This is a presentation (of 50 slides) at the University of California, Irvine sponsored by the Libraries' Department of Education and Outreach and by the LAUC-I (Librarians Association of the University of California, Irvine) Professional Development Committee. The title is picking up on the 2005 ASIS&T Annual Conference theme of Sparking Synergies: Bringing Research and Practice Together. Coleman discusses her research agenda which spans both sides of the information coin - she tries to examine representations of information and information usage in a unified program of inquiry. The research goal is to expand and integrate knowledge about uses and users in the organization of digital information and libraries. Using selected projects over the last 5 years as examples, Coleman identifies some ways to design, conduct, and manage doable research projects while also meeting the day-to-day demands of being a practicing professional. The focus is on the development of a cohesive research agenda (sustainable information behaviors), one that exemplifies and synchronizes with the values and challenges of practice, besides improving the quality of LIS research. Organizers: Cathy Palmer, Collette C. Ford, and Carol A. Hughes.

Law, mission, and information management practices inhibit access to computerized administrative records produced by state government. Research use or secondary analysis is not on the agenda of the agency administrator. Computerized records are not routinely maintained or preserved. Records managers and archivists for public records do not participate in decisions about retaining or destroying computerized records. These findings emerged from a recently completed cooperative study conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the State Historical Society of Wisconsin on the impact of automation on state agency records keeping practices. In addition, changes in rules for access, computer-based technologies, pressures to maintain routine administration in the face of high turnover in data processing staffs, reduced budgets, and legislation to reduce paperwork pose a threat to the retention of administrative records. This article discusses the implications of the findings and trends, provides examples of data delivery failures, and recommends changes in law and administrative behavior. The authors conclude that the social scientist has a role to play in assisting government agencies in improving access to computerized administrative records.

No description available.

Colonization has had a detrimental impact on Indigenous peoples and communities. Colonization has and continues to remove Indigenous peoples from full participation in Canadian society, which has forced some Indigenous men to search out other avenues in order to gain power, respect, and economic capital to survive. It is the direct result of colonial-shaped socio-political histories and ideologies that have led to the creation and proliferation of urban Indigenous street gangs. This dissertation examines 16 Indigenous male ex-gang members and their perceptions of masculinity, identity, and how this is supported through their involvement within a street gang. Relational accountability was the methodology utilized to engage and support the men through the course of the research process. It was from the focal point of relational accountability that photovoice methods could be modified to accommodate the lived realities of the men during the time of the study. Overall, fifteen individuals participated in the study, with nine engaging in photovoice methods to document and explain how they understood and practiced masculinity. The nine men, who completed photovoice, had their photographs and narratives brought together to create Brighter Days Ahead, to give back to the organization STR8 UP and help inform the broader community about the multiple issues that Indigenous youth face in the Canadian Prairies. The role of masculinity was integral for the men’s inclusion into street gangs. Connell’s concept of hegemonic masculinity and Bourdieu’s concept of habitus helped to create a framework to understand why some Indigenous men see street gangs as a viable option to practice masculinity. By examining the men’s histories, with a focus on their relationships’ with parents, siblings, family, peers, and social institutions, a more robust understanding the linkages to street gang involvement is created. The street gang epitomized the ideal “man”— tough, independent, emotion-less, and powerful, as it were these individual’s whom they would target for their recruitment. Analysis of the men’s narratives and photographs revealed how violence and trauma impacted their notions of maleness. It was through violent and traumatic experiences that the men would create a “mask” that they would wear to help them engage in hyper-violent behaviours within multiple fields and protect them from further victimization. This study directs our attention to focus future research on: 1) the impacts of colonization as both a historical and contemporary factor in the lives of Indigenous peoples; 2) the importance of relational accountability within the research process; 3) the potential of photovoice methods in expanding street gangs research; and 4) the need for gang prevention and intervention programming to focus on the concept of masculinity in order to deter gang involvement amongst Indigenous males and build healthier stronger communities.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1995. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 392-414).

This thesis assesses the evolution of historic maps of Ireland using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and quantitative approaches. Each of nineteen early modern maps dating to the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries (c.1530 – 1610), a formative period of Irish cartographic history, was analysed to statistically assess the relative positional accuracy of places included on the cartography. Building upon previous studies of analysing cartographic veracity using quantitative approaches, notably Tobler's (1994) bidimensional regression technique, it is the first of its kind to apply these techniques to a series of historic maps. The aim is to test these approaches systematically and critically, compare the statistical techniques, and offer insights into their analytical potential in the history of cartography and historical geography. The thesis also aims to enhance our understanding of the evolution and development of maps and map-making during an age often regarded as revolutionary in scientific cartography in Europe. The study highlighted two main historical and cartographic groups; (I) earlier maps of Ireland created prior to Lythe’s survey cartography in which mapmakers appeared to take a more artistic rather than a ‘measured’ approach to mapping and; (II) maps created subsequent to Lythe’s and of generally higher cartographic precision in illustrating the island's geography. Enduring map ‘errors’ that survived through to the seventeenth century are discussed, and illustrate that the development of maps of Ireland did not progress in a linear fashion. Map lineage was complex, and plagiarism between mapmakers was rife with one map, by Robert Lythe (PHA 9581, c.1571), shown to form the basis for many subsequent maps. The methodology developed in this thesis is a fundamental addition to early map research, by adding to key debates in the history of cartography concerned with how early maps developed and evolved, and providing new insights on Ireland’s early cartography.

abstract: The discussion on the question of integrity has a long history. It is regarded as an important research proposition in the fields of Chinese and Western philosophy, law, sociology, ethics, management and economics. Even though the research results are combined with each other for reference, there is still a lack of comprehensive analysis and empirical study on integrity. In the process of transition from planned economy to market economy, a series of problems have arisen. The problem of dishonesty has caused huge losses to the society as a whole. Therefore, it is of great theoretical and practical importance to conduct a quantitative analysis on the topic of trustworthiness, and investigate the relationship between trustworthiness and the economy. This paper adopts a game theory model to analyze the reasons for corporate dishonesty, and the problem faced by the regulators. Based on the results from the model, we clarify the duties of various subjects (enterprises, governments and credit organizations) in the construction of a society with integrity. Then, we analyze different cases of dishonesty and point out the channels through which the economy would be affected by the problem of dishonesty. (1) as an institution, integrity helps reduce the transaction cost and prompt market efficiency; (2) integrity serves as a production factor that influences the economy; (3) integrity will affect the economy by influencing the ability of small and medium enterprises to borrow. Finally, after we establish the relationship between integrity and the market economy, we use survey data to conduct an empirical analysis on the development of integrity in China. The survey data allow us to build a cycle of integrity risk, and identify the current position in the cycle. Besides, we also compare the region difference regarding integrity, which supports the idea that integrity matters for the economic development. Because the questionnaires are the only way to obtain the data that can be analyzed at present, the paper not only fills in the research gap caused by the lack of data, but also jumps out of the existing research methods, and enriches the empirical work for the study of integrity. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Business Administration 2017

This thesis explores sociologists' routine research activities, including observation, participant observation, interviewing, and transcription. It suggests that the constitutive activities of sociological research methods - writing field-notes, doing looking and categorising, and the endogenous structure of members' ordinary language transactions are suffused with culturally methodic, i.e. ordinary language activities. "Membership categories" are the ordinary organising practices of description that society-members - including sociologists - routinely use in assembling sense of settings. This thesis addresses the procedural bases of activities which are constituent features of the research: disguising identities of informants, reviewing literature, writing-up research outcomes, and compiling bibliographies. These activities are themselves loci of practical reasoning. Whilst these activities are assemblages of members' cultural methods, they have not been recognised as "research practices" by methodologically ironic sociology. The thesis presents a series of studies in Membership Categorisation Analysis. Using both sequential and membership categorisational aspects of Conversation Analysis, as well as textual analysis of published research, this thesis examines how members' cultural practices coincide with research practices. Data are derived from a period of participant observation in an organisation, video-recordings of the organisation's work; and interviews following the 1996 bombing in Manchester. A major, cumulative theme within this thesis is confidentiality - within an organisation, within a research project and within sociology itself. Features of confidentiality are explored through ethnographic observation, textual analysis and Membership Categorisation Analysis. Membership Categorisation Analysis brings seen-but-unnoticed features of confidentiality into relief. Central to the thesis are the works of Edward Rose, particularly his ethnographic inquiries of Skid Row, and Harvey Sacks, on the cultural logic shared by society-members. Rose and Sacks explicate the visibility and recognition of members' activities to other members, and research activities as linguistic activities.

Research on joint decision-making processes in households is particularly relevant for marketing, especially for understanding who decides what to buy in purchasing decisions and how decision processes evolve. However, the investigation of such complex processes requires adequate research methods to account for the dynamics in close relationships. We provide a critical overview of past research in the arena of economic decision-making among couples, concentrating on methodological issues. After describing different types of decisions we proceed by describing findings on interaction dynamics, including the nature and occurrence of conflicts. In reviewing relationship structures we focus on the dimensions of harmony and power. The descriptive process model utilized includes the partners’ use of influence tactics, as well as the emergence of utility debts at the end of a decision-making process. Reviewing the adequacy of various research methods, observational and survey techniques are discussed as conventional psychological research methods. The Vienna Partner Diary is introduced as novel method and suggested as being useful for collecting data on the complex interaction processes in the everyday life of couples.

The major problem addressed by this study was to investigate the relationship between characteristics of the research methods used in selected subject subfields. In order to carry out the investigation a non-experimental design was employed, and an evaluative instrument was developed for assigning a quantitative score to published research based on characteristics of the research methods utilized. Evaluative scores were thus assigned to 244 randomly selected research studies drawn from two scientific subfields manifesting different rates of growth.