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Mathews, Peter David 1975. "Strategies of realism : realist fiction and postmodern theory." Monash University, Centre for Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies, 2001. http://arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/8656.
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Kent, Samuel. "On Revolution and Realism: A Structural Realist Theory of Revolution." Thesis, Boston College, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/2993.
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Thesis advisor: Paul ChristensenRevolutions have been a neglected subject in Structural Realism. Nevertheless, they have profound impacts in the International System, ranging from immediate state-unit behavior deviation to long-term altering of the balance of power. Revolutions can be explained within the Structural Realist paradigm as a structural contradiction between state and society that depresses state capabilities, allowing it to succumb to intra-territorial competition. Accordingly, revolution can be considered a mechanism for reconstituting state-unit power
Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2013
Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Political Science Honors Program
Discipline: Political Science
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Williams, Bernard C. "A realist theory of auditing." Thesis, University of East Anglia, 1988. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.233557.
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Nunez, Iskra. "Critical realist activity theory (CRAT)." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2012. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10020004/.
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This thesis develops a theoretical-interpretive scheme, a Critical Realist Activity Theory (CRAT). It is argued that learning is a passage through the dialectic, the logic of emancipation and for self-emancipation. The structure of CRAT follows the 1M-5A Bhaskarian dialectical schema to show how the theories of Collaborative Learning, Cooperative Learning, Supplemental Instruction, and Activity Theory (AT) function in a pluralist sense to account for the main critical realist categories of reality — 1M: learning as product (non-identity), 2E: learning as process (negativity), 3L: learning as process-in-product (totality), 4D: learning as product-in-process (transformative agency), and 5A: learning as emancipatory intentionality (reflexivity). In particular, CRAT engages the basic tenets of Critical Realism to provide a philosophical foundation and simultaneously, a resolution to various dualisms that AT suffers from. An immanent critique of AT, as a method of argumentation, is particularly effective for this purpose since it involves taking a theory and its claims about the world and using them to show that the theory is inconsistent with itself. Then CRAT goes on to show, at the level of omissive critique, that a key element that is absent from the historical development of the activity-theoretical approach and explains its dualisms is the omission of a critique of empiricism, i.e., a critique of Humean philosophy. Thereafter, CRAT goes on from the immanent and omissive critiques, a step further with an explanatory critique as a means by which to reincorporate the absent element in AT in order to reclaim and strengthen our perception of emancipatory human praxis. The result from cementing this tradition in a critical realist philosophy is a move through dialectical learning.
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Minto, William Richmond. "Foundations for a realist theory of causality." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1997. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp02/NQ28507.pdf.
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Kalf, Wouter Floris. "Moral error theory : a cognitivist realist defence." Thesis, University of Leeds, 2013. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/5499/.
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This dissertation argues that moral error theory is the most plausible metaethical theory if we assume the truth of cognitivism about moral judgments and the moral statements that express them. According to moral error theory, various moral statements carry a non-negotiable commitment to a robust kind of categorical moral normativity, which means that this commitment cannot be denied on pains of changing the subject. Unfortunately, there is no such robust categorical moral normativity, at least not in the actual world. This entails that these moral statements are always untrue, or ‘in error’. In arguing for moral error theory, the thesis first argues that the standard argumentative strategy for establishing moral discourse’s non-negotiable commitment—viz., forging a relation of conceptual entailment between moral statements and the statement that there exists robust categorical moral normativity—is highly problematic. It also argues that forging a presupposition relation can work, but that error theorists are best advised to pursue a completely new strategy, which uses a relation of metaphysical entailment. The dissertation then argues that moral discourse metaphysically entails robust moral categorical normativity and proceeds to present a new argument against its existence. According to this argument, various sorts of hypothetical and categorical normativity exist because these can be grounded in a naturalistically respectable metaphysic; unfortunately, categorical moral normativity cannot be so grounded. Finally, the dissertation explores an often ignored answer to the following question: what (prudentially) should we with our error-riddled moral discourse? I argue for revolutionary cognitivism. This is the view that we should continue to use moral language and fully believe what we say but that what we say should be purged of its error. We should revolutionize our moral thought and start to conceive of morality’s normativity in a less robust way than we currently do.
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Kireyev, Sergey. "GEORGE LISKA'S REALIST ALLIANCE THEORY, AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF NATO." Master's thesis, University of Central Florida, 2004. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETD/id/3159.
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In many aspects, political theory forms a subjective structure of this abstract science. Perhaps, it is due to the fact that unlike natural sciences or mathematics, social sciences often lack the privilege of testing the theories in absolute and unadulterated conditions. Nonetheless, such nature of the science allows for a certain degree of flexibility, when applying political theories to real-world phenomena. Alliances and coalitions in international relations form the backbone of the theory, concerning IR scholars with two main questions: Why do alliances and coalitions form? And, what keeps alliances and coalitions together? As the core of my research, I examined NATO, as the most prominent and long-lasting alliance of our time, through the prism of alliance formation and cohesion theory introduced by George Liska. In particular, I explored the evolution of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization over the term of its existence, and sought to determine whether Liska's principles still apply to the contemporary situation, and in particular, how may the variables have altered the application of this scholar's theory to our future understanding of alliances. In its essence, this is a comparative study of the same alliance during the different stages of its existence. In particular, the comparison dissects such aspects of alliance theory as alignment, alliance formation, efficacy, and reasons for possible dissolution. As a result, the study led to a conclusion, that despite the permutations around and within NATO, the basic realist principles that may explain the mechanism of this alliance's formation and cohesion still apply to the contemporary organization.M.A.
Department of Political Science
Arts and Sciences
Political Science
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Sundman, Hugo. "David Miller's Theory of Immigration: A Realist Critique." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-392273.
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This study examines the coherency of David Miller’s immigration argument in favour of a state regulated immigration policy. It is an internal critique where Miller’s empirical understanding of immigration is questioned by an empirical analysis using external concepts taken from the substantive realist thinker’s Bonnie Honig and Marc Stears as well as Raymond Geuss. From Honig and Stears the theoretical tool of framing “the real” is used to claim that there are many national identity narratives. According to Clara Sandelind’s empirical research institutional narratives are more compatible with immigration than cultural ones. Miller on the other hand asserts that a liberal national identity that is culturally based is compatible with regulated immigration. Then according to the analysis with the second theoretical tool self-interest, which assumes a strife for power and security, the alleged problem of Miller’s theory is that it underestimates the conflict between national identity and immigration. The vertical relationship of power between insiders and immigrants gives insiders a national self-interest to exclude outsiders in order to preserve their national privilege. Miller’s conception of a quite allowing immigration policy therefore does not cohere with a more realistic interpretation of the political reality.
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Birkett, Holly. "Identity transitions : towards a critical realist theory of identity." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2011. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/44047/.
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This thesis explores the relationship between paid employment and individual identity. It aims to understand how paid employment impacts identity. In order to do so, the thesis focuses on work transitions; times when people relinquish one working identity and potentially acquire other forms of identity. As such, these transitions are also viewed as identity transitions. The thesis is split into two major sections. First, there is a review of the current Organization Studies literature on individual identity, which provides a critique of the current dominant perspectives on identity: Social Identity Theory, which focuses on group membership and role identification; narrative approaches to identity, which focus on reflexive processes and the agency involved in developing a coherent story of self during times of change; and, finally, discursive theories of identity which focus on the dominant discourses in society and their role in creating individual identity. Each of these approaches is discussed, their strengths are highlighted and their weaknesses explained. This critical review of the literature leads me to conclude that the current literature on identity has a tendency to under-theorize and under-explain the role of social structure, and capital resources in particular, on identity over time. This is a problem as it means that the current explanations we have for working identity and identity transitions exaggerate agency, the role of group membership or cultural discourses and, therefore, only offer a partial explanation of identity transitions. This research aims to demonstrate the crucial role of capital resources (Bourdieu: 1986) in identity transitions, thus highlighting the role of social structures. Secondly, the research examines the relationship between structure, agency and discourse in identity transitions by exploring the interaction between capital resources, narratives and reflexivity and discourse during two different identity transitions. The thesis therefore makes a number of contributions to knowledge. Firstly, it clearly critiques the current literature on identity and identity transition. Secondly, it identifies and examines the missing link in the current literature in terms of a systematic conceptualization of the role of social structure, using Bourdieu‘s concept of capital resources. Thirdly, the thesis begins to develop a new approach to identity which incorporates social structure and theorizes the relationship between social structure, agency and discourse in identity development. This approach is informed by Margaret Archer‘s morphogenetic approach (1995) and Bourdieu‘s (1986) concept of capital resources. The final substantive contribution this thesis offers is an empirical one. The thesis presents rich empirical data about two very different work transitions, retirement and downshifting, which see the respondents undergoing different forms of identity transition. This empirical data particularly adds to the literature in the downshifting case by exploring an under-researched transition. The thesis is also novel in that it explores career transitions from an identity perspective and offers extensive qualitative data on individual work and identity transitions. Finally, the empirical chapters of this thesis allow me to examine the utility of the approach to identity transitions, which I develop in this thesis, which explicitly recognizes the role of social structures. Thus, the empirical data helps to refine this approach for use in future research on identity transitions.
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François, Any Marie-Gérard. "Value as part of reality : an internal realist response to non-cognitivism in ethics." Thesis, McGill University, 1991. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=61116.
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The possibility of considering the ethical domain as cognitive is a principal concern of contemporary moral philosophy. Following an analysis of Hilary Putnam's internal realism, I discuss how our usual conceptions of truth and factuality should be modified in order to render philosophical discourse free of the fact/value distinction. I then present a response to Gilbert Harman's argument for non-cognitivism in ethics and argue that, within an internal realism that incorporates such modified conceptions, the non-cognitive argument no longer carriers any weight.
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Kostagiannis, Konstantinos. "Realist conceptualisations of power and the nation-state." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/15859.
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This thesis is a project of intellectual history which focuses on the development of notions of power and the nation-state in realist thought. The main aim of the thesis is to offer a comprehensive account of how different conceptions of power in the work of various realist thinkers influence their perceptions of the nation-state. Although both power and the state are considered as central to realism, their connection has not been adequately discussed and remains largely implicit. The thesis aims at illuminating such a connection. The authors under examination are both key realist thinkers and representative of the diversity of realist thought as well as of the development from classical to structural realism. As such, the thesis focuses on the works of E.H. Carr, H. Morgenthau (as classical realists), J. Herz (as a transitional figure) and J. Mearsheimer (as a structural realist). The thesis engages with each realist’s theory in a three-step process. First, it analyses their conceptualisation of power and the role it plays in their ontological and epistemological assumptions. Then, using that conceptualisation of power as a starting point, it discusses its impact on the way the realist under examination understood the nation-state. Finally, the way the aforementioned realists engaged with the foreign policies of given nation-states is employed as an illustration of their theoretical framework. The thesis identifies a close interplay between power and the nation-state in all realists examined. Power plays a central role in each realist’s ontology and as such influences profoundly the way they conceptualised the nation-state. The latter can thus be approached as a manifestation of power which is unfixed in time. The realists examined approach the state as a historically conditioned entity. As such, it is argued that it is power that constitutes the core analytical category of realism rather than the state whose very conception is dependent upon that of power. In terms of the development of realism, a process of gradual narrowing down of the concept of power from classical to structural approaches is observed. The multifaceted conception of power advanced by early realists is abandoned in favour of an approach which understands power as material capabilities. While this approach is compatible with a scientific vision of politics as manifested after the second debate it reduces significantly realism’s analytical purchase both in understanding power and the nation-state. This is evident in the precarious balance that neorealists have to attain when theorising nationalism, the ideological corollary of the nation-state, which can more fully be accounted for by classical realists. Finally, by removing power from the field of epistemology, structural variants of realism lack the reflexivity of earlier realists and as such find it difficult to engage in foreign policy debates without compromising the core assumptions of their theory. The thesis is structured as follows: In the introduction, the thesis is put in the context of existing literature on realism and the way questions of power and the nation-state have been addressed in the past. Questions of methodology and selection of authors are also addressed in the introduction. The following four chapters are dedicated to analysing the theories of the selected realists. The concluding section summarises the findings and main argument of the thesis.
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Wight, Colin. "The agent-structure debate in international relations theory : a critical realist reappraisal." Thesis, Aberystwyth University, 1998. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.364947.
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Dirpal, G. "Human resource management practices and performance link : applying critical realist meta-theory." Thesis, University of the West of England, Bristol, 2015. http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/25298/.
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Many of those who conduct empirical research in the field of human resource management (HRM) believe that a quantifiable and statistical, relation, association or link exists between HRM practices and organizational performance, and can be discovered using ‘scientific’ (looking) methods and the `usual´ statistical techniques. I refer to this as empirical research on the HRM-P link. The results have been poor – in two senses. First, the evidence of the link is, at best inconclusive, and at worst casts doubt on its existence. But, second, even if this was not the case, even if a statistical link or association between HRM and performance could be shown, this empirical research cannot explain it. It cannot tell us why HRM practices are linked to performance. Fleetwood & Hesketh (2010) have diagnosed these problems as rooted in meta-theory – i.e. ontology, epistemology, aetiology and methodology. More specifically, they see the fundamental problem as the commitment by empirical researchers to some version of positivism, or `scientism´ as they prefer to call it. In addition to their critique, they have gone on to advocate an alternative meta-theory for research on the HRM-P link, namely, critical realism. This thesis takes Fleetwood & Hesketh´s work as its starting place. It accepts their argument that evidence of the HRM-P link is problematic; accepts that empirical research cannot explain why HRM practices are linked to performance; accepts that positivist/scientistic meta-theory is the problem; and accepts that critical realism might have more to offer in terms of meta-theory. But, and this is important, this thesis goes beyond Fleetwood & Hesketh´s work. It re-describes and retheorises HRM practices to develop the concept of an `HRMechanism´ - i.e. HRM practice + causal mechanism. This allows us to use critical realism´s meta-theoretical ideas of causal mechanisms in general to understand HRMechanisms specifically. It uses critical realism as a meta-theoretical basis to conceive of, and apply, qualitative research techniques to investigate what would commonly be considered a quantitative research programme. It conducts empirical research into the HRM-P link without falling back on the `usual´ statistical research techniques that have, hitherto, failed to offer evidence either way. This thesis is, therefore, a (meta) theoretically informed piece of empirical work. The empirical research consists of qualitative research into six HRMechanisms (and their associated sub-HRMechanisms) in operation at Aero Ltd, namely: team working, corporate culture, empowerment, work-life balance, performance appraisal and reward. Interview data reveals two things. First, that team working, performance appraisal and work-life balance generate powers/tendencies to increase organizational performance; whereas corporate culture, empowerment and rewards generate neutral powers/tendencies vis-á-vis organizational performance. Second it generates causal-explanations of exactly what these HRMechanisms do to generate these v powers/tendencies. In conclusion, this qualitative research is able to do what quantitative empirical research on the HRM-P link cannot, namely, explain why HRM practices are linked to organizational performance.
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Bergin, Michael. "Realist social theory, gender awareness and Irish mental health care : an exploratory analysis." Thesis, University of Lincoln, 2012. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.633459.
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Kamolnick, Paul. "Delegitimizing Al-Qaeda: A Jihad-Realist Approach." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2012. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu_books/123.
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Disrupting, dismantling, and ultimately defeating al-Qaeda based and inspired terrorism is a declared policy of the U.S. Government. Three key strategic objectives have been identified for accomplishing this: attacking al-Qaeda’s terror network, undermining radicalization and recruitment, and hardening homeland defense. The present monograph proposes a distinct "jihad-realist" approach for undermining radicalization and recruitment to al-Qaeda. First, a brief discussion of six means for ending terrorist organizations is provided. Second, the premises of a jihad-realist approach are described. Third, a jihad-realist shari’a case against al-Qaeda’s terrorism is presented. In conclusion, key assertions are summarized, and several specific policy recommendations offered for national security personnel charged with formulating and executing counterterrorist messaging strategy.https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu_books/1129/thumbnail.jpg
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van, Ingen Michiel. "Rethinking conflict studies : towards a critical realist approach." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2014. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/16202.
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The study of intra-state conflict has increased exponentially during the post-Cold War period. This has given rise to a variety of competing approaches, which have (i) adopted differing methodological and social theoretical orientations, and (ii) produced contradictory accounts of the causes and nature of violent conflict. This project intervenes in the debates which have resulted from this situation, and develops a critical realist approach to conflict studies. In doing so it rethinks the discipline from the philosophical ground up, by extending the ontological and epistemological insights which are provided by critical realism into more concrete reflections about methodological and social theoretical issues. In addition to engaging in reflection about philosophical, methodological, and social theoretical issues, however, the project also incorporates the insights of two largely neglected literatures into conflict studies. These are, first, the insights of the gender-studies literature, and second, the insights of decolonial/postcolonial forms of thought. It claims that the discipline is strengthened by incorporating the insights of these literatures, and that the critical realist framework provides us with the philosophical basis which is required in order to do so.
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Rosenberg, Justin. "Social structures and geopolitical systems : a critique of the Realist theory of International Relations." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 1993. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/1316/.
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This thesis provides a critique of, and an alternative to, the Realist school of International Relations theory. Rejecting the Realist starting point of the condition of anarchy among states, it argues instead for the importance of wider social structures in determining the social form of geopolitical systems. The method used is the historical materialism of Marx - in particular his injunction to examine how 'the direct relationship of the owners of the conditions of production to the direct producers' underlies the form of the state. Following an opening interrogation of Realism, this method is used to explore several premodern geopolitical systems. In each case, attention is drawn to the correspondence between the form of the geopolitical system and the character of the societies composing it. This correspondence is then used to mount historical explanations which contrast strongly with those supplied by a Realist treatment. The tools forged in these historical explorations are next turned onto the contemporary international system. Two main conclusions result. First, the distinctive properties of the sovereign states-system are to be understood by examining their correspondence to 'the direct relationship of the owners of the conditions of production to the direct producers' in the leading capitalist societies which dominate the system. This argument includes a formal redefinition of the two core categories of Realist theory. 'Sovereignty' is redefined as the abstracted political form of the state under capitalism, while 'anarchy' is rediscovered as the form of social connectedness peculiar to capitalism which Marx describes as 'personal independence based on dependence mediated by things'. The second conclusion is that the history of the emergence of the modern international system is to be found in those historical processes of social change which generalized the capital-labour relation - processes focussed above all on the expropriation of the direct producer.
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Pillai, Anil Ph D. "Retreating from the Nuclear Path Testing the theory of Prudential Realism to explain Nuclear Forbearance." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1342103267.
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Farkasch, Robert W. "Bringing the ancient world back in hubris and the renewal of realist international relations theory /." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2001. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp05/NQ66347.pdf.
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Kennedy, S. B. "Analytical Marxism and Marx's theory of history : a realist critique of G.A. Cohen's historical materialism." Thesis, Swansea University, 1995. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.637776.
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This thesis criticises G.A. Cohen's 'Karl Marx's theory of history: a defence' and the debate surrounding it, from the perspective of critical realism. It is a sustained critique of analytical Marxism's founding text and one of the first engagements of these two theoretical schools. It involves a close review of the basic terms of the book's presentation of a traditional conception of historical materialism and an assessment of Cohen's success in reconstructing a viable version of the theory. This is judged as a failure. Particular stress is laid upon the inapplicability of analytical philosophy to Marxism and Cohen's ambiguous relationship with the legacy of Hegel in Marx. His functionalist modes of explanation, the material-social division of reality, and the rational individual as a starting point for theory, are all found wanting. This criticism of static ahistorical models and the use of neo-classical methods, has, therefore, significant implications for the hole of the analytical Marxist project. Cohen's version of Marx's theory of history is shown to be unable to account for epochal transition - in particular the transition from feudalism to capitalism - and inadequate in dealing with the determination of the economy. The explanatory primacy of productive forces in history is rejected in favour of an alternative approach to agency, class and social structure. Further to this, a realist interpretation of the Marxist theory of value is offered, the place of class in historical materialism reviewed, and a partial reconceptualisation of relations and forces of production proposed.
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Górska, Sylwia. "Exploring the experience of dementia from a participatory perspective : from experience to theory and back again : realist explanatory theory building method." Thesis, Queen Margaret University, 2018. https://eresearch.qmu.ac.uk/handle/20.500.12289/8976.
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Background: The way dementia is understood shapes public attitudes towards those living with the condition and professional approaches to treatment. This has implications for the experiences of those living with dementia. Theoretical models currently guiding care and informing public perceptions are limited and incomplete, reflecting professional rather than personal experience. They fail to capture the complexity of this experience, potential for adaptation and role of participation relative to health and wellbeing. Research presented in this thesis contributes towards bridging this gap through developing a conceptualisation grounded in the first-hand accounts, reflecting the complexity of living with dementia and exploring factors and processes impacting upon adaptation and participation. Methods: A modified realist explanatory theory building method was used. This included triangulation of subjective perspectives of people living with dementia with complexity- consistent theories, identification of factors contributing to the overall experience, as well as causal mechanisms and processes involved. The first phase used qualitative meta- synthesis of 34 studies on first-hand experience and informed the development of a tentative model of dementia experience. During the next phase, this initial model was examined against concepts and ideas from 11 complexity-consistent theoretical frameworks. In the final phase, a model was scrutinised against narrative data of 12 people living with dementia and 19 family members. Results: The experience of living with dementia is conceptualised as “adaptation through participation”, emerging from ongoing, dynamic and non-linear interactions between multiple contributory factors and causal mechanisms, both personal and environmental. The model identifies and explains causal dynamics and adaptive processes shaping outcomes in dementia. Possible trajectories of these outcomes are explored, with the model indicating that these should be considered in terms of a spectrum rather than distinct stages of dementia progression. “A tree and a forest” metaphor is used to depict the proposed model and further explain findings. Diverse understandings of the model’s key conceptual domains are captured and explored relative to implications for the “adaptation through participation” process in dementia. Finally, findings are discussed in the context of the relevant theory and research evidence. Conclusions: By emphasising and explaining the potential for adaptation and enduring participation in dementia, the conceptualisation proposed in this thesis can contribute towards a shift in current policy and practice from the management of deficits to proactive support for continuity of participation throughout the dementia spectrum. However, before this is realised, additional work aiming at validation of the proposed model, further clarification of conceptual domains and causal relationships between them, and exploration of the role of multiple accounts of dementia experience, representing perspectives of people living with dementia and the important others; is required to establish the practical utility of the proposed model.
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Ramoglou, Efstratios. "A realist analysis of the entrepreneurial worldview : under-labouring for a scientific study of entrepreneurship." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2014. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.595584.
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Sullivan, Timothy Mark. "Realist theory and Russian alliance behavior [ electronic resource]: implications for U.S. Foreign Policy Timothy Mark Sullivan." Thesis, Monterey, Calif. : Springfield, Va. : Naval Postgraduate School ; Available from National Technical Information Service, 2000. http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA386610.
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Thesis (M.A. in National Security Affairs) Naval Postgraduate School, Dec. 2000.Thesis advisor, Wirtz, James J. "December 2000." Includes bibliographical references (p. 101-105). Also available in print.
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Lo, Chih-shen. "Validating a realist grounded theory : using an example of the double-labeling phenomenon in special education." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/43930.
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The aim of this dissertation study was two-fold. On one hand, it set out to investigate the newly emerged double-labeling phenomenon shared by twice-exceptional students in order to parcel out factors that affect the labeling process and to understand how these students perceive and cope with educational labels. On the other hand, this study sought to provide better understanding and tangibility of a realist grounded theory (RGT) approach, especially with respect to a validation model that could be used to guide RGT research practices. In the first stage, three major grounded theory approaches were compared based on different ontological stances and an RGT validation model with a set of strategies was proposed. The validation model suggests that the degree of validity of RGT is contingent on the closeness between a theoretical account and social reality, which is rudimentarily suggested by the “groundedness” of a study (concurrent procedural validity) and subsequently reinforced by external testing studies and/or practices (incremental procedural validity). In the second stage, the RGT validation model was adopted to study the interactive and dynamic process of double-labeling, which resulted in a theoretical model that is fortified with four theoretical propositions. This theoretical model highlights the interplay of individual agency, contextual factors, and developmental considerations and theorizes the pedagogical perspectives of educational labeling. Labeling practice is situated in and endorsed by a social context that carries explicit theory about, and educational policies regarding, labels. Taking a developmental perspective, labeling practice often results in some short-lived emotional responses and triggers a meaning-generating process that results in gradually formatted self-knowledge. Positive academic and social adjustment behaviors are contingent on this self-knowledge. In this regard, labeling practice reconciles a constructed reality (consensual field knowledge) and a lived reality (self-knowledge). Through implementing the RGT validation model in an empirical study and testing out the suggested strategies, the validation model was found to provide not only tangible operational terms that guided the research process but also a rendition of validation evidence that suggested the original GT canons—fit, work, and relevance.
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Stott, Luke. "Ipseity : using the Social Identity Perspective as a guide to character construction in realist fiction." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2016. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/23379.
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"Instead of studying, for example, how the psychology of personality limits and prevents real social and political change, we should be studying how political and ideological changes create new personalities and individual needs and motives." The above quotation is from social psychologist Professor John Turner, who is one of the two theorists, the other being Henri Tajfel, most responsible for the Social Identity Perspective, the principle subject of this thesis. The Social Identity Perspective is an approach to Social Psychology that incorporates two sub-theories: Tajfel's Social Identity Theory and Turner's Self-Categorization Theory. This thesis is based upon using the perspective for the purposes of creating more realistic and believable fictional characters in realist fiction. For the purposes of this thesis Pam Morris' definition of realism will be used, that being, 'any writing that is based upon an implicit or explicit assumption that it is possible to communicate about a reality beyond the writing.' According to both theories, individuals can develop two principal identities: the personal self, which is to say a collection of idiosyncratic qualities that define them as a unique individual, and a collective self (or social identity) that encapsulates the status and characteristics of the social groups they belong to in opposition to other social groupings. Turner theorised that the personality of a human being is heavily influenced by their social context at an unconscious level. This influence can be made manifest by their parents, by their school friends and work colleagues, by their romantic partners, and especially by the collective cultural expectations native to the area they choose to reside in. Turner put forward the concept that our personality and actions are therefore influenced by society at the level of how the individual defines himself or herself. This occurs without agency on the part of the individual. These social belief systems therefore mould what the individual thinks, their actions, and their motivations. This thesis will demonstrate a method of usage for elements of Social Psychology, specifically the Social Identity Perspective that underpins the actions, interactions and motivations of the fictional characters contained within the thesis's creative element. It is the contention of this thesis that The Social Identity Perspective will assist an author in marrying together ever more realistic characterisation to other areas of writer research already extensively drawn upon by the author such as those projects focused upon creating a more realistic setting in a historical novel for instance. As previously stated it is the intention of this thesis to apply aspects of social psychology to the creation of realist texts only, the findings however may also be of use to authors who write in other genres, after all even the writer of fantastic fiction still requires characters whose actions are fundamentally recognisable and justifiable to the reader in order for them to be able to make sense of the fiction and as Henry James said, 'one can speak best from one's own taste, and I may therefore venture to say the air of reality (solidity of specification) seems to me to be the supreme virtue of a novel'. It is the aim of this thesis that its findings may highlight the potential of using The Social Identity Perspective and other adjuncts of Social Psychology as tools for both plot construction and character development that is completely realistic. This may then lead to other areas of research, some of which are suggested in the concluding chapter of this thesis.
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Sousa, Filipe Jorge Moreira de. "The Anatomy of Relationship Significance: a Critical Realist Exploration." Doctoral thesis, Faculdade de Economia da Universidade do Porto, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10216/10769.
Full textAbstract:
Ciências EmpresariaisOs teoristas de redes industriais argumentam, explicita ou implicitamente, a significância das relações de negócio para a empresa focal isto é, as relações de negócio contribuem em alguma medida para a sobrevivência e crescimento da empresa focal. Eu não nego a possível existência de relações de negócio significantes mas sustento, em contraste com o consenso dentro da Teoria de Mercados-como-Redes, que a significância das relações não deve ser um axioma. A significância não pode ser uma propriedade assumida a priori para cada uma das relações de negócio da empresa focal. Ao invés, a noção de significância das relações tem de ser discutida e as suas causas totalmente explicadas. Adoptando uma posição de Realismo Crítico, defendo que a significância das relações é um evento do mundo empresarial que merece uma explicação causal robusta. A minha principal questão de investigação é a seguinte: Como é produzida a significância das relações de negócio? Todas as relações de negócio que a empresa focal estabelece, desenvolve, sustenta, e termina com contrapartes (tipicamente seus fornecedores e clientes) podem ser consideradas entidades que exibem características estruturais tais como continuidade, complexidade, informalidade, e simetria. Em virtude dessa estrutura peculiar, as relações de negócio ficam na posse de certos poderes e susceptibilidades (e.g., permitem o acesso e exploração de recursos e competências externos e complementares). Quando esses poderes e susceptibilidades (i.e., funções e disfunções) são postos em prática, inevitavelmente sob certas contingências (em particular os mercados e redes que rodeiam a empresa focal), efeitos (i.e., benefícios e sacrifícios) resultam para a empresa focal e a significância das relações de negócio é potencialmente gerada. Dois dos poderes das relações os de `acesso e `inovação são especialmente consequenciais, dado que a sua activação afecta provavelmente a delimitação das fronteiras verticais da empresa focal. A significância das relações pode ser gerada por causa dos benefícios em excesso de sacrifícios (i.e., valor de relação) que são apropriados pela empresa focal assim como pela influência dual que as relações de negócio exercem sobre o que a empresa focal faz e obtém feito por outros. As relações de negócio contribuem respectivamente para (i) o acesso a e exploração de (e ocasionalmente o desenvolvimento de) recursos e competências externos, tipicamente complementares e desejados pela empresa focal e (ii) a criação de novos e a modificação e melhoria (ou não) dos recursos e competências internos, existentes na empresa focal. Aquilo que a empresa focal inclui dentro das suas fronteiras verticais (primariamente recursos e competências) e aquilo que faz e obtêm feito (actividades), são ambos fortemente moldados pelas relações de negócio nas quais está largamente embebida. A significância das relações de negócio pode resultar da influência que as relações de negócio exercem sobre a natureza e o âmbito da empresa focal.
The markets-as-networks theorists contend, either explicitly or tacitly, the significance of business relationships for the focal firm that is, business relationships contribute somewhat to the focal firm s survival and growth. I do not deny the possible existence of significant business relationships but sustain, in contrast to the consensus within the Markets-as-Networks Theory, that relationship significance should not be a self-evident assumption. Significance cannot be a taken-for-granted property of each and every one of the focal firm s business relationships. Instead, the notion of relationship significance needs to be discussed and its causes thoroughly explained. Adopting a critical realist position, the relationship significance is claimed to be an event of the business world, rightly deserving a robust causal explanation. My main research question is thus the following: How is the relationship significance brought about? All the business relationships that the focal firm establishes, develops, maintains, and terminates with counterparts (most typically its suppliers and customers) can be adequately considered as entities which exhibit structural features namely continuity, complexity, informality, and symmetry. Owing to that peculiar structure, business relationships are endowed with certain causal powers and liabilities (e.g., allow the access to and exploitation of external and complementary resources and competences). Where those powers and liabilities (i.e., functions and dysfunctions) are put to work, inevitably under certain contingencies (namely the markets and networks surrounding the focal firm), effects (i.e., benefits and sacrifices) result for the focal firm and the relationship significance is likely to be brought about. Two of those relationship powers the `access and `innovation ones are especially consequential, for their activation is likely to affect the delimitation of the focal firm s vertical boundaries. The relationship significance can be brought about owing to the overall benefits in excess of sacrifices (i.e., relationship value) accruing to the focal firm as well as the dual influence that business relationships have on what the focal firm does and gets done by others. For the business relationships contribute respectively both (i) to the access to and exploitation (and on occasion the development) of the external, typically complementary competences and resources needed by the focal firm and (ii) to the creation of new, and the modification and enhancement (or impairment) of the extant, internal resources and competences of the focal firm. What the focal firm comprises within its vertical boundaries (chiefly resources and competences) and what it does and gets done (activities) are both strongly shaped by the business relationships in which it is deeply embedded. The relationship significance can result from the influence of business relationships on the nature and scope of the focal firm.
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Sousa, Filipe Jorge Moreira de. "The Anatomy of Relationship Significance: a Critical Realist Exploration." Tese, Faculdade de Economia da Universidade do Porto, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10216/10769.
Full textAbstract:
Ciências EmpresariaisOs teoristas de redes industriais argumentam, explicita ou implicitamente, a significância das relações de negócio para a empresa focal isto é, as relações de negócio contribuem em alguma medida para a sobrevivência e crescimento da empresa focal. Eu não nego a possível existência de relações de negócio significantes mas sustento, em contraste com o consenso dentro da Teoria de Mercados-como-Redes, que a significância das relações não deve ser um axioma. A significância não pode ser uma propriedade assumida a priori para cada uma das relações de negócio da empresa focal. Ao invés, a noção de significância das relações tem de ser discutida e as suas causas totalmente explicadas. Adoptando uma posição de Realismo Crítico, defendo que a significância das relações é um evento do mundo empresarial que merece uma explicação causal robusta. A minha principal questão de investigação é a seguinte: Como é produzida a significância das relações de negócio? Todas as relações de negócio que a empresa focal estabelece, desenvolve, sustenta, e termina com contrapartes (tipicamente seus fornecedores e clientes) podem ser consideradas entidades que exibem características estruturais tais como continuidade, complexidade, informalidade, e simetria. Em virtude dessa estrutura peculiar, as relações de negócio ficam na posse de certos poderes e susceptibilidades (e.g., permitem o acesso e exploração de recursos e competências externos e complementares). Quando esses poderes e susceptibilidades (i.e., funções e disfunções) são postos em prática, inevitavelmente sob certas contingências (em particular os mercados e redes que rodeiam a empresa focal), efeitos (i.e., benefícios e sacrifícios) resultam para a empresa focal e a significância das relações de negócio é potencialmente gerada. Dois dos poderes das relações os de `acesso e `inovação são especialmente consequenciais, dado que a sua activação afecta provavelmente a delimitação das fronteiras verticais da empresa focal. A significância das relações pode ser gerada por causa dos benefícios em excesso de sacrifícios (i.e., valor de relação) que são apropriados pela empresa focal assim como pela influência dual que as relações de negócio exercem sobre o que a empresa focal faz e obtém feito por outros. As relações de negócio contribuem respectivamente para (i) o acesso a e exploração de (e ocasionalmente o desenvolvimento de) recursos e competências externos, tipicamente complementares e desejados pela empresa focal e (ii) a criação de novos e a modificação e melhoria (ou não) dos recursos e competências internos, existentes na empresa focal. Aquilo que a empresa focal inclui dentro das suas fronteiras verticais (primariamente recursos e competências) e aquilo que faz e obtêm feito (actividades), são ambos fortemente moldados pelas relações de negócio nas quais está largamente embebida. A significância das relações de negócio pode resultar da influência que as relações de negócio exercem sobre a natureza e o âmbito da empresa focal.
The markets-as-networks theorists contend, either explicitly or tacitly, the significance of business relationships for the focal firm that is, business relationships contribute somewhat to the focal firm s survival and growth. I do not deny the possible existence of significant business relationships but sustain, in contrast to the consensus within the Markets-as-Networks Theory, that relationship significance should not be a self-evident assumption. Significance cannot be a taken-for-granted property of each and every one of the focal firm s business relationships. Instead, the notion of relationship significance needs to be discussed and its causes thoroughly explained. Adopting a critical realist position, the relationship significance is claimed to be an event of the business world, rightly deserving a robust causal explanation. My main research question is thus the following: How is the relationship significance brought about? All the business relationships that the focal firm establishes, develops, maintains, and terminates with counterparts (most typically its suppliers and customers) can be adequately considered as entities which exhibit structural features namely continuity, complexity, informality, and symmetry. Owing to that peculiar structure, business relationships are endowed with certain causal powers and liabilities (e.g., allow the access to and exploitation of external and complementary resources and competences). Where those powers and liabilities (i.e., functions and dysfunctions) are put to work, inevitably under certain contingencies (namely the markets and networks surrounding the focal firm), effects (i.e., benefits and sacrifices) result for the focal firm and the relationship significance is likely to be brought about. Two of those relationship powers the `access and `innovation ones are especially consequential, for their activation is likely to affect the delimitation of the focal firm s vertical boundaries. The relationship significance can be brought about owing to the overall benefits in excess of sacrifices (i.e., relationship value) accruing to the focal firm as well as the dual influence that business relationships have on what the focal firm does and gets done by others. For the business relationships contribute respectively both (i) to the access to and exploitation (and on occasion the development) of the external, typically complementary competences and resources needed by the focal firm and (ii) to the creation of new, and the modification and enhancement (or impairment) of the extant, internal resources and competences of the focal firm. What the focal firm comprises within its vertical boundaries (chiefly resources and competences) and what it does and gets done (activities) are both strongly shaped by the business relationships in which it is deeply embedded. The relationship significance can result from the influence of business relationships on the nature and scope of the focal firm.
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Vanhanen, Tuuli. "The European Strategic Autonomy Dilemma : French and German Interpretations by Means of Comparative Analysis and Realist Theory." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för ekonomisk och industriell utveckling, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-179892.
Full textAbstract:
This research focuses on the concept of European strategic autonomy and what it really is. Through two different European Union Member States, France and Germany, the research will compare how European strategic autonomy is interpreted and why. The research will use different concepts from the theory of realism to focus on the conventional perspective of strategic autonomy in Europe. The research will show how France pushes for greater European strategic autonomy to secure the future of Europe through strategic hedging strategy when again Germany wants to strengthen European strategic autonomy to be taken more seriously by European external allies and by strengthening European bandwagoning strategy. Based on the previously mentioned, the research will analyze how France and Germany interpret the meaning of European strategic autonomy. The research suggests that France’s approach to European security is through Europeanism when Germany’s approach is through Atlanticism. The research will conclude with findings that the significance of European strategic autonomy is in its meaning of increasing Europe’s and European Union’s credibility, sovereignty, and European integration, to name a few.
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Baker, Gregory Douglas Ansell. "User creativity in the appropriation of information and communication technologies :$ba cognitivist-ecological explanation from a critical realist perspective." Thesis, University of Canterbury. Accounting and Information Systems, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/9742.
Full textAbstract:
A fundamental process in many important research foci in information systems is the appropriation of IT artifacts in creative ways by users. The objective of this thesis is to develop a theoretical explanation of that process.
An embedded multiple-case study of incidents in which users, in a variety of field settings, developed creative ways to apply IT artifacts, was conducted. Employing theoretical lenses drawn from cognitive science (dual-process theory, distributed cognition), and Markus and Silver’s (2008) variant of adaptive structuration theory, a novel theoretical framework was developed to analyze the data. This framework – Affordance Field Theory – was used to abstract away the context-specific details of each case, so that the events in each could be compared and analyzed using a common conceptual vocabulary.
Applying critical realist assumptions, the initial retroductive analysis was done with narrative networks, then the cases were re-analyzed using framework matrices. The complementary logical forms (processual and thematic, respectively) of the analytic tools helped to provide empirical corroboration of the findings. A set of cognitive mechanisms was identified that describe the information-processing operations involved in creative user appropriation. Using assumptions from distributed cognition, it was demonstrated that these mechanisms can describe those operations at the individual and collective levels. An integrative model which shows how the mechanisms explain user creativity at the individual level was then developed. It is called the Information Cycle Model of creativity.
This thesis makes several contributions to knowledge. It develops a theoretical framework for analyzing interactions between users and systems that is designed to represent the cycles of ideation and enactment through which creative appropriation moves are developed. It also presents a model of the cognitive mechanisms involved in the discovery of novel appropriation moves. The thesis also contributes to current debates within IS about representational metaphors for user interaction with IT.
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Linn, Nicole Whitney. "The Rise of Regional Hegemons: Assessing Implications for the International System through a Neo-realist Perspective." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/77003.
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Never before have developing nations been able to compete at the international level, both economically and militarily. But, we are currently in an age where developing nations, such as Brazil, Russia, India, and China, are able to develop so rapidly that they are able to excel within the international economy, which allows for an increased investment in military and technological capabilities. Consequently, these rapidly developing nations are able to influence the international system. To see how much of an effect these rapidly developing nations are having within the international system, they will be measured against 5 indicators that correlate with becoming a rising regional hegemon, a feature of a multi-polar system. The multi-polar international system that we see emerging is contrary to Kenneth Waltz's assertion that a multi-polar international system is unstable, and a bi-polar international system is preferred. New global conditions indicate that Waltz's analysis may not stand the test of time.Master of Arts
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Akin, Manolya. "Turkey’s Foreign Energy Policy andRealist Theory : The Cases of Nabuccoand South Stream Gas Pipeline Projects." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för geovetenskaper, 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-150752.
Full textAbstract:
This paper focuses on Turkey’s foreign energy policy with a special focus on cases ofNabucco and South Stream Gas Pipeline Projects and examines the issue from the perspectiveof “realist theory”.The research question aims to discover the realist tendency in Turkishforeign energy policy and to find out which gas pipeline project is more beneficial in terms ofnational interest for Turkey and also relevant for meeting the goals of Turkish Foreign EnergyPolicy.Energy is the key concept of the discussions about future of our world and sustainabledevelopment. If energy functions as a subject that increases the tensions between countriesthis means a threat to sustainable development since it becomes a factor jeopardizing peaceand makes cooperation between states imporssible. Also; energy constitutes a fundamentalplace national strategies of states along with sustainable development.In order to make the theory operational, three main dimensions, being security, economicsand strategic are used as tools or in other words as filters to look through, in the analysis offoreign and energy policy, as well as cases of Nabucco and South Stream Gas Pipeline Projects.
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Sanders, David. "Investigating theory of mind, self-consciousness and realist bias in relation to schizotypal traits in a non-clinical population." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2006. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.436295.
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Lipscomb, Martin. "The theory and application of critical realist philosophy and morphogenetic methodology : emergent structural and agential relations at a hospice." Thesis, University of the West of England, Bristol, 2009. http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/18444/.
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Jamil, M. G. "Technology enhanced teacher-learning in rural Bangladesh : a critical realist inquiry with secondary teachers of English." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2015. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/383975/.
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In this thesis I explore the feasibility of technology enhanced teacher-learning approaches in rural Bangladesh. The secondary teachers of English are my research focus and, apart from them, the core stakeholders include the head teachers and the local teacher trainers. My research questions cover specific inquiries on the learning culture of these teachers, their attitudes about the application of technology in teacher-learning, and realistic pedagogical and management procedures for operationalising technology enhanced teacher-learning in rural Bangladesh. In my investigation I follow the critical realist and mixed-method research approaches by addressing the psychological, social, educational and technological perspectives of the stakeholders. Based on an extensive literature review on learning, pedagogy and technological interventions in professional development, I propose that the post-constructivist approaches (I use this term to refer to social constructivism and connectivism) are appropriate for the teacher-learning programmes for rural Bangladeshi teachers. The approaches are also compatible to various technological interventions. I initially design a technology enhanced teacher-learning framework emphasising the applications of teachers’ experiences and reflections which, based on my research findings, extends to the applied form by incorporating the management, application of teacher-learning in teaching, and monitoring procedures. For collecting the research data I conduct a questionnaire-based survey and a series of six workshop-led focus group discussion sessions in a rural district of Bangladesh. In the process I emphasise the inclusion of different stakeholders and their higher participation to gain relevant indigenous knowledge representing realistic findings. The collected research data and their analysis provide useful baseline information particularly about the learning culture of the stakeholders and their perceptions about technology enhanced teacher-learning approaches. It also provides practical guidelines on the effective and sustainable approaches of technology enhanced teacher-learning in rural Bangladesh context. I expect that the learning from this research would help design and implement effective technology enhanced teacher-learning schemes for rural Bangladesh and, at the same time, provide guidelines to operationalise similar professional development programmes for the teachers of other subjects of other institutional levels representing different educational contexts.
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Brönnimann, Andreas. "Explaining organisational business process adoption mechanisms - A critical realist perspective on social reflexivity and process affordances." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2023. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/2628.
Full textAbstract:
The implementation of new business processes can be problematic for organisations. Employees tend towards reluctant behaviour when confronted with organisational change that requires adoption of new workflows and work tasks. The crucial importance of people affected by change has been highlighted in past research. While the adoption of new processes is beneficial to the organisation, deviations from or rejections of new processes can lead to increased risks, missed process goals, increased waste leading to lost revenue, and other unforeseeable outcomes.
However, the adoption of proposed processes by individuals only is less desirable, because the collective nature of processes requires choreographed group action to achieve desired goals. Surprisingly, however, current studies on business processes and change management supply only little insight into the complexity of causal social mechanisms underlying this obstacle to process change.
Therefore, the aim of this research is to explain employee adoption and rejection behaviour influenced by individual and collective reflexive deliberations on perceived changes in process affordances with respect to personal and group goals over time. It is believed that business processes offer various affordances to people to achieve their personal and project goals – an agent-process-relation with action potential. Given the situational structural and cultural change context, people’s personal or collective reflexive deliberations regarding these process affordances lead to adoption or rejection tendencies.
For the examination of such causal social relations, a critical realist perspective using a morphogenetic approach is adopted to retrospectively analyse the social dynamics that governed the courses of action in a single process change project within an Australian university. This study gives insights into a concrete incidence of a change management process concerning its social dynamics. The process under investigation concerns the management of academic integrity cases. Triggered by external regulatory requirements in the sector, the former decentralised, manual, department-focused academic integrity process was proposed to be transformed into a centralised, business system supported, university-focused process. The study does not, however, theorise about organisational economics nor political contexts that shape the forms and processes of a university or education system at large. Adhering to a qualitative research paradigm and following critical realist inquiry principles, research data was collected and transcribed from 31 in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted over the course of 3 months during 2021.
Findings derived from this case setting indicate that people engaged in individual reflexivity, and thus, mostly perceived individual and shared affordances. Process adoption occurred where individual affordance outcomes were aligned with people’s goals. In contrast, affordances with inhibiting potential towards goal achievement led to rejective tendencies including deviations from the intended process. People engaging in collective reflexivity showed adoption tendencies if the process was perceived as an enduring structure that contributed towards the collectively shared goal of upholding academic integrity. However, unexpected collective behaviour across process roles caused social unrest for individuals. The non-existence of collective reflexive feedback possibilities in the process structure caused some people to develop tendencies of resentment towards future process usage.
Given the significance of individual and collective reflexivity in business process change, this research approach and findings contribute to philosophy, methodology, and practice. Philosophically seen, the composited research paradigm founded on critical realist underpinnings in combination with reflexivity and affordance theory provided a strong foundation for social business process analysis. Considerations on empirical critical realist interview inquiry methods that were developed and undertaken in this research have been published in the Journal of Critical Realism. For process practitioners, an ontology of process adoption and rejection behaviour that emerged as part of this study was presented at the Business Process Management Forum 2020 conference and was included in its proceedings.
Moreover, findings indicate that an awareness and consideration of employee reflexivity can lead to more enduring business process change implementations in organisations. The adoption of social reflexivity and affordance analysis to become part of the process life cycle is argued for strongly.
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Eslamloo, Farzaneh. "How start-up accelerators work to facilitate successful commercialisation: A critical realist perspective." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2022. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/2556.
Full textAbstract:
Start-up accelerators (SA), a form of innovation-focused program, have spread rapidly across the world in recent years. Many countries now understand that these programs can be highly effective in helping start-ups generate novel products with commercial potential. However, little is known about how SAs lead to successful commercialisation. This study addressed this knowledge gap using case studies of three Western Australian (WA) and six Iranian SAs, looking at the structures, agents, and the causal mechanisms that affected commercialisation. It also examined the influence of the WA and Iranian start-up ecosystem contexts, including the powers and liabilities that determine commercialisation opportunities.
The study used Chen’s taxonomy of program theory (comprising the action model and the change model) as a theoretical framework. Danermark et al.’s methodology of explanatory research, under a critical realism philosophical paradigm, was used to identify the causal relationships and generative mechanisms that determined commercialisation outcomes. In building theories, a modified version of Eastwood et al.’s explanatory theory-building method was used, comprising emergent, construction, and confirmation phases.
In the exploration phase, a realist review of prior research and grey literature was carried out, covering SA programs and the start-up ecosystems of WA and Iran. The review allowed the formulation of a general hypothesised action model of SA programs. This model was then confirmed by analysis of first-round interviews with experts familiar with the studied SAs, based on which the general SA program theory model (comprising the action and change models) was constructed. In addition, explanations of the role of SA programs in successful commercialisation outcomes were derived, using the context–mechanism–outcome (CMO) framework.
In the construction phase, second-round interviews were subjected to analytical resolution to abduct and confirm the most important mechanisms in each case study. In addition, the theorised CMO models were confirmed by considering the contextual differences between SA programs (their particular configurations of structures and agency).
In the confirmation phase, all previous data were reevaluated to retroduct the features of start-up ecosystems in WA and Iran, identifying the powers and liabilities at play in them, and concretising how they affect commercialisation outcomes.
The study showed that context—of SA programs and of the start-up ecosystem—is an important determinant of commercialisation outcomes. Screening, learning, networking, and product–market fit were the most important mechanisms in the case studies; that is, those with the causal powers to bring about commercialisation opportunities. However, the study also revealed factors that impede SA program success, including low follow-on investment, ecosystem immaturity, the ineffective agency of the WA and Iranian governments, and low levels of talent among start-up agents. These elements weakened the power of causal mechanisms to lead to commercialisation opportunities.
The research confirmed that program theory is a suitable theoretical base for the evaluation of SA programs and contributed to knowledge about SA programs. It determined what works, for whom, in what context, and why. It extended the existing body of knowledge by developing the action and change models of the SA programs studied in the context and start-up ecosystems of WA and Iran, which can be applied in research on other SA programs in different contexts.
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SILVA, ANA MARIA CORREA MOREIRA DA. "THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE ASYMMETRY BETWEEN FACTS AND PROPOSITIONS FOR A REALIST THEORY OF TRUTH: THE HYPOTHESIS OF PROPOSITIONS AS PROPERTIES." PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO, 2013. http://www.maxwell.vrac.puc-rio.br/Busca_etds.php?strSecao=resultado&nrSeq=22262@1.
Full textAbstract:
PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIROCOORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DO PESSOAL DE ENSINO SUPERIOR
PROGRAMA DE SUPORTE À PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO DE INSTS. DE ENSINO
O objetivo deste trabalho é o de investigar a assimetria estrutural e constitutiva entre fatos e proposições, segundo diferentes graus de determinação, que nos conduzem à hipótese de proposições verdadeiras como propriedades de fatos ou do mundo, com consequências semânticas, metafísicas e epistêmicas. Do ponto de vista semântico, partimos da classificação de Russell entre sentido e denotação das sentenças linguísticas, para aplicá-la às proposições empíricas ou contingentes, em sua relação com os complexos fatos que as tornam verdadeiras, em defesa de uma teoria realista da verdade. Do ponto de vista metafísico, analisamos a natureza dos fatos e proposições, como complexos estruturados e unificados, cuja diferença de constituição corrobora a hipótese de que proposições abstraem aspectos parciais de fatos concretos. A complexidade geral dos fatos, eventos ou situações, com fronteiras espaciotemporais vagamente delimitadas, conduz-nos a uma comparação entre as relações de truthmaking e causalidade, que será útil para o desenvolvimento de nossa hipótese, a ser aprofundada por meio de uma análise da noção de propriedade particularizada ou trope. E do ponto de vista epistêmico, investigamos em que medida proposições abstratas são propriedades identificadoras de fatos concretos, bem como de que modo podemos conhecê-los, a partir da distinção russelliana entre conhecimento direto e indireto.
The aim of this study is to investigate the structural and constitutive asymmetry between facts and propositions, subject to different degrees of determination, which lead us to the hypothesis of true propositions as properties of facts or of the world, with semantic, metaphysical and epistemic consequences. From the semantic point of view, we start from the classification of Russell between sense and denotation of linguistic sentences, to apply it to the empirical or contingent propositions, in its relationship with the complex facts that make them true, in defense of a realist theory of truth. From the metaphysical point of view, we analyze the nature of facts and propositions, as structured and unified complexes, whose difference of constitution supports the hypothesis that propositions abstract partial aspects of concrete facts. The overall complexity of the facts, events or situations, with faintly delimited spatiotemporal boundaries, leads us to a comparison between the relations of truthmaking and causality, which will be useful for developing our hypothesis, to be discussed further through an analysis of the notion of a particularized property or trope. And from the epistemic point of view, we investigate to what extent are abstract propositions identifying properties of concrete facts, and how can we know them, by assuming the Russellian distinction between direct and indirect knowledge.
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Maxwell, Barbara. "Mechanisms, contexts and outcomes of interprofessional education in a student-run interprofessional clinic : a realist evaluation approach to developing programme theory." Thesis, Bournemouth University, 2018. http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/31107/.
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Background: Interprofessional student-run clinics (SRCs) serve as valuable settings for interprofessional education but there is a lack of understanding of how these clinics work or the processes and outcomes of interprofessional education within them. Aims: This study addresses this knowledge gap through a realist evaluation of a SRC, developing programme theories that identify and explain participant outcomes. Method: Using a qualitative approach and a single-case study design, clinic documentation were analysed and realist semi-structured interviews conducted with 25 key stakeholders (student leaders, volunteers, and faculty clinicians) within one SRC that ran between June 2015 and February 2016. An analytic induction and framework analysis connected threads of key contexts-mechanisms, and outcomes. Findings: Twenty-four programme theories emerged that explained student and patient experiences. Exposure to different forms and durations of interprofessional work framed three main clinic learning experiences with diverse student outcomes. Equal status among students, facilitated by psychological safety and a shared novice identity, had positive effects. Perceived student inequality, fostered by limited interprofessional engagement and role modelling of hierarchy and professional dominance by faculty clinicians, were negative. Patient contact ensured that students valued their experiences and service colocation facilitated better quality, more holistic, integrated care, and positive patient and system-level outcomes. Discussion and conclusions: A realist approach was successful in uncovering how the interprofessional SRC works and the developed programme theories have potential to support the development and evaluation of SRCs. It is recommended that training be provided for faculty and student leaders on fostering equal status, psychological safety, co- development of interprofessional and professional identities, and role modelling behaviours that can enhance collaborative behaviours. Engineering service integration and colocation is key to achieving positive patient and system outcomes.
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Lucas, Michael Robert. "Pricing decisions and the neoclassical economic theory of the firm: management accounting practice in the context of a realist methodology and research strategy." Thesis, University of Buckingham, 2005. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.566278.
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Many accountants seem to have accepted the existence of a 'reality gap' between management accounting's conventional wisdom, based on the neoclassical economic theory of the firm and actual business practice. This conventional wisdom advocates a decision relevant approach to cost analysis for pricing and product mix decisions, whereas actual business practice is believed to be dominated by (full) cost plus pricing. In accepting the existence of a reality gap, however, accountants do not seem to have addressed the arguments of economists. These seriously undermine the research findings that have given rise to the belief by accountants in such a gap. On the other hand, the empirical evidence supporting neoclassical price theory is not robust and much of the research that generated it is methodologically flawed, with results in conflict. Previous research, therefore, has failed to establish whether a 'reality gap' exists between neoclassical price theory and actual business practice. However, while a reality gap is recognised and the neoclassical view regarded as flawed, accounting researchers have nevertheless failed to make significant impact with the arguments supporting their standpoint. It is argued here that this challenge has not been robustly prosecuted because of a lack of confidence in the research frameworks utilised to explore the so - called 'reality gap'. This thesis contributes a new research framework for identifying the existence and extent of any potential reality gap between the assumptions of neoclassical theory and management accounting practice. The framework constructed identifies all the significant issues that need to be resolved, to address the shortcomings of previous research, in order to make a meaningful evaluation of whether actual behaviour is in accordance with neoclassical assumptions, or is better explained by the institutional economics paradigm, as has been suggested by a number of recent contributions to the Management Accounting literature. Previous research has failed to do this. This new research framework employs a case study approach based on a realist methodology. This thesis also reports on the empirical findings from six case studies of commercial organisations, undertaken in order to demonstrate the practical applicability of the new framework in producing meaningful results concerning the existence of a reality gap between theory and practice. The insights obtained from the case studies are tentatively suggested as themes which future researchers may replicate or extend, in order to enhance knowledge and understanding of pricing and product mix decisions.
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Kehoe, Amelia. "A study to explore how interventions support the successful transition of Overseas Medical Graduates to the NHS : developing and refining theory using realist approaches." Thesis, Durham University, 2017. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/12019/.
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Background: The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) currently relies on overseas doctors to ensure effective healthcare delivery. However, concern has grown around their regulation and practice and there is a recognition of the need to support overseas qualified doctors to make a successful transition to the NHS. Interventions have been implemented to address transitional issues without sufficient exploration of what is likely to work or how much training and support are appropriate. The absence of a supportive framework, targeting social, cultural and work related issues, has led to overseas graduates feeling stressed, being isolated and experiencing mental health issues. Difficulties in career progression, retention and performance are also evident. This thesis explores and evaluates interventions that have been developed to support the transition of overseas medical graduates to the UK. Method: A realist approach was adopted. A realist synthesis (exploration of literature and development of initial theory) was conducted. A realist evaluation was then completed to test and refine theory. The main intervention subject was the Programme for Overseas Doctors (POD) developed within one North East Trust. A comparative case study design, using mixed methods, was used (including interviews, questionnaires, researcher observation and analysis of performance data). Findings: A synthesis of the findings, including 123 interviews, illustrated that three key contextual levels; organisational, training and individual, will likely impact on the adjustment of overseas doctors (including performance, retention, career progression and wellbeing). One of the main outcomes of this thesis is a transferable, theoretical explanation of how interventions can successfully support the transition of overseas medical graduates to the NHS. Conclusions: In order to successfully support the transition of overseas doctors, interventions need to be more comprehensive and broad ranging than a simple induction or one-off training programme. Interventions must focus on building an open and supportive culture, address individual needs, and include ongoing support from all staff beyond the initial intervention. This work has reviewed factors that contribute to a successful intervention and has put forward recommendations for future policy, interventions and future research.
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Pålstam, Alexander. "What are the Difficulties in Settling the South China Sea Dispute : Obstacles to Dispute Settlement Through the Lens of Liberal and Neo-Realist IR Theory." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för statsvetenskap (ST), 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-79873.
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Sovereignty over the South China Sea waters and the territorial features therein has been a contentious issue since at least the 1970’s, with conflicting claims going back even further. Key concepts of Liberal and Neo-Realist International Relations Theory are used to assess respective theory’s explanatory capability for why the South China Sea Dispute is difficult to settle. The scope of the study is limited to three pairings of international relations: China-Philippines, China-Vietnam and China-USA. The analysis concerns the development of these sets of international relations from 2016 up until now. The findings point to unilateral action by one claimant in the face of contesting claims by another as being one of the main factors perpetuating the conflict. Treaties and international law are designed with Liberal development of international relations in mind, but in practice Neo-Realist hard power politics interrupts this development. Examples of disruptive action include attempts to unilaterally exploit natural resources in the region, settling features in the sea, doing construction work on features in the sea, as well as regular FONOPS conducted by navy ships in the region. Finally, there are difficulties settling on a mechanism for sovereignty settlement, as China makes its claims based on historic- or historical claims, rather than international law as it is written out in UNCLOS.
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Watson, Louis E. "The state versus the individual in international theory : a critical review of three realist conceptions of world order: Hedley Bull, The Anarchical society - Terry Nardin, Law, morality and the relations of states - Charles R. Beitz, Political theory and international relations." Thesis, Canberra, ACT : The Australian National University, 1988. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/129728.
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In the following chapters, I will examine how three
prominent theorists of international relations justify their
conception of world order. Bull, Nardin and Beitz have each
developed state-centric theories of world order which, they claim,
nevertheless protect the common good of individuals within states:
Bull argues the interests of individuals are best served by
maintaining order among states; Nardin claims human rights
considerations are already implicit in customary international
law; and Beitz argues it is possible for the system of states to
accommodate principles of justice. All three texts under
consideration implicitly endorse the realist proposition that
promoting order among states will ultimately serve the interests
of the individuals within them.
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Alemany-Oliver, Mathieu. "A realistic interpretivist approach on childlikeness in consumer research : neoteny, play, reality, and the reterritorializing adulthood." Thesis, Aix-Marseille, 2015. http://www.theses.fr/2015AIXM1060.
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Cette thèse explore le concept de consumer childlikeness, lequel n’a pas d’équivalent en français. Consumer childlikeness renvoie ici à une orientation enfantine du consommateur adulte. Il s’agit d’un état d’esprit et d’un comportement que la société associe généralement à ceux de l’enfant. L’exploration de ce concept s’appuie sur une approche interprétativiste que j’appelle réaliste, présentée dans l’essai I. Les trois autres essais de cette thèse, dédiés au concept de consumer childlikeness, offrent un exemple de recherche interprétativiste réaliste. Le concept de consumer childlikeness est exploré à un niveau micro en adoptant des perspectives évolutionniste (essai II) et existentielle (essai III). Pour terminer, le concept est étudié au niveau macro à partir d’une perspective postmoderne et psycho-analytique (essai IV)This thesis explores consumer childlikeness by taking a realist interpretivist approach. The three other essays of this thesis, dedicated to consumer childlikeness, offer an example of realist interpretivist research. Consumer childlikeness is explored at a micro level by adopting evolutionary (essay II) and existential perspectives (essay III). It is finally explored at a macro level within a postmodern and psychoanalytical framework (essay IV)
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Langendorfer, Anne Therese. "Feeling Real: Emotion in the Novels of William Dean Howells and Henry James." The Ohio State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1499858033212105.
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Davis, Cindy. "Inclusive business models in South Africa's land reform: great expectations and ambiguous outcomes in the Moletele land claim, Limpopo." Thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/11394/3898.
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Philosophiae Doctor - PhDThis dissertation focuses on strategic partnership initiatives or ‘inclusive business model’ arrangements initiated between land restitution beneficiaries and private sector interests. It explores to what extent the introduction of strategic partnerships since 2005 reflects a dominant underlying land reform policy narrative premised on the superiority of large-scale commercial farming that contradicts other policy statements emphasizing support for small-scale farming. The effects of a hegemonic notion of “viability” – framed in terms of the large-scale commercial farm model - on partnership initiatives in the large Moletele claim in the Hoedspruit area of Limpopo Province is the primary concern of the study. I adopt a political economy perspective to examine both processes and the range of outcomes of the commercial partnerships established on Moletele land. Informed by this perspective, I explore the strategies pursued by, and the alliances formed between differently positioned actors that are engaged in contestations and negotiations over access to resources within these partnerships, which I conceptualize as “arenas of struggle”. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected and analysed (mixed method approach), by means of a small sample of claimant households and in relation to joint ventures established between claimants and different private sector partners
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Alemany-Oliver, Mathieu. "A realistic interpretivist approach on childlikeness in consumer research : neoteny, play, reality, and the reterritorializing adulthood." Electronic Thesis or Diss., Aix-Marseille, 2015. http://www.theses.fr/2015AIXM1060.
Full textAbstract:
Cette thèse explore le concept de consumer childlikeness, lequel n’a pas d’équivalent en français. Consumer childlikeness renvoie ici à une orientation enfantine du consommateur adulte. Il s’agit d’un état d’esprit et d’un comportement que la société associe généralement à ceux de l’enfant. L’exploration de ce concept s’appuie sur une approche interprétativiste que j’appelle réaliste, présentée dans l’essai I. Les trois autres essais de cette thèse, dédiés au concept de consumer childlikeness, offrent un exemple de recherche interprétativiste réaliste. Le concept de consumer childlikeness est exploré à un niveau micro en adoptant des perspectives évolutionniste (essai II) et existentielle (essai III). Pour terminer, le concept est étudié au niveau macro à partir d’une perspective postmoderne et psycho-analytique (essai IV)This thesis explores consumer childlikeness by taking a realist interpretivist approach. The three other essays of this thesis, dedicated to consumer childlikeness, offer an example of realist interpretivist research. Consumer childlikeness is explored at a micro level by adopting evolutionary (essay II) and existential perspectives (essay III). It is finally explored at a macro level within a postmodern and psychoanalytical framework (essay IV)
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Zajec, Olivier. "Nicholas John Spykman (1893-1943), l’invention de la géopolitique américaine. Un itinéraire intellectuel aux origines paradoxales de la théorie réaliste des relations internationales." Thesis, Paris 4, 2013. http://www.theses.fr/2013PA040096.
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Nicholas John Spykman, né en 1893 aux Pays-Bas, naturalisé américain en 1928, mort en 1943, est considéré comme l’un des pères de la « théorie géopolitique ». Eminent professeur de Yale, où il est en 1934-35 le fondateur du premier département de Relations internationales, il marque profondément le débat intellectuel à l’orée des années 40, en se faisant l’avocat de la géographie politique comme nouvelle méthode d’analyse de politique étrangère. Son influence est importante dans le domaine, nouveau pour l’époque, de la « sécurité nationale », puisqu’il est considéré, à l’instar de George Kennan, comme l’inspirateur indirect de la théorie du containment de la doctrine Truman. Ses théories réalistes, débattues avec violence à partir de 1942 en raison de leur supposé « cynisme », marquent une rupture avec l’idéalisme des années 20 et 30. Au-delà de quelques topoi, peu de choses sont néanmoins approfondies le concernant. Une recherche bibliographique systématique permet d’établir que 80% de ses écrits n’ont pas été étudiés ; à la vérité, ils ne sont pas même connus. Il n’existe aucune biographie de Spykman à ce jour, même aux Etats-Unis, ce qui peut être regardé comme une anomalie, s’il est vraiment l’inspirateur du containment. Ce travail de recherche a pour objectif de combler une lacune de l’historiographie américaine, en réévaluant la place d’un théoricien central mais mal connu, à l’aide de nombreuses archives inédites. Cette thèse éclaire l’histoire de la formalisation de la théorie des Relations internationales aux Etats-Unis, et des rapports fonctionnels qu’entretient depuis ses origines la puissance américaine avec la notion polysémique de la « sécurité nationale »Nicholas John Spykman, born in 1893 in the Netherlands, a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1928, died in 1943. He is unanimously considered as one of the fathers of the "geopolitical theory." Eminent professor at Yale, where he is in 1934-35 the founder of the first Department of International Relations, he profoundly influences the intellectual debate on the edge of the 40’, becoming the advocate of political geography as a new method of foreign policy analysis. His influence is crucial in the new field of "national security", as he is considered, like George Kennan, as the indirect inspiration for the containment theory of the Truman Doctrine. His realistic theories, discussed with violence in 1942 because of their supposed « cynism », establish a break with the idealism of the '20s and '30s. Beyond some topoi, however, few things are really known about this central actor. A systematic literature review establishes that 80% of his writings have not been studied. In truth, they are not even known. There is no biography of Spykman to this day, even in the United States, which can be regarded as an anomaly if he is really the « Godfather of Containment». This thesis aims at filling a gap in American historiography, in a view to reassessing the place of a central but unfamiliar theorist. The research illuminates the history of the theoric formalization of International Relations in the United States, and also reappraises the functional relationships that America has, since its inception, with the polysemic notion of "national security."
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Meier, Thomas. "Theory change and structural realism." Diss., Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 2015. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:19-179692.
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Ivanova, Milena. "Realism, conventionalism and theory choice." Thesis, University of Bristol, 2012. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.684741.
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Two prominent debates in the philosophy of science literature - namely the scientific realism debate and the conventionalism debate - originate in the work of Pierre Duhem and Henri Poincare. This thesis explores problems in the current scientific realism and conventionalism debates and analyses Duhem's and Poincare's roles within these debates. In particulal~ it discusses the problems of underdetermination and theory choice, the problem of constitutivity, the problem of theory change and shows how Duhem and Poincare develop and address them. I present the current scientific realism debate and show Duhem's and Poincare's contribution to it. I evaluate Duhem's and Poincare's arguments against instrumentalism, explain their defence of structuralism and argue that their position is not realist, contrary to what is often assumed. I explore different solutions to the problem of underdetermination and develop objections to them. Following Duhem, I argue that the employment of theoretical virtues does not solve the problem of theory choice on the grounds that they are inconclusive and lead to a further form of underdetermination. Furthermore, I analyse Duhem's notion of 'good sense', which is an attempt at providing a normative non-rule governed account of rationality in theory choice. I address recent interpretations of this concept and develop problems for them. I develop a reading that overcomes the objections to the current readings. I present the evolution of conventionalism, from Poincare's conventions and Hans Reichenbach's constitutive a priori, to Michael Friedman's relativized a priori. I analyse Poincare's arguments for conventionalism and remove some longstanding confusions regarding his view. I discuss Friedman's defence of rationality in scientific revolutions as a solution to the Kuhnian objection of irrationality. Last, I analyse the epistemological status of the relativized a Priori and its intricate relationship with structuralism, which originates in Poincare's philosophy, and argue against current attempts that aim to connect the two theses.
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Prinz, Janosch. "Radicalizing realism in political theory." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2015. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/8367/.
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This thesis intervenes into the current debates about realism in political theory. Realism is a new challenge to the liberal mainstream in political theory. However, the extent to which realism, in its heterogeneity, actually has the potential to pose such a challenge, has thus far remained largely unexplored. The thesis offers the first differentiated assessment of this potential of realism and, finding it limited, embarks on a radicalization of realism. Having established a critical foil through a political reading of Rawls’ Political Liberalism, I divide contributions to realism into those who aim to revise, reform and reject liberal-normative political theory. This ‘ordering perspective’ of realism allows analyzing the thus far neglected similarities between realists and their liberal-normative opponents. This analysis suggests that the less critical subdivisions of realism limit themselves to be internal correctives to the liberal mainstream. However, even the most critical and challenging of the prevalent subdivisions of realism, which I call ‘vision of politics’ realism, remains caught in tensions between realist and liberal-normative commitments. In reaction to this limitation, my re-interpretation of Raymond Geuss’ realism as a modification of early Critical Theory through Foucauldian elements provides the basis for the development of a radical realism. This radical realism departs radically from the prevalent understandings of liberal-normative political theory and transcends the limitations of realism through changing the relationship between political theory and its political context. Radical realism brings the tensions and entanglements between normative and descriptive aspects of political theorizing into view and bases its critical purchase and practical orientation on the diagnostic examination of the political context. A discussion of the criteria for legitimacy in public justification liberalism, realism and radical realism finally ties together the argumentation of the thesis and offers a reflection on its bearing on a key question of contemporary political theory.