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Geise, Susanne Seybold. "From Ambiguity to Perspicuity: Applying Burke's Pentad as a Means of Preserving and Expanding the Discourse Community of Blacksmithing History in Hancock County." University of Findlay / OhioLINK, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=findlay1525801452672734.
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Duncan, James M. PhD CFLE DAV, Anthony J. PhD Ferraro, Hilary MS Pippert, and Kayla PhD Reed-Fitzke. "Using Available Archival and Secondary Data to Drive Cutting Edge Research." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2020. https://dc.etsu.edu/secfr-conf/2020/schedule/50.
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This presentation will present primary data collection techniques using archival data to identify participants and how to leverage existing datasets to conduct secondary data analyses. It can often be difficult for new professionals and students to access data or may be unaware of the pros and cons of using either research technique. Data from three different studies will be presented including Long Term Care in Arkansas, Co-Parenting Across Households, and Identifying At-Risk Early Career Servicemembers. Results discussed will provide detailed comparisons of collected samples to target populations. The presentation will aim to assist students and new professionals in better understanding data driven research and provide tools for future use of both secondary and primary data.
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Miller, Michael Chad. "Global Resource Management of Response Surface Methodology." PDXScholar, 2014. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/1621.
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Statistical research can be more difficult to plan than other kinds of projects, since the research must adapt as knowledge is gained. This dissertation establishes a formal language and methodology for designing experimental research strategies with limited resources. It is a mathematically rigorous extension of a sequential and adaptive form of statistical research called response surface methodology. It uses sponsor-given information, conditions, and resource constraints to decompose an overall project into individual stages. At each stage, a "parent" decision-maker determines what design of experimentation to do for its stage of research, and adapts to the feedback from that research's potential "children", each of whom deal with a different possible state of knowledge resulting from the experimentation of the "parent". The research of this dissertation extends the real-world rigor of the statistical field of design of experiments to develop an deterministic, adaptive algorithm that produces deterministically generated, reproducible, testable, defendable, adaptive, resource-constrained multi-stage experimental schedules without having to spend physical resource.
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Vähänikkilä, H. (Hannu). "Statistical methods in dental research, with special reference to time-to-event methods." Doctoral thesis, Oulun yliopisto, 2015. http://urn.fi/urn:isbn:9789526207933.
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Abstract Statistical methods are an essential part of the published dental research. It is important to evaluate the use of these methods to improve the quality of dental research. In the first part, the aim of this interdisciplinary study is to investigate the development of the use of statistical methods in dental journals, quality of statistical reporting and reporting of statistical techniques and results in dental research papers, with special reference to time-to-event methods. In the second part, the focus is specifically on time-to-event methods, and the aim is to demonstrate the strength of time-to-event methods in collecting detailed data about the development of oral health. The first part of this study is based on an evaluation of dental articles from five dental journals. The second part of the study is based on empirical data from 28 municipal health centres in order to study variations in the survival of tooth health. There were different profiles in the statistical content among the journals. The quality of statistical reporting was quite low in the journals. The use of time-to-event methods has increased from 1996 to 2007 in the evaluated dental journals. However, the benefits of these methods have not been fully adopted in dental research. The current study added new information regarding the status of statistical methods in dental research. Our study also showed that complex time-to-event analysis methods can be utilized even with detailed information on each tooth in large groups of study subjects. Authors of dental articles might apply the results of this study to improve the study protocol/planning as well as the statistical section of their research articleTiivistelmä Tilastolliset tutkimusmenetelmät ovat olennainen osa hammaslääketieteellistä tutkimusta. Menetelmien käyttöä on tärkeä tutkia, jotta hammaslääketieteen tutkimuksen laatua voitaisiin parantaa. Tämän poikkitieteellisen tutkimuksen ensimmäisessä osassa tavoite on tutkia erilaisten tilastomenetelmien ja tutkimusasetelmien käyttöä, raportoinnin laatua ja tapahtumaan kuluvan ajan analysointimenetelmien käyttöä hammaslääketieteellisissä artikkeleissa. Toisessa osassa osoitetaan analysointimenetelmien vahvuus isojen tutkimusjoukkojen analysoinnissa. Ensimmäisen osan tutkimusaineiston muodostavat viiden hammaslääketieteellisen aikakauslehden artikkelit. Toisen osan tutkimusaineiston muodostivat 28 terveyskeskuksessa eri puolella Suomea hammashoitoa saaneet potilaat. Lehdet erosivat toisistaan tilastomenetelmien käytön ja tulosten esittämisen osalta. Tilastollisen raportoinnin laatu oli lehdissä puutteellinen. Tapahtumaan kuluvan ajan analysointimenetelmien käyttö on lisääntynyt vuosien 1996–2007 aikana. Tapahtumaan kuluvan ajan analysointimenetelmät mittaavat seuranta-ajan tietystä aloituspisteestä määriteltyyn päätepisteeseen. Tämän väitöksen tutkimukset osoittivat, että tapahtumaan kuluvan ajan analysointimenetelmät sopivat hyvin isojen tutkimusjoukkojen analysointiin. Menetelmien hyötyä ei ole kuitenkaan vielä saatu täysin esille hammaslääketieteellisissä julkaisuissa. Tämä tutkimus antoi uutta tietoa tilastollisten tutkimusmenetelmien käytöstä hammaslääketieteellisessä tutkimuksessa. Artikkelien kirjoittajat voivat hyödyntää tämän tutkimuksen tuloksia suunnitellessaan hammaslääketieteellistä tutkimusta
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Mehess, Shawn James. "Finding the Missing Links: A Comparison of Social Network Analysis Methods." PDXScholar, 2016. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/2728.
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Too many students leave school without even the essential skills (ACT, 2011), and many others are so drained by the experience they lack a desire to continue on to a post-secondary education. Academic engagement has emerged as a construct representing students’ personal investment in school (Greenwood, Delquadri, & Hall, 1984), and may be a psychological variable which can be intervened on. However, interventions must occur as quickly as possible to maximize their efficiency (Heckman, 2007). Students’ peer groups may be a particularly potent venue of intervention, however several options exist for how to go about measuring their social networks.
In this thesis, social networking data of the only middle school of a small town in the north-eastern United States is analyzed to determine the properties of two collection methods (self-reported networks and participant observations) and four network identification methods (probability scores, reciprocal nominations, factor-analyses, and rule-based). Analyses overwhelmingly supported participant observations as a more inclusive, less biased data collection method than self-reports. Meanwhile, hypothesis tests were somewhat mixed on the most inclusive, least biased network identification method, but after a consideration of the findings and the structural properties of each network, the probability score method was deemed the most useful network. Implications, future research, strengths, and limitations are discussed.
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Sweeney, Shelley Toni. "The source-seeking cognitive processes and behavior of the in-person archival researcher." Thesis, Full text (PDF) from UMI/Dissertation Abstracts International, 2002. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/utexas/fullcit?p3086712.
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Bohannon, Jeanne Law. ""Here in the To-Day, Forgotten in the To-Morrow:" Re-covering and Re-membering the Feminist Rhetorics of 19-Century Actress and Author Adah Menken." Digital Archive @ GSU, 2012. http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/english_diss/96.
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This dissertation project, which recovers the feminist invention of 19th-century actress and author Adah Menken, proves the efficacy of conducting historigraphic recoveries of heretofore forgotten and elided female rhetors. I situate Adah’s visual and written performances within the materiality of Victorian social codes, positioning her as a feminist commentator worthy of inclusion in our remembrances of feminist discourses. I use archival sources including carte de visites (CDVs) and Adah’s letters and poetry as heuristics for gendered critique, to analyze how she resisted the master narrative of Victorian society and its accompanying codes governing public and private feminine behavior. My objectives are three-fold: to use archival recovery as a method to unearth and evaluate what feminist inquiry can accomplish; to argue for the feminist intentions of a previously unknown female writer; and to offer an opportunity to discover cross-disciplinary connections for rhetorical recoveries. Feminist inquiry is itself an exemplar of rhetorical invention, the idea of making a path. In my dissertation project, I illustrate how Adah Menken blazed a path in her personal and public rhetorics. For my principal goal of asserting Adah’s importance as a feminist rhetor, I use primary sources to demonstrate that her invention and resistance provide fertile ground for vital feminist inquiry. As a secondary means of asserting the significance of archival feminist research, I also offer my Adah Menken recovery as a case study for examining ideas of resistance and subversion to dominant master narratives. For this application, I use Judith Butler’s theory of performativity and Michel Foucault’s ideas surrounding the topic of resistance. Ultimately, the convergence of theoretical and practical applications for rhetorical recoveries, both of which I describe in-depth in my dissertation, serve to re-connect fields of inquiry and make them relevant to scholars across the Academe.
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Nyberg, Dan. "An investigation of qualitative research methodology for perceptual audio evaluation." Licentiate thesis, Luleå tekniska universitet, Medier ljudteknik och upplevelseproduktion och teater, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-17438.
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This thesis investigates whether a qualitative research method, using phenomenological interviews and analysis, can be successfully applied to perceptual audio research, a field heretofore that has mainly used quantitative methods. The method is investigated by studying the types of information elicited by the method and the information’s usefulness and relevance to the conducted study. The qualitative method is applied in three different conditions: a non-experimental condition, an experimental condition, and an experimental condition using mixed-methods. The thesis also identifies implications associated with using a qualitative method in a quantitative field of research, implications that researchers should acknowledge and consider. All scientific criteria in which the quantitative research is judged cannot directly be applied to a qualitative method. A qualitative method has to be judged on its own framework, departure points, and scientific criteria. The information elicited from the qualitative method contains information that supports known knowledge and adds new knowledge. It supplements the accessibility to the subjects’ perceptions and used methods when conducting a perceptual evaluation task. In conclusion, a qualitative research method that consists of phenomenological interviews and analyses can be successfully applied in all the tested conditions.Godkänd; 2012; 20121119 (dannyb); LICENTIATSEMINARIUM Ämne: Ljudteknik Examinator: Biträdande professor Jan Berg, Luleå tekniska universitet Diskutant: PhD, Senior Lecturer Natanya Ford, Bucks New University, United Kingdom Tid: Fredag den 18 januari 2013 kl 13.00 Plats: L165, Musikhögskolan Piteå, Luleå tekniska universitet
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Warren, Scott Joseph. "A Multi-Methodology Study of the Historic Impact of Soft Systems Methodology and Its Associated Data Visualization Approach in the Context of Operations and Business Strategy." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2018. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1404615/.
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The purpose of this three-essay dissertation was to expand knowledge and theory regarding soft systems methodologies (SSMs) and data visualization approaches in business, engineering, and other social sciences. The first essay depicts a bibliometric analysis study of the historic impacts of SSM from 1980-2018 on business, engineering, and other social sciences fields. This study found 285 articles that described or employed SSM for research and included outcomes such as top SSM authors, author citation impacts, common dissemination outlets, time-bound distribution of publications, and other relevant findings. This study provided a picture of who, what, why, when, and where SSM has had the greatest impact on academic thought and practice. The second essay presents research on the academic impact of Systemigrams, an associated data visualization approach, finding examples of conceptual or research development that employed Systemigrams to depict complex problem situations. Recommendations for improvement of designing these data visualizations to increase their field use resulted from this study. The final essay leverages a selection of the articles as use cases to produce a grounded theory study to identify phenomena that arose from the use of SSM for operations and firm strategy research. This study identified two broad themes including (i) scope, structure, and process challenges and (ii) performance and evaluation limitations. These themes were explained by six patterns that emerged from the publications. Each produced change recommendations for SSM process, practice, and reporting to support its continued viability and adoption in business and operations research.
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Li, Shangfu. "Development of chemical derivatization methods for cis-diol-containing metabolite detection by using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry." HKBU Institutional Repository, 2016. https://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/etd_oa/323.
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Cis-diol-containing metabolites have attracted increasing attention in recent years. These metabolites widely exist in the body fluids and tissues. They play important roles in the structure, function and metabolic activity of cells. Some of them are related to cell proliferation and metabolic processes. And they have been used to denote a state of disease as potential biomarkers. Several methods have been developed for the analysis of cis-diol-containing metabolites. However, these methods faced a challenge to separate and detect isomers of these compounds, particularly for compounds with low abundance and high polarity. Therefore, novel methods were necessary to improve the separation and detection sensitivity of this kind of metabolites. With this aim, chemical derivatization methods were developed for cis-diol-containing metabolite detection by using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry in this project. These methods were optimized and validated to achieve the optimal reaction conditions. And they were applied to study real-world biological systems, including the changes of modified nucleosides in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) nude mice and toxic effects of bisphenol A (BPA) exposure. Firstly, the derivatization reaction of cis-diol compounds with acetone were optimized. Factors that affected reaction efficiency were investigated by reacting guanosine (G) with acetone. The optimal reaction conditions were validated by detecting four acetonides of urinary nucleosides by using LC-MS/MS. The results showed that the approach had good linearity, accuracy and precision. The recoveries were ranged from 92.9% to 103.5%. It indicated that the assay was reproducible. The robust method should be potentially useful for the analysis of modified nucleosides and other cis-diol-containing metabolites in biological samples. The validated derivatization method was applied to determine urinary nucleosides by LC-MS. This method not only improved the retention of nucleosides on reversed-phase column, but also reduced the matrix effect from urine samples and enhanced detection sensitivity of mass spectrometry. Isotope labeling method with acetone-d6 and multivariate statistical analysis enabled the positive identification of 56 nucleosides, including 52 modified nucleosides. The obtained results indicated that the derivatization method was practical, fast and effective for the identification of urinary nucleosides. It was successfully applied to study the changes of urinary nucleosides in nude mice bearing HCC. Some significantly changed nucleosides were identified as potential biomarkers. Subsequently, this approach was modified by employing parallel reaction monitoring (PRM) method which was based on high resolution MS to detect urinary nucleosides in rats exposed to BPA. Comparing to the data acquired by triple quadrupole MS with neutral loss scanning, higher specificity and sensitivity were achieved by using PRM scanning mode. Therefore, more nucleosides were identified by using the method in urine samples (from 56 up to 66). The changes of the detected nucleosides were studied in the rats exposed to BPA. Various trends of modified nucleosides were observed with different dose BPA exposure. Specifically, the high-dose exposure group was the most strongly affected. The biomarker of RNA oxidation, 8-hydroxyguanosine (8-oxoG), showed significant change in this group. It proved that BPA exposure could induce RNA damage when the dose of BPA was beyond a certain amount. Except for nucleosides, other cis-diol-containing metabolites, such as carbohydrates, were also studied by using the derivatization method. Acetone and acetone-d6 were applied to label the cis-diol metabolites. Based on the chemical isotope labeling, cis-diol metabolites were easily recognized from urine samples. Influence of BPA exposure on these metabolites was investigated by comparing different doses of BPA administration on rats. Analytes showed noticeable difference were highlighted. Pathway analysis indicated that galactose metabolism, nucleoside and its analogues metabolism were disturbed. The derivatization method was extended to quantify nucleotides in plasma samples. According to the specific physical-chemical properties of nucleotides, the method was improved to fit the requirement of analysis by using 1,1-Dimethoxycyclohexane (DMCH) as derivatization agent and formic acid (FA) as catalyst. Tip micro-columns packed with TiO2 were used for selective adsorption of nucleotides in the plasma. Then in-situ derivatization were carried out to change the polarity of targeted compounds. LC-MS analysis of the derivatization products were employed without using ion-pairing reagents. This method exhibited a high selectivity for the extraction of nucleotides. After derivatization, retention of nucleotides on reversed-phase C18 column was improved. Complete separation of nucleotides with the same base was achieved. The peak shape was symmetrical and the tailing was eliminated by using high pH mobile phase. The method settled the problems of nucleotide detection, which were poor retention, trailing, in-source fragmentation and contamination of ion-pairing reagents. The quantitative method was successfully applied to determine the content of nucleotides in plasma samples of rats exposed to BPA. It was simple and fast, as well as good selectivity and stability. It could be extended to detection of other phosphorylated metabolites with similar structure. To our best knowledge, it was the first time to employ derivatization methods to detect cis-diol-containing metabolites. The methods decreased the matrix effects of complex biological samples, and also decreased the polarity of cis-diol-containing metabolites. The changes of properties not only improved the chromatographic separation, but also enhanced the MS intensities. The methods overcame the problems of cis-diol-containing metabolite detection on reversed-phase column. They were successfully applied to study the changes of cis-diol-containing metabolites of HCC and toxic effects of BPA exposure. The method might be extended to determine other cis-diol-containing metabolites in urine samples as well as in cells, tissues and plasma samples. It might be valuable for the understanding of the roles of cis-diol-containing metabolites in in cell metabolism.
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Wilcke, Juliane Charlotte. "An evaluation of means of inquiry into the biological evolution of consciousness." Thesis, University of Canterbury. Department of Psychology, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/5070.
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How can the biological evolution and functions of consciousness be studied? The purpose of this thesis was to determine not only what means of inquiry are available to do so but also how good they are or, more specifically, how promising they are with respect to the research goal of giving a scientifically respectable evolutionary explanation of consciousness. Because no suitable or easily adaptable evaluation system or set of evaluative criteria was available, I constructed a systematic tool for evaluating the promise of means of inquiry. The evaluation tool has three dimensions--relevance, efficacy, and practicality--with two criteria each, which are assessed independently (except for the relevance criteria) and synthesised into dimensional and promise scores. This tool served to evaluate, and advise on, 23 means of inquiry that have been used in the investigation of the evolution of consciousness, including its adaptation status and evolutionary functions.
The core of the thesis is formed by the evaluation tool and its application. After establishing the need for an evaluation of means of inquiry in this area and presenting the evaluation tool constructed for this purpose, I apply the tool to arguments that consciousness is an evolutionary adaptation, to general reasoning strategies, and to evolutionary strategies. This thesis core is preceded by a contextual introduction to consciousness and evolutionary theory and by the dismissal of some sceptical positions. It is followed by a comparative review of the evaluation results and an evaluation of the evaluation tool. The main contributions of this research consist of the promise evaluation tool for means of inquiry, which is underpinned by a new evaluative theory and available for use by other researchers; and, through the tool's application, an improved understanding of means of inquiry and recommendations about which of them to use for the present research goal.
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Zakher, Maged Sobhy Mokhtar. "The use of sacred texts as tools to enhance social research interviews." Thesis, University of Bedfordshire, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10547/622699.
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Background – Enhanced social research interviews seek to engage interviewees in extended conversation-like dialogues where they are empowered to produce output by discussing themes of relevance to them. Photos, videos, vignettes and other enhancing tools have been used before in social sciences research interviews to contextualise the interview interaction. Initial Assumption – Sacred texts (such as excerpts from the Bible and the Quran) enjoy some features that make them potential tools to enhance research interviews. This study set out to answer the Research Question: ‘What are the benefits and challenges of using sacred texts as tools to enhance social research interviews?’ Methodology – Selected Biblical and Quranic verses were used in three sets each, to start social discussions with fifteen Christian and thirteen Muslim participants, respectively, in semi-structured interviews. Findings – The findings of this empirical study show that using sacred texts was perceived favourably by the participants, enhanced the dynamics of the interviews and provided a platform to produce data that are rich, varied and nuanced. Conclusion – This research points out the usefulness of sacred texts – as enhancing tools – when used in social research interviews to produce natural conversations that, in turn, lead to rich, nuanced data. This suggests that sacred texts can be added to the qualitative research interview-enhancing toolbox especially with exploratory studies that are open for emerging themes during interview settings. Research areas where sacred texts can be used in interviews include: ethics, social relations, gender roles, psychology, moral choices, cultural studies and spirituality, among other social sciences disciplines. Researchers as well as participants will be expected to have a degree of familiarity with the sacred book or texts to make both interviewers and interviewees interested enough in discussing it in an open and respectful setting.
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Seltzer, Ryan. "Found in Translation: Methods to Increase Meaning and Interpretability of Confound Variables." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/311235.
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The process of research is fraught with rote terminology that, when used blindly, can bend our methodological actions away from our theoretical intentions. This investigation is aimed at developing two methods for bringing meaning and interpretability to research when we work with confounds. I argue, with the first method, that granting confounds substantive influence in a network of related variables (rather than viewing confounds as nuisance variables) enhances the conceptual dimension with which phenomena can be explained. I evaluated models differing in how confounds were specified using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Generally, minor alterations to model specifications, such as direction of causal pathways, did not change model parameter estimates; however, the conceptual meaning of how the confounds interacted with other variables in the model changed drastically. Another frequent misconceptualization of confounds, detailed by the second method, occurs when confounds are used as proxy variables to control for variance that is not directly measureable, and no explicit attempt is made to ensure that the proxy variable adequately represents the underlying, intended construct. For this second demonstration, I used SHARE data to estimate models varying in the degree to which proxy variables represent intended variables. Results showed that parameter estimates can differ substantially across different levels of proxy variable representation. When imperfect proxy variables are used, an insufficient amount of variance is removed from the observed spurious relationship between design variables. The findings from this methodological demonstration underscore the importance of precisely imbuing confounds with conceptual meaning and selecting proxy variables that accurately represent the underlying construct for which control is intended.
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Rönkkö, Kari. "Making Methods Work in Software Engineering : Method Deployment - as a Social Achievement." Doctoral thesis, Ronneby : Blekinge Institute of Technology, 2005. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-00264.
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The software engineering community is concerned with improvements in existing methods and development of new and better methods. The research approaches applied to take on this challenge have hitherto focused heavily on the formal and specifying aspect of the method. This has been done for good reasons, because formalizations are the means in software projects to predict, plan, and regulate the development efforts. As formalizations have been successfully developed new challenges have been recognized. The human and social role in software development has been identified as the next area that needs to be addressed. Organizational problems need to be solved if continued progress is to be made in the field. The social element is today a little explored area in software engineering. Following with the increased interest in the social element it has been identified a need of new research approaches suitable for the study of human behaviour. The one sided focus on formalizations has had the consequence that concepts and explanation models available in the community are one sided related in method discourses. Definition of method is little explored in the software engineering community. In relation to identified definitions of method the social appears to blurring. Today the software engineering community lacks powerful concepts and explanation models explaining the social element. This thesis approaches the understanding of the social element in software engineering by applying ethnomethodologically informed ethnography and ethnography. It is demonstrated how the ethnographic inquiry contributes to software engineering. Ethnography is also combined with an industrial cooperative method development approach. The results presented demonstrate how industrial external and internal socio political contingencies both hindered a method implementation, as well as solved what the method was targeted to do. It is also presented how project members’ method deployment - as a social achievement is played out in practice. In relation to this latter contribution it is provided a conceptual apparatus and explanation model borrowed from social science, The Documentary method of interpretation. This model addresses core features in the social element from a natural language point of view that is of importance in method engineering. This model provides a coherent complement to an existing method definition emphasizing formalizations. This explanation model has also constituted the underpinning in research methodology that made possible the concrete study results.
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Bollou, Felix Afri. "Interrogating the impact of ICT infrastructure expansion in Francophone West Africa 1993-2005 : a critical theory study using archival data and non-parametric research methods." Doctoral thesis, University of Cape Town, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10110.
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Includes bibliographical references (leaves 192-209).This thesis critically investigates the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure expansion on Development in Six West African Countries. While recent research has shown that ICT has contributed significantly to economic and social transformation in Western developed countries, the same is not necessarily true for less developed countries. After over a decade of heavy investment in ICT infrastructure expansion in Africa, little empirical research on the contribution of ICT to development has been conducted to assess the impact of these investments on the development of these countries. This work is a groundbreaking effort to advance a much needed research program to measure the impact of ICT infrastructure expansion on development in Africa.
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Porter, Catherine Sarah. "Mapping spaces : towards a quantitative methodology for exploring maps and mapping in early modern Ireland, c.1530-1610." Thesis, Queen's University Belfast, 2014. https://pure.qub.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/mapping-spaces-towards-a-quantitative-methodology-for-exploring-maps-and-mapping-in-early-modern-ireland-c15301610(5d58fa90-00c1-4a2f-ae67-ff752c07452b).html.
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This thesis assesses the evolution of historic maps of Ireland using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and quantitative approaches. Each of nineteen early modern maps dating to the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries (c.1530 – 1610), a formative period of Irish cartographic history, was analysed to statistically assess the relative positional accuracy of places included on the cartography. Building upon previous studies of analysing cartographic veracity using quantitative approaches, notably Tobler's (1994) bidimensional regression technique, it is the first of its kind to apply these techniques to a series of historic maps. The aim is to test these approaches systematically and critically, compare the statistical techniques, and offer insights into their analytical potential in the history of cartography and historical geography. The thesis also aims to enhance our understanding of the evolution and development of maps and map-making during an age often regarded as revolutionary in scientific cartography in Europe. The study highlighted two main historical and cartographic groups; (I) earlier maps of Ireland created prior to Lythe’s survey cartography in which mapmakers appeared to take a more artistic rather than a ‘measured’ approach to mapping and; (II) maps created subsequent to Lythe’s and of generally higher cartographic precision in illustrating the island's geography. Enduring map ‘errors’ that survived through to the seventeenth century are discussed, and illustrate that the development of maps of Ireland did not progress in a linear fashion. Map lineage was complex, and plagiarism between mapmakers was rife with one map, by Robert Lythe (PHA 9581, c.1571), shown to form the basis for many subsequent maps. The methodology developed in this thesis is a fundamental addition to early map research, by adding to key debates in the history of cartography concerned with how early maps developed and evolved, and providing new insights on Ireland’s early cartography.
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Kitching, Philip Herman. "Understanding suicide: a psychobiographical study of Ian Kevin Curtis." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/18178.
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Psychobiography can be viewed as the re-writing of an individual‟s life story previously undetected. In general, it consists of a combination of two central elements: biography and psychological theory, which aim to explain the particular individual‟s psychological development. This particular study serves to explore the extraordinary life of renowned singer and songwriter, Ian Kevin Curtis (1956-1980), who died by suicide at the early age of 23. The basis for this investigation will take the form of notable biographical accounts of the subject‟s life, together with the application of Thomas Joiner‟s (2005) interpersonal-psychological theory of suicide which identifies factors that lead to suicidal ideation - in an attempt to understand the psychological circumstances that contributed to Curtis‟s suicide. In doing so, Adler‟s (1929) theory of Individual Psychology was applied to the life of Curtis in an attempt to build on Joiner‟s theory. This led to the concept of control being introduced and contributed to the development of an intake form to identify those at risk for suicide. It is hoped that exploring the psychological circumstances that contributed to Curtis‟s suicide and their interpretation by the subject will bring about an understanding of the risk factors that may induce suicide and, by extension, will highlight the relevance of this psychobiographical study as a tool for investigating and promoting preventative measures concerning suicide. The psychobiographical data collection and analysis for this research thesis will be guided by Yin‟s (2003) theory of „analytic generalisation‟ which uses a theoretical framework in selecting relevant data which develops a matrix as a descriptive framework for organising and integrating that data, and Alexander‟s (1988) analytical model which focuses on lifting out themes through principal identifiers of salience.
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Matta, Corrado. "A Field of Veiled Continuities : Studies in the Methodology and Theory of Educational Research." Doctoral thesis, Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för pedagogik och didaktik, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-140475.
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Empirical educational research enjoys a methodological and theoretical debate that is characterized by a number of unresolved and lively debated controversies. This compilation thesis is an attempt to contribute to this debate using the toolbox of philosophy of science. The thesis consists of an introductory chapter and four essays. In the introductory chapter I identify three methodological and theoretical controversies that are discussed within the field of educational research. These are: 1) the controversy concerning the scientific status of educational research; 2) the controversy between cognitive and sociocultural theories of learning; and, 3) the controversy between realist and constructionist interpretations of theories of learning. I provide in the essays a critical assessment of the claims behind each of these controversies, and argue for an alternative reconstruction of these issues. In Essay I, I criticize a view about the interpretation of human action, labeled in the text as interpretivism. This view posits a sharp separation between the natural and social sciences, to the effect that the methods of the latter cannot be applied to the former. The first controversy seems to rest on this position. As I argue, the arguments in support of interpretivism are contradicted by actual research practice. I conclude that the interpretivistic claims lack support and that the general separation claim appears as problematic. A further debate has fueled the first controversy, that is, the supposed distinction between qualitative and quantitative methods. In Essay II, I argue against this distinction. More specifically, I discuss the concept of empirical support in the context of qualitative methods (for short, qualitative support). I provide arguments that although there are two specific and non-trivial properties of qualitative support, there is no methodological separation between quantitative and qualitative methods concerning empirical support. Considered together, the first two essays indicate two points of methodological continuity between educational research and other scientific practices (such as the natural sciences). I therefore conclude that the controversy concerning the scientific status of educational research rests in large part on unjustified claims. Essay III focuses on the second controversy. In this article I argue that Suárez’ inferential approach to the concept of scientific representation can be used as an account of scientific representation in learning, regardless of whether learning is understood as a cognitive or social phenomenon. The third controversy is discussed in Essay IV. Here, I discuss some ontological aspects of the framework of the actor-network theory. Reflecting on the use of this framework in the research field of Networked Learning, I argue that the assumption of an ontology of relations provides the solution for two puzzles about the ontology of networks. The relevance of my argument for the third controversy is that it suggests a point of connection between constructionist and realist interpretations of the ontology of learning. The last two essays suggest two points of continuities between theoretical frameworks that have been and still are argued to be incompatible.At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Manuscript.
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Wei, Jin Chao. "Research on novel sample preparation and analytical methods for trace determination of the pesticides in traditional Chinese medicine." Thesis, University of Macau, 2018. http://umaclib3.umac.mo/record=b3953269.
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O'Donnell, Kye. "An investigation into methods for capturing corporate knowledge in an Australian local government context." Curtin University of Technology, Dept. of Media and Information, 2007. http://espace.library.curtin.edu.au:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=21532.
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This research project investigates the processes of capturing corporate knowledge in an Australian local government context. The City of Perth, the capital city local government of Perth, Western Australia, is the organisation within which this study was conducted. A qualitative research methodology was utilised for this study in order to understand all the factors involved in knowledge sharing, including the human aspects. Data was collected exclusively through structured interviews consisting of a series of open questions. Digital transcripts of these interviews were produced and analysed by the researcher using qualitative data analysis software. The application of the research methodology has produced a rich set of results. The different types and sources of corporate knowledge used by participants and their views on knowledge capture processes are explored. Participants provide insight into their motivations in undertaking knowledge capture, the extent knowledge is shared in the organisation and barriers to sharing knowledge that they had encountered. The utilisation of the organisation’s information management processes and the overall purposes of knowledge capture were also explored by the study. Some of the results are quite predictable and generally supported by the literature, such as a preference for interpersonal communication in the sharing of knowledge. Other results are more unexpected including strongly expressed altruistic support for the good of the employing organisation as their motivation in supporting knowledge management activities and an understanding of the need for knowledge codification.
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Al-Adeem, Khalid Rasheed. "Accounting Theory: A Neglected Topic in Academic Accounting Research." Cleveland, Ohio : Case Western Reserve University, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1256045265.
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Thesis(Ph.D.)--Case Western Reserve University, 2010Title from PDF (viewed on 2009-11-23) Department of Accounting Includes abstract Includes bibliographical references and appendices Available online via the OhioLINK ETD Center
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Prinsloo, Mélani. "The South African research landscape : the use of traditional and alternative methodologies in addressing information shortages /." Luleå, 2007. http://epubl.ltu.se/1402-1544/2007/55/.
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Sullivan, Paul W. "Qualitative data analysis using a dialogical approach." SAGE, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/5842.
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Hughes-Morley, Adwoa. "What are effective methods to recruit research participants into mental health trials?" Thesis, University of Manchester, 2017. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/what-are-effective-methods-to-recruit-research-participants-into-mental-health-trials(00c200de-b35f-4389-b9a4-afdfb9205453).html.
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Background: There is a great need for effective treatments for mental health problems. Randomised controlled trials are the gold standard for evaluating treatments, however recruitment into trials is challenging, highlighting a clear need for evidence-based recruitment strategies. This thesis aimed to systematically develop a recruitment intervention and evaluate its effectiveness for improving the recruitment of participants into mental health trials. Methods: A mixed-methods approach, adopting the Medical Research Council’s complex interventions framework: 1) a systematic review to identify the evidence base and describe the factors affecting recruitment into depression trials; 2) a qualitative study to understand patients’ decision-making process in declining to enrol in a depression trial; 3) development of a recruitment intervention, using Participatory Design methods; and 4) evaluation of the recruitment intervention, using a randomised controlled trial, embedded in an ongoing mental health trial (the EQUIP trial). The primary outcome was the proportion of participants enrolled in EQUIP. Results: From the systematic review, a conceptual framework of factors influencing the decision to participate was developed, which highlighted that the decision to enrol involves a judgement between risk and reward. Findings suggested that patient and public involvement in research (PPIR) might be advertised to potential participants to reduce such perceived risk. The qualitative study found positive views of trials. Interviewees’ decision making resembled a four-stage process; in each stage they either decided to decline or progressed to the next stage. In Stage 1, those with an established position of declining trials opted out – they are termed ‘prior decliners’. In Stage 2, those who opted out after judging themselves ineligible are termed ‘self-excluders’. In Stage 3, those who decided they did not need the trial therapy and opted out are termed ‘treatment decliners’. In Stage 4, those who opted out after judging that disadvantages outweighed advantages are termed ‘trial decliners’. While ‘prior decliners’ are unlikely to respond to trial recruitment initiatives, the factors leading others to decline are amenable to amelioration as they do not arise from a rejection of trials. We recruited a host mental health trial (EQUIP), and worked with key stakeholders, including mental health service users and carers, to develop an intervention using a leaflet to advertise the nature and function of the PPIR in EQUIP to potential trial participants. 34 community mental health teams were randomised and 8182 patients invited. For the primary outcome, 4% of patients in the PPIR group were enrolled versus 5.3% of the control group. The intervention was not effective for improving recruitment rates (adjusted OR= 0.75, 95% CI= 0.53 to 1.07, p=0.113). Conclusions: This thesis reports the largest ever trial to evaluate the impact of a recruitment intervention. It also reports the largest trial of a PPIR intervention and makes a contribution to the evidence base on trial recruitment as well as to that assessing the impact of PPIR. Two further embedded trials are underway to evaluate the effectiveness of different versions of the recruitment intervention in different trial contexts and patient populations. This will also allow the results to be pooled to generate a more precise estimate of effect; to evaluate the impact of the intervention on trial retention; and to explore patient experiences of receiving the intervention.
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Wium, Anna-Marie, and Brenda Louw. "Mixed-Methods Research: A Tutorial for Speech-Language Therapists and Audiologists in South Africa." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2018. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/2593.
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Background: Mixed-methods research (MMR) offers much to healthcare professions on clinical and research levels. Speech-language therapists and audiologists work in both educational and health settings where they deal with real-world problems. Through the nature of their work, they are confronted with multifaceted questions arising from their efforts to provide evidence-based services to individuals of all ages with communication disorders. MMR methods research is eminently suited to addressing such questions.
Objective: The aim of this tutorial is to increase awareness of the value of MMR, especially for readers less familiar with this research approach.
Method: A literature review was conducted to provide an overview of the key issues in MMR. The tutorial discusses the various issues to be considered in the critical appraisal of MMR, followed by an explanation of the process of conducting MMR. A critical review describes the strengths and challenges in MMR.
Results: MMR is less commonly used or published in the fields of speech-language therapy and audiology.
Conclusion: Researchers working in teams can draw on the strengths of different disciples and their research approaches. Such collaborative enterprises will contribute to capacity building. Researchers, SLTs and audiologists are encouraged to make use of MMR to address the complex research issues in the multicultural, multifaceted South African context. MMR makes an important contribution to the understanding of individuals with communication disorders, and in turn, researchers in the two disciplinary fields of speech-language therapy and audiology can contribute to the development of this research approach. MMR is well suited to the complexity of South African contexts and its populations, as it can provide multiple perspectives of a topic.
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Woods, Bradley Dean. "What’s still wrong with psychology, anyway? Twenty slow years, three old issues, and one new methodology for improving psychological research." Thesis, University of Canterbury. Psychology, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/5208.
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Recent retrospectives of classic psychology articles by Meehl (1978) and Wachtel (1980), concerning problems with psychology’s research paradigm, have been viewed by
commentators, on the whole, as germane as when first published. However, no similar examination of Lykken’s (1991) classic criticisms of psychology’s dominant research
tradition has been undertaken. Twenty years on, this thesis investigates whether Lykken’s criticisms and conclusions are still valid via an exposition of three contentious issues in psychological science: the measurement problem, null hypothesis significance testing, and the granularity of research methods. Though finding that little progress has been
made, Observation Oriented Modelling is advanced as a promising methodological solution for improving psychological research.
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Kalumba, Evaristo. "Improving the quality and relevance of environmental learning through the use of a wider range of preferred teaching methods: a case of primary schools in Mufulira District in the Copperbelt Province in Zambia." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003453.
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The study was conducted to investigate whether the use of a wider range of teaching methods can improve the quality of environmental learning in five Zambian primary schools. Nine teachers from five schools were involved in the preliminary stage of answering of questionnaires, interviews and focus group discussions about the use of dominant teaching methods and new teaching methods; while only four were involved in the observations of four lessons. The study is a contribution to the on‐going debate on the investigation of whether teaching methods used by teachers can be one of the factors that can influence the quality of education. Definitions of quality and educational quality in particular, are not easy to establish and no agreed upon framework for educational quality exists at present. This study reviews the debates on educational quality, and identifies three major paradigms or discourses on educational quality; and considers the human rights, social justice and capabilities approaches and educational quality frameworks as being relevant to environmental learning and education for sustainable development in the Southern African Development Community context. This, together with a review of research on teaching methods in environmental education, provides the theoretical framework for this study. Using action research and an interpretative methodological framework, a series of research activities were undertaken to generate research data because the study was investigating the teachers’ practice with a view to probe change and to analyse the findings. Nine teachers participated in the preliminary stage of answering questionnaires and focus group interviews reflecting on existing teaching methods. In stage two of this study, teachers went through a planning workshop during which they planned lessons using new preferred teaching methods. The third stage was lesson observations of planned lessons. The final stage was the reflection workshop during which the teachers shared their experiences with the use of new teaching methods. The teaching practices of teachers using the new teaching methods were the subject of further analysis. In order to find out how the use of a wide range of teaching methods can improve quality of environmental learning in primary schools nine teachers were observed teaching lessons with new teaching methods. The Nikel and Lowe (2010) fabric of dimensions of educational quality was adapted and used to find out if teachers included dimensions of quality in the teaching process. Additional socio‐cultural and structural quality dimensions, identified through a review of southern African research, were used to find out if teachers included contextualized regional dimensions of educational quality. This was done to investigate whether the process of teaching and learning was relevant to the learners. Teachers involved in the research reflected that when they used a wider range of teaching methods the result was that the learning opportunities for learners were enhanced and that the methods added value to their teaching, improving the quality of their teaching. The use of a wider range of teaching methods showed the presence of several indicators of dimensions of educational quality, as reflected in the quality analysis tool. Teachers indicated that the use of a wider range of teaching methods led them to include the socio‐cultural dimensions such as the use of local languages and structural dimensions such as informal seating arrangements or group work that they would otherwise neglect if they used the traditional narrow range of teaching methods. A wider range of teaching methods provided learners with an enjoyable learning atmosphere during the lesson. The research also identified that this study can be taken further through broader observations, and that the educational quality dimensions tool is useful for different levels of the education system, and that it has potentially productive uses in teacher education, particularly for observations during teaching practice.
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So, Moon-tong, and 蘇滿堂. "Applications of Bayesian statistical model selection in social scienceresearch." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2007. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B39312951.
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Mbatha, Cyril. "A case for institutional investigations in economic research methods with reference to South Africa's agricultural sector." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002706.
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Economic development remains elusive for many world economies, but especially those of African countries. The current global inequalities in terms of GNP per capita and human living standards between developed and developing nations have ensured that the challenges of food insecurities are only some of the many negative experiences of underdevelopment in the African continent. Hence, delivery pressures are increasing on policy makers and researchers to provide tangible and timely economic solutions to the resilient state of underdevelopment. In the policy fights against the challenges posed by a lack of development in South Africa, the agricultural sector has in the past and continues in the present to play a central role. Such is the case because the majority of citizens rely on agricultural production activities for their livelihoods. For instance, even though the sector only contributed four percent towards the national Gross Domestic Product in 2006, in the Eastern Cape Province, more than seventy percent of the total population resided in rural areas. Moreover, in 2004 more than sixty percent of the national formal and informal employment levels were found in the sector. These economic indicators do not only reinforce the assertions that high levels of geographical and sectoral inequalities exist in the country’s economy, but they also illustrate the importance of the agricultural sector in public policy attempts, which are aimed at achieving food security alongside long-term developmental objectives. Some economists, especially the proponents of institutionalism, have argued that most of the recommendations to public policy interventions from mainstream economic research endeavours are not adequately helpful. The recommendations generally lack well considered and socially effective ideas, mainly because there remains some level of ignorance about the impacts that institutions have on economic and social systems. Some argue that this ignorance is reflected in (flawed) hedonistic and rationalist assumptions made about economic actors and in the methodological thinking of many research designs and economic analyses. The misuse of formal tools and statistical methods, for example, are some of the important factors, which have led to failures of the discipline of economics to provide effective policy solutions to problems of underdevelopment and poverty, especially in poor country environments. The thesis, having taken account of the majority of criticisms levelled against the classical and new-classical economic schools of thought, argues that the discipline as a whole lacks a paradigmatic integration of institutional and new-classical economic perspectives to offer appropriate guidelines for a methodology aimed at achieving socially responsive research outputs. The lack of this integration has resulted in a skewed selection of methods by economists, which are employed in research without a supportive and in-depth understanding of institutional and social factors. To support the thesis, a more effective and integrated framework for economic research is developed and presented with case study illustrations in a cumulative manner. The 20th century history of agricultural policies in South Africa, the agricultural and institutional case studies from the Eastern Cape Province alongside reviews of other agricultural studies are all used in presenting a case for rigorous institutional investigations in general economic research. These are also used in developing the proposed integrated framework, which aims to give guidance in developing research methods, which are more socially responsive. Having shown the usefulness of the proposed research framework, the thesis recommends that public policy interventions (at national and local levels) should aim to eliminate all types of institutions which have high associated transactional costs. The interventions should also encourage the emergence and growth of the types of institutions, which present the lowest costs to initiatives of economic development. In the primary case studies from the Eastern Cape Province, the insecurity of land tenure and the various local initiatives of business ventures are highlighted as two examples of the types of institutions, which respectively present high and low transactional costs to local initiatives of agricultural and economic development.
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Lai, Yongquan. "Development and application of liquid chromatography mass spectrometry methods for the analysis and toxicity study of polybrominated diphenyl ether metabolites." HKBU Institutional Repository, 2012. https://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/etd_ra/1437.
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Barwin, Lynn. "Places of Tradition, Places of Research: The Evaluation of Traditional Medicine Workshops Using Culturally and Locally Relevant Methods." Thèse, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/22870.
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This thesis examines how traditional medicine workshops offered by an Aboriginal health centre contribute to capacity re-building through self-care in two local communities in Manitoulin Island, Ontario. Health disparities that exist between Aboriginal people and the rest of the population have prompted a need to better understand health determinants that are of relevance in these communities including the importance of culture, tradition, and self-determination. A variety of qualitative methods were employed in this work including in-depth interviews, focus groups and “art voice.” The use of art voice on Manitoulin Island advances decolonizing methodologies by emphasizing how the incorporation of locally and culturally relevant methods or “methods-in-place,” is an effective way to engage communities in the research process. Results show the need to approach traditional teachings, health programs, and research from an Aboriginal worldview and indicate that more frequent workshops are required to empower youth and adults to practice and share traditional knowledge. Furthermore, a continuum exists in which the interest in language, culture, and tradition increases with age. Capacity can therefore be re-built over time within communities promoting autonomy and self-determination through self-care. Findings can be expected to further inform the traditional programming in participating communities, enhance existing Aboriginal determinants of health models by including traditional medicine as an element of self-care, and can act as a springboard for the inclusion of unique place-based methods into community-based research projects in the future.
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Radin, Elizabeth. "A capability approach to understanding the efficient conversion of health resources into health outcomes : piloting a mixed-methods methodology in northern Vietnam." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2013. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:46e8bc14-f5a4-4e11-b176-80e16a2dec4f.
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Achieving efficiency, or maximizing the outputs achieved per unit of resource invested, is of great interest to governments, donors and other stakeholders in the health sector. Many studies consider efficiency in public health using Cost Effectiveness Analyses which estimate the health outcomes achieved per unit of cost. Others employ Technical Efficiency Analysis to understand which health system units, usually hospitals, provide the most health services per unit of resource. However, very little is known about demand-side efficiency or how efficiently individuals convert available health resources into health outcomes. To address this gap, I developed and piloted a two-stage methodology using Amartya Sen's Capability Approach as a theoretical framework mapping the process by which individuals convert resources into outcomes. The first stage estimates conversion efficiency using Order-m Efficiency Analysis then identifies the social groups most likely to be efficient using regression analysis. The second stage undertakes focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews to investigate how and why the social groups identified in the quantitative stage were more likely to be efficient. I conducted my analysis in Ba Vi district, northern Vietnam looking specifically at how efficiently pregnant women converted maternal health resources—including health facilities and human resources for health—into both appropriate care and healthy pregnancy and delivery. I found that ethnic minorities and women in non-mountainous areas were more likely to be efficient at achieving appropriate care while ethnic minorities and less educated women are more likely to be efficient at achieving healthy pregnancy and delivery outcomes. Through qualitative feedback, women who were ethnic majorities, better educated and generally more affluent expressed stronger technology preference, greater use of the private sector, less continuity of care, tendencies towards overnutrition, less focus on mental and emotional health and more varied sources of health information including advertising and the internet. Evidence links each of these themes to adverse care and/or health outcomes. Consequently, the more affluent populations, who also have a greater endowment of public health resources, may be less likely to achieve good outcomes—explaining at least in part why they are found to be less efficient. My findings highlight that the development process and attendant epidemiological and nutrition transitions give rise to a new set of challenges not solely for public health, but also for the efficiency with which it is achieved using existing health system resources.
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Mullaney, Tara. "Thinking beyond the Cure : a constructive design research investigation into the patient experience of radiotherapy." Doctoral thesis, Umeå universitet, Designhögskolan vid Umeå universitet, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-116989.
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This constructive design research dissertation aims to understand how design can be used as part of a composite research approach to generate knowledge about how complex phenomena are composed through their interactions and relationships with various actors, both human and non-human. It has done this by investigating a single phenomenon, the patient experience of radiotherapy. Through the purposeful selection and application of methods, theories, and existing research from design, nursing, and STS, this thesis utilizes a mixed-method approach comprised of qualitative, quantitative methods, and design experimentation, across multiple research sites and patient populations, in three research projects – PERT, DUMBO, and POIS – to generate rich and layered knowledge of the patient experience. Experience prototypes are used to challenge, through intervention or provocation, the relationships between the various radiotherapy actors identified through the empirical methods. Together, the research generated in PERT, DUMBO, and POIS construct a map of the networked, interdependent actors which shape the patient’s emotional experience of radiotherapy: the staff, technology, information, environment, and institutions. It also calls attention to the problematic relationship between radiotherapy patients and the technologies used to treat them, which can lead to anxiety, worry, and fear. This thesis offers contributions related to both improving patient experience and designing for complex social issues. First, this research suggests that individuals, other than primary users, need to be acknowledged in the design of medical technologies. It proposes calling attention to patients by naming them as interactors in their relationships with the aforementioned technologies, removing them from the role of implicated actor. Second, this thesis problematizes treating the actors within a network as independent entities, which medical research and user-centered design often does, and calls for a new type of design practice which attends to these networked relationships. Third, this thesis suggests two ways in which design research practice should be shifted methodologically if it wants to engage with and design for complex social issues like patient experience; widening the researcher’s perspective on the issue through the use of a composite methodology, and having the researcher maintain this scope by remaining closely connected to their research context. The implications of this work concern how design research, design education, and design practice might shift their approaches to fully acknowledge and attend to the complexity of systems like healthcare.
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Gómez-Valent, Mònica. "Proposal for a new classification of orphan and/or rare conditions based on clinical characteristics that determine the applicability of different research methods to their study." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/405590.
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Antecedents: Les malalties rares són aquelles que afecten a un petit nombre de persones i tenen una prevalença particularment baixa en comparació amb la població general. Si bé individualment aquestes entitats són poc comuns, com a grup, són una important causa de malaltia crònica, discapacitat i de mort prematura en nens i adults. La Unió Europea considera que una malaltia és rara quan afecten a no més de 5 de cada 10.000 persones. Metodologies destinades a augmentar l'eficiència dels estudis clínics en poblacions petites han estat poc aplicades en el desenvolupament clínic de nous medicaments orfes. La manca de referències i guies pot explicar la reticència a utilitzar metodologies alternatives. Actualment l’existència d’una guia específica que engloba informació general és poc pràctica donat al gran nombre de condicions òrfenes existents. Un enfocament sistemàtic per a l'agrupació de condicions mèdiques en base als seus requeriments metodològics pot ser útil per permetre la generalització de recomanacions per tipus de condicions, en lloc de per condicions individuals.
Hipòtesi: Les condicions òrfeness es poden agrupar a través d'un enfocament sistemàtic en funció dels seus requeriments metodològics, i l'agrupació resultant pot esdevenir una eina eficaç per a establir recomanacions específiques per a l'estudi dels grups de condicions en lloc de per condicions individuals. Aquesta eina pot facilitar un enfocament més estructurat en el desenvolupament i la presa de decisions regulatòries.
Objectiu: Proposar una agrupació de condicions òrfenes en base als seus requeriments metodològics, amb l'objectiu de proporcionar una guia pel desenvolupament de nous tractaments i la presa de decisions regulatòries per a medicaments orfes.
Mètodes: S’ha identificat les característiques clíniques que poden ser rellevants en el disseny d’un estudi i en la presa de decisions de regulatòries per a medicaments orfes. S’ha seleccionat un nombre de condicions rares descrites en detall mitjançant aquestes característiques clíniques, i s’han emprat per a crear una base de dades que ha estat analitzada a través d’un Anàlisis de Correspondències Múltiples (MCA) per a identificar grups de condicions. Els grups de condicions obtinguts han estat refinats i validats des d'un punt de vista clínic i regulatori. La validació clínica va incloure una reunió amb especialistes clínics amb experiència reconeguda en el camp de les malalties òrfenes, per tal de conèixer la seva opinió envers la classificació proposada.
Resultats: Es proposen sis grups de condicions mèdiques que comparteixen aplicabilitat metodològica similar pel seu estudi: episodi agut únic, episodis aguts repetits, condició lenta / no progressiva, condició on intervé un òrgan o un sistema, progressiva multidimensional multi-orgànica i d’evolució per estadis. Un total de 125 indicacions mèdiques amb dictàmens favorables emesos per l'EMA per a medicament orfes han estat testats per a provar l'aplicabilitat de les inferències metodològiques derivades de cada grup. Les enquestes lliurades en la validació clínica als especialistes van concloure que l’aproximació proposada resulta útil per a guiar la decisió metodològica de la indústria, dels reguladors i també dels investigadors.
Conclusions: Es proposa una nova agrupació de condicions en base als seus requeriments metodològics com a guia pel desenvolupament de nous tractaments i per a la presa de decisions regulatòries envers als medicaments orfes.Background: Rare diseases are those that affect a small number of people and have a particularly low prevalence compared to the general population. While individually these entities are uncommon, as a group they are an important cause of chronic illness, disability and premature death in both children and adults. The European Union considers diseases to be rare when they affect not more than 5 in 10000 individuals. Methodologies aimed to increase efficiency of clinical studies in small populations have been only scarcely applied to the clinical development of new orphan medicinal products (OMP). The lack of references and guidance may explain reluctance to alternative methodologies, but specific guidance is impractical due to the huge number of existing orphan conditions. A systematic approach to grouping medical conditions based on their methodological requirements may be useful to allow generalisation of recommendations to type conditions, rather than to single disease models. Hypothesis: Orphan conditions can be grouped through a systematic approach based on their methodological requirements, and the resulting clustering can be an effective tool for establishing specific recommendations for the study of groups of conditions rather than for individual conditions, that would facilitate a more structured approach to regulatory development and decision making. Objective: To propose a clustering of medical conditions based on their methodological requirements, with the aim to provide a framework for guidance on treatment development and regulatory decision making on OMP. Methods: The characteristics of medical conditions which may be relevant to study design and regulatory decision making have been identified, and a number of sample conditions have been described in detail for these characteristics and used to produce a database that has been analysed through Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) to identify clusters of conditions. These have been refined and validated from a clinical and regulatory perspective which included a meeting with clinical specialists with recognised expertise in the field of orphan diseases, in order to know their opinion towards the proposed classification and to get insights on potential weaknesses of the approach. Results: Six groups of medical conditions are proposed which share applicability of similar methodologies to their study: single acute episode, repeated acute episodes, slow/non progressive, progressive led by one organ or system, progressive multidimensional multi-organ and staged condition. A total of 125 medical indications with positive opinions issued by the EMA on OMP applications have been clustered to test applicability of inferences. The methodological inferences to the different established clusters implied a first step of listing the variables that had a high discriminative value for each cluster, and a second step to make detailed descriptions of these determinants in relation to aspects required to define clinical study designs. This was done in order to test the validity of the proposed clusters to their main purpose as issuing common recommendations on product development for a given group of conditions. The results of the surveys given to members of the clinical board were collected and summarised. Clinicians agreed on the fact that current methods in clinical research have room for a more structured approach and that would help to the access to new treatments urgently needed, and considered it would be useful to guide methodological decision for industry and regulators, also to investigators and health technology assessment. Conclusions: A new clustering of conditions based on their methodological requirements is proposed as a framework for guidance on treatment development and regulatory decision making on OMP.
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Eliastam, Liesl Marijke. "A psychobiography of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Mpilo Tutu." Thesis, University of Fort Hare, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10353/537.
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Psychobiographies offer the illuminating experience of uncovering the story of an individual’s life through the lens of a psychological theory. Psychobiographies offer the chance to gain a deeper understanding of what makes that individual unique. This study aimed to explore and describe the emotional intelligence of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu according to Goleman’s (1998) theory of Emotional Intelligence. Tutu was chosen as a subject for this study because of his extraordinary life and accomplishments, and because he is regarded as a prominent figure of moral leadership in South Africa. A qualitative psychobiographical research method was utilised. Data was collected from both primary and secondary sources to enhance internal validity, and was then analysed according to Miles and Huberman’s (1994) approach. The findings suggest that Tutu applied all of the twenty five emotional intelligence capacities during his life, and that at times, some were used more extensively than others. This study is groundbreaking in that it is the first psychobiography on Desmond Tutu, and it is the first psychobiography undertaken at the University of Fort Hare. Psychobiographies offer an opportunity to evaluate the psychological theory which is applied. It was found that Goleman’s (1998) theory of Emotional Intelligence is supported by this study.
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Kremling, Janine. "An Analysis of the Influence of Sampling Methods on Estimation of Drug Use Prevalence and Patterns Among Arrestees in the United States: Implications for Research and Policy." Scholar Commons, 2010. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/3480.
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Using data from the Drug Use Forecasting (DUF) and the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) programs collected by the National Institute of Justice the question whether the drug estimates of DUF, using a non-probability sample, and the drug use estimates of ADAM, using a probability sample, yield substantially different results will be explored. The following main questions will be addressed using equivalence analysis: Are there substantial differences in the DUF and ADAM samples with regard to the drug use information obtained from arrestees at nine sites across the United States? The analysis suggests that the drug use information contained in DUF and ADAM is not substantially different for marijuana, cocaine, and opiates for all sites analyzed together. Additionally, there are no substantial differences for seven of the nine sites. The implications of these findings are discussed.
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Hale, Richard Elliot. "Quantifying accuracy of measurements in the earth sciences by examination of residuals in statistically redundant observations." Thesis, Click to view the E-thesis via HKUTO, 2006. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record/B37687438.
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Sivarajan, Swaminathan. "Risk tolerance, return expectations and other factors impacting investment decisions." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2019. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/risk-tolerance-return-expectations-and-other-factors-impacting-investment-decisions(90fd4076-2d8f-4dc6-8ff3-a1ecd8c0d188).html.
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Do investment portfolios meet the needs and preferences of investors? Can the portfolio selection process be improved? Traditionally, investor preferences have been identified using risk tolerance questionnaires. These questionnaires have recently attracted a fair deal of criticism. However, there has been little focus as to whether the questionnaires are useful in predicting investors' risk-taking behaviour. In this thesis, an explanatory sequential mixed methods approach was employed to find answers to the primary research question: what factors determine risk-taking behaviour in investment decisions? This thesis looked at the risk-taking behaviour of investors in Canada (N=192) and the risk-taking advice provided by financial advisers in Canada (N=155), collectively risk-taking decisions. The results suggested that return expectations and demographic variables were important predictors of risk-taking decisions, whereas risk tolerance questionnaires were not. Further investigation suggested that investment literacy impacted risk-taking decisions while investment experience impacted both return expectations and risk-taking decisions. In a novel contribution by this thesis, additional perspective was provided by qualitative analysis using semi-structured interviews with investors and advisers. From the results of the qualitative analysis, the author suggests that discovery and self-discovery, a consistent approach and a focus on process versus outcome are key attributes valued by both investors and advisers. The thesis concluded with implications and recommendations for stakeholders, including a greater focus on return expectations, more training in discovery for advisers, simulating investment experience for prospective investors and including investment literacy in school curricula.
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Andrews, Nicholas John. "Differences in how teachers make mathematical content available to learners over time." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2015. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:64682329-33b6-4b93-b715-7d23576bc47e.
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The study was an investigation into the teaching decisions that mathematics teachers make over time. I view a mathematics classroom as a didactical system of teacher, learners and content within an educational institution, where content is the material that brings teachers and learners together. Within such a system I view the teacher's role as making content available to learners. Prior research has often investigated the teacher's role by comparing teaching practices nationally or internationally, but these comparisons have tended to use the lesson as the unit of analysis. I propose that how teachers make content available can change over the course of a series of lessons and so my study used the lesson series as the unit of analysis. I purposefully designed the study so that it involved four cases, which allowed me to explore the role of the teacher and the topic in how content was made available. To investigate how teachers made content available to learners in each case, I developed an analytical approach from which I could study the modes of teacher interaction that featured across the lesson series, the forms of mathematical content made available and the sequencing of these forms. Attending to forms of content - rather than content itself - allowed for comparison of teaching of different topics. This original analytical approach represents a contribution to both mathematics education and mixed methods research. Within this small sample of cases, quantifiable differences were identified in how content was made available between classwork and seatwork, from lesson to lesson and between cases. Between-case differences in the nature of teaching 'between-the-desks' during seatwork were also identified. These differences illuminated teaching decisions to which teachers and classroom researchers may not routinely attend. The findings therefore contribute - and identify additional lines of enquiry that might contribute further - to a more extensive understanding of teaching practices.
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Maranhão, Filho Éfrem de Aguiar. "Rumo a um desenho técnico de um sistema de apoio à decisão para uma reconfiguração do soft systems methodology: o caso do planejamento sistêmico." reponame:Repositório Institucional do FGV, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10438/10603.
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Multidisciplinary in decision-making undergoes the same specificities of any multidisciplinary field. Very often, the lack of communication generates problems and some different approaches can be found in other areas of expertise. The Problem Structuring Methods offers answers for current queries in business administration schools, being particularly useful when used in a multimethodological approach with others current methods. Having the Soft Systems Methodology – SSM – as the core, and the merged with Strategic Options Development and Analysis in the process, Georgiou (2012) presents the Systemic Planning in the latest configuration. Aiming to seek a computational tool that meets the assumptions of the SSM, and which incorporates the specifications of the configuration of Systemic Planning, here are defined a Notation for the method and a formalization of the existing communications between the elements, subsystems, system and environment and thus find a possible way of control the use of the method in a iteratively mode. In order to demonstrate such use of the Systemic Planning, A real case analysis is presented and shows the difficulties encountered in using the Notation defined and the Formalization of the communication. Subsequently, a design of a modular computational tool, and which can be used integrated with other tools of other methods, is presented. The contribution achieved are advances in the patterns in the use of SSM tools, presented the systemic aspects of the Systemic Planning, a demonstration of the iterative use and a blueprint for a computer tool.
A multidisciplinaridade da tomada de decisão sofre com as peculiaridades de qualquer campo multidisciplinar. A falta de comunicação, muitas vezes, gera problemas e as respostas que podem ser encontradas dentro de outras áreas. Os Métodos de Estruturação de Problemas são respostas para os questionamentos atuais nas escolas de administração e negócios, principalmente o uso multimetodológico destes com outros métodos. Tendo o Soft Systems Metholodogy – SSM – como base, e a incorporação do Strategic Options Development and Analysis – SODA – ao processo do SSM, Georgiou (2012) apresenta o Planejamento Sistêmico em sua configuração mais recente. Visando buscar uma ferramenta computacional que atenda os pressupostos do SSM, e que incorpore as especificações da configuração do Planejamento Sistêmico, definem-se uma notação para o método e uma formalização das para as comunicações existentes entre os elementos, subsistemas, sistema e ambiente e, com isso, torna-se possível controlar o uso do método de forma iterativa. Para demonstrar tal uso, apresenta-se uma análise de um caso real e demonstra as dificuldades encontradas na utilização da Notação e Comunicação definida. Posteriormente, apresenta-se um desenho técnico de uma ferramenta computacional modular e que pode ser usada de forma integrada com outras ferramentas de outros métodos. Como resultado, têm-se o avanço na definição de padrões no uso das ferramentas do SSM, na apresentação dos aspectos sistêmicos do Planejamento Sistêmico, na apresentação de um uso iterativo do método e na apresentação de um desenho técnico para uma ferramenta computacional.
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Madi, Kakaba. "Neotectonics and its applications for the exploration of groundwater in the fractured Karoo aquifers in the Eastern Cape,South Africa." Thesis, University of Fort Hare, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10353/362.
Full textAbstract:
This study is part of an NRF sponsored research project entitled “Neotectonics and its applications for the exploration of groundwater in the fractured Karoo aquifers in the Eastern Cape” under the NRF Niche area of Water Resources Management and Sustainable Development in the Eastern Cape Province. The identification of relatively highly productive wells in the Karoo fractured aquifers is extremely difficult. This study aims to identify neotectonic zones and lower stress fields, and apply the results to groundwater exploration in the Eastern Cape Province. The methodologies adopted in this study include: a comprehensive literature review, extensive field mapping and investigation such as road cuts, sampling for laboratory studies, examination of seismic data, study of hot and ordinary springs, and interpretation of aerial photography and satellite images. Three main neotectonic belts were identified in the Eastern Cape (southern neotectonic belt, northern neotectonic belt and eastern neotectonic belt) based on literature review and field interpretations. The southern neotectonic belt (from the Cape Fold Belt to the lower Beaufort Group boundary) is characterized by the reactivation of the Coega-Bavianskloof and Sauer faults, the presence of a hot spring near Fort Beaufort, the slickenlines and discrete slickenlines and specifically the seismic events that were recorded in the Eastern Cape from 1850 to 2007. In this southern neotectonic belt the remote sensing has also revealed the presence of the Fort Beaufort fracture, the quartz veins seen in some dolerites and the different vegetation types along it may indicate that this fracture is possibly a fault; moreover the Quaternary sediments and weathered dolerites indicate that the Fort iii Beaufort fracture is characterized by groundwater circulation and accordingly is a good target for groundwater exploration, this fracture is a post-Karoo structure and possibly a neotectonic feature. In addition, the kaolin deposit, chiefly developed in the Dwyka tillite near Grahamstown is clearly controlled by neotectonic fracture zones. The northern neotectonic belt near the country of Lesotho is marked by the presence of the Senqu seismotectonic regime and hot springs. The Quaternary Amatole-Swaziland (formerly Ciskei-Swaziland) axis of uplift makes the eastern part of the province the third neotectonic zone, the asymmetric meanders of the Mbashe river in the vicinity of Qunu near Mthatha derived possibly from this Quaternary uplift; this asymmetric feature of meanders implies that the river has tried to maintain stability of its valley where tilting occurred. Within these neotectonic belts the central part of the Eastern Cape may be considered a static and inactive belt. A northwesterly trend for the maximum principal compresssional stress predominates in the Eastern Cape and is correlated with the present major structural control of the province. The current stress regime determination was derived from faults, joints and quartz veins only on kaolin deposits. Systematic joints reflect regional tectonic stress trajectories at the time of fracturing. Discharge rates of groundwater from boreholes as provided by the Department of Water and Forestry were used to confirm and predict water exploration targets. The region of Tabankulu (near Kwazulu Natal) in the northern neotectonic belt has remarkable discharge rates of groundwater (11.1 l/s, 4.65 l/s, 6.49 l/s, 42 l/s). The region of Mthatha, nearly surrounding the Amatole-Swaziland axis (former Ciskei-Swaziland iv axis) of uplift which might have generated some new faults, has a number of springs. These two regions should serve as case studies for future research. Apart from these two regions, two others regions can be considered as case studies for future groundwater exploration targets: the Bath Farm hot spring near the Fort Beaufort neotectonic fault and the vicinity of what is known as the Fort Beaufort fracture near Teba and Cimezile villages 20km north west of Fort Beaufort. It is concluded that the study of neotectonics and stress fields may be a useful tool for groundwater exploration in the Karoo fractured aquifers in the Eastern Cape, and in similar regions elsewhere in South Africa and in Africa.
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Jernberg, Signe. "En högskola blir till : Beslutsteoretiska perspektiv på organisatoriskt varande." Doctoral thesis, Uppsala universitet, Företagsekonomiska institutionen, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-309604.
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What defines a Swedish university college? This is the overarching question in this archival study of the development of the Swedish university colleges during the past 35 years. The objective of the study is to explore the binary elements in the overall unitary Swedish university system. Departing from existing macro level research on the university colleges (UCs), this study focuses on one single UC. Development of the UC was conceptualized as a question of decision-making in the UC in interplay with political decisions. The UC was explored by taking an extensive inductive approach starting from the original Garbage Can Model of Organizational Choice, a perspective on organizations that focuses on the temporal order emerging from decisions, rather than enduring orders. Nine decisions situations in the UC were identified as well as four political reforms. The study shows that the concept “streams” from the model are the phenomena occupying organization members mind over time, thus constituting a recurring element although not an enduring order, tying together the temporal orders. The streams are shared between the UC and political decision-making; the two decision-making entities both take part in forming the streams over time. The streams are: (1) the academic discipline; (2) the vocational education; (3) research as a means to enhance the quality of education; and (4) regional relevance. The study proposes the emergence of a fifth stream, the research profile, which is taken to be a unique stream for the UCs in general, that differentiates them from the universities. The analysis shows that the UC continuously adjusts the law to the organizational conditions rather than implements legislation when new, hence offering a perspective on organizational change as a persistent condition inherent in the organizational body rather than definable events. By using the concept stream the study suggests a conceptualization of the political influence on the UC organizational body as well as a conceptualization of how the UC influence political decisions. This conceptualization provides a novel perspective on the relationship between state and the universities. A perspective that can be explored in future research, focusing on mutual adjustments of the streams.
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May, Phillip W. "Cactus" IV. "Between the Lines: Writing Ethics Pedagogy." Ohio University / OhioLINK, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1521624213838432.
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Loveless, Jerry C. L. "The Use of Music as a Pedagogical Tool in Higher Education Sociology Courses| Faculty Member Perspectives and Potential Barriers." Thesis, Portland State University, 2013. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=1540707.
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Previous research has identified student engagement as an important antecedent to student learning in higher education. Although student engagement is viewed as important for learning, a significant number of college students still report frequently feeling bored in their courses. The use of music as a pedagogical tool is believed to be beneficial for promoting student engagement and student learning in higher education sociology courses, yet it has been suggested that sociology faculty members do not commonly incorporate the technique into their courses. The purpose of this comparative interview study is to explore higher education sociology faculty members' understandings of the use of music as a pedagogical tool, and the perceived importance of student engagement to student learning among higher education sociology faculty members.
In this study, it is found that higher education sociology faculty members believe student engagement can lead to increased student learning. It is also found that higher education sociology faculty members generally identify music as an effective pedagogical tool for promoting student engagement and learning in higher education sociology courses. Interestingly, participants believed the use of music as a pedagogical tool to be an uncommon practice in higher education sociology courses in the United States. As part of their efforts to explain their choices to use or not use music as a pedagogical tool, faculty participants described potential barriers that may impact faculty member choices to use music in their higher education sociology courses.
Sociology faculty participants in this study agreed that a lack of discussion of pedagogical tools among colleagues and in teaching courses might serve as a potential barrier for the use of music as a pedagogical tool. Higher education sociology faculty participants also identified a lack of knowledge of how to use music as a pedagogical tool as a potential barrier for the use of music in sociology courses. This research suggests that the lack of faculty knowledge of music as a pedagogical tool may be due to the lack of discussion of pedagogical tools both among colleagues and in the teaching courses completed by higher education sociology faculty members.
Past research has suggested that sociology faculty members need to create an environment that encourages students to be active and engaged participants in their own learning through building a community of learners. This study suggests that higher education sociology faculty members may successfully build a community of learners through using music as a pedagogical tool in their courses. This study recommends that changes at the departmental level need to occur in order to make it easier for sociology faculty members to gain the knowledge required to use music effectively in their courses. Suggestions for practice and future research are provided.
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McCarthy, Jane Bowe. "A survey of attitudes of Canadian graduates in archival studies toward the roles of social science research in their profession." Thesis, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/9004.
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Social science research is a form of inquiry which is useful in expanding the knowledge-base
of a profession, but one which is not normally associated with the archival profession. The
purpose of this study is to examine social science research as it applies to the Canadian archival
profession in general, and to archivists who have graduated from the Master of Archival Studies
(MAS) degree program, at the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies at the
University of British Columbia.
This study examines the attitudes of the first cadre of graduates of a degree program in
archival studies in Canada towards the various roles that social science research plays in the
development of their discipline and practice. A reading of the literature in the archival field
reveals that social science research methods are infrequently employed by the profession in
Canada, although there have been frequent calls for their adoption. Archivists are more familiar
with and employ more often theoretical (deductive) and historical methods than empirical
(inductive) methods.
The study employs the methodology of a survey questionnaire to discover the training and
application of social science research methodology that these graduates have experienced during
their formal education and during their careers. All the respondents had either completed the
MAS program or the course work towards the degree in the period, 1981-1994, and were
working in the field at the time of the study.
The study revealed that respondents support a research dimension for the field, although
their support was inclusive of other types of research more common to the archival studies
(theoretical, historical, scholarly, and archival), and not specifically directed to scientific
research. 33% of respondents expressed an interest in learning about research methods, while
39% said that they were somewhat interested. There was also a correlation between those
respondents who had taken a course in research methods and their knowledge of and support for
this type of research in the archival profession. Likewise, there was also evidence to support that
respondents without the knowledge of research methods were as confident in their ability to
conduct a research project or assist on a research team led by someone else, as were their
colleagues who had taken the course. The qualitative data yields evidence of at least a few
scientific research projects being conducted in the archival workplace, particularly user or
reference surveys and conservation surveys.
The study concludes that there is a role for both pre-appointment and continuing education
programs to foster greater understanding and use of social science methods in all facets of the
profession's research endeavours. Social science research methods are not only applicable to
archival studies, they are beneficial and necessary to the development of the Canadian archival
profession. The thesis recommends that archivists should have, at the very least, an appreciation
of research methods and a discerning eye for what constitutes good research.
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Bornholdt, Courtney. "Methodology matters: mapping software engineering research through a sociotechnical lens." Thesis, 2018. https://dspace.library.uvic.ca//handle/1828/9997.
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As software engineering is a socio-technical research field, there is a myriad of research strategies and data sources that researchers need to consider when designing their studies. These choices determine different tradeoffs in terms of generalizability, realism, and control, among other aspects of research quality. It is not possible to create a perfect study, so these strengths and weaknesses are acceptable at the study level; however, when a research community's collective body of work suffers from an imbalance in these tradeoffs it can negatively impact overall research quality.
Through this thesis, I investigate the research strategies and data sources that are used by the software engineering research community, and reflect on how this may affect aspects of research quality in our collective body of work. I apply Runkel and McGrath's models of research strategies and data sources to the software engineering domain through a systematic mapping study of three years of International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE) proceedings and a mixed-methods survey of the authors of these papers.
I found that a majority of papers report computational studies relying on trace measures rather than active human participation, showing an imbalance where generalizability and realism are prioritized over control. Through my survey, I confirmed that researcher participants explicitly prioritized realism and generalizability over control, impacting their research design choices. This imbalance in prioritization has the potential to lead to a collective failure to control for extraneous factors in the measurement of human behavior in software development, and without understanding what causes the behaviors we measure, we cannot fully understand why certain approaches and techniques work better than others, thus slowing our ability to advance as a research domain. Therefore, I present a call to action for the community to critically examine and discuss the issues raised by this research, and implement changes to increase the quality and diversity of our future work as a community.Graduate
2019-08-08
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Thani, Xolile Carol. "The research methods of completed South African doctoral research output in public administration from 2000 to 2005." Diss., 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/3316.
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This dissertation examines the research methods that were used by doctoral students in Public Administration from the period 2000 to 2005. In order to identify the research methods used, it first looked at the purpose of doctoral research in Public Administration. It further identified ten research methods that can be used by doctoral students in Public Administration. When presenting the findings on the purposes of research it was found that 50% of the theses were descriptive and 30% were aimed at developing or improving administrative technology. Three categories were mainly used as units of analyses, namely interventions, organisations and institutions and social actions and events. The units of observations included individuals, official documents and scholarly literature. Of the ten research methods, only four were mostly used; Quantitative1, Hermeneutics, Qualitative1 and Qualitative2. This dissertation also identified that a significant association either exists or do not exist between the chosen variables.Public Administration
M.A. (Public Administration)
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Perry, June Patricia. "An evaluation of an enrichment program using naturalistic research methods : some implications for the methodology /." 1988. http://collections.mun.ca/u?/theses2,19950.
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"Developing a practical methodology for Chinese medicine research: approach, challenges and solutions." Thesis, 2010. http://library.cuhk.edu.hk/record=b6074986.
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Chemical analyses, biological assays, and animal experiments provide important fundamental information of Traditional Chinese Medicine. In modern biomedical research, they should also be necessary prerequisites for clinical trials. A Chinese herbal formula, no matter how effective and safe in the pre-clinical studies, cannot be assumed clinically valid. No marketing approval should be granted without clinical studies. Thus, clinical trial plays a decisive role in the research and development of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Currently the highest level of efficacy evidence is obtained from randomized controlled clinical trial. Thousands of years of traditional use can provide us with valuable guidelines to the selection, preparation and application of herbal formulations. To be accepted as viable alternatives to western medicine, the rigorous methods of scientific and clinical validations must be applied.In conclusion, the methodology of Chinese medicine research needs to improve. One practical way is to apply the efficacy-driven approach through the following steps: i) getting a simple herbal formula to try solving a difficult clinical problem and start an evidence-based clinical trial using methodology acceptable to current standard clinical trials i.e. randomized, placebo-controlled; ii) parallel laboratory experiments to understand the mode of action should be done; and; iii) making sure that the quality of herbs and their extracts are of the best standard. A promising item shown in the clinical trial and laboratory experiments would deserve more pharmacological investigations before considering marketing. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
The distinctiveness of Chinese medicine is manifested in the diversity and the complexity of its components, the instability of its quantity, the fuzziness of its action mechanism, and the uncontrollability of its producing process. Traditional Chinese herbal formulae are usually formed by more than one plants, animal or mineral items. The composition is extremely complex. The efficacy thus can hardly be guaranteed. The methods of harvesting, drying, storage, transportation, and processing of plant material influence the efficacy and safety. The consistent efficacy, therefore, can hardly be guaranteed. For thousands of years, it has been observed by clinical practice that Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has a rich scientific connotation and has developed a unique healthcare system. However, variable sources of raw materials, unknown active ingredients, difficulties in quality control, lack of safety evaluation, unclear mechanism of action, etc., all these factors constitute major challenges in modernization of TCM.
The effect of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) may be characterized by its chemical compounds, which are also the active ingredients. The reproducibility and the stability of the active ingredients are the foundation to ensure the efficacy of TCM. The safety and efficacy of TCM is evaluated through its pharmacological effects and in clinical studies. Many Chinese herbal medicines have a long history of traditional use. However, most of them are of unproven efficacy by today's standard. Well-designed randomized controlled trials and comprehensive pre-clinical studies are not known. Although the lack of qualified evidence does not mean that Chinese herbal medicines lack efficacy or are unsafe, properly designed experimental and clinical investigations should still be done today. There is a need to scientifically prove and clinically validate its safety and efficacy through chemical standardization, biological assays, and clinical trials.
The general perception that herbal drugs are very safe and free from side effects is not true. Little do they know in the modern conditions, that the current herbs used for preparation of traditional Chinese medicine have been very different as compared with the ancient herbs in planting, extracting, producing, storage, application, dose level and the duration of clinical use. The active ingredients of herbal formula are higher after extracting with modern scientific methods; and the toxicity may also be correspondingly higher. The potential side effects after long-term use should not be overlooked.
The purpose of the research is to develop a practical methodology to obtain convincing evidences in quality, safety and efficacy of Chinese Medicine. When we use evidence-based research methodology to prove the quality, safety and efficacy, we are facing many challenges.
The quality control of Chinese herbal medicine is a systematic procedure. The initial critical step is to standardize the starting raw herbs, for knowing the exact species and subspecies, the ideal growing location, environmental conditions, harvesting methods, and storage conditions etc., i.e., following Good Agriculture Practice (GAP) to ensure the quality of the raw materials. The second step is to standardize the processing methods of the raw herbs. The third step is to standardize the preparation procedure of the final products according to the requirements of Good Manufacture Practice (GMP) guideline. The fourth step is to qualitatively and/or quantitatively evaluate the quality of the TCM medication based on one or more selected chemical markers.
by Cheng, King Fai.
Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-01, Section: B, page: .
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010.
Includes bibliographical references.
Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web.
Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web.
Text in English with some Chinese characters; abstract and appendixes 3-5 also in Chinese.
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Da, Costa Leita Stephanie M. "Self-efficacy, metacognitive awareness, working memory, and academic performance in a research methods course." Thesis, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/12989.
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Research is vital in Psychology, as well as the social sciences, as it is a tool for creating
knowledge through the interpretation and manipulation of empirical data, and thus furthering
understanding in a field (Barak, 1998; Bridges, Gillmore, Pershing, & Bates, 1998;
VanderStoep & Shaughnessy, 1997). Self-efficacy, metacognitive awareness, and working
memory are essential to explore in relation to academic performance in research methods
courses such as RDA IIA, as these skills are needed in the different components of these types
of courses and are likely to play a role in predicting academic performance (Alloway, 2006;
Bandura, 1993; Payne & Israel, 2010; Zulkiply, Kabit, & Ghani, 2008). Self-efficacy,
metacognitive awareness, and working memory are also all potentially susceptible to
intervention, and therefore exploring and establishing relationships between these variables
could improve ways to teach and help students achieve academically. Therefore, this study
aimed to examine the relationships between academic self-efficacy, metacognitive awareness,
working memory, and academic performance on the RDA IIA module overall and for
different components.
The sample consisted of 95 students who had completed RDA IIA at the University of the
Witwatersrand. The instrumentation used consisted of a brief demographic questionnaire, an
adapted Academic Self-Efficacy Scale, the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory, and three
working memory tasks assessing verbal, spatial, and numerical working memory. Academic
self-efficacy related to and predicted performance in the research component of the course,
and also predicted final RDA IIA mark. Metacognitive awareness did not relate to or predict
any aspect of RDA IIA performance, except for a significant positive correlation between
declarative knowledge and research mark. The working memory total and mental counters
task related to and predicted all aspects of RDA IIA performance; the verbal task related to
research mark but had no predictive role in RDA IIA performance; and lastly, the spatial task
did not relate to or predict any aspects of RDA IIA performance. The results of the study
contribute to a better understanding of the factors relating to and predicting RDA IIA
performance; and these findings may lead to the development of more effective intervention
programmes to assist students in improving their research methodology marks.