Text in Afrikaans / In hierdie studie word die rol van interpersoonlike komrnunikasie in die funksionering van die algemene inligtingsdiens van die Unisa Biblioteek aan die Universiteit van Suid-Afrika ondersoek. 'n Kwantitatiewe meetinstrument word ontwikkel om gebruikertevredenheid met die hoofkomponente van die algemene inligtingsdiens, naamlik die inligtingsassistent, die inligting wat deur die klient ontvang word en die fisiese omgewing waarin die diens gelewer word, te evalueer. Daar word bevind dat 'n beduidende assosiasie bestaan tussen gebruikertevredenheid met die inligtingsassistent en gebruikertevredenheid met die inligting wat ontvang word. 'n Verkorte vrae lys word ontwerp en aanbevee 1 as 'n meetinstrument waarmee die bestuur gebruikertevredenheid met die algemene inligtingsdiens op 'n gereelde grondslag kan meet. / This study investigates the role of interpersonal communication in the functioning of the general information service provided by the Unisa Library at the University of South Africa. A quantitative measuring instrument is developed to evaluate user satisfaction with the main components of the general information service, that is the information assistant, the information received by the client and the physical surroundings in which the service is provided. It is found that a significant association exists between user satisfaction with the information assistant and user satisfaction with the information received. A shortened questionnaire is designed and recommended as a measuring instrument with which management can on a regular basis measure user satisfaction with the general information service. / Communication Science / M.A. (Communication)

Mathematics anxiety is a personal characteristic which is widespread and continuing. It has a debilitating effect on mathematics performance and contributes to perceptions and attitudes that perpetuate a dislike for mathematics and a lack of confidence when dealing with mathematical problems. An investigation of relevant literature on mathematics anxiety identifies sources and symptoms and emphasises a need for a comprehensive approach to remediation. The historical development of an appropriate measuring instrument is documented and statistical evidence is used to create a mathematics anxiety rating scale suitable for measuring anxiety levels of secondary school pupils and student teachers. The extensive literature interest, research publications and remedial programmes emphasise the problem of mathematics anxiety and thus the need for a comprehensive approach to remediation. Mathematics teaching and curriculum design is expounded to provide the necessary direction to the alleviation of mathematics anxiety. General perspectives on curriculum design are discussed and a cyclical systems approach is recommended. Elements of this approach are detailed and are linked to important personal characteristics to add a humanistic and socio-cultural view of curriculum design in mathematics. The didactic viability of constructivism as an approach to mathematics curriculum design is investigated. Constructivism embodies a philosophy and a methodology which addresses the critical aspects influencing mathematics anxiety. Classroom topics and activities are reviewed in terms of a constructivist approach and the sources of mathematics anxiety are discussed from a constructivist perspective. A longitudinal case study of pupils during their five years at secondary school as well as a study involving student teachers was undertaken. Mathematics performance, perceptions, attitudes and levels of anxiety were investigated by means of tests, questionnaires, and mathematics anxiety rating scales. The statistical results of this research provide evidence to support a comprehensive approach to the remediation of mathematics anxiety. Constructivism is seen as the synthesis of critical aspects of teaching and curriculum development which will stem the perpetuation of mathematics anxiety. Constructivism provides the didactic approach to develop each individual's intellectual autonomy and mathematics power, by instilling a problem solving attitude and a self-confidence when doing mathematics. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Didactics)

La démographie et les modes de vie ont considérablement évolué au cours des dernières décades. De tels changements sont destinés à influencer la conception de l’habitation et ils incluent notamment une série de besoins émergents: s’en suivent des besoins additionnels en espace pour répondre à l’arrivée de ces activités additionnelles au niveau du logement. La planification en vue de répondre à ces besoins émergeants constitue le principal thème de la présente thèse. Dans le cas de la maison unifamiliale détachée, le sous-sol est disponible pour offrir des espaces appropriés à ces besoins émergents. Par contre, une telle ressource n’est normalement pas présente dans le cas d’un édifice multifamilial. La thèse propose un espace additionnel spécifique en vue de répondre à ces besoins émergents : l’espace supplétif. Même si un tel espace n’est pas envisagé dans les publications du domaine, des précédents existent quant à sa présence en planification multifamiliale. Le but de la présente étude est d’offrir des lignes directrices quant à la conception et l’intégration d’un tel espace supplétif. Elle va s’appuyer sur l’approche systémique en raison de la logique de déduire la solution à partir d’une analyse de l’objectif. L’application de l’approche systémique implique donc que tous les critères correspondant à la nature spécifique de l’espace supplétif seront extrapolés à partir de l’objectif. Dans le cas la présente étude, ce sont les critères du bureau à domicile qui seront d’abord précisés car il s’agit de l’activité émergente la plus exigeante. Les critères seront traités comme vecteurs d’un modèle générique indicatif de la manière d’organiser l’espace supplétif. Ce modèle visera le bureau à domicile en vue d’offrir les solutions pertinentes et il se concentrera principalement sur les critères d’intimité visuelle et spatiale. La contribution du modèle sera de suggérer des lignes directrices en vue d’incorporer l’espace supplétif à l’intérieur des édifices résidentiels de type multifamilial, ce que la planification conventionnelle n’offre pas. C’est le concept d’adaptabilité qui est à la base de toute stratégie visant à permettre le changement en architecture et en habitation, d’autant plus lorsqu’il s’agit d’un espace supplétif. À cet effet, l’espace supplétif va recourir à l’approche Open Building afin d’appliquer le concept d’adaptabilité, en raison de ses avantages majeurs tant au niveau conceptuel que constructif. Différentes applications de l’approche Open Building, telles que le projet NEXT21 et le protocole KSI (Kikou support and Infill), offrent des exemples susceptibles de constituer d’efficaces lignes directrices pour la conception d’un espace supplétif. La faisabilité du modèle d’espace supplétif proposé est vérifiable et démontrable dans le monde réel. Les systèmes constructifs industrialisés sont en mesure de permettre le changement sans démolition car leurs joints mécaniques « à sec » rencontrent généralement les normes DfD (Design for Disassembly), non seulement en ce qui concerne l’espace supplétif mais pour l’ensemble du logement. / Demographics and lifestyles have changed considerably in the past few decades. These changes are bound to influence the design of housing and they notably include a series of emerging needs: additional spatial needs due to additional activities brought to the traditional housing premises. Planning for those emerging needs is the main theme of this thesis. In a typical single-family detached house, the basement is available to accommodate the spatial requirements for these emerging needs. However, such a provision does not typically exist in multi-family housing. This thesis proposes a specific additional space to accommodate these emerging needs: the supplementary space. Although such a space has not been explored in the literature, there are precedents for its application in multi-family floor planning. The objective of this study is to provide guidelines for the design and the integration of this supplementary space. It relies on the systems approach as the design-decision methodology due to its logic of deducting the solution from the analysis of the objective. Applying the systems approach means that all the criteria corresponding to the specific purpose of the supplementary space will be extrapolated from the objective. However, once the supplementary space is being used to deal with emerging needs, it will then introduce its own relevant criteria. This study will start with the criteria for designing a home office because this is the most demanding emerging needs activity. The criteria are organized as vectors of a generic model indicating how the supplementary space can be formulated. The model will target the workplace at home and subsequently offer solutions to them. This study focuses on the planning provisions dealing mainly with visual and spatial privacy. The overall outcome of the model is to suggest guidelines to incorporate the supplementary space within multi-family residential buildings, a feature not offered in traditional planning. The concept of adaptability is the key design strategy to accommodate change in architecture and housing, even more in the case of a supplementary space. Therefore, the supplementary space model will apply the concept of adaptability through the Open Building (OB) approach; elaborating more on the practical design and construction features. Different OB applications, such as the NEXT21 project and the KSI (Kikou Support and Infill) protocol in Japan, are examples that can be used as efficient guidelines to design a supplementary space. The feasibility of the supplementary space model can be validated and served in the real world. Industrialized building systems are capable of accommodating change without demolition as their dry mechanical joints are generally at meeting the DfD (design for disassembly) standards, not only for the supplementary space but also for the whole dwelling unit.

I present the dissertation web as a montage of a postmodern inquiry of my doctoral internship and research experiences—concerns and jubilation—positioned within the discourses of <a href="site_map2.htm#2">postmodern</a>, dissertation, academia, experimentalism and cyberspace innovations among others. I create a <a href="site_map2.htm#3">social constructionistic</a> interactive interplay, using <a href="site_map2.htm#5">hypertext</a>, among my various voices of an intern, a researcher and a person. In the dissertation web—my inquiry—I practice the characterization of postmodernism on numerous fronts—subject of study, context of study, methodology and re-presentation of the inquiry. Implicitly and explicitly, I articulate the various characterizations of postmodernism in my inquiry by challenging the traditional research practices (meta<a href="site_map2.htm#4">narratives</a>). I challenge the traditional praxis by alternate per<b>form</b>ances of research practices such as studying myself in a cultural context of an internship using the methodology of <a href="site_map2.htm#11">autoethnography</a> and performance. The <a href="site_map2.htm#5">hypertext</a> docuverse is a further characterization of postmodernism in the styles and structures that are used for re-presentation of the narratives. The styles of narration I use—such as words and graphics, prose and poetry, first person conversational texts, narratives and collages—blur the boundary of "academic" writing, literature, and art. The hypertext is intended as a <a href="site_map2.htm#6">metaphorical</a> experiential, intertextual journey of an <a href="site_map2.htm#12">intern</a> and a <a href="site_map2.htm#14">researcher</a>. Rather than a fixed structure, I create numerous structures of possible structures to privilege the readers' <a href="site_map2.htm#1">navigational</a> choices. I anticipate that the reader's choices in the virtual space might create a sense of meaning-transformation as one traverses through the dissertation web, thus, valuing <a href="site_map2.htm#8">fragmentation</a> and connection as aspects of sense-making, which are contextualized (among others) by the reader's meaning frames and my hypertextual <a href="site_map2.htm#7">performances</a>. The dissertation is submitted in three formats—exclusive dissertation web.pdf, intertextual dissertation web.pdf, and xml version. The<b> <i>exclusive dissertation web.pdf</i> </b>is a web capture in pdf format of all the "files" that compose the dissertation web created in html. The <i><b>intertextual dissertation web.pdf</b> </i> is a web capture of my dissertation along with the capture of external web resources that contextualize my dissertation web, thus illustrating the intertextuality of hypertexts by making the dissertation part of the larger textual web. Due to the web capture, the "docuverse" is nonlinear and the pages do not follow any particular or author predefined sequences. So, <i>please use the internal links or the bookmarks to read or browse the dissertation web</i> rather than scroll from the first "page" to the last "page" of the pdf formatted docuverse. The third version in xml will be made available at a later date. An html version of the dissertation is available directly from the researcher-author. CAUTION! The links from the abstract may be broken due to archiving of the dissertation web. / Ph. D.