the song repertoire. resources and background data, some issues need further explanation. This will be done with the help of the threefold structure above, further divided into six different blocks of impact on song repertoire (Figure 1, inner hexagon). Each one of these blocks of impact are interrelated, thus forming a hermeneutical process over time. 2.1 The Sociocultural Perspective In my view, the sociocultural perspective includes general sociopolitical and cultural interests within a nation or a population at a certain (historical) period of time. This racters of the songs and contribute to the impact of a song repertoire: the authors involved in their creation and the publication of song books, as well as choral activities and performances. 10 Responsible Research

11 The authors behind the songs, the lyricists and composers, present their view of life through terms of lyrics and music. These authors are not independent of sociopolitical and cultural forces, nor of the time in which they live. Thus they display, at least to some degree, a musical interpretation of their contemporary culture. Songs that arise from these authors are then selected by publishers of song books, who also in their turn are affected by the reputation of similar sociocultural forces. The published song repertoire is performed in concerts, and thereby contributes to the building of a common national song repertoire. Hence, the authors, the song books, and the performances of these songs contribute to the sociocultural perspective. both maintained and continuously re-evaluated. Furthermore, there are parallel canons of different types, such as music style or origin. The meaning of the word canon itself various, non-musical sources, such as societal interests, cultural and historical impacts Thus, songs considered to belong to a canon are chosen for many different, non-musical reasons, a fact that is commonly ignored by the admirers of the canonical songs. In this article, I speak of the song canon as the state of the art in the 20th century, consisting of songs that, through expressed ideals in the school curricula and school doctrines (see Kivinen, 1988), were considered important, and thus, for decades, were taught to pupils in the folk schools in the Swedish-speaking regions in Finland. These ideological and political questions, as well as the origins of the traditional songs, are also discussed by Häggman (2005). I regard the three examined song lists to be artefacts contributing to the overall interpretation of a phenomenon that can be explained toire are likely to consist of songs by famous poets and composers of Finnish origin, while newer works might occur in the latter song lists, especially in the third one, as it allows the repertoire to also contain songs not originally from the school song re- into an empirical material, which can be studied using the three song lists through the process of adding and subtracting songs within a certain type of song repertoire with symbolic value, and the canon itself thus consists of the songs that remain in the school song repertoire despite of changes in society. Hence, another question arises: which songs actually belong to the canon-in-use and what messages do these songs transmit? This is where the lyrical content analysis becomes an important tool for investigating the messages of the focal songs. Responsible Research 11

12 The main part of the Finland-Swedish song tradition originates from the nationalromantic epoque in the late 1800s, one of the main reasons being the awakening of a authors, such as Topelius and Runeberg were originally published in school textbooks. Some of these poems were set tunes to, and, due to the widely spread textbooks, they gradually became well-known examples of the Finland-Swedish song repertoire. (von songs, a few of which have become an important part of the Finland-Swedish song culture (von Numers, 1999). Later on, in the early 1900s, composers such as Sibelius and Merikanto also participated to the construction of a song repertoire that nowadays could be called the Finland-Swedish song canon. Another part of this song tradition was formed by a vast number of folk songs and melodies, which music researchers like Otto Andersson started to collect in the beginning of the 20th century, mainly through the Brage Association, founded in 1906, whose main interest was to collect and preserve different cultural artefacts of Finland- Swedish origin. The collected melodies, often performed by violin players in the vil- friends, consciously developing a Finland-Swedish song repertoire. (Nyqvist, 2007) Thus the Brage Association, in a rather short time, constructed a general song repertoire from the old melodies. The lyrical topics often were about nature and the beautiful countryside, and these songs were highly appreciated among the new bourgeois social class in the Finnish cities. As Häggman (2000) states: these songs were even more traditional folk songs: some of the original lyrics were discarded as inappropriate, so the lyrics had to be changed in order to suit the more cultivated bourgeois people (Nyqvist, 2007;; Stenius, 1991). Many of these songs are also known within the song tradition in Sweden, which clearly shows that Finland-Swedish composers and lyricists have made their contribution also to the Scandinavian song canon (for a further description of the Swedish song tradition, see Flodin (1998) or Netterstad (1982). The Finland-Swedish choral movement was originally inspired by similar choir festivals in Estonia and Germany. These large Finland-Swedish choir festivals, starting in 1891, were maintained by Svenska Folkskolans Vänner (SFV), and since 1932 by Finlands Svenska Sång- och Musikförbund_ (FSSMF) (Grönholm, 1991). These two associations contributed to the development of a song tradition closely related to the for supporting cultural and national issues, considering language as well as song culture. These festivals became strongly associated with patriotic values and characteri- Häggman, 2000;; Långbacka, 1991). Accordingly, the song repertoire performed at the by patriotic songs. 12 Responsible Research

13 2.2 The Music Pedagogical Perspective The music pedagogical background perspective includes the music pedagogical issues risen through curricula, within the sociocultural arena. That is, these two perspectives coincide, although the music pedagogy focuses more on the methods used and recommended for learning certain songs in the classroom. Therefore, I have investigated the content of 20th century Finnish national school curricula, considering the curricula mediate certain values and suitable themes, which are also applicable on the and poetic-lyrical songs. As a result of the main aims of the school music education, two of the used song lists have evolved. The content of these song lists are presented in the following section, which consist of the third perspective applied on the song repertoire, the musico-analytical perspective. 2.3 The Musico-Analytical Perspective The musico-analytical perspective in this paper closely relates to the empirical material;; three song lists and the analysis of 60 songs, in this paper limited to the song lyrics. For the musical analysis of the song repertoire, I refer to my doctoral thesis in progress. In this section, I describe the methods used for the selection of songs and the overall process considering the lyrical content analysis: the main song categories, the node groups and some of the descriptors. Before that, however, the choice of empirical material requires a presentation. The repertoire in focus is chosen through three song lists, with a total of 60 different songs. The forces behind the development of such song lists can be traced to sociopolitical interests during the late 1800s, when the national awakening took place in Europe (Curtis, 2008). As a result of this, many countries have formed their national song repertoires during this period, exposing them through national school curricula, sidered important for educational purposes, such as transmission of religious, aesthe- from such educational motives exposed in school curricula. In Finland, several waves 1800s and the period after World War I, when Finland became independent (Hansén, 1991). Furthermore, the division on linguistic emphasis performed in the 1920s resulted in the Finland-Swedish population identifying itself as a linguistic and cultural minority: a nation within the nation (Lönnqvist, 2001a, 2001b). sed through curricula, while the third one contains of a top-thirty-list, a survey result Responsible Research 13

14 list was published in the school song book Visbok för skolan (Castrén, 1945). It consists of 20 songs that every Swedish-speaking Finn should know and pass on to future generations. This is a normative statement, referring to the decision by the Finland- Swedish School Association in the mid-1940s (ibid. 1945). These songs have been considered important cultural artefacts in the 1940s and have a lot in common with the Swedish tradition of core songs, as described by Flodin (1998) and Netterstad (1982), two of the researchers who have studied the Swedish song tradition, in a similar way to mine. The second song list consists of a recommended school song repertoire of 41 songs. It was published in the national school curriculum in 1985 (Grunderna för grundskolans läroplan, henceafter GrL, 1985). One reason for this action towards a common school song repertoire and the need for an emphasis on native Finland-Swedish songs can be traced to the school song book series Vi gör musik (published by Engström & Cederlöf in the 1970s), where the number of traditional Finland-Swedish songs clearly decreased. In fact, complaints about the lack of traditional songs in this series resulted in a separate song book with only Finland-Swedish songs: En visa vill jag sjunga (Cederlöf, 1978). Furthermore, Berg (1986) published a school song book based on this given repertoire: Vår gemensamma musikskatt, aiming to meet the needs of the new music curriculum from The third song list consists of 30 favourite songs plus 11 self-evident, patriotic songs, that is, a total of 41 songs. This survey was initiated by FSSMF (2000), and completed by their music journal Resonans. The number of respondents was 93 and this song list is used in order to explore which songs have kept their position in the Finland-Swedish song canon over time. These three song lists together form my empirical material for the lyrical content analysis in this article. I make no distinction between the lists;; each song is regarded of equal value within this analysis, regardless of in how many lists it occurs. 3 Content Analysis as Method Content analysis is a fairly obvious choice when the purpose is to explore lyrical themes and content within a song repertoire, because of its broad possibilities of application. Duriau et al. (2007) present a broad literature review on different topics within the subject. According to Shapiro and Markoff (1997, p. 14), as well as Ahuvia (2001), the label content analysis is used for a wide range of methods and techniques, which applied to text (or other symbolic materials) for social science purposes. Since this study using this kind of methods for analysis. 14 Responsible Research

15 My lyrical content analysis focuses on semantic (manifest) meanings, exploring the patterns, occurrences of themes, and certain words in song lyrics. As this paper is part of a broader qualitative study, some arguments for using a method so closely related to quantitative methods, by means of measurement of thematic occurrences, seem required. Åsberg (2001) argues for a mitigation of the differences between qualitative and quantitative analysis, both using numbers and words for describing occurrences and interpretations. Similarly, according to Ahuvia (2001), any content analysis is an interpretation, that is, the researcher counts interpretations of the content in focus. within a methodology aiming for interpretations of categories, which are constructed on the basis of the researcher s pre-understanding of the content. Furthermore, Krippendorff (1986) underlines that content analysis must be closely linked to their context. Content analysis can be divided into two main groups, latent and manifest analysis, the latter examining data as they appear, not their underlying messages (Ahuvia, 2001;; Forsberg & Wengström, 2003). This division is similar to the denotative and connotative ways of reading and interpreting a text (Flodin, 1998). In my close reading of the lyrics, I consider only manifest meanings of the words, that is, no linguistic expressions are interpreted as metaphors. However, the result of the analysis is interpreted, thus extracting latent meanings that can be traced to the songs in their sociocultural context. Krippendorff (1986, p. 23) claims the existence of latent meanings: Messages and symbolic communications generally are about phenomena other than those directly observed. Such meanings are for instance identity, patriotic values, and symbols of cultural value, concepts closely related to Bourdieu s (1990) symbolic and cultural capital. 3.1 The categorization process The manifest content analysis in this paper consists of eight main song categories, nine node groups, and 82 descriptors deriving from the results of the close reading of the song lyrics. The process of analysing the lyrics can be divided into three steps: 1) song lists using N Vivo and 3) close reading of all 60 song lyrics, along with simultaneous manual coding into descriptors within the nine node groups. different types of sources: the study of school music curricula and the study of song categories in published song books. Finnish national school music curricula from the 19th century until today were analysed exploring the musical content and statements about recommended characteristics of song lyrics. In addition to this, 29 Finland- Swedish song books were studied in order to explore how the published song books divided the different types of songs into groups. Such categories were folk songs, Christmas songs, patriotic songs, hymns, and lyric-romantic songs, mostly about nature. This procedure has a lot in common with the framework for analysis done by Responsible Research 15

16 Netterstad (1982) and Flodin (1998). Simultaneously, the frequencies of the songs in these song books were investigated. After this prework on song categories, the examination of the song lyrics demanded categories, one of which was a subgroup of the songs about seasons and time of year, that is, the above mentioned Christmas songs. Table 1 shows the main song categories and the number of songs in each category according to the song lists and the studied song repertoire in total. Table 1. Distribution of songs in the eight main song categories. Some issues can be discussed considering the use of main song categories: 1) why se- tic themes, and 2) why place Christmas songs in a separate subcategory, as it belongs to the main group Seasons, time of day? The reason for separating song categories A contains Scandinavian national anthems. A precision of the difference between the words nationalistic and patriotic seems requisite here;; based on discussions by Curtis inclusive concept, an overall expression of love for your home country. Nationalism, on the other hand, focuses on patriotic features in a more exclusive way, connected to Considering Christmas songs, they were mentioned separately in the survey from 2000, which resulted in a quite large number of songs chosen as favourites by the res- 16 Responsible Research

17 pondents. Furthermore, Christmas songs are an important expression of song culture, with other connections to tradition than general songs about time and season. Also in song books they often appear in a separate section. However, considering the lyrical themes, patriotism is the connecting theme for song categories A and B, while time and season is closely connected to song categories G and G2. The above discussion illustrates the conditions leading to the second step in the content analysis;; the need for different node groups for the themes appearing in the songs. No song could be assumed to consist of only one category, and thus the need for node groups and descriptors were revealed. The main song categories were revised into nine node groups, of which some were separate from the previous categories. A preliminary analysis of the twelve mutual songs appearing in all three song lists was then conducted using N Vivo, searching for suitable themes and subnodes. However, the third step, the following thorough analysis of all 60 songs was performed manually. I initially used. Consequently, the individual subnodes within a node group consist of separate words and phrases that can be connected to a certain theme or subject. I themes without weighing them as, for instance, more or less patriotic. Hence, the analysis could easily be done manually, as the occurrence of a certain trait should be shows how the node group relates to its subsequent descriptors. Figure 2. Node group construction. 4 Results between descriptor occurrences and main song categories was also performed, in order to ensure that the songs were placed in the right main song category. The result of this was quite acceptable, and several node groups appeared to be extremely frequent in the songs and the song lists. Although many different viewpoints can be discussed considering the results, I choose to look at the empirical material here only as a whole lists. Responsible Research 17

18 The most frequent node groups were VII Nature descriptions;; IV Human relations and emotional expressions;; and VIII People. Node group V Time and season, was also a frequent topic in the lyrics. Referrals to IX Singing and music, and I Patriotism occurred in about half of the empirical material, while node groups II Religion and VI Target group, both included 24 songs. The third node group, III Music style and origin, considers different types of authorship and musical style, such as musical, orchestral works, or traditional melody. Since every song has some kind of authors, this group is not eligible when comparing occurrences of lyrical themes. However, it makes possible the cross examination of themes in my thesis. Table 2 shows the distribution of the descriptors in each node group, and I will limit my discussion here to the two most frequent node groups considering number of descriptors, that is, node group VII and IV. Nearly all songs included such characteristics, and the amount of descriptors were extremely frequent, although none of the descriptors occurred in more than 32 of the songs. Table 2. Results of the content analysis of the song lyrics. Number of songs within each node group and occurrences of descriptors. The most frequent node group (VII) consisted of nature descriptions, only two of the songs did not include such characteristics. Within this node group, 283 different descriptors were found in the 60 songs. Figure 3 displays the outlay of node group VII, and the description of the material from now on refers to the node groups and their descriptors by numbers and letters. 18 Responsible Research

19 Figure 3. Node group of nature descriptions (VII). Half of the songs contained traits regarding a place in nature, and the landscape was species. Birds occurred in 15 of the songs. Water elements were also frequent, with almost equal frequencies around 40% of the songs in each descriptor, the most frequent descriptor being referrals to rain, waves, snow, or ice. Furthermore, indications of weather or wind, heaven, sun and clouds occurred in about half of the songs. The second most frequent node group consists of emotional expressions and descriptions of human relationships (Figure 4). 56 songs contain such characteristics, with hope, peace and tranquility, and expectance. This is a genuinely positive descriptor, and the high frequency of this descriptor implicates that the studied song repertoire is positive in general. This is supported by the fact that the majority of the studied songs, or 48 songs, are in a major key. There are also other emotionally positive descriptors in this node group, such as IVa1 (romantic love and faithfulness) with 28 songs. Responsible Research 19

20 Figure 4. Descriptors within the node group Human relationships (IV). Compared to the general description of Finnish music as being sad and in a minor who claims the Finland-Swedish songs to be happier than the Finnish ones. Similar results are described by Cornelis et al (2010), who show that the further west we go in Finland, the brighter and happier the tonality of the songs are. Furthermore, the national school curricula from 1927 prescribes suitable songs and melodies for children to be in major key, sung in a brisk tempo. In conclusion, the Finland-Swedish song repertoire used in schools show signs of being positive, both regarding tonality and lyrical content. 5 Discussion The research question presented in the beginning of this paper was Which typical characteristics do traditional school song lyrics have? The lyrical content analysis revealed several common themes, of which I have discussed a few. The most common feature of the lyrics is nature descriptions, followed by features considering human relationships and emotional expressions. Other frequent characteristics are referrals to people as subjects or objects and references to a certain season and/or time. Religious traits are not extremely frequent, despite the historical impact of religion on education. This may partly be explained by the separate use of hymn books in schools;; the use of hymns were taken for granted, and not included in the recommended song canon, although mentioned in the curricula. 20 Responsible Research

21 Since content analysis can be performed in various ways, a similar result could have is closely related to their melodies, and some of the descriptors used do not serve the lyrical content only. However, the process of deriving node groups and descriptors poses, i.e. creating an understanding of the lyrical content and occurring themes. This enables a further examination through the musico-analytical perspective considering musical elements in the songs, and hence the lyrical content analysis contributes to song repertoire. As such, with this paper I wish to contribute to the discussion of how content analysis can be used as a method for exploring traditional school song lyrics Responsible Research 21

22 References Ahuvia, A. (2001). Traditional, interpretive, and reception based content analyses: Improving the ability of content analysis to address issues of pragmatic and theoretical concern., 54, Retrieved from stable/ Berg, B. (1986). Vår gemensamma musikskatt. Vasa: Ab Svenska Läromedel. man (Eds.), (pp ). Cambridge: Castrén, M. (1945). Visbok för skolan (1. ed.). Vasa. Cederlöf, E. (Ed.). (1978). Cornelis, O., Lesaffre, M., Moelants, D., & Leman, M. (2010). Access to ethnic music: Advances and perspectives in content-based music information retrieval. Signal Processing, 90, Curtis, B. (2008). - Dahlström, F. (1983). Finlands svenska sång- och musikförbund i aktion. In R. Mannil (Ed.), (pp ). Helsingfors: FSSMF:s Förlag. -, Vol. 10, No 1. Retrieved from orm.sagepub.com Emanuelson, B. (1990).. Lund: Studentlitteratur. Engström, B. O. (1976). lågstadium: Elevens bok (4. ed.). Stockholm. Engström, B. O. (1980). - Stockholm: Ehrlingförlagen. Engström, B. O., & Cederlöf, E. (1978). (3. ed.). Stockholm: Ehrlingförlagen. Engström, B. O., & Cederlöf, E. (1981). lans mellanstadium (Tolfte ed.). Stockholm: Ehrlingförlagen. 22 Responsible Research

23 Engström, B. O., & Cederlöf, E. (1982). - Stockholm: Ehrlingförlagen. Flodin, A. M. (1998). Diss., Univ., Stockholm: HLS Förlag. Forsberg, C., & Wengström, Y. (2003). A Stockholm: Natur och Kultur. FSSMF. (2000). FSSMF:s arkiv, Vasa. (1985). Helsingfors: Statens tryckericentral. Grönholm, C. (1991). Sångfesterna i Svenska folkskolans vänners regi In M. Lindholm (Ed.), na som kulturföreteelse och impulsgivare Sång- och Musikförbund. Hansén, S.-E. (1991). - Åbo: Åbo akad.:s förl. Häggman, A.-M. (2000). Sångskatt i förändring., (pp ). Helsingfors: Svenska Folkskolans vänner. Kivinen, O. (1988). Turku: Turun Yliopisto. Educação para a Cidadania Europeia com as Artes, Retrieved from Krippendorff, K. (1986).. Be- Helsinki: Yliopis- Kukkonen, R. (2008). - Abstract. Diss., Hel- (1927). Helsingfors. Liedman, S.-E. (1994). Det nationella som idé. In H. Karlsson (Ed.), - (pp ). Stockholm: Kungliga Musikaliska Akademien. Lund, R. E. (2010). I sangen møtes vi på felles grunn om sang og sangbøker i norsk skole.. Retrieved from article/view/ Responsible Research 23

24 Långbacka, U. (1991). Körmusik under 100 år några glimtar, tendenser och åsikter. In M. Lindholm (Ed.), na som kulturföreteelse och impulsgivare Sång- och Musikförbund. B. Lönnqvist & Y. Lindqvist (Eds.), och självhävdelse i kulturanalytiskt perspektiv (pp ). Helsingfors: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland. Lönnqvist, B. (2001b). Retoriken i den etniska mobiliseringen. In A.-M. Åström, B. Lönnqvist & Y. Lindqvist (Eds.), självhävdelse i kulturanalytiskt perspektiv (pp ). Helsingfors: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland. Netterstad, M. (1982). -. Stockholm: Svenskt visarkiv. Raben & Sjögren. (pp ). Helsingfors: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland. Nyqvist, N. (2007).. Diss, Åbo Akademi, Åbo.. Diss., Suomen musiikkitieeteellinen seura, Helsinki. T sociates.. München: edition text+ kritik. Stenius, H. (1991). Massrörelser och folklorism. In M. Lindholm (Ed.), Musik. Sång. Fest vare Tingsten, H. (1969). (2. ed.). Stockholm: Norstedt. den delen., the Finland-Swedish Song and Music Association (free translation)._2 self-evident in this case means, they were songs taken for granted and the respondents were not asked about whether to include them in the song list or not._ 24 Responsible Research

25 Designing for digital literacy in preschool Responsible research - Why do we do the research? Karin Forsling, (karin.forsling@kau.se) Åbo Akademi, Finland, Karlstads universitet, Sverige 1 Aim of this paper The aim of this paper is to discuss some methodological perspectives on research on young children. I will focus on the relevance and heuristic values of a study made from a design-theoretical perspective at a preschool in Sweden. The preschool is known from other publications and studies for their use of ICT in everyday preschool activities. The preschool in my study could be a creative example for other preschools my paper and focus on the main question of the conference: Why do we do the research, or here: why did I do the research? This paper is to be seen as a contribution to this fundamental scholarly question. 2 Background and aim of the study regarding young children and their way to digital competence. My research question was: How can a preschool with a certain pedagogical ICT-design give the children affordances for media play and for developing a digital competence? From the view of a design orientated perspective, built on a socio-cultural theoretical framework, key words like design, setting and affordance became important in my study. Didactic design is a theoretical perspective which elaborates understanding of learning from semiotic activities. Learning is to be seen as meaning making in social contexts. These contexts are in pedagogical milieus called institutional settings. The teacher and /or the child can be designers of and actors in the setting (Selander &Svärdemo-Åberg, 2009). 3 Methodological framing of the study I made the study at a preschool already known for its successful ways of using digital devices in the everyday activities. The preschool teacher, in the thesis called Ulrika, the enthusiast and initiator of the ICT- direction, became my guide during my data collection. Responsible Research 25

26 Ulrika was the teacher of the elder children, the children of 5 and 6 years of age. I visited the preschool twice during the spring of The papers of informed consent were given to the parents in advance. I informed them that my focus was to see if and how the didactic design would make affordances for the children s ICT use and their media play. The consent was free to withdraw at any time of the study and informed that the data material only was to be used in my thesis and works connected to my thesis. To collect my data I used informal conversations, the thesis. Making observations with the help of a video camera has its advantages and disadvantages. One obvious advantage is the possibility to discover the subtle courses of events. It facilitates the possibilities to look at the sequences over and over again. Aspects to have in mind taping young children are to be aware of and have respect for The children in my study are very used to researching guests. They were curious and willing to collaborate. I m aware of the ethical delicacy of the situation. As a researcher I have to have knowledge of and to admit the conditions of power and the struggle built- in the research processes between myself and the children. However aware of the conditions of power in the research situation, I didn t fully consider the fact of the children s right or freedom to choose to participate in the video-obeservations (David, Edwards & Allered, 2001). For one thing I didn t ask the children every time I started the video camera if it was ok. Even though the parents had signed the informed consent, I afterwards still had to face some ethical questions (Roberts 2008). Children will in one way often take an active role in negotiate their subjective positions regarding age, gender and ethnicity but we must always as adult researchers develop sensitivity for the un-equal relations between the child and the grown-up (Conolly 2008). The preschool in my study is known with name from earlier studies. One of the rea- preschool is in possession of interesting experiences and competences and it could be a good reason for publishing the real names, as in any journalistic interview, to get a public acknowledgement (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2010). For ethical reasons, however, I chose to un-identify the preschool, the teachers and the children. This is an issue worth discussing in the light of popular science and the modern society s urge for the promised their child s anonymity and therefore I choose to delete names or to make vertheless I must, as a researcher, as far as it is possible be sure the research won t be to any inconvenience to the child later in life. This is bound to the ethic principles of the right of having a private life. (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2010). 26 Responsible Research

27 4. Why do we do the research? The relevance and the benefit for whom? I would say the relevance of the study initially was divided into three parts or aspects. Firstly I hoped the outcomes would become a support for preschool teachers in common and their principals. Secondly the matter of the Teachers Education would be essential. The third aspect of relevance was the aspect of research. I hoped my study could be a starting point for both a deeper and a wider research in the area of young children and digital competence. The study is going to emerge material for a couple of While working on this paper I discovered a couple of new areas which could have for society. 4.1 The benefit for preschool teachers and their principles The sociopolitical role of the preschools in Sweden has dramatically changed during the last decades. From originally been seen from a perspective emerging from a family political point of view to a perspective with focus on educational issues, the research on and with small children and learning was increasing already in the 90 s. learning has thereby changed as well. This will probably lead to a change in the role of the preschool teacher. The concept of lifelong learning will not be something ex- Earlier studies pinpoint the preschool teachers uneasiness regarding the use of ICT in the preschools everyday activities. In these former studies the teachers concern for how to balance the more traditional preschool activities with the digital activities, becomes evident (Linderoth 2004, Ljung-Djärf 2004, Klerfelt 2007). The aims of supporting the children s development and learning by using different tools, for example multimedia, are distinctly expressed in the Swedish curriculum for preschool. Demands from a multimedial society will challenge the teachers competences additionally. The preschool teacher s competence and their deliberate way of designing a digital milieu became obvious in my study. The teachers attitude towards the digital devices was as important as the way they used the devices as tools for learning. The teachers were authentically challenged in all kinds of situations. They had, for example, to exchange positions of power and learning with the children. They had to develop an activities. By playing, much in the same way as the children, the adults gained their digital competence, bit by bit. Responsible Research 27

28 4.2 The outcome for the Teacher s Education Programmes lifelong learning. A digital competence is built on basic ICT (Information and Communication technology) skills. These are skills you can develop any time during life, weather you are young or old. Recent Swedish research on young children and digital competence highlights the preschool teacher s insecurity regarding the use of ICT in the preschool s daily activities (Ljung- Djärf 2004, Klerfelt 2007). The media literacy needed in our society today is, as I see it, a complex and absolute part of a communicative competence. This is a challenge for Teacher s Education. in handling all kinds of complex pedagogical situations? In times of implementing a new Education Act, new National Curriculums and new Teacher s Education in Sweden, there is a risk of put the tricky parts of education in a corner. Do we lecturers in the Teacher s Education perhaps have the same fear for ICT as the preschool teacher s and the preschool teachers-to-be? That is really an interesting question. As I see it we now have the possibilities to design something more relevant and contemporary regarding the students digital competence, but as a member of the Teacher s students). This will be important and crucial issues with far-reaching consequences for us to handle. 4.3 The benefit for further research A lot of Swedish preschools chooses not to use ICT, on account of the teacher s lack of interest (Ljung-Djärv 2004, Klerfelt 2007). Here is, as I see it, one of the real risks for causing digital divides. The use of digital devices is an inevitable and very fastgrowing area through- out the world. This is an area where informal learning seems to be in the front-edge compared to formal learning. Small children use their parents I-pads and I-phones and sometimes it seems as if the devices just were a part of their body and their minds. For the moment it s no longer the question of if the digital competence is needed or even if there is a need for children developing it in the preschool contexts (Rönnberg 2008). It s probably more of a matter of how the preschool teachers will be able to develop it. Here I can see a risk or an opportunity for a culture clash. Looking at the concept of Media play from the perspective of didactic design I would theory, but less ground in the empirical research. I can see this as a growing research 28 Responsible Research

29 velopment of both theory and empirics. These are questions close to my research area. Other important issues will be the impact of market forces, ethics and ideologies. This will lead us to the macro perspective and a possible further research. And an area I probably will leave to other researchers. 4.4 The benefit for the preschool in the study One of the main issues of research on and with children is what good the research will do them (Roberts 2008). Alderson (1995) has formulated a guide with questions to the children researcher. She high lightens the question of the aim for the study. Who s Right now my study has not been presented to the preschool in the study. However, looking at the earlier studies done at this preschool department, one can detect a profound link between research outcomes and the practice and pedagogical attitude at the preschool. I believe this is a very important issue how to give the outcomes of a study back to the base. 4.5 The benefit for the public interest (and for society?) It is likely that the results of this study will be interesting for the ones connected to any sort? Already a subject of public talk is why small children should use digital the discussion about the fear of today children s loss of a childhood, caused of their use of computers. And questions like: what will happen with books, pens and paper if not used in preschool and school. Today the animated debate is focused on school (Svenska Dagbladet). The preschool is next to go. And the society what contribution would this small study make in the ocean of educational politics? Will the ideas in the study, my personal paradigm (Furu 2011), originally raised from pedagogical progressivism (Stensmo 2007) make any differences in the education political debate? Is it possible that a minor study of research would be an eye-opener to those elected for the democratic rights of having communicative skills (Ljunggren 1996)? A study that emphasis on experimental learning, problem solving and critical thinking. Where collaborative learning includes and embraces both children and preschool teachers. Where education not only will be a preparation for the future, but to life itself. For the present. For democracy. For fun (Rönnberg 2008)! I don t know. But the ways of research outcomes are inscrutable. So let s see. Responsible Research 29

30 5 Conclusions Through the design and settings, the children at the preschool in my study, achieved consistent possibilities for media play and for developing digital competence. They got the opportunity to develop different kinds of literacy. One of the important processes, elaboration, curiosity and playfulness stood up as affordances for learning. preschool teachers deliberately setting these kinds of designs (Forsling 2011, 2012). digital competence and on the other hand in research connected to design oriented Questions of learning and intertextuality are other important issues. There are an amount of new social and cultural gaps in our modern society regarding literacy, the risk of society divides is impending. This could be built on factors such as gender, ethnicity, class, generational and geographical divides, but also about dicho- I would say that our conception of the world today puts technology in the centre. The technological imperative says everything possible to do or produce, has to be done or produced (von Wright, 1986)). Is this the key to happiness or at least to a different life style? Or will man in the light of this imperative, be just an object with nothing to say in the matter? Sherry Turkle (1997) describes this as an act of confusion, when we let technology make itself indispensable, by letting it reduce our commitment IRL, in the real world. How will man differentiate himself from the technology? You try to understand yourself in comparison with the artifacts, the technology in your milieu. The children do it the same way in interaction with, for example, computers (Turkle 1984). Earlier studies showed how people considered technology as better than nothing. Today people see it as something better than anything (Turkle 2011). Is this a utopia or a dystopia? In the light of this I now wonder if my study was a way of personal foreseeing the possible future where mankind really struggles with the fact that we have to tame our environment. Or was it just a way of showing the importance of didactic design in order to prevent yet another gap in our society? In a time inebriated of technology, we need to discuss questions of rationality, reason and future (von Wright, 1986). And there we have a far-reaching responsibility: preschool-teachers, teachers, teacher educators and researchers. 30 Responsible Research

31 gital media. They are born into it. They are the Digital Natives and they take the new technology for granted. The rest of us are Digital Immigrants and we try to adapt to sons brains, or at least in their thinking, as a result of their nursery in the digital world. Where does that leave the teachers of the pre-digital age? The true risk of a digital divide can perhaps be found in the daily melting pot between the natives and the immigrants. Or thinking of the earlier said in this paper will the biggest digital divide all the same be the one between generations? So back to the main question;; Why did I do this part of research? And why did I another brick in the wall of research on children? Misleadingly well - known (Bjereld, Demker & Hinnfors, 2009). At this point I can see the results as a support for preschool teachers and their princi- - outcomes will preferably be made known in a hermeneutic mode, by a dialogue, on equal terms. A dialogue which could lead to changes in the ways of how to think about and how to plan children s everyday activities, at home and in preschool. A change to intersubjective understanding (Ödman 2007), an affordance and possibility to be participant, not to stand beside, or outside, whether a student, a preschool teacher, a politician or a researcher. Hopefully this will lead to new ways of looking at reality in the purpose of telling new stories ((Bjereld, Demker & Hinnfors, 2009). riness. Our research could be seen and considered just as small pieces of interpreted is just enough (Ödman 2007). And so if the children of today are born into a digital world and the use of digital devices are as natural as using crayons and paper, then this is the real world for the digital natives. Therefore it must be important for me as a digital immigrant, born before the tv, mother, grandmother and a teachers training educator to face the challenges of the brave new world. Responsible Research 31

32 References Buckingham, D. (2009). New media, new childhood s? Children s changing cultural An introduction to arför vetenskap? Om vikten av problem och teori i forskningsprocessen. Upplaga 3:e. Lund: Studentlitteratur,. Children.?, Vol. 27, No. 3, 2001 Forsling, K. (2011). Digital kompetens i förskolan. Forsling, K., (2012) Furu, A-C., 2011, - Åbo: Åbo Akademis förlag Klerfelt, A., (2007). - Göteborg studies in educational Sciences, 256. Göteborgs universitet. Kress, G., (2003). London: Routledge. Kvale, S., & S. Brinkman (2009). Lund: Studentlitteratur. lusionen. Avhandling för doktorsexamen. Göteborg studies in educational Sciences, 211. Göteborgs universitet. Ljung-Djärf, A.(2004). praktik i förskolan. Malmö studies in educational sciences, 12. Malmö högskola. Ljunggren, C. (1996). 32 Responsible Research

33 Liber 9(5):1-5. Roberts, H. (2008) Listening to children: and hearing them. Perspectives and practices Rönnberg, M. (red), (2008). Uppsala: Filmförlaget. Selander, S. Svärdemo-Åberg, E. (red),(2009). möjligheter för lärande. Stockholm: Liber Stensmo, C Lund: Studentlitteratur. Thestrup, K. (2011). Doktorgradavhandling. Institut for Informations og medievidenskab. Det humanistiske fakultet. Aarhus Universitet. Turkle, S.(1984). Simon and Schuster Turkle (1997) Touchstone paper Turkle (2011) Basic books von Wright, G. (1986) Digital link: Svenska Dagbladet. Fetched the 27th of May 2012, 22:25 pm. search.do;;jsessionid=96cd215c75657ec d1627e?q=sollentuna+kom mun+l%c3%a4splattor&sort=date&category=&section1=&section2=&section3=& section1=&type=&rating=&author=&year=&month=&day=&timerange= Responsible Research 33

34 Two small stories about self and world at grades four and five Informing close-to-practice research of mathematics classrooms Sharada Gade Umeå Mathematics Educations Research Centre, Umeå University, Sweden 1 Introduction what and why Increasingly, narratives are being relied upon to examine relations between self and surroundings in educational settings (Gudmundsdottir, 2001;; Clandinin & Connelly, 2007;; Gill & Goodson, 2011). With a focus on students, I deliberate in this paper on two narratives, offered by Sara and Eva at their Grade 4-6 school. As researcher I came upon these while conducting close-to-practice (Edwards, et al.;; 2002) and educational action research (Elliott, 2007) with them and their cohorts in a longitudinal study of their mathematics classroom. While a close-to-practice stance examines theory/practice dialectic, an action research stance stresses educational action. With the aim of either to understand and/or intervene in ongoing practice, my interest is to grasp the subjectivities of students whose lives therein are susceptible to change, both personally and socially. My intention is to interrogate in collaboration with them the ment contemplate the nature of educational action that could be mobilised (Riessman, search to the micropolitics of schooling (Eilersten et al., 2008). Elicited from students in the form of small stories (Bamberg, 2006) or talk-in-interaction (Georgakopolou, 2007) my effort is to examine the nature of self and world offered by Sara and Eva in the narratives they constructed in collaboration with me. What can be construed about students' self and world, in their collaborative portrayal of small stories and/or talk-ininteraction, is the research question I pursue. 2 Small stories what Before discussing small stories and/or talk-in-interaction as theoretical constructs, I think it appropriate to highlight two characteristics of the social science that narrative research offers. To begin with, narrative research does not treat language as having an innocent and transparent function in knowledge creation of narrators. Va- interpretative and would in turn require researcher interpretation. With no canonical method for such a task, the criteria for validity and trustworthiness of such a science is argued to include reporting that has the ability to be persuasive, establish correspon- 34 Responsible Research

35 dence with the study being reported from, offer coherence and become basis for future research (Riessman, 1993). In line with the above and the close-to-practice and action research stance adopted in my study, I am encouraged by the ability of narratives to produce stories whose subject matter is human action, moving diachronically through time in a quest for human encountered in the wider world (Riessman, 2008). This enables me to construe the self-narrated by Sara and Eva, leading me to infer their experience, as well as social engagement with their classroom/school. The many purposes that narratives could have is also highlighted by Riessman, as being inclusive of the ability to argue with one's stories, persuade an audience who may be sceptical, engage an audience, tailor mobilise others into action for progressive social change. I am thus lead to focus on the functional aspects of the small stories that Sara and Eva co-constructed with me and not solely on structural aspects normally attended to in conventional narrative analysis. a performance based analysis of what small stories do for their narrators, laying stress on what the act of narration means for the narrator, with one's audience shaping its in various acts of narration, Bamberg (2004) argues that any narrative construction is to make way for the 'me' position, which the narrator wishes to take or be understood as taking. It is in this manner that narratives are revealing of a narrator's self and/or identity. Conventional analysis which tends to neglect small stories misses such an opportunity, Bamberg explains, to appreciate an individual s process of becoming that is mired in the here-and-now. Such stories he adds are told against master narratives prevalent in any society and culture. What is revealed in small story narration then, is not only a narrator's self but also his/her position vis-a-vie the master narrative being participated in. Adopting such a perspective allows my study to examine, the position Sara and Eva were taking with respect to their world as viewed within the master narrative of schooling, one which instantiates the even wider master narrative of education in society. Their small stories could thus be revealing of their positioning not only with respect to me as researcher-collaborator but also with respect to the wider world that they found themselves in (Bamberg;; 1997, 2004). Another researcher drawing attention to small stories is Georgakopoulou (2006). In initial independent efforts of making space for snippets of talk while studying canonical Greek narrative, she has together with Bamberg focused on what people do with their talk-in-interaction (Bamberg & Georgakopoulou, 2008). As sites of engagement where a sense of self is accomplished and identities tested, small stories they both argue encompass tellings of ongoing shared events, deferrals and refusals to Responsible Research 35

36 tell, or could be about nothing but the very act of engagement. Unlike big story and/ or canonical research wherein stories are taken to be representations of the world, small story research they underline pursues a sense of self in the dynamics of such interaction. Georgakopoulou (2006) highlights in addition how talk-in-interaction is a social practice, culturally shaped by the social-symbolism, or master narrative in Bamberg's (2004) words, of which the narrator is a part. Such talk-in-interaction in addition, she argues, has the ability of dealing with the messier aspects of living and telling, as against their static portrayal in canonical literature. In this sense narratives produce social life as well as action, which are not only constructed and contested, but also performed. To aid analysis and distinguish small stories and/or talk-in-interaction from talk that is ubiquitous in social life, Georgakopoulou (2007) describes four features. First, that such small stories are not free standing but embedded units, enmeshed in the local business of everyday society. Second, that the telling of small stories unfolds in the hereand-now and moment-to-moment interactions that transpire dynamically therein. Third, since small stories emerge as outcome of negotation they cannot be postulated in an a priori manner. Finally and having bearing on methodological aspects in my study, Georgakopoulou (2007) underscores that a good amount of meaning of small stories and/or talk-in-interaction is found in interactional affordances prevalent in their very production, an aspect necessary also for their comprehension. I draw on combined perspectives of both Bamberg and Georgakopoulou that I have detailed to examine the subjectivity that Sara and Eva performed or displayed, in the small stories they constructed in collaboration with me. Having potential to construe self and identity between their lived and told world, within the larger activity of making sense of experience in educational surroundings of their mathematics classroom and school, it is to methodological aspects leading to their study that I now turn to. 3 Small stories how gostkyan cultural-historical activity theory or CHAT perspectives (e.g. Wells, 1999) in dialectical relationship with classroom practice, asks that I perceive students and teachers not as objects of research, but as intentional subjects taking purposeful action in various activities of schooling. In my initial attempts at narrative research in line with this, though with structural analysis, I have argued for the study of student narratives as implementable means with which to bridge research, theory and practice it is my search for ways to analyse small stories that led me to the writings of Bamberg and Georgakopoulou. In the second, in conducting educational action research, which draws upon resear- 36 Responsible Research

37 prospective action (Elliott, 2007). My being participant observer and/or ethnographer, has thus both necessitated and sought sensitive adherence to ethical concerns of research, both during conduct and subsequent theorising. As pointed out by Eilertsen et al. (2008) my data and larger study were immersed in the micropolitics of schooling. Not related solely to issues of power or protecting people's interests, micropolitics in any school, they argue, relates also to cooperation, collaboration and the supporting of another towards achieving set goals. Under scrutiny in the conduct of research is not only content but the manner in which language is used, as is the case with narrative what Sara and Eva (all names are pseudonyms) may be doing with their respective small stories. The above outlined methodological concerns were carried forward in my study with Grade six, my association with them began when they were in their Grade four. My routine of visiting their classroom once every week over such time, has enabled and provided opportunity for me to be part and parcel of the social practice that they have search conducted when they were at Grade four (Gade, 2012) my being a regular member over such an extended period, is a resource I draw upon while analysing their small stories (Georgakopoulou, 2007). Collected in mutual trust in the scenario thereafter made a reconstruction. My objective in my understanding of these, has possibility to remedy a weakness pointed in classical Vygotskian theory, that of treating the role of any environment as benign and neutral to social realities (Goodnow, 1990). 4 Sara and her storybook located. The following talk-in-interaction was addressed directly to me and commenced when Sara found the door to her classroom to be locked. Sara Me Sara Both Do you have keys [referring to the locked classroom] No... Do you like your book [the bright, yellow one she carried] Lena read the book and found it to be poor [dålig in Swedish] I too read the book and found it to be very poor [mycket dålig] [We both hear the sound of keys approaching one level below] kept an eye on Sara. I found Sara enter the classroom, proceed to Lars' desk and drop the book in a manner of not having anything more to do with it. From outside the Responsible Research 37

38 classroom I observed Sara and Lena also exchange notes and Lars to secure his yellow Collected when Sara was at grade four, it was the above story that initiated my search for ways with which to analyse small stories and/or talk-in-interaction. While I shortly tural aspects, I felt that Sara take me into her story and world with 'Do you have keys?' is written or published?' or 'Weren't books meant to be about aspects worth sharing?' In an analytical grain Sara's story was enmeshed in the time and place of an early morning wait outside any classroom (Georgakopoulou, 2007). While Sara's story seemed like an argument, it's form was cloaked in an engaging dialogue that transpired between her and Lena (Riessman, 2008). In her narrative Sara offered both her 'me' and 'I' positions. 'I' read the book, Sara seemed to say, but 'me' found the book to be poor, just as Lena had also done (Bamberg, 2004). In revealing her self and/or identity Sara positioned herself in two ways. First, she agreed with Lena about how poorly the book seemed to be written and second, she adopted a critical stance with respect to the general world of books. As Bamberg (2004) would argue, Sara's narrative may have been counter to the possible master narrative in favour of books being sources of authoritative knowledge. I acknowledge constructing my interpretation of Sara's small story, not only from what she said alone but also from what I observed in the minutiae of time that enveloped our interaction. I found Sara's talk-in-interaction to be entirely enmeshed in our presence of keys (Georgakopoulou, 2007). Sara's small story offers insight too of her process of becoming, unravelling as it does her understanding of the world of writing (Bamberg, 2004) along with the political work of questioning the symbolic power normally associated with books (Riessman, 2008). The prominent political role Lena plays in Sara's story, cannot also be ignored. While lying physically outside Sara's - and Eva in my conclusion. 5 Eva and her siblings Eva s small story transpired outside the school building at a distance from the football University close by. Eva was watching her friends play football. 38 Responsible Research

39 Me Do you like playing football Eva No!! [Eva nods her head in negation] Me [I looked on as if to ascertain why not, since most others did] Eva It's no fun chasing after a small ball... Me [I shut my eyes in acknowledgement, to indicate I understood her] Eva Yes, I have two, they are four and two... Me Do you read to them? [Implying she could be reading story books] Eva No!! [Raising her voice and nodding her head again in negation] Me [I look on at Eva almost searching for an explanation] Eva My parents leave me to look after them and go away... Eva They go here, they go there... to shopping, to dinner... [Eva moves her arms in different directions] Eva It's no fun to be left with them... It's no fun... Me [I pause and hesitate to say anything immediately] Me Maybe you should tell you mother it is no fun... Eva [Seems to give a thought to what I had to day to her] Me [I leave soon after and proceed to my University] vealing as it was of her life at home. Eva's small story seemed political through and through, standing in sharp contrast to my naive presumption that she maybe had fun 'It's no fun' occurred thrice. At the beginning its reference was to her dislike for the game of football. On the second occasion the reference was to babysitting her sib- To date I am not sure whether in telling me her story, Eva was mobilising me into taking greater action than I already did, in advising her to speak to her mother. On a and had fun with them?' In an analytical grain Eva's story countered my implicit master narrative of having fun with siblings while reading to them (Bamberg, 2004). Eva seemed to have tailored her story keeping me as her audience in mind, along with her reading of my question about reading to her siblings (Riessman, 2008). In such portrayal she utilised the utterance of 'Its no fun' to organise the multiple meanings she may have both made as well I seemed to have got enmeshed into Eva's small story (Bamberg, 1997) with the foot- story was portrayed (Georgakopoulou, 2006). It is also interesting to consider how Eva positioned herself in her own story. While her 'I' positions involved babysitting her siblings, her 'me' position seemed to clearly state that she had no fun (Bamberg, Responsible Research 39

40 2004). Via this Eva offered insight into her process of becoming as well as meaning 6 Self, lived world, told world The two small stories that Sara and Eva constructed in collaboration with me, seem primarily to qualify Riessman's (1993) observation, that culture speaks itself through an individual's story. It is this very aspect I contend as a researcher, that makes stories fascinating, revealing of the nature of the real world that students as narrators come to grasp. Not surprisingly, both stories of Sara and Eva exemplify how talk-in-interaction of students, that teachers and researchers have many an occasion to encounter, are quite enmeshed and embedded in everyday workings of school. Situated in the here-and-now and emerging in the moment-to-moment, their ubiquitous and dynamic unfolding is as Georgakopoulou (2006) argues a social practice that is culturally shaped by the social-symbolism being experienced by them. Located within schooling, the two stories are also an intrinsic part of this larger practice in which, following Riessman (1993) my understanding of these stories is also interpretative, for which I experienced in my long association with Sara and Eva and their cohorts. the nature of becoming 'self' which each portrayed was both revealing and informative. Yet as argued by Georgakopoulou (2007) the form, content and very existence of either could not have been known a priori, before my interaction with them. The stories, though not the experiences they related to, emerged as it were on the spur of the moment. Both portrayed the meaning either student was making in relation to individual becoming in wider society (Bamberg, 2004). More importantly both small stories of Sara and Eva were performances that did the work of accomplishing and conveying their sense of self in the talk-in-interaction that transpired (Bamberg & Georgakopoulou, 2008). In this there was opportunity to comprehend how Sara and Eva lived, made sense and told about the world they were experiencing. The sound of keys, the bright yellow book, the game of football and/or the reading of storybooks were all aspects of the socio-symbolism that either was immersed in (Georgakopoulou, 2006). The same goes with the grand narratives of wise books and happy families that each was individually learning to come to terms with (Bamberg, 2004). In fact it is only against such a backdrop that I have been able to interpret the nature of subjectivities A key component of my interpretative task has been to analyse how Sara and Eva their stories and world with me, in full recognition of the fact that I was not their 40 Responsible Research

41 teacher but a regular visitor and researcher in their midst. Sara and Eva also positioned themselves with respect to other people in these tellings. There was Lena whose experience Sara shared and agreed with, and there was Eva whose role of babysitting expected of her was something that she was not happy with. The yellow book and/ or game of football were aspects in their environment in relation to which Sara and Eva also positioned themselves, with either being the normative against which they constructed their 'selves'. Finally Sara and Eva positioned themselves in relation to the grand narratives in relation to writing and/or siblings, which seemed to be in play in wider society. Taken together such narration portrayed how being and becoming of two small stories to be about their situated action and human understanding. Collected in a close-to-practice (Edwards et al., 2002) and action research stance (Elliott, 2007) the two stories I discuss are not only instances of researcher inter-vention but also researcher ethics, intertwined with researcher conduct and analysis. However, while I have tried to provide the basis for their interpretation in this paper, I do question if my making these are basis enough for taking further action. Unlike research on education (Elliott, 2007) where a researcher's personal commitment would have very little say in the conduct of a study, my conducting educational research needs me to consider these issues as inherent and intrinsic. Following Eilersten et al. (2008) while the two small stories forced me to decide at the time of narration, as to how I was to deal with what I was being told, my long term interests of continued cooperation and collaboration with Sara, Eva and their cohorts made me take a less than anxious outlook. It is for these reasons that I see the need for greater research, which could lead to teachers taking sure-footed educational action in relation to small stories that they tion of what it is that students may be telling us when constructing talk-in-interaction or small stories? While the very existence of small stories themselves may come as no surprise to school based educators and/or researchers, it is the ability of narrative Vygotskian cultural-historical activity theory or CHAT, which are the theoretical perspectives with which I study the theory/practice dialectic, shares with action research a fundamental assumption that knowledge emerges as aspects of practice and praxis (Somekh & Nissen, 2011). It is in such pursuit that I attempt to appreciate two aspects: their small stories and secondly, on what basis can we interpret what we attempt to know. In this my aim has been to draw upon research so as to support professional judgement, vital in steering ongoing yet educational practices. Having potential to shed light on the nature of self under construction, there is methodological opportunity in addition to examine the master narrative prevalent in the power crusted environment of which the narrator is a part and making personal sense of. The small stories of Sara and Eva illustrate subtle aspects of this very aspect;; making it possible to inform vital Responsible Research 41

42 social and societal aspects that Goodnow (1990) argued classical Vygotskian theory had mistakenly treated as benign and neutral. It is possible that examples, which relate Yet, the two stories I present, make it is possible to argue that there seems more than meets our ears, when students offer small stories and/or are enabled to take part in talk-in-interaction at school. Democratic societies in contemporary times are debating like never before how schools are functioning and how well young students are doing in them. Towards these aims I would consider small stories as revealing of how young selves are becoming selves. Students who, as illustrated by Sara and Eva's small stories, are being lived as well as ubiquitously told for us to lend our ears and listen attentively to. 42 Responsible Research

43 References Journal of narrative and life history. 7(1-4), Bamberg, M. (2004). Considering counter narrative. In M. Bamberg & M. An-drews (Eds.) (pp ). Bamberg, M. (2006) Stories: big or small Why do we care. 16(1), Bamberg, M. & Georgakopoulou, A. (2008) Small stories as a new perspective in narrative and identity analysis. 28(3), Loughran et al. (Eds.) Education Practices (pp ) Dordrecht: Springer - Cornwall: RoutledgeFalmer. in schools., 16(3), Teaching and Teacher Education. 13(1), (Ed.) (pp ). Wiltshire: Routledge. - (pp ). Stockholm: Stockholm University. Gade, S. (2012, forthcoming) Teacher researcher collaboration at a grade four mathematics classroom: Restoring equality to students usage of the '=' sign. Educational 12(2) R. A. Shweder, & G. H. Herdt (Eds.), human development Responsible Research 43

44 Gill, S & Goodson, I. (2011) Life history and narrative methods. In B. Somekh & C. Lewin (Eds.) (2nd ed.) (pp ). New Delhi: Sage Georgakopoulou, A. (2006) Thinking big with small stories in narrative and identity analysis. 16(1), Goeorgakopoulou, A. (2007). Amsterdam: Gudmundsdottir, S. (2001). Narrative research on school practice. In V. Richard-son (Ed.), (4th ed.) (pp ). Washington DC: American Education Research Association.. Albany: Sta- ney & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.) Riessman, C. K. (1993). Riessman, C. (2008). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Somekh, B. & Nissen, M. (2011). Cultural-Historical Activity Theory and Action Research, 18(2), Wells, C. G. (1999). education 44 Responsible Research

45 Writing on a computer with auditory feed-back from synthetic speech synthesis as training for children with reading and writing difficulties Britta Hannus-Gullmets (bhannus@abo.fi) Faculty of Education, Åbo Akademi Vasa 1 Introduction The introduction of computers into classrooms has been met with big expectations. Could computers be used to enhance learning? Could Information and Communication Technology be used to promote the acquisition of literacy? Could children with - Ahonen, Tolvanen & Lyytinen 2011), and some problems have been noticed (Brodin & Lindstrand 2003). Disappointments have also happened. Computer games have been designed to promote learning, but they have sometimes been ineffective (Kirriemuir 2002). Children can use the pedagogical games in the same way as they use other games: they are not interested in learning, but in getting forward in the game. Open programs, like text processing programs, have often been found to be the best ones (Healy 1998). Speech synthesis adds another dimension to a text processing program. Writing words and texts on a computer with auditory feedback from synthetic ties with reading and writing this could be a new way of training. Synthetic speech can pronounce everything that the user writes, because it does not build on recorded the actual language. This means that the user can decide what to write. 2 The aim of the study loping in children when they for some months are writing texts on a computer with auditory feed-back from synthetic speech. Research problems: 1. What changes can be seen in emergent literacy (knowledge of letters, perception of speech sounds, reading and writing of single words)? 2. What changes can be seen in developing literacy (spelling of words, construction of sentences, punctuation marks, writing of stories)? 3. How does the child make use of the auditory feed-back from synthetic speech? Responsible Research 45

46 4. What patterns can be seen in the interaction between the child and the teacher when writing texts with auditory feed-back from synthetic speech? Interaction is studied especially according to the use of auditory feed-back. The study investigates a way of using Information and Communication Technology to promote literacy acquisition. 3 Theoretical framework The frame of reference is the sociocultural tradition from Vygotsky (1934/1978) and Bruner (1986). Learning happens in interaction between human beings, and cultural artefacts have an important role in the process. Bruner used the word scaffolding to describe how a parent or a teacher supports a child to master a new task. When the child is writing a text, scaffolding means that the parent or teacher makes it possible for the child to write texts that are somewhat above the child s actual ability (Bruner 1986, p 73 78). A cultural artefact, as for example synthetic speech in a computer, Learning is developed in interaction between human beings. Learning can be made visible and be studied through conversional analysis as Sahlström (2009) and his co- awareness is a central issue in acquiring literacy (Hoien & Lundberg 1999). According to Scarborugh (1998) letter knowledge in preschool is the most important prerequisite for literacy in the early school years. There are models to train the prerequisites of reading that have proved themselves to be effective, but in spite of training for training in reading and writing is therefore necessary. is an important factor besides the other prerequisites. One of the clearest results in the studies of the use of computers as a tool for learning is that motivation often is raised. Writing and reading are processes that are intertwined with each other when a young sign of literacy acquisition is often that the child tries to write (Lundberg 2008). The component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may 46 Responsible Research

47 include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge. Dyslexia is also a psychiatric diagnosis and has its own number in the manuals used 4 Research design The study is a case study (Yin 1994) with four cases. Four children wrote texts with auditory feed-back from synthetic speech on a computer during one lesson a week for case were videotaped: one lesson in the beginning and one lesson at the end of the research period. The program provided a log of the use of the keyboard. A psychologist made a report for each child based on tests in reading and writing before and after the research period. Interviews with the teachers of the child were made after the research period. The children were chosen by suggestions from their teachers. One criterion was class teacher looked positively at the fact that the child once a week was absent from a regular lesson and wrote texts on a computer as a research person instead. One of the four children (Michael) was only 6 years old. At the beginning of the study he did not know many letters, and he could read and write his own name and the name of his sister, but not much more. Research problem 1 refers especially to him. Three of the children were 9 years old. They could read and write simple words, but they problem 2 refers especially to them. Research problem 3 and 4 refers to all four cases. months for each child. The children chose what words and what texts they wanted to write, and they worked together with the teacher in a one-to-one situation. The Responsible Research 47

48 4.1. Overview of the research design Research Question 1 & 2: Development of literacy Method: - Observation of the children when they are writing words and texts with auditory feedback from synthetic speech on the computer Instrument: Field notes, the log, the texts, videotapes - Analysis of statements made by a psychologist before and after the research period. The psychologist used following tests or parts of tests: Umesol, DLS, Nepsy, Raven. - Interviews with the class teachers. Videotaped theme interviews. Research Question 3 & 4: Use of the synthetic speech and patterns in the interaction between the child and the teacher Method: Observation of the children when they are writing words and texts with auditory feedback from synthetic speech on the computer Instrument: Field notes, the log, the texts, videotapes 4.2 Examples of the material 1. Vi tog Nappe med. 2. Han säger hela meningen ett par gånger och föreslår att jag skall skriva den på papper, vilket jag inte låtsas höra Han har svårt att få tag i a i jag, och jag säger ordet många gånger innan han slutligen hör det och skriver. 48 Responsible Research

49 (1984) for transcribing will be used more consistently when the transcriptions are checked and continued. Episod 4 ett djupt andetag. M: - Det var... B: - Det låter bra! M: - Vi tog Nappe med. M: - hmm B: - Det blir bra. Det blir jättebra. Michael snurrar lite på stolen. M: - Å Nappe. tecknar. Michael tittar ut genom fönstret och jag antecknar. Episod 5 Michael börjar snurra från sida till sida på stolen. B: - Vad var det du skulle skriva nu? B: - Hmm. Fint. Michael rör vid mitt papper, men jag svänger undan det. M: - Ska vi skriva på papper? B: - Du kan skriva själv lite i början. Responsible Research 49

50 Episod B: - Vad kommer först? M: - A M: - och B: - Ta jag först M: - och B: - hmm, men ta jag först. Michael kliar sig på hakan Skärmsläckaren aktiverades. The log is from a moment a bit later in the lesson than the transcription from the videotape. VI VAR I HELSINGFORS HOS MIN MORMOR. VB [226] BSB [30] I [4] VR [27] F1 BSR [15] H [2] BSH [52] IR [16] F1 BSR BSI [27] AI [9] F1 BSI [14] R [5] I [11] [4] F1 F1 F5 F6 [58] HELSINGFORS [157] HOI [115] BSI [5] S [3] MIN [63] MOO [68] F7 F6 F6 BS [61] U [3] BSU 869 Ö [3] BSÖ F1 BSO F1 F1 [107] RR [6] F1 BSR F1 [22] MOR [13] F1 [5]. [2] F1 F5 The numbers in brackets are the time in seconds after a key has been pushed. BS means Back Step. F means that the auditory feedback has been deliberately activated. F1 produces feed-back for a word, F5 for a sentence, F6 for the sentence before and F7 for the following sentence. The word Helsingfors is copied from the text we made earlier during the lesson. 5 Analysis fourth is a category for miscellaneous. The subcategories have emerged from the material. The fourth category consists of events that occur several times in the material and seem to be important. 50 Responsible Research 50

51 The categories are the following: 1. Learning (development of literacy) Subcategories: - knowledge of letters - language awareness - writing - reading 2. Use of feed-back. - the child does not react to the feedback (does not choose the letter which he is searching for or does not react to an apparent wrong spelling) the right letter or changes a word in right direction) - the child is prevented from using the feedback by the teacher who gives the right answer in beforehand 3. Interaction - the teacher is active, gives the right solution before the child have tried unsuccessful tries succeed - the child and the teacher cooperate, for example they decide together the subject to write about - the child works independently 4. Others - motivation - interference from other languages Category 2 and 3 are close to each others. In category 2, Use of the feedback, the activity of the child is in focus. Category 3, Interaction, concentrates more on the activity of the teacher and how the teacher cooperates with the child in writing words 51 Responsible Research 51

52 and texts. I am now going to read through the material in case 1 for a second time. material, or if new categories will emerge. I have used the word category here, but the word code or analytic code might be better. To get a clear picture of change part of the analysis. 6 Preliminary results I suppose I will have to use many examples when I write about the results, because it Lesson Michael wants to write the name of a friend, Artur. He already knows the letter A. We are sounding out the rest of the letters together. He can sound out the letters R and U. We are sounding out together, and if Michael does not know what letter it is, I point it out on the keyboard. Lesson Michael starts to write the name Artur. He writes A immediately. We sound out R He sounds out U with a little help from me, but he points to O. Lesson 4 Michael is going to write Dummerjöns, the name of a play he recently has seen with his class Michael sounds out U, but he does not know what it looks like. After that he also sounds out D. I show him D and U on the keyboard DU I pronounce Dummer extra clearly, we sound out M together and Michael writes it himself DUMM We are sounding out "Dummer". I help him with E and shows it on the keyboard. Michael can hear that R is the last letter, and he also knows what it looks like. DUMMER Michael listens twice to the word with F1. 52 Responsible Research 52

53 In lesson we can see that Michael does not know the letter E Michael wants to write about Emilia. Emilia starts with E, Michael says. He is searching for E for a long time. He does not seem to be quite sure of what E looks like Michael wants to write: Sköldpaddan heter Lasse (The name of the turtle is Lasse) he sounds R out. I help him to sound E out, and I must also show it on the keyboard. LASS. I must sound E out. Michael does apparently not know what E looks like, he writes D and T, but remove them when he had heard them pronounced by the synthetic speech. I must show him E on the keybord. Table 1. Knowledge of letters develops over time according to Field notes Responsible Research 53

54 7 Conclusions The use of an artefact like a computer with speech synthesis is an interesting way to work on problems with reading and writing. The interaction between the child and the teacher may be a crucial point for the effective use of the tool. student text Auditory feedback from synthetic speech Visual feedback from the screen teacher Figure 1. The student writes texts with auditory feed-back in cooperation with the teacher Engeström s scheme of activity might be of use in the discussion of the results. The scheme describes the role of the mediating cultural artefact, in this case the auditory feed-back from synthetic speech on a computer. Engeström s scheme of activity Mediating cultural artefacts activity Subject Results Figure 2. Engeström s scheme of activity 54 Responsible Research

55 References Lund: Studentlitteratur. Bruner (1986). Cambridge, Massachusetts and Lon-. New York: Simon & Schuster. Hoyen, T. & Lundberg, I. (1999). Stockholm: Natur och kultur. - Lundberg, I. (2008). Stockholm Ochs, E. (1979) Transcription as Theory. ed. E. Dehs Schieffelin, B. Saine, N (2010). cial Research 400 Saine, N.L., Lerkkanen, M-K, Ahonen, T, Tovanen, A & Lyytinen, H. (2011). Computer-assisted remedial reading intervention for school beginners at risk for reading disability. 82, 3, Sahlström, F. (2009). Conversation Analysis as a Way of Studying Learning An Vol 53. No. 2, Vygotsky (1934/1978). - cesses - Yin, R. K. (1994). Responsible Research 55

56 We have always worked like this in our school, haven t we? About teacher s choice of working methods in science education in Swedish-medium primary schools in Finland Ann-Catherine Henriksson (ann-catherine.henriksson@abo.fi) Åbo Akademi, Faculty of Education, Vasa, Finland 1 Introduction A simple model when describing teaching is to view the starting point (from where?) and to go (or teach) from the starting point to the goal. For the class teacher in the everyday school context the model isn t perhaps that simple. This paper focuses on the situation when the teacher has to choose the way or the ways to teach (among many other ways) in science education (biology/geography and physics/chemistry). Several studies have issues). In this work I will try to make a more holistic view of the multifaceted reality of the teacher s everyday work, especially in science teaching. Tomas Kroksmark (2007) describes visible and invisible education. This work is about the invisible education, the educational thinking and acting. The teacher s perception of for example the curriculum is a context-dependent relation between the teacher and the curricula. How do the perceptions of the teachers vary in our schools in these subjects? Is the teacher or ought to change the way of teaching? In school life, as in the whole world, we live in a time of rapid changes. Different medias have made their contribution to the fact that the pupils today have an insight to events, facts and phenomena that wouldn t have been possible twenty years ago. The importance of the informal learning, outside the school context, increases. The challenges for the formal learning still considering the economical situation with its demands for savings. New times mean new possibilities but does this mean that the old ways of teaching are outdated? In several countries efforts have been made to increase the pupils interest in science and technology and a possible future profession within these subjects. (Helldén et al, 2005, Sjøberg, 2005). Within the EU (2004) a plan called Science and Society has been made to increase the interest within science. In Finland this was the start for the LUMA-project. (Helsingfors universitet, 2011). Within the Swedish-speaking group in Finland there is Resurscentret för matematik, naturvetenskap och teknik i skolan (2011). In 2012 the results from a monitoring 56 Responsible Research

57 study was compiled from the school results 2011 in science in year nine in the basic Education. (Utbildningsstyrelsen, 2012). The study based on subject knowledge (method knowledge and facts) in biology, geography, physics and chemistry for the pupils. The tasks were adjusted to the curricula for this grade. From the results you can tell for example that there is a relation between the pupil s attitude towards the subject and the subject knowledge. A relation between the subject knowledge and the ways of teaching was also found. In her doctoral thesis (2003) in Sweden Britt Lindahl has studied the pupils interest in science and technology. As a reason for lack of interest in science and technology the pupils in the study name the teaching. They seldom understand the meaning of These studies have been made among pupils in their last years in school. Other studies show that children with positive experiences from nature also get more interest in environmental issues (Uitto et al, 2006). The focus on environmental education in the schools has shifted from local problems towards global problems as the greenhouse effect, water problems and the impoverishment of the biological diversity and towards talking about sustainable development. (Helldén et al., 2012, p. 205). Considering possible aspects that can be affecting the teachers perceptions of their choice of ways of teaching science I have chosen to group the aspects in three diffe- teacher s perspective. Although the focus in the study is on the teachers perceptions of their teaching it doesn t mean that the role of the pupil is infringed. The absolute aim with all teaching is that the pupil is learning. As a personal background for my research I have a long experience of working as a class teacher in primary school. I have a pre-understanding within the context I have chosen to study, but in the same time I have an interest in learning more about other teachers perceptions of the context. In the study my pre-understanding is seen in my choices of purpose and research questions for the study, but also in my choices and opinions when I present former research and theories within the research area. My studies from former research, theories and from the empirical study continually changes my former pre-understanding during my work. 1.1 The aim of the research In this study I will improve the visibility of the reality for the class teacher in the todays school context and especially within this subject. The focus in the study is on the different aspects affecting the ways for the class teacher to percept the situations and phenomena. I will not only describe the circumstances the teachers work in but focus on the teachers perceptions of these circumstances. Marton describes perceptions as..det som är underförstått, det som inte behöver sägas, eftersom det aldrig varit fö- Responsible Research 57

58 eller den grund, på vilken vi bygger våra resonemang (Marton & Svensson, 1978, s. 20 according to Kroksmark, 2007). As a researcher I will take a non-critical, learning perspective. The aim of this study is to describe the variation of perceptions considering class teachers view on teaching science. The aim is also to illustrate how these teachers choose to work and why they do as they do. My preliminary research questions are: Which are the teachers perceptions of teaching science? Which are the teachers experiences of ways of teaching this subject? Which are the teachers perceptions of aspects affecting the choice of the way to teach? 2 Research approach and methodology Before discussing the research approach for the study I will make a further clari- 1. Which are the teachers perceptions of teaching science? A basic question is the teacher s perception of what the aim for the teaching is within science education. What perceptions do the teachers have on the aims for science teaching in the curricula and what perceptions do the teachers have of their personal aims for the subject? The teachers are also asked to tell about their perceived subject knowledge. Other questions are about perceptions of challenges with teaching the subject and about the pupil s pre-understanding, and how it maybe is affecting the teaching. How do the teachers consider the role of the teaching materials and the role of the other school subjects according to science teaching? 2. Which are the teachers experiences of ways of teaching this subject? The word experience includes two meanings, which are the teachers practical experiences and the teachers perceptions of the experiences. The research question includes a time-aspect former now in the future. How is the teacher working now? Has the teacher s way of working changed during the time of working as a class teacher? What visions does the teacher have on ways of working in the future? There are synonyms for the worlds way of working. In this study way of working is used in a holistic sentence. The way of teaching can include several different working methods. If you choose way of teaching the focus is more on the teacher s acting. Way of working stands more for the teacher s and the pupils acting during the lessons. The teacher s choice of way of working could be seen as a answer to the educational question How? 58 Responsible Research

59 How do the teachers ways of working vary within this subject? 3. Which are the teachers perceptions of aspects affecting the choice of the way to teach? It is impossible to discover the affecting aspects without asking the teachers about their subjective perceptions. The question can be discussed from a subject perspective (the teacher s individual perceptions of affecting aspects) as well as from an object perspective (different teachers perceptions of aspects or a phenomenon). The object perspective is studied within the interview research while the subject perspective is studied in the following combined video- and interview study. 2.1 Phenomenography as a research approach The aim for qualitative research is to get insight of phenomena considering persons and situations in the person s social context (Dalen, 2007). Tomas Kroksmark (2007) describes phenomenography as a expression interpretive approach with hermeneutic elements. The approach is empirical. The basic unit for phenomenographic research is a way to perceive something. The object of the research is variations in ways of perceiving phenomena. There is no complete way to describe something and our descriptions are always motivated from our aims. In phenomenography you try to describe something the way that other persons see the phenomenon. The interest is upon changes. These abilities can often be arranged logically or hierarchically. ject are inseparable. How the subject perceives the object can only be seen as a relation between the subject and the object. (Marton & Booth, 2000, Marton, 1992, Kroksmark, 2007). Although that you from a phenomenographical point of view see the subject and the object as inseparable you can as a researcher focus on either of them. From a subject perspective you focus on one persons percep-tions of a phenomenon (different aspects of the phenomenon and the different relations between the aspects that are current in the focused mind). From an ob-ject perspective you focus on the variations between the perspectives of different persons on the same phenomenon (Marton & Booth, 2000). In this study I ll be using both perspectives. 2.2 Using interview as an empirical method school context I choose interview as the method that best answers my research questions. Dalen (2007, p. 9) describes qualitative interview as especially suitable when you want to get insight in the perceptions, thoughts and feelings of the informants. Kroksmark (2007) uses the expression phenomenographic interview. Characteristics - Responsible Research 59

60 nes the aspect or the aspects of the studied phenomenon and the interviewer has to unveil invisible contents or contents that haven t been explicit themed by the informant earlier. (Kroksmark, 2007, p. 31). In the study I ll use a semi-structured interview, where the conversation is about themes I have decided upon in advance (compare to e.g. Dalen, 2007). Every interview starts with the same starting question and after this the interview goes on so that every theme in the interview-guide is discussed, but not always in the same order. According to Kroksmark (2007) the starting question should be an open question with no given answering alternatives. The basis is that the informant always answers correctly to the questions. According to Marton & Booth (2000) the interview takes place on two levels. On one level it is a contact between two persons (a social discussion). On the next level (the meta-level) the researcher tries to release the informants former un-thought thoughts. perspective. (Marton & Booth, 2000, Kroksmark, 2007). First-order perspective: A statement is a statement about the physical world or about a statements. the phenomenon, to understand it. The statement will become the basis to explore the informant s understanding of the problem and the phenomenon the problem concerns. In a phenomenographical interview you strive to attain the second-order perspective. In this study I have chosen a semi-structured interview as a method. Advantages with this method is that I with open questions from a second-order perspective can ask the informant to describe his or hers perceptions of a phenomenon. I can make additional questions about the themes and ask the informant to specify the opinions. During the interview I will be able to study the body language and the facial expressions of the informant. The informant can ask me to specify the question if it is unclear. The response rate in the questions is high through the whole study. Disadvantages with this kind of investigation are that it is a time demanding and labor-intensive method, while the material from the interviews needs to be transcribed before analysis. 2.3 The selection of informants and practical considerations Although the Swedish speaking part of Finland is small as a region the circumstances in the primary schools can be different. The teachers backgrounds vary. To assure that I get as many perceptions as possible I structured the selection of the teachers for the study in order to get as many different backgrounds and school settings as possible. Larsson (1986) recommends this kind of procedure. According to Larsson a random selection isn t suitable. During my working time as a class teacher and in my spare time I have made personal contacts with many teachers in schools in this region. In this study I therefore have chosen not to include any of these teachers in my 60 Responsible Research

61 interview study. That s why I e.g. haven t interviewed any of the teachers from my nearest neighborhood. The selection consists of 15 formally competent class teachers in 15 different schools around the Swedish speaking part of Finland (Åboland, Nyand, Österbotten). 1 The teachers in this study are teaching in grade 3 to 6 in the subjects biology/geography or/and physics/chemistry. In grade 3 4 these subjects are gathered to a subject called miljö- och naturkunskap. The teachers have been working in class for 5 to 35 years. The school settings vary (some are large urban schools and others are small rural schools). The number of the pupils in the schools varies between 33 and 330. Three of the teachers are male. In the small schools the children are taught in complex classes, while there can be several parallel classes in the big schools. To get in contact with the teachers I contacted the headmasters by phone. These headmasters then helped me to ordinary school day. Every interview was recorded on two separate dictaphones. The time of the interviews vary between 23 and 54 minutes. The interviews are to be transcribed to a text version. The colloquial text in the conversation will be transcribed to written language where e.g. repeated words are removed. Here Dalen (2007) and Kroksmark (2007) have separate opinions. Kroksmark believes that the transcribed text should be more colloquial while Dalen thinks that the transcribed text should be near normal, written text. The analysis of the interviews is mostly based upon the transcribed texts. According to Kvale (1997) you ought to as a researcher be aware of the fact that the transcribed the original reality. The transcription is an interpreted construction. At this time the empirical study is completed and the next step is the transcription of the recorded interviews. In the analysis the observed differences in the answers are gathered to description categories. These categories are then collected to a second level and together they describe the teachers perceptions of the studied phenomena. (Marton & Booth, 2000). About 6 months before the interview study was made I made two interviews in order to test the interview guide and to train as an interviewer. The results from these test interviews are not included in the analysis. According to Dalen ( 2007, p. 28) it is guide. In this case I found that I was able to follow the planned guide all away trough the interview study. 1 According to Kvale (1997) there are no exact directives for how many interviews is required for one study. The number of interviews is determined by the aim of the study. Too many interviews makes a deeper analysis impossible. A normal number of interviews usually are between 15 +/- 10. Responsible Research 61

62 2.4 Alternative and additional methods An alternative method to gather materials for the study could be a survey study with open questions. For several reasons I rejected this alternative: The response rate would probably be quite low in a survey study. Some questions may be not answered. There is a risk that the teachers in the study could misunderstand some of the questions. As a researcher I would have no possibility to study e.g. the body language of the informants. It would be hard to get content in the answers that would be on a deeper level for the second-order perspective. As an additional and viable method I however see a combined video- and interview study. In the study some lessons in science would be taped on video. The teachers would be taped on dictaphones. With this proceeding it would be easier to clarify the the teacher and the head master and from the pupils parents as well. 3. Validity, reliability and generalizability The control of the research validity is an ongoing theme trough the research process, from the planning via the research questions to the accounting. (Kvale, 1997, s. 214). Validity is a measure of controlling that the study really measures according to the aims of the study, or the level of the compliance between the theoretic and the operational background. Reliability is a measure of how well the empiric materials in the study are collected. (Bjereld, Demker & Hinnfors, 2009, p. 112). According to Dalen (2007) it is hard to use the standard methods from quantitative research traditions in a qualitative research. She recommends to consider these questions but to use another terminology in the qualitative research, especially when measuring reliability. In the this study. 3.1 Validity As a researcher you always have a conscious or an unconscious pre-understanding. The pre-understanding is shown in the way the researcher chooses some materials, kind of pre-understanding. (Bjereld, Demker & Hinnfors, 2009, Dalen, 2007, Larsson, 2005). According to Dalen (2007) it is important to clarify the own role as a researcher to the researcher himself and to the readers. It is especially important when the research area is nearly connected to the researcher. You should though consciously try to make sure that the informants voices will be heard in the study. My long experience as a class teacher affects my own pre-understanding of the context in this study. I am conscious of this but in the same time I feel that it is useful to have knowledge of the 62 Responsible Research

63 conditions, that I speak the same language. To have a near relationship to the studied area can also be an advantage. Att uppnå en förståelse är ibland bara möjligt om forskaren äger en inomförförståelse av liknande verkligheter. (Dalen, 2007, p. 12). Kvale (1997, p. 165) agrees to the opinion that it is important that the researcher has knowledge of the studied area to get an authentic interpretation. The phenomenographic methodology is based on the epoché, that is you should as a researcher systematic keep away your beliefs and opinions, put them in brackets. (Kroksmark, 2007). He although thinks that a full bracketing is not possible. In stead he suggests a kind of weaker epoché with pedagogical purposes, to be used in research about the content and aims of teaching. The interviewer must though let the perceiving and the logic of the informants come out uncorrected. Empirical reliance Larsson (2005, p. 19) believe that there always has to be a reliance between the reality and the interpretation. In the phenomenographic research approach this means that the interpretation has to rely on the interviews and what is said in these. 3.2 Reliability A measure of the fact that the study shows good reliability is how other researchers can control the results. The study should be able to made again with the same results. In a qualitative research it is hardly possible to do this. Dalen (2007) sees the role of the researcher as an important role and this role is a relation with the informant and the current situation. Dalen maintains that it is important that the researcher correctly and thoroughly describes every detail in the research process. Therefore I try to very thoroughly describe every step I take in this study from the planning to the analysis and the reporting. Using one or more research companions in the interpretation of the empirical material is a way to increase the reliability of the research. (Kroksmark, 2007, p. 36, Larsson, 2005, p. 23). This independent companion has access to the description categories and the material from the interviews. The consistence between the categories of the researcher and the companion can be compared and added to the report of the study. It is o test that the data in the study can be watched from the interpreted perspective. As a critical opinion against the reliability of interview studies leading questions are often mentioned. As a researcher you lead the answers in a wanted direction. This can happen consciously or unconsciously (Kvale, 1997, p. 213). According to Larsson (1986) every interview question is a leading question in some way, there are no not-leading questions. Despite this I through the interview study have tried to remember not to affect the informant in any way nor while asking the questions or by my voice or body language. Responsible Research 63

64 3.3 Generalizability random. The questions should be formed otherwise and this would change the whole research approach. In this study it isn t possible and not even striven. Marton & Booth Instead they talk about the utfallsrum of the study. This is the collection of the de- - are and leads towards expectations more than formal predictions. 4. Ethical considerations Ethical considerations are frequent in the everyday life of a researcher. Characteristic for these questions is that there is no exact answer to them. (Clarkeburn & Mustajoki, 2007, Kvale, 1997). Clarkeburn and Mustajoki (2007) separates four steps in the ethical process: 1) identifying the ethical question, 2) reaction and consideration around alternative proceedings, 3) an inner agreement of an answer to the question and 4) a leveling about how the answer stands against pressure from others. In all forms of research you need to make overall ethical positions. These can be considering the requirement for consent, the requirement of to be informed and the requirement for done all the way from the beginning of the research to the last report. The requirement for consent Dalen s (2007) description for the requirement for consent is that the consent should be voluntary, informed, expressed and precise. When I contacted the schools for the matter then was discussed in the colleges I have no insight in. Two of the schools declined to attend to the study. In one school they had recently had several other studies competency, and she had no time for participation in this study. When I then met with the teachers in order to make the interviews I asked them to read trough the information paper about the study and then to sign it as consent to the study. Kvale recommends a written agreement (1997, p. 142). This consent is for the study in the current form and has to be updated if something changes e.g. how the material is used in the study. Every informant has the right to leave the study whenever he or she wants to. 64 Responsible Research

65 The requirement for information Before the teachers in the study could give their consent to the participation they needed information about the aim and the approach of the study. (Kvale, 1997, p. I then spoke to the teachers in order to make an appointment for my interview I informed them further. Before the interview we had a discussion about it when the teacher could make questions about the proceedings. The information was also to be read in the information paper before signing it. In the information paper was facts about the aim of the study, the methods of collecting materials and about how the materials was to be used in the study. As a research region the Swedish speaking part of Finland is small. This fact makes about that all information and every answer is used anonymously. In the information before the interview I told the informants that no names on persons, schools or local why I don t ask any questions about family rela-tionships in my study. In the results I the transcripts from the interviews. (Kvale, 1997, p. 158). Ethical aspects considering the role of researcher According to Dalen (2007, p. 18) there may be a method problem when the researcher shows solidarity towards the informants. This can be the case when the researcher has chosen a theme nearly connected to the researcher. You need to be aware of this in the interpretation and in the communication of the results. The statements and experiences theories within the area. Even negative things can be found. In this study the risks for sensitive, negative things to be found are small. Larsson (2005) also talks about the to be seen is as truthful as possible and the informants voices are heard. The research honesty is about the searching for the true results parallel to showing concern about the informants in the study. Responsible Research 65

66 References Varför vetenskap? Lund: Studentlitteratur Clarkeburn, H., Mustajoki, A.(2007). Tallin: Vastapaino Dalen, M.(2007). Malmö: Gleerups Helldén, G., Lindahl, B., Redfors, A. (2005). Lärande och undervisning i naturveten-. Uppsala: Vetenskapsrådet Vägar till naturveten- Stockholm: Liber Hodson, D. (2009). - tidskrift Vol. 17, No Kvale, S.(1997). Lund: Studentlitteratur Larsson, S. (1986). Lund: Studentlitteratur Larsson, S. (2005). Om kvalitet i kvalitativa studier. (25), 1, Lindahl, B. (2005) Lust att lära naturvetenskap och teknik? En longitudinell studie Göteborg Studies in Educational Sciences, 196. Göteborg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis - (4), Marton, F & Booth, S. (2000). Lund: Studentlitteratur Sjöberg, S. (2005). Lund: Studentlitteratur and their out-of-school experiences. (3), Utbildningsstyrelsen. (2012). linen_osaaminen_perusopetuksen_9_luokalla_ Responsible Research

67 Everything, everywhere, all the time: Advantages and challenges in the use of extensive video recordings of children Fredrik Rusk Åbo Akademi University in Vaasa, Finland Michaela Pörn Åbo Akademi University in Vaasa, Finland Fritjof Sahlström University of Helsinki, Finland Anna Slotte-Lüttge Åbo Akademi University in Vaasa, Finland 1 Theoretical background Since the 1990s there has been an increase both in ethnographic studies using video and studies considering learning and development as a social and interactive phe- learning and development as a social and interactive phenomena, learning is considered as situated in social situations and contexts where participants are engaged in mutual & Sahlström, 2010;; Rogoff, 2003;; Sfard, 1998). There is a direct connection between learning and interaction. Teaching and learning are viewed as constitutive parts of everyday social interaction (Gergely & Csibra, 2006). Sfard (1998) describes this as a shift of focus from learning as acquiring to learning as participation. This pers- be done anywhere at anytime where two or more individuals are engaged in social interaction. Learning can be done anywhere;; it is not a prerogative of the classroom or other teaching institutions. Recent studies on learning in interaction have pointed out the need for more studies of learning in interaction outside the classrooms (cf. Firth, 2007). For example have recent studies on children s language learning in interaction shown that children are explicitly oriented to learning language in contexts & Tainio, 2009;; Slotte-Lüttge, 2005). This poses a challenge for the gathering of data. If one wants to capture learning in interaction one has to capture social interaction throughout the day, because there is no certainty to when and where learning is done. Learning in interaction is also considered as inherently longitudinal. This means that Responsible Research 67

68 tion for several consecutive days. The best site to capture social interaction for later analysis is a situation in which several participants are carrying out courses of action with each other (Goodwin, 2000). In this period of theoretical change of the understanding of learning researchers have increasingly used video as a way of capturing participants engaged in mutual social actions. The camera and microphone capture much detail in one data corpus and to capture the same using traditional observation is almost impossible. Video also video has largely increased in studies interested in the human sociality. Video gives the researcher the tools to capture as much of the situation as possible for later analysis (Aarsand & Forsberg, 2010). Another reason is the availability of affordable and archiving as well as sharing detailed material of human interaction (Derry et al., 2010). Most previous ethnographic studies using video to study children s social interaction and learning have focused on one setting. They have used video as a tool to capture and focus many different settings in children s everyday lives such as preschools (Björk-Willén, 2006;; Cromdal, 2000;; Sahlström, Hummelstedt, Forsman, & Evaldsson, 2008;; Kääntä, 2010;; Sahlström, 1999), after-school centers and hobby same study to capture the whole of children s everyday lives. It may be considered very hard to do, too time-consuming or just not relevant to the study, but to understand learning as a social phenomenon one cannot tie the study to just one setting. Learning is done in the everyday interaction in different social situations and contexts and over long periods of time. This is why we claim that to better understand how learning in interaction is done one needs to extensively record children s everyday interaction in- and outside of the school. 2 Aim of this paper The aim of this paper is to discuss advantages and challenges in using extensive video recordings from a participant s perspective as a way of studying learning in children s daily social interaction in- and outside of school. The method is a consequence of the participationist view on learning. To extensively record children s everyday life is a methodological and practical challenge, but not without its advantages. In this paper we will focus on some challenges that arise when involving the children and families in the data collection in their homes, compared to participant observation in the ho- concerning what kinds of data and analysis it makes possible. These include data from settings throughout the day (car drives, hobbies, playing outside, eating at the dinner table etc.) and the ability to track the longitudinality of learning in interaction over 68 Responsible Research

69 several days. However challenging the presented data gathering method and analysis method in this article may seem;; the challenges of the ways of work are outweighed by the possibilities afforded for a better understanding of learning in interaction. 3 Method The methods are based on a participationist view on learning (Sfard, 1998) and de- understanding on learning as an activity among others in interaction calls for video recordings of children s entire day, because learning can be done anywhere, anytime engaged in over several consecutive days. Children s everyday consist of several settings, besides the home and the school, that also have to be accounted for to get an understanding of how situations occurring hours or even days apart are connected. So how could one record as much of these activities as possible for later analysis? This focus and agenda coincides with a call and a need for more ecological research with a more holistic approach in the social sciences, which in other words means that the research should also focus on naturalistic settings like homes instead of institutional settings such as workplaces and schools (Barron, 2007). Homes of families have long been sites for ethnographic participant observation and the number of these studies is steadily increasing, but they have often relied on interviews and participant observation with audio recordings, not cameras (Aarsand & Forsberg, 2010;; Forsberg, 2009). One reason for the small number of ethnographic research using video in the homes may be that the home is considered a private space. It may be considered rude and intrusive to enter a home with a camera. It may also be because of the challenge in getting access to families homes (Aarsand & Forsberg, 2010). Ethics are always important to consider when conducting research, but it is particularly important when studying people in their own homes and at their most private. Some examples of ethnographic research using video recordings in the homes of families are Forsberg (2009) and Ochs, Graesch, Mittman, Bradbury, & Repetti (2006). Some ethnographers have tried to deal with the different issues of access, intrusion and ethics either by making shorter recordings over a long time (Grieshaber, 2004) or by recording more intensely over a shorter time (Darrah, English-Lueck, & Freeman, 2007). Most of these studies are participant observations where a researcher has recorded the interaction in the homes. There are also examples of studies where the researchers have & Fasulo, 1996;; Hutchinson, 2006;; Rusk, 2010;; Sahlström, Forsman, Hummelstedt, search and therefore easily get access to the homes. Responsible Research 69

70 Every data gathering method has to be a consequence of the focus and interests of the study. If the interest is to better understand how learning is done in children s everyday interaction, one has to record the everyday interaction. This can be done in many ways, but one way to do this is by incorporating two different ways of recording from where a researcher records the target child s entire day. The other way of recording is the one used in the child s home, which is the one we will focus on in this paper. To give a holistic view of the entire data gathering method we will next shortly describe the recordings at school and then describe the recordings conducted in the homes of the families and discuss them more in-depth. The researcher shadows and records the child for the entire day at school and during the extra-curricular activities until the child goes home. The child wears a small wireless microphone, as the child is very mobile at times and most of what the child says and whispers is captured on tape as well as what the teacher and other children say in proximity to the child with the microphone. The goal is to capture as much of the interaction as possible, but with a camera one can only capture what can be seen on the screen. The researcher has to make some decisions on what to capture on screen. For of the facial expressions and gestures) or out (the whole room/classroom/group) and to keep in mind not to draw attention and disturb the ongoing interaction (Heikkilä & Sahlström, 2003). At the school the researcher is not invisible, but it is easier for an adult researcher to blend into the school surrounding than to blend into the surrounding in the homes of families. The other way of recording is the one used in the child s home, which is the one we will focus on in this paper. The family is instructed to record as much as possible of what the target child does outside school during a week;; including hobbies, car rides and activities outside of the home, so that there will be as much data recorded as possible and from as many settings as possible. The families record at their homes for approximately a week s time during the same days as when the child is recorded at school. Anyone in the family can and should use the camera and record the interaction in the family with it. The children in the families have thus recorded the time they spend straight after school with friends, siblings or at the computer. Thanks to the easy-to-use camera the children are able to record without the parents help. The data is mostly of good quality and the sound is fair, but it is not as good as the sound in the data from the school where the child wears a small microphone. Logistically and technically it gets harder to use the camera if the families would have used a small microphone as well, so the sound is recorded through the camera s built-in microphone. When we instruct the families in the use of the camera we usually also tell them to be aware of speech in the recording. Other instructions include that the target child is to mainly be in focus and that speech and social interaction is in focus of the recordings. Otherwise the families are free to record everything. The goal is not to instruct too much so that 70 Responsible Research

71 the families will not be too constricted in the recordings, but to instead feel free to record anywhere, anytime. The recordings conducted by the families are often of a very personal nature and the researcher gets a really close view of the families life in the most private space in their lives, their homes. To give the families the control of the camera in the settings outside of the school has proven to be fruitful in many ways. It seems to be less intrusive and the social interaction in the data seems very natural, compared to if the researcher would be recording in the home with the families. The main reason for giving the control of the recordings to the families is that of intrusion and access (Aarsand & Forsberg, 2010;; Rusk, 2010). At home the families conduct the recordings themselves. This eliminates the need for a researcher to record at the home and thus, in a the families are more willing to give access to the research, because they feel that they are in control of what is recorded, when and how. If the researcher were present there might emerge situations in which the participants would talk to the researcher and the researcher may have to encourage the families to continue doing what they usually do and not pay any attention to the camera (Forsberg, 2009). In our data the families seem very relaxed from the beginning and seem not to hesitate even though the camera is present. One reason for this could be that they are themselves in control of what, how and when they record. In the data there are many different settings, such as car rides, piano lessons, playing in the yard, playing video games at friend s place, eating meals at the food table, watching TV, cooking, etc. The families have in other words embraced the instructions and encouragements of recording everything and as much as possible. When not giving the families too much instruction on what and when to record they still seem to have understood to record much and in different settings. It would be better sound and picture quality if participant observation would have been used, but the recordings would probably not have been as naturalistic as they are when the families themselves record. To shadow and record all of these settings would have been dif- to have become natural for the family, the camera seems to have become part of their everyday social interaction. tuation and constantly renegotiate the role depending on the situation and the setting. Is the researcher going to be involved in the interaction or just be a passive observer? though one stays quiet and takes on the role as a passive observer, this does not count one out as a participant (Forsberg, 2009). The researcher is still present in the homes of the families, though not as an active participant in the interaction. By giving the families the camera, the researcher does not have to deal with this dilemma. The participants semm to easily forget or ignore the camera when there is no researcher present and especially in the homes where an unknown observer is even more eye- Responsible Research 71

72 catching than at e.g. school. Even though the participants sometimes orient towards and talk to the camera, the camera is not expected to interact with them, compared to if a researcher would operate the camera. 4 Results The participants do not always remember to take the camera with them if they move from one room to another or if they move out of the picture. This would not happen in participant observation if someone, e.g. a researcher, would focus on operating the camera. These situations occur seldom in our data, but they are an issue and a challenge. How to instruct the participants in using the camera without instructing them too much of what kind of data we, as researchers, want. Because if instructed too much, the participants may start acting in front of the camera and staging situations which are not naturally occurring events. Another issue is the intrusiveness of the camera. Getting access (Aarsand & Forsberg, 2010) to a home is easier when the families conduct the recordings, but even though there is no researcher behind the camera the participants are still very much aware of the recordings. To think that the participants would forget the camera and act as if it was not there is unrealistic. The camera is there and they are supposed to handle it and record their interaction with it and thus it becomes, in a way, part of the interaction. This does not mean that they orient to the camera all the time, but from time to time they orient explicitly to the camera s presence and discuss it or use it as a participant in their interaction or play and act in front of the camera. But when comparing to participant observation this orientation towards the camera and playing and acting in front of it is also present in data gathered through participant observation (cf. Forsberg, 2009). Next we will focus on discussing two situations when participants explicitly orient to the camera s presence and the recordings;; when the participants orient to and discuss the camera s presence as something problematic and when the child or parent explicitly orient to the camera and the research as something unproblematic. One example of this kind of data is when the parents of a child, Emelie, record her during a car ride. Emelie sits in the backseat and the parents sit in the front. The camera is operated by the mother and the father is driving the car. The mother holds the camera so the only thing visible on screen is Emelie and the backseat. The parents and the child are discussing and during the discussion Emelie says that she does not want to be recorded. She says explicitly no to the recording. After this the parents explicitly discuss the recording with her and she still tells the mother to shut down the camera. The parents continue discussing this with her and still continue recording and later the problem is forgotten. In other words, they do not explicitly discuss the issue anymore. In a similar situation in participant observation a researcher would most probably have stopped recording and then discuss the issue when the camera is turned off, but the parents chose another course of action. Ethically questionable, but the parents are in control. It is hard for a researcher to determine wether to use the data or not, to respect what 72 Responsible Research

73 the child said or not, because the recording continues and in the data they never again discuss this situation. So was it then as problematic as it seemed during the discussion or was it a naturally occurring discussion about recording? Another example of data when participants orient to the camera s presence is when the children use the camera as a participant in their interaction and orient to the researchers who later will be seeing it by talking to them through the camera. For example does a boy, Fabian, talk about the researchers who later will see the recordings. This happens when he is recording himself in the car with an ice cream in his hand. Fabian, his little sister and his mother are also in the car. His mother is driving and he is sitting in front holding the camera in his lap and pointing it towards himself while he is eating an ice cream. He then says to his mother that when the researchers see his ice cream they will go out and buy ice cream for themselves. His little sister then asks what the researchers are. The discussion then turns to be about who the researchers are and that they are researching and recording Fabian. Fabian says that they (read: the researchers) are recording him, even though Fabian himself is holding the camera. This is interesting from the point of view of control. Even though Fabian and his family are in full control of the camera, they still refer to the recordings as if the researchers were doing them. Almost as if a researcher would be there and then recording through participant observation. Fabian and his family do not make this kind of orientation to the recordings and the researchers problematic. Instead they seem to be very natural as they use the camera in their interaction. They address the researchers that will be watching the data. This way of explicitly orienting to the camera and its presence could be considered as problematic from a naturalistic point of view. Then again, the camera is there and it is supposed to be part of their everyday life, so the natural thing would be to explicitly orient to it from time to time. In our opinion it would be unnatural if they were to act that the camera is not present in their everyday life. The advantages of this kind of data gathering method is that the data is natural and holistic in a way that really helps the analysis of the data. An analyst who has not been tion and has no trouble in following the occurring events in the data. Another advantage is that we really do have data of the entire days and much of the social interaction between children at school happen as they move from one planned activity to the next (e.g. from class to lunch or out to recess). While moving from one planned activity to another the children do e.g. language learning (Sahlström et al., 2010;; Slotte-Lüttge, each other in another language than the school language (Slotte-Lüttge, Sahlström, Hummelstedt, Rusk, & Grönberg, 2010) or how a bilingual mother and son orient and talk into being a monolingual norm in their talk-in-interaction (Rusk, 2010). These children for their entire school day. Sahlström et al. (2010) show through the analysis of three situations where a girl teaches her friend to count in English, which is for them a foreign language, how Responsible Research 73

74 learning is done in the interaction between children. The teaching and learning is often done in a normative way and orient towards right and wrong. They use traditional teaching methods such as repeating after the teacher. They are oriented to form and not so much function in the learning they do. At the same time the teaching clear expectation of a communicative progression from form to function. The material recorded at school show that children do learning is in several different settings;; in the queue on their way to lunch, in the canteen, in the hall, in the school yard, during crafts everywhere. The material from the homes of the families and outside school shows that children do learning with their parents, other adults, friends or siblings in a variety of different situations. For example does a child do language learning with her parents in the car and another discuss ethnicity and skin color with her parents at the dinner table (Sahlström et al., accepted). Rusk (2010) shows through the analysis of 15 hours of video recordings from the home of a family how a bilingual mother and son orient and talk into being a mono- treats and responds to the son s code-switching in their talk-in-interaction. Code-switching is often considered to break the norm and as something that needs to be repaired by both the mother and the son. The above described settings and situations would have been very hard to record and families themselves do the recordings and where a researcher records at school. Our experience is that this method has given good and natural data of naturally occurring social interaction throughout children s everyday. 5 Discussion In a way, one could ask whose research it is as the family takes control of the camera. Then again, by giving away the control of the camera one can get really natural and good material of the interaction at the children s homes and other settings outside school. Most of the time participants do not even notice the camera and it becomes a very natural thing for them to be recording their interaction. It would most probably be harder for the participants to forget and not orient to the camera if it were a researcher handling the camera. If one wants natural data it is considered that the camera is supposed to be invisible or at least not noticed. This is somewhat impossible. To expect the participants to pretend that the camera is not there would be unnatural. The camera is there and if it was not there we would have no data. Therefore it is important, in our opinion, to tell the participants not to make a fuss about the camera, but still not explicitly prohibit them from noticing it because it could make them self-conscious about it. If they in 74 Responsible Research

75 their interaction want to orient to the camera, then they should be able, allowed, to do so. It is still naturally occurring social interaction in the homes of the families. Another issue is that through extensive video recordings like these, where the target participants are shadowed with a camera throughout the day for a week, one gets really close and intimate with the participants lives. When looking through the material corded a whole week of activities in their lives for us to watch and use in our research. The material one gets with these kinds of recordings is priceless and therefore is it extremely important to treat the material and the participants with the utmost respect. Responsible Research 75

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78 (accepted). Stockholm: Liber. One. 27, Slotte-Lüttge, A. (2005). kiga elever och deras lärare i en enspråkig klassrumsdiskurs (p. 224). national Journal of Bilingualism, Transcripts, Slotte-Lüttge, A., Sahlström, F., Hummelstedt, I., Rusk, F., & Grönberg, L. (2010). - (pp. 1 64) Responsible Research

79 The best of both worlds How to Find the Added Value of Mixed Methods in Research Annika Wiklund-Engblom Anette Bengs Joachim Högväg MediaCity, Åbo Akademi University in Vaasa, Finland 1 Introduction User experience of media users is in many ways an abstract notion. How to best measure it is a debatable question. For instance, multidimensionality is an essential factor of user experience, but still, not many studies explore the interrelations of dimensions hods to collect both quantitative and qualitative data targeting the multidimensionality of user experience, for instance, users observable behaviour, a variety of physiologi- The purpose of using multiple methods has been to capture the phenomenon of media users experiences as closely as possible, not being restricted by any methodological paradigm, but rather to explore how the use of methods can be expanded. Our goal answer research questions. Our approach to research is therefore pragmatic. This is understandable, as we are looking at different media solutions in various media contexts, and these are forever changing into innovative new forms. Similarly, we need to be constantly re-evaluating what the best ways to answer research questions are. to fully exploit the integrative potential of mixed data sources and analysis methods In this paper we will focus on the added value mixed methods might have in the analysing process of a case where social media solutions are being used in business-tobusiness collaboration and innovation. We are not presenting any results from the empirical study as such, only discussing the methods and methodological considerations. The study serves as a pilot in our methods development while exploring how NVivo between several researchers during the analysing and write up phases. Responsible Research 79

80 2 What is Mixed Methods Research? Mixed methods is the most common term for blending of research methods and methodological paradigms in a study. Broader terms are mixed research or integrative inclusive meaning. Creswell and Clark (2006, 5) refer to mixed methods research as a research design with philosophical assumptions as well as quantitative and qualita- as mixed methods is that you have an interdependence of component approaches - Although mixed methods research has been carried out in various forms since 1950s, it is only in the recent years that it has become a more widespread acknowledged research approach (Creswell & Clark, 2007). Historically, there has been two base camps of purists when it comes to paradigms of methodological approaches;; the quantitative versus the qualitative advocates. These often argue for the incompatibility thesis that the two paradigms never should or even could be mixed. However, nowadays there is a new set of advocates suggesting that focus should rather be on the many similarities between the two approaches. In this debate, mixed methods research is seen as a third paradigm drawing on the strengths and counteracting the weaknesses of each of the research is seen as end-points on a continuum where mixed methods are represented 3 Pragmatism as the aim Mixed methods as a third paradigm is driven by pragmatism and overlooks the con- - proaches to answer research questions. Key terms are, for instance, inclusion, pluralism, and eclecticism. The logic of inquiry involves induction, deduction, as well as abduction. Thus, it can be used for discovering patterns, creating and/or testing theories and hypothesis, and it allows for an unlimited exploration of ways to understand The purpose of mixed methods is to overcome weaknesses of a single method in methods. It is inevitable that the fundamental principal of mixed research is to have a clear understanding of both strengths and weaknesses of, for instance, the methodologies and epistemologies of the two traditional paradigms, as well as insights into 80 Responsible Research

81 This is perhaps one reason why mixed methods research is not so common, and has 4 Computer Software in Mixed Methods Analyses radical change that qualitative computing bring to evolving methodology is the way it 2006). For instance, you can link numeric data, scaled variables, and categorical responses to individuals or cases as source attributes. Then you may build matrixes from this mix of data and get textual replies sorted within the matrix cells. Exploring mixed 5 A Process Model for Mixed Methods Research the research design. The steps involve: formulating research questions;; choose met- While mixed methods research always includes multiple forms of data, the process further needs to clarify how and when different steps of analyses should be performed. This is by all means related to the kind of data and research questions of a study. One end-results. 6 Integration in Analysis done through either combination or conversion, or both. Combining data types involves using categorical or continuous variables. These are combined for statistical analysis and used as a basis for comparison of coded narrative (qualitative) material. This might involve a combination of interview data and questionnaire data. Conver- Responsible Research 81

82 sion includes converting qualitative data to quantitative in order to use it in analysis, and converting quantitative statistics to support a narrative analysis of events. A third alternative is when combination and conversion are used iteratively, which is likely 2006, 66). tion: Integration can be made in many ways. The timing for integration varies from for integration to be aligned with aims of the study. The presentation of results should clearly state the different types of data and how the integration has been done during analysis. The integration of data needs to bring an added value to the study. Results are presented in a way that illuminates the key issues of the study, rather than organi- issues from the results provide a natural divider for presenting results in different idea of integration is to highlight the interdependence, and the aim should therefore be to write up the study as a whole, rather than as separated components. 7 The Case The case investigated in the current study is an international company that recently implemented social media as a tool for involving their business-to-business (B2B) customers in the planning and distribution of content and material of seminars targeted at the B2B customers. The social media platform implemented in our case is LinkedIn, where a site focusing on seminars has been created. The site enables the members to vote for preferred topics for seminar presentations and it provides access to materials from the presentations. The site further enables the members to ask questions and have questions answered after a seminar. It provides members the opportunity to discuss, comment and network. 8 Research Questions The research questions pertaining to the empirical study, serving as the case in this paper, deal with both usability and user experience of a LinkedIn Group that was used difference between usability and user experience. These perspectives raise different questions, require different methods and research instruments, and generate different results. The usability factor has to do with ease of use and functionality, or more precisely 82 Responsible Research

83 provides its users (ISO ). This is however not enough to determine the success in how end-users receive the system. To experience a system as meaningful, joyful, and attractive is more than just looking at how useful it is from a pragmatic the user experience factor, is important to consider when designing intelligent systems for the 21st century. It has to do with a systems attractiveness and ability to create a 9 Methods The study was conducted as a non-experimental design study using a mixed methods approach. Six male B2B customers were recruited by the company s CEO among a total of 70 seminar attendants. They were years with a mean age of None of them were familiar with the LinkedIn Group web site from before. Each participant tested the site individually during approx. 30 minutes sessions. All sessions followed the same structure: 1) They were informed about the sequence of events during the session, and asked to 2) Background information was collected in a short interview before the session began. the site, and then to log in. 4) When logged in, they were asked to complete different tasks (start a discussion, make comments, etc.). After each task, they were interviewed about their opinions and experiences of the function and content targeted in a particular task. quality of the web site. The methods used for collecting data were questionnaire, interview, eye-tracking, psychophysiological measures and observations. This involves collecting both qualitative and quantitative data. In order to better understand the data collected, we will visuali- according to type of data generated. The second table is a matrix of types of data in re- by four categories of data characteristics: objective, subjective, formative (qualitative) and summative (quantitative). In the following, the four questions heading each of the four centre cells will be described in relation to the chosen methods. Responsible Research 83

84 Table 1. Methods matrix illustrating types of mixed data. Observations of user activities and eye movements recorded on the screen generate Objective Formative data [OF]. User activities on the screen were recorded by video and audio using the functions of the TobiiStudio-recording software. The qualitative the screen recording, were imported as video into NVivo. Eye tracking data may be used as a base for a narrative description of the event, or for describing and categori- These video recordings are used as validity check for psychophysiological reactions, which are sensitive to body movements and other disturbances. Interviews and concurrent think aloud by participants during task performance generate Subjective Formative data [SF]. Open-ended instant recall interview questions relating to usability and user experience were asked after each task during a test session. Furthermore, the participants were encouraged to think aloud during task per- is referred to as concurrent think aloud in contrast to retrospective think aloud where tual task performance is over (Tobii, 2009). In the current case interviews and the concurrent think aloud were transcribed and imported into NVivo. Objective Summative data [OS] are generated from measuring psychophysiological reactions and eye movements. Skin response data was measured with the Affectiva 84 Responsible Research

85 Q-sensor. The sensor registers changes in the electrical conductance of the skin that are driven by sympathetic or parasympathetic nervous system activation controlled by the brain. The sympathetic nervous system is activated when we have an emotional response or a stress response to stimuli. As opposed to this, parasympathetic activation means the subject is calm and has low stress levels. High skin conductance levels, or electrodermal activation levels (EDA), mean sympathetic activation and emotional response;; Low EDA levels mean parasympathetic activation and low emotional stress unobtrusive to the test persons. EDA data are transferred from the sensor to a com- - - enables us to measure, for instance, time spent in areas of interest, initial perception, - saccades in areas of interest, mouse clicks, time, etc. The quantitative eye-tracking imported to NVivo. Demographic data about the participants, as well as questionnaire data covering attitudes, needs, preferences, and likings that can be used for describing them in relation to the experience they had during their activities in the session generate Subjective Summative data [SS]. The post-questionnaire used was the abridged version products. It consists of 10 seven-point semantic differential items, including four items measuring pragmatic quality (confusing-structured, impractical-practical, unpredictable-predictable, complicated-simple), four items measuring hedonic quality (dull-captivating, tacky-stylish, cheap-premium, unimaginative-imaginative) and two items measuring general product evaluation, i.e. goodness (good-bad), and beauty (beautiful-ugly). Studies employing the abridged version of AttrakDiff2 have revealed good internal consistency for the composite scales (ranging from.70 to.95) and low inter-correlations Monk, 2010).The long version of AttrakDiff2 is one of the most frequently used validated instruments for measuring these aspects of user experience (Bargas-Avila & Responsible Research 85

86 was imported to NVivo. Table 2 gives an overview of type of data in relation to the research targets of the study;; various aspects of usability and user experience. Table 2. Type of data in relation to methods and research targets. 86 Responsible Research

87 10 Key Issues for Queries The integration analysis should be guided by key issues related to the research ques- mixed methods queries using N Vivo are guided by the aim to explore usability and ved purpose, and motivation. Due to lack of space in this paper, we will present only one key issue to illustrate the potentials of integration of mixed methods in analysis. - as the functions of the web site need to be designed to guide the user in a positive direction in using the site. By using mixed methods we can look at this key issue from several perspectives: 1) users initial perceptions are recorded from their eye move- can be measured from the eye tracking statistics;; and 5) their impression of the site is discussed during the interview. - - ported into N Vivo as source attributes linked to each participant. All source attributes can be correlated in a matrix in order to explore the qualitative data, which will be sorted according to matrix correlations as shown in Table 3. Furthermore, our hypothesis is that a person s motivation for and perceived purpose - ticipant clusters are made based on these. Thereafter, the clusters are imported into NVivo as source attributes. The interview discussions related to motivation are cate- ted in Table 3, in the same manner as described above. Table 3. Matrix illustrating integration in analysis using mixed methods. Responsible Research 87