abstract: The purpose of the research study was to explore the perceptions of Navajo mothers and Navajo fathers in the development and childrearing practices of their children and to what extent each parent was involved in their children by gender and age. The objective of the interviews was to capture the perceptions of each parent as to child development and childrearing practices as well as the beliefs that they have on parental involvement. In the current study, the interviews provided information regarding attitudes and perceptions of parental involvement from the Navajo mothers and the Navajo fathers who participated in the study. By using probing questions, deeper insights into the understanding and perceptions of parental involvement were obtained. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Educational Administration and Supervision 2012

System development has been an innovational trend in the field of Information systems in both past and present time; and users of the system is one of the key success in the development life cycle of human and computer based systems. Information system is one of the most emerging technologies in developing countries; Nigeria as a case and the development of these IS is deployed in both private and public sectors of the economy for organizational data management. Due to some characteristics of developing countries such as poor communication facilities, unequal distribution of wealth, large population and so many others, many of these information system development has been carried out for the provision of services to both public and private organizations. But on the other hand, such projects have failed in one way or the other due to poor end user involvement in or during the development process. For this research, the involvement of users in developing country and more appropriate concepts which developers/designer could possibly use to involve users for a successful system were studied. The approach to this investigation was with the use of questionnaire which was distributed to the users of two different systems which were developed using different concepts of user involvement (Scenario-based user involvement technique and Interview-based user involvement technique). Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), was used for this quantitative analysis and the Independent t-test analysis was done to prove the significance between these systems. The findings from this study shows that in the developing countries such as Nigeria, these concepts of user involvement is also applicable and Interview-based user involvement technique seem to be the more appropriate method. Further research on the combination of these concepts/techniques for end user involvement should be considered or rather the creation of an advanced technique/concept for gathering end user needs and requirements for an excellent usable system in developing countries with respect to their limiting factors as mentioned in this thesis.

Idag skiftar industrin sitt fokus från att producera fysiska produkter till att utveckla tjänster. En ökande konkurrens på marknaden gör att företag måste använda effektiva utvecklingsprocesser för att snabbt lansera tjänster av hög kvalitet. Tjänster definieras ofta utifrån deras immateriella karaktär vilket komplicerar mätning av kvalitet. För att bestämma kvalitet kan fysiska produkter kontrolleras mot en kravspecifikation genom att testas och mätas. Tjänster däremot utgår ifrån hur väl de uppfyller kundernas och användarnas behov. För att öka tjänsters kvalitet är det viktigt att förstå kunderna och användarna och i praktiken blir det allt vanligare att involvera dem i utvecklingen. Tjänster har nyligen fått stor uppmärksamhet i industrin och i forskningen och den allmänna beskrivningen av tjänster omfattar många olika ämnesområden. Detta innebär att det inte finns en entydig definition av vad en tjänst är och det saknas en vedertagen tjänsteutvecklingsprocess som möjliggör involvering av användarna. Vidare efterfrågar forskningen studier i hur kund- och användarinvolvering bör ingå i utvecklingen av tjänster, speciellt i ett tidigare skede, och hur det påverkar tjänsters resultat. Utifrån en litteraturstudie har denna studie föreslagit en process för att involvera centrala intressenter, till exempel kunder, användare och interna intressenter, i utvecklingen av tjänster. Processen implementerades sedan i ett praktikfall där examensarbetet samarbetspartner, ett mindre IT-företag, gett i uppdrag att utveckla ett koncept av en friskvårdstjänst. Praktikfallet omfattade endast de första delarna i utvecklingen där exempelvis teknisk utveckling och lansering inte ingick. Efter att processen implementerats levererades ett färdigt koncept till samarbetspartnern och en ny justerad process presenterades baserad på analyser från empirin. Denna studie styrker dagens forskning genom att påvisa att kund- och användarinvolvering i tjänsteutvecklingen kan bidra till en effektiv process, tjänster av hög kvalitet, en ökad kundlojalitet till företaget och en ökad marknadsacceptans. Däremot är det avgörande att involveringen sker på rätt sätt med rätt intressenter. Innan utvecklingen bör syftet med intressenternas involvering definieras omsorgsfullt så att involveringsmomenten kan anpassas därefter. Efter att syftet med intressenternas involvering bestämts kan processen från denna studie med fördel implementeras i all tjänsteutveckling. Sökord: tjänsteutveckling, tjänstedesign, kundinvolvering, användarinvolvering, process / Today the industry is shifting focus from producing goods to developing services. With increasing competition on the service market companies need to establish efficient development processes to quickly launch services of high quality. Services are often defined in terms of its intangible nature, which complicates the measurement of quality. Goods can be physically tested and measured to be checked against a requirement specification. On the other hand, quality in services is based on how well they meet customer and user needs. To gain quality the understanding of customers and users is crucial and in practice it is becoming increasingly common to involve customers and users in the service development. Services have recently gained attention within the industry and research. Furthermore, the general description of services includes a variety of subject areas. Because of this there is no established definition of what a service actually is and the research lack recognized processes for its development. In addition, the research request studies on how customer and user involvement should be part of the development of services, especially in the early stages, and how it affects the services’ results. Based on a literature study, this thesis has proposed a process for involving key stakeholders, including customers and users, in the development of services. The process was then implemented in a case where a small IT company commissioned to develop a concept of a wellness service. The case comprised only the first stages of the full development where, for example, technical design and launch was not included. After the process was implemented, a final concept was delivered to the business partner and a new adjusted process was presented based on the analysis of the empirical data. This study verifies today's research by demonstrating that customer and user involvement in service development can contribute to an efficient process, quality, increased customer loyalty to the company and a greater market acceptance. However, it is crucial that the right stakeholders are involved according to a purpose. Before the development, the purpose of the stakeholder involvement must be defined carefully so that activities can be designed accordingly. After this, the adjusted process presented in this study can advantageously be implemented in any service development. Keywords: Service development, Service design, Customer involvement, User involvement, Process

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Parental involvement is a combination of commitment and active participation from parents to the school and to the student. Parental involvement defines the family’s role as educator and the crucial importance of family involvement to students’ success in schools. Some researchers and practitioners consider positive parental involvement the most prominent predictor of student success. Parents can increase children’s academic success through involvement with schools and communities. Parental involvement improves student morale, attitudes, and academic achievement across all subject areas. The purpose of this study was to examine the views of parents, students, teachers, and administrators concerning parental involvement in four high schools in a rural East Tennessee county. The study also attempted to determine if the views of these parents, students, teachers, and administrators are consistent with published reports on parent involvement. Data were collected from administrators, students, parents, and teachers through an open-ended interview format designed by the researcher. The findings from this study offer a number of recommendations regarding how high schools can develop partnership programs that involve families in ways that go beyond their participating as audience or witness to their children’s schooling to their participating as partners with the school in promoting teen’s learning. Participants desired effective home/school communications as well as a home environment that encouraged learning activities and suggested effective ways volunteers could be used at the high school level. Major recommendations include high schools forging connections with all families and providing options to increase their involvement at school as well as at home; establishing formal parent support organizations; developing partnerships that strengthen school-family relationships through authentic dialogue, collaboration, and mutual respect between families and educators; increasing opportunities for home/school communication; and creating a learning community where school personnel, students, parents, and community members view themselves as stakeholders.

This qualitative study should provide insight into stakeholders' perceptions of a system-wide educational partnership focused on a change effort to increase student achievement in a school system located in a large, metropolitan city in the southeastern United States. The importance of partnering to assure that all children are succeeding in school has never been more important to local communities and our nation. Not only are definitions of educational partnerships expanding, but so are the parameters, the players, and the structures. As educational improvement initiatives are put into effect by local, state, and national governments, schools across the country are realizing the need for local action. Some of the many successful school systems in our nation have implemented more than parent involvement; they have created a collaborative school-community partnership. Through investigation of surveys and interviews administered to the stakeholders of a partnership that has only been in existence for 2 years, this case study was designed to identify similarities and differences in the stakeholders' perceptions regarding their respective roles in the partnership, in improving student outcomes, and in the desired future state of this particular school system and partnership. Findings from this study confirm that there are both similarities and differences in all stakeholders' perceptions about most aspects of the partnership. In addition, many of the study's participants have changed their perceptions of the partnership over the 2 years of its existence and the challenges facing education. Finally, challenges and barriers of this partnership were identified. Differences in perceptions regarding the vision, mission, goals, action plans, and measures exist between school system personnel, school board members, and the partnership. This study focused on the implications of building partnerships and provides a section detailing recommendations and lessons learned from the process for this particular partnership as well as recommendations for future partnerships. This study might be of interest to stakeholders who are presently involved in a similar collaborative change effort or serve as a guide for other school systems that wish to replicate this type of school-community partnership.

Customer engagement is a relatively new topic in research and due to its importance, it has recently received a lot of attention in both academia and practice. Although the attention, it still lacks knowledge regarding its components and driving factors. While previous research solely has included high involvement product categories, the purpose of this study was to shed light on low involvement product categories, by examining the driving factors of customer engagement within low involvement product categories. A qualitative method was chosen by implementing an inductive approach, and conducting eight in-depth unstructured interviews, with sensitizing concepts as a theoretical background. The reason for the method of choice in this thesis was based on the argument that the authors wanted to contribute new insights into the research field. The findings indicated seven prominent themes that were interpreted as driving factors of customer engagement within low involvement product categories, namely, marketing communication, brand traits, brand activations, brand ambassadors, brand values, brand-self connection, and fellowship. Since the purposive sample only focused on customers, the brand perspective was excluded.

The purpose of this study was to identify the experiences, attitudes, and successes of a group of high achieving African American female students that impact their on-time high school graduation. On-time graduates are described as students who complete high school in four years. High achieving African-American female students completing high school on time identified factors related to family, school, and community as essential in their success. Several underlying factors are within the three themes that studies show can be used as a way to pilot programs, deter drop-outs from leaving school early, and cohesively work in communities across the United States. A qualitative approach was used to analyze a selected group of high achieving African American females' perceptions to their success in high school. The research questions were: 1. What school factors do a group of high achieving African-American female students perceive as attributing to their on-time graduation from high school with honors and advanced diplomas? 2. What family influences do these high achieving females perceive as attributes to graduating on-time with honors and advanced diplomas? 3. What community influences do these high achieving African American females' perceive as contributors to on-time graduation with honors and advanced diplomas? Twenty-four high achieving African American females' from one high school were eligible to participate in the study. Eight students participated in the study, which included open-ended interview questions and a sentence completion questionnaire. All interview questions were centered on the support provided by the school, community, or family. The results of the study showed parents; specifically the mothers of the participants had the greatest impact on the high achieving African American females' performance in high school. The teachers of the high achieving African American female students were supportive and caring. The community recognition that the high achieving African American females received was a motivating factor to varying degrees. The high achieving African American female participants, in the study, all possessed intrinsic motivation and work ethic to be academically successful. / Ed. D.

This study is based on a need for community involvement in farm schools to enhance effective teaching and efficient learning. The rationale behind it was to determine the current state of community involvement in farm schools in the Pietermaritzburg area, with a view to determining the extent to which the current community i nvolvement, namely, the active participation of parents, teachers, the farmer, the church, the state and the private sector could be extended on a large scale. The study revealed that the community involvement dimension of schooling is central to the teaching profession. If neglected, no effective teaching and efficient learning can materialise. The role of the farm school principal in the realisation of this goal is indispensable. The empirical survey and literature revealed that farm school principals can address the serious shortcoming concerning the participation of community members in the affairs of farm schools. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Comparative Education)

This study is based on a need for community involvement in farm schools to enhance effective teaching and efficient learning. The rationale behind it was to determine the current state of community involvement in farm schools in the Pietermaritzburg area, with a view to determining the extent to which the current community i nvolvement, namely, the active participation of parents, teachers, the farmer, the church, the state and the private sector could be extended on a large scale. The study revealed that the community involvement dimension of schooling is central to the teaching profession. If neglected, no effective teaching and efficient learning can materialise. The role of the farm school principal in the realisation of this goal is indispensable. The empirical survey and literature revealed that farm school principals can address the serious shortcoming concerning the participation of community members in the affairs of farm schools. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Comparative Education)