<p>Denna studie är en fallstudie av ett privat sjukvårdsföretag. Studien syftar till att undersöka hur olika gestaltningstekniker</p><p>samt gruppers sammansättning kan påverka diskussioner kring design och därmed fungera som strukturerande resurser för</p><p>samtalet. Studien vidgar begreppet prototyper till att hantera mer än de delar som behandlats i tidigare forskning: medium,</p><p>detaljrikedom och närhet till slutprodukt.</p><p>Datainsamling har skett vid sex fokusgruppstillfällen där tre olika grupper (inom olika delar av en och samma organisation:</p><p>användare hos kund, användare hos systemleverantören och systemutvecklare hos leverantören) har fört en diskussion kring</p><p>designen utifrån tre olika gestaltningstekniker (gränssnittsskisser, scenarios och dynamiska datorprototyper).</p><p>Diskussionerna har sedan analyserats i termer av domäner för interaktionsdesign och aspekter av IT-systemet i användning.</p><p>Studiens huvudsakliga slutsatser är att gestaltningstekniker påverkar vilka domäner och aspekter som diskuteras varför</p><p>designern kan välja gestaltningsteknik efter vad han eller hon vill få ut av diskussionen. Skisserna bedöms ge den mest</p><p>heltäckande diskussionen, medan scenarios fungerar bäst för dem som inte är teknikvana och tar då upp struktur och</p><p>funktion. Datorprototypen lämpar sig bäst för diskussion kring interaktion och presentation. Men gruppens sammansättning</p><p>påverkar diskussionen i högre utsträckning än gestaltningsteknikerna. Därför dras även slutsatsen att det är viktigt att</p><p>designern känner sin publik och anpassar valet av gestaltningsteknik efter målgruppen.</p> / <p>This thesis investigates how different prototyping techniques and compositions of groups can influence discussions about</p><p>design and therefore function as structuring resources for the discussion. This thesis widens the conception of prototypes to</p><p>include more than the issues that have been discussed in previous research: medium, wealth of details and closeness to the</p><p>final product.</p><p>Data has been collected through six focus groups where three different groups (within different parts of one organization;</p><p>users at client, users at system supplier, and systems developers at supplier) have discussed the design with the help of the</p><p>different prototyping techniques (sketches, scenarios and dynamic computer prototypes).</p><p>The discussions where analyzed in terms of domains for interaction design and different aspects of the system in use.</p><p>The main conclusions of this thesis are that prototyping techniques influence which domains and aspects are discussed.</p><p>Therefore the designer can choose prototyping technique depending on what he or she wants to discuss about the design.</p><p>The sketches provides the most complete discussion, while scenarios works best with those that are not knowledgeable</p><p>about IT-systems and then the discussion deals with structure and function. The computer prototype is best suited for</p><p>discussing interaction and presentation. But the composition of the group has more influence on the discussion than the</p><p>choice of prototyping technique. Therefore the conclusion is drawn that it is important that the designer knows his or her</p><p>audience and adjusts the choice of prototyping technique to the composition of the group.</p>

<p>Abstract:</p><p>Title: Engelska (Svenska)</p><p>Number of pages: 40 (47 including appendix)</p><p>Author: Carl Strand</p><p>Tutor: Göran Svensson</p><p>Course: Media and Communication Studies C</p><p>Period: Fall 2005</p><p>University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala University</p><p>Purpose/Aim: The purpose of this essay is to analyze how young people, in the ages 18 to 25, relate to the subject of file sharing, and what their attitudes to this phenomenon are. I aim to describe how they use file sharing, their knowledge about it, how their usage have changed due to the new copyright law, what their stands are on the question of resource control and management on the Internet, and what they think of the future of file sharing.</p><p>Material/Method: The method being used is a qualitative focus group interview model, used to investigate how young people look at the subject of file sharing. The results of the interviews is then applied to a theoretical framework based on thoughts of Denis McQuail, Lawrence Lessig concerning creativity, copyright, resource management and file sharing on the Internet</p><p>Main Results: My conclusion is that the widespread file sharing habits of young people is not only caused by the temptation of getting free stuff, but of the lack of commercial and legal alternatives. Youths are willing to pay for media if the distribution is superior to the illegal file sharing alternative. They are a generation of young people that has grown up in a society where the tendency in many fields has been to make everything faster and more effective. They want to be able to get everything, and they want it fast. They are what I call the Instant Generation.</p><p>Keywords: File sharing, attitudes, focus groups, Darknet, Open Source, free resources, free creativity</p>

The overall aim of this thesis was to deepen understanding of elder abuse (EA) by exploring and comparing perceptions held by experts, older persons, representatives of potential support organizations, and family members. Experts’ perspectives (I) were examined through risk indicators and screening questions (a) located in EA literature and (b) selected by an international Delphi panel. Risk indicators most commonly found in the literature or selected by the panel were compiled into consensus lists. There were differences between risk indicators and questions in the two lists. In papers II and III participants were interviewed in focus groups about their perceptions of EA. Older persons (II) considered EA to be due to changing society and family systems where children are not brought up to respect older persons. EA was mainly conceptualized as ageism, criminal actions, mistreatment in residential care, and societal abuse. The abuser was perceived as a stranger or a healthcare worker. Fear was discussed as a major consequence of EA; especially fear among women. Abused persons were described as carrying the responsibility to seek help. Witnesses were described as hesitant to get involved. Improvements in society such as educating children and healthcare workers were considered ways to cope with EA. Besides family and friends there were few spontaneous suggestions for where to seek help and support in society. These suggestions included healthcare, police, church, and volunteer organizations. Representatives of these suggested organizations were interviewed in focus groups about their perceptions of EA (III). Perceptions of both causes and conceptions of EA were very similar to perceptions of older persons (II). Four themes emerged in the data; good intentions in abusive situations, older generation’s responsibility for EA, failing to report abuse, and prevention of abuse. Participants (III) also expressed ageist attitudes themselves and findings included victim blaming and tolerance for EA. Participants perceived that anyone could be provoked to abuse, and that abusers can be considered victims in abusive situations. Confidentiality was discussed as a barrier to reporting and the need for educating children to show respect for older persons was identified. Interviews with an adult family member (IV) explored her experiences of witnessing abuse situations between her uncle and his wife. In her desire to protect and remain loyal to her family she felt powerless and tolerated abuse. She longed for support she could trust but was locked into passivity by her feelings of shame. Synthesis of findings (I – IV) revealed issues of isolation, autonomy, vulnerability, victim blaming, perceiving the abuser as a victim of circumstances, ageism, tolerating EA, shame, and power as essential elements in EA. Based on the findings, alternative descriptions of EA are offered as a challenge to existing EA definitions. Findings suggest that a key to unlocking EA is compassion, understood as the ability to see a situation as if we were in it ourselves, experiencing the potential for disrespect, shame and unworthiness inherent in abusive acts.

Abstract: Title: Engelska (Svenska) Number of pages: 40 (47 including appendix) Author: Carl Strand Tutor: Göran Svensson Course: Media and Communication Studies C Period: Fall 2005 University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala University Purpose/Aim: The purpose of this essay is to analyze how young people, in the ages 18 to 25, relate to the subject of file sharing, and what their attitudes to this phenomenon are. I aim to describe how they use file sharing, their knowledge about it, how their usage have changed due to the new copyright law, what their stands are on the question of resource control and management on the Internet, and what they think of the future of file sharing. Material/Method: The method being used is a qualitative focus group interview model, used to investigate how young people look at the subject of file sharing. The results of the interviews is then applied to a theoretical framework based on thoughts of Denis McQuail, Lawrence Lessig concerning creativity, copyright, resource management and file sharing on the Internet Main Results: My conclusion is that the widespread file sharing habits of young people is not only caused by the temptation of getting free stuff, but of the lack of commercial and legal alternatives. Youths are willing to pay for media if the distribution is superior to the illegal file sharing alternative. They are a generation of young people that has grown up in a society where the tendency in many fields has been to make everything faster and more effective. They want to be able to get everything, and they want it fast. They are what I call the Instant Generation. Keywords: File sharing, attitudes, focus groups, Darknet, Open Source, free resources, free creativity

Syftet med studien var att få en ökad kunskap om 15-åringars uppfattningar om kränkningar och trakassering på internet och vad de menar kan ha en motverkande effekt på att problemet uppstår. Datainsamling blev genomförd genom fyra fokusgruppintervjuer med 15-åringar från en skola i Sydsverige. Grounded theory användes för analys av intervjuerna. Resultaten teoretiserades ut i från ett genusperspektiv. Resultaten visade att Internet är en given del av ungdomarnas vardag och att kränkningar är vanliga. Både sändaren och mottagaren av en kommentar måste uppfatta den som illa menad för att det skulle vara en kränkning. Det pågår en normaliseringsprocess i synen på kränkningar på Internet och det identifierades ett grupptryck. Traditionella könsroller och stereotypa uppfattningar i synen på kvinnor och män lever vidare på internet. Tjejer utsätts i högre grad än pojkar för kränkningar rörande deras utseende. Strategier mot kränkningar på Internet måste föras på olika nivåer, dock identifierades föräldrar som nyckelpersoner. Studiens resultat ger betydelsefull kunskap om ungdomars uppfattningar av kränkningar på Internet men konkluderar med att ytterligare forskning är nödvändigt för att förstå hur kränkningar på Internet påverkar ungdomar. / The aim of the study was to gain knowledge about fifteen-year-olds’ opinion of violations and harassment on the Internet and what preventive measures can be taken to avoid such occurrences. Data was collected from interviews with four focus groups comprising of fifteen-year-olds from a school in southern Sweden. Grounded Theory was used for analyzing the interviews. The results were treated from a gender perspective. The results showed that Internet was a part of everyday life of the participants and that violations were common. Both the sender and receiver had to perceive the comments as harmful to consider it a violation. Perception of violations on the Internet, as identified by peer pressure, was undergoing a process of normalization. Traditional gender roles and stereotypical ideas of women and men still exist on the Internet. Girls were more exposed to violations aimed at their appearance. Preventive strategies against violations on the Internet must be undertaken at different levels, but parents were identified as key persons. The result of the study gave important information of the youths perception of violations on the Internet but conclude that further studies are necessary to understand how violations on the Internet affect the youth.

While previous research into understandings of climate change has usually examined general public perceptions and mainstream media representations, this thesis offers an audience-specific departure point by analysing climate change frames and frame formation in Swedish agriculture. The empirical material consists of Swedish farm magazines’ reporting on climate change, as well as eight focus group discussions among Swedish farmers on the topic of climate change and climate change information. The analysis demonstrates that while Swedish farm magazines frame climate change in terms of conflict, scientific uncertainty, and economic burden, farmers in the focus groups tended to concentrate on whether climate change was a natural or human-induced phenomenon, and viewed climate change communication as an issue of credibility. It was found that farm magazines use metaphorical representations of war and games to form the overall frames of climate change. In contrast, the farmers’  frames of natural versus human-induced climate change were formed primarily using experience-based and non-experience-based arguments, both supported with analogies, distinctions, keywords, metaphors, and prototypical examples. Furthermore, discussions of what constitutes credible climate information centred on conflict-versus consensus-oriented frames of climate change communication along with different views of the extent to which knowledge of climate change is and should be practically or analytically based. This analysis of climate change communication in the Swedish agricultural sector proposes that the sense-making processes of climate change are complex, involving associative thinking and experience-based knowledge that form interpretations of climate change and climate change information. / Den här avhandlingen studerar uppfattningar om klimatförändringar och bidrar med sin målgruppsorienterade utgångspunkt till tidigare forskning kring hur klimatförändringar kan förstås och uppfattas. Avhandlingen studerar klimatkommunikation inom den svenska lantbrukssektorn genom analyser av 10 års klimatrapportering i tidningarna ATL samt Land Lantbruk, samt åtta fokusgruppsdiskussioner med svenska lantbrukare. Analysen visar att medan svensk lantbruksmedia ramade in klimatförändringar som en fråga om konflikter, vetenskaplig osäkerhet och ekonomisk börda, rörde lantbrukarnas diskussioner om klimatförändringar (i) dess orsaker; naturliga eller antropogena, (ii) olika faktorer som påverkar huruvida klimatinformation anses trovärdig. Därtill visar avhandlingen att lantbrukstidningar använde krigs- och spelmetaforer för att gestalta klimatförändringar medan lantbrukarna formade klimatinramningar genom analogier, distinktioner, nyckelord, metaforer och prototypiska exempel. Tillsammans med lantbrukarnas upplevda erfarenheter bildade dessa kommunikativa verktyg olika gestaltningar av klimatförändringar. Lantbrukarna visade på olika uppfattningar kring trovärdighet och klimatinformation. Vanligen efterfrågades ett informationslandskap karaktäriserat av en mångfald av perspektiv. Återkommande i materialet var också uppfattningen att kunskap om klimatförändringar borde vara praktiskt baserad snarare än teoretisk hållen för att öka i trovärdighet. Denna avhandling kring klimatkommunikation inom den svenska lantbrukssektorn pekar på komplexiteten i tolkningsprocesser och visar att associativt tänkande och erfarenhetsbaserad kunskap tillsammans utgör grunden för hur klimatförändringar och klimatinformation uppfattas.

Similar to a product supply chain, an information supply chain is a dynamic environment where networks of information-sharing agents gather data from many sources and utilize the same data for different tasks. Unfortunately, raw data arriving from a variety of sources are often plagued by errors (Ballou et al. 1998), which can lead to poor decision making. Supporting decision making in this challenging environment demands a proactive approach to data quality management, since the decision maker has no control over these data sources (Shankaranarayan et al. 2003). This is true in health care, and in particular in health planning, where health care resource allocation is often based on summarized data from a myriad of sources such as hospital admissions, vital statistic records, and specific disease registries. This work investigates issues of data quality in the information supply chain. It proposes three result-driven data quality metrics that inform and aid decision makers with incomplete and inconsistent data and help mitigate insensitivity to sample size, a well known decision bias. To design and evaluate the result-driven data quality metrics this thesis utilizes the design science paradigm (Simon 1996; Hevner, March et al. 2004). The metrics are implemented within a simple OLAP interface, utilizing data aggregated from several healthcare data sources, and presented to decision makers in four focus groups. This research is one of the first to propose and outline the use of focus groups as a technique to demonstrate utility and efficacy of design science artifacts. Results from the focus groups demonstrate that the proposed metrics are useful, and that the metrics are efficient in altering a decision maker's data analytic strategies. Additionally, results indicate that comparative techniques, such as benchmarking or scenario based approaches, are promising approaches in data quality. Finally, results from this research reveal that decision making literature needs to be considered in the design of BI tools. Participants of the focus groups confirmed that people are insensitive to sample size, but when attention was drawn to small sample sizes, this bias was mitigated.

As a result of the recent findings of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), many women who have been on hormone replacement therapies (HRT) have begun to renegotiate their understandings and strategies of this stage of their lives. The WHI findings suggested that the risks of HRT outweighed the benefits for healthy menopausal women. This study examined women's emerging sensemaking regarding HRT and menopause in light of the WHI findings. Seven women in the Tampa Bay area, who were in various stages of menopause, participated in three focus group sessions and two one-on-one interviews to discuss their lives in menopause. Based upon the women's conversations, I constructed individual stories about each of the women. I included my voice in each step of the process, both participating in the focus group and interview discussions and inserting my voice in the women's stories as an interview and focus group participant. I analyzed the stories to determine categories in the w omen's emerging sensemaking. A theme of change emerged in terms of loss, decay, and decline. The women talked about change while discussing personal issues such as children, their bodies, aging, health concerns, and sex. Throughout their discussions, the women spoke about the contradictions and dilemmas they faced as they tried to sort through the conflicting and sometimes contradictory information they have been receiving about the effects of menopause and HRT on their bodies. Emily Martin's medical metaphors, Michel Foucault's ideas on discourse, and Watzlawick, Weakland, and Fisch's theory of change helped me understand the women's sensemaking. Many of the women framed their sensemaking within the biomedical model of health care, using what Martin called the body-as-machine metaphor, thereby making a first-order change, even though they changed from one HRT formula to another, from "synthetic" to "natural" HRT, or stopped taking HRT entirely. One woman appeared to make a secon d-order change. Overall, the women felt they had little to guide them as they determined how to take care of themselves in the menopausal stage of their lives.

Much of the research on career development of black secondary school learners (Hickson & White, 1989, Ntshangase, 1995) has been focused on black learners in relatively affluent black areas, particularly townships. The aim of this study was to investigate career development and exploration in a sample of black learners from an under-resourced school in Pietermaritzburg. They were generally of a low socio economic status. In order to assess the learners' career maturity, a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design was used. The central aim of this research project was to undertake focus group discussions. In order to facilitate career development, the discussions were learner-driven. These discussions were run over five sessions and allowed for an investigation of contextual influences on career development. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of data collected was conducted, in order to ascertain the effect of the focus group discussions on the learners' career maturity levels. The analysis showed a marked improvement in total career maturity scores of the experimental group as was measured by the Career Development Questionnaire. No significant changes were observed in the total maturity scores of the comparison group. Qualitative analysis of the discussions showed that. the learners gained a great deal from one another and together they discovered and shared career information and life skills. The results of this study showed the extent to which black learners from under-resourced areas are marginalized. They do not get the same exposure as their urban, suburban and township counterparts. The results further highlighted the plight of these learners whose contextual realities affect their career development. These findings have implications for policy makes at the level of the school, the government and community in order to reduce uncertainty and to promote career maturity in these learners. It is suggested that curriculum packages include grass-roots, community based programmes, that are sensitive to contextual realities which impact on the career development of rural black learners. / Thesis (M.A)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2001.

The food industry is one of the fastest growing industries in Swedish e-commerce today. However, e-commerce still represents a very small part of the total food sales in Sweden. Experts have noted that, in order for e-commerce to expand in this field, Internet food sales must increase. The aim of this study is to form an understanding of why Swedes do not purchase more food products online. The theoretical framework consists of various marketing theories concerning consumer behavior and the acceptance of new innovations. The methodology used for the purpose of this study has a qualitative approach and in order to answer the questions at hand two focus groups were assembled. The first group of respondents consists of young adults aged 22-29 years old and the second group consists of parents with children living at home. This categorization is motivated firstly by the fact that the group of young adults have had access to the Internet from a very early age, thus affecting the way they relate to and use it. Secondly the group of parents with children living at home was chosen because they belong to the category of consumers with the greatest online purchasing power. The focus groups were analyzed separately and by applying a comparative analysis some similarities and differences were addressed. The results of this study indicate that Swedes do not purchase food products online because of three main reasons. First there is poor knowledge of how e-commerce of food products online works, which makes consumers skeptical. Secondly consumers want to survey the perishable products, which the Internet cannot offer. Finally grocery shopping is a habitual behavior which is difficult to change. In addition, the results showed that parents with children living at home belong to the group of consumers that is more likely to embrace e-commerce related to the food industry. / Livsmedelsbranschen är en av de branscher som har kraftigast tillväxt inom e-handeln i Sverige. Trots detta utgör e-handeln fortfarande en mycket liten del av den totala livsmedelsförsäljningen. Experter anser att det är viktigt att livsmedelsförsäljningen ökar på Internet för att e-handeln över lag ska kunna nå nya höjder. Syftet med uppsatsen är att skapa en förståelse för varför svenskar inte handlar livsmedel i större utsträckning på Internet. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten baseras främst på olika marknadsföringsteorier som berör konsumentbeteende och acceptans av nya innovationer. Studiens metod är av kvalitativ ansats och två fokusgrupper har använts till förfogande. Den första fokusgruppen består av unga deltagare i åldrarna 22-29 år och den andra består av föräldrar till hemmavarande barn. Den unga gruppen valdes för att de är den första vuxna generationen som växt upp med Internet och därmed är internetvana. Föräldrarna valdes då de är den grupp som e-handlar mest på Internet idag. Fokusgruppernas resultat har analyserats var för sig men vissa likheter och skillnader har tagits upp i en jämförande analys. Resultatet för denna studie visade en indikation på att svenskar inte e-handlar livsmedel av fram för allt tre anledningar. Först och främst finns det en stor okunskap över hur det går till när man handlar livsmedel på Internet, vilket gör konsumenterna skeptiska. Man vill även ha kontroll över vilka färskvaror som man inhandlar, vilket Internet inte kan erbjuda. Slutligen är handel av livsmedel ett invant beteende, vilket är svårt att förändra.  Dessutom visade resultatet att föräldrar till hemmavarande barn är den grupp som har lättast att ta till sig e-handel inom livsmedel.