During the last decades major changes has occurred at the financial markets, meaning an increasing supply and a greater variation of financial instruments. The saving habits of the Swedish people have gone from traditional bank deposits to investments in equities, funds and bonds. All this together with the great rise in the stock market at the late 90’s has brought words like risk and return up-to-date, and is the background to the development of a new law concerning financial advising which come into force the 1th of July 2004. The contents of the thesis can be described as three bricks, representing the survey questions. The thesis starts with descriptions of which risk- and return concepts that exists and which are used by the contemporary financial institutions. Further on, the thesis deals with the individuals’ perception of risk, in particular financial risk. To end with, details regarding how a message should be conveyed are given. The three bricks together fulfil the purpose of the thesis; To investigate how the meaning of financial risk in a simple and pedagogical way can be explained to a person not familiar with financial literature, and to develop questions that facilitate when an individuals risk profile is ascertained. We have found that standard deviation is the risk concept that dominates in financial theory, and together with Value at Risk is the most common used in practise. Good knowledge about risk is required when explaining risk. It is important to describe the information in an attractive way and use examples and illustrations. For financial advisers it also is important to have knowledge about the human behaviour, because ascertain the clients risk profile is an important part of the risk explanation. A clients risk profile is best ascertain with so called open questions where both what the clients answer and how he or she answer can form the basis for the judgement.

Titel: Privatrådgivarens arbete - en kvalitativ studie av två banker Nivå: C-uppsats i ämnet företagsekonomi Författare: Hanna Stridh och Maria Sundsten Handledare: Stig Sörling Datum: 2010-Juni Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är ge en djupare inblick i hur finansiella rådgivare arbetar. Vi vill undersöka hur de rådgivarna hanterar sin roll som rådgivare till kunden kontra säljare för företaget, och hur kundens intressen bevaras. Metod: Studien är kvalitativ och bygger på intervjuer med fyra rådgivare. Vi har studerat olika teorier i ämnet som vi sedan analyserat tillsammans med det empiriska materialet. Resultat & slutsats: Vår studie visar att de finansiella rådgivarna inte ser någon konflikt i sina roller som försäljare kontra rådgivare. Enligt våra respondenter arbetar de alltid för kundens bästa. Vi kan även konstatera att kundens intressen bevaras främst med hjälp av de lagkrav som finns, då dessa regler är väl inarbetade i bankernas system. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Vi finner att det skulle vara intressant att även undersöka hur kunderna ser på rådgivningssituationen? Känner de till sina rättigheter? En annan intressant studie vore att undersöka hur bankerna arbetar med finansiell rådgivning jämfört med företag som kallar sig för "oberoende rådgivare". Finns det oberoende rådgivning? Uppsatsens bidrag: Uppsatsen bidrar till en ökad förståelse för finansiell rådgivning. Den förklarar vad det innebär att arbeta som finansiell rådgivare, vilket kan vara värdefullt för en ekonomistudent som är intresserad av en framtid inom banken. Uppsatsen kan även vara till nytta för privatkunder på den svenska bankmarknaden, då vi beskriver vilket skydd som finns och vilka rättigheter som kunden har. / Title: The work of financial advisors – a qualitative study of two banks Level: Bachelor thesis, 15 credits in Business Administration Author: Hanna Stridh and Maria Sundsten Supervisor: Stig Sörling Date: 2010 – June Aim: The purpose of this study is to create a better understanding and to give the reader a deeper insight into the work of financial advisors. We have examined how financial advisors manage their role as advisers and as salesmen, and how the client's interests are safeguarded. Method: The study is qualitative and based on interviews with four advisers. We have studied various theories on the subject which we then analyzed with the empirical material. Result & Conclusions: Our study shows that the financial advisers do not see any conflict in their roles as sellers vs. advisers. According to our respondents they always do what is best for the customers. We can also note that the client's interests are upheld primarily through the legal requirements, since the rules are well established in the banking system. Suggestions for future research: We find that it would be interesting to also investigate what the customers think about the counseling situation. Do they know their rights? Another interesting study would be to examine how the banks are working with financial advisory services compared to companies that call themselves "independent advisers". Does independent financial advice exist? Contribution of the thesis: The study contributes to a better understanding of financial advice. It explains what it means to work as a financial advisor, which may be valuable for a student who is interested in a career in the bank. The essay can also be useful for customers of the Swedish banking market, since we also describe what protection and what rights the customer has.

Background: Previous studies focused on customer loyalty and customer satisfaction. But no studies focused on the interaction between the financial advisor and their client. Therefore we have chosen to focus on this knowledge gap.Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to illustrate how the interaction between financial advisors and customers affect financial advisory in investment decision making.Method: The thesis philosophy was positivistic because patterns were found with help of a survey. Furthermore is the paper quantitative since the thesis is measurable and it try to explain the interaction between the financial advisors and the clients demographic characteristics and how it influence the financial advice Conclusion: The theories thin-slicing and similarity attraction paradigm may not apply to the interaction between financial advisor and client. / Bakgrund:  Tidigare studier fokuserar på kundnöjdhet och kundlojalitet. Däremot saknas studier kring samspelet mellan finansiell rådgivare och kund. Därför har vi valt att fokusera på denna kunskapslucka Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att belysa hur samspelet mellan finansiella rådgivare och kunder påverkar den finansiella rådgivningen vid ett investeringsbeslut. Metod: Uppsatsen har positivistisk undersökningsfilosofi då mönster hittades med hjälp av en undersökning. Vidare är uppsatsen kvantitativ eftersom den är mätbar och att den har undersökt om det finns några samband mellan den finansiella rådgivarens och kundens demografiska egenskaper samt om dessa påverkar rådgivningen. Slutsats: Teorierna thin-slicing och similarity attraction paradigm kan inte tillämpas i samspelet mellan finansiella rådgivare och kunder.

Student persistence and achievement are areas of significant concern for institutions of higher education. With national college graduation rates hovering in the 50% range, it is important for colleges and universities to understand which student characteristics and campus environments lead to greater success, as well as the expectations students have of the college experience. Research on undeclared students is vast and dates back more than 70 years, and many of the seminal studies and respected research data have led to the perception that they are at higher risk of attrition and have lower levels of academic achievement than their declared peers. Research also shows that the two most important ways to help students connect to institutions is through faculty interactions and involvement in clubs and organizations. A new and growing body of research on student expectations posits that students who have unmet expectations of the college experience are also at higher risk of attrition. This study sought to integrate those three research concepts and analyze the expectations of undeclared students to determine if undeclared students had lower expectations of the college experience than their declared peers, specifically as those expectations relate to interactions with faculty and involvement in clubs and organizations. This study also sought to determine if undeclared students had lower levels of academic achievement or persistence than their declared peers. Using the College Student Expectations Questionnaire (CSXQ), this research analyzed the expectations of 3,219 first time in college (FTIC) students at a large, metropolitan, public university in the South who responded to the CSXQ during summer 2008 orientation. Results indicated that although differences were discovered between undeclared and declared students for expectations of student-faculty interaction and for expectations of involvement in clubs and organizations, the low effect sizes indicated that the differences could not be attributed directly to declaration of major. Results also indicated that undeclared students did not persist at rates statistically significantly different than their declared peers, nor did they achieve lower GPAs or fewer credit hours. While this study did not reveal statistically significant differences for any of the dependent variables, this research is beneficial in that these results contribute to the research findings that undeclared students are not attrition prone or less likely to achieve. More current research is needed on the population of undeclared students to determine if the perceptions are outdated and no longer generalizable to today's generation of students. Additionally, more research is needed on the expectations of students, in general, to determine what impact, if any, those expectations have on student interactions with the college environment and on the outcomes of persistence, achievement, and graduation.

Given extensive research highlighting the benefits of need-supportive practices and need satisfaction, it seems likely that academic advisors who use practices found to be need-supportive in classroom, work, and other contexts, will foster students’ perceived autonomy and competence toward the academic major decision-making process and facilitate longer-term goals of enhancing motivation and satisfaction with their academic coursework. A longitudinal study was conducted in order to examine the stability in perceptions of college students' academic major decision-making experience over time as a function of need-supportive advising. The study also examined the stability in satisfaction and motivation outcomes as a function of need-supportive advising over time. Participants included undecided students who completed an online survey at three time points during either the 2012-2013 or 2013-2014 academic year. The online survey included measures assessing perceptions of advisors' needs-supportive practices, students' autonomous and competent decision-making, satisfaction with and motivation for coursework, and subjective well-being, as well as demographic characteristics. Analyses on several models were performed using Mplus version 6.12. Results suggest need-supportive advising at the beginning of the academic year predicts improved academic satisfaction, academic efficacy, subjective well-being, and value toward coursework toward the end of the academic year particularly when advising sessions satisfy students need for competence throughout the year which, in turn, provides students with increased competence about choosing an academic major. Implications and future directions are discussed. / text

In the current Final Paper Work the role of colleges in vocational counseling has been analysed. Object of the research - vocational counseling in the college. Purpose of the research - to investigate the attitude of the college executive staff towards vocational counseling. Tasks of the research: ü To investigate the importance of vocational counseling in the context of life long learning; ü To review the site of colleges in the educational system; ü To carry out the research of the attitude of the executive staff in the college; ü To summarize the results of the research and to provide with the practical recommendations for improvement of vocational counseling. In conformity with the research results it is aimed to substantiate (negate) the hypothesis that colleges largely do not use completely all opportunities of vocational counseling. In the first part of the work it is focused on the educational reforms in Lithuania and the main influencing factors. Importance of life long learning has been stressed and importance of vocational counseling within constant learning process has been substantiated. In the second part the role of colleges in vocational counseling has been reviewed. Career advising and vocational training matters have been discussed, the role of colleges in the system of higher education has been assessed. In the third part the results of empiric research have been introduced. It has been stated that colleges do not use opportunities of vocational counseling... [to full text]

This case study examines the National College Advising Corps advisers’ perceptions of their preparedness to assist and encourage underrepresented and low-income students to matriculate to a postsecondary education. The methods utilized in this study were qualitative in nature. Four semistructured questions were asked of the 10 participants who were members of the National College Advising Corps (NCAC). Purposive sampling was utilized based on gender, ethnicity, and first-generation status and was reflective of the NCAC chapter’s demographics. The interviews were transcribed with codes and themes assigned to the participants’ responses. Peer debriefing was utilized in validating the participants’ responses, which provided insight on what preparation was effective and insight on ways to improve the preparation of advisers. The participants were actively involved in coaching and mentoring students. They spent the majority of their time assisting students in the functional tasks of completing admissions, financial aid, and scholarships applications. The preparation that they received prior to assisting students in their respective high schools was sufficient for the participants to accomplish their assigned duties. Learning while performing the functions of the adviser position was critical because the initial preparation could not cover all situations that the participants could encounter. Preparation for tasks outside the functional area was noted as being deficient at varying degrees. Once advisers started working in their assigned schools, they generally had issues with managing their time in light of the numerous tasks to be completed each day, asking other school staff members for assistance in preparing students for college, ensuring that they maintained a balance between work life and personal life, and navigating the relationships between the advisor and school staff. Knowing how to handle these issues was classified into the theme of professional development and was critical to the advisers’ success. Having the right balance of functional preparation versus professional preparation can improve the participants’ success in assisting and encouraging underrepresented and low-income students to matriculate to a postsecondary education.

abstract: The purpose for this doctoral action research study was to discover if and how an updated training and development curriculum benefited residential student organization advisers at Arizona State University (ASU). Eleven advisers of residential student organizations completed a pilot training and development program and agreed to participate in a focus group. This program consisted of nine 60-minute workshops as well as a journaling experience. Data was collected through a focus group at the completion of the nine workshops to document the practical value of the training and development program and to determine how prepared advisers were for their professional roles. Study participants named six important themes in understanding the most effective methods for training and developing advisers: interaction among advisers, the experiences of seasoned advisers, the dialogues and other learning techniques, the structure and timing of the training workshops, the training curriculum itself, and the general understanding of how to support students best. Participants also reported practical value in the effectiveness of the program, positive reactions to the overall training curriculum, and mixed perspectives on the value of journaling as a part of the development experience. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Higher and Postsecondary Education 2012

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Educational Leadership / Sarah Jane Fishback / Perceptions of online undergraduate students on academic advising experiences were informed by the community of inquiry (COI) theoretical framework and categorized by a modified COI survey. The COI framework focused on students’ perceptions of their online learning environment, and acknowledged both the organizational (structural), transactional (collaborative view of teaching and learning), and social (isolation versus connected) challenges within online education. Indicators of COI included a decision-making process, open communication, shared personal meaning, and focused discussion. Thirty-four Likert-style survey items were used to measure student perceptions of three constructs within the COI framework: teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence. Cognitive presence included several stages: a sense of puzzlement, information exchange, connecting ideas, and resolution. Surveys were completed by online degree-seeking undergraduate students (N = 374, n = 87, response rate 23.3%) enrolled in spring one 2018 at a research one, land-grant institution. The analysis explored if COI was perceived in academic advising experiences. Perception of COI was categorized through self-reported preference of communication technologies (phone/TDD and web conferencing), demographic factors, and importance ranks on each COI item. Participants reported COI items as important, with variances between somewhat important and very important. Participants confirmed their perception of COI within academic advising with survey and open-ended comments. Analysis of data was conducted using a comparison of descriptive statistics, non-parametric tests, and qualitative coding of open-ended comments. Results of the data analysis revealed no significant differences (desirable) between advising technology (phone and web conferencing) and perception of COI. Descriptive characteristics revealed an increase in social presence with increased time with advisor and increased experience in completed online courses. This academic advising COI study found social presence was the highest perceived presence. Analysis of comments revealed themes confirming the rank of presence in the following order: social presence, teaching presence, and cognitive. The discussion of results focused on connections to current literature, as well as implications for future research and practice. Also, the new academic advising COI instrument (modified from original) offered a valid assessment tool for online advising, with the potential for use with a variety of advisor types, models, and institutions. Keywords: community of inquiry (COI), academic advising, higher education, online, assessment, web conferencing, social presence, teaching presence, cognitive presence, technology, online learning, student success, retention, and importance.

abstract: It is vital for schools to have qualified teachers educating our children. Institutions with teacher preparation programs supply a valuable service to their communities by providing classrooms with devoted professionals who thrive on helping children learn, and the Teachers College, where this study is set, is one such institution. The Teachers College offers two pathways to gain teacher certification: a traditional bachelor’s degree in teaching areas such as elementary, secondary, or special education, as well as master’s degrees in those same teaching areas which offer students with a bachelor’s degree in an area other than teaching, another pathway to teacher certification. Many people who receive their bachelor degrees and then return to college to earn advanced K-12 teacher education degrees are from the millennial generation. The decision to return to college to earn a master’s degree with teacher certification can be a stressful one. Millennial students seeking teacher certification often have fulltime jobs and families, and therefore need the process of returning to school to be quick and efficient. How well these prospective students communicate with the admissions staff at their school of choice will determine if they receive the information needed to complete their applications. The focus of this study is to investigate if a proactive advising text message innovation developed for this study called TextEd, used during the admission process for graduate level, teacher certification programs at the Teachers College, affected applicant communication levels and customer satisfaction through the application process. More specifically, surveys and interviews were conducted with applicants from three teacher certifications programs to determine if TextEd was an effective tool for communication with millennial applicants. Results indicated that applicants’ preferred method of communication was their cell phone, and an increased level of customer satisfaction occurred when using a proactive advising approach with text messaging during the admissions process. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2018