RETHINKING THE EVALUATION FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYZING PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT OF ROMANIAN MAGISTRATES

Written by Sofia CHIRICA on 12 December 2008. Posted in Special issue: Mixed Methods Research, Guest Editor: Adriana BĂBAN, Volume XII, Nr. 4

ABSTRACT

Ways of rethinking the professional conduct of a magistrate have been studied by using a mixed (qualitative and quantitative) method approach. A number of 19 magistrates participated in the qualitative study, as members of the Appreciative Inquiry Group, moderated by the author. Vallacher and Wegnerï¿½s Action Identification Theory (AIT) was applied as an intellectual tool for moderating group discussion. Facilitation of the belief adjustment availability of the group members and their motivation to obtain consensus on the magistrate profile resulted from the qualitative research. Another group of 235 magistrates participated in a quantitative survey. AIT was applied here in order to test the idea that the magistratesï¿½ readiness to appreciate the new high-level action identities as a good measure for professional conduct develops to the extent to which the lower-level identities within an action identity structure are made available and accessible. Age and gender differences are also discussed.

KEYWORDS: appreciative inquiry group, Action Identification Theory, magistrate.

PAGES: 469-486