Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Content choices'
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Broman, Karolina. "Chemistry: content, context and choices : towards students' higher order problem solving in upper secondary school." Doctoral thesis, Umeå universitet, Institutionen för naturvetenskapernas och matematikens didaktik, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-95956.
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Chemistry is often claimed to be difficult, irrelevant, and uninteresting to school students. Even students who enjoy doing science often have problems seeing themselves as being scientists. This thesis explores and challenges the negative perception of chemistry by investigating upper secondary students’ views on the subject. Based on students’ ideas for improving chemistry education to make the subject more interesting and meaningful, new learning approaches rooted in context-based learning (CBL) are presented. CBL approaches are applied in several countries to enhance interest, de-emphasise rote learning, and improve students’ higher order thinking. Students’ views on upper secondary school chemistry classes in combination with their problem- solving strategies and application of chemistry content knowledge when solving context-based chemistry tasks were investigated using a mixed methods approach. Questionnaire responses, written solutions to chemistry problems, classroom observations, and think-aloud interviews with upper secondary students at the Natural Science Programme and with experts working on context- based chemistry tasks were analysed to obtain a general overview and explore specific issues in detail. Several students were identified who had positive feelings about chemistry, found it interesting, and chose to continue with it beyond the compulsory level, mainly with the aim of future university studies or simply because they enjoyed it. Their suggestions for improving school chemistry by connecting it to everyday life prompted an exploration of CBL approaches. Studies on the cognitive learning outcomes arising from the students’ work on context-based tasks revealed that school chemistry heavily emphasises the recall of memorised facts. However, there is evidence of higher order thinking when students’ problem-solving processes are scaffolded using hints based on the Model of Hierarchical Complexity in Chemistry (MHC-C). In addition, the contextualisation of problems is identified as something that supports learning rather than distracting students. To conclude, the students in this thesis are interested in chemistry and enjoy chemistry education, and their motives for choosing to study chemistry at the post-compulsory level are related to their aspirations; students’ identity formation is important for their choices. Because students are accustomed to recalling facts and solving chemistry problems that have “one single correct answer”, they find more open problems that demand higher order thinking (e.g. knowledge transfer) unfamiliar and complex, suggesting that such processes should be practiced more often in school chemistry.Kemi är ett skolämne som generellt anses vara både svårt, irrelevant och ointressant för ungdomar. Trots att det ändå finns ungdomar som uppskattar naturvetenskap i allmänhet och kemi i synnerhet, har de ofta problem att se sig själva som naturvetare eller kemister. Denna avhandling undersöker och ifrågasätter den negativa bilden av kemiämnet genom att till en början studera gymnasieelevers syn på kemi. Med utgångspunkt från naturvetarelevers förslag för att förbättra kemiundervisningen och göra ämnet mer intressant och meningsfullt, anknyter avhandlingen därefter till kontextbaserad kemi. Kontextbaserade kurser används i flera länder för att öka elevernas intresse, minska fokuseringen på utantillkunskaper och utveckla elevernas mer avancerade tänkande; med andra ord med målet att uppnå ett meningsfullt lärande. Vid kontextbaserade angreppssätt utgår man från ett sammanhang (kontexten), ofta något personligt eller samhälleligt, som ska vara relevant och intressant. Från dessa kontexter koncentreras därefter undervisningen på de ämneskunskaper man behöver ha för att förstå sammanhanget (s.k. need-to-know). Syftet med avhandlingen är att undersöka naturvetarelevers syn på gymnasiekemin, både deras intresse för ämnet och deras skäl att välja det naturvetenskapliga programmet på gymnasiet, samt elevernas problemlösningsförmåga och användande av ämneskunskaper när de löser kontextbaserade kemiuppgifter. Skälet att studera naturvetarelever på gymnasiet är att dessa elever uppfattas som möjliga framtida naturvetare eftersom de själva har valt naturvetenskaplig inriktning efter den obligatoriska grundskolan. Med hjälp av olika metoder (enkäter, klassrums- observationer, skriftliga lösningar till kemiuppgifter och intervjuer med både elever och experter som löser kemiuppgifter) har analyser genomförts för att dels får en allmän överblick, dels för att utforska specifika delar i detalj både gällande kognitiva och affektiva aspekter av lärande. Resultaten visar att flertalet elever har en positiv inställning till kemi, många tycker att ämnet är intressant och har valt att fortsätta läsa kemi efter den obligatoriska grundskolan främst med målet att studera vidare på universitetsnivå, men också eftersom de specifikt uppskattar kemi. Gymnasieeleverna lyfter fram lärarna som viktiga och lärarstyrda kemilektioner anses positivt, speciellt om lärarna är strukturerade i sin undervisning. Ett vanligt skäl till att välja naturvetenskapsprogrammet är också att man aktivt väljer utbildning med utgångspunkt från vilken skola man vill gå på, något som i denna avhandling tolkas som ett identitetsskapande. Elevernas förslag för att förbättra skolkemin genom att anknyta kemin till vardagen låg till grund för avhandlingens fortsatta inriktning mot kontextbaserade angreppssätt. Analyser av elevernas kognitiva resultat när de löser kontextbaserade kemiuppgifter visar att dagens skolkemi tydligt fokuserar på att memorera faktakunskaper. Eleverna är vana att använda utantillkunskaper när de löser kemiuppgifter eftersom uppgifterna, enligt eleverna, efterfrågar ”det rätta svaret”. Däremot visar studierna också att ett mer avancerat tänkande kan uppnås när elevernas problemlösning stöds av hjälp och ledtrådar som baseras på ett specifikt ramverk, MHC-C (Model of Hierarchical Complexity in Chemistry). När det gäller ämneskunskaperna som krävs för att lösa de kontextbaserade kemiuppgifterna är vissa kemibegrepp viktiga tröskelbegrepp (sk. threshold concepts). Med hjälp av medvetenhet om tröskelbegrepp, som exempelvis polaritet och elektronegativitet för löslighetsuppgifter inom den organiska kemin, kan en större helhetsförståelse för övergripande begrepp (crosscutting disciplinary concepts) som förhållandet mellan kemiska ämnens struktur och egenskaper förhoppningsvis uppnås. När det gäller affektiva resultat anser eleverna att kontexterna i uppgifterna både var intressanta och relevanta, främst när en personlig anknytning var tydlig. Dessutom visade sig kontexterna i uppgifterna vara positiva för lärandet, inte en distraktionsfaktor. Sammanfattningsvis konstateras att svenska elever på naturvetenskaps- programmet är intresserade av kemi och uppskattar kemiundervisningen, speciellt om kemin knyts till vardagen och att lärarna har en tydlig struktur i sin undervisning. Elevernas skäl att välja fortsatta kemistudier efter den obligatoriska grundskolan kan knytas till deras utbildningssträvan men också att elevers identitetsskapande är viktigt för deras gymnasieval. Med hjälp av kontextbaserade angreppssätt kan kemiundervisningen göras mer intressant och relevant samtidigt som elevernas problemlösningsförmåga kan utvecklas. När eleverna möter mer öppna frågor som kräver förklaringar och resonemang är de ovana vid detta och uppfattar uppgifterna komplicerade, samtidigt som de uppskattar denna typ av uppgifter eftersom de uppfattas relevanta och intressanta. Slutsatsen blir att elevernas förmåga till problemlösning av öppna frågor som både kräver faktakunskaper men också förklaringar och resonemang måste tränas oftare inom ramen för skolans kemi för att utveckla elevernas meningsfulla lärande.
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Persson, Ghylfe Niklas. "Content of Communication in English 7Teacher Choices and Underlying Factors." Thesis, Örebro universitet, Institutionen för humaniora, utbildnings- och samhällsvetenskap, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-92771.
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This essay provides perspectives from four teachers with over eighty years combinedexperience on their choices of content of communications in English 7. The reason forconducting this study is that in English 7, which is the last English course in Swedish uppersecondaryschool, the teacher may face a diverse group of students with different programgoals, which may lead to different content needs. The aim of the study is to explore thisquestion, considering factors that affect choices in the course and what social domain it will besituated in.Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with four experienced teachers andanalyzed using qualitative content analysis. The study reveals that one strategy for solving theabove-mentioned problem is student influence, which, in short, means that the teacher lets thestudents pick content that matches the requirements in the content of communications. Otherfindings reveal that relationships with other teachers can affect the communication content incross-subject work, the teachers second subject and personal interests affect have differentamounts of influence, what method the teacher choose in course units and what part of thecurriculum the teachers consider a priority. This essay is useful for several purposes,policymakers will be able to see how teacher reason and practice particular parts of policydocuments, teachers will be able to ask themselves the same questions and reflect on whataffects their own teaching, and teaching students will be able to see how they can include theirpassion or knowledge into subject matter.
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Brown, Philip Reid. "Content and Choices: An Exploration of Career Goals in Undergraduate Engineering Students." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/70879.
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The careers that students pursue after graduating from engineering programs are a central component to engineering education. However, we lack perspective on how students, the main stakeholder of the engineering education system, describe the goals they have for their post-graduation careers and make choices related to those goals. As a first step in closing this gap, I explored the different types of career goals that students have, investigated how students connect different types of goals to choices they make in engineering programs, and developed a survey instrument for future research on career goals. My sequential mixed methods study consisted of three phases. In the first phase, I analyzed interview data via the constant comparative method to explore the different types of career goals that students described. In second phase, I used the types of goals identified in phase one to analyze how students described connecting their career goals to choices they made as undergraduates in longitudinal interview data. In the final phase, I adapted the ideas from phase one and phase two into a quantitative survey instrument, which I piloted for validity and reliability. My study produced four main outcomes. The first outcome was identifying two distinct types of career goals held by students including goals about the jobs students want post-graduation and goals relative to job attributes rather than specific jobs. The second outcome was that students connected both types of career goals to choices they make in the present academic context. The third outcome was that career goals and their connection to choices students make could be measured in a valid, reliable survey instrument. Finally, my results suggest that there may be differences in the ways that male and female students describe their career goals and the ways that career goals are connected to choices. These outcomes have broad implications for students, educators and researchers in the engineering education system.Ph. D.
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Wigginton, Erin O'Donnell. "The Choices and Uses of Technological Tools in High School Government Classes." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/29493.
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The purpose of this study was to examine how government teachers make decisions regarding the type of technological tools they incorporate in their instruction. As a case study of two teachers, this work was oriented by the question: How are U.S. Government teachers' beliefs and perspectives about learning and teaching reflected in their pedagogical practice and use of technological tools.
There is little work about how teachers prepare students for the 21st century. Teaching U.S. Government or about the U.S. government has been ignored in much of the research of social studies classes. Additionally, most studies that examine the use of technological tools in the social studies classroom have either investigated the use of non-digital tools specifically or the use of digital tools specifically. Few studies combine how social studies teachers use both non-digital and digital tools in their instruction. My goal was to shift the gaze and include the swirl of influences shaping U.S. Government teachers' decision-making process as when both types of technological tools are used with their classes.
This study has its antecedents in my desire to examine Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge, TPCK. TPCK is a theoretical framework that posits that technological knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and content knowledge are the key elements to understand teachersâ instructional choices. The findings in this study indicate that while TPCK can offer teachers a framework to help begin to understand knowledge bases one could consider when planning class instruction, it falls short of providing the complete picture necessary to describe teacher decisions.Ph. D.
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Asp, Karl. "Om att välja vad och hur : musiklärares samtal om val av undervisningsinnehåll i ensemble på gymnasiets estetiska program." Licentiate thesis, Örebro universitet, Musikhögskolan, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-20423.
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This study investigates how teachers of the subject ensemble in Swedish upper secondary school talk about their choices of subject content in light of their background as musicians and/or music teachers? According to current regulations and curricula (Läroplan för de frivilliga skolformerna, Lpf 94; Programmål för Estetiska programmet, ES 2000:05) the Swedish upper secondary school system can be described as goal-centered, which implies that the goals of the education are in focus and that methods and material to achieve those goals can show great variances. The aim of this study is to investigate how music teacher talk about their choices of content in relation to several background factors like music teacher education and experience and their experience as professional performers. Research questions are: * How do musicteachers talk in groupinterviews regarding choices of content in ensemble in upper secondary school? * What do musicteachers perceive as essential contents in music teaching in the subject ensemble? The conceptual framework in this study is inspired by Berger and Luckmann’s (1966/1979) theories of the construction of reality. This means that a non-essentialist approach is taken and that subject matter, content and curricula all are understood as constructs in relation to a context, historically and cultural specific (Burr, 2003). This explains the focus on the interviewees professional backgrounds in relation to choice of content. Furthermore it relies on discourse psychology (Potter & Wetherell, 1987) where interpretative repertoires is used as an analytical tool. By focus group-interviews (Wibeck, 2000; Morgan, 1998) data has been collected and then analyzed. The interviewees are both professional musicians and music teachers, and they are all working as music teachers in upper secondary schools. The results of the study indicates that the teachers’ talk about choices of content is constructed mainly through their experiences of performing and professional musicianship and that didactical constructions highly relies on those experiences. This means that music as a subject (cf. Nielsen, 1998) is often seen as a product, as in a concert or a recording, and that the music teachers’ professional experiences of making music is an important ground for accomplishing that task. This raises further questions about how music teaching should be carried out and what implications the focus on a product has on musical learning from a democratic as well as a pedagogical perspective.
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Noguchi, Takao. "Choice evaluation and context effects." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2014. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/63781/.
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Behavioral research has long documented that the choices an individual makes do not always follow the maximization of expected values. To describe the utility an individual maximizes through his or her choices, one class of models - static models - has been previously developed. These models are reviewed in Chapter 1. To assess the static models, a non-parametric method to reveal the utility of alternatives is developed in Chapter 2. The results show that the utility predicted from the static models deviates from the estimated utility. Utility, however, is relatively unstable across contexts determined by information presentation formats, choice set-sizes, the structures of alternatives, and the relationships between alternatives. This instability is a topic for Chapters 3, 4, and 5. Following Chapter 3, which examines effects of information presentation formats and choice set-sizes on risk-taking, Chapter 4 further investigates how the contexts impact on choice evaluation. Then, Chapter 5 examines process of choice evaluation by analyzing eye-movements during choices. The results from these three chapters indicate that choices are systematically altered with contexts, supporting instability of utility. The instability of utility conflicts with the principle of utility maximization, and Chapters 5 and 6 consider another class of models - dynamic models - which can accommodate utility instability. A dynamic model assumes that an individual iteratively and stochastically develops preferences for each alternative, until preference for one alternative reaches a choice criterion. The exact processes of preference development is investigated in Chapter 5, which suggests that a dynamic model should be based on single-attribute pair-wise comparisons. Following this suggestion, a new model - multi-alternative decision by sampling - is proposed in Chapter 6. Chapter 7 discusses overall implications of the results for the principle of utility maximization and model evaluation. I conclude that models should be assessed not only on their ability to predict choices but also on their ability to predict concurrent process measures, including eye-movements.
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Decker, Nathaniel K. "Choice, Management, & Modification: Situational Context in Risky Choice." Scholar Commons, 2012. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/4026.
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We sought to examine the potential differences between different types of risky decisions. While some decisions are easily represented as choices between future alternatives, other decisions may be better represented as the management of a personally owned situation. Schneider (2003) created the risk management task, which manifested these situated improvement decisions, and identified a unique pattern of risk preferences when compared to the standard gambling paradigm. To determine what cognitive processes might be differentially activated for each type of decisions so as to yield these risk preference differences, we incrementally manipulated the gambling paradigm to parse potentially influential elements of situational context from both risky choice and risk management. The elements of context found to be influential were (a) making an improvement of your situation rather than a choice within your situation, (b) integrating information into a more compact display, and (c) limiting the visual salience of consequence information. The implications of these results as they relate to current formal models of decision making and subsequent investigations of decision context are addressed. Future directions using a similar appreciation of individual perceptual and cognitive processes when studying decision making are also discussed.
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Fischer, Manfred M., Rico Maggi, and Christian Rammer. "Contact Decision Behaviour in a Knowledge Context. A Discrete Choice Modelling Approach Using Stated Preference Data." WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, 1991. http://epub.wu.ac.at/4220/1/WSG_DP_1391.pdf.
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Colburn, Marta R. "Liberalism, Community, and the Context of Choice." PDXScholar, 1995. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/4888.
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Issues of community have become an important focus in the field of political theory in North America. Critics of liberalism, the dominant American theoretical tradition, have charged that liberal theorists have misconceived the nature of community at the ontological and societal level. Some critics see a relationship between the failure of liberal theorists to adequately address community and certain social pathologies facing the American liberal polity. This thesis seeks to address the following questions: How have liberal theorists typically dealt with the issue of community? What are the major criticisms related to issues of community currently being leveled at liberalism? Are there theorists who have noted liberalism's weaknesses with regard to community and who have retooled the liberal enterprise? Finally, assuming a liberal response, which of these if any are the most compelling? In response to the last question, the work of two liberal theorists, Will Kymlicka and William Galston, are analyzed for their responses to criticisms of liberalism issuing from the communitarian school. In the findings of this thesis, the liberal response found in Kymlicka's Liberalism, Community, and Culture presents the most powerful reply to these critiques. Kymlicka uses the challenge of minority rights to liberal conceptions of justice to argue that liberal traditions can be drawn upon for a coherent recognition of culture as an essential right of the individual. Kymlicka bases his argument for expanding liberal understandings of minority rights on liberalism's commitment to equality of circumstances; viewing culture as a potential source of inequality which the dominant culture takes for granted, but which minority cultures must struggle to maintain. By addressing the questions above I hope to contribute to the debate about liberalism and community and sharpen the insights of liberal political theory. By incorporating the insights of Kymlicka into liberal theory I believe that liberalism can better address public policy challenges in contemporary American society, many of which are closely tied to concerns of community.
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蘇英麟 and Ying-lun So. "Guanxi in Chinese cultural context: a choice-theoretic approach." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1999. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31239286.
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Alsharawy, Abdelaziz Mohammed. "The Context-Dependence of the Process of Risky Choice." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/104665.
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The evaluation of risk is a fundamental aspect of decision-making and influences important outcomes, such as in the domain of financial and health behavior. In many economic applications, risk attitudes are assumed to be inherently stable. Nonetheless, behavioral tasks that elicit risk preferences have shown temporal inconsistencies. The instability of risk preferences can be attributed to several factors such as the way information is presented (framing effects), personal past experiences, and experienced emotions. We conduct four studies in this dissertation to shed light on the state dependency of risk attitudes and on the decision process of risky choice.
Chapter 2 examines, using a laboratory experiment, how high stakes in risky choices influence physiological arousal, as measured via skin conductance, pulse rate and pupil size, and attention, as measured via gaze bias and saccades. We link the changes in arousal and attention accompanying high stakes to changes in risk aversion. Moreover, we develop and test a Sequential Sampling Model (SSM), the arousal-modulated Attentional Drift Diffusion Model (aADDM), linking reaction time and choice while allowing attention and its interaction with arousal to modulate the evaluation process of risky alternatives. High stakes caused changes in attention toward the safe option's attributes, heightened physiological arousal, and increased risk aversion. Results from the aADDM, demonstrate that the values of the high attributes are discounted when participants attend to the low attributes, with arousal amplifying this process further.
Chapter 3, using a laboratory experiment, investigates how incentives and emotional experiences influence the adaptation process across high and low volatility contexts in risky choice. Due to the brain's computational capacity limitations, perception is optimized to detect differences within a narrow range of stimuli. We show that this adaptation process is itself context-dependent, with stronger incentives, heightened arousal, or more unpleasant feelings increasing payoff responsivity under high volatility.
Chapter 4, using survey data, focuses on fear responses during the COVID-19 pandemic and risk perception of the health- and financial-related consequences of the crisis. We show that women report higher fear of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to men, modulating the gender differences in preventative health behaviors. Women also perceive the health risks of COVID-19, and not financial risks, to be greater than men.
Chapter 5, using vignette experiments, demonstrates that betrayal aversion, or hesitancy regarding the risk of being betrayed in an environment involving trust, is an important preference construct in the decision to become vaccinated and is not accounted for by widely used vaccine hesitancy measures. We show that people are significantly less willing to get vaccinated when the associated risk involved the vaccine actively contributing to the cause of death. We also find that betrayal aversion is amplified with an active role of government or scientists. Moreover, we test an exogenous intervention that increases willingness to vaccinate without mitigating betrayal aversion.
JEL codes: D81, D83, D87, D91, I12, J16Doctor of Philosophy
Many decisions involve varying levels of uncertainty and perceived reward like investing in a risky asset or getting a vaccination during a pandemic. These risky decisions, however, require consuming scarce brain resources. In addition, one's own feelings that are altered by the decision context itself or are naturally occurring during daily activities may influence risky decision-making. The scientific mission of this dissertation is to advance our understanding on how the decision context and experienced emotions influence not only risky decisions but also the way by which the decisions are being made. Our results show that real and high monetary rewards reduce financial risk-taking while altering attention and the perception of information. We also find that stronger incentives activate changes in the autonomous nervous system, such as a racing heart rate, increased sweating, or pupil dilation, and increase self-reports of emotional arousal. Importantly, we demonstrate, via computational modeling and experimental analysis, the role of emotional responses in modulating both attention and value perception of rewards in risky choice. In other words, we find that emotional experiences play an important role in adapting the process by which rewards are evaluated and perceived. Since significant life events, such as experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic, can lead to substantial uncertainty and emotional distress, we collected survey data upon the crisis' onset to investigate the impact on different aspects of behavior including adherence to prevention measures and willingness to get vaccinated. We find that women, compared to men, reported higher fear of the COVID-19 pandemic and perceived greater negative health risks of the crisis. We attribute observed differences in adherence to prevention measures between men and women to gender differences in emotional responsivity to the pandemic. In addition, we demonstrate the importance of contextual factors, which drive feelings associated with the risk of betrayal, in the decision to become vaccinated. Taken together, the findings in this dissertation highlight the integral role of emotional experiences, which vary with incentives or because of previous experiences, in decision-making under risk.
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Kerber, Lisa. "Constructing choice in the Brazilian context of illegal abortion /." Full text (PDF) from UMI/Dissertation Abstracts International, 2001. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/utexas/fullcit?p3008365.
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So, Ying-lun. "Guanxi in Chinese cultural context : a choice-theoretic approach /." Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 1999. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B20667656.
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Knudson, Kandace Margretta. "Community college freshman composition instructors' choices of readings : the importance of context /." For electronic version search Digital dissertations database. Restricted to UC campuses. Access is free to UC campus dissertations, 2005. http://uclibs.org/PID/11984.
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Mood, Carina. "Poor choices? : on social context and the claiming of means-tested benefits /." Stockholm : Department of Sociology, Stockholm University, 2006. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-1013.
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Descamps, Ambroise David Damian. "Essays on information and beliefs in dynamic choices." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2018. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/121077/1/Ambroise%20David%20Damian_Descamps_Thesis.pdf.
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This thesis investigates how information is processed and used for economic decision making. It is composed of four essays that use theory, experiments and econometrics to investigate dynamic behaviour. The first part of my thesis studies how costly information is gathered and used in a risky environment. I explore how behavioural biases affect information processing and decisions. The second part of my thesis studies how relative performance feedback affects behaviour in competitions. Using new econometric methods and a novel experimental design, I provide evidence in favour of a "positive momentum", whereby past performance has a positive impact on later performance.
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Goldberg, Cole. "“Life’s About Choices”: Exploring the everyday occupational choices of young adults with intellectual disability in a community context in South Africa." Master's thesis, Faculty of Health Sciences, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/31382.
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Background: It is well documented in the literature in the intellectual disability field that choice people with intellectual disabilities is limited. The human need to experience and inform everyday life choices, and the limited opportunities to do so, results in a contemporary health and human rights issue. Research Question: This study aims to explore what informs the everyday occupational choices made by young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities in a community based setting in South Africa. Method: Qualitative interviews and a focus group were held with six young adults, who were recruited through a local non-profit training organisation. Results: Respondents identified (1) being different, (2) having limited choices, (3) accepting and staying small or (4) challenging and growing up, were the four core themes that arose from the interviews. Conclusion: It became evident that everyday occupational choices are co-constructed in context, where factors that were identified are consistent with those from the international literature which show that people with intellectual disabilities are widely stigmatised and prohibited from choice making, for several reasons, both intrapersonal and contextual. Implications: This study highlights the influence and importance of raising awareness and consciousness in society so that counter-hegemonic practices can promote occupational and social justice and change attitudes to ensure that people with disabilities have the choice to engage in balanced, meaningful occupations.
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Banna, Kelly Marie Newland M. Christopher. "Drug effects on behavior in transition does context matter? /." Auburn, Ala., 2007. http://repo.lib.auburn.edu/EtdRoot/2007/FALL/Psychology/Dissertation/BANNA_KELLY_36.pdf.
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Tarling, Isabel. "Women teachers career advancement: an exploration of choice in context." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12017.
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Includes abstract.This study investigates the career choices of seven female teachers in mesolevel leadership positions at three Western Cape schools. It explores their decisions to apply or refrain from applying for senior leadership positions through an examination of the interplay between their leadership disposition, habitus and the field of schooling.
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Stoffer, Brent M. "Social Context and Mate-Choice Plasticity in a Wolf Spider." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1448037275.
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een, Rebecca C. English. "The context of choice : understanding the presidential decision making process /." The Ohio State University, 1997. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu148794815862613.
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Thompson, Mary Summers. "The social context of family planning policy in highland Chiapas, Mexico." Thesis, Durham University, 1999. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/4587/.
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This thesis focuses on the concept of informed choice in family planning and how numerical and systematic targeting aimed at raising the numbers of contraceptive acceptors fundamentally undermines this concept in highland Chiapas. The Government of Mexico’s policy aims within its Reproductive Health Programme (1995-2000) are to reduce the total fertility rate whilst promoting reproductive health services and family planning choices. Though Mexico has seen a decline in its total fertility rate attributed to increased contraceptive use in urban areas, in rural parts the rate remains high. Consequently, the rural poor, and in Chiapas overwhelmingly indigenous populations, have become a major target of the Reproductive Health Programme. Monthly targets are set for clinics and family planning services are offered systematically every time a woman attends a clinic for whatever reason. Amongst the factors which must be accounted for in assessing family planning provision in highland Chiapas are cultural differences between mestizo providers and the indigenous target groups as well as local economic and political conditions. Presently, the state of Chiapas is highly militarised and under the cloud of a low intensity war precipitated by the Zapatista uprising in 1994. The provision of any kind of health services is difficult under these situations, but more so what one considers the distrust sown between some indigenous communities and the government Who provide the health services. This thesis examines the practicalities of implementing a global policy at a local level and the constraints faced by both providers and intended recipients in the social context of Los Altos. Mindful of the care required in identification most people in this thesis (with the exception of a few well-known academics) appear under pseudonyms.
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Theysohn, Sven. "Innovative Einsatzmöglichkeiten und Modifikationen der Choice-based-conjoint-Analyse zur Entwicklung und Optimierung von Preisstrategien /." Hamburg : Kovač, 2007. http://www.verlagdrkovac.de/978-3-8300-3282-3.htm.
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Schooneveldt, Jan C., and n/a. "Context and choice : a new approach to making ecologically sustainable decisions." University of Canberra. Resource, Environmental & Heritage Sciences, 2000. http://erl.canberra.edu.au./public/adt-AUC20061107.172651.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis develops a framework for making ecologically sustainable decisions. It is an
integrative thesis that draws its data from the fundamental concepts underlying the disciplines
of psyschology, linguistics and biology. Its orientation is essentially theoretical, but its
application is practical. It is presented in three parts. Part 1 sets out the theoretical context
and proposes a basis for understanding decision-making processes in an interactive,
evolutionary context. This part focuses particularly on subjective factors that play a role when
an organism is in the process of making a decision. Part 1 provides an underpinning for the
core of the thesis.
Part 2 forms this core. It considers the context in which decisions are made and
overviews current decision-making frameworks that aim at ecologically sustainable
outcomes. It proposes a process of metabolic mapping of materials and energy flows
across integrated socio-political bioregions as a basis for decision-making.
Part 3 considers the implications of the approach in terms of its utility, reliability and
validity. This part also looks at the role of ethics in decision-making and outlines the
strengths and weaknesses of the new approach.
The principle rinding is that research and decision-making are fundamentally distinct, often
confused concepts. An integrative approach to decision-making is required to counter the
increasing fragmentation in research and professional and administrative specialisation. A
research tool that bridges the plethora of theoretical orientations is proposed. This involves
the use of a semantic metalanguage to capture meaning in a rigorous and verifiable way. Such
a metalanguage gives us a means of understanding the subjective experience of organisms,
and in particular, their subjective perception of reality which guides their decision-making. A
second finding is that, unlike research, which necessarily involves a process of context
reduction, sound decision-making necessarily involves a process of context augmentation. And
finally it proposes a method of metabolic mapping on a bioregional basis operating under the
principle of subsidiarity as the most appropriate route towards sustainable decision-making.
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Bartke, Simon [Verfasser]. "Essays on context-dependent preferences and on choice architecture / Simon Bartke." Kiel : Universitätsbibliothek Kiel, 2019. http://d-nb.info/1191755827/34.
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Vlachou, Evangelia. "Free Choice in and out of Context : Semantics and Distribution of French, Greek and English free choice items." Paris 4, 2007. http://www.theses.fr/2007PA040084.
Full textAbstract:
Les Termes de Choix Libre (TCLs) ont souvent été analysés comme des Termes à Polarité. On a souvent supposé, de ce fait, que leur distribution pouvait être analysée au moyen des conditions de légitimation ou d'anti-légitimation. En m'appuyant sur des données du français, du grec et de l'anglais, je soutiens l'hypothèse que cette approche n'est pas correcte. Les TCLs ont une s'emantique lexicale riche exprimant l'élargissement, l'indiscrimination, l'indifférence, l'ignorance, l'indistinction et la d'apréciation. Puisque toutes les valeurs des TCLs peuvent être pragmatiquement bloquées dans tout contexte, je propose que la distribution des TCLs est entièrement libre, sauf dans quelques cas où on a un blocage sémantiqueIt has often been argued that Free Choice Items (FCIs) are Polarity Items. Consequently, we have analyzed FCI distribution in terms of the conditions of licensing and anti-licensing. Based on French, Greek and English data, I defend the hypothesis that this approach is not correct. FCIs have a very strong lexical semantics. They express widening, indiscriminacy, indifference, ignorance, indistinguishability and low-level. Since all the readings of FCIs can be pragmatically blocked in all contexts, I propose that the distribution of FCIs is entirely free with the exception of certain cases in which we have semantic blocking
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Robinson, Susan Maureen. "Understanding the resource-based view : implications of methodological choice and a new creative context." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2008. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/16625/1/Susan_Maureen_Robinson_Thesis.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
Over the past two decades, the resource-based view of the firm (RBV) has emerged as one of the more influential paradigms from the field of strategic management. However, the theory has been subjected to a number of criticisms, particularly related to the use of methodologies in past research. Many RBV studies have tended to use averaged findings across broad industry samples. Approaches reliant on "averaging" methods will only uncover what is the case for the average, "representative" firm, and will not identify those unique, firm-specific assets that can result in sustained profitability. In order to examine the implications of methodological choice and the RBV, the subjective approach of Q methodology was used in a sample of music industry firms to identify a key resource set for the context of interest, identify strategic groups within the sample based on resource emphasis, and explore the ways in which managers use their resources to generate firm profits. A comparative approach examined resource outcomes by performance group, over multiple levels of analysis. The findings revealed (i) a number of relevant and new, context-specific resources from the music industry, (ii) the identification of three distinct clusters of firms that emerged from the sample based on resource preferences, firm characteristics, and managerial perceptions (iii) key resource findings that varied by level of analysis and by firm performance, and (iv) distinct processes through which the resources become valuable at the level of the firm--even when the same resources are considered. The outcomes of this thesis illustrate how methodological choice can affect findings when using the RBV to uncover important sources of advantage. Furthermore, the outcomes in this thesis point to the weaknesses of many past RBV studies that investigate the impact of resources and capabilities on firm performance, and remind scholars that a defining feature of the RBV is that its intention was to identify sources of advantage at the level of the firm. Moreover, the findings show that past RBV research using aggregated data across multi-industry samples can be misleading in its prescription to managers.
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Robinson, Susan Maureen. "Understanding the resource-based view : implications of methodological choice and a new creative context." Queensland University of Technology, 2008. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/16625/.
Full textAbstract:
Over the past two decades, the resource-based view of the firm (RBV) has emerged as one of the more influential paradigms from the field of strategic management. However, the theory has been subjected to a number of criticisms, particularly related to the use of methodologies in past research. Many RBV studies have tended to use averaged findings across broad industry samples. Approaches reliant on "averaging" methods will only uncover what is the case for the average, "representative" firm, and will not identify those unique, firm-specific assets that can result in sustained profitability. In order to examine the implications of methodological choice and the RBV, the subjective approach of Q methodology was used in a sample of music industry firms to identify a key resource set for the context of interest, identify strategic groups within the sample based on resource emphasis, and explore the ways in which managers use their resources to generate firm profits. A comparative approach examined resource outcomes by performance group, over multiple levels of analysis. The findings revealed (i) a number of relevant and new, context-specific resources from the music industry, (ii) the identification of three distinct clusters of firms that emerged from the sample based on resource preferences, firm characteristics, and managerial perceptions (iii) key resource findings that varied by level of analysis and by firm performance, and (iv) distinct processes through which the resources become valuable at the level of the firm--even when the same resources are considered. The outcomes of this thesis illustrate how methodological choice can affect findings when using the RBV to uncover important sources of advantage. Furthermore, the outcomes in this thesis point to the weaknesses of many past RBV studies that investigate the impact of resources and capabilities on firm performance, and remind scholars that a defining feature of the RBV is that its intention was to identify sources of advantage at the level of the firm. Moreover, the findings show that past RBV research using aggregated data across multi-industry samples can be misleading in its prescription to managers.
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Yelijiang, Arefujiang. "Judging A Photograph : Analyzing destination choice based on user-generated content on social media." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för organisation och entreprenörskap (OE), 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-65802.
Full textAbstract:
In this thesis, authors’ main goal is to test two hypotheses to compare if the tourists are more likely to make their destination choice based on user generated photographs on social media, as well as, tourists’ sustainable destination choice based on photographs with sustainable green content. The quantitative research method was used to conduct the survey with experimental design. It was aimed to compare the tourist’ trust in different photo types, the consumers’ trust was expected to be measured by three dimensions: first impression, intention, and persuasiveness, recommended by previous studies. However, the findings revealed that the tourists are not more likely to trust user generated content on social media to make their destination choice.
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Belisle, Jordan. "A Contextual Analysis of Altruism: The Effect of Relative Context on Social Discounting." OpenSIUC, 2015. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/theses/1700.
Full textAbstract:
Towards developing an applied behavioral technology that treats altruism as the dependent variable of interest, there is a necessity for understanding the contextual conditions under which altruistic behavior is most likely to occur. The purpose of the study was to evaluate how relative contextual conditions affected social discounting. Thirty-six participants were given three social discounting surveys, each survey preceded by a different contextual scenario. In each scenario, either the participant, a hypothetical other, or both the participant and the hypothetical other were in need of money to avoid a negative outcome. The results suggest that there was a significant difference in social discounting across the three contextual conditions F (2, 35) = 34.28., p < 0.0001), where the greatest discounting occurred when participants were exclusively in need. Hyperbolic functions provided a strong fit for each of the conditions (R² = 0.98, R² = 0.98, R² = 0.84, respectively), and the relationships between participant scores in each of the condition was evaluated.
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Tosi, Alessia. "Adjusting linguistically to others : the role of social context in lexical choices and spatial language." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/23557.
Full textAbstract:
The human brain is highly sensitive to social information and so is our language production system: people adjust not just what they say but also how they say it in response to the social context. For instance, we are sensitive to the presence of others, and our interactional expectations and goals affect how we individually choose to talk about and refer to things. This thesis is an investigation of the social factors that might lead speakers to adapt linguistically to others. The question of linguistic adaptation is conceived and addressed at two levels: as lexical convergence (i.e., interlocutors coordinating their lexical choices with each other), and as spatial perspective taking in language use (i.e., speakers abandoning their self perspective in favour of another's when verbally locating objects in space). What motivated my research was two-fold. First, I aimed to contribute to the understanding of the interplay between the automatic cognitive accounts and the strategic social accounts of linguistic convergence. At the same time, I wanted to explore new analytical tools for the investigation of interpersonal coordination in conversation (cross-recurrence quantification analysis (CRQA)). Second, there are conflicting explanations as to why people often abandon their self spatial perspective when another person is present in the environment. I aimed to clarify this by bringing together insights from different research fields: spatial language production, spatial cognition, joint attention and joint action. A first set of experiments investigated the effects of speakers' deceptive goals on lexical convergence. Given the extensive evidence that one interlocutor's choices of words shapes another's during collaborative interaction, would we still observe this coordination of linguistic behaviour under conditions of no coordination of intents? In two novel interactive priming paradigms, half of the participants deceived their naïve partner in a detective game (Experiment 1) or a picture naming/matching task (Experiment 2-3) in order to jeopardise their partner's performance in resolving the crime or in a related memory task. Crucially, participants were primed by their partner with suitable-yet-unusual names for objects. I did not find any consistent evidence that deceiving led to a different degree of lexical convergence between deceivers and deceived than between truthful interlocutors. I then explored possibilities and challenges of the use of cross-recurrence quantification analysis (CRQA) (a new analytical tool borrowed from dynamical systems) for the study of lexical convergence in conversation. I applied CRQA in Experiment 4, where I focused on the strategic social accounts of linguistic convergence and investigated whether speakers' tendency to match their interlocutors' lexical choices depended on the social impression that they formed of each other in a previous interaction, and whether this tendency was further modulated by the interactional goal. I developed a novel two-stage paradigm: pairs of participants first experienced a collectivist or an individualistic co-player in an economic decision game (in reality, a pre-set computer programme) and then engaged in a discussion of a survival scenario (this time with the real other) divided in an open-ended vs. joint-goal driven part. I found no evidence that the social impression of their interlocutor affected speakers' degree of lexical convergence. Greater convergence was observed in the joint-goal dialogues, replicating previous findings at syntactic level. Experiments 5-7 left the interactive framework of the previous two sets of experiments and explored spatial perspective taking in a non-interactive language task. I investigated why the presence of a person in the environment can induce speakers to abandon their self perspective to locate objects: Do speakers adapt their spatial descriptions to the vantage point of the person out of intentionality-mediated simulation or of general attention-orienting mechanisms? In an online paradigm, participants located objects in photographs that sometimes contained a person or a plant in various positions with respect to the to-be-located object. Findings were consistent with the simulated intentional accounts and linked non-self spatial perspective in language to the apprehension of another person’s visual affordance. Experiments 8-9 investigated the role of shared experience on perspective taking in spatial language. Prior to any communicative and interactional demand, do speakers adapt their spatial descriptions to the presumed perspective of someone who is attending to the same environment at the same time as them? And is this tendency further affected by the number of co-attendees? I expanded the previous online paradigm and induced participants into thinking that someone else was doing the task at the same time as them. I found that shared experience reinforced self perspective (via shared perspective) rather than reinforcing non-self perspective (via unshared perspective). I did not find any crowd effect.
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Alonso, Wladimir Jimenez. "Vector host choice and the environmental context of mosquito-borne virus transmission." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2003. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:bc3632b8-321a-4751-8797-80b40098ec27.
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The present thesis explored ethological and geographical approaches for the investigation of vector-borne parasites. In the first part, the role of associative learning on vector preferences for hosts was investigated through a comprehensive series of behavioural experiments using the vector of dengue and yellow fever diseases, the mosquito Aedes aegypti. To this end, the possibility that the mosquitoes were able to associate unconditional stimuli with particular odours and visual patterns to which they were responsive was explored, but no evidence supporting the hypothesis that associative learning abilities are present in adults of this species was found. A critical review of the literature on learning in mosquitoes conducted afterward allowed the reinterpretation of findings in the field, narrowing the scope of evidence suggesting the existence of these cognitive abilities in some species. In the second part of the thesis, the distribution and evolution of mosquito-borne viruses was investigated with the use of geo-coded environmental data and spatial statistics. Initially, the eco-climates associated with the distribution of Japanese encephalitis virus were described and modelled, allowing the production of a worldwide predictive map defining the probability of each region to develop this disease in the future. Predominating amongst those areas shown to be under high risk were the equatorial regions of South America and Africa. The methodology used to infer such patterns – non-linear discriminant analysis – was subsequently explored with a number of simulations. Overall, differences in the choice of parameters required for the analysis were shown to lead to differences in the final outputs produced, basically in those cases where the environmental range for which predictions are generated is not rigorously limited. Finally, eco-climate surrogates for the evolution of the Japanese encephalitis serocomplex were investigated, but the current environmental distances between the viruses did not seem to be associated with the events leading to their speciation.
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Fleetwood, Jennifer Swanson. "Women in the international cocaine trade : gender, choice and agency in context." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/9895.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis is about women in the international cocaine trade and in particular about their experiences as drug mules. This is the first comprehensive qualitative investigation based on the accounts of women and men who worked as drug mules and those who organise and manage trafficking cocaine by mule across international borders. Two explanations for women’s involvement in drug trafficking compete. The ‘feminisation of poverty’ thesis contends that women’s participation in the drug trade results from (and is a response to) their economic and social subordination. The ‘emancipation thesis’ contends that women’s participation in the drugs trade is an effect of women’s liberation. This thesis explores if and how women’s involvement in the drug trafficking (recruitment and ‘work’) is shaped by their gender. I interviewed 37 men and women drug traffickers imprisoned in Quito, Ecuador. This location was chosen due to the high numbers of women and men imprisoned for drug trafficking crimes. Respondents came from all levels of the drug trade and from different parts of the world. Data was collected and analysed using narrative analysis to understand the way in which discourses of victimhood were created in prison. This allowed for a sensitive interpretation of the meaning of victimhood and agency in respondents’ responses. The substantive section of the thesis examines two aspects of women’s involvement in drug trafficking in depth. The first section examines aspects of women’s recruitment into the drug trade as mules; the second section examines the work that mules do. This research finds that women’s participation in the international cocaine trade cannot be adequately understood through the lens of either victimisation or volition. The contexts in which men and women chose to work as a mule were diverse reflecting their varied backgrounds (nationality, age, experience, employment status, as well as gender). Furthermore, mules’ motivations reflected not only volition but also coercion and sometimes threat of violence. Although gender was a part of the context in which respondents became involved in mulework, it was not the only, or the most important aspect. Secondly, this research examined the nature of mule-work. Most mules (men and women) willingly entered a verbal contract to work as a drugs mule; nonetheless the context of ‘mule-work’ is inherently restrictive. Mules were subject to surveillance and management by their ‘contacts’ had few opportunities to have control or choice over their work. Collaboration, resistance and threat were often played out according to gendered roles and relationships but gender was not a determining factor. Nonetheless, respondents could and did find ways to negotiate resist and take action in diverse and creative ways. Prior research on the cocaine trade has ignored the importance of women’s participation or has considered it only in limited ways driven by gender stereotypes. Thus, this research addresses a significant gap in available evidence on women in the drug trade. This research also contributes to contemporary debates in theories of women’s offending which have centred on the role of victimisation and agency in relation to women’s offending.
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Al-Dashti, Abdulmohsen. "Language choice in the state of Kuwait : a sociolinguistic investigation." Thesis, University of Essex, 1998. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.242229.
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Bolen, Donella S. "Sexual Selection in the American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis): Context-Dependent Variation in Female Preference." The Ohio State University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1546460364036071.
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López, Rafael. "Essays on individual choice." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/289624.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis can be divided into two (unrelated) parts. The main part (Chapters 1 and 2)
focus on addiction models that entail departures from the classical discounting utility
model of Individual Intertemporal Choice: Habit-Formation and Self-Control problems.
The other part (Chapter 3) studies the famous p-Beauty Contest Game when we restrict
the individual’s choices to integer numbers.
In the first part, habit formation is the key feature for a product being addictive: a habit
is created when past consumption of the product increases current desire for
consumption. An addiction can be either beneficial (when past consumption increases
current utility, e.g. jogging) or harmful (when past consumption decreases current
utility, e.g. drug consumption). In general one could conceive of harmful addictions as
habit-forming activities that imply an immediate reward but generate future costs
(negative internalities) whereas beneficial addictions imply an immediate cost but
generate future rewards (positive internalities). Self-control problems are understood in
terms of time inconsistency: they arise when the individual cannot keep up with an
intended intertemporal plan of consumption.
In Chapter 1 we analyse a (harmful) addiction model proposed by O'Donoghue and
Rabin (O&R) for which they obtain a counterintuitive result: full awareness of selfcontrol
problems may exacerbate over-consumption. We show that this result arises
from their particular equilibrium selection for the induced intrapersonal game. We
provide dominating Markov Perfect equilibria where the paradox vanishes and that
seem more ''natural'' since they capture behaviours often observed in the realm of
addiction. We also address the issue of why a person could decide to start consuming
and possibly develop an addiction: contrary to O&R, and according to the common
intuition, we show that naiveté is at the essence.
In Chapter 2 we obtain an isomorphism between harmful and beneficial addictions in a
discrete-time binary choice context (the model of the first chapter being a particular
case of this context). The equivalence thus established allows us to study both
phenomena (harmful and beneficial addictions) as two sides of the same coin. Besides
the theoretical insight it provides, this dualism is also useful: in particular, it permits to
readily translate the results obtained in the first chapter to the domain of beneficial
addictions. Once the dualism is established, we analyse addictions under both timeconsistent
and time-inconsistent preferences.
In Chapter 3, we provide a full characterization of the pure-strategy Nash Equilibria for
the p-Beauty Contest Game when we restrict individual's choices to integer numbers.
Opposed to the case of real number choices, equilibrium uniqueness may be lost
depending on the value of p and the number of players: in particular, as p approaches 1
any symmetric profile constitutes a Nash Equilibrium. We also show that any
experimental p-Beauty Contest Game can be associated to a game with the integer
restriction and thus multiplicity of equilibria becomes an issue. Finally, we show that in
these games the iterated deletion of weakly dominated strategies may not lead to a
single outcome while the iterated best-reply process always does (though the outcome
obtained depends on the initial conditions).
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Monteiro, Luciane Cabral. "Abrigos e aldeias : análise dos contextos tecnológicos das ocupações de ceramistas na Cidade de Pedra, Rondonópolis, Mato Grosso." Universidade de São Paulo, 2006. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/71/71131/tde-15092006-151147/.
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A dissertação traz a análise dos contextos tecnológicos das ocupações de grupos ceramistas na Cidade de Pedra, Rondonópolis, Mato Grosso. A tecnologia cerâmica foi estudada segundo critérios relacionados às características da pasta e do contorno de potes cerâmicos. A pesquisa realizada relaciona quatro sítios a céu aberto e quatro sítios em abrigo-sob-rocha de uma área que se insere em um amplo contexto regional de sítios cerâmicos. O estudo da cerâmica presente nos sítios busca observar a diversidade das escolhas tecnológicas relacionadas ao processo produtivo dos potes, a partir de ocupações arqueológicas com cerâmica associada às tradições Uru e Tupiguarani, além de conjuntos cerâmicos não filiados. A interpretação dos dados leva em conta aspectos de caráter cultural implicados na contextualização dos sítiosThis dissertation analyzes the technological context of ceramic-making group occupations on the City of Stone (Cidade de Pedra) area in Rondonópolis, Mato Grosso. The ceramic technology was studied according to criteria related to the features present in the paste and contours of ceramic pottery. The research correlates four open-sky sites and four sites under rocky shelters from an area that is inserted within a wide regional context of ceramic sites. The study of the ceramic pieces found at the sites observes the diversity in technological choices related to pottery production processes, from archaeological occupations where ceramic is associated to the Uru and Tupiguarani traditions, in addition to non-affiliated ceramic sets. Data were interpreted taking into account cultural aspects implied within the context of these sites
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Altanero, de la Santísima Metáfora Ti5mothy John Tarek. "Power indexation in language choice in a South African Indian community /." Digital version accessible at:, 1999. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/utexas/main.
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Belgin-henry, Ayse. "Choice And Context In The Late Antique Architecture: Questioning The Cilician Domed Basilicas." Master's thesis, METU, 2003. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/1223874/index.pdf.
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This thesis reviews the architectural context of four churches in western Cilicia. These churches, namely the East Church at Alahan, the Cupola Church at Meryemlik, the Domed Ambulatory Church at Dagpazari, and the Tomb Church at Corycus, have been tentatively grouped by Stephen Hill under the name of Domed Basilicas based on their resemblance to the early 6th century models in Constantinople, the most famous being the Hagia Sophia. However, the dome comes forward in the Constantinopolitan context mainly as a feature in the establishment of a new architectural scheme that integrates a vertical axis into the oblong horizontal axiality of the basilica. Firstly, this thesis suggests that a similar integration visible in the planning of the Cilician churches is the essential point that needs to be studied. This seems to have been ignored by previous research. Consequently, the analytical approach that has concentrated on the possibility of a dome is criticized and a spatial interpretation is attempted. Moreover, as some scholars propose, these provincial examples might be the possible source of influence for the capital, if they are a local model dated to the end of the 5th century. Thus, issues pertaining to function, dating and patronage are overviewed, in order to obtain a wider perspective of interpretation. Finally, the general information concerning the Cilician examples was found to be based on surprisingly scanty and unverifiable physical testimony which points to the urgency and necessity of further fieldwork.
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Mosteller, Jill Renee. "Online Product Information Load: Impact on Maximizers and Satisficers within a Choice Context." unrestricted, 2007. http://etd.gsu.edu/theses/available/etd-07242007-154721/.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Georgia State University, 2007.Naveen Donthu, committee chair; Detmar Straub, Corliss Thornton, Sevo Eroglu, committee members. Electronic text (149 p. : ill.) : digital, PDF file. Title from file title page. Description based on contents viewed Dec. 10, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 142-149).
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Belgin-Henry, Ayşe. "Choice and context in the late antique architecture questioning the Cilician "Domed Basilicas" /." [Ankara] : METU, 2003. http://os.osdd.net/index.php/record/view/85508.
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Nicholson, Scott. "The effects of choice context on decision-making : an application to voter fatigue /." May be available electronically:, 2009. http://proquest.umi.com/login?COPT=REJTPTU1MTUmSU5UPTAmVkVSPTI=&clientId=12498.
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Ishikawa, Erina Schaffer. "Semantic Interpretation of Eye Movements Using Author-designed Structure of Visual Content." 京都大学 (Kyoto University), 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/2433/217199.
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Andres, Morrissey Franz. "Language choice in bilingual education : sociolinguistic, social and political issues in the case of Switzerland /." [S.l.] : [s.n.], 1997. http://www.ub.unibe.ch/content/bibliotheken_sammlungen/sondersammlungen/dissen_bestellformular/index_ger.html.
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Wu, Wei-Ning. "Determinants of Citizens’ 311 Use Behaviors: 311 Citizen-initiated Contact, Contact Channel Choice, and Frequent Use." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2015. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc801912/.
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Facing increasingly complex policy issues and diminishing citizen satisfaction with government and service performance, managing the quality of citizen relationship management has become a main challenge for public managers. Solutions to complex policy problems of service performance and low level of citizen participation often must be developed by encouraging citizens to make their voices heard through the various participation mechanisms. Reflecting on this need, the municipal governments in the U.S. have developed centralized customer systems for citizen relationship management. 311 centralized customer system (named 311 in this study) has the functions of citizen-initiated contact, service-coproduction, and transaction, and many local governments launch 311 to maintain or enhance their relationship with the public. Using 311 is an easy and free technically for citizens, but ensuring some degree of citizen engagement and citizens’ 311 use has been challenging for local public managers of municipalities. Despite calls for the importance of 311 in the service and information delivery process, fair treatment and access to use of governmental information, citizen participation, government responsiveness, and citizen satisfaction, to the best of our understanding, no empirical studies explore citizens’ 311 behaviors in the micro and individual level in the field of public administration. This dissertation provides a comprehensive understanding of the 311 centralized customer system, helps local public managers know citizens’ perceived perspectives toward the operation of 311, and assists these managers to develop an effective 311 system in municipalities. The dissertation’s main purpose is to clarify the importance of 311 to citizen relationship management and provide insights into citizens’ 311 use behaviors. More specifically, this dissertation tries to answers the following questions: a. Why do citizens use 311? Do the various groups of the population access and use 311 in San Francisco equally? If not, what factors influence the citizens’ 311 citizen-initiated contact behaviors? b. Why do citizens choose the 311 digital channel to contact with local governments? c. Why do citizens use 311 frequently? This dissertation will address these questions and draws on data from the 2011 citizen survey of City of San Francisco to explore citizens’ 311 use behaviors by examining them from citizens’ perspectives. The main arguments of each question listed above are: 1. 311 citizen-initiated contact is different from traditional citizen-initiated contact, and exposure to governmental-ICT environment, gender, income, and race are the factors influencing 311 citizen-initiated contact. 2. The digital divide, including the social side of the digital divide and access-side of the digital divide, influences citizens’ 311 channel choice. 3. Citizens’ technology acceptance, citizen satisfaction, and frequent use of public services influence the frequency of citizens’ 311 use.
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Yoon, Hae Jin. "Consumers’ Food Choice at a Restaurant Depending on Nutritional Information and Nutritional Menu Context." The Ohio State University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1250266713.
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Fischer, Manfred M., Rico Maggi, and Christian Rammer. "Scholarly Communication in Europe. Stated Communication Media Choice and Contact Decision Models Based on Laboratory Choice Experiments In Universities." WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, 1992. http://epub.wu.ac.at/4215/1/WSG_DP_1892.pdf.
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Canic, Emina. "Value is context dependent : on comparison processes and rank order in choice and judgment." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2016. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/90155/.
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In psychology as well as behavioral economics, it is well established that our choices and judgments are not just a function of the available options, but also of the context surrounding them. Several models have been brought forward to explain these context effects. We use the decision by sampling model (DbS; Stewart, Chater, & Brown, 2006) and investigate possible mechanisms that might lead to the relativity of judgment and choice. Stewart, Reimers and Harris (2015) demonstrated that shapes of utility and probability weighting functions could be manipulated by adjusting the distributions of outcomes and probabilities on offer. Chapter 2 reports a multi-level replication where we find that these effects are robust, but that DbS is unlikely to be the (sole) explanation for its origins. We conclude that problems with revealing utility functions from expected utility fits may be responsible for biasing the shapes of utility functions. Chapter 3 shows that reduced working memory capacity, as manipulated by cognitive load, does not reduce the effects found in Chapter 2. This further points away from a DbS explanation of the above findings. In Chapter 3, we also find that cognitive load has no impact on risk aversion, but find that choice consistency is reduced when working memory capacity is reduced, which also challenges the prominent dual process theories. Still, the question where the differences in preferential functions come from, remains unexplained. Chapter 4 reviews over 20 behavioral as well as neurophysiological studies showing that even if the rank effects are an artefact of the estimation procedure, this does not question the many findings that support a model encompassing a rank-dependent evaluation of alternatives. In Chapter 5, we test this hypothesis in a new design, where a monetary outcome is evaluated in the light of another foregone outcome with a history of other foregone outcomes. In contrast to our hypothesis, we find no evidence for a rank-dependent evaluation here. In Chapter 6, we investigate how comparison processes can lead to the mutable-zero effect. In the mutable-zero effect, participants prefer an outcome entailing a “pay zero” or “lose zero” attribute over an outcome entailing a “receive zero” or “win zero” attribute. We find that the only comparisons that are made with “pay zero” are other payments and that the only comparisons that are made with “receive zero” are other receipts. This process leads to “pay zero” comparing favorably and “receive zero” comparing unfavorably, which in turn leads to “pay zero” options being preferred over “receive zero” options. Given the findings in Chapter 2 and 3 are robust, they point to a general problem with estimating preferential functions using models like expected utility theory or prospect theory. Chapter 3 and 5 were a first attempt at testing a DbS-predicted mechanism: In contrast to our predictions, cognitive load did not decrease context sensitivity. Instead, we observed a slight increase in random choices. Finally, in exploring the mutable zero effect, we added to evidence that comparisons spontaneously happen only within gains, or within losses, but not across gains and losses.
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Wiebach, Nicole. "Four essays on the context-dependence of consumer preferences in situations of reduced choice." Doctoral thesis, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät, 2012. http://dx.doi.org/10.18452/16594.
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Die vorliegende Dissertation untersucht die Kontextabhängigkeit von Konsumentenpräferenzen in Folge eines Marktaustritts in 4 Aufsätzen. Aufsatz 1 diskutiert Auswirkungen einer Auslistung auf Kundenreaktionen. Zwei empirische Studien belegen die Existenz eines negativen Ähnlichkeits-, Attraktions- und Kompromisseffektes und zeigen wesentliche Determinanten einer markentreuen Reaktion auf. Aufsatz 2 bestätigt die Hypothesen über negative Kontexteffekte für Markeneliminierungen in verschiedenen experimentellen Situationen und Produktkategorien. Das sich ergebende Substitutionsverhalten resultiert durchweg in höheren Verlusten für Hersteller als für Händler. Aufsatz 3 diskutiert das Substitutionsverhalten in Out-of-Stock Situationen. Promotion wird hierbei als wesentlicher Einflussfaktor herangezogen. Verschiedene Online-Experimente demonstrieren einen negativen Ähnlichkeitseffekt für die temporäre Nichtverfügbarkeit von Produkten, welcher sich jedoch für preisreduzierte Güter des täglichen Bedarfs verringert. Werden ähnliche Substitute preislich reduziert angeboten, wird der negative Ähnlichkeitseffekt verstärkt. Der Effekt wird hingegen von einem Attraktionseffekt überlagert, wenn unähnliche Alternativen im Sonderangebot sind. Aufsatz 4 untersucht wesentliche Einflussfaktoren eines negativen Attraktionseffektes. In Anlehnung an das von Mishra et al. (1993) entwickelte Kausalmodell zur Neuprodukteinführung, wird ein adaptiertes ganzheitliches Strukturgleichungsmodell für den Marktaustritt getestet. Als wesentliche Treiber des betrachteten Phänomens resultieren die Konstrukte Anteil des Decoys, Präferenzstärke und Informationsrelevanz.This thesis investigates the context-dependence of preferences in consequence of market exits in 4 essays. Essay 1 discusses the effect of brand delisting on customer responses. On the basis of two empirical studies, the existence of a negative similarity, a negative attraction and a negative compromise effect is revealed and key determinants of a brand loyal reaction are analyzed. Essay 2 supports the hypotheses on negative context effects for brand removals across different experimental settings and product categories. The resultant switching patterns collectively lead to bigger damages for manufacturers than for retailers. Essay 3 investigates preference shifts in out-of-stock situations by including promotion as essential driver. A series of online experiments demonstrate that for temporal unavailability of products, substitution behavior correspond to a negative similarity effect which is, however, reduced for stock-outs of low involvement fast moving consumer goods on promotion. While the negative similarity effect is enforced for promotions of similar substitutes, it is ruled out by the simultaneous occurrence of an attraction effect when dissimilar substitutes are offered at a reduced price. Essay 4 studies important antecedent variables of the negative attraction effect. In reference to the causal model on product introduction developed by Mishra et al. (1993), an adapted holistic framework for product exit is tested by using structural equation modeling. The results emphasize decoy share, preference strength and information relevance as major drivers of the considered phenomenon.
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English, Rebecca Maree. "School choice in a new market context: A case study of The Shelbyville College." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2005. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/16027/1/Rebecca_English_Thesis.pdf.
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Since the 1990s in Australia, education policies have created an environment in which competition among schools has increased and parental choice of school has been encouraged. This has been coupled with practices of corporatisation, marketisation and performativity, which have led to the proliferation of a new type of independent school, which operate in the outer suburbs of large cities, target a specific niche market, and charge low cost fees.
This study examines the reasons parents are making the choice to send their children to a new, non-government schools in preference to other alternatives and the role of promotional material produced by the school in that choice. The case study of one such school, The Shelbyville College, involved in-depth interviewing of parents at the College as well as a Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough) of the College's prospectus and website which act as performative tools to measure the school's effectiveness in the market.
Using Bourdieu's concepts of habitus and cultural capital, the study showed that parents interviewed were choosing this type of school to increase the educational and social status and career prospects of their children as 'extraordinary children'. Through such discourses, parents as consumers of particular schooling products and their engagement with the promotional activities of the College are produced as 'good parents'. Seeking and engaging with promotional material helped remove any dissonance that may occur from a long and expensive relationship with the institution. In choosing this particular school, parents were seeking 'good Christian values' and the freedom to actively engage in their children's education.
The College, through its promotional efforts, promises to build on familial habitus and inculcate valued cultural capital in order to make students more successful academically and socially than their parents. The promotional materials of the website and prospectus emphasised the co-curricular involvement in music, speech and drama and invite parents into a discourse of success through the College's educational offering which creates 'extraordinary children'. The uniform mandated by the College is another 'text' in the production of extraordinary children as outlined in the prospectus and website and is an important site for identity production. The uniform demonstrates, not only the disciplinary regime and preparation for professional dress, but also the prestige and esteem derived from the consumption of high status products such as non-government schooling.
It is expected that the findings of this study will have relevance for government schools that are the primary competition for new, non-government schools and will lose funding if they continue to lose students. The study will have some implications for CEO (Catholic Education Office) schools that have traditionally provided a low-cost alternative to the government sector. Parents in the study reported choosing the new, non-government school because of differences in values, and perceptions of safety and status improvement offered by these schools. The continued success of the new, non-government schools is also likely to have broader effects on social and educational inequality in Australia through their effects on the government school sector.