Trends in social science research in Africa:

Laher, Sumaya; Fynn, Angelo; Kramer, Sherianne

doi:10.18772/22019032750.29

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…These factors could also influence power relations during fieldwork, sometimes forming a 'power distance' between the researcher and the participants. 34 Unless the researcher intervenes, 35 the participants are likely to defer towards the person who wields power.…”

Section: Emerging Positionality Paradigmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Insider Within

Kotonya

2024

JLRM

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This article utilizes doctoral research on access to justice and clinical legal education to reflect on the positionality that the researcher embodies from their diverse professional affiliations. It adds a nuance to the debate on positionality by relaying it as a concentric experience. The article offers insights on navigating layered insider status through the use of reflexivity journals, removing familiarity in the interview environment and returning to the literature after fieldwork. Noting that one may still be perceived as ‘other,’ it outlines the role of go-betweens to access research participants, follow-up questions to allow for participant voices to be heard and a friendly demeanour to build rapport. The article supports training of novice researchers in reflexivity and grounded theory research as ways of facilitating rigour. It will be useful for socio-legal researchers who have a propensity to embody layered insider status from their diverse professional affiliations when researching in their own countries.

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Section: Emerging Positionality Paradigmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Insider Within

Kotonya

2024

JLRM

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“…Lastly, some participants recommended that the measurement of intelligence not solely rely on scores derived from the intelligence test, but should include a battery of measures and other information gathered from interviews, observation, and more: (Foxcroft et al, 2004;Tredoux, 2013). Presently, intelligence test instruments have become outdated, inapplicable, and unfair to administer to multicultural and multilingual school learners within various contexts (Laher et al, 2019;Shuttleworth-Edwards, 2023;Van der Merwe et al, 2022); however, these tests are 'more reliable and valid than any of the limited number of alternatives' (Laher & Cockcroft, 2013, p. 4). Mitchell et al (2018) mention the shortage of available culturally appropriate cognitive tests for school learners.…”

Section: Sub-theme 46: Need To Establish Optimal Contexts and Practic...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Referring to the SACMEQ III dataset for South Africa, Spaull (2012) remarked that a school's SES had a far greater impact on school learner performance than individual learner's socio-economic background. In addition, Mitchell et al (2018, p. 435) have drawn attention to how the locally developed intelligence test battery, namely the SSAIS-R, is 'somewhat biased to educational exposure, in particular verbal and linguistic abilities', which further supports the argument for unfair, inapplicable intelligence measuring instruments where careful interpretation of intelligence measured results is needed, especially of school learners who attend schools within lower socio-economic contexts (Laher et al, 2019;Mitchell et al, 2018;Shuttleworth-Edwards, 2023). Intelligence tests and instruments still function as essential means towards school learner guidance and support, where the combination of interpreted measured cognitive abilities (e.g., their strengths and challenges) and other findings (e.g., learner background information or observations from testing) aid the practitioner in developing applicable intervention strategies (Beal et al, 2019).…”

Section: Sub-theme 46: Need To Establish Optimal Contexts and Practic...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Experiences of experts in intelligence measurement of South African school learners

van der Merwe,

Erasmus,

de Klerk

2024

African Journal of Psychological Assessment

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This qualitative research study emerged from the essential need for reliable and valid intelligence test instruments for South African school learners, who are characterised as a diverse population with their variety in culture, ethnicity, and language, as well as having unequal socio-economic and educational backgrounds. The aim of this research study was to use a qualitative interpretive description research design to explore and describe the experiences of both experts in intelligence test development and/or adaptation as well as psychologists and psychometrists who have administered intelligence tests to South African school learners in various contexts. Twelve psychologists and/or psychometrists were interviewed, of which six were also experts in test development and/or adaptation, which yielded four themes after thematic analysis, namely, utilised intelligence measurements in the current South African school learner context are less relevant; the South African education system is a major issue specifically within lower socio-economic status (SES) contexts; it does not seem feasible to design or adapt suitable intelligence measures that are valid and reliable in the current South African school learner context; and key informants’ recommendations from their experiences.Contribution: This research study contributes to the understanding of the measurement of intelligence of South African school learners in diverse contexts. Findings of this research study can guide the strategic process to design an intelligence instrument suitable for a South African population of school learners, informing fair assessment practices for multiethnic equalisation.

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“…29 Relatedly, there are political arguments made about the rejection and invisibility of articles from the global south whose resolution is presented in the realm of the decolonisation discourse. 30 The database selection acknowledges the controversial evaluations made regarding the probable existence of varying levels of academic rigour in journals from the global north and those from the global south. 31 The recognition of this dynamic debate strengthened the selection of an Afro-centric database in the search for literature on the continent.…”

Section: Searching Clinical Legal Education Databasesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Systematic Quantitative Review of Literature on Social Justice and Clinical Legal Education in Africa

Kotonya

2023

IJCLE

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The global spread of clinical legal education programs is punctuated by nuances in clinical practices. These result from the diverse priorities placed on clinic missions, the different legal frameworks and foci of educational curricula as well as variances in political and socio-economic realities among countries and regions. Some aspects of these features are reflected in the few existing systematic reviews of clinical scholarship which focus on clinic sustainability or the European continent. This article is a quantitative systematic review of 61 articles published before 2020 in English language legal journals. It contributes a coherent picture of the development and flow of research on the social justice role of clinical legal education in Africa generally and more specifically, in Kenya and South Africa. The results demonstrate that a small group of authors concentrated in particular countries are driving the publication of studies on particular topics in the continent, with diverse methodological approaches, in journals focused on legal education. They co-authored some publications and were highly prolific in their single-authored works. The results provide researchers exploring this topic with an evidence base to advance global scholarship and inform policy and practice on the social justice and pedagogical roles of clinical legal education.

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Trends in social science research in Africa:

Cited by 7 publications

References 0 publications

An Insider Within

An Insider Within

Experiences of experts in intelligence measurement of South African school learners

A Systematic Quantitative Review of Literature on Social Justice and Clinical Legal Education in Africa

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