Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Self-perception Victoria Case studies'

The phenomenon of becoming a more substantial self was investigated using the case study method. The co-researcher, Mary, was interviewed to elicit her experience of the phenomenon. Understanding was built up through collection of data from a variety of sources including early recollections, a diary, and interviews with friends and associates. The data were analyzed and Cochran's dramaturgical method was used to discover the coherent pattern of meaning. A rich, detailed description of the case was then written and summarized. It was found that, for Mary, substantiality involved childhood experiences of powerlessness, incompetence, and lack of social acceptability. In response to these experiences she had formulated the position that she must defend against those painful vulnerabilities by presenting herself as strong person. Implicit in this was the assumption that she was powerless, incompetent and unacceptable and, as a result, dependent on external support. At the age of 33, Mary reached a point where her life circumstances defeated the viability of this position. She felt humiliated and defeated and could see no solution. It was then that she had a supportive spiritual experience and, at the same time, an experience of gentle confrontation from a supportive authority figure. This was the beginning of a 7-8 year transition period which involved two central processes. One process involved a kind of letting go or opening up, the other involved a movement forward involving risk, effort and action. Through many and various experiences Mary experienced that if she let go of her social mask of invulnerability and accepted herself as she was, with painful feelings and imperfections, she arrived at an experience of harmony with herself, other people and the world in general. Profoundly interwoven with this was the process of risk, effort and action. In supportive contexts, Mary began to apply herself and to discover her capacities. She began to take larger and larger risks until she came to experience herself as a competent person capable of pursuing her goals. The emergence of the substantial self was marked by the experience of the self as a capable social being and a harmonious spiritual, physical, and emotional being. Mary's life is no longer oriented around protecting vulnerabilities but around using her full capacities to accomplish social goals while staying in touch with her spiritual self.
Education, Faculty of
Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of
Graduate

Aims: It is argued that one’s sense of self is threatened and eroded by mental illness. According to the narrative perspective, one’s personal life narrative is displaced and maintained by a story of illness. However, dialogical self theorists argue that mental illness limits the number of ‘I’ positions available within an individual, resulting in the positions/voices becoming rigid and being dominated by a singular, monological position. The aims of this qualitative study are to attempt to understand and examine psychiatric inpatients’ personal lived experiences of an art group. The goal of the study is to focus on the impact of the art-making process on these patients with regards to the construction of their sense of self. Design: A qualitative research design was used in the study. Method: Four psychiatric in-patient art group members – three male and one female, between the ages of 27 and 40 – were interviewed. A semi-structured interview schedule consisting of sixteen questions focusing on the interviewees’ experiences of the art group was used. The interviews were analysed using an interpretive phenomenological analysis. Results: Three superordinate themes emerged: What the Participants Gained From the Art Group, Sense of Community and Leaving a Mark, and The Experience of Self in the Art group. All three Superordinate themes fall within the participants’ experience of the art group. Conclusion: All four of the participants expressed positive feelings and enjoyment towards the art group. Participation in the art group provided the participants with a sense of pride, achievement and hope within their lives. As a result of participation on the art group, one of the four participants was able to construct a thin alternative experience and sense of self.

Acculturation for Ethiopians in America systemically require adaptation to the dominant culture. Prior research findings illustrate that acculturation mechanically progress towards assimilation, an absorption of a foreign culture’s psychological, sociological, and cultural characteristics. In this sense, this case study explores the impact of assimilation and acculturation on Ethiopian women academic achievement, self-identity development and perception of beauty in America. American systems promote the dominant structure ideologies through oppressive symbols, themes, and cultural dissonance of Blacks. However, the construct of race contributes to the discourse that affect Ethiopians in America by categorizing the group with Blacks based on skin color. Therefore, cultural exclusion legitimizes Ethiopians navigation of American structural practices based on issues of colorism that lends to a silencing of Ethiopian voices. Critical-race-feminism provides the framework and lens to critically analyze the underlying issue of race, and impact of assimilation and acculturation. Critical pedagogy supports the synthesis of Ethiopian women academic achievement. Congruently, case study interviews provide qualitative data to evaluate the life experiences of Ethiopian women, and ascertain information to investigate participants’ academic and social experiences navigating American culture. The following six themes emerged from the narrative data: (1) Family Centered Social Structure, (2) Maintaining Ethiopian Traditions/Customs in America Matters, (3) Struggle of Independence as a Woman vs. Family-Interdependence as a Woman, (4) Identifying as Ethiopian and Black vs. African-American, (5) School Impacts Culture When Isolated, and (6) Afrocentrism Standard of Beauty. Findings suggest Ethiopians in America have formulated structural supports inter-ethnically to safeguard culture, Ethiopians, and Afrocentric views. Findings further illustrate that Ethiopian culture promotes strong identity development, lending to increased academic achievement and the application of Afrocentricism towards constructs of beauty. The study concludes with recommendations for policy makers, educators, and community activist for future support and research on Ethiopians in America.

The aim of this study is to develop an understanding of how Grahamstown teenagers are affected by the label ʹdyslexiaʹ; by providing a space in which their feelings about being labelled dyslexic and their experiences can be voiced. Historically much international and local research has focussed on causation and remediation of dyslexia and has neglected the social aspects of the diagnosis. Causation and remediation are categories which form part of the medical or educational models. A social model of dyslexia needs to be applied. Due to the paucity of South African literature on the social experiences of dyslexic teenagers, this research thesis aims to add to the body of knowledge and hopefully provide an avenue for more research within the context of Sociology. This is a micro study, situated in Grahamstown Eastern Cape, South Africa, and the author recognizes that responses cannot be generalized to the greater dyslexic population. All human environments consist of objects which are given meaning through social interaction. Meaning is central to human behaviour and therefor explains the ways in which humans conduct their lives based on these meanings. For this reason George Herbert Mead’s (1934) and Herbert Blumers (1969) symbolic interactionist positions have framed the theoretical approach to this research. Qualitative methods of interviewing provide an opportunity for dyslexic individuals to discuss the meaning dyslexia gives to them, from their perspective and in their own words. The following conclusions have been arrived at: Educational psychologists in Grahamstown are reticent to diagnose individuals as dyslexic. This lack of identification hinders early intervention which can be very detrimental to individuals struggling with reading, writing and spelling as well as the associated co-morbid conditions of dyslexia. Teenagers who have had early diagnosis and intervention with support structures in place identify with their dyslexic identity more positively as they are able to make sense of their struggles of a dyslexic nature.

Purpose This thesis investigates if leaders’ self-perception and the employees’ perceptions of their leadership are aligned.

Background To know whether leaders use a preferred leadership style one could ask their employees. The followers are considered a suitable benchmark for a leader to gain insight into his or her style of leadership. It is therefore of interest to research if the leaders’ self-perception of their leadership is aligned with the perception of their employees. This study will investigate three different managers and their employees in three Team Sportia stores on their view of leadership and leadership perception.

Method In order to answer the purpose, the authors conducted an embedded case study including three different Team Sportia Stores. The investigation emphasized the holistic view of the researched environment and both managers and employees were included. Qualitative data was gathered from managers through in depth semi-constructed interviews while quantitative data was gathered through surveying of employees. The briefly described method of measuring exercised and perceived leadership is referred to as conducting 360-degree feedback. The information collected enabled the authors to create a meta-inference of the leadership at each Team Sportia Store researched.

Conclusion The three investigated managers differ in their view of leadership, however they all emphases result-orientation. The alignment in perception between the leaders and their employees differ across the three research units. The manager in Stockholm has a more accurate self-perception, than his colleagues in Mariestad and Jönköping.

Syfte Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka om ledares självuppfattning och anställdas uppfattning av deras ledarskap stämmer överens med varandra.

Bakgrund Ett sätt för ledare att ta reda på om man använder sig av en uppskattad ledarskapsstil är att fråga de anställda. Anställda kan ses som en passande utgångspunkt för en ledare när man vill skaffa sig insikt om sitt eget ledarskap. Av denna anledning är det intressant att undersöka om ledares uppfattning stämmer överens med uppfattningen bland de anställda. Denna studie undersöker tre olika ledare, samt deras anställda, i tre Team Sportia-butiker för att kartlägga om deras uppfattningar stämmer överens.

Metod För att uppfylla syftet med denna rapport har författarna inkluderat både ledare och anställda och fokuserat på att skapa en helhetsbild av den undersöka miljön. Kvalitativ data har samlats in genom semi strukturerade intervjuer med de tre olika ledarna, och kvantitativ data samlades in genom en enkätundersökning band de anställda. Den ovan nämnda metoden att samla in data från både ledare och anställda kallas för 360-degree feedback och gör det möjligt att skapa övergripande bild av ledarskapet i varje Team Sportia-butik.

Slutsats Synen på ledarskap skiljer sig mellan de tre ledarna i denna studie, däremot delar de uppfattningen angående vikten av fokus på resultat. Studien visar på skillnader i uppfattningen av ledarskapet i de tre undersökta butikerna. Ledaren i Stockholm har en bättre självbild av sitt ledarskap, än sina två kollegor i Mariestad och Jönköping.

This study investigated the literate identities of college students who engage in various school and non-school writing practices simultaneously. In case studies of three student writers, the researcher seeks to explore how the discourse community roles, self-perceptions, negotiation of multiple writing processes and development of authority impacted the students' identities as writers. Triangulated research methods included weekly interviews with the student participants, observation of the students in their writing classrooms and analysis of the students' school and non-school texts over one semester. Students experienced several conflicts and synergies between contexts. Main findings indicated that writing across many academic and extra-academic settings during a short time period may alter self-perceptions, encourage or discourage the repurposing of writing processes, and limit the development of authority. Implications for teachers and researchers of college-level writing center on awareness of the literate lives of students beyond classroom walls. Future research questions are raised regarding the transfer of writing-related knowledge as it may occur in students with strong literate identities.
ID: 030646207; System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader.; Mode of access: World Wide Web.; Thesis (M.A.)--University of Central Florida, 2011.; Includes bibliographical references (p. 150-155).
M.A.
Masters
English
Arts and Humanities
English; Rhetoric and Composition Track

The purpose of this research is to examine through sociological and psychological theories how women make sense of the desire and attainment of breast implants for graduation. The study used a qualitative approach and focused on women ages 18-35 in the state of Texas who have received breast implants for graduation. The sample size in this study included 10 high-school graduates receiving implants as a gift and their 10 mothers. Seven theoretical paradigms provided a better understanding for why the daughters asked for breast implants and why the parent(s) paid for them. Symbolic interaction theory explained why the daughters wished to replace their "fake" cotton padded self with their augmented self, to become the most authentic woman possible. Social construction of reality theory explained why both mothers and daughters wanted to conform to the social construction of gender, and to accomplish their gender well. Conspicuous consumption theory demonstrated how cosmetic surgery practices allow women to appear wealthy, gain status, and "flash" their assets. Feminist theory explained why some women were motivated to capture the attention of men and others altered the body out of empowerment. Reference group and social comparison theories explained how the women in this study were influenced to undergo cosmetic surgery by ranking themselves in attractiveness against real friends and media icons. Lastly, self-discrepancy theory showed how the daughters in this study felt they needed surgery to fix a discrepancy between their real and ideal self. The majority of respondents expressed complete comfort with their gifting and receiving of breast implants for graduation, claiming it was a great decision. They also agreed surgery was worth any risk to increase their daughter's confidence. Most of the mothers expressed that they were comfortable with their decision to gift surgery to their daughters, despite knowing that their gift of augmentation would ultimately result in more surgery in the future.

The purpose was to determine the relationship between high or low cultural mistrust and vocal characteristics in African-American adolescent females. The vocal characteristics were vocal self-identification, singing style, and singing range.

Who are talented and gifted (TAG) students and how do we meet their unique needs in the elementary school setting? The body of literature clearly articulates the unique intellectual, social and emotional needs and characteristics of TAG students. Additionally, the literature supports the implementation of differentiated teaching strategies and affective curriculum to help meet these unique needs. This descriptive phenomenological study allowed gifted children, in fifth grade from a Pacific Northwest suburban elementary school, to share their lived experiences through reflective narratives and art. The data collected generated a central theme of Friends and general themes of Awareness, Feelings, Learning, and TAG Programming. Experiences that included friends were, by far, the most commonly shared; however, the participants also shared stories of wanting to be challenged and how they appreciated teachers who were more creative in curriculum delivery. Delisle (2012), Jessiman (2001) and Bergmark (2008) assert that in order to make progress in school reform and/or improvement we need to listen to our consumers and by consumers they are referring to our students. This study captures the gifted child's experience in elementary school and allows their voice to be heard.

D.Ed.
Societal structures are undergoing drastic changes at present. In the modern technological community, increasing pressure is placed on the child to achieve, particularly in the scholastic field. The urgent need for higher scholastic achievement makes greater demands on both the educator (parent and teacher) and the child. A positive self-concept can provide the motivation which could lead to higher scholastic achievement, but the way in which the child plans and uses his time, and works towards future success, may be of the utmost importance for high average scholastic achievement. Against this background, the aim of this research was to investigate selfconcept and time-concept within an educational context. The study probed the issue of whether there is a difference between the self -concept and time-concept of pupils with a high average scholastic achievement and those of pupils with a low average. Further, the possible relationship between the self-concept and the time-concept of these pupils was investigated. To achieve this goal, the research was based on seven sub-goals. The first three of these goals were realised by investigating a theoretical framework regarding the self-concept and time-concept of pupils within an educational context, and also by educationally founding self-concept, time-concept and scholastic achievement. An empirical investigation was undertaken on the basis of the theoretical framework mentioned. Standard six, eight and ten pupils who were enrolled at an Afrikaans-medium and an English-medium high school in the Roodepoort area falling under the ex-Transvaal Education Department, as well as such pupils at an English-medium high school in the Johannesburg area, falling under the ex-Department of Education and Training, were involved in the investigation. A structured questionnaire in Afrikaans and English was developed on the basis of the above-mentioned self-concept and time-concept by adapting and refining already existing instruments. In accordance with the fourth sub-goal, this questionnaire, consisting of two instruments, was used to investigate the pupils' self-concept (instrument one) and timeconcept (instrument two). The approach followed for analysing and interpreting the data entails six steps. The data on self-concept and time-concept were analysed separately in steps 1, 4 and 5. In step 1 the validity and reliability of the measuring instruments were investigated. First order factor analytical procedures and item analyses were applied respectively in this regard. In each case only one variable (scale), namely self-concept and time-concept, was identified in this way. In step 2 the calculation of the correlation between the average percentage of the previous examination (biographical information) and the calculated average percentage (from information in Annexure C) was done on the basis of the data obtained from the Afrikaans-medium high school. This calculation was aimed at using the data from the questionnaire (obtained from the one English-medium high school that failed to provide the information required in Annexure C) for further statistical analyses. Step 3 entailed the determination of the cut-off points for pupils with a high average and those with a low average in scholastic achievement. Two groups of pupils were thus identified, namely the group of pupils with a high average scholastic achievement and the groups of pupils with a low average. The variables (number of factors) of self-concept and time-concept that could be used in the further analyses of the data, were identified by means of a prime factor analysis (PFA1), together with a Doblimin rotation method identified in step 4. The variables of self-concept and time-concept were subsequently used to conduct multi-variable and single variable analyses according to step 5 on the data of the pupils. These analyses were aimed at establishing whether there was a difference between the self-concept and the time-concept of the pupils with a high average and those of the pupils with a low average in scholastic achievement. The Hotelling T 2 test and MANOVA were used to test multi-variable hypotheses. The Student's t-test, ANOVA and the Scheffe test were used to test the single variable hypotheses. In step 6 of the analyses a canonical correlation analysis was performed on the data to establish whether there were statistically significant relationships between the self-concept and the time-concept of the pupils with a high average scholastic achievement. The same procedure was followed to determine whether there were statistically significant relationships between the self-concept and the time-concept of the pupils with a low average scholastic achievement. The findings obtained from all these analyses are stated briefly: There is, in fact, a difference between the self-concept and time-concept of pupils with a high average scholastic achievement and those with a low average. With regard to self-concept, the pupils with a high average have a more positive academic self, a better relationship with family and relatives, a more supportive religious orientation and a better attitude towards values than the pupils with a low average in scholastic achievement. With regard to time-concept, the pupils with a high average are more future-oriented, more conscientious in their time management, experience less anxiety about the future and are less focused on the present than the pupils with a low average in scholastic achievement. With regard to the relationships between the self-concept and the timeconcept of the pupils, the findings include the following: * Pupils with a high average scholastic achievement - there is a relationship between academic self, relationship with family and - relatives, social relations, religious orientation, physical self, negative experience of frustration, attitude towards values and future orientation, conscientious time management, negative in anxiety about the future, independent utilisation of time and contentment with the present and the past. Pupils with a low average scholastic achievement - there is a relationship between academic self, relationship with family and relatives, social relations, religious orientation, physical self, attitude towards values and future orientation, conscientious time management, time-consciousness, focus on the present, independent utilisation of time and contentment with the present and the past. On the whole, it would therefore appear that two variables of the timeconcept, namely anxiety about the future and focus on the present, can give rise to an inability to achieve a high scholastic average. It could therefore be in the interest of the child that the educators (parents and teachers) should make every effort to foster a positive selfconcept and a future-oriented time-concept in the child. The emphasis should be placed on planning and working towards a future goal. In addition, it should also be stressed that the enjoyment of the moment should be exchanged for future success.

Text in English
Rhythmic gymnastics is a demanding sport that requires the athlete to not only execute the moves and elements required with perfection, but also demands a very specific lean body type in order to compete and be successful within the sport. This study explores retired gymnasts’ experiences of competing in rhythmic gymnastics at an elite level, as well as, exploring their experiences in relation to personal body image satisfaction and eating habits when they enter into retirement from the sport. The aim of this study is to provide an understanding of the athlete’s experiences as a rhythmic gymnast, as well as aspects of body image satisfaction and eating habits, following retirement from rhythmic gymnastics. The study provided a semi-structured interview to seven retired elite rhythmic gymnasts from Canada that had competed at provincial, national, and international levels. The data for this in-depth phenomenological study was obtained through the means of the semi-structured interviews to allow for the researcher to obtain an understanding of each of the gymnasts own personal experiences in their retired years. The transcription of each interview was then analysed and coded, first manually and then electronically using the qualitative coding software program ATLAS.ti, into various categories as well as themes found within the data. Findings were interpreted utilising the method of phenomenology explored themes relating to negative body image and poor eating habits both during their athletic career and after they had transitioned out of the sport and into retirement. In addition, the themes suggested that most of the former athletes still related to their elite rhythmic gymnastics identity with respect to their body image even after years of being in retirement. Participants seemed to highlight difficulties with lower self-confidence and self-esteem, as well as struggles regarding the acceptance of their body type and body image, themes also spoke to some participants’ dissatisfaction towards their new body post gymnastics. Ethical approval was obtained and all ethical standards were maintained throughout the duration of the research.
Psychology
M.A. (Psychology)