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楊謹鴻 and Kim-fong Roseline Yong. "Exploring hikikomori: a mixed methods qualitative research." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2008. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B41712146.
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Yong, Kim-fong Roseline. "Exploring hikikomori a mixed methods qualitative research /." Click to view the E-thesis via HKUTO, 2008. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record/B41712146.
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Schier, Christa Marianne. "Qualitative Internet research : its objects, methods and ethical challenges." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/4356.
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Knapke, Jacqueline M., Erin N. Haynes, and Lisa M. Vaughn. "Using Qualitative Methods to Improve Physician Research Training: Understanding the Student Perspective." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2017. https://dc.etsu.edu/ijhse/vol4/iss1/3.
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For several decades now, physician-scientists have been referred to as an “endangered species.” Many factors have contributed to the dearth of clinical investigators, and training programs in clinical research are just one tool in a multi-pronged strategy to increase the number of successful physician-scientists working in health research. A qualitative approach that analyzes students’ educational goals and experiences can help fill the gaps in our knowledge about how best to train aspiring physician-scientists. This study was an interpretive phenomenology that evaluated the Master of Science program in Clinical and Translational Research (MSCTR) at the University of Cincinnati. The purpose of the study was to allow students to articulate their expectations, needs, and experiences in the MSCTR. The study included a group level assessment (GLA) and document review. Findings suggest several reasons students enrolled in the MSCTR, as well as some areas for improvement in the program: more physician-centered classes, a more directed curriculum, and a more cohesive course plan overall. Conclusions from these recommendations are that student perspectives can inform decisions around curricula and instructional methods in powerful ways, particularly when combined with a qualitative methodological approach. This study revealed several insights into how faculty and administrators can more effectively train physicians in research methodology. Training should be as applied and relevant as possible to make it directly applicable to clinical practice. This goal could be enhanced if classes – particularly statistics classes – were more physician-oriented. The curriculum of a clinical research training program for clinicians should be clear and directed, but with some flexibility and space within the curriculum for classes within areas of specialization. Collaboration should be integrated throughout, and courses should follow a logical, interconnected sequence.
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Liao, Hongjing. "Reporting Credibility in Educational Evaluation Studies that Use Qualitative Methods: A Mixed Methods Research Synthesis." Ohio University / OhioLINK, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1426115203.
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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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Schulze, S., and G. Kamper. "The use of mixed methods as reflected in two eminent South African educational research journals." Journal for New Generation Sciences, Vol 10, Issue 1: Central University of Technology, Free State, Bloemfontein, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/11462/603.
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Published ArticleThe epistemological and ontological orientations relevant for this research are positivism, interpretivism and pragmatism. These paradigms of inquiry are associated with quantitatively oriented research traditions, qualitatively oriented research traditions and mixed methods research respectively. Researchers who use mixed methods build on the strengths of quantitative and qualitative methods and minimize their weaknesses. Since educational research is primarily evidence-based, the aim of the study was to explore the extent to which mixed methods research was reflected in two eminent South African educational research journals during the 11 year period, 2000 to 2010. To this end 1392 articles were analysed. Of the research articles published in the two journals, 17.8% and 15.1% respectively reported on the use of mixed methods. Quantitative methods dominated between 2000 and 2002, followed by a paradigm war in 2003 to 2007, and mainly qualitative methods from 2008 onwards. Mixed methods research was mostly used in the educational domains of didactics (inclusive of curriculum studies), management and social studies. The most dominant themes investigated in these fields were related to curricula and the NQF/OBE, transformation, staff diversity, e-learning and other teaching methods. The need to develop mixed methods research in all branches of social research in South Africa is indicated.
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Carduff, Emma Kathryn. "Realising the potential : developing qualitative longitudinal methods for understanding the experience of metastatic colorectal cancer." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/8193.
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Background Qualitative longitudinal research (QLR) has a long history in the social sciences, where its theoretical basis is well established. Qualitative longitudinal (QL) methods are gaining popularity in health care research for exploring the dynamic experience of illness. However, methodological development of QLR is limited within the health literature, and there are very few studies examining the experience of people with colorectal cancer (CRC). Moreover, such studies describe the experiences of those surviving CRC and the voices of those with advanced disease who are approaching the end of their lives remain largely unheard. Aim and objective This study explores the potential of QL interviewing to examine the experiences of those with advanced, metastatic, CRC. I investigate how QL interviews can be best utilised to explore the participants’ accounts of their experiences. I specifically examine the added value and costs of a flexible approach with regard to the frequency and timing of longitudinal interviews. Analytical approaches to QL data are examined to determine their overall value. Methods Sixteen patients with metastatic CRC and eight of their family carers participated in narrative interviews at three time points over the course of a year. The study was designed to include two groups of participants. The first, a routine interval group where interviews were carried out at regular intervals of six months; the second, a flexible interval group where there was an interview at baseline followed by monthly phone calls to track changes in the participants’ circumstances, with a view to conducting the interview as change was occurring. The data were analysed at each time point, and longitudinally using narrative and thematic techniques. Findings The QL design enabled a trusting relationship to evolve, such that private accounts of experience were disclosed. Thus, a nuanced and contextualised understanding of the experience of metastatic CRC materialised. Overall the accounts of CRC were characterised by uncertainty, yet at the same time death was a certainty. Over time, this dual narrative led to participants feeling themselves to be in an ambiguous and liminal state. Some participants described a loss of sense of self, yet others maintained their identity. The work that participants carried out to manage their sense of self changed, as they moved from a collective to an individual identity. In the flexible interval group, monthly telephone calls produced an even more profound research relationship and further enriched the accounts. However, early interviews were only conducted on two occasions and more ethical issues arose as a result of the increased contact. Conclusions By exploring the potential of QL methods, this study has developed the methodology for researching the experiences of those with serious illness. QL interviewing elicits a deep understanding of metastatic CRC that appreciates notions of temporality, process and change. Regular contact with participants between interviews can further enrich the accounts, and is a useful strategy for tracking changes given the unpredictable nature of advanced disease. This thesis showcases the cross-sectional and longitudinal opportunities that QL analysis presents; yet also highlights how longitudinal narrative analysis allows a story to unfold over time which reflects the beginning, the middle and for some the end of the illness experience. Although QL analysis is time consuming, and more contact can amplify ethical issues, the benefits outweigh the constraints.
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Gittins, Robert Godfrey. "Strategies in qualitative research methods in the evolution of software development processes." Thesis, Bangor University, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.412260.
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Bendell, Katherine. "Using Methods that Matter: A Critical Examination of Photovoice for Studying Supportive Housing." Thesis, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/31996.
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Photovoice is a Participatory Action Research (PAR) method that generates knowledge about the lived experiences of members of marginalized communities. Participants are understood to be experts of their experiences and are asked to take photos of their lives. Photovoice is highly flexible in application and participants can have varying degrees of involvement in components of the method, from design to dissemination of findings. Although providing opportunity for a high degree of participation is ideal, this is less frequently demonstrated in the literature. To understand the impact of participation on the type of information generated, individuals living in supportive housing were asked to share their experiences of their housing. Perspectives of consumers of supportive housing have had little presence in the housing literature, particularly within a photovoice framework. Therefore, this research asked consumers about their housing as well as how they experienced their participation across two photovoice projects that afforded more and less opportunity for participation.
This dissertation consists of three studies conducted on two distinct projects. Studies 1 and 2 were conducted on the HousingPlus Photovoice Project, an investigator initiated and driven application of photovoice. Study1 examined what can be learned about supportive housing and revealed rich information about participants’ experiences with their housing. Study 2 examined experiences of stakeholders with the photovoice method, including participants and project contributors. Study 2 revealed three distinct approaches to photography: planned, discovery-oriented, and task-oriented approaches to photography. Participants who used a discovery-oriented approach tended to benefit the most from this project. Contributors shared the common value of supporting participation but had divergent perspectives of the photographs, an important product of participation. Contributors tended to focus either on the external or internal photo narratives.
Study 3 was conducted on the Home Photovoice Project, which was initiated and run by a community-based agency. This second project provided a point of comparison to determine whether a more participatory application of photovoice would result in similar or distinct findings related to supportive housing and stakeholder experiences with the method. Although the three distinct styles of participation observed in the HousingPlus Photovoice Project were also observed in the Home Photovoice Project, most participants developed a planned approach to photography over time. Participants who began with a planned or task-oriented approach tended to benefit the most from this more participatory application of photovoice. More was learned about shared participant experiences and perspectives in the Home Photovoice Project. In contrasting these projects it is apparent that the choice of methodological focus significantly impacts the photos and narratives produced, approaches to participation, and stakeholder experiences of photovoice. This has important implications for the design and delivery of photovoice projects.
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Jester, JuliaGrace J. "A feminist social psychological study utilizing theatre of the oppressed methods to explore issues of women's voices." Oxford, Ohio : Miami University, 2003. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=miami1059074145.
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Froschauer, Ulrike, and Manfred Lueger. "Artefact Analysis in Organisational Research." WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, 2016. http://epub.wu.ac.at/5113/1/FroschauerLueger2016.pdf.
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Man-made objects are an expression of both the social organisation in which
they were produced and the communicative context in which they appear
and are used. In this respect, they represent easily accessible material, which
is highly suitable for and useful in reconstructing the social structures in organisations
and opening up latent structures of meaning for analysis. Nevertheless
the analysis of physical materials has tended to live a shadow existence.
This paper presents a hermeneutic method of analysing artefacts in organisations.
The basic concept centres on the reconstructing of the processes of
meaning and organising in social systems. After providing a brief introduction
to the methodological principles, the paper goes on to discuss this
method in greater detail. Concrete examples of the study of specific materials
in an organisational analysis context are used to ground the interpretation
of artefacts in the overall organisational analysis context. The paper closes
with a discussion of the possibilities and limitations of this kind of analysis. (authors' abstract)Series: ["p_series_typename_S48" not defined]
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Barnett, Inka. "Physical activity and the transition to retirement : combining quantitative and qualitative research methods." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2013. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.648141.
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Britton, Richard. "Investigating how the subjective experience of worry is constructed by qualitative research methods." Thesis, University of Liverpool, 2016. http://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/2049179/.
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The purpose of this review is to identify and summarise qualitative research focusing on the subjective experience of worry. The majority of research to date has focussed on quantitative measures of worry which limit participants’ responses to ratings on pre-defined questionnaire items. In summarising open ended subjective studies about the experience of worry, this review aims to identify phenomenological aspects of the experience of worry that may further advance theory development. Findings are summarised. The following key qualitative themes were identified, a) control over worry, b) value assessments of worry, c) perceived causes of worry and d) cognitive features of worry. However, all qualitative studies identified by the review were lacking in quality, transparency and/or richness. It is recommended that further research be conducted which utilise qualitative methodologies involving rigorous and transparent processes.
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Hällgren, Nina. "Designing with Urban Sound : Exploring methods for qualitative sound analysis of the built environment." Licentiate thesis, KTH, Arkitektur, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-240078.
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The licentiate thesis Designing with Urban Sound explores the constitution and qualitative characteristics of urban sonic space from a design-oriented and practice-based perspective. The act of lifting forth and illuminating the interaction between architecture, the creation of sound and a sonic experience aims to examine and develop useful tools and methods for the representation, communication and analysis of the exterior sonic environment in complex architectural spaces. The objective is to generate theoretical and practical knowledge within the field of urban sound planning and design by showing examples of different and complementary ways of communicating and analyzing sound than those which are commonly recognized.Licentiatavhandlingen Designa med stadens ljud undersöker det urbana ljudrummets konstitution och kvalitativa egenskaper utifrån ett designorienterat och praktiknära perspektiv. Avsikten med arbetet är att utveckla verktyg och metoder för representation, kommunikation och analys av stadens exteriöra ljudmiljö genom att synliggöra interaktionen mellan arkitektur, ljudbildning och upplevelse. Genom att visa exempel på andra sätt att kommunicera och analysera ljud i staden än dagens vedertagna metoder, är syftet är att bidra till kunskapsutvecklingen inom fältet för urban ljudplanering- och design.
QC 20181211
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Groschel, Uwe. "Audiences and participants : researching theatre users at Contact, Manchester." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2013. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/audiences-and-participants-researching-theatre-users-at-contact-manchester(ed0dbc91-5fc5-44ea-a7c8-627691ab8e1e).html.
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When people 'go to the theatre' we know that they are audiences. When young people go to Contact, however, they might be audiences, performers and/or theatre makers - they might play all three or more roles. Contact's users blur existing concepts and terminology. When we want to know more about theatre audiences, audience research offers models based on the distinction between audiences and theatre makers. If we want to know more about Contact's users, however, a model reflecting the blending of audiences and theatre makers' roles has yet to be developed. This thesis engages with Contact's users. It maps some of their multiple roles and experiences by asking two main questions: What are the practices of the people attending Contact and how can these practices be researched? A range of qualitative methods is necessary in order to investigate the wide variety of Contact's users' roles and experiences. Individual and group interviews are drawn from audience research, creative workshops are drawn from communication studies, and participant observation and visual research from the social sciences. Finally, a new method, Walking Fieldwork, is adapted for the use in theatre. A number of case studies are employed to investigate Contact's users. These case studies involve the observation of young actors during rehearsals and performances, the observation of participants in an outreach project, the investigation of audiences' experiences of two productions, and several short post-show interviews with general Contact audiences. This study found evidence that the relationship between theatre makers and audiences is changing. The term 'theatre user' is introduced as it opens up an area of overlap between the two and fits contemporary practices at Contact more closely. Contact's users function as communities, participants and co-creators. The descriptions of these roles and experiences contained in this thesis are understood as an initial exploration into practices of contemporary theatre users. However, further research is needed to build a more detailed understanding of these practices. In terms of research methods, this study found that the academic field of audience research needs to develop methods which are sensitive to both the backgrounds of theatre users and the theatrical context. The argument is put forward that audience research should become more aware of methods for the investigation of human experience and should enter into a 'methods-dialogue' with other academic fields of study.
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Baranowska-Rataj, Anna, Anna Matysiak, and Monika Mynarska. "Does Lone Motherhood Decrease Women's Happiness? Evidence from Qualitative and Quantitative Research." Springer Nature, 2014. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10902-013-9486-z.
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This paper contributes to the discussion on the effects of single motherhood on
happiness. We use a mixed-method approach. First, based on indepth interviews with
mothers who gave birth while single, we explore mechanisms through which children may
influence mothers' happiness. In a second step, we analyze panel survey data to quantify
this influence. Our results leave no doubt that, while raising a child outside of marriage
poses many challenges, parenthood has some positive influence on a lone mother's life.
Our qualitative evidence shows that children are a central point in an unmarried woman's
life, and that many life decisions are taken with consideration of the child's welfare,
including escaping from pathological relationships. Our quantitative evidence shows that,
although the general level of happiness among unmarried women is lower than among their
married counterparts, raising a child does not have a negative impact on their happiness.
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Cardwell, Steven McDonald. "A study to determine the nature of science teachers' functional paradigms using qualitative research methods." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1988. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/28593.
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It is believed that one of the overriding factors that has contributed to the resistance to curriculum change on the part of teachers is that some of the new curricula seem to require a major change in teaching methodology and style. This change amounts to a conflict between paradigms. If this belief is correct, then one can argue that there will have to be a shift in teachers' functional paradigms in order for these curriculum innovations to be implemented.
The study focuses on the goals, problems, exemplars, and routines, which constitute the "functional paradigms" of teachers. The term "functional paradigm" is meant to convey the idea that the characteristics which unite a community of practitioners are likely to be centered on practical matters: Why do teachers function in particular ways? Do teachers attach "common meanings" to particular situations or entitles?
The following specific research questions were examined:
1. What are some of the factors which influence the formulation of teachers' functional paradigms?
2. What is the nature of teachers' functional paradigms? 3. a) What are the perceptions of teachers with regard to curriculum change?
b) What is the relationship between teachers' functional paradigms and their perceptions of curriculum change?
c) To what extent do teachers' functional paradigms become idiosyncratic when they are faced with a curriculum change?
The methodology involved interviews with teachers. A
pilot study was conducted prior to the main study. The
interviews in the main study were analyzed in terms of six
main categories.
The results seem to indicate:
1. There are common categories and sub-categories that contribute to the formation, development, and maintenance of teachers/ functional paradigms. They include:
o past educational experiences.
o background in general.
o practicum experiences.
o past and present teaching experiences.
o curriculum materials.
o constraints on teaching.
o school, students, and other workers in the school.
2. There seems to be a "core" of common categories among teachers. The intersection of elements within these categories composes the functional paradigms of teachers in general. Although the paradigms are functional in an active sense, they are relatively stable within the "culture", and over the long term. This stability must be considered if innovators in education ever contemplate a change which would require a shift in teachers'" functional paradigms. This commonality of beliefs, routines, problems, and exemplars is probably greater among teachers within the same small segment of the organization than within the entire profession.
3. Evidently, teachers select, interpret, and utilize learning materials in different ways dependent on the nature of their personal functional paradigms. A number of differing elements in teachers'' functional paradigms have been identified. These elements determine how teachers teach in terms of their use of curriculum materials. Curriculum change agents must consider the functional paradigms of individuals and determine how common these paradigms are before attempting a major pedagogical change. This study has shown that if these factors are not considered, then the curriculum change that is contemplated will be reduced to a mere change in content. The teachers will utilize the curriculum materials according to their own functional paradigms.
4. The inertia against curriculum change is most difficult to overcome with more experienced teachers, and more easily overcome with beginning teachers. This suggests that the focus of curriculum implementation needs to be aimed at certain segments of the profession. Somehow the change agents must assist educators to change their functional paradigms to meet the desired ends of the new curriculum prior to implementation. The alternative is the disparity that seems to exist between the curriculum that is intended by the policy makers, the curriculum that is implemented by the teachers, and the curriculum that is ultimately attained by the students.Education, Faculty of
Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of
Graduate
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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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Cyr, J. "The Pitfalls and Promise of Focus Groups as a Data Collection Method." SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/615820.
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Despite their long trajectory in the social sciences, few systematic works
analyze how often and for what purposes focus groups appear in published
works. This study fills this gap by undertaking a meta-analysis of focus group
use over the last 10 years. It makes several contributions to our understanding
of when and why focus groups are used in the social sciences. First, the study
explains that focus groups generate data at three units of analysis, namely, the
individual, the group, and the interaction. Although most researchers rely
upon the individual unit of analysis, the method’s comparative advantage lies in
the group and interactive units. Second, it reveals strong affinities between
each unit of analysis and the primary motivation for using focus groups as a data
collection method. The individual unit of analysis is appropriate for triangulation;
the group unit is appropriate as a pretest; and the interactive unit is
appropriate for exploration. Finally, it offers a set of guidelines that researchers
should adopt when presenting focus groups as part of their research design.
Researchers should, first, state the main purpose of the focus group in a
research design; second, identify the primary unit of analysis exploited; and
finally, list the questions used to collect data in the focus group.
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Jordanov, Dejan. "Up-lift in Vaggeryd : Qualitative Analysis of Entrepreneurial Education in Vaggeryd." Thesis, Jönköping University, JIBS, EMM (Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Management), 2007. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-991.
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PROBLEM DISCUSSION: Vaggeryd is a small municipality Småland. In addition to its
strategic position along the main traffic route E4, Vaggeryd is very interesting also because
of its advanced view on growing of the business sector, in both short and long-term per-
spective.
To meet that goal the municipality of Vaggeryd started to invest in “Egenföretagareutbildningen”
EFU in cooperation with Jönköping International Business School (JIBS). The
main idea is that students attend the courses that are held by JIBS and during their studies start their own business in a local business incubator called Fenix.
PURPOSE: To host such education requires a huge amount of energy and resources from
the municipality, which consequently would like to get answers to questions like “Is it worth investing in the education?” or “What are the results of such education?”
The aim of this paper is to give the answers to those crucial questions though I believe that
the time that has passed from the beginning of the education is too short and that the
number of the students was not large enough to get definitive answers.
This paper concentrates on a narrow part of the qualitative research methods – an inter-
view. It is divided into two parts, a theoretical part and the empirical findings.
FINDINGS: The research showed that six students out of a total of ten from generation 2005 started a new venture, three will take over a family business, and one has not decided
to start a business yet. Of six students in generation 2003 four have started a business and one of them finished in bankruptcy, one plans to start a business in the future and one does not have a good business idea.
RECOMMENDATIONS: Answers that the interviews returned gave interesting sugges-
tions to both the municipality of Vaggeryd and JIBS about how to improve EFU. I would
emphasise two, I believe, the most important recommendations. First municipality has to
attract neighbouring municipalities in the EFU project. In addition, a greater effort should be made to help students build a spider’s web of business contacts.
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Bullock, Steven David. "Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods to Inform Management of the Cadillac Mountain Summit, Acadia National Park." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/34144.
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Included in this thesis are two papers describing companion studies which employed complementary methodologies to study the issue of how Acadia National Park might balance resource protection efforts and maintain quality visitor experiences on the summit of Cadillac Mountain. In the first study, stated choice analysis was used to assess visitors' preferences for alternative combinations of public access, resource protection, visitor regulation, and site hardening to manage the Cadillac Mountain summit. Results suggest that visitors consider resource protection to be a priority and are willing to accept regulation of their behavior onsite, reinforced with the use of moderately to highly intensive management structures, but generally don't support limiting public access to the summit to achieve resource protection objectives. In the second study, qualitative interviews were conducted to provide an in-depth understanding of visitor experiences on the summit of Cadillac Mountain and how site management actions designed to achieve resource protection objectives might affect visitors' experiences. Respondents indicated that the summit of Cadillac Mountain is a centerpiece of Acadia National Park, and their experiences of the mountain summit are centered around the aesthetics and naturalness of Cadillac Mountain. Several factors emerged as influencing whether site management actions are deemed appropriate by visitors and perceived to affect visitors' experiences. In particular, site management structures that were perceived to blend in with the surroundings, be constructed of natural materials and protect vegetation were considered appropriate and of little consequence to visitors' experiences. Some study participants also suggested that site management structures that provide visitors with the opportunity to freely demonstrate their choice to help protect vegetation and soils can enhance visitors' experiences. In contrast, site management structures and actions perceived as being regulatory, confining, or limiting opportunities for visitors to choose to help protect vegetation resources were considered less appropriate and more likely to negatively affect visitors' experiences.Master of Science
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Lu, Wei. "Left-behind children in rural China : research based on the use of qualitative methods in Inner Mongolia." Thesis, University of York, 2011. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/1546/.
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There is a dearth of knowledge about the experiences of primary school aged left-behind children in the family, school and the community. The term “left-behind children” has occurred in a variety of literature in China since the end of 1980s when the huge population flows from rural areas to urban areas began. A review of the existing research literature suggests that emergence of left-behind children in China is the result of some unique features of rural migration to the cities in China. Their parents’ migration has a significant impact on their welfare and wellbeing in every respect. The overall aim of this research is to explore the experiences of children’s being left behind at home, at school and in the community from the perspectives of four main groups of stakeholders: left-behind children, their guardians, their parents and their teachers. This thesis challenges the view of left-behind children as an event, but instead argues that it is a dynamic process of choice and change with a variety of outcomes. As this is only a small scale survey with the intention of exploring whether the more detailed case studies are typical of the experiences of a wider group of children, in-depth interviews were undertaken with twelve left-behind children and one not-left-behind child in three different stages. The research suggests that negative effects of their parents’ migration can also be seen to be cumulative and to create a negative ‘trajectory’ through which momentum for change developed, developments which seemed impossible to resist. However, both left-behind children and their parents are not always passive victims of the adverse outcomes. A number of parents make complex assessments of the child’s well-being and negotiate with carers and potential carers.
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Lee, Jae Hyun Julia. "Experiencing Community through the Asian American Lens: A Qualitative Study of Photovoice Participants." Digital Archive @ GSU, 2011. http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/psych_diss/89.
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The purpose of this study was to understand why there is such lack of citizen participation among Asian Americans, despite the exponential growth of Asian American population in the state. Based on the literature on sense of community, citizen participation, and psychological empowerment, it was speculated that how individuals experience community may influence their motivation to participate. With the goal to understand and document how Asian Americans define community and experience sense of community, a sample of Asian Americans were interviewed. These individuals were participants of the Photovoice project conducted by a local community-based organization. The second aim of the study was to explore if and how a project like Photovoice enhanced the sense of community among participants. The findings suggested that Asian Americans defined various types and multiple communities. Also, it was suggested that because Asian American community is an imposed community of people of diverse Asian background, Asian Americans may not necessarily define it as a community or experience sense of community within the community. Based on the experiences of the participants, Photovoice seem to have great potential in bringing such diverse group as Asian Americans together as a community. Limitations of the study and future directions are discussed.
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Knapke, Jacqueline M. "Improving Physician Research Training at the University of Cincinnati: A Mixed Methods Phenomenological Evaluation." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1439301047.
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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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Tipping-Ball, Bethany-Alicia. "Everyday Life on Planet Jedward: Thinking of John and Edward Grimes. On Everyday Life as a Jedward fan." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för kultur och kommunikation, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-124157.
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Identical twins John and Edward Grimes (artist name "Jedward") have been active for six years and have a heterogeneous following of fans. This thesis aims to investigate how and in which situations fans think about Jedward as part of their everyday life. Each of the three informants, plus the author, kept diaries recording the above for the course of one week. The diaries were subsequently coded into the groups Traditional Fandom, Social Media, Music, Places, Family & Friends, Interests & Hobbies, Studies, Film & TV and Food & Drink respectively. Auto-ethnographic method was implemented and combined with work within the spheres of fandom and music. At a later date informants were asked if there are any products or causes that they associate with John and Edward; in lieu of comprehensive answers, the author compiled such a list. For the fours fans taking part, John and Edward are experienced as being close to them in many different situations during their day-to-day lives, in much the same way as a close friend or loved one. The conclusion is that through aiming to portray my own interpretation of fandom, it has been possible to see just how creative and imaginative fans are, an enlightening reflection contrary to those which in many cases have been none too positive.
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Wright, Robert Demmon. "Students' Attitudes Towards Rapport-building Traits and Practices in Online Learning Environments." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2012. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc177265/.
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This research was a triangulated study of student attitudes towards instructors' rapport-building traits and their preferences amongst instructors' rapport-building practices in online learning environments. Participants were undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in courses within an educational technology program at a central Texas university. The study employed a mixed-methods approach involving the Likert-item assessment of learners' attitudes, the identification and prioritization of learner preferences through pairwise comparisons, and semi-structured interviews that provided richer, more detailed information. Findings indicated a strong preference for instructor-based traits and practices over pedagogically-based ones. These traits and practices loaded into the components of social presence, enjoyable interaction, and personal connection.
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Dean, Sylvia Estelle. "A Study of Qualitative Miscue Analysis Scoring Systems for Identification of Instructional Reading Levels." PDXScholar, 1991. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/1388.
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The purpose of this descriptive study was to determine the accuracy and practicality of May's Poor Reader (PR) scoring system for the informal reading inventory (IRI), an individual assessment device designed to determine a student's instructional reading level. The PR is a qualitative scoring system developed by Frank May that examines only two miscues (defaults and meaning-denigrating substitutions) in arriving at an estimate of instructional reading level. The predictor variable, PR, was compared for accuracy and practicality with five other predictor variables consisting of four traditional quantitative scoring systems and an additional qualitative system of May's; PR was also compared with four criterion variables: (a) a scoring system created by Frank May on the basis of research concerning miscues and informal reading inventories, a system that requires the use of a context scale and a graphophonic scale, (b) the judgments of tape recordings made by an experienced and knowledgeable reading coordinator, (c) the judgments of ten reading teachers of the students under their tutelage, (d) and a silent reading score on Form B of the same IRI. The comparisons were made through the use of Chi square tests of significance in which each of the six predictor variables was compared with each of the four criterion variables as to accuracy of agreement with the criterion variables.
Examination of the results showed that there were no significant differences between the instructional estimates made by the PR scoring system and two of the four criterion variables, the research based scoring system and the experienced reading coordinator. This was also true for May's third qualitative scoring system called the CGQ. All other differences in the estimates of instructional level were highly significant--with the four traditional predictor variables and with two of the four criterion variables (p < .01).
The main implications drawn from this study were: (1) Classroom teachers and reading teachers may wish to make use of May's PR scoring system for the IRI as a quick and qualitative way of estimating students' instructional reading level. (2) Since the PR scoring system met the criteria established for a qualitative IRI scoring system, researchers may wish to use this system in studies of informal reading inventories.
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O'Donnell, Kye. "An investigation into methods for capturing corporate knowledge in an Australian local government context." Thesis, Curtin University, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/1649.
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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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Aldrich, Carrie. "Working together: two qualitative approaches to researching writing support for doctoral students." Diss., University of Iowa, 2018. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/6358.
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This dissertation addresses two problems with advanced academic writing pedagogy. First, doctoral students must participate in academic discourse communities, yet they report being underprepared to do so (Boquet et al., 2015; Caplan & Cox, 2016). Second, studies (e.g., Curry & Lillis, 2004; Matsuda & Tardy, 2007; Tardy & Matsuda, 2009) suggest that L1 and L2 voices are not well integrated in the institution and that this lack of integration systemically privileges the dominant culture.
The purpose of this research is to investigate the role relationships play in helping culturally and linguistically diverse doctoral students negotiate and acquire advanced academic discourse. I pose the overarching research question: Given a discipline-specific writing center for graduate students in a College of Education, what role does interaction play in helping students to participate in academic conversations? The two papers in this collection employ qualitative classification and discourse analysis to investigate writing-related interactions among peers. Data include audio-recorded writing consultations and interviews, post-session reports, field notes, and artifacts.
Taken together, findings from this research highlight the role interaction can play in writing support, development, and research. This research has implications for developing writing pedagogy and support programs to facilitate productive academic socialization. In response, the researcher calls for more robust academic writing support in order to improve access and resources for diverse student populations and decrease attrition and time to degree for all students.
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Haddad, Hebba. "Dynamics of communicating climate change information : using mixed methods to examine the perspectives of scientists, communicators and publics." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10871/16883.
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The communication of anthropogenic climate change presents many challenges, for communicators, scientists, policymakers and publics alike. Particularly difficult is the issue of uncertainty, which can include ambiguity around the phenomenon of climate change, the possible impacts of this, and the timeframe within which such impacts will be seen. Previous research has established that audiences are often averse to uncertainty, and will disregard or ignore messages that contain it. This raises a theoretical and practical question of how best to manage uncertainty in climate change communication in order to maintain audience engagement. This question was the focus of this PhD research. Specifically, the aim of this thesis was to explore the process of climate change communication from the perspectives of the scientists, communicators, and the recipient. I achieved this research goal by utilising a mixed methods design. I firstly interviewed the originators (i.e., scientists) and professional communicators of climate change information to explore the process from their side (Chapter 2). This revealed a number of themes connecting to the different ways scientists and communicators understand the process of communication (e.g., as information exchange versus relationship building), the challenges of climate change communication and uncertainty in particular, and the (appropriate) role of scientists when communicating with the public about climate change. Next, in a series of studies I experimentally explored how audiences respond to variations in the informational content of climate change messages (such as the level of uncertainty) and the role of different communicative styles in further shaping audience engagement (Chapter 3). Broadly, the results of these studies suggest that while uncertainty can undermine audience engagement with climate change communications, the negative effects of uncertainty are buffered when the communicator is perceived to be high in morality and/ or when they use an open communication style. Interestingly, these effects of communication style were particularly evident among women, whereas men tended to react against this. Together, these studies show how relational factors (e.g., communication styles and perceptions of communication sources) can moderate the impact of informational content on audience responses. Finally, I ended this programme of research by looking in more detail at how audiences perceive a real scientific organisation engaged in climate change communication and the bases of their beliefs about organisation competence and morality (Chapter 4). This study combined qualitative and quantitative data to delve deeper into some of the insights gained in the experimental work, and to reconnect this to the real-world organisation context I began with. This study again showed how perceptions of communicator morality moderate responses to uncertainty, but also provide useful insights into the different origins of perceptions of morality and competence. Chapter 5 concludes by summarising the research presented in this thesis, discussing its strengths, limitations and ways forward. Here, I also consider the theoretical, methodological and practical implications of the thesis’ research findings. Briefly, it is argued that addressing the scientific uncertainties of climate change may not necessarily mean altering the form of information itself. Rather, modifying the language peripheral to the information that contains uncertainty, attending to the ways in which audiences perceive the sources of uncertainty, and considering variations amongst publics, may help to engage in effective communication around the complex issue of climate change.
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Garside, Ruth. "A comparison of methods for the systematic review of qualitative research : two examples using meta-ethnography and meta-study." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10036/116289.
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Systematic reviews and meta-analyses have been a central pillar of evidence-based practice and policy-making in healthcare over recent years. Traditionally, this has focused on effectiveness evidence from trials.. There is increasing understanding, however, that other study designs also provide essential information and this has led to interest in developing ways to review and synthesis such evidence. Qualitative research has unique potential to illuminate the patient experience. This research has three aims: 1) To review and compare the proposed methods of systematic review and synthesis of qualitative research. 2) To develop and assess two methods of systematic review and synthesis of qualitative research. 3) To compare these two methods and suggest how they might be used in a policy-making context. In addressing these aims, this thesis substantially contributes to debates about the purpose and practice of systematic review and synthesis of qualitative research, particularly in the context of health technology assessment and related pOlicy-making. I undertake a unique critical comparison of the methods suggested for reviewing and synthesising qualitative research, based on their approach to key stages of systematic review. This is used to produce a comprehensive framework for good practice~ I use the framework in two systematic reviews, one about heavy menstrual bleeding using meta-ethnography, and one about hysterectomy using meta-study. These two reviews allow a comparison of the two methods, and in particular explore the impact of expanding the meta-ethnography approach through meta-study, which adds explicit steps to assess the impact of study methodology and theory on findings. The ability of meta-study to unpack the procedures and theories that produce particular findings is key and illuminates the importance of theory in systematic reviews of qualitative research. Through the two systematic reviews, my thesis also contributes to understanding of these reproductive health topic areas through the creation of new insights and concepts from the synthesis. The synthesis of heavy menstrual bleeding studies produced a detailed patient illness model based on women's experiences. In addition, it allowed an understanding of elements that contribute to women's certainty or uncertainty about whether or not their periods could be seen as problematic and requiring medical help. This helps to establish the limitations of the medical model for doctors, as well as women who suffer from heavy menstrual bleeding. The synthesis of hysterectomy studies produced a detailed description of the journey that women make to, and through, hysterectomy, based on their experiences. I also created a theoretical framework, which shows that hysterectomy needs to be understood in the context of personal, physical experiences, together with sociocultural forces that affect the way in which hysterectomy is experienced, and that the interaction of these micro- and macro-concerns mediate through, and affect, relationships with key other people. Methodology affected the research questions posed and the conclusions of research. Comparing the two methods of review and synthesis showed the importance of taking account of the methods and theories that produce research findings. However this additional detail may be at the expense of certainty and requires additional resources.
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Wood-Barcalow, Nichole Lynn. "Understanding the construct of body image to include positive components a mixed-methods study /." Columbus, Ohio : Ohio State University, 2006. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=osu1148048556.
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Haynes, Abigail. "Understanding the process of a research utilisation intervention in policy agencies: What, how and why?" Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/17779.
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Background: There are increasing calls to strengthen the use of research in health policymaking, but little is known about how intervention strategies may be received by policymakers, or how different contexts are likely to affect engagement and uptake. This research seeks to understand, and provide transferable information about, how research utilisation interventions function in different policy settings, and how they can be made more fit for purpose. Approach: This thesis focuses on Supporting Policy In health with Research: an Intervention Trial (SPIRIT). SPIRIT is a multi-component research utilisation intervention that was implemented in six health policy agencies in Sydney. Taking a process-orientated perspective, my mixed methods research examines facets of the intervention design and implementation, and attempts to both describe and explain how a range of participants perceived and interacted with SPIRIT, and with what effects. Work produced: Six studies are included. Five published papers: (i) a realist scoping review of interventions aimed at building policymakers’ capacity to use research in their work; (ii) a participant observation study of concept development in our team; (iii) an account of theory-focused fidelity assessment; (iv) an analysis of the views, behaviours and impacts of the intervention’s internal facilitators; and (v) a realist evaluation of how participants experienced SPIRIT and the causal pathways through which intervention strategies appear to generate process effects. A further chapter explores the wider context and considerable challenges of increasing research use in policymaking. Key contributions: This thesis delivers new conceptual and methodological approaches for understanding how and why complex interventions function as they do. First, the findings describe how SPIRIT was implemented and perceived, and offer provisional explanations for the marked variation in engagement between the six intervention sites. Using an in-depth realist process evaluation approach, I was able to identify and test possible causal mechanisms, and to make empirically grounded recommendations for program improvement (e.g. improved strategies for identifying and supporting internal facilitators). Second, the thesis makes methodological contributions. It advances the use of realist process evaluation, which is still rarely used, unpacks the role of process effects in a realist scoping review of research utilisation interventions, and presents a novel approach for managing fidelity assessment within flexible interventions. The inclusion of pragmatic tools and worked examples makes this work concrete. Lastly, the research contributes to theory in the field. It furthers our understanding of the dynamic and highly situated connections between policymakers’ diverse information needs and practices, and different kinds of research utilisation intervention and implementation strategies. It brings this learning together in provisional transferable propositions and provides access to the substantial empirical and conceptual work that sits behind them. Together, these contributions offer guidance for the design, implementation and evaluation of future intervention studies in this field and beyond. The thesis concludes by highlighting areas where further understanding is required if the ambitions of research-informed policymaking are to be advanced.
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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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Doci, Florida. "Emergency Contraception in Albania: A Multi-Methods Study of Awareness, Attitudes and Practices." Thesis, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/36674.
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Modern methods of contraception are freely available in Albania, yet contraceptive prevalence among Albanians is relatively low (11%). Abortion on the other hand has long been the mainstay of family planning in the country. Emergency contraception is not very popular in Albania either, even though two different levonorgestrel-only EC pills (NorLevo® and Postinor®) are widely available in Albanian pharmacies. This study aimed to investigate potential factors that influence women’s choices of contraception. In 2016, we conducted a multi-method qualitative study with women and service providers in Albania. Women were invited to report their knowledge of, attitudes toward, and practices surrounding contraception in an online survey. Also, we conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with key informants to better understand the current reproductive health landscape in the country. Additionally, we conducted structured interviews with pharmacists in Tirana to assess their training and practices with regard to different available contraceptive methods. Misinformation, lack of awareness, fear of judgement and embarrassment, and lack of infrastructure are the strongest influencers of women’s choice of contraception in Albania. Training of health service providers, as well as development of materials for distribution are warranted to improve knowledge and uptake of contraception among women.
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Cosgrove, David Rush. "Improving teaching and learning of critical thinking across the curriculum at a large research university : an empirical study using qualitative methods." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2013. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.648165.
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Makiya, George Kidakwa. "A Multi-Level Investigation into the Antecedents of Enterprise Architecture (EA) Assimilation in the U.S. Federal Government: A Longitudinal Mixed Methods Research Study." Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies / OhioLINK, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1338942189.
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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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McGladrey, Margaret Louise. "BECOMING BODIES: HOW PREADOLESCENT GIRLS CONSUME AND PRODUCE MEDIA IN 21st CENTURY AMERICA." UKnowledge, 2011. http://uknowledge.uky.edu/gradschool_theses/102.
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This study investigates preadolescent girls’ interpretations of images of and messages about women’s bodies presented in both traditional and online media in the American cultural context. Using qualitative methods including in-depth interviews, email diaries, and digital photo collages, this study gives voice to girls aged nine to eleven from diverse racial and socioeconomic backgrounds so that they might tell their stories about interacting with media that is relevant to their relationships with their bodies. Employing objectification theory as well as concepts from the cultural studies tradition, the findings suggest that the process of becoming a female body in the 21st-century American media environment is far more complex than a simple linear, cause-effect equation can express. Differences among girls in terms of media use, degree of media criticism, age, and interpersonal discursive environments moderate their relationships to mediated imagery and to their bodies. The findings also describe the mediated bodily ideal that is most relevant to preadolescent girls, the celebrity girls who embody this ideal, the ways in which girls experience self-objectification and body surveillance, and the nature of girls’ conversations with friends and family members about body-related topics. The study concludes by providing recommendations to concerned researchers, educators, and parents.
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Ogunbayo, Oladapo. "Self-care support of long-term conditions and community pharmacy." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2015. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/selfcare-support-of-longterm-conditions-and-community-pharmacy(3421b65d-62c6-437c-9ab3-f752470e0d19).html.
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Long-term conditions (LTCs) such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases and cancers are recognised as the greatest challenge facing public healthcare systems globally in the 21st century. Healthcare provision for people with LTCs is shifting towards a model that puts patients at the centre of their own care through supported self-care. Self-care support has emerged as a distinct concept in the management of LTCs and is now considered an inseparable component of high quality healthcare provided by healthcare professionals. People with LTCs are regular users of community pharmacy where dispensing and other services provide opportunities for self-care support. While self-care support as a concept has been explored extensively in health disciplines like nursing, medicine and health psychology, there is a paucity of published literature in community pharmacy. The main aim of this programme of work was to explore the place and contribution of community pharmacy in self-care support of LTCs. A preliminary scoping literature review captured and synthesised the overarching components of self-care support of LTCs into a single theoretical framework consisting of collaborative care planning, self-care information and advice, self-care skills support and training, self-care support networks and self-care technology. The research programme of work employed a mixed methods design consisting of three Work Streams. The qualitative arm of the programme consisted of semi-structured interviews with 24 patients with LTCs and 24 community pharmacists in England and Scotland; these informed the quantitative arm, which was a cross-sectional, online survey of 10,000 community pharmacists in England. The survey instrument was informed and developed from the findings of the pharmacists’ interviews in combination with existing literature. Data collection and analysis in the three work streams incorporated the theoretical framework of self-care support. The qualitative data analyses were undertaken thematically, while quantitative data were analysed using a range of descriptive and inferential statistics. Interviews with patients explored their ‘lived experience’ with LTCs and found that self-care was an integral part of daily living; patients engaged in self-care in a variety of ways to attain normality in their lives. Patients used a wide range of resources for self-care support; family/carers, friends and healthcare professionals (mainly doctors and nurses). Patients viewed and used community pharmacy mainly for the supply of prescribed medicines and suggested that community pharmacy played minimal roles in self-care support. The interviews and survey of community pharmacists showed that pharmacists recognised the broad range of activities and principles of self-care. However, in terms of pharmacists’ contributions to self-care support, their perspectives were narrower and focussed on providing information and advice on medicines-use to patients, while other activities such as lifestyle advice were provided opportunistically. They indicated that they were already providing medicines-focussed self-care support through the services available in community pharmacy. The theoretical framework allowed detailed exploration of how community pharmacists operationalised the different elements of self-care support of LTCs. Collaborative care planning was viewed as important but not within the remit of community pharmacy. Self-care information and advice was unidimensional and provided opportunistically and one-off, using the paternalistic biomedical model. Pharmacists valued the roles of patients’ personal communities but were not proactive in signposting to other support networks. Self-care skills training and support and the use of self-care technologies were limited. Barriers to providing self-care support were priority accorded to dispensing activities, the structure of the community pharmacy contract, lack of incentives to provide self-care support and patients’ expectations and lack of awareness of community pharmacy’s role in LTCs management. The theoretical framework of self-care support of LTCs provided novel insights into the perspectives of patients and community pharmacists. The findings highlighted the need for a coherent LTC strategy if community pharmacy is to align with the self-care support paradigm. Recommendations are made for a comprehensive package of care, underpinned by self-care support. A case is also made for incorporating the often ‘unheard’ patient voice into community pharmacy research and interventions.
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Ribe, Eloi. "Researching intimacy in family life : a mixed methods study of emotional closeness of grandparent-grandchild relationships in Scotland." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/31288.
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This thesis aims to investigate how, and under what circumstances, intimacy in grandparent-grandchild relationships is enabled, enacted and sustained in the early years of grandchildren. Previous work on emotional closeness of grandparent-grandchild relationships suggests that grandmothers and maternal grandparents are more likely to feel stronger bonds with their grandchildren, and that grandparents with a good quality of relationship with parents and living geographically close to grandchildren have greater opportunities to develop a strong emotional tie. The majority of previous research involves data on perceptions of closeness of grandparents focusing on one of their grandchildren or by young adult grandchildren reporting on closeness with a specific grandparent. In addition, qualitative research with grandparents indicates the diversity of ways they exercise agency, and involvement in the life of grandchildren, as well as gendered changes in grandfatherhood. However, there has been limited scholarly attention given to practices of intimacy, emotions and masculinities in grandparent-grandchild relationships, and the ways grandparents interpret and negotiate intimate relationships with their grandchildren amid changes in individual, familial and relational aspects over time. This study uses quantitative data to examines the extent to which individual, family and socio-structural factors influence the mothers' perception of emotional closeness of the relationship of an infant child with four types of grandparents. This is supplemented by qualitative data on grandparents' views of closeness with all their grandchildren. There is a limited scholarly literature on the relation of grandparents' lived experiences, and shared normative understandings, and a sense of being close and special to their grandchildren. The 'practices of intimacy' approach highlights the significance of practices of everyday life enacted by individuals in relation to others in building the quality of being close, and the processes through which individuals attach meaning to such practices. This approach is adopted to understand the diversity of ways grandparents interpret and do intimacy with their grandchildren. The thesis aims were achieved through a mixed methods research process combining secondary data analysis of the Growing Up in Scotland (GUS) study and in-depth interviews with 24 cases of grandparents (12 solo, either with a grandmother or grandfather, and 12 with couple). GUS maps the emotional closeness of grandchild-grandparent relationships through the grandchild's mother's perception. Analysis revealed that perceived emotional closeness was more likely if the grandparent had social contact with the mother, lived geographically close, and looked after and engaged in outings more regularly with the infant child. In general, social contact and propinquity impacted less on grandmothers, particularly maternal grandmothers, and more on paternal grandfathers. Also, looking after grandchildren on a regular basis was distinctly salient for grandmothers, whereas going more frequently on outings was more salient for grandfathers than grandmothers. As regards practices of intimacy, grandparents emphasised the importance of communication through verbal, bodily and relational forms enacted through a large variety of activities in the daily living related to forms of caring, playing and spending time together, which construct a sense of emotional closeness. The study suggests that intimate grandparent-grandchild relationships are intersected by moral understandings of 'good grandparenting', which are challenged or find contradictions in lived experiences of grandparenting that produce asymmetrical emotionalities among grandchildren, and ambivalences in relation to children and grandchildren. The study suggests that grandparents reflect on their emotionality, and enact embodied emotions, depending on relational and family circumstances, and throughout changes in the relationship with their grandchildren as they get older. The study shows that grandfathers engage in emotional forms of caring, which may challenge hegemonic masculinities, and that the relation between masculinities and practices of intimacy are troubled, particularly in the event of parental divorce.
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Al-Dossary, Saeed. "A study of the factors affecting student retention at King Saud University, Saudi Arabia : structural equation modelling and qualitative methods." Thesis, University of Stirling, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1893/691.
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The purpose of the study was to identify factors affecting student retention at King Saud University in Saudi Arabia. It has been estimated that 35% of university students leave higher education before completing their studies (Al-Saud, 2006). This study was guided by Tinto’s (1975) Student Integration Theory. Berger and Braxton (1998, p. 104) have stated that Tinto’s integration model ‘has been the focus of much empirical research and has near-paradigmatic status in the study of the college student departure.’ This theory is longitudinal and dynamic and views student retention decisions largely as the results of interactions between the student and the academic and social systems of the institution (Tinto, 1975, 1993). This study used a mixed methods approach. Using the terminology of Creswell (2003), the appropriate description of the overall design of this study is a mixed methods concurrent triangulation strategy. This means that ‘qualitative and quantitative data are collected and analyzed at the same time. Priority is usually equal and given to both forms of data. Data analysis is usually separate, and integration usually occurs at the data interpretation stage’ (Hanson et al., 2005, p. 229). This strategy was selected because it allows the findings to be confirmed, cross-validated, and corroborated within a single study (Creswell, 2003). This strategy consisted of two phases. The first phase was the quantitative approach. Quantitative data were collected from 414 freshman students using two questionnaires administered on two occasions and from the university admission office. The quantitative data were analysed using a structural equation modelling (SEM) technique using the AMOS software package. The results of the SEM indicated that Tinto’s model were not useful in predicting the Saudi freshman student retention process. The variables in the model explained only 30 percent of the variance in student retention. The results of the SEM indicated that four of the nine hypotheses proposed in Tinto’s model were supported by statistically significant results. Moreover, only three variables had direct effects on retention. The largest direct effect on retention was accounted for by initial goal and institutional commitment (0.49), followed by later goal and institutional commitment and pre-college schooling as measured by high school scores (0.10). The second phase of this study utilised a qualitative approach. Qualitative data were obtained from three sources: non-persister students, persister students, and staff members. Seventeen non-persister students were interviewed over the phone; 15 persister students were interviewed using a focus group technique; while staff members were asked to complete a survey. Of the 200 surveys distributed, 37 were returned including responses from 16 lecturers, 12 administrators, 5 librarians and 4 academic advisors. A comparison was made between those students who persisted and those who dropped out using constructs from Tinto’s theory. In relation to students’ levels of goal and institutional commitment, it was found that persister students appeared to be more motivated and to have higher levels of goal commitment than non-persister students. Similarly, persister students appeared to have higher levels of institutional commitment than non-persister students, in part it is suggested, due to the fact that the majority of persister students had been able to select their desired majors whereas the majority of non-persister students had not. In relation to the students’ levels of academic integration, there was no significant difference between both groups of students. Persister and non-persister students both exhibited low levels of academic integration into the university system. In addition, there was no significant difference between both groups of students in terms of social integration. Both groups of students indicated low levels of social integration into the university system. In addition, the participants (persister students, non-persister students, and staff members) were all asked to indicate what they perceived to be the major factors affecting student retention at King Saud University. The findings from the qualitative data not only help to explain and confirm the quantitative findings but also identify why Saudi freshman students leave the university before completing their studies. The most important factors were: difficulties of selecting majors, difficulties of transferring between subjects, lack of academic advice and irregularity of monthly reward.
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An, Yehyun. "The Operationalization of Capacity Development: the Case of Urban Infrastructure Projects in India." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/72964.
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Since the 1950s, Capacity Development (CD) has been an important component of international development agendas. It established the widespread consensus that the capacity of individuals and organizations is critical to maintaining and enhancing the effectiveness of development projects and programs. A problem, however, is that the concept has been applied without due consideration to how it should be adapted to the local context, making it more of a symbolic gesture. The application of CD to urban infrastructure projects in India is one such example. Recognizing the shortage of urban infrastructure as one of the major impediments in India's economic growth and rapid urbanization, the Government of India (GOI) launched the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) in December 2005 to provide substantial central financial assistance to cities for urban development over a period of seven years. The GOI expected the JNNURM to reform institutions and strengthen human resource capability related to many areas of project delivery. During its implementation, however, the JNNURM has been confronted by problems related to a lack of capacity. This research reviews the capacity challenges related to the JNNURM program and considers the broader implications for urban infrastructure development in other developing countries.
This research begins with the question "How can CD be operationalized?" From this starting point, the research seeks to reveal the operational values of CD. Following a detailed literature review on CD, capacity factors that are applicable to the urban sector in India are identified and a CD framework is developed. Two research methods--case studies and fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA)--are adopted to answer the primary research questions. By leveraging the strength of these two methods, this research advances our understanding of the relationship between capacity and development goals such as improving project performance. In the case studies, this research investigates the gaps between CD theory and practice through the lens of practitioner perceptions of CD. In addition, unlike traditional thinking on the linear relationship between capacity and project outcomes, the case studies reveal two-way causal relationships between capacity and project outcomes that form a spiral structure between the project delivery process and capacity factors. Better capacity can enhance project performance and lead to better outcomes, and project performance and outcomes also influence and reinforce capacity in the reverse direction. Moreover, through the fsQCA, this research identified causal relationships between capacity factors and outcomes and demonstrated that the capacity factors generate different outcomes through their interactions with other capacity factors. This finding contributes to our understanding of how capacity is interconnected with development goals.
In summary, this research contributes to both CD theory and CD practice based on a comprehensive approach that not only considers CD at multiple levels (environmental, organizational/network, and individual/project), but also covers different CD subjects such as context, actors, dimensions, processes, and impacts. Through this comprehensive approach, a range of important findings are developed that can help researchers and practitioners operationalize the complex concept of CD.Ph. D.
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Athreya, Brinda K. "Spatially Assessing the perceptions and motivations of farmers implementing Best Management Practices (BMPs) in the Western Lake Erie Basin." University of Toledo / OhioLINK, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1588932667586433.
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Mikulsky, Jacqueline. "“In or ‘Out?’”: An examination of the effects of school climate on same-sex attracted students in Australia." University of Sydney, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/1969.
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Doctor of PhilosophyResearch has shown that the school-based experiences of same-sex attracted (SSA) young people are frequently less than ideal, often fraught with verbal and physical harassment and social isolation from peers. School-based victimisation of SSA students has been correlated with their negative mental health outcomes, drug and alcohol use, decreased academic outcomes and lowered tertiary aspirations. These outcomes raise issues related to duty of care for educators, including the general responsibility of schools to create safe, equitable learning environments for all of their students. In order to better meet the needs of SSA students in Australia’s secondary schools, this nationwide study examined the current school climate toward same-sex attraction as described by SSA young people aged 14-19 through their reported experiences and perceptions of environmental stresses and supports, using Margaret Spencer’s PVEST model as the theoretical framework. A web-based survey instrument, advertised through both mainstream and lesbian/gay/bisexual-orientated youth sources, was used to sample Australian SSA students (N = 282). The relationships between SSA students’ perceptions of their school climate (including the treatment of SSA students and topics), their sense of connection to their school community, and their reported academic self-concept and motivation toward learning were investigated using bivariate and multivariate techniques, including structural equation modelling. In-depth interview sessions were conducted with six SSA young people in order to further examine these findings. Results indicated that SSA students’ perceptions of their school climate were directly related to their sense of safety within the school environment, their social connection to their peers and teachers, and their feelings of connectedness to the school environment in general. SSA students’ connection to their teachers and their school environment had the strongest total impact on their academic self-concept and motivation to learn. Of key import was the clear indirect impact of SSA students’ perceptions of their school climate on both of these important academic outcomes, through their connection to both their school community and general school environment. These findings allow for the generation of informed recommendations for school policy and practice with the academic outcomes of Australia’s SSA students in mind.
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Lampman, Michelle Ann. "Assessment of the relationship between rural location and performance of Patient-Centered Medical Home processes among veterans health administration primary care clinics: an explanatory sequential mixed methods study." Diss., University of Iowa, 2016. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/3125.
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The Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) is a new model for primary care delivery intended to improve the care experience for both patients and providers, improve the health of populations, and reduce health care costs. Adopting the PCMH model into practice requires considerable investment of time and resources which often act as barriers for many small primary care practices; especially in rural areas. Few studies have examined performance of the PCMH model in rural clinics that have successfully implemented the model. It is important to obtain a comprehensive understanding of how context from the surrounding environment relates to implementation and performance of the model and whether there are differences between rural and urban primary care clinics.
This study used a sequential explanatory mixed methods approach to assess differences in performance of the Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) model between rural and urban primary care clinics within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Generalized Estimating Equations with repeated measures were used to estimate associations between rurality and five process-oriented endpoints among a national sample of 891 VHA primary care clinics. Results indicate that, after adjusting for patient characteristics and clinic structural capacity, clinics located in large rural or small/isolated rural areas demonstrated difficulty with enhancing access through use of non-traditional encounters (i.e. telephone visits, group visits, or secured messaging) and facilitating care coordination through post-discharge follow-up compared to urban clinics. Findings also suggest that rural clinics were more likely to struggle to meet system-wide performance standards for these same two PACT-related processes than their urban counterparts.
A multiple-case study of five VHA primary care clinics was conducted to obtain a contextual understanding of the relationships between rurality and performance of PACT processes from the perspective of primary care staff engaged in PACT implementation. A comparison of the experiences of staff across the five cases revealed cross-cutting themes that are important to understanding the implementation and performance of PACT-related processes within these clinics. These themes included: both rural and urban clinics experience distance-related barriers; patient preferences and behavior impact performance of PACT-related processes; and primary care clinics experience frequent change. Findings from this qualitative assessment highlight the importance of understanding the unique context and circumstances experienced by each clinic and how they relate to performance and implementation of the PACT model. Insights gained through the qualitative assessment revealed that performance of PACT is influenced by complex relationships with both internal and external context. Combination of both quantitative and qualitative methods provided a more comprehensive understanding of these relationships beyond what could have been learned from a solitary assessment of standardized metrics by gaining additional context directly from the voices of those engaged in PACT care delivery.
Identifying differences in PACT performance between rural and urban clinics calls attention to the possibility of unique advantages and challenges for PACTs delivering care to rural patients which need further exploration. Findings from this study contribute to the current understanding of PCMH implementation in rural settings by moving beyond the barriers related to structural capacity to performance of processes aligned with PCMH principles. More widespread implementation of PCMH will require additional attention to the complex relationships between the PCMH and surrounding context in order for primary care practices to successfully implement the model.
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Challis, S. "Maximising impact : connecting creativity, participation and wellbeing in the qualitative evaluation of creative community projects." Thesis, Coventry University, 2014. http://curve.coventry.ac.uk/open/items/53a3eb2f-401e-40bc-b530-115428d1b7d6/1.
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The evaluation of creative participatory community projects remains a controversial issue in politics, policy and the arts, its focus sharpened by the reality or rhetoric of austerity. Despite the recent plethora of policy documents and reviews there is little consensus about how projects should be evaluated or what constitutes good evidence about the impact on individual and collective wellbeing of ‘being creative’. This research set out to develop and trial feasible and effective evaluations for small to medium sized projects in the West Midlands of the UK based on field research into how impact is produced. Through mainly qualitative research in diverse contexts it was able to identify a range of conditions in projects reflecting the interrelationship of creativity and participation in which positive impact could be maximised. The research sought to theorise the impact of these conditions using elements of Actor Network Theory and Freire’s concept of praxis, concluding that impact is likely to be incremental, partial and non-linear. Central to this theorisation was the synthesis of evidence about the impact of creativity and embodied making on thinking, affect and a sense of agency, with ideas about how people change, producing a new evidence-based theory of change. In a practice-led approach, new creative methods were trialled in which data produced by participants had aesthetic as well as communicative value and the evaluation process itself contributed to positive impact. While it was possible to evaluate aspects of this impact through episodic interventions, field trials showed that it was more effective to develop a systemic evaluation strategy. Such a strategy needed to be participatory and integrated into project planning, in order to respond to the stochastic systems creativity inevitably provokes. This proved to offer two advantages: the potential to engage many stakeholders, not just as respondents but also as agents actively defining and measuring evaluation outcomes; and the potential for reflection about impact as process rather than outcome. These findings were then implemented in a number of projects, including trials of the Arts Council UK’s developmental Children and Young People’s Quality Principles. The method has been identified as ‘improving the conversation’ amongst partners, stakeholders and artists who can re-position themselves as active agents of evaluation rather than mere respondents, using the tropes, practices and materials of their own professional practices.
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Kuipers, Willem. "Community based rehabilitation (CBR) as engagement: context, parameters and potential." Thesis, Griffith University, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/366391.
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Paradigms in rehabilitation and disability service delivery in economically developed countries are currently being challenged and reviewed. An analysis of rehabilitation and disability literature arising from these countries, identified a number of issues of concern. Utilising a systems framework, adapted from the work of Urie Bronfenbrenner, the analysis indicated that certain aspects of current paradigms, may have adverse impacts on people with disabilities. It was determined that new paradigms should be explored. An analysis of current trends of relevance to the disability sector, identified a number of important directions, particularly the significance of the community paradigm.
Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR), a disability service delivery approach which has arisen in developing countries, was proposed as an approach which was consistent with the identified trends and the community paradigm, and which constituted a constructive response to the identified concerns. It was noted however, that CBR lacked a strong research base and that fundamental principles had not been clearly elucidated. Based on the current literature, a detailed description and analysis of CBR was undertaken, and strategies, benefits and limitations of the approach were documented. The description of the parameters of CBR resulted in the elucidation of an evolutionary process, and the identification of key principles. It was proposed that the defining concept of CBR is ‘engagement’ between people with disabilities and their local communities. This concept was seen as having greater import, beyond the traditional contexts in which CBR has traditionally been employed. The possible application of CBR to economically developed countries was considered at a theoretical level.
In order to explore the potential of the notion of engagement, two multi-phase, qualitative studies were devised and conducted in South East Queensland. The inductive phase of the research, which involved both studies, resulted in the development of a model consisting of five bipolar axes. This ‘model for enhancing engagement’, described the process by which engagement between users of human services (specifically people with disabilities) and their local communities might be maximised.
The subsequent deductive phase of the research consisted of an exploration of the potential utility of this model through the two studies. Within the limitations of the qualitative design, the research indicated that the model had practical utility in the current context. In order to confirm concepts within the model, and consider its congruence with the field of CBR, a final verificatory phase was employed. This phase drew data from other sources to provide a degree of confirmation of the concepts within the model.
The primary outcome of the research was the development of the ‘model for enhancing engagement’ between people with disabilities and their local communities. This model was described and its potential application was considered at a conceptual level.
Three subsidiary outcomes were also seen as contributions of the research. First, a descriptive and conceptual framework, based on the work of Urie Bronfenbrenner, developed and applied in the current studies may have further utility. Second, a detailed analysis of the CBR literature resulted in the documentation of an evolutionary process in CBR, the identification of key principles, and the proposal of the notion of engagement. Third, a comprehensive, multi-phase, qualitative research process devised for the research which meets requirements for rigour and effective data presentation.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Applied Psychology (Health)
Griffith Health
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