Page 83 - Šolsko polje, XXIX, 2018, no. 1-2: The Language of Neoliberal Education, ed. Mitja Sardoč
P. 83
r. leyva ■ unpacking the usage and implications of neoliberal language ...
Methodology
Having briefly contrasted the two leading university models, the present
content analysis study thus examines the following research questions.
RQ1: What is the paradigmatic portrait of prioritized educational and re-
search objectives and values in the Russell Group’s education strate-
gy documents?
RQ2:To what extent are Russell Group universities committed to pre-
serving and promoting higher education’s historically humanist
and enlightenment principles and commitments?
Inclusion Criteria
Each Russell Group member’s latest and official education strategy as of
June 2018, was retrieved from their respective website. Nine of these strat-
egies came in the form of mission and vision statements. Analysis of these
pdf files covered the entire document but focused on sections specifical-
ly about teaching, learning, and research. All other sections including, for
example, those to do with employment recruitment, widening participa-
tion, and environmental initiatives were examined, but not included in
the analysis below as these were not relevant to this study’s foci. Three uni-
versities did not have accessible pdf files, and so their teaching and learn-
ing strategies were collected directly from their dedicated web-pages and
copied onto separate word files. In total, 24 units of analysis were com-
piled into a single dataset and analyzed via the use of NVivo software.
Procedure
The coding procedure followed a summative and contextual approach.
This entails quantifying the usage and unpacking the subtext of key-
words that are initially derived from a literature review and/or a re-
searcher’s interests, and then searched for, identified, and contextual-
ized during the analysis (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005; Krippendorff, 2004).
Correspondingly, the present study’s analysis began with the search for
an examination of the syntactic and semantic context in which the fol-
lowing or synonymous words and phrasings are used: research, employ-
ability, learning, citizenship, volunteerism, business, industry, autono-
my, curiosity, partnerships, curriculum, critical, knowledge, independent,
rankings, and justice. This preliminary perusing revealed that these words
and phrasing are often used parsimoniously, superficially, repeatedly, or
concurrently in the same sentences and paragraphs. Hence following
this initial examination, I drew on the literature discussed in the previ-
ous sections and developed a coding scheme consisting of four codes that
81
Methodology
Having briefly contrasted the two leading university models, the present
content analysis study thus examines the following research questions.
RQ1: What is the paradigmatic portrait of prioritized educational and re-
search objectives and values in the Russell Group’s education strate-
gy documents?
RQ2:To what extent are Russell Group universities committed to pre-
serving and promoting higher education’s historically humanist
and enlightenment principles and commitments?
Inclusion Criteria
Each Russell Group member’s latest and official education strategy as of
June 2018, was retrieved from their respective website. Nine of these strat-
egies came in the form of mission and vision statements. Analysis of these
pdf files covered the entire document but focused on sections specifical-
ly about teaching, learning, and research. All other sections including, for
example, those to do with employment recruitment, widening participa-
tion, and environmental initiatives were examined, but not included in
the analysis below as these were not relevant to this study’s foci. Three uni-
versities did not have accessible pdf files, and so their teaching and learn-
ing strategies were collected directly from their dedicated web-pages and
copied onto separate word files. In total, 24 units of analysis were com-
piled into a single dataset and analyzed via the use of NVivo software.
Procedure
The coding procedure followed a summative and contextual approach.
This entails quantifying the usage and unpacking the subtext of key-
words that are initially derived from a literature review and/or a re-
searcher’s interests, and then searched for, identified, and contextual-
ized during the analysis (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005; Krippendorff, 2004).
Correspondingly, the present study’s analysis began with the search for
an examination of the syntactic and semantic context in which the fol-
lowing or synonymous words and phrasings are used: research, employ-
ability, learning, citizenship, volunteerism, business, industry, autono-
my, curiosity, partnerships, curriculum, critical, knowledge, independent,
rankings, and justice. This preliminary perusing revealed that these words
and phrasing are often used parsimoniously, superficially, repeatedly, or
concurrently in the same sentences and paragraphs. Hence following
this initial examination, I drew on the literature discussed in the previ-
ous sections and developed a coding scheme consisting of four codes that
81
