This study is a qualitative exploration of the experiences of female executives in the financial sector of South Africa. It aims to explore the perceptions of the possible challenges which have been experienced by executive women within the financial sector while attempting to break the glass ceiling. In many countries including South Africa there lies a contradiction between our governmental policies of equality and equal representation for men and women in the employment sectors and the actual practice. Despite the fact that our employment laws have changed in order to give equal opportunities to both males and females there is still such a small percentage of women holding executive positions in corporate South Africa and this could be a consequence of the challenges faced by them. Using interpretive phenomenological analysis based on a feminist standpoint as a method, this study explores the hidden gender inequalities that exist within the boardrooms of the financial sector. It starts by exploring how available literature constructs the problem as related to the internal organisational and institutional structures of the financial sectors and individual matters and societal perceptions. Interview data from semi-structured interviews with females in executive positions were analysed using interpretive phenomenological analysis. Similar views emerged from the participants in this study, which confirm previous literature and studies. The barriers highlighted in this research were the different roles which men and women perform, compensation, networking and mentoring disadvantages, re-entry into the corporate world after maternity leave and the ability to be a mother and career woman at the same time. The study agrees that women tend to experience the glass ceiling or factors contributing to what has been termed the glass ceiling. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2015 / Psychology / MA / Unrestricted

The purpose of this study was to understand undergraduate students’ attitudes about search data privacy in academic libraries and their preferences for how librarians should handle information about what students search for, borrow, and download. This is an important area of study due to the increasingly data-driven nature of evaluation, accountability, and improvement in higher education, along with libraries’ professional commitment to privacy, which has historically limited the amount of data collected about student use. Using a qualitative approach through the lens of interpretive description, I used the constant comparative method of data collection and analysis to conduct semi-structured interviews with 27 undergraduate students at a large, urban public research institution. Through inductive coding, I organized the data into interpretive themes and subthemes to describe students’ attitudes, and developed a conceptual/thematic description that illustrates how they are formed. Students revealed that a variety of life experiences and influences shaped their views on search data privacy in academic libraries. They viewed academic library search data as less personally revealing than internet search data. As a result, students were generally comfortable with libraries collecting search data so long as it is used for their benefit. They were comfortable with data being used to improve library collections and services, but were more ambivalent about use of search data for personalized search results and for learning analytics-based assessment. Most students expressed a desire for de-identification and user control of data. Some students expressed concern about search data being used in ways that reflect bias or favoritism. Participants had moderate concern about their library search data privacy being used by government agencies to protect public safety. Although some disagreed with the practice in concept, most did not feel that the search data would be useful, nor would it reveal much about their personal interests or selves. Students who were not comfortable with the idea of search data collection in academic libraries often held their convictions more strongly than peers who found the practice acceptable. The results of this study suggest that academic libraries should further explore student perspectives about search data collection in academic libraries to consider how and if they might adjust their data collection practices to be respectful of student preferences for privacy, while still meeting evaluation and improvement objectives. This study achieved the intended purpose of contributing a foundational body of knowledge about student attitudes regarding search data privacy in academic libraries. It positions librarian-researchers to develop studies that further this line of inquiry in an area that has significant implications for both user privacy and libraries’ practices for assessment and evaluation. Limitations of this study include its limited generalizability as a result of the qualitative research design, and the fact that it relied primarily on a convenience sampling method.

Building on the assumption that the image of China within the Swedish state is pluralist, the aim of this study is to explore this plurality through the lens of Pan Chengxin’s paradigms “China threat” and “China opportunity”. A second aim is to contribute to the theory by applying it in a different context compared to where it originated. This is explored through the method of frame analysis and interpretive text analysis. The study shows that the image is indeed pluralist and differs between entities. Frames that are commonly used by one entity are non-existent in texts by another. There are also differences in emphasis within frames and within entities. Understanding how China is framed and imagined in different parts of the Swedish state can be useful in itself as it helps us understand that the relationship between Sweden and China is complex and dynamic. Furthermore, the study shows that while Pan’s paradigms can be a useful outset point, one cannot understand the Swedish image of China without also looking beyond them. The Swedish China image holds nuances unaccounted for by the theory, particularly in the perception of China as heterogenous to a higher extent than anticipated.

Bullying has been an issue in schools and became a major concern for school leaders over the past two decades. Olweus (1993) defined three characteristics of bullying behavior: intent to harm another, repeated offenses, and a perceived or real power imbalance. This study examined the law's provisions concerning bullying in schools; specifically examining the Florida Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All Student Act (2008), and the required policy implemented in Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS). Discourse theory framed the study, as defined by Habermas (1996) and the derivative Interpretive Policy Analysis was used to analyze the district policy, as defined by Yanow (2000). The study utilized four research questions to examine bullying law and policy: what constitutional, statutory, and case law said about bullying; bullying policies in literature; development of bullying policy and how closely it matched law. Constitutional law laid the foundation of the school system. Statutory law provided more details and at the state level, defined requirements concerning bullying. Bullying laws existed in 44 states, the majority addressing one or more of Olweus' components. HCPS developed its xii bullying policy in the fall, 2008, closely following requirements of Florida bullying law. The district had a student conduct policy prior to new requirements and a violence prevention committee (VPC) met monthly. The VPC formed a smaller committee including administrators, teachers, parents, students, and law enforcement members, to develop the policy. The committee examined each component of the state model policy, and either used the item verbatim or added additional information specific to HCPS. The district exceeded state requirements for some items such as extending the definition of bullying to include employees and visitors. Overall, bullying laws were designed to protect students from harmful behaviors. The district policy was designed to achieve this task; however, it was also seen as a means to avoid lawsuits and to protect the district's interests. Implications included the need to update laws/policies continually to reflect the current times, such as new technologies, and the interpretation of laws and eventual implementation in schools. In addition, the interpretive policy analysis process used in this study could be applied to other studies examining the policy development process.

No description available.

1 Abstract Published researches show that loneliness negatively affects mental and physical health and occurs across all age groups. However, the area of loneliness has not been sufficiently explored in the Czech context, and there are still not enough studies on a global scale focusing on loneliness in people with mental illness. This work therefore contributes to the opening of this issue from the perspective of social work, which can respond well to the challenges that loneliness brings to the lives of people with mental illness. In the theoretical part I deal with the definition of a group of diagnoses called "serious mental illnesses". A common feature of diagnoses from this group is a serious disruption of normal and social functioning of the individual. Subsequently, I define loneliness, its types and theoretical framework, which provides an insight into the issue. Furthermore, I present the basic researched areas, which are followed by abstracts of studies with focus on loneliness in people with mental illness. The aim of the thesis was to answer the main research question: "How do people with serious mental illness experience loneliness?" It was answered using interpretive phenomenological analysis, which offers a flexible approach to research and gives space for respondent's interpretation. The...

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This research project explored the learning experiences of two groups of first-year students in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, University of the Western Cape during the course of 2009/2010. The aim was to obtain insight into the learning challenges that these students encountered and the reasons why some of them were less successful in the learning process, while others were successful. The perspective of this study was therefore student centred. The project was undertaken against the backdrop of a higher education institution that caters mainly for so-called 'disadvantaged' and 'underprepared' students. Such students come predominantly from marginalised and poorly resourced education environments and socio-economic backgrounds, which suggests that they would find higher learning challenging and, as a result, would most likely experience failure in the learning process. The objective of the research project was two-fold: firstly, to identify and determine which factors have an impact on failure or successful completion of the first year of study in this faculty; and secondly, to derive from the data a socially situated, supportive and holistic learning approach that could assist more students to be successful in the learning process. The argument in the study was that learning is socially situated and constructed. To realise the objective, Vygotsky's social cultural theory and Bandura's social cognitive theory were used as theoretical orientation of the study. This qualitative, interpretive inquiry was characterised by multiple data collection methods. Qualitative data concerning the perceptions of the participants were generated via written reflective pieces, a questionnaire and individual interviews and content analysis. In addition, quantitative data were collected and this further contributed to the triangulation of rich, in-depth data. An 'open coding' strategy for the content analysis was used, but the approach for the analysis was not purely inductive. A student-centred analytical framework based in part on theories and findings of five studies conducted on student learning, failures and dropouts, and the context of UWC as HSU served as a framework for the analysis but new subthemes also emerged from the data collected The results of these two Case studies revealed that some of the students experienced multiple learning challenges simultaneously which increased in severity during the course of the academic year, and that, in Case 1, these challenges became too overwhelming and severe for the students and that was why they were less successful; while in Case 2, the students managed to overcome and deal with these challenges successfully. The findings of this project, while specific to the context in which it was undertaken, contribute to the growing body of knowledge in the field of higher education and in the identification of enabling factors that could assist more students to be successful in their first year of study at a higher education institution. The findings provide guidelines for a socially situated, supportive and holistic learning approach that could help higher education institutions to mitigate the cumulative effects of learning on students' personal, academic and social lives.

The study intends to examine how children identifies affordance at the preschool’s yard, and how they interpret this environment so they can adapt this to their peer cultures. The aim of this study is to gain an understanding of how children create place and culture by playing in an outdoor environment at the preschool.The study is conducted over a two-week period and shows observations where the children are staying at the yard and what they are doing at these locations. These observations were written down in a notepad; where each child was staying, what they did, how they moved and what they said. The collected material was analyzed using Gibson's theory affordance, Corsaro's concept of peer cultures and interpretive reproduction, as well as Halldén's concept of place. The concepts were used to understand and answer the two questions:” What places seem to be important for children's play?” and” Which affordance do children identify in these places?”The result showed that children negotiates about the places that are on the preschool's yard and then create their own places. Their own places that they create offers them fellowship, where they can try different roles, values and norms. Children transform materials and space to adapt to their children's culture, and they create physical as well as symbolic rooms in the yard. Children see opportunities in environments and materials, instead of restrictions. The result showed that the children imitated the adult culture, where the children then produced their own interpretations to adapt to their children´s culture.

Existing literature indicates that education is vital to overcoming poverty, yet educational prospects for those in persistent, generational poverty (GP) are often limited. This qualitative phenomenological study centered on the emergence from GP of individuals without formal education beyond 12th grade or a high school equivalency certificate, and explored how those who have done it perceived their experiences. Rutter's resilience theory was the conceptual framework for examining this phenomenon and its challenges and processes. A sample of five adult participants from the United States were recruited using a snowball method, completed a screening survey, and then participated in in-depth interviews. The multiple case study structure provided biographical narratives for each participant that thoroughly described the phenomenon. Analysis was done via interpretive phenomenological analysis which relied on careful scrutiny of the data and a full grasp of how the phenomenon was understood and experienced by participants in their unique contexts. Results indicated many parallels among the narratives. All participants reported GP-related anxiety during childhood and/or adolescence; each recalled the positive presence of at least one influential non-family member as critical to personal growth; and all reported positivity, work ethic, and personal agency as keys to emergence from GP. This conclusion of this study indicated the need for a model for the emergence from GP of individuals without formal secondary education. The social change implications are the potential development of mentoring programs based on the participants' perceived replicability of their accomplishments and their willingness to share their experiences in order to foster self-agency and self-advocacy among children and adolescents in GP.

The issue of natural resource scarcity has so far been addressed in the literature on the basis of various measures such as the unit cost of production, the relative market price, and the shadow price of a resource. Although it has been recognized that there exists some kind of jointness (sometimes inseparable) between an extractible resource and its surrounding environment, none of the measures, either theoretically or empirically, have included this concern. In order to extract and use a natural resource (e.g., coal) the environment (air, water, etc.) must also be used as a repository of the discharged wastes (e.g., sulphur oxides, nitrous oxides, particulates, etc.) . Moreover, if there is a mandated level of the environmental resource (e. g., clean air) that has to be maintained, then certain additional costs must be borne by society (firms utilizing the resource). Thus, in evaluating the scarcity of an extractible resource, the relative position of the environmental resource also must be evaluated. The present study has incorporated such jointness in the evaluation of the measure of resource scarcity. The theoretical model has been developed in an optimal control framework. It has been analytically shown that this new measure of resource scarcity would indicate a different trend compared to earlier ones. The measure of resource scarcity developed in this study captures previous measures as special cases. In an uncertain world, when the impacts of use of an extractible resource on the environment is not known the stock size of the environmental resource becomes uncertain. It has been analytically shown that in a situation of uncertain environmental stock the scarcity indicator would indicate a relatively slower extraction compared to that of a deterministic world. Empirical investigations in this study suggest that coal in use might be becoming relatively scarce if one considers the use of it in the electricity industry as the major use, compared to a situation where no environmental concerns are in effect.