Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1984. / Also available in print.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the incidence, frequency and severity of accidents in Arizona secondary agricultural education programs. Data were obtained by questionnaires sent to secondary school teachers of agricultural education in Arizona from February 2, 1991, to April 15, 1991. Among the teachers who reported one or more accidents, a pattern of accidents was observed over the period (1989-90 school year) studied. Cuts and burns were the most frequent accidents in the programs, followed by bruises and scratches. Incidents such as loss of hammer head and disintegration of grinder wheel pose great danger and, therefore, require the attention of teachers and administrators as well. It is hoped agricultural education teachers and students, through this study and others similar to it, will be able to gain insight into the patterns of accidents occurring in their labs and, most of all, stress adherence to safety guidelines.

Business and industry training is a growing area of practice in the field of adult education. Evaluation of the results of training is a challenge for both practitioners and scholars. A qualitative study of the nature, origin and use of indicators for evaluating training results was conducted over a two-year period in a nuclear utility setting. The study's participants were trainers, supervisors, managers, students and staff personnel. / Data collection involved in-depth interviews, participant observations, document reviews, journal writing, and member checking. Field notes were coded and categorized based on themes and patterns. Data analysis involved deriving categories and their properties, defining inclusion rules, constructing memos and models, formulating working hypotheses, and generating substantive theory. / The study posits four models, grounded in practice and integrated with theoretical literature. The first model, a Training Results Framework, provides a classification tool that is organized using three distinct types of results (performance, satisfaction, in-process) and six system levels (training, job, worksite, company, industry, society) relevant to business and industry. A Four-Stage Process Model for Establishing Indicators provides a systematic, ongoing methodology of activities and tasks involved in identifying, prioritizing, selecting and utilizing useful indicators. A Holistic Results-Oriented Training Evaluation System model emphasizes the quality checkpoints for monitoring a system of multiple indicators to determine the value added by training, and to provide feedback for continuous improvement of training quality. A Holistic System View of Planning and Evaluation model emphasizes the linkages among requirements, planning, evaluation and results at the various system levels, and the relationship of feedback to maintaining or modifying requirements for future planning efforts. / The study provides implications for theory showing how the findings support and build on the adult education field's existing knowledge base. The study's findings fill a gap in the literature on evaluation and monitoring of training/HRD in an organizational setting. The study provides practical implications for trainers, managers and industry leaders, and for professors and graduate students in adult education and HRD, and provides recommendations for future research. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-11, Section: A, page: 4248. / Major Professor: Irwin R. Jahns. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

<p> Arizona police officers are required by the Arizona Police Officer Standards and Training board to complete continuing training on an annual basis. Police continuing training has traditionally been offered as lecture-based classroom training. Online training offers an alternative method of providing training. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of an online version of a police training class to a classroom-based version of the same course. Participants consisted of sworn police officers employed by the Phoenix Police Department and taking the department&rsquo;s Domestic Violence Investigation (DVI) course. The study compared student learning outcomes between the two course versions, as well as student attitudes and perceptions of training. </p><p> The study utilized a descriptive research design with a mixed methods approach. Research questions investigated the attitudes and perceptions of participants, compared student learning outcomes between the two course versions, and asked whether educational level and previous experience with online learning was linked to positive learning outcomes in the DVI course. Quantitative data consisted of demographic questionnaires, a 45-question assessment of the likelihood of success in online learning, a 10-question pre-test, and a 10-question post-test. Qualitative data was obtained through interviews with six participants who had taken the DVI course. </p><p> The results of the study indicated participants in the online version of the DVI course performed as well or better on the post-test than their counterparts in the classroom. Participants interviewed for the study enjoyed the online presentation of the course, and supported the development of additional online training options within their department. Positive student learning outcomes for the online DVI course provide support for the development of online police training programs.</p><p>

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2009. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 88 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 86-88).

<p>Many people, organizations, institutions, and governments want and need to generate creative breakthroughs and foster creativity, but are not aware of what conversational conditions make their occurrence more likely. The creative collaborative process is dependent upon communication. There have been few studies that have analyzed in situ group creativity with a robust communication theory capable of showing what actual kinds of conversations create new and useful meaning. The purpose of this research was to identify conversational conditions that facilitate creative breakthroughs in collaborative workgroups. </p><p> A case study is presented of a 4-month creative collaboration between members of a design consultancy and a senior university design class tasked with designing 21^st century communication products for a well-known greeting-card company client. The research design utilized a social constructionist communication theory, the coordinated management of meaning, (CMM). Creative breakthrough moments were identified in three different interactions from questionnaires and videotaped data. Reflective interviews of all the participants also enabled insight into the creative breakthrough moments and the narrative process that developed new meaning. The videotaped conversational patterns that produced those creative breakthrough moments were then recursively examined and analyzed with conversational analysis, CMM research methodology, and figurative language. Six specific conversational conditions were discerned as present in creative breakthrough emergence. </p><p> A reflexive pattern of critique, relationship, responsibility, idea generation, and reframing authorship enabled participants to co-evolve design narratives that made new meaning. Creative breakthroughs and new creative meaning emerged from an improvisational structure of six specific conversational conditions. By participating within this improvisational structure, group members utilized critique as a creative springboard for innovation and took fresh perspectives. These findings are counter to the dominant themes in design and sociocultural literature that nonjudgmental conditions, brainstorming, and individuals building on input are the main pathways for creativity. </p><p> <i>Key Words</i>: Creative breakthrough, conversational conditions, facilitate, in vivo collaborative workgroups, relational responsibility moves, new meaning-making, improvisational language structure, figurative language, CMM, social constructionist communication theory, creative and generous listening, creative collaboration </p>

<p> This exploratory study examined the relationship between communities of practice and professional identity. The purpose of the study was to quantitatively examine the extent to which there were relationships between Wenger's dimensions of community of practice (domain, community, and practice) and professional identity among veterinarians. This was accomplished by conducting a survey study using correlation analysis. The research question was as follows: To what extent are there relationships between Wenger's dimensions of community of practice (domain, community, and practice) and professional identity among veterinarians? </p><p> A combined survey consisting of items from the Community of Practice Measure and the Professional Identity Survey was used to collect data. Snowball sampling techniques were used to recruit 125 veterinarians to participate in the study. To explore the research question, three sets of null and alternative hypotheses were developed and tested. Overall, the results showed that the dimensions of communities of practice had positive statistically significant relationships with the professional identity. Domain, community and practice all had moderate to low positive relationships with professional identity. </p><p> The significance of this study is that it expanded Brown's (1997; 2007) conceptual framework of professional identity development. It also contributed to the body of knowledge on social science research conducted on veterinarians. Finally, it offered quantitative findings to the existing literature on communities of practice and professional identity&mdash;that is, as domain, community, and practice are enhanced, so is professional identity.</p>

<p> This study explored the influence of supervisee intrapersonal and interpersonal regulatory characteristics on supervisor-rated evaluation of supervisee performance given within the context of a counseling supervision relationship. A sample of 60 counseling supervisee and supervisor dyads from University Counseling Centers were surveyed, both electronically and in paper form. By examining the most frequently studied correlates to performance within counselor trainee supervision, the study aimed to address a gap in the research literature understanding of the self-regulatory influences on performance evaluation. Regression analysis was used to address the hypothesis that the independent variables of emotional intelligence, self-efficacy, working alliance, and attachment orientation would account for a significant portion of the variance in total performance scores of the dependent variable of supervisee performance.</p><p> Results of this study indicated that the independent variables did not have a significant relationship with the outcome variable of performance evaluation. Post hoc analyses found that supervisor attractiveness did have a significant relationship with performance. Organizational literature has long advanced theories that attachment and emotional intelligence are integral to the supervisory relationship. Previous research has found independent relationships between emotional intelligence, self-efficacy, and working alliance and performance; however, this was the first study that looked at their collective influence on performance with the additional influence of attachment orientation. The results of this study suggest that the strength of the relationship of emotional intelligence, self-efficacy, working alliance, and attachment orientation to performance is not as great as previously reported. Additionally, and more importantly, the data suggest that references to attachment and emotional intelligence in organizational theory may be misguided or at best optimistic. The supervisory relationship, while complicated, may not be as interpersonally influenced as hypothesized, but post hoc analyses confirm that attraction does influence performance evaluation. These results suggest a possible new direction for future research.</p>

Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2006.

Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2006.