Diploma thesis "Can Local Action Group play an important role, like partner at strategic planning, to countryside municipalities at Czech?" seeks answers to this question. The discussion about definition of countryside and its problems is described at the beginning of the thesis as actual and previous politics as well. Description of Czech constitution connected to countryside is mention next to it. After that, there is described the LEADER method and comparison between using this method at 5 different European countries. The tree of problem and actors analysis is provided later on. The short description of the theories using at thesis outputs is provided as well. The used theories are: bureaucracy theory, theory of social capital, theory of cultural determination, governance theory and policy network analysis. The describing of outputs from realized primary research is the main part of the thesis. There were carried out 17 structure talks in qualitative research and processed 509 questionnaires in quantitative research. The lot of tables and graphs are attached. Finally the 3 scenarios, like a suitable form for such a complex topic, were composed to describe answer at the primary question of this thesis in its context and complexity.

Diploma thesis entitled "Application of Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods into Marketing Strategy of Print Medias" discusses employment of output research data accumulated on eye-tracking, in-depth interviewing and CAWI method of research. These research outcomes are further analyzed and implemented in the development process of the EURO Business Weekly strategy in the Czech publishing market. The final evaluation is based on a mutual comparison of results which were recorded by the EURO Business Weekly in the years 2005 and 2006.

A quantitative, descriptive method was used in this study. A purposeful sample of 239 (N=239) participants was chosen. At a theoretical level, the study provided insight into the causes of stress among educators, the impact of stress on them and the influence of school management teams to support educators in the management of their stress. The literature review confirmed that stress of educators is caused by internal and external factors. It also confirmed that stress may lead to physical and mental illnesses and may influence the emotional state of an educator. The literature confirmed that where school management teams support educators, it reduces the stress levels of the educators. From an empirical perspective, the study confirmed that external factors such as long working hours and workload do have an impact on the educator’s stress levels. This then leads to educators feeling irritated, exhausted and burned out. On the role of school management teams supporting educators to manage the stress levels, the empirical outcome was neutral. / Educational Management and Leadership / M. Ed. (Educational Management)

Mobile learning has developed into an essential component within the education landscape and, with two billion users worldwide, the social media platform WhatsApp has become a prominent feature in this domain. Nevertheless, with ambiguity in the literature about the effects of WhatsApp on teaching and learning and especially a paucity of research measuring collaboration on WhatsApp in relation to students’ academic achievement. The purpose of the study was to explain and predict WhatsApp’s effect on academic achievement using a quantitative questionnaire. The results suggest that increased collaboration on WhatsApp may improve academic achievement. Additionally, improving other aspects, such as active learning, trust, support, formality, interaction and interdependence, may enhance collaboration and, in turn, improve academic achievement. The study has value by providing measurable scientific evidence about the effects of WhatsApp on learning that can be incorporated into the design of teaching and learning activities with WhatsApp to improve academic achievement. / Uhlelo lokufunda uhamba (Mobile learning) selikhule ladlondlobala laba yisigaba esibalulekile ngaphansi komkhakha wemfundo kanti, lolu hlelo selunabasebenzisi abangamabhiliyoni amabili emhlabeni wonke jikelele, uhlelo lwenkundla yezokuxhumana komphakathi lwe-WhatsApp seluyinkanyezi egqamile kulesi sizinda. Yize-kunjalo, kukhona okungacaci kahle mayelana nombhalo wobuciko kwimiphumela yohlelo lwe-WhatsApp mayelana nokufundisa kanye nokufunda, kanti ikakhulu, uhlelo lwezocwaningo olulinganisa izinga lokusebenzisana kohlelo lwe-WhatsApp okumayelana nokuphumelela kwabafundi kwizifundo zabo. Inhloso yalolu cwaningo kwaye kuwukuchaza kanye nokuhlahla umphumela wohlelo lwe-WhatsApp kwezemfundo, ngokusebenzisa uhlelo locwaningo lwemibuzo egxile kumanani (quantitative questionnaire) . Imiphumela iphakamisa ukuthi izinga lokusbenzisana ohlelweni lwe-WhatsApp lungathuthukisa umphumela wezemfundo. Ngaphezu kwalokho, lungathuthukisa ezinye izinhlaka, ezinjengohlelo lokufunda olumatasa. Lungaletha ukwethembana, ukuxhasana, ukwenza izinto ngendlela esemthethweni, lungaletha ukuxoxisana kanye nokusebenzisana kwangaphakathi, lungaqinisa ukusebenzisana, kanti ngakolunye uhlangothi, lungaletha impumelelo kwezemfundo. Ucwaningo lubalulekile ngoba lunikeza ubufakazi bezesayensi obulinganisekayo mayelana nemithelela yohlelo lwe-WhatsApp ohlelweni lokufunda, okuwuhlelo olungafakwa ngaphansi kohlelo lokudizayina imisebenzi yohlelo lokufunda nokufundisa ku-WhatsApp ukuthuthukisa ukwenza ngcono imiphumela yezemfundo. / Mobiele leer het in ’n noodsaaklike komponent van die onderwyslandskap ontwikkel en met twee miljard gebruikers wêreldwyd, het die sosiale mediaplatform WhatsApp ’n prominente kenmerk van hierdie domein geword. Nogtans bestaan daar dubbelsinnigheid in die letterkunde oor die uitwerking van WhatsApp op onderrig en leer, en is daar veral ’n gebrek aan navorsing wat die samewerking op WhatsApp in verhouding tot die studente se akademiese prestasies meet. Die doel van hierdie studie was om WhatsApp se uitwerking op akademiese prestasie aan die hand van ’n kwantitatiewe vraelys te verduidelik en te voorspel. Die resultate stel voor dat ’n groter mate van samewerking op WhatsApp akademiese prestasie kan verbeter. Dit kan ook ander aspekte soos aktiewe leer, vertroue, ondersteuning, formaliteit, interaksie en onderlinge afhanklikheid verbeter en kan samewerking verhoog, wat op sy beurt akademiese prestasie kan verbeter. Die studie is waardevol in die sin dat dit meetbare, wetenskaplike bewyse oor die uitwerking van WhatsApp op leer verskaf het, wat by die ontwerp van onderrig- en leeraktiwiteite geïnkorporeer kan word om akademiese prestasie te verbeter. / School of Computing / M. Tech. (Information Technology)

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / African Americans' tendency to choose life-prolonging treatments (LPT) over comfort focused care (CFC) at end-of-life is well documented but poorly understood. There is minimal knowledge about African American (AA) perceptions of decisions to continue or discontinue LPT. The purpose of this study was to examine AA family members' perceptions of factors that influenced end-of-life care decision-making for a relative who recently died from serious illness. A conceptual framework informed by the literature and the Ottawa Decision Support Framework was developed to guide this study. A retrospective, mixed methods design combined quantitative and qualitative descriptive approaches. Forty-nine bereaved AA family members of AA decedents with serious illness who died between 2 to 6 months prior to enrollment participated in a one-time telephone interview. Outcomes examined include end-of-life treatment decision, decision regret, and decisional conflict. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent-sample t-tests, Mann-Whitney U tests, chi-square tests, Spearman and Pearson correlations, and linear and logistic regressions. Qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis and qualitative descriptive methods. Family members' decisional conflict scores were negatively correlated with their quality of general communication (rs = -.503, p = .000) and end-of-life communication scores (rs = -.414, p = .003). There was a significant difference in decisional regret scores between family members of decedents who received CFC versus those who received LPT (p = .030). Family members' quality of general communication (p = .030) and end-of-life communication (p = .014) were significant predictors of family members' decisional conflict scores. Qualitative themes related to AA family members' experiences in end-of-life decision-making included understanding (e.g., feeling prepared or unprepared for death), relationships with healthcare providers (e.g., being shown care, distrust) and the quality of communication (e.g., being informed, openness, and inadequate information). Additional qualitative themes were related to perceptions of the decision to continue LPT (e.g., a lack of understanding, believe will benefit) or discontinue LPT (e.g., patient preferences, desire to prevent suffering). In conclusion, this study generated new knowledge of the factors that influenced AA bereaved family members' end-of-life decision-making for decedents with serious illnesses. Directions for future research were identified.

The purpose of the study was to establish the counselling needs of secondary and preparatory school (Grades 9-12) adolescent students and to develop a comprehensive counselling model mainly from the perspectives of students and significant others. This study is born of concerns about the social, emotional, academic difficulties adolescents face and career concerns of learners without access to support services to assist them. The samples of the study were 256 students for quantitative data; for FGD-48 participants – (16 students, 18 teachers including counsellors, and 12 AdGs including 4 parents and 2 principals) were selected. The samples were selected by employing multi stage methods. Questionnaires, interviews and record analysis were used as instruments. The study used Sequential Mixed Method research design: The quantitative data was collected first and followed by qualitative data. Then, the data were analysed by employing statistical data analyses for quantitative data (Descriptive and inferential), including T-test and one-way ANOVA was tested for significance. In connection with this, percentage and mean were employed. For qualitative data, content analyses of transcripts of the qualitative information (in-depth interview of Focus Group interview results) were carried out to generate concepts, patterns and key themes. The study targeted to assess in what areas students need counselling assistances, and then assessed whether these needs vary according to school background, by gender, age group and across grade level. In line with this, the study attempted to examine the existing counselling practices whether it has been properly addressing the students’ needs or not; and also assessed to what extent it addressed the students’ needs, the barriers of addressing their needs and the way to improve the counselling needs of students with intension to develop the comprehensive counselling model. Accordingly, the study revealed the counselling needs areas like academic, relational, emotional, behavioural and career supports. Then, they were requested to prioritize their needs and they reported that counselling services, placement and information services in descending order. The study also revealed that students have great personal, school and comprehensive needs (Academic, personal-social and career needs in sub scale/theme categories) that call for the attention of concerned others. These research outcomes ascertained that the existing counselling services have not been properly and effectively addressing the needs of students. Barriers to address needs of students, awareness problems, absence of mandatory counselling policy and lack of emphasis due to understanding problems were considered as major challenges not to address the needs of students. Finally, the study concluded that the counselling programme/services are highly valued by students and teachers as well as by key informant groups that participated in focus group discussions. The study explored the possible alternative framework that can better enhance the comprehensive counselling procedure and tried to assess the need differences across gender, age group, grade level and school names, and came up with that there were similarities and need differences across these variables. Finally, possible interpretation and implication of the study including the recommendations were provided. / Psychology of Education / D. Ed. (Educational Psychology)

<p>In this dissertation, I investigate the authentic learning experiences of students participating in the Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) program at Purdue University within the framework of authentic education. Utilizing a quantitative approach, the study assesses the performance of new and returning students across five key outcomes that measure authentic learning during a single semester. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed significant main effects for time of assessment and type of student on performance, with an overall improvement in all outcomes observed from mid-term to final evaluations and returning students typically outperforming new students. Interaction effects between time and type were also examined, revealing subtle yet complex dynamics in students’ learning trajectories. The findings hold implications for enhancing authentic learning, especially in engineering design contexts, and offer insights to guide future implementation of and improvements to authentic education initiatives, particularly the EPICS program. Despite certain limitations, the research opens avenues for future investigations into diverse aspects of authentic education in STEM and beyond.  </p>

This thesis enhances our undertanding of the intricate relationship between communication, change management, and organizational change, offering practical insights and theoretical advancements for the field. This thesis investigates the role of communication and change management during organizational change through a comprehensive case study conducted in an Indonesian telecommunication company. The research aims to explore the facilitative function of change management in driving organizational change and to identify the critical success factors associated with the change. The research adopts a quantitative research approach supplemented by secondary data analysis. A structured survey questionnaire employing a 5-point Likert scale is employed to collect primary quantitative data. The findings of the study reveal that communication plays a pivotal role in fostering the readiness forchange, commitment, and essential behavioral aspects required for successful organizational change. Specifically, communication exhibits a direct correlation with the desired behavioral outcomes encompassing compliance, cooperation, and championing. The contributions of this research are twofold. Firstly, it offers valuable recommendations for strategic interventions and decision-making aimed at enabling the successful implementation of organizational change within the telecommunication company under study. Secondly, it presents an innovative conceptual framework that elucidates the direct impact of communication on the requisite change-oriented behaviors. This thesis significantly contributes to the existing body of knowledge by advancing our understanding ofthe intricate interplay between communication, change management, and organizational change. The insights derived from this study hold practical implications for practitioners and offer theoretical advancements for the academic field. / Denna uppsats undersöker rollen för kommunikation och förändringshantering under organisationsförändring genom en omfattande fallstudie genomförd i ett indonesiskt telekommunikationsföretag. Syftet med forskningen är att utforska den facilitativa funktionen hos förändringshanteringen vid genomförandet av en organisatorisk förändring samt att identifiera de kritiska framgångsfaktorerna för förändringen. Arbetet använder sig av en kvantitativ forskningsansats kompletterad med sekundärdataanalys. En strukturerad enkätundersökning som använder en 5-gradig Likert-skala används för att samla in primär kvantitativ data. Studiens resultat avslöjar att kommunikation spelar en avgörande roll för att främja beredskap förförändring, engagemang och de väsentliga beteendemässiga aspekterna som krävs för en framgångsrik organisatorisk förändring. Specifikt visar kommunikationen en direkt koppling till de önskade beteendemässiga utfallen som omfattar efterlevnad, samarbete och förespråkande. Bidragen från denna forskning är tvåfaldiga. För det första erbjuder den värdefulla rekommendationer för strategiska interventioner och beslutsfattande som syftar till att möjliggöra ett framgångsrikt genomförande av organisationsförändring inom det undersökta telekommunikationsföretaget. För det andra presenterar den en innovativ konceptuell ram som belyser den direkta påverkan av kommunikation på de nödvändiga förändringsinriktade beteendena. Denna uppsats bidrar betydligt till den befintliga kunskapsbasen genom att främja vår förståelse för det komplexa samspelet mellan kommunikation, förändringshantering och organisationsförändring. Insikterna från denna studie har praktiska implikationer för yrkesverksamma och erbjuder teoretiska framsteg inom det akademiska fältet.

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Im heutigen globalisierten Ernährungssystem sind Produktion und Konsum von Lebensmitteln weitgehend entkoppelt, was negative Auswirkungen auf Landwirt*innen und Verbraucher*innen haben kann. Alternative Ernährungsnetzwerke (AFNs) haben das Potenzial, diese Verbindung wiederherzustellen. Es fehlt jedoch an Forschung zu den Wiederverbindungsprozessen in AFNs. Die übergeordnete Forschungsfrage dieser Dissertation ist daher, ob und wie AFNs Produktion und Konsum von Lebensmitteln wieder verbinden. Zur Beantwortung wurden (a) Motivationen für die AFN-Teilnahme erforscht, (b) transformative Prozesse in AFNs untersucht, (c) die relevantesten Interaktionen zwischen Konsument*innen und Produzent*innen für die wirtschaftliche Stabilität von solidarischen Landwirtschaftsbetrieben identifiziert und (d) Faktoren für das Vertrauen in solidarische Landwirtschaft ermittelt. Ein Mixed-Method-Ansatz wurde gewählt, um die Forschungsziele zu erreichen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass AFNs zu sechs Arten von Wiederverbindung beitragen: 1. Wiederverbindung von Produzent*innen und Konsument*innen 2. Wiederverbindung von Konsument*innen und Konsument*innen 3. Wiederverbindung von Konsument*innen und Lebensmitteln/ deren Produktion 4. Wiederverbindung von AFNs mit anderen (ernährungsbezogenen) Initiativen 5. Wiederverbindung von AFN-Produzent*inen und -Konsument*innen mit der Ernährungswirtschaft 6. Wiederverbindung von AFN-Produzent*innen und -Konsument*innen mit der Ernährungspolitik Wiederverbindungsprozesse in AFNs fördern das Empowerment von Produzent*innen und Konsument*innen und bieten lokale Lösungen für Probleme des Ernährungssystems. Eine stärkere Vernetzung und Verbreitung von AFNs wäre positiv für einen über die AFN-Nische hinausgehenden Einfluss auf das Ernährungssystem. Als Teil einer gesellschaftlichen Bewegung können AFNs zu einem wertebasierten Ernährungssystem beitragen und im Kleinen ein Beispiel für einen nachhaltigeren Umgang mit Lebensmitteln bieten. / In today’s global food system, food production and consumption are mostly disconnected which has negative implications for producers and consumers. Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) can potentially re-establish links between production and consumption. For a comprehensive understanding of AFNs, more research is needed on how exactly they contribute to reconnection processes. The overarching research objective of this dissertation is, therefore, if and how AFNs reconnect production and consumption. To answer this research question, this dissertation (a) explores what motivates consumers to participate in AFNs, (b) investigates which drivers of transformation occur in AFNs, (c) assesses which consumer-producer-interactions are most relevant for the economic stability of community-supported agriculture farms, and (d) examines which factors determine members’ trust in community-supported agriculture and its farmers. A mixed-method approach is applied to answer these research objectives taking both a producer and consumer perspective into account. The results show that AFNs contribute to six different types of reconnection, namely: 1. Reconnection of producers and consumers 2. Reconnection of consumers and consumers 3. Reconnection of consumers and food (production) 4. Reconnection of AFN with other (food) initiatives 5. Reconnection of AFN participants with the food economy 6. Reconnection of AFN participants with food politics By providing these different types of reconnection, AFNs foster empowerment of producers and consumers and offer spaces to create local-level solutions to existing problems of the dominant food system. For a stronger impact beyond the individual AFN initiative, networking and replication are recommended. As a part of a broader societal movement, AFNs could contribute to creating a value-based food system and be small scale examples of a more sustainable way of food production and consumption.