Staying afloat via guanxi : student networks, social capital and inequality in Chinese adult higher education (2019)
Journal Article
Guan, S., & James, F. (in press). Staying afloat via guanxi : student networks, social capital and inequality in Chinese adult higher education. British journal of educational studies, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2019.1618788

This study illuminates students’ purposive cultivation of guanxi, or social networks based on continuous exchange of resources, in the context of China’s Adult Higher Education (HE) system. Interviews with 30 students reveal the motivations underpinn... Read More

Where are the grounds for grounded theory? A troubled empirical methodology meets Wittgenstein (2017)
Journal Article
James, F. (2018). Where are the grounds for grounded theory? A troubled empirical methodology meets Wittgenstein. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 50(4), 369-379. doi:10.1080/00131857.2017.1365704

This article provides a critical exposition of the epistemological underpinnings of a recent redevelopment of Grounded Theory (GT) methodology, ‘Constructivist’ GT. Although proffered as freed from the ‘objectivist’ tenets of the original version, cr... Read More

The 'third age' perspective : enrichment and informal modes of learning in an outdoor sketching group for older adults (2016)
Journal Article
James, F. (2017). The 'third age' perspective : enrichment and informal modes of learning in an outdoor sketching group for older adults. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 36(4), (406-421). doi:10.1080/02601370.2016.1262915. ISSN 0260-1370

The proposed benefits of participatory arts for older adults continue to attract empirical attention, but how informal group participation aids personal enrichment is not yet fully understood. This qualitative case study of a University of the Third... Read More