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Bethlehem Tekola

@bethlehem.bsky.social
7.4K followers 1.3K following 63 posts

Qualitative Research | Research Ethics | Research involving and impacting marginalised communities and groups

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Reposted by Bethlehem Tekola
Mark Rubin @markrubin.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
“Positivism Creep” “The subtle, often unacknowledged infiltration of positivist or post-positivist assumptions into methodologies where they do not naturally, philosophically, practically, or epistemologically belong.” By @thomasgraves.bsky.social @maddipow.bsky.social @annayahprosser.bsky.social
Many developments to reform the research landscape have occurred over the past decade. These changes have been made with broad goals to improve the ‘openness’ of research and often assumed to be ‘methodologically -agnostic’; that is, they ostensibly have benefits for all researchers occupying all epistemological and methodological positions. ‘Open science’ initiatives such as study pre-registration (i.e., specifying research aims and analytical plan ahead of data access), open data sharing, open-access publication,  and open materials sharing are becoming increasingly mainstream across many fields within social research and the natural sciences. While there has been much criticism of these interventions, largely from the qualitative research community, we want to draw attention to a troubling trend in the promotion of open science: the leaking of standards relevant only to quantitative research to all paradigms. Or, as others refer to it, “positivism creep”. Here, we situate positivism creep (i.e., the creeping of positivist conventions to all research) within research policy, we highlight its increasing prevalence within open science reforms, and we warn against a future which could alienate many non-positivist scholars. We argue that the primary framing of open science as the pursuit of reproducibility and objectivity risks promoting positivism creep in the social sciences and humanities. In particular, we suggest that overly strict open research requirements placed by funders may reduce the range and variety of epistemological positions that can be taken by researchers, with particularly deleterious effects for qualitative researchers.
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
Are you worried about the devastating cuts we are seeing to arts, humanities & social sciences in UK universities? Last call for my lecture in Leicester this Thurs 27th Nov on the value of these subjects and how they support UK security, cohesion and prosperity www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/shaping-a-...
eventbrite.co.uk
Shaping a Brighter Future
The first event in our Vice-Chancellor’s Distinguished Lecture Series, delivered by Hetan Shah, Chief Executive, The British Academy
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Flora Cornish @floracornish.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
Come and join us to discuss the whys and wherefores, joys and torture of writing - in solidarity, in relations with participants, in neoliberal academia. We have a panel, snacks, and time for everybody to take part in the conversation Bush House KCL, 4 Nov 2-5pm
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Annayah M.B. Prosser @annayahprosser.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
🎤 Proposals for our Centre for Qualitative Research, University of Bath Qualitative Research Symposium at University of Bath School of Management are open until November 7th! Find out more and submit your talk, symposium and workshop abstracts here: www.bath.ac.uk/events/quali... #qualitative
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LinkedIn
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
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Bethlehem Tekola @bethlehem.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
hybrid conferences should be the norm, not the exception.
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Petra Boynton @petraboynton.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
With yet another university hosted event closed to 'non academics' (aka those not employed by a university)* I'm just going to leave this piece by @drhelenkara.bsky.social and myself here blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsoci... * yes I know it's utter nonsense and academics/researchers exist outside unis
blogs.lse.ac.uk
Institutional affiliation should not be a requirement for doing research - Impact of Social Sciences
Universities espouse a universalist approach to creating research-based knowledge. Helen Kara & Petra Boynton argue, from the outside these claims are hollow.
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Vic Clarke (she/her, they/them) @vicclarke.bsky.social · 05/10/2025
New open access paper by me and @ginnybraun.bsky.social - Exploring U.K. University Students’ Social Perceptions of Dating and Physical Disability Using Story Completion. There are extensive Supplementary Materials which we hope are useful for teaching reflexive TA: awspntest.apa.org/fulltext/202...
awspntest.apa.org
APA PsycNet
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Vic Clarke (she/her, they/them) @vicclarke.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
Melissa McCallum's important research using qualitative surveys, interviews, focus groups & reflexive thematic analysis (supervised by me) - Exploring Black Women's Experiences in Psychotherapeutic Training and Practice in the UK - Counselling and Psychotherapy Research share.google/QAahdyVCLjtV...
share.google
Exploring Black Women's Experiences in Psychotherapeutic Training and Practice in the UK
Background Discussions around racial disparities and injustice have gained increasing prominence in psychotherapy and counselling research. However, research in this area has been criticised for its.....
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LSE Impact @lseimpactblog.bsky.social · 05/10/2025
👀 ICYMI: "While 92% of undergraduate students are using Generative AI, only 36% said they had been offered support by their university" #AcademicSky #HigherEducation
blogs.lse.ac.uk
A new academic year has begun, but UK universities are still struggling to respond to AI - Impact of Social Sciences
Mark Carrigan argues university staff are still struggling to develop coherent, contextual and disciplinary responses to AI’s impact on teaching and learning.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
I think we’re really going to have to do a lot more of this. A massive deprogramming so that people can read more than ten words at a time without anxiety. www.thetimes.com/uk/education...?
thetimes.com
Universities teaching literature students how to cope with long novels
Critics blame GCSE English for deterring teenagers from the subject, describing the literature syllabus as boring and repetitive
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Bethlehem Tekola @bethlehem.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
Nearly 100 years after her death, Oxford’s first female Indigenous scholar honoured www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...
theguardian.com
Nearly 100 years after her death, Oxford’s first female Indigenous scholar honoured
Mākereti Papakura died weeks before handing in her thesis at Oxford university documenting the life and customs of her tribe, work that is still used by Māori today
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Qualitative Applied Health Research Centre @quahrc.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
Messy, emotional, and necessary: PhD student and research assistant Jo Law reflects on ethical #QualitativeResearch with marginalised groups in this month's #ResearchImpact blog: www.quahrc.co.uk/podcasts-blo... @kingsioppn.bsky.social @bethlehem.bsky.social
quahrc.co.uk
Impact in Qualitative Research: Jo Law on Messy, Emotional and Necessary Ethical Research with Marginalised Populations | QUAHRC
Jo Law is a qualitative research assistant at the Qualitative Applied Health Research Centre at King’s College London, working on the qualitative component of the EDEN project, which examines the use ...
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Esther @elhopkins.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
Long Covid has now overtaken Asthma in the US, as a cause of chronic health disease in children. There is currently no cure. Yet no action is being taken and Violet Affleck is very much on point.
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folukeifejola @folukeifejola.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
This is an essay, a reading list and a poem on why I think Pan-Africanism, Afrofuturism and Decolonisation can be insightful tools for realising visions of flourishing future worlds for all. folukeafrica.com/pan-africani...
folukeafrica.com
Pan-Africanism, Afrofuturism and Decolonisation: A reading list
Knowledge will be the first frontier of our freedom.
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Qualitative Applied Health Research Centre @quahrc.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
Unequal pressures: new #qualitative work from the QUAHRC team explores how young people from different backgrounds had very different #Covid experiences, and why this is still relevant to widening inequality www.kcl.ac.uk/how-disadvan...
kcl.ac.uk
Unequal pressures: how disadvantage shaped young people's education…
School closures during the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t just disrupt learning, they revealed and intensified deep inequalities that continue to shape young people’s lives today. While some children…
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Prof Mike Yearworth @mikeyearworth.bsky.social · 21/09/2025
"In a landmark study, OpenAI researchers reveal that large language models will always produce plausible but false outputs, even with perfect data, due to fundamental statistical and computational limits." www.computerworld.com/article/4059...
computerworld.com
OpenAI admits AI hallucinations are mathematically inevitable, not just engineering flaws
In a landmark study, OpenAI researchers reveal that large language models will always produce plausible but false outputs, even with perfect data, due to fundamental statistical and computational limi...
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Journal of Creative Research Methods @crmethodsjnl.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
How do researchers study experiences that are "too shattering to put into words"? MAshNup method uses art-making, metaphor analysis, and narrative techniques to help participants explore difficult experiences in ethical, sensitive ways. Read the article here: doi.org/10.1332/3050...
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Petra Boynton @petraboynton.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
Inside the world of Kenya’s ‘shadow scholars’ paid to write essays for UK students www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
Inside the world of Kenya’s ‘shadow scholars’ paid to write essays for UK students
Highly educated Kenyans working for essay mills ghostwrite academic work that students pass off as their own
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Flora Cornish @floracornish.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
I have always hated the way smart speakers and chatbots mimic amicability and draw people in to talking to them as if there is a person there. Great to read a scholarly exploration, using dear old Gigerenzer and Grice to set out the problem 🌟
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Bethlehem Tekola @bethlehem.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
"In 2019, Iceland made headlines as one of the first countries to implement a four-day workweek...Nearly six years later, the results are clear: this bold move has proven to be a game-changer, not just for the workforce, but for society as a whole." www.wecb.fm/iceland-embr...
wecb.fm
Iceland Embraced a 4-Day Workweek in 2019 – Now, Nearly Six Years On, All Gen Z Forecasts Have Materialized
In 2019, Iceland made headlines as one of the first countries to implement a four-day workweek, not by passing a blanket law, but through agreements
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Helen Kara @drhelenkara.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
Are you, might you become, or do you know a transnational scholar from the Global South? Or do you work with one or more? If so, this insightful, creatively written book will be of interest. It's part of the series I co-edit with @patthomson.bsky.social www.routledge.com/Insider-Guid...
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Helen Kara @drhelenkara.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
Call for chapters: Ethical Review in Practice, edited by Lucy Pickering and me. Do you have a particularly good, bad, or mixed experience with a research #ethics approval body that you would like to share? If so this call may be of interest: helenkara.com/writing/ethi... please share widely!
helenkara.com
Ethical Review in Practice
Call for Chapter Proposals Working title: Ethical Review in Practice Editors: Lucy Pickering and Helen Kara Research ethics approval is a key part of the process for many researchers. The small but…
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Helen Kara @drhelenkara.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
I’m so pleased to share that the launch issue of the Journal of Creative Research Methods (JCRM) is now live! 🎉 👉 bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journal... Huge thanks to my wonderful Co-Editors in Chief Su-Ming Khoo, Harriet Shortt & Sophie Woodward. #CreativeMethods #JCRM
bristoluniversitypressdigital.com
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folukeifejola @folukeifejola.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
Doing teaching prep in terror at how soon summer will be over. A reminder that a pedagogy of love is possible. It INVITES our students to be the best of who they can be in the classroom and beyond it. A pedagogy of love DEMANDS the same thing of us teachers. folukeafrica.com/to-bell-hook...
folukeafrica.com
To bell hooks and not being happy till we are all free
What bell hooks taught me… in her own words and a few of mine.
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Prof. Virginia Braun (she/her they/them) @ginnybraun.bsky.social · 01/08/2025
Here's a talk I gave as a keynote for the BPS @qmip.bsky.social conference (July 2025) - the result of @vicclarke.bsky.social & I recognising we needed to "dive in" & grapple with the beast that is GenAI & qualitative/(reflexive) thematic analysis www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zFQ...
youtube.com
Dr Braun(love) - or: how I learned to stop worrying and love GenAI (yeah nah)
YouTube video by Virginia Braun
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Helen Kara @drhelenkara.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
My new project! Funded by @isrfoundation.bsky.social, with lovely colleagues @katefoxwriter75.bsky.social and @autgeek.bsky.social First time I've ever had funding for research 🥳 #Neurodivergent #AcademicSky #LivedExperience #CreativeResearch
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Philippa Carr @philippacarr.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
First up we have @ginnybraun.bsky.social discussing the impact of Gen AI on qualitative research. Is this something we can ignore or do we need to develop a position on the use of Gen AI? Is AI our friend or not to be trusted? #qmip2025 @qmip.bsky.social
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folukeifejola @folukeifejola.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
When I started my PhD, I had never heard of epistemic decolonisation. Then I came across 2 books that changed my life. One was "Decolonizing Methodologies" by Linda Tuhiwai Smith; the other was "Decolonising the Mind" by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. Rest in piece Prof. Ngũgĩ, may your works live long.
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Raul Pacheco-Vega @raulpachecovega.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
Developing a structured daily routine for writing and research www.raulpacheco.org/2018/11/deve... One of the biggest challenges I faced as a graduate student and still face now as a Full Professor is knowing how to structure my time given that time in academic work is so unstructured. #RPVSky
raulpacheco.org
Developing a structured daily routine for writing and research
One of the main questions that my doctoral students have asked me most frequently is
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Petra Boynton @petraboynton.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
Large rise in NI universities' mental health spending since Covid www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... This is mirrored across the sector and worth unpacking as I know this is an area where people have a lot of strong opinions currently. Here's a quick thread 🧵 please add your thoughts.
bbc.co.uk
Mental health: Large rise in NI universities' spending since Covid-19
Figures received via FOI requests reveal an average over 40% increase in the amount of money allocated.
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Qualitative Applied Health Research Centre @quahrc.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
Continuing our theme of #SocialJustice and #Migration, this month's Impact in #QualitativeResearch blog explores co-researching with domestic workers who have experienced #trafficking and exploitation: www.quahrc.co.uk/impact-in-qu... #ResearchImpact #ResearchMethods #Qualitative
quahrc.co.uk
Impact in Qualitative Research: Ella Parry-Davies on co-researching outcomes for domestic workers after trafficking and exploitation | QUAHRC
Dr Ella Parry-Davies is a lecturer at King’s College London, where she works on social justice-focussed research in collaboration with experts-by-experience, primarily in the migration and anti-traffi...
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Naomi L. Jacobs @naomijacobs.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
Exactly what I’m about to talk about next week in a keynote on research on (religion and) disability. Who is it for? So much talk. So much more need for action. (I’m a hypocrite here too - but I can at least ask the question.)
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womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
Sister and Friend, 2024 ♀ by Betty Acquah, Ghanaian feminist painter #WomensArt #InternationalWomensDay ♀
Painting created with dots and dashes in vibrant colours depicting two Black girls in red and purple dresses walking with backs to the viewer with arms round each other
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Anthropology of Children and Youth Interest Group @acyig.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
Fab essay from member @gabrielscheidecker.bsky.social: "early childhood science implicitly promotes Western, urban middle-class skills and behaviours... a child has reached their full potential when they behave and think like a Western, urban middle-class child." aeon.co/essays/the-p...
aeon.co
The problem with parenting interventions in the Global South | Aeon Essays
Early childhood development interventions in the Global South is a huge industry built on highly questionable assumptions
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Helen Kara @drhelenkara.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
I'm proud to be chairing 'How Creative Research Methods Challenge Power Dynamics in Knowledge Production', for Policy Press. 📅 24.03.2025 | 📍 Zoom For further information and to register now, click here: bristol-ac-uk.zoom.us/webinar/regi... #CRMethods
bristol-ac-uk.zoom.us
Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: How Creative Research Methods Challenge Power Dynamics in Knowledge Production. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the w...
Join us for an insightful and thought-provoking discussion exploring how creative research methods challenge power dynamics in knowledge production. Chaired by Helen Kara, a leading voice in creative...
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Bethlehem Tekola @bethlehem.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
I really like this conceptualization of reflexivity by Braun & Clarke (2022): "good reflexivity isn't a surface reflection, it isn't a comforting feeling or something designed to make you feel like a better person; it can and should be discomforting, unsettling, and change-bringing."
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Qualitative Applied Health Research Centre @quahrc.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Impact in Qualitative Research blog: www.quahrc.co.uk/podcasts-blo... There is often limited opportunity to demonstrate impact in #qualitative research, and so we are hoping to provide a place to do this. If you are based at King’s and have an idea for a blog post, get in touch at quahrc@kcl.ac.uk
quahrc.co.uk
Impact in Qualitative Research Blog | QUAHRC
The QUAHRC Impact in Qualitative Research blog focuses on the fantastic work that is being done at King’s and the impact this is having on health and care outside of the research community
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Audrey Alejandro @audreyalejandro.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
📢 New publication "Reflexivity for Qualitative Research Quality and the Quality of Reflexivity" with Alexander Stoffel for The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research Quality (ed. Uwe Flick) 1/6 buff.ly/3PlKaz3 @lsemethodology.bsky.social #reflexivity #qualitativeresearch #researchquality
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Bethlehem Tekola @bethlehem.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
I really like this conceptualization of reflexivity by Braun & Clarke (2022): "good reflexivity isn't a surface reflection, it isn't a comforting feeling or something designed to make you feel like a better person; it can and should be discomforting, unsettling, and change-bringing."
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Qualitative Applied Health Research Centre @quahrc.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
The first episode in our SEVENTH series of the #Qualitative Open Mic podcast is here! #Neurodiversity Matters: Damian Milton on double empathy and #autistic worlds www.quahrc.co.uk/resources/ne... #QualitativeResearch #ResearchMethods #Neurodivergent #Autism
quahrc.co.uk
Neurodiversity Matters: Damian Milton on double empathy and autistic worlds | QUAHRC
How have mainstream theories of autism missed the mark by failing to qualitatively explore internal autistic worlds? Sohail speaks to legend among autistic autism researchers Dr Damian Milton about th...
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Dr. Holly E.A. Sutherland @heasutherland.com · 07/02/2025
The video of last week's methods panel is up! Come check out Freddie Jones, Léon Van Ommen and I talked about using qualitative methods with nonspeaking people. Link to the full panel video (and to the slides for my section) available here: www.heasutherland.com/talk/ethnogr...
heasutherland.com
Ethnography, neurodiversity, and higher support needs | Holly E. A. Sutherland
Part of a panel about qualitative methods for including nonspeaking and high support needs neurodivergent people in research.
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Prof. Virginia Braun (she/her they/them) @ginnybraun.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
I don't know if you've seen these three recent papers from @vicclarke.bsky.social and me (and others for #3) but they may be useful.... (linked below - all open access). Good luck! These experiences are so so so frustrating!!
media.tenor.com
a woman with curly hair is sitting at a desk with her hands on her head and a hulu logo in the corner
ALT: a woman with curly hair is sitting at a desk with her hands on her head and a hulu logo in the corner
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Jamie Azios @jamieazios.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
Our qualitative study got desk reject for “sample size” & “validity”. Appealed & reply said we should add 1)coder reliability & 2)numerical data in a table to justify “theme saturation” for paper to go to review. I’ve published qual work for 9 years & don’t know how to deal w/ this quant bias. Help!
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(Dr) Heather Moreno Sutherland @heathermsutherland.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
iaani.org/2025isan/ The 2025 International Symposium on Autoethnography and Narrative (ISAN) 28th Feb-2nd March, online. #AcademicSky #QualitativeResearch
iaani.org
2025 ISAN
The 2025 International Symposium on Autoethnography and Narrative (ISAN) will provide scholars and practitioners of all experience levels an opportunity to present their autoethnographic and person…
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 09/02/2025
Microsoft's own research confirms something that was already pretty obvious: relying on a text generating machine to come up with answers erodes critical thinking, and is a method favoured by those who never liked doing critical thinking in the first place advait.org/files/lee_20...
advait.org
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