The pilot study used in this thesis examined the attitudes and perceptions of a small group of students at the University of North Texas. The participants in this pilot study (n=22) were administered an online music file sharing survey, a Defining Issues Test (DIT), and participated in a small focus group. This thesis also outlined the history and progression of online music piracy in the United States, and addressed four research questions which aimed to determine why individuals choose to engage in the file sharing of copyrighted music online.

This study aims to examine professionals’ views of girls who commit sexual abuse in order to problematize norms and conceptions of gender and sexuality in the work with children and young people. In order to do this, we used a vignette study and combined it with focus groups interviews as a method to gather data. We had two focus groups where one consisted of three social workers and the other of four teachers. Our two vignettes depicted a fictional case where the characters in the vignettes were two children, age 10 and 12, where the oldest child sexually abuses the youngest. The only difference between the vignettes was the perpetrator’s gender. The purpose of the vignettes was to examine the professionals’ views of girls who commit sexual abuse as well as norms and conceptions of gender and sexuality linked to the problem. To analyse the results, we used Hirdman’s theory of gender system and Gagnon’s and Simon’s theory of sexual scripts. In line with the previous research we presented, our results show that the knowledge of girls who commit sexual abuse among professionals is not sufficient and that prevailing gender structures and conceptions of men’s and women’s sexuality affect the professionals’ views of girls who commit sexual abuse. The main result of our study shows that the professionals use different explanatory models regarding sexual abuse committed by girls and boys, which can be seen as new knowledge that our study has identified as this has not been addressed in the precious research we have taken part in.

The thesis is based on a qualitative research realized in summer 2008 in several municipalities in Šumava. Focus groups organized within this research aimed at the relationship of different stakeholders to the Šumava National Park and more generally to nature and environmentalist thoughts and actors. The research design and the data gathered are presented in the introduction. Then the theory of general principles of consensus is described, which serves as the main theoretical framework for the study of focus groups participants' arguments. Using particular arguments, I show that against the protection of nature as it is realized by Šumava National Park Authority, critical citizens build their arguments on values that are considered legitimate and important in Czech society. The next part of the thesis studies the ecological principle of consensus as a new general principle of consensus: I discuss the conditions for existence of such a principle, its form in the controversy about the management of Šumava and the implications its form can have, supporting broader acceptance of the principle or, on the contrary, its rejection. An important point there is the relationship between expertise and participation, which are, together with the concept of nature, main elements of the ecological principle of...

The aim of the study was to explore internet use among individuals that were children at the beginning of the 2000s. We wanted to understand what being one of the first children on the internet meant to them, what type of platforms they used, how they used them and in relation to whom. These research questions were formulated: - What initiated children in the early 2000s to start using the internet and how did they interpret their own internet use? - What did children in the early 2000s do on the internet and how were internet platforms used? - How could children’s internet use in the early 2000s be understood in relation to a sense of belonging and group affiliation? To collect the material, we conducted four focus group discussions with Swedish and German adults, we then transcribed and analyzed the collected data with the help of a thematic analysis. We identified three main themes and seven subthemes. Our results indicated that the first child-generation on the internet enjoyed playing games and interacting with friends. The most popular platform among the participants was the chat forum MSN. The results also showed an increase in internet use due to its development in terms of better internet connection and the internet gaining a more acceptable place within the homes of the general public as well as within education. We also found that socioeconomic status had an impact on the children’s interpretations of the internet. Further our study showed that the use and the development of the internet had an important impact on the children, both in terms of maintaining relationships but also in terms of learning and bettering life prospects. Internet platforms were fun to use alone, as well as in the company of others. They were thus places where children could connect with other children with similar interests as themselves and gain a sense of belonging.

Syftet med studien är att bidra med kunskaper om vilka förståelser av vetenskaplig grund och beprövad erfarenhet som konstrueras i kommunikation mellan förskollärare. Studien styrs av två frågeställningar: Vilka språkliga kategorier konstrueras i förskollärares kommunikation om vetenskaplig grund? och Vilka språkliga kategorier konstrueras i förskollärares kommunikation om beprövad erfarenhet?. Studien har en kvalitativ metodansats, med en teoretisk utgångspunkt i kontextuell socialkonstruktionism. Studiens data samlas in genom två fokusgrupper med tio verksamma förskollärare i förskolan. Datan analyseras med hjälp av begreppen performativitet och fabrikationer. Performativiteten relateras till uppdraget i läroplanen och Skollag som förskollärare är ålagda att följa. I läroplanen för förskolan (Lpfö 18) står det att "undervisningen med innehåll och arbetsätt ska vila på vetenskaplig grund och beprövad erfarenhet". I studien synligörs fabrikationer som innebär att förskollärarna framställer eller rättfärdigar sin undervisning på ett bättre sätt än vad som överensstämmer med verkligheten. Studiens reslutat visar tre slutsatser: mångtydlighet, otydlighet i ansvar och brist på gemensam förståelse av begreppen vetenskaplig grund och beprövad erfarenhet. Begreppen har inte tidigare diskuterats av förskollärarna i studien, vilket innebär att egna tolkningar och förklaringar över begreppen uttalas. Förskollärarna saknar en tydligare definition av vetenskaplig grund och beprövad erfarnehet, vilket överensstämmer med vad tidigare forskning belyser. / The Purpose of the study is to contribute knowledge about which understandings of scientific basis and proven experience are constructed in communication between preschool teachers. The study is guided by two questions: What language categories are constructed in preschool teachers' communications about the scientific basis? and What language categories are constructed in preschool teachers' communication about proven experience?. The study has a qualitative methodological approach, with a theoretical starting point in contextual social constructionism. The study data is collected through two focus groups with ten active preschool teachers in the preschool. The data are analyzed to the concepts of performativity and fabrications. The performativity is related to the assignment in the curriculum for preschool (Lpfö 18) states that "teaching with content and working methods must be based on scientific grounds and proven experience". The study highlights fabrications that mean that preschool teachers present or justify their teaching in a better way than what corresponds to reality. The results of the study show three conclusions: ambiguity, ambiguity in responsibility and lack of common understanding of the concepts of scientific basis and proven experience. The concepts have not previously been discussed by the preschool teachers in the study, which means that their own interpretations and explanations of the concepts are pronounced. Preschool teachers lack a clearer definition of scientific basis and proven experience, which is in line with what previours research sheds light on.

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This study investigates how high school teachers perceive their possibilities and motivation to participate in professional development as part of school development. This is because previous research shows that teachers’ work situation is tied to contextual factors that determine possibility and motivation, such as work environment, workload, government control and autonomy. The study looks at how the teachers try to define school development and what factors they perceive to affect or determine their possibility and motivation to take part in professional development thorough the method of focus groups. Three focus groups from three different private high schools in the center of a big urban area in Sweden have been performed and analyzed through motivational theory, specifically two-factor theory. The study shows that the teachers say that they perceive so-called hygiene factors relating to leadership, organizational factors such as scheduled time for planning, autonomy as well as their interests and keen, role models and subject relevance the most important factors that determine possibility and motivation for their professional development. These results coincide with previous international research about teacher’s professional development. The study concludes that teachers have strong perceptions of the factors that affects their possibilities and motivation to school development, which principals and other actors in the chain of governance could use to create successful school development. / Denna studie undersöker hur gymnasielärare uppfattar sina möjligheter och motivation till att delta i yrkesutveckling genom skolutveckling. Detta eftersom tidigare forskning uppger att lärares arbetssituation kopplat till kontextuella faktorer påverkar möjlighet och motivation, såsom exempelvis arbetsmiljö, arbetsbelastning, institutionell styrning och autonomi. Med hjälp av fokusgrupper som metod undersöks hur gymnasielärare försöker definierar skolutveckling och berättar om vilka faktorer som de upplever påverkar sina möjligheter och motivation till att delta i skolutvecklingsarbete. Tre fokusgrupper från tre olika centralt placerade friskolor i en svensk storstad genomfördes och analyserades genom motivationsteori, specifikt tvåfaktorteori. Studien visar att lärarna uppger att de viktigaste faktorerna som möjliggör och motiverar lärares deltagande i skolutveckling är så kallade hygienfaktorer relaterade till ledarskap, arbetsförhållanden såsom tid för planering, autonomi men även intresse, förebilder och ämnesrelevans; vilket sammanfaller med tidigare internationell forskning om lärares yrkesutveckling. Studien konkluderar att lärare har tydliga uppfattningar om vilka faktorer som påverkar deras möjligheter och motivation till skolutvecklingsarbete, vilken skolledare och andra deltagare i skolans styrkedja skulle kunna använda sig av för att genomföra framgångsrika skolutvecklingssatsningar.

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Idag finns det begränsade teorier som behandlar det postmoderna konsumtionssamhället utifrån ett medie- och kommunikationsvetenskaligt perspektiv. Syftet med examensarbetet är att undersöka spänningsfältet mellan ICA och högskolestudenter i ett konsumtionssamhälle genom att granska varumärkeskommunikationens betydelse på digitala plattformar. Materialinsamlingen är genomförd i form av kvalitativa intervjuer, med medarbetare på ICA, samt fokusgrupper med studenter. Med studien vill vi ge en inblick i hur kommunikationsprocesser strategiskt utformas för att nå rätt målgrupp, hur relationer vårdas och vad en god dialog innebär och har för framtida betydelser. Studien har analyserat det spänningsfält som ligger i grund till valet av konsumtion gällande matvaruhandel som högskolestudent. Studiens slutsatser visar på att det är en rad olika faktorer som är bidragande till att bygga upp en stark relation med ett företag. / Today there is limited theories considering reasearch on the postmodern consumtion society from a media and communication perspective. The purpose with this thesis is to investigate the tension between ICA and Univeristy students in a consumption society through analysis brandbuilding communications meaning on digital platforms. The material to the thesis is collected by qualitative interviews, both with employees at ICA and focus groups with university students. With this thesis we want to give an insight of how communication processes strategically is designed to reach their target group, how relationships are nurtured and what a good dialogue means for future brand building. The study has analyzed the tension of what includes the choice of consumption when it comes to retail business from university students perspective. The conclusions indicate how there are a number of factors that are contributing to build a strong relationship with an organization.