The use of audio and videotape recordings in counsellor education for the purpose of training and supervision is controversial. Although recordings give counsellors and supervisors direct access to the counselling session and therefore the skills of the counsellor, a number of concerns have been recorded both in early research (Betcher & Zinberg, 1988; Frankel, 1971; Gelso, 1973; Goldstein, 1988; Lamb & Mahl, 1956; Niland, 1971; Van Atta, 1969) and more recently in counsellors’ correspondence to the NZAC Newsletter (Anonymous, 2006; Grant, 2006) regarding the effects on counsellors, clients and on the counselling process itself. There is a scarcity of current research on whether or not recording of counselling or therapeutic interviews actually interferes with the counselling process. The few empirical studies of the effects of recording are inconsistent in their findings and their methodological flaws preclude meaningful interpretation of the literature as a whole (Goldstein, 1988). This qualitative research study focuses on one aspect of recording counselling interviews; the perceptions of counselling students. Thirteen counselling students enrolled on counsellor education programmes at five tertiary educational settings in Auckland and Christchurch, New Zealand participated in interviews. They indicated that they perceived the process of recording to be anxiety promoting, initially having an effect on their ability to be completely present in the counselling interview. They also reported that recording was extremely beneficial to the development of effective counselling skills. Counsellors perceived the process of recording to be a potential threat to the developing relationship between counsellor and client but many were able to manage this concern by establishing trust and rapport before introducing recording. The majority of the student counsellors perceived that they became more confident with the process over time, moving from a state of anxiety in initial recordings to a more relaxed style with practice. This has implications for future practice and for early introduction to frequent recording in counsellor education programmes.

This study explores one aspect of the professional preparation of students graduating from teacher education institutions. A case study of one of the University of Canterbury College of Education’s initial teacher education programmes (the BTchLn (Primary) qualification) is the focus for this study. The purpose of the study is to illustrate what school employers from the Canterbury region, and BTchLn (Primary) graduates and teacher educators from the University of Canterbury, consider as important practices when preparing graduating-year students for the beginning-teacher employment process. This study addresses the lack of systematic research into the employment of beginning teachers within a New Zealand setting. The study employs a case study approach and involves two stages of data gathering. Quantitative data is collected in Stage One to identify potential participants for the case study. More substantive qualitative data are collected in Stage Two through semi-structured interviews conducted with samples of school principals, graduates and initial teacher education lecturers from the Canterbury region. The findings suggest that the decentralised system of employment in operation in New Zealand has made the employment process complex for teachers entering the profession because schools have developed their own individual practices and preferences in the employment-related area and advertise their beginning-teacher positions while students are still completing their programme of study. The findings also suggest that lecturers at the University of Canterbury perform an important and valued function when they prepare their graduating-year students for employment, although there are both strengths and weaknesses in their current employment-related programme and practices. This case study will inform course and qualification reviews planned at the University of Canterbury, and will be of interest to other teacher education organisations in New Zealand that prepare their graduating-year students for employment.

This study consisted of qualitative interviews with six Afghan political leaders who served as cabinet members in the Afghan government prior to the Soviet invasion. The study sought to report the political conditions in Afghanistan based on the direct experiences and the reflections of these leaders whose titles and names remain anonymous.The data were collected and analyzed using a modified version of Spradley's Developmental Research Sequence Writing methodology. The data included field notes gathered from numerous interviews, casual conversations, tape recording, library research and documents provided by the informants.The rivalries that prevented political unity during the war of resistance have exacerbated the quest for power now that the common enemy, the Soviet Union and Afghan-Marxist regimes, has disappeared from the scene. No credible social or political within the country to initiate and promote political reconciliation. Each group appears to be attempting a unilateral solution to the national crisis. The great majority of Afghans are not only left out of the political process, but are also held hostage to the confrontation between competing groups whose political and military strategies is the elimination, or at best exclusion, of other competing groups. Dangerously, none of the powerful group's adversaries has given up the idea of war as the institution or nationally acceptable leadership is available instrument of political settlement. Among political leaders there is still much in Afghan political culture that is basically hostile to open and competitive politics. / Department of Educational Leadership

Den omfattande globaliseringen som sker i världen har givit upphov till stora förändringar för världens organisationer. Den ständigt växande konkurrensen som kommer därav ökar kraven på en fungerande internkommunikation samt betydelsen av att de interna kommunikationskanalerna utnyttjas så effektivt som möjligt. Samtidigt krävs långtgående hänsynstaganden gällande alla organisationens medlemmar då utveckling av internkommunikationens struktur och strategi genomförs.   I detta examensarbete används teorierna “Uses and gratifications”, “Dependency theory” och ”Social information processing theory”. Teorierna används med målsättning att beskriva de mest framträdande dragen i den interna kommunikationsutövningen i en organisation och vidare för att undersöka hur denna utövning överensstämmer med de förväntningar och användningsmönster som kan utrönas bland de anställda. Med utgångspunkt i tidigare forskning inom ämnet framkommer vikten av att utföra studien från ett användarperspektiv i en organisation som bedriver industriell produktion såväl som kontorsarbete. Skillnader mellan dessa olika grupper i fråga om upplevelser och förväntningar inkluderades också i undersökningen.           Studien genomfördes på ett teknologiföretag i södra Sverige i ett skede där lansering av en ny intranät-portal väntade. Det empiriska materialet erhölls genom utförande av sju fokusgruppsintervjuer. Totalt deltog 28 personer i dessa fokusgrupper. Resultatet visade på många tillgängliga interna kommunikationskanaler samtidigt som det synliggjorde en upplevd avsaknad av en tydlig strategi och en utsedd koordinator som ansvarar för den interna kommunikationen.  Från ett medarbetarperspektiv karaktäriseras den generella internkommunikationen av inkonsekvens, otillförlitlighet och godtycklighet. Olika typer av strategier för att tillfredsställa specifika behov kunde identifieras såväl som långtgående beroenden av vissa informationskanaler för att få information. Kollaborationsplattformar som en integrerad del av intranätet mötte motsägelsefulla åsikter och visar på att de anställda både önskar och fruktar det fria ordet i organisationskommunikativa sammanhang. De interna kommunikationskanalsera måste struktureras och samköras för att ge alla organisationsmedlemmar möjlighet att tillfredställa sina informations- och kommunikationsbehov.

Current trends in education and school architecture reflect a growing awareness of the interconnectedness of people and spaces. Spaces acquire meaning through the experiences of those who use them and can contribute to the development of a sense of place. Purpose-built schools have long been valued and built in Iceland. The broad purpose of this study was to explore Icelandic students’ perceptions of their purpose-built school. Specific research questions included: (a) What spaces in purpose-built schools are important to students? (b) What happens in these spaces? (c) What meaning, if any, do these identified spaces hold for students? and (d) In ascribing meaning to some of the identified spaces, do students develop a sense of place? This phenomenological research initiative used an emergent design methodology. Seven Grade 9 and three Grade 10 students were recruited for this study. Primary data sources included students’ photographs of important school spaces, individual photo-elicitation interviews, and walking tours. Participants identified 25 important school spaces and 7 issues of concern within these spaces. Further analysis examined participants’ complex construction of importance and meaning. Participants described that school spaces were more likely to become meaningful places, when the design of the educational facility was in harmony with students’ experiences. The results of this study should raise awareness of the importance of building such schools in Canada and encourage the inclusion of students’ unique perspectives in the design of future schools. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2009-09-23 14:39:27.1

This is a comparative linguistic essay aimed to investigate how closing sections construct social interaction in a number of talk shows, primarily The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. The talk show data is analyzed by means of Conversation Analysis (CA) which considers how language performs social interaction and the structures and norms which give the frames for this. The results of the analysis are compared to the results of a study carried out in 2003 by Esperanza Rama Martinez on the same subject matter. Martinez´ study is in fact the foundation for this study. In her study Martinez concludes that the closing phase is initiated by the interviewer and that there are always pre-closing components before the closing components begin. The results of this study are in line with Martinez´ study.

America's obesity ̒epidemic̕, coupled with increasing use of biomedical technologies in healthcare, has helped usher in new technoscientific methods to medically manage the bodies of overweight and obese individuals. Potential patients now have several surgical options to choose from in efforts to lose weight and (potentially) improve health outcomes, including gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, and gastric banding; this research focuses on the gastric band, an implantable and adjustable silicone device designed to restrict the amount of food consumed. This study involves: in-depth interviews with predominantly female gastric banding patients, medical practitioners, bariatric surgeons, and representatives from the two U.S.-based biomedical firms that manufacture the gastric band; a multi-site ethnography examining the patient experience and the clinical encounter; and content analysis of scientific and non-scientific texts. Through this mixed methodological approach, this study charts the band's evolution and the complex forces guiding its design, development and adoption, and draws attention to the ways in which gendered assumptions enter into the pre- and post-surgical space with repercussions for patient care. Findings suggest that patients̕ decision-making process is shaped by - and shapes - multiple social, political, economic, and regulatory contexts. As a contested and unstable technology, the band's efficacy and ̒foreignness̕ is continually both challenged and reaffirmed by a diverse arena of social actors with a vested interest in the bariatric surgical space. These actors construct the band's role in the obesity epidemic in oppositional ways, affecting its use and perceived misuse: the depiction of the band as a safe, less invasive and - most significantly - removable technology helps drive its use, directing some patients away from other options - specifically, the anatomically changing gastric bypass procedure - portrayed as unnatural and extreme, though simultaneously more effective. While the band's reversibility represents freedom over technology and control over their bodies, it also reflects patients̕ struggle for both autonomy and desire for technological assistance in managing their weight. However, despite patients̕ attempt to assert themselves as active agents, the gastric band emerges as a disciplinary weight loss technology which serves to reinforce the perceived need for clinical intervention in the care and treatment of obesity. This study contributes to our understanding of the possibilities and limitations offered by biomedical technologies, and the ways in which humans resist, comply or are ambivalent toward their adoption and use.

The goal of this study is to research how the digitalization of a table top gameaffects the game and its gameplay. We are researching this by first havingparticipants play chess, and online chess, and the interviewing them about theirexperiences with the both games. The main effects of digitalization are inputcontrols. When digitalizing a table top game, there is one thing that the designercannot control at all, which is, the necessity of input controls. However, thedesign for these controls is up to the designer. When digitalizing a game, therules ted to get enforced by the programming. Mistakes that could be committedin the table top version are no longer possible due to the rule enforcementcaused by the programming. It is also possible to use the digital realm to yourbenefit by adding features such as highlighting in chess, which is only possible inthe digital version. Immersion is also affected by the digitalization; the possiblelack of a visible and present opponent can alter how the players experience thegameplay. / Målet med den här studien är att forska kring hur digitaliseringen av ettbrädspel påverkar spelet och dess spelande. Vi utför vår forskning genom attförst låta deltagare spela schack, och onlineschack, för att sedan intervjua demangående deras upplevelser med de båda spelen. De huvudsakliga effekterna avdigitaliseringen är inmatningskontrollerna. När man digitaliserar ett brädspel såfinns det en sak som designers inte alls kan kontrollera. Detta är nödvändighetenav inmatningskontroller. Designen för dessa kontroller däremot, kan designerspåverka. När man digitaliserar ett spel så brukar ofta reglerna bli förstärkta avprogrammeringen. Misstag som spelare kunde begå i brädspelsversionen, kaninte längre begås tack vare regelförstärkningen som programmeringen bidrartill. Det är även möjligt att använda den digitala världen till ens fördel genom attlägga till vissa saker, så som markeringen i onlineschack, vilket bara är möjligt iden digitala versionen. Digitaliseringen påverkar även inlevelsen som spelarnaupplever. Den möjliga saknaden av en synlig och närvarande motspelare kanändra hur spelarna upplever spelandet.

Sexual harassments have since long been an issue all over the world and schools have not been an exception. Reports from Swedish secondary schools show how 47% of the female pupils state that they have, sometime during their time in school, been the victim of sexual harassment. Other studies claim that pupils exposed to sexual harassments will develop low self-esteem and a decreased sense of self. The Swedish curriculum state that all children shall have the right to a harassment free school environment, but still many pupils claim to be exposed to sexual harassment in school. Several studies have theorized about why sexual harassment is so prevalent in schools but what do the pupils think? This study aims to reveal and analyze pupil opinions about sexual harassment; what do they think it is and why do they think it occurs? This will be done from a post-structural feminist point of view with focus on the shaping of identity among the respondents.      The collected results of this study indicate that sexual harassment is mostly due to a dominant form of the heterosexual male ideal where sexual harassment against both men and women is used to secure ones position as a dominant male and to gain access to the hegemonic male group. According to the respondents, sexual harassment have little to do with the victims and in the discussion an alternative approach to handle sexual harassment in school is discussed.

Many organizations have transitioned from single-systems development to product-line development with the goal of increasing productivity and facilitating mass customization. Variability modelling is a key activity in software product-line development that deals with the explicit representation of variability using dedicated models. Variability models specify points of variability and their variants in a product line. Although many variability-modelling notations and tools have been designed by researchers and practitioners, very little is known about their usage, actual benefits or challenges. Existing studies mostly describe product-line practices in general, with little focus on variability modelling. We address this gap through a qualitative study on variability-modelling practices in medium- and large-scale companies using two empirical methods: surveys and interviews. We investigated companies' variability-modelling practices and experiences with the aim to gather information on 1) the methods and strategies used to create and manage variability models, 2) the tools and notations used for variability modelling, 3) the perceived values and challenges of variability modelling, and 4) the core characteristics of their variability models. Our results show that variability models are often created by re-engineering existing products into a product line. All of the interviewees and the majority of survey participants indicated that they represent variability using separate variability models rather than annotative approaches. We found that developers use variability models for many purposes, such as the visualization of variabilities, configuration of products, and scoping of products. Although we observed that high degree of heterogeneity exists in the variability-modelling notations and tools used by organizations, feature-based notations and tools are the most common. We saw huge differences in the sizes of variability models and their contents, which indicate that variability models can have different use cases depending on the organization. Most of our study participants reported complexity challenges that were related mainly to the visualization and evolution of variability models, and dependency management. In addition, reports from interviews suggest that product-line adoption and variability modelling have forced developers to think in terms of a product-line scenario rather than a product-based scenario.