How people make sense of the world around them via the categories they use is a question that social science researchers frequently attempt to address through their investigations (e.g., Spradley, 1970). One prevalent approach in organizational research is the rep grid method (Reger, 1990). This technique, based upon Kelly's (1955) role construct repertory test, asks participants to sort items (e.g., people, recent events, or artifacts) within a three-member group into subgroups based on participant-defined similarity and dissimilarity. The researcher's main task, therefore, is to inquire about the characteristics or conditions that each participant uses to sort these itemsâ what is similar among the paired items and what makes the pair different from the item that is excluded. Reger (1990) remarks that such an approach creates conditions in which "the researcher's frame of reference and worldview would not be imposed upon the respondent" (301). In information and library science (ILS) research, individuals' uses of categories for sense-making are viewed as being closely coupled to their interactions with available information resources, services, or systems. Sorting tasks are one general class of methods used to uncover the categories that users employ during these interactions. In information systems research, Tan and Hunter (2002) discuss qualitative and quantitative applications of the rep grid method. While other sorting tasks in ILS research do not explicitly share the same intellectual lineage as the rep grid method, the general approaches and outcomes are largely consistent. Kwasnik (1991) studied how users classify personal documents based on criteria other than document attributes. She asked participants to provide a 'guided tour' of an office location along with a document sorting process, and, in reflection, she notes that "people are able to articulate the process by which...decisions were made, and the data produced by this articulation lend themselves to analysis at a level which can yield general rules about the behaviour" (389). The qualitative analysis from Kwasnik's (1991) study can be contrasted with quantitative analyses of sort data used for guidance in the design of information displays (Carlyle, 2001) and interoperable metadata schema (Tennis, 2003).The rep grip method and other sorting tasks represent alternative approaches to direct questioning through standard qualitative interviewing. In this presentation, the authors will review various ways in which sorting techniques have been employed in ILS research, highlight how these methods are applied in their research (e.g., Edwards, forthcoming), suggest strategies for the inclusion of these tasks in study designs, and describe unique challenges encountered during data collection and analysis.

This paper reviews how Open Access policies (OA) and Institutional Repositories (IR) might be portrayed as agents of change within the realm of scholarly publishing. Using commentary on academic publishing as background, commentary that sees OA and IR as optimal and inevitable, and beneficially disruptive of the existing system, two theoretical approaches are presented as ways of providing a more detailed and explicit analysis of OA/IR dynamics. Both theories to varying degrees derive their inspiration from an exploration of the nature of change. The first â disruptive technology/disruptive innovationâ approach (Christensen) specifies change in market theory terms, a re-structuring "driven" by innovation within, and possibly disruptive of, existing market arrangements. The second approach views change as a process of "reassembling" and reconfiguring of relationships between elements of a network (Actor-Network Theory). The application of both approaches to OA/IR is explored, including reference to a case study on a university institutional repository implementation. While "disruption" and similar terms might be in common and casual use, the basic idea gains greater clarity in these theories, and in doing so promotes greater awareness of the assumptions being made, and the aspirations being pursued.

The domain of scholarly publishing is undergoing rapid change. Change has been instigated and produced by the Internet and open access systems â such as disciplinary and institutional repositories and open access journals. However traditional scholarly publishing is strengthening its hold over prestigious journals thus resisting change. How then does the change come about? An attempt at answering this question led us to examine an institutional repository initiative in a University. As we identified and followed the actors (researchers, research papers, reward systems, institutional repository technology, library staff, RQF, etc.) we saw the emergence of new publishing practices and the forces preserving the old ones. By adopting Actor Network Theory (ANT) we came to understand the materiality, relationality and ambiguity of processes of reassembling scholarly publishing. This paper presents preliminary results and thereby informs a wider debate and shaping of open access and scholarly publishing.

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Includes synopsis. / Includes bibliographical references. / Cardiac auscultation is inherently qualitative, highly subjective and requires considerable skill and experience. Computer- assisted auscultation (CAA) is an objective referral-decision support tool that aims to minimise inappropriate referrals. This study evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of 2 CAA systems, Cardioscan® and Sensi®, in detecting echo-confirmed cardiac abnormalities in 79 consecutive patients referred for assessment to a tertiary cardiac clinic. CAA demonstrated suboptimal sensitivity and specificity in detecting cardiac abnormalities in children and adults. As both systems demonstrate 100% sensitivity in detecting acyanotic heart disease, and theoretically carry significant potential in resource-limited settings, further development of current technologies to improve sensitivity and specificity for clinical applications is still warranted.

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Abstract The study deals with the foundations of psychological understanding grounded in methodology and the theory of interpretation. Psychology is understood as a reconstructive hermeneutic-dialectic science that explores subjective meaning giving. Reconstructive science attempts to reconstruct the deep structure that must be necessarily assumed for a certain surface structure phenomenon to be possible. In the science of psychology, the deep structure is understood in terms of events that are internal to the mind. The surface structure is understood as descriptions and expressions of experiences and as action and its social and cultural expressions. The study also examines the relation of psychological understanding to sociological understanding. The study is built on four concepts that are essential for psychological understanding. Their examination provides the four research tasks through which psychological understanding is reconstructed: 1) the concept of psychological meaning, 2) the concept of psychological understanding, 3) the method of psychological understanding and 4) the theory of interpreting psychological understanding. The background for the study is provided by the hermeneutic theory and the psychodynamic psychoanalytical theory and thinking, on the basis of which psychological understanding is reconstructed. The study defines mind, the research object of psychology, as a world of experience that is understood to be phenomenal and meaningful. Meaning is defined as a position in psychic connections, determined by psychic connections. Subjective meaning-giving is seen in relation to the individual's experience of one's own self. Psychological understanding is defined in the psychic connections of the position of the phenomenon as insight and showing. Methodologically, psychological understanding is defined as the formation of an abstract image of the internal mental event in which the phenomenon acquires a position in psychic connections. The theory of interpreting psychological understanding is understood in terms of general interpretations used to identify the phenomenon and show its psychic connections. The theory of psychological interpretation is reconstructed by means of psychoanalytical metapsychology and its scenic interpretation. Metapsychological and scenic understanding are distinguished by means of a different way of conceptualising mind and understanding. In metapsychological understanding mind is conceptualised through psychoanalytical metapsychology. Scenic understanding makes use of the analogy with a scene. Mind is understood as a scene in which experiences are presented in the form of dialogues and tales. The analogy with the scene is also used methodologically. The methodology of psychological understanding is examined through theoretical hermeneutic examinations targeted at psychoanalysis. The study also examines briefly the psychological understanding research process illuminated by a research example as well as the issues of credibility, problems and sources of error in understanding psychological research.