This research contributes to existing knowledge of intimate partner violence (IPV) by highlighting the lived experiences of female adolescent survivors through the examination of the lived experiences of seventeen participants. Framed within an intersectional feminist epistemology and informed by psychoanalytical theories, a hybrid of the Free Association Narrative Interview method (Hollway and Jefferson, 2001) and the Biographical Interview Method (Wengraf, 2002) was applied, allowing an in-depth analysis of the young women's adolescent experiences of IPV. The female participants' narratives highlighted significant levels of psychological, sexual and physical violence by various male partners, suggesting that gender is indeed a mediating factor. These experiences reflect Johnson's Typologies of Domestic Violence (2008). In addition, consideration of other intersecting factors, such as age, socioeconomic demographic information, familial exposure to IPV and previous IPV victimisation, highlighted the necessity to consider all factors when determining risk and experience (Potter, 2015). This research adds to the debate regarding gender symmetry of IPV perpetration and victimisation, with analysis of participants' experiences suggesting gender symmetry is not experienced by all adolescents, thus further exploration of this phenomenon is required. Similarly, participants experienced severe forms of physical, sexual and psychological violence at each stage of adolescence (early 10 to 13 years; middle 14 to 16 years; late adolescence and young adulthood 17 to 25 years) contradicting the oft held assumption that more severe violence occurs solely in adulthood. Analysis of participants' experiences of informal and formal support, and an exploration of participants' ideal prevention intervention model argues for a public health approach to preventing AIPV, with resources focused on primary, secondary and tertiary prevention. Ultimately the young women felt that with appropriate education, support and intervention they could have avoided, or at least reduced, their exposure to abuse. Hence in order to reduce and/or prevent adolescents from experiencing IPV resources should be aimed at giving young people the information, skills and abilities to resist gendered inequalities and unhealthy relationship behaviours, and promote healthy and happy romantic and sexual relationships.

This study is inspired by a desire to revisit Anyon's Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work (1980) in a more contemporary context, one that responds to calls in the research on the socioeconomic achievement gap for deeper investigation into the heterogeneity of the middle class. More specifically, the research examines five middle class American high schools in Massachusetts, and asks the question, 'How is classroom 'work' different across these schools, thirty years after Anyon's study'? This study employs several methods of analysis including Anyon's ethnographic observational analysis and a corpus linguistic analysis. It also uses reflexive interviews to review initial findings and integrate participant input into the data itself. I also draw upon the data in light of previous frameworks to develop a new framework for looking at smaller differences in teacher talk, lessons and classroom instruction that is more fit for purpose. Through these ethnographic observations and reflexive interviews, this study reveals that even across schools that are considered to belong to the same socioeconomic class - the middle class - differences in instruction and lessons can be clearly observed. The body of literature discussing the middle class, in terms of the diversity within it, is very small, this extensive study contributes to this knowledge, and hopefully creates avenues for further research. Using Anyon's approach of observing 'work' across social class in classrooms this research builds on Anyon's findings in a contemporary context. Insight into the ways in which difference manifests in smaller ways in the classroom may be fundamental in understanding how small differences compound across the socioeconomic spectrum. The impact of this research on the socioeconomic achievement gap is a better, more complete, look at the picture of how the distribution of resources across the socioeconomic spectrum plays a role in classroom differences.

The research investigates the Centro Velico Caprera (CVC), a sailing school located in the Mediterrean Sea, whose purpose is to replicate the lifestyle of a ship on land. This ambition creates an isolated environment in which the frequenters are completely immersed and the life is heavily controlled through different spatial and temporal means. The people who attend the school and become part of its community refer to its characteristics and to the collective essence they experience as 'the Spirit of Caprera'. Using an ethnographic approach and in particular participant observation as a primary source of data, and formal semi-structured interviews, the research investigated the internal dynamics of the school and the nature of the 'spirit' by looking at the setting from the insiders' point of view. The investigation aspired to gain a better understanding of the setting as a sailing community and of the relationships that are created that appear to make this environment unique. The research used sociological concepts as 'benchmarks', such as total institution, status and roles, routine and rituals, subculture and power, to guide the data collection and the analysis. Moreover, it made use of key thinkers such as Goffman and Foucault. The analysis has revealed that in the Centro Velico Caprera the 'spirit' can be considered as the consequence and result of more specific dynamics. In particular, the school's organisational and institutional structure, the time management, the role and functioning of authority and finally the rules and norms that derive from the idea of being part of a unique crew. The research engaged also in the analysis of social class and gender discrimination that characterise the school. The study of this school contributes to the study of sport and in particular sailing, which has often been ignored, by adding a new perspective and analysis to its study. The main contributions surround the comparison with other similar sailing subcultures and realities, such as ocean cruising, the development of the concept of the sport panopticon related to authority and its functioning, the notion of spirit, its meaning and significance, and the particular structure of the institution with its consequence for the frequenters. Moreover, the study also aimed to contribute to the narrower debates surrounding the 'benchmark' concepts, their use and their understanding in social theory and for sport studies.

Student Number : 0316775W - MSc research report - Faculty of Science / This qualitative research project investigated the ideas of a small group of learners in the first year physics course at the University of the Witwatersrand in the area of atmospheric (air) pressure. These ideas constitute the prior knowledge with which these learners enter physics education at tertiary level. Clinical interviews were conducted with an initial sample of three (3) respondents, and the main study consisted of seven (7) first-year physics students. Data obtained during the course of the interviews was audio-taped and transcribed, and from an analysis of the transcripts a picture was obtained of the content of the knowledge held, and of the epistemological and ontological views that respondents entertained. What renders this work important is the argument that teachers are unable to assist the learning process without engaging actively with what their learners already know and believe. The first step in setting up learning experiences which can assist learners to become fluent in the construction of sound scientific explanations for phenomena and to become competent at weighing evidence is to determine the state of learners’ prior knowledge. The findings of this limited case study may be summed up as follows: There is very little indication, in the sample investigated in this study, that any meaningful learning has occurred in the areas of pressure, atmospheric pressure and the kinetic theory. These concepts have little or no explanatory power for learners in attempting to account for natural phenomena and technological applications in which atmospheric pressure is at work.

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In the field of world language education, it has long been affirmed that language and culture are inseparable. It has also often been asked how teaching language and culture in an inseparable way is to be accomplished. One solution that has been proposed is ethnographic interviews. Other studies have demonstrated that interviewing native cultural informants is beneficial for language students. This study examined whether such interviews are also beneficial to the native informants. The participants in this project, sixteen native speakers of Spanish, were each interviewed three times by a pair of Spanish students who employed ethnographic techniques as a part of the interview process. The native speakers answered two brief questionnaires, one before and one after the interviews, and many of them participated in one-on-one interviews with me, the primary researcher, to follow-up on their answers to those questionnaires and their experiences with the interviews. I found that the participants perceived the project as beneficial in multiple areas including, but not limited to, the chance it gave them to talk about their culture, the interest they perceived in their culture and their viewpoints, and the opportunity it gave them to confirm, modify, or strengthen conclusions they had made from previous cultural experience. A small percentage of the native speakers either did not understand or appreciate the ethnographic techniques that were employed. However, after initial interviews, I gave the students of Spanish feedback on how to better make use of those techniques in order to improve the students' and native speakers' experiences with the interviews and a large majority of the native speakers observed how the subsequent interviews improved. Therefore, similar projects might benefit from making use of this information. Specifically, it might be useful to explain ethnographic techniques not just to interviewers, but also to interviewees, so that both groups might better understand and appreciate the purpose of those techniques. It might also be useful to give feedback to those who use ethnographic techniques to interview native culture informants.

This study consists of qualitative interviews with 8 graduate students about the use of synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC), or instant message (IM), programs in their interpersonal relationships. Participants were interviewed twice, once via an instant message program and once in a face-to-face setting. They were asked about their frequency of use, their use of multi-tasking, and the types of conversations they have via IM. Results of the interviews are discussed, with a concentration on the paradoxical nature of IM communication as impersonal, but at the same time, conducive to personal disclosure and intimacy.

This qualitative grounded study explores the potential relationship between wildlife TV viewing and human-animal interactions for exotic pet owners. The method involved 13 in-depth interviews and a qualifying open-ended questionnaire with 37 individuals. The interviews gathered viewers' interpretations of two different human-wildlife interactions on TV and served as a launching point for discussion. Findings supported the literature in that wildlife TV was an important source of information, emotion, and contradictory messages. Themes also emerged regarding participants' characterizations of their relationships with their pets. Drawing from social cognitive theory, this thesis suggests the following potential motivators for participants to model animal interactions as seen on screen: 1) visual instruction that increases viewer efficacy; 2) identification with the spokesperson; and 3) emotional connection to the animal. The study concludes with preliminary recommendations for wildlife programming on TV.