Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Office of Survey Methods Research'

Thesis advisor: Henry Braun
This study evaluates the accuracy, precision, and stability of three different methods of cross-survey analysis in order to determine their suitability for estimating the proportions of low-incidence populations. Population parameters of size and demographic distribution are necessary for planning and policy development. The estimation of these parameters for low-incidence populations poses a number of methodological challenges. Cross-survey analysis methodologies offer an alternative to generate useful, low-incidence population estimates not readily available in today's census without conducting targeted, costly surveys to estimate group size directly. The cross-survey methods evaluated in the study are meta-analysis of complex surveys (MACS), pooled design-based cross-survey (PDCS), and Bayesian multilevel regression with post-stratification (BMRP). The accuracy and precision of these methods were assessed by comparing the estimates of the proportion of the adult Jewish population in Canada generated by each method with benchmark estimates. The stability of the estimates, in turn, was determined by cross-validating estimates obtained with data from two random stratified subsamples drawn from a large pool of US surveys. The findings of the study indicate that, under the right conditions, cross-survey methods have the potential to produce very accurate and precise estimates of low-incidence populations. The study did find that the level of accuracy and precision of these estimates varied depending on the cross-survey method used and on the conditions under which the estimates were produced. The estimates obtained with PDCS and BMRP methodologies were more accurate than the ones generated by the MACS approach. The BMRP approach generated the most accurate estimates. The pooled design-based cross-survey method generated relatively accurate estimates across all the scenarios included in the study. The precision of the estimates was found to be related to the number of surveys considered in the analyses. Overall, the findings clearly show that cross-survey analysis methods provide a useful alternative for estimation of low-incidence populations. More research is needed to fully understand the factors that affect the accuracy and precision of estimates generated by these cross-survey methods
Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016
Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education
Discipline: Educational Research, Measurement and Evaluation

This paper analyzes and assesses the success and failures of the implemented methods of two mailed survey research projects conducted in post-Katrina New Orleans. Mailed survey research is an essential part of the recovery process following a major disaster in which people have been displaced. A survey can provide insight into how many residents intend to return to the area as well as resident needs and concerns. Traditional methods alone are inadequate in a post-disaster setting and supplemental measures must be taken. The collected data from a survey in this setting will be unrepresentative of the pre-disaster population. Spatial analysis of the response combined with a comparison of the collected data to known census data identifies the ways in which the data is unrepresentative. Knowledge of the data shortcomings increases its utility in planning and recovery efforts in the affected region.

Designers of mass produced products require knowledge about anticipated users of their designs in order to make reasonable predictions about how users will interact with a product and how that product will satisfy users??? needs. However, there is little reported study of how industrial designers get the information they need about users, or to what extent they adapt and use information available from fields of study such as ergonomics or market research. Study in this area is important, in order to have a knowledge base that will support development of methods and data sources that may help designers and others bring a better understanding of users into the product design process. In this study, group interviews and a questionnaire were used to ask industrial designers how and where they get information about users, and about their perceptions of the role and value of user research in design. The group discussions involved a total of 45 participants from nine companies in Sydney. A questionnaire that followed was completed by 35 respondents representing at least 15 different design consultancy companies throughout Australia. Results showed that the designers surveyed used many of the methods promoted in the literature of ergonomics, design and market research, but often in a cut-down form. For example, there was widespread use of work colleagues and family members as test subjects. Designers used quantitative information where it was applicable but often sought qualitative information that would provide insights or enable them to develop empathic understanding of the users. Time and cost constraints limited the extent to which designers could engage in user research activity but there was general agreement that user research was a necessary part of design and that in the future designers will require a stronger capability in user research. Further research could focus on the evaluation of user research methods used in design and the potential for further collaboration between designers and other specialists in this area.

Office space oversupply cost Australia billions of dollars during the 1990-92 recession. Australia, the United States, Japan, the U.K., South Africa, China, Thailand, and many other countries have suffered office oversupply cycles. Illiquid untenanted office buildings impair investors capital and cash flows, with adverse effects on macroeconomics, financial institutions, and individuals. This study aims to develop improved methods for medium term forecasting of office market adjustments to inform individual project development decisions and thereby to mitigate office oversupply cycles. Methods combine qualitative research, econometric estimation, system dynamics simulation, and institutional economics. This research operationalises a problem solving research paradigm concept advocated by Ken Lusht. The research is also indebted to the late James Graaskamp, who was successful in linking industry and academic research through time and space specific feasibility studies to inform individual property development decisions. Qualitative research and literature provided a list of contributing causes of office oversupply including random shocks, faulty forecasting methods, fee driven deals, prisoners dilemma game, system dynamics (lags and adjustment times), land use regulation, and capital market issues. Rather than choosing among these, they are all considered to be causal to varying degrees. Moreover, there is synergy between combinations of these market imperfections. Office markets are complex evolving human designed systems (not time invariant) so each cycle has unique historical features. Data on Australian office markets were used to estimate office rent adjustment equations. Simulation models in spreadsheet and system dynamics software then integrate additional information with the statistical results to produce demand, supply, and rent forecasts. Results include ++
models for rent forecasting and models for analysis related to policy and system redesign. The dissertation ends with two chapters on institutional reforms whereby better information might find application to improve market efficiency.Keywords. Office rents, rent adjustment, office market modelling, forecasting, system dynamics.

The mailed questionnaire research process developed historically as part of the survey research movement, with guidelines and models drawn from an array of scientific research methods and disciplines. Although the mailed questionnaire has become one of the most popular research instruments for obtaining data beyond the reach of the observer, the response bias generated from the generally low return rate of the mailed questionnaire survey has remained a problem. For over three decades researchers have generated a plethora of research on the effectiveness of the various aspects of the mailed questionnaire process and the resultant impact of various constructs on survey return . But despite these efforts, researchers have not succeeded collectively in producing a clear, compelling, or consistent set of principles that, if followed, will produce high response rates in mailed questionnaire research . With the certainty that more knowledge and constructs will be generated in all areas of the mailed questionnaire process, scholars have issued a call for a viable theory to direct future research efforts on response rates . Therefore, the purpose of this study was to address that need . The dissertation research reported in this paper accomplished five major objectives. It (a) developed an interdisciplinary theoretical framework for the mailed questionnaire process; (b) identified 13 determinants of response costs in the mailed questionnaire process; (c) proposed immediacy and salience as the most significant determinant variables of response rates, from a synthesis of the research literature with the theoretical framework; (d) proposed a theory and theoretical model that explain and illustrate the interaction of immediacy and salience in determining response rate levels; and (e) recommended a method for testing the proposed theory and for utilizing the proposed theory to achieve high response rates in future mailed questionnaire studies.

This thesis contributes practical and conceptual tools for discovering and understanding the variation of quantitative patterns in social and political survey data. It uses regression modelling as an exploratory method with a focus on deep rather than wide model specifications, i.e. on interaction terms rather than control variables. Our main research question is how can we learn from survey data with an exploratory approach of regression modelling. We also seek to answer two more specific questions, what sort of quantitative variations should an exploratory approach seek to model, and how do we deal with statistical uncertainty within an exploratory approach. Our work shows how to use regression modelling for exploratory purposes by interpreting the results descriptively, and connecting these summaries to theory through an act of interpretation. Using data from the Partirep electoral survey of the 2014 elections in Belgium, we illustrate how the emphasis on group variations and interactions has both empirical and theoretical value. We propose to summarise the results of exploratory modelling in a notebook containing a series of increasingly disaggregated prediction graphs. These notebooks help researchers to increase their domain numeracy, i.e. develop a quantitative understanding of the patterns in the data. Regarding statistical uncertainty, we mitigate the risks of modelling sampling noise by using standard errors of binned averages as precision hints that serve as an indication of excessive disaggregation. We also lay out the path for regularising the estimates of the final results with Bayesian models by exploring methods of including the sampling weights in these models.
Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

One of the major initiatives found in the Improving America’s Schools Act of 1995 was a focus on school safety and security relative to the perceived negative impact of violence generated from guns and illicit drugs. This tougher stand manifested itself in the federal requirement that states adopt laws requiring the expulsion of students for drug violations unless special circumstances were determined to exist. If special circumstances existed then another disciplinary action may be administered. Special circumstances are not defined in the federal law and have not been defined in the subsequent Virginia law. The lack of clarity in the federal and state laws, and their application by school boards has yielded nearly 25 years of widely varying sanctions by local divisions for student drug offenses.

This mixed methods research study analyzed the relationship between the individual school board member’s level of attributional complexity (AC) measured by the Fletcher et al. AC scale and their decision-making in assigning a disciplinary sanction in student drug violations. This research study also analyzed school board members’ level of AC in decision-making with the accumulated hours of training provide through the Virginia School Boards Association (VSBA), years of experience as a school board member, level of confidence in the decision made, and a school board that delegates to the superintendent authority to conduct a preliminary hearing compared to a board that does not delegate the hearing. Individual follow-up interviews extended exploration into other possible factors that influenced decision-making in student drug cases.

The explanatory design methodology provided a structure for identifying trends in judicial decision-making by school board members to aide in explaining how each independent variable may affect the individual participant level of AC. This mixed methods study has a strong quantitative orientation with the final report having two distinct consecutively developed sections. The second qualitative section is built on further explaining the emerging trends in school board decision-making. The survey asked participants if they were willing to participate in a follow-up interview. From this pool of volunteer participants, a purposeful selection was conducted of varying demographic elements to ensure coverage of varying levels of AC, large and small school divisions, gender, age, training and board experience.

The statistical analysis of the quantitative questions suggests that there are no statistical significant differences between the individual level of AC of a school board member and any of the aforementioned factors. The qualitative phase of the study suggests that decision-making is contextual to the individual school board. This context consists of a combination of factors with the dominate theme including the recommendation of the superintendent, and the board’s interpretation of appropriate sanctions grounded by a strict or flexible application of code and policy. Secondary decision-making factors which emerged were: 1. student accountability through assignment of discipline; 2. the need to maintain a safe drug-free environment for all students; 3. the need to continue the drug-violating student’s educational development; and, 4. the need for drug dependency assessment and intervention.

Consumers desire tender, juicy, and flavorful cuts of beef. Mechanical tenderization (MT) and enhancement methods applied to lower valued beef cuts can improve tenderness, flavor or juiciness, increasing desirability for the consumer. However, these processes can introduce pathogens that may be present on the exterior of the meat into the sterile interior. This process renders an ‘intact’ product ‘non-intact’ and requires altered cooking methods to ensure safety. The primary pathogens of concern for beef products are Shiga-toxin producing Escherichia coli (STEC). STEC are associated with approximately 265,000 illnesses and 3,600 hospitalizations annually. Since 2006, there have been 6 STEC outbreaks in the United States and 18 cases in Canada attributed to MT beef (MTB). The pathogen has also been implicated in 136 non-intact beef-related recalls. Due to the potential food safety hazards associated with MTB, mandatory labeling of these products was mandated in 2015 to inform consumers on how to safely handle the product. While this is a good step to inform consumers, it is unclear how familiar they are with the terms associated with these processes. Consumer’s knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, awareness, and behaviors related to MTBs is quite limited. This study uses an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design, to assess consumer knowledge of MTB. Qualitative focus groups conducted throughout urban and rural North Carolina and Virginia found that although participants purchased MTBs, they were unaware of the process, did not prepare MTBs properly, wanted to know more about the process, and wanted applicable risk messages. A nationwide survey developed from the focus group findings found that demographic differences were associated with knowledge of; and how participants interact with MTBs. How demographics influence consumer’s beef safety knowledge, practices, and risky behaviors was further explored. Demographic characteristics were highly correlated with consumers’ behaviors surrounding beef storage, refrigerator temperature knowledge, defrosting behaviors, meat washing, and meat preparation behaviors. Collectively, the mixed methods research design provided insight into specific demographic characteristics related to consumer attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors surrounding beef safety. This data will help inform the development of well-crafted, culturally, and socially relevant risk messaging that may promote safe handling behaviors.
Ph. D.

The Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Program is a federally funded program intended to increase public school students' fruit and vegetable consumption. The purpose of this mixed-method study was to evaluate the implementation of this program at a rural southwestern Title 1 elementary school to determine teacher perceptions of the program and whether the program met federal goals. Social ecological model and social cognitive theory grounded the investigation. The mixed method design included semi-structured interviews with 11 teachers accompanied by an anonymous web-based open response questionnaire and document reviews. Descriptive statistics were reported for Likert scale survey items and invoice documents to determine amount and variety of fruits and vegetables dispersed during the program. Interview data were open coded and analyzed for emergent themes. Teachers reported that the program initially provided a variety of produce, appropriate portions, and curriculum resources, which made the program a success. However, participants also noted that in the second and third years of implementation, their support for the program diminished due to declining quality, variety, and amounts of fruits and vegetables that negatively affected the achievement of program goals. Archival invoices supported these findings with decreased numbers of fruits and vegetables ordered in subsequent years. The findings were incorporated into an evaluation report for the local site. Implications for positive social change include providing the local administration with research-based findings on teachers' perceptions of the program, goal outcomes, and recommendations related to implementation at the local site.

Gill nets and longlines were compared as shark nursery sampling methodologies in inshore waters of Georgia to (1) assess differences in gear selectivity, bias, and stress of capture and (2) determine potential relationships between habitat features and shark distribution and abundance. Gear selectivity varied between gears as a function of both species and life stage resulting in significantly different estimates of species and life stage compositions. Juvenile bonnetheads (Sphyrna tiburo) and young of the year blacktip sharks (Carcharhinus limbatus) experienced significantly higher stress from gill net capture than longline. Major sources of bias are thought to result from dietary preferences and individual size. Juvenile sandbar shark (C. plumbeus) distribution revealed a potential preference for creeks rather than sounds, between 0.32-0.8km wide and 4.02-8.05km from the ocean. Adult Atlantic sharpnose sharks (Rhizoprionodon terraenovae) appear to prefer larger, open sound waters closer to the ocean. A potential preference for locations in close proximity to jetties over those near oyster reefs was also observed for adult Atlantic sharpnose sharks, and while statistical significance was observed, a stronger pattern may exist, as sample sizes in this study were relatively small yet still able to detect a difference. Future investigations that quantify proportions of habitat availability and shark abundance in a given area may be more useful for identifying preferences for the structures observed in this study. This study also provides strong evidence of finetooth shark (C. isodon) primary and potentially secondary nursery habitat in areas that had not yet been documented. Findings from these investigations can be useful for managers seeking to maintain healthy coastal shark populations.

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This work has as objective analyze comparatively the respondents profile and the results obtained by two different data collection approaches: by internet (online) and face to face at home (offline). The criteria selected for this comparison were the response return rate for both methods, the answers quality obtained on the attributes evaluation questions and the results on habits and attitudes of the selected samples. The first two chosen criteria refer to a topic very discussed in the academy that is the relationship between the respondent and the electronic data collection method, on which is believed to be uncontrolled, causing low access rate and also compromising the quality of data collected. The last criteria selected refers to another theme approached by academics which is the respondents profile that both data collection methods reach, which is believed to be distinctive and in consequence, provides differences in consumption behavior of the approached targets. To reach the proposed objectives, initially some in depth exploratory interviews were conducted with executives of research institutes acting in Brazil, aiming to understand their point of view regarding the capability of the online research method. Subsequently a quantitative study was conducted through two data collection methods, electronic by internet and face to face at home, with two different samples, which results were compared. The hypotheses were confirmed once there were differences in answers return rates, bias on attributes evaluation caused by one of the targets and also differences in both social-demographic profiles that reflected in discriminant consumption habits and attitudes. This work is justified in a way that it presents a current and controversial subject in the academy and in the business world, which focus is debate the replace of the traditional date collection methods by the contemporary one by internet, or even its complementarity, in a moment that the virtual network is increasing its penetration in the relationship company-consumer
O presente trabalho tem por objetivo analisar comparativamente o perfil dos respondentes e os resultados advindos de duas abordagens distintas de coleta de dados: via internet (online) e via presencial face a face domiciliar (offline). Os critérios selecionados para essa comparação foram o índice de retorno das respostas de ambos os métodos, a qualidade das respostas obtidas nas baterias de avaliação de atributos e os resultados de comportamento e atitudes das amostras selecionadas. Os dois primeiros critérios escolhidos referem-se a um tema muito discutido na academia que é a relação do respondente com o método de coleta eletrônico, sobre a qual acredita-se não haver controle, o que pode ocasionar um baixo índice de adesão e também comprometer a qualidade dos dados coletados. O último critério selecionado refere-se a outro tema muito debatido que é o perfil de respondente que ambos os métodos de coleta alcançam, que acredita-se ser distinto e, em consequência, reproduz diferenças de comportamento de consumo e de atitudes entre os dois públicos abordados. Para se alcançar os objetivos propostos, em primeiro lugar foram realizadas entrevistas em profundidade exploratórias com executivos de institutos de pesquisa atuantes no Brasil, com o intuito de se entender seus pontos de vista em relação à aplicabilidade do método de coleta online. Posteriormente, conduziu-se um estudo quantitativo por meio de dois métodos de coleta, eletrônico via internet e presencial face a face, com duas amostras distintas, cujos resultados foram comparados. As hipóteses levantadas foram confirmadas, uma vez que houve divergência entre os índices de retorno das respostas obtidas, viés no preenchimento das baterias de atributos por um dos públicos, e também diferenças no perfil sociodemográfico das amostras abordadas, que refletem padrões de consumo e de comportamento distintos entre ambas. Este trabalho justifica-se na medida em que apresenta um tema atual e controverso no ambiente acadêmico e corporativo, cujo foco é debater a substituição dos métodos de coleta tradicionais pelo método contemporâneo via internet, ou sua complementaridade, em um momento no qual a rede virtual de comunicação ganha cada vez mais espaço na relação empresa-cliente

The last two decades have seen several large-scale epidemics of international impact, including human, animal and plant epidemics. Policy makers face health challenges that require epidemic predictions based on limited information. There is therefore a pressing need to construct models that allow us to frame all available information to predict an emerging outbreak and to control it in a timely manner. The aim of this thesis is to develop an early-warning modelling approach that can predict emerging disease outbreaks. Based on Bayesian techniques ideally suited to combine information from different sources into a single modelling and estimation framework, I developed a suite of approaches to epidemiological data that can deal with data from different sources and of varying quality. The SEIR model, particle filter algorithm and a number of influenza-related datasets were utilised to examine various models and methodologies to predict influenza outbreaks. The data included a combination of consultations and diagnosed influenza-like illness (ILI) cases for five influenza seasons. I showed that for the pandemic season, different proxies lead to similar behaviour of the effective reproduction number. For influenza datasets, there exists a strong relationship between consultations and diagnosed datasets, especially when considering time-dependent models. Individual parameters for different influenza seasons provided similar values, thereby offering an opportunity to utilise such information in future outbreaks. Moreover, my findings showed that when the temperature drops below 14°C, this triggers the first substantial rise in the number of ILI cases, highlighting that temperature data is an important signal to trigger the start of the influenza epidemic. Further probing was carried out among Maltese citizens and estimates on the under-reporting rate of the seasonal influenza were established. Based on these findings, a new epidemiological model and framework were developed, providing accurate real-time forecasts with a clear early warning signal to the influenza outbreak. This research utilised a combination of novel data sources to predict influenza outbreaks. Such information is beneficial for health authorities to plan health strategies and control epidemics.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009.
Committee Chair: Vidakovic, Branislav; Committee Member: Edwards, Paula; Committee Member: Griffin, Paul; Committee Member: Grinter, Rebecca; Committee Member: Mullis, Rebecca. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

Several active learning strategies have been used when increasing the structure of a course as increasing course structure has been known to improve student learning in introductory STEM courses. Much has been studied on the value of frequent formative assessment; however, few studies have evaluated the effective modes of delivering summative assessment. This study examines the use of summative assessment as an inclusive teaching practice to improve first generation college student success in introductory biology and also uses faculty surveys to find out how instructors structure their introductory biology course and why they are structured that way. Final exams were evaluated by Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning. Survey results showed that many instructors used online activities most of the time to supplement face-to-face courses. However, student and faculty viewpoints on assessments offer many interesting insights into how instructors may modify teaching strategies to increase the success of diverse student populations.

碩士
國立臺北大學
統計學系
107
At present, the population statistics are mostly based on the government's household registration data, but with the migration of the population, there is a gap between the registered population and the resident population. In addition, everyone has mobile phone now, so we can know when and where the mobile phone users are through the signal data. This study is aimed at Taipei City and New Taipei City. We analyzed the behavior of mobile phone users and evaluated the resident population, using signal data of Chunghwa Telecom. Since the signaling data came from one single telecom operator, in order to estimate the whole resident population, we also combined the information of a telephone survey, which was also aimed at the same Cities and conducted about the same period of time as the signaling data. Telephone survey composed of landline phone survey and the cell-phone survey. To merge these two survey data, we adopted the dual frame weighting methods proposed by Skinner (1991) and Hung (2017). Then, we took cross-structured raking method to adjust the merged data, so that the structure of sample would be consistent with the structure of the population. Ratio estimation method was taken to combine the information of signaling and telephone survey data, in order to estimate the whole resident population in Taipei Metro Area. This study proposed estimation model and parameters related to the population, and calculated the estimates and variances of resident population in Taipei City and New Taipei City. Finally, we compared the estimated results, which were weighted by different methods and calculated through different estimators, and suggested an estimation model with less error.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic is currently the most challenging public health matter that faces third world countries, especially those in Sub-Saharan Africa. Ethiopia, in East Africa, with a generalised and highly heterogeneous epidemic, is no exception, with HIV/AIDS affecting most sectors of the economy. The first case of HIV in Ethiopia was reported in 1984. Since then, HIV/AIDS has become a major public health con cern, leading the Government of Ethiopia to declare a public health emergency in 2002. In 2011, the adult HIV/AIDS prevalence in Ethiopia was estimated at 1.5%. Approximately 1.2 million Ethiopians were living with HIV/AIDS in 2010. Surveys are an important and popular tool for collecting data. Analytical use of survey data especially health survey data has become very common, with a focus on the association of particular outcome variables with explanatory variables at the population level. In this study we used the data from the 2005 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey, (EDHS 2005), and identified key demographic, socioeconomic, sociocultural, behavioral and proximate determinants of HIV/AIDS risk factor. Usually most survey analysts ignore the complex survey design issues like clustering, stratification and unequal probability of selection (weights). This study deals with complex survey design and takes the design aspect into account, because failure to do so leads to bias parameters estimates and standard error, wide confidence intervals and statistical tests will be incorrect. In this study, three statistical approaches were used to analyse the complex survey data. The first approach was a survey logistic regression used to model the binary outcome (HIV serostatus) and set of explanatory variables (the dependence of the HIV risk factors). The difference between survey logistic regression and the ordinary logistic regression is that survey logistic regression approach takes the study design into account during analysis. The second approach was a multilevel logistic regression model, that assumed that the data structure in the population was hierarchical, and that individual within household was selected from clusters that were randomly selected from a national sampling frame. We considered a three-level model for our analysis. This second approach considered the results from Frequentist and a Bayesian multilevel models. Bayesian methods can provide accurate estimates of the parameters and the uncertainty associated with them. The third approach used was a Spatial models approach where model parameters were estimated under the Integrated Nested Laplace Approximation (INLA) paradigm.
Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2013.

碩士
玄奘大學
公共事務管理學系碩士在職專班
94
This study tries to analyses the influential factors of the user satisfaction for management information system and to investigate user satisfaction of local tax information platform in the Revenue Service Office of Hsinchu City. The empirical survey has been done through questionnaire. By applying descriptive statistical analysis, independent samples t-Test, one-way ANOVA and regression analysis on raw data collected from returned questionnaires, it arrived at the following research findings: 1.About 20% of all employees, most of them who are featured as working experience under ten years, with university degree and age under forty, unsatisfied with the information system. 2.Gender, job function and job title are major influential factors of users to the satisfaction of the information system. 3.The satisfaction of the information system is highly related to the system quality and information quality. 4.In terms of the system quality of the information system, user satisfaction mostly affected by the degree of convenience, the degree of responsiveness and the degree of demand fulfillment of the system. 5.In terms of the information quality of the information system, the information output format is the most influential factor to the user satisfaction. The research findings of this study can provide as suggestions to improve the performance of information system in the Revenue Office of Hsinchu City so as to deliver better public service.

An expert elicitation is a method of eliciting subjective probability distributions over key parameters from experts. Traditionally an expert elicitation has taken the form of a face-to-face interview; however, interest in using online methods has been growing. This thesis compares two elicitation modes and examines the effectiveness of an interactive online survey compared to a face-to-face interview. Differences in central values, overconfidence, accuracy and satisficing were considered. The results of our analysis indicated that, in instances where the online and face-to-face elicitations were directly comparable, the differences between the modes was not significant. Consequently, a carefully designed online elicitation may be used successfully to obtain accurate forecasts.

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

碩士
元智大學
管理研究所
92
At the moment of striding over the twenty-first century, human beings’ knowledge and technology have advanced and changed with each passing day. Especially, we government employees shouldn’t use the antiquated conception to execute public affairs. It implies that when the government lays stress on reforming and values its customers all the time, we have to use limited resources, adopt the way of business administration and change the way with time to accomplish our arduous commission and serve all our citizens. In order to improve our effectiveness and efficiency, we need to choose the right methods to do the right things. And our final aim is to meet the needs of the people. The World Economic Forum (WEF) announced the aggressive competitive ability of Taiwan in 2003 ranked fifth, superior to the performance in 2002 by one grade. By making further research, we can find that Taiwan relied on the terrific performance of high-tech which ranked third in technology index. While the public sectors ranked twenty-first, it was one of the major reasons to encumber the whole performance. Because the public sectors didn’t do well, mal administration caused economic recession a lot. We public servants should always keep it in our mind, shouldn’t we? I have worked as a primary land governor for about ten years. I serve the social by considering myself as the pillar of the state. I deeply find that carrying out the land governance smoothly will benefit all the people. The quality of surveying especially has a great impact on people’s rights and interests, so the land surveyors should take the attitude toward making continual progress, establish public reliance to meet with the citizens’ approval. When the surveyors and his assistant go outside to execute one of their routine business─to appraise land bounds, they make the conclusion of people’s estate right after their appraisal. Although there are a lot of interior document verification, this kind of process may cause some problems. We can say that there may be something wrong with the conclusion of field-work. If the person concerned can’t differentiate between right and wrong about the surveying conclusion and doesn’t know how to take the following steps by law, the surveying may cause a man to build his house on others’ land or provoke a lot of conflicts about the land boundary. I think we can really promote people’s reliance of executing civil rights by controlling and reducing this kind of mistakes efficiently. That’s the reason why I want to adopt the conception of total quality management (TQM) as my research to improve the quality of land surveying.

This dissertation examines congregations' sponsorship of social services for people living with mental disorders. Using data from a nationally representative sample of U.S. congregations, the 2000 US Census, and the 2006 General Social Survey, I address three research questions: What proportion of congregations sponsor services for people living with mental disorders?; How do congregational characteristics affect the likelihood that congregations sponsor these services?; How do neighborhood characteristics and community assessments affect the likelihood that congregations sponsor these services?; Does being a member of a congregation that sponsors these services affect their members' support for government spending on mental health care? The findings indicate that 8% of congregations sponsor services for people living with mental disorders and that religious ideology affects whether congregations sponsor these services. Congregations located in neighborhoods with disadvantaged populations are more likely to sponsor services if they conduct a needs assessment study of their communities while congregations in neighborhoods with advantaged populations are less likely to sponsor services for people living with mental disorders if they conduct a needs assessment study of their communities. Belonging to congregations that sponsor services for people living with mental disorders does not have a direct effect on their members' support for government funding of mental health care. It does, however, have indirect effects. People who belong to congregations that sponsor services for people living with mental disorders and who pray frequently are less likely to support increased government spending on mental health care.

Dissertation

Knowledge translation and exchange (KTE) is integral to the formation of evidence-informed policy. Prior to the work presented in this dissertation, a significant body of literature existed in the healthcare field regarding research-to-policy KTE; however, little was known about KTE between researchers and policymakers in the Canadian food safety system or the context-specific barriers that influence KTE. A mixed-methods approach was used, grounded in concepts from the healthcare literature, to explore Canadian food safety researchers’ KTE awareness and activities with policymakers, the barriers hindering KTE engagement and success, and timing and informational disparities between research and policy needs that may hinder KTE success. Canadian food safety researcher awareness of and engagement in KTE activities with policymakers was high. However engagement in activities identified as having the greatest potential for KTE success—i.e., collaboration with policymakers at all stages of the research process, provision of syntheses such as systematic reviews, and provision of a searchable database of research findings—was low relative to end-of-research dissemination of findings to policymakers. Several barriers were identified that limited KTE engagement and success from the researcher’s perspective, including an inability to identify relevant policymakers, high policymaker turnover, a lack of resources and support in the research organization, a perceived lack of KTE skills on the part of researchers, and an inability to break free from traditional publish-or-perish research roles. Apparent informational disconnects (i.e., research output not meeting policymakers’ apparent informational needs) were identified that may further hinder KTE and evidence-informed policymaking. While new methodologies, such as systematic review, have been adapted for food safety research, boosting researchers’ potential ability to produce policy-relevant evidence, a cultural shift must occur in research and policymaking organizations, if sustained KTE is to be successful. As well, significant future investment must be made on the part of research organizations and policymakers, if KTE barriers are to be mitigated. Future research should evaluate KTE tools (e.g., sustained linkages between researchers and policymakers, provision of syntheses, provision of access to a database of research findings) to identify specific methods that may facilitate research use in food safety policymaking.
Blake Graham Fellowship, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Public Health Agency of Canada

abstract: Increasing public criticism of traditional teacher evaluation systems based largely on classroom observations has spurred an unprecedented shift in the debate surrounding educational accountability policies, specifically about the purposes for and measures used to evaluate teachers. In response to growing public demand and associated federal mandates, states have been prompted to design and implement teacher evaluation systems that use increasingly available, statistically complex models (i.e., value-added) intended to isolate and measure the effects of individual teachers on student academic growth over time. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of school administrators and teachers within one of the largest school districts in the state of Arizona with regards to the design and implementation of a federally-supported, state policy-directed teacher evaluation system based on professional practice and value-added measures. While much research has been conducted on teacher evaluation, few studies have examined teacher evaluation systems in context to better understand the standards of effectiveness used by school administrators and teachers to measure system effectiveness. The perceptions of school administrators and teachers, considering their lived experiences as the subjects of the nation's new and improved teacher evaluation systems in context, must be better understood if state and federal policymakers are to also better recognize and understand the consequences (intended and unintended) associated with the design and implementation of these systems in practice.
Dissertation/Thesis
Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2014

This manuscript is comprised of three papers that examine the far-reaching and often invisible political outcomes of gender role socialization in the United States. These papers focus primarily on two areas: political confidence amongst girls and women, and the effects of gender on survey measurement and data quality.

Chapter one focuses on political confidence, and the likelihood that women will run for political office. Women continue to be underrepresented at all levels of political leadership, and their lack of political ambition, relative to men, has been identified as a primary cause. In this paper, I explore the relationship between an individual's masculinity and femininity and her development of political ambition. Using original survey data from the 2012 Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES), I first empirically demonstrate that gender (masculinity/femininity) and sex (male/female) are unique elements of identity and, moreover, are both independently related to political ambition. I then explore the relevance of gender for the study of candidate emergence, testing whether and how masculinity and femininity might be related to political ambition are supported empirically. While the results suggest that masculinity is positively associated with the development of political ambition, the relationship between femininity and candidate emergence seems to be more complicated and not what prevailing stereotypes might lead us to expect. Moreover, while the relationship between masculinity and political ambition is the same for men and women, the relationship between femininity and political ambition is very different for women than it is for men. This study suggests that gender role socialization is highly related with both men's and women's desire to seek positions of political leadership.

Chapter two continues this exploration of gendered differences in the development of political ambition, this time exploring how social attractiveness and gendered perceptions of political leadership impact the desire to hold political office.Women are persistently underrepresented as candidates for public office and remain underrepresented at all levels of government in the United States. Previous literature suggests that the gendered ambition gap, gender socialization, insufficient recruitment, media scrutiny, family responsibilities, modern campaign strategies, and political opportunity structures all contribute to the gender imbalance in pools of officeholders and candidates. To explain women's reticence to run, scholars have offered explanations addressing structural, institutional, and individual-level factors that deter women from becoming candidates, especially for high positions in the U.S. government. This paper examines a previously unexplored factor: how dating and socialized norms of sexual attraction affect political ambition. This study investigates whether young, single, and heterosexual women's desire for male attention and fear of being perceived as unattractive or "too ambitious" present obstacles to running for office. The results of these experiments suggest that social expectations about gender, attraction and sexuality, and political office-holding may contribute to women's reticence to pursue political leadership. Chapter two is a co-authored work and represents the joint efforts of Laura Lazarus Frankel, Shauna Shames, and Nadia Farjood.

Chapter 3 bridges survey methodology and gender socialization, focusing on how interviewer sex affects survey measurement and data quality. Specifically, this paper examines whether and how matching interviewer and respondent sex affects panel attrition--respondents dropping out of the study after participating in the first wave. While the majority of research on interviewer effects suggests that matching interviewer and respondent characteristics (homophily) yields higher quality data, little work has examined whether this pattern holds true in the area of panel attrition. Using paradata from the General Social Survey (GSS), I explore this question. My analysis reveals that, despite its broader positive effects on data quality, matching interviewer and respondent sex increases likelihood to attrit. Interestingly, this phenomenon only emerges amongst male respondents. However, while assigning female interviewers to male respondents decreases their propensity to attrit, it also increases the likelihood of biased responses on gender related items. These conflicting outcomes represent a tradeoff for scholars and survey researchers, requiring careful consideration of mode, content, and study goals when designing surveys and/or analyzing survey data. The implications of these patterns and areas for further research are discussed.

Together, these papers illustrate two ways that gender norms are related to political outcomes: they contribute to patterns of candidate emergence and affect the measurement of political attitudes and behaviors.

Dissertation

no
Aims and objectives To (1) investigate the organisation, provision and practice of oral care in typical UK stroke units; (2) explore stroke survivors', carers' and healthcare professionals' experiences and perceptions about the barriers and facilitators to receiving and undertaking oral care in stroke units. Background Cerebrovascular disease and oral health are major global health concerns. Little is known about the provision, challenges and practice of oral care in the stroke unit setting, and there are currently no evidence-based practice guidelines. Design Cross-sectional survey of 11 stroke units across Greater Manchester and descriptive qualitative study using focus groups and semi-structured interviews. Methods A self-report questionnaire was used to survey 11 stroke units in Greater Manchester. Data were then collected through two focus groups (n = 10) with healthcare professionals and five semi-structured interviews with stroke survivors and carers. Focus group and interview data were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using framework approach. Results Eleven stroke units in Greater Manchester responded to the survey. Stroke survivors and carers identified a lack of oral care practice and enablement by healthcare professionals. Healthcare professionals identified a lack of formal training to conduct oral care for stroke patients, inconsistency in the delivery of oral care and no set protocols or use of formal oral assessment tools. Conclusion Oral care post-stroke could be improved by increasing healthcare professionals' awareness, understanding and knowledge of the potential health benefits of oral care post-stroke. Further research is required to develop and evaluate the provision of oral care in stroke care to inform evidence-based education and practice.

Tese de Doutoramento em Arquitectura, apresentada à Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade de Coimbra
Em Portugal, acompanhando os restantes nacionalismos europeus, ocorreu uma vaga tradicionalista de reaportuguesamento da arquitectura na segunda metade da década de 30 do século XX, que neutralizou a prática do modernismo arquitectónico, inviabilizou o florescimento da arquitectura moderna, nas décadas de 40 e 50 e levou ao surgimento do chamado «português suave». Na historiografia da arquitectura portuguesa, o papel e a responsabilidade de Raul Lino não são consensuais neste processo. Porém, a hostilidade crítica à arquitectura moderna está presente na doutrina da «casa portuguesa» de Raul Lino, e terá contribuído para a inflexão dos arquitectos modernistas para o tradicionalismo, que colocou um fim no designado “efémero modernismo”. Raul Lino a partir de 1933, com a publicação de “Casas Portuguesas”, assumiu um activismo anti-internacionalista e o protagonismo da crítica contra a arquitectura modernista portuguesa. A sua acção passou a ser conflituosamente crítica acabando por ser considerado o censor da arquitectura com acções de oposição tomadas nos gabinetes oficiais do Regime contra à arquitectura moderna. O Inquérito à Arquitectura Regional Portuguesa organizado pelo Sindicato Nacional dos Arquitectos, em 1955, que deu origem à publicação do livro Arquitectura Popular em Portugal (1961), deliberadamente apresentado sem excessos de erudição nem exageros de pormenor, marca um ponto de inflexão na história da arquitectura portuguesa, concluindo justamente que Portugal carece de unidade em matéria de arquitectura e que a diversidade existente impede que se possa admitir a existência de uma «Arquitectura portuguesa» ou uma «casa portuguesa». Embora haja unanimidade em considerar que o Inquérito pôs um ponto final na questão da «casa portuguesa», não se conhece um estudo na disciplina da arquitectura que se tenha debruçado sobre o entendimento das causas do problema da «casa portuguesa», encarado desde a evolução das condições da prática profissional na primeira metade do século XX, que culminou na necessidade da realização de um estudo às condições da habitação da arquitectura regional. Em tese pretende-se mostrar que terá sido a degradação dessas condições, a perda da liberdade conceptual num contexto de crise de dignidade profissional, em boa parte determinada por uma evolução ideológica da doutrina da «casa portuguesa» que orientou a viragem tradicionalista na arquitectura de finais da década de 30, a um tal ponto, que só a criação de um instrumento promovido pelo Sindicato Nacional dos Arquitectos com uma ampla visão da arquitectura popular em Portugal poderia ser capaz de superar os constrangimentos sentidos pelos arquitectos. Um dos objectivos desta tese consiste em determinar e caracterizar uma linha de evolução do método de pesquisa do Inquérito à Arquitectura Regional Portuguesa, tentando aferir o modo como algumas linhas de pensamento propostas por Le Corbusier possam ter tido repercussões no desenvolvimento daquele estudo.
In Portugal, accompanying other European nationalisms, emerged a revival of traditionalist architecture in the second half of the 30s of the twentieth century, which neutralized the practice of architectural modernism, rendered the modern architecture inoperable during the 40s and 50s, and led to the emergence of the so-called «soft Portuguese» slyle [estilo «português suave»]. In the historiography of Portuguese architecture, the role and responsibility of Raul Lino are not consensual in this process. However, critical hostility to modern architecture is present in Raul Lino's «Portuguese house» doctrine, and contributed to the inflection of modernist architects into traditionalism, which put an end to the so-called "ephemeral modernism." Raul Lino, in 1933, with the publication of the book Casas Portuguesas assumed an anti-internationalist activism and the leading role of criticism against Portuguese modernist architecture. His actions came to be conflictingly critical and he was eventually considered the censor of architecture with opposition actions taken in the official offices of the Regime against modern architecture. The Portuguese Regional Architecture Survey organized by the National Union of Architects in 1955, which gave rise to the publication of the book Arquitectura Popular em Portugal, 1961, [Popular Architecture in Portugal], deliberately presented without excesses of erudition or exaggeration of details, marks a turning point in the history of Portuguese architecture, concluding precisely that Portugal lacks unity in the field of architecture and that the existing diversity prevents one from admitting the existence of a «Portuguese Architecture» or a «Portuguese House». Although there is unanimity in considering that the Survey has put an end to the question of the «Portuguese house», it is not known any study in the discipline of architecture that has dealt with the understanding of the causes of the «Portuguese house» problem and the evolution of the conditions of the professional practice in the first half of the 20th century culminating in the need to carry out a study to the housing conditions of the regional architecture. The present thesis is intended to clarify that the degradation of these conditions, and the loss of conceptual freedom, in a context of professional dignity crisis, was largely determined by an ideological evolution of the doctrine of the «Portuguese house» that guided the traditionalist architecture of the late 30s to such an extent that only the creation of an instrument promoted by the National Union of Architects, with an overview of popular architecture in Portugal, could be able to overcome the constraints felt by the architects. One of the main objectives of the thesis is to determine and characterize a line of evolution of the research method of the Portuguese Regional Architecture Survey, trying to ascertain how some lines of thought proposed by Le Corbusier may have had repercussions in the development of that study.