<p>Humans and domesticated animals have lived alongside one another for thousands of years, yet scholars have only recently begun to examine how companion animals, or pets, influence human lives (Knight, 2005). Today, 67 percent of United States households contain companion animals (APPA, 2019-2020) and many people consider their pets as family (Irvine & Cilia, 2017; McConnell et al., 2019). Given this, the death and dying period for pets can bring about distinctive concerns and difficulties within the family system, yet little is known about how individuals navigate the pet end-of-life period within the family, and how family communication manifests in this context. This study aimed to understand the interactional challenges for families communicating about the end-of-life period for their pets. Guided by family systems theory (FST) as an analytic framework, the goal was to better understand these dynamics using qualitative methods to address two main research questions. First, what are the challenges families face during the companion animal death and dying period? And second, how do families respond communicatively to these challenges? This qualitative study used a grounded theory approach to analyze 27 in-depth interviews with individuals who had experienced a death of their pet in the prior year and centered on how families described the place of their pets within the system. Of those participants, 14 individuals consisted of family dyads (51%) in various subgroups of partners, parent-child and siblings. Analysis affirmed some of what is known from the literature (such as feelings of guilt and financial worries associated with pet end-of-life) but also extended what is known by documenting family decision-making dilemmas, such as the dialectic tension between holding on and letting go, as well as noting the reverberations through the family of avoiding talk about death and disruptions to family communication after death. This manifested in primarily a decrease in talk about the pet or talk with family members (both in-person and mediated channels) or an increase in talk following the death. These findings suggest that pet death has the potential to disrupt a family's regular communication patterns.</p> <p>These findings affirmed that supportive communication after a death loss is important to individuals and particularly helpful from others with prior pet loss experience. Along with social support, participants indicated that the artifacts left behind after the death of their pet provided comfort and were also elements of tension and cohesion within the system. As scholars suggest, companion animals are liminal creatures, existing as kin and "other" within the family (Irvine & Cilia, 2017; Sayers et al. 2022). Indeed, participants described their pets as existing in a space at the edge of true family member whose fate was exclusively in the hands of the family, particularly in the context of euthanasia, which contributed to some of the communicative challenges identified. </p> <p>Given limitations of a mostly regional and homogenous sample and the conceptual limitation of extrapolating from two individuals in a family to the whole system, this study was still able to take the next step needed for understanding the communicative challenges faced by families in confronting pet death. Findings extend the concept of pet-as-family, in that pets were found to be an element of the "family tapestry" serving the role of both emotional support and kin for some family members. In that manner, they were also discovered as integral to the family timeline, a catalyst for connection between family members, and thus worthy of further study from a communication and family system perspective.</p>

<p>The education field is experiencing a shortage of qualified teachers, especially in high-poverty schools. All school districts struggle to find ways to prevent the increasing turnover rates in their schools; however, school districts serving impoverished populations have to deal with the impact of teacher turnover more frequently. This qualitative study focused on the lived experiences of four elementary school teachers with ten or more years of experience in Steele Community Schools, a high-poverty school district. This study focused on factors that have led participants to remain in their teaching positions. Using the framework of Fredrick Herzberg’s two-factor theory, the researcher examined motivation and hygiene factors to determine which factors had the greatest impact in increasing a teacher’s likelihood to remain in the profession; more specifically in high-poverty schools. The results of this study provides an understanding of the factors that impact a teacher’s decision to remain in their position and may serve as a reference for school districts that continue to experience high teacher turnover. Through semi-structured interviews, data were collected from four veteran teachers with ten or more years of experience in their district. This study found that, of Herzberg’s motivation and hygiene factors, coworker relations, salary/benefits, and the work itself had the greatest impact on a teacher’s decision to remain in their teaching position in a high-poverty school. The study also brought to light a element outside of Herzberg’s theory which has had just as great of an impact on teacher retention; the outside community. Based on the findings of this of the qualitative study school district leaders could potentially take a deeper look at factors that have been referenced in this study as having had a positive impact on teachers’ decisions to remain in their positions in a high-poverty school and increase teacher retention.</p>

Perceived organizational support (POS) is an important construct in organizational science that describes employees’ degree of perceived support from their organization. However, in the academic literature, no paper has openly consulted real employees for how they understand and experience organizational support. The goal of the present dissertation was to conduct a qualitative,<br>person-centric study to from the employee’s perspective investigate the meaning of POS. To do this, techniques based on current best-practice recommendations were used, including examining incidents of the phenomenon and collecting lay definitions from key informants. It was found that a wide range of organizational behaviors can count as support; in the data, 25 distinct support forms were identified along with 27 lack of support forms. Through thematic analysis, these forms were aggregated into six themes of organizational support (e.g., “Organization helps the employee perform their job effectively”) and ultimately formed a single higher-order theme that represented<br>the meaning of POS. That ism POS is the holistic perception of whether or not an employee is<br>valued by their organization. This aligns with the classical academic definition of POS (perceptions of how much the organization values one’s well-being and work contributions) but also suggests the construct should be considered more broadly.<br>Because how a construct is conceptualized determines its essential content, the second half of this dissertation performed a systematic content validation of the Survey of Perceived Organizational Support (SPOS) and its short forms. Little formal content validation had been done<br>for this scale, but it was found that all four aspects of content validity examined (content deficiency, relevance, distinctiveness, and balance) were satisfactory in the SPOS and of its short forms. Thus, researchers using these scales can be confident of content validity, although there is a need to improve content validation processes and reduce the number of SPOS short forms in current use.

This research examines women's ways of understanding health and illness as well as their means of maintaining wellness. It attempts a women-centred approach to explaining health behaviours. The research consisted of in-depth interviews with seven women from Southern Ontario between the ages of 50 and 70. A grounded theory approach guided the analysis. The study shows that perceptions of power and control may be at the root of many attitudes toward health care and various health behaviours. By researching health issues from women's perspectives, this research provides a glimpse of the way these seven women experience midlife, and suggests the existance of perspectives that differ from mainstream views on health and illness. It further demonstrates how theories of agency can be used to shift the focus of sociological research from over-socialized accounts of health-related behaviours to more empowering, woman-centred explanations. It shows that women strive to maintain control of their health and that they pursue wellness in a manner that enables them to keep that control. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Personer med dyslexi har svårt att läsa och stava. Typografi har signifikant visats påverka tillgängligheten för dyslektiska läsare. Syftet med denna kandidatuppsats var därför att utforska läsupplevelsen hos personer med dyslexi avseende olika typsnitt på mobila enheter. För detta genomfördes en kvalitativ studie där data samlades in genom individuella semistrukturerade intervjuer och ett läsupplevelsetest med sex forskningsdeltagare, som alla hade dyslexi. De insamlade uppgifterna analyserades tematiskt och diskuterades med hjälp av relaterad litteratur från forskningsområdet inom interaktionsdesign, läsupplevelse, läsbarhet, dyslexi och typografi inklusive självbestämmandeteori. Forskningsresultaten visade att samtliga typsnitt ansågs både vara enkla och svåra av informanterna som intervjuades. Verdana var det typsnitt som flest ansågs vara enkelt att läsa med. Flera informanter upplevde även svårigheter gällande ord och olika avstånd däribland rad – och teckenavstånd. Studien visar att olika typsnitt och typsnittens tecken- eller radavstånd samt teckenstorlek påverkar läsupplevelsen för dyslektiska läsare. / People with dyslexia have difficulty reading and spelling. Typography has been shown to significantly affect accessibility for dyslexic readers. The purpose of this bachelor's thesis was therefore to explore the reading experience of people with dyslexia regarding different fonts on mobile devices. For this, a qualitative study was conducted in which data was collected through individual semi-structured interviews and a reading experience test with six research participants, all of whom had dyslexia. The collected data were analyzed thematically and discussed using related literature from the research area of interaction design, reading experience, readability, dyslexia, and typography including self-determination theory. The research results showed that all fonts were considered both simple and difficult by the informants interviewed. Verdana was the font that was considered easy to read with. Several informants also experienced difficulties regarding words and different distances including line and character spacing. The study shows that different fonts, font spacing and font size affect the reading experience for dyslexic readers.

<p>Assessment of student learning is ubiquitous in higher education chemistry courses because it is the mechanism by which instructors can assign grades, alter teaching practice, and help their students to succeed. One type of assessment that is popular in general chemistry courses, yet difficult to create effectively, is the multiple-choice assessment. Despite its popularity, little is known about the extent that multiple-choice general chemistry exams adhere to accepted design practices or the processes that general chemistry instructors engage in while creating these assessments. Further understanding of multiple-choice assessment quality and the design practices of general chemistry instructors could inform efforts to improve the quality of multiple-choice assessment practice in the future. This work attempted to characterize multiple-choice assessment practices in undergraduate general chemistry classrooms by, 1) conducting a phenomenographic study of general chemistry instructor’s assessment practices and 2) designing an instrument that can detect violations of item writing guidelines in multiple-choice chemistry exams. </p> <p>The phenomenographic study of general chemistry instructors’ assessment practices included 13 instructors from the United States who participated in a three-phase interview. They were asked to describe how they create multiple-choice assessments, to evaluate six multiple-choice exam items, and to create two multiple-choice exam items using a think-aloud protocol. It was found that the participating instructors considered many appropriate assessment design practices yet did not utilize, or were not familiar with, all the appropriate assessment design practices available to them. </p> <p>Additionally, an instrument was developed that can be used to detect violations of item writing guidelines in multiple-choice exams. The instrument, known as the Item Writing Flaws Evaluation Instrument (IWFEI) was shown to be reliable between users of the instrument. Once developed, the IWFEI was used to analyze 1,019 general chemistry exam items. This instrument provides a tool for researchers to use to study item writing guideline adherence, as well as, a tool for instructors to use to evaluate their own multiple-choice exams. The use of the IWFEI is hoped to improve multiple-choice item writing practice and quality.</p> <p>The results of this work provide insight into the multiple-choice assessment design practices of general chemistry instructors and an instrument that can be used to evaluate multiple-choice exams for item writing guideline adherence. Conclusions, recommendations for professional development, and recommendations for future research are discussed.</p>

In this qualitative study, the researcher intended to establish factors that could create a positive culture of teaching and learning at school. Findings revealed that a culture of teaching and learning can be created by factors that relate to the learners, the educators and the school setting. Findings established that learners are motivated if they participate in sports, educational trips and competitions. Learners who receive incentives for outstanding achievements and participate in the management of the school are also motivated. Motivational talks and learner's exchange programmes enhance ambition. Motivated educators are enthusiastic and creativel. Such educators are considerate to learners' personal circumstances and they have the welfare of learners at heart. An edequate supply of resources and security facilities can improve the quality of education at school. Visionary school managers who uphold a particular philosophy of life and cherish Christian values are inclined to success at school. / Educational Studies / M.Ed. (Education Management)

In this qualitative study, the researcher intended to establish factors that could create a positive culture of teaching and learning at school. Findings revealed that a culture of teaching and learning can be created by factors that relate to the learners, the educators and the school setting. Findings established that learners are motivated if they participate in sports, educational trips and competitions. Learners who receive incentives for outstanding achievements and participate in the management of the school are also motivated. Motivational talks and learner's exchange programmes enhance ambition. Motivated educators are enthusiastic and creativel. Such educators are considerate to learners' personal circumstances and they have the welfare of learners at heart. An edequate supply of resources and security facilities can improve the quality of education at school. Visionary school managers who uphold a particular philosophy of life and cherish Christian values are inclined to success at school. / Educational Studies / M.Ed. (Education Management)