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"In a world more and more consumed by the artificial realities of electronic technology, architecture serves not just as the physical construct embodying the essence of our time, but more importantly as an experience of elements of reality to which our responses, both physical and psychological, make us human." - Karsten Harries / Master of Architecture

published_or_final_version / Humanities / Master / Master of Philosophy

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Research methods from both the qualitative and quantitative paradigms were used to answer the question concerning how adult readers navigate through informational text embedded in a hypermedia environment to construct meaning.

Meaning-making is an important process to the personal and professional development of students in higher education. Today’s educators need to acknowledge and encourage the meaning-making process in order for these quarter-life students to enjoy an enriched life of meaning, as well as excel in academia. I challenge educators to apply meaning-making to their own lives in order to gain a deeper understanding of their personal purpose in their lives and as educators on college campuses. Written within a Scholarly Personal Narrative methodology, my thesis proposes that, through the deep and personal meaning-making process, students and educators can create a more meaningful experience in the classroom on today’s higher education campuses.

M.Ed. / The world today is filled with instability and uncertainty. This is especially true to South Africa. Many experience difficult circumstances, and sometimes struggle to work through these negative and destructive motions. The meaning in life is something that most people start to explore at a young age (Kinnier, Kernes, Tribbensee & Puymbroeck 2006:7). People have searched for the answers in many places and in doing so, have sometimes experienced more harm than good. Ultimately, not finding meaning in life can be detrimental to a person's mental health. Much earlier, researchers such as Bollnow (1950), Garbers (1957), and others have researched this phenomenon in Europe, especially after the Second World War. However, not much research has been done in the field of late adolescents in the South African context. The purpose of this research study was to provide psycho-educational guidelines for late adolescents, to clarify what their meaning in life is. This can sometimes be a difficult concept to explore, as not all people have certainty of what gives them meaning. This is why a purposive selection of participants was chosen. These participants were between the ages of 18 and 24 years. All of them should have undergone an existential crisis at least 6 months prior to the study. This, in theory, ensures that the participants were in a place in their lives where they had questioned the meaning in life, and had time to process their findings, if any. One open ended question was asked: "What gives you meaning in your life?" The findings can be summed up as follows: Meaning in life equals relationship.

The existential psychology’s concern with the feeling of meaningfulness in life forms the basis for the present study aiming to investigate the relationship between perceived meaningfulness, and search for meaningfulness in life, and level of conformity.  An online survey was distributed to employees at a university in Sweden, and included two questionnaires; the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ) and the Concern for Appropriateness (CFA) questionnaire. One hundred and two respondents completed the survey. CFA was found to significantly correlate with MLQ-Presence (r = -.456 p = <.001) and MLQ-Search (r = .307 p = .002). The present study found that the feeling of present meaningfulness was significantly lower among those who cared more about fitting into others´ norms concerning how to behave.