Chan Kit Sze Amy. / "June 2002." / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 332-354). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese.

Thesis ( M.A. (African Languages)) --University of Limpopo, 2013 / Refer to document

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Products are designed to satisfy user needs. Thus, industrial designers are expected to have a thorough understanding of user needs and to incorporate those understandings into the design of products; however, it is not a straightforward task for designers to translate their conditional understanding into a product. The gap between product and user can be even wider when latent user needs, such as cultural ones, are calculated into the problem. Therefore the meanings and functions imbued in products by the designer may not be recognized and acknowledged by users, due to the differences in cultural preferences of designers and users from separate cultures. In spite of the fact that user satisfaction has been extensively supported in the design literature, it seems that such an approach allows only a passive role for designers, who actually act as cultural intermediaries; that is, the designers' role is merely presumed to catalyze the process and match user requirements to the end product. Thus, the impact of designers' cultural preferences is considered as incidental, or at least overlooked. A content analysis method was triangulated to collect and analyze diverse visual and textual data relating to the concept generation stage of the product development process. To collect data, professional industrial designers in the two culturally diverse countries of Australia and Iran were recruited to participate in half-hour design exercise sessions to sketch to a design brief, followed by responding to an interview questionnaire. The analysis of data revealed that: (1) designers' cultural preferences do influence their approaches toward tackling the design problem; (2) there are nexuses between the design aspects of the concepts generated and the cultural dimensions of the values of the societies in which the designers were born and has lived, and; (3)potential users can unconsciously comprehend the meaning invested in the product by the designer. This thesis breaks new ground for further advancing the study of the Designer-Precedent Approach (DPA) in other cultural and social contexts, while it challenges the conventional approaches of user-centered design (UCD) broadlyperceived as the ultimate method of incorporating users' wants into products.

Thesis (M.A.)--Reformed Theological Seminary, 1985. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-105).

The purpose of the study was to investigate process and stability issues in intermarried families utilizing data from a group of American Indian intermarried families and a group of endogamous European American families. Stability issues such as marital satisfaction and overall problem solving were investigated by comparing scores between the two groups. Process issues such as the participation and the coalition practices related to intermarriage were investigated by comparing scores between the two groups and analyzing in more depth the gender and ethnic data of the parents in the American Indian intermarried group. Supplementary qualitative analysis was also supplied by focus groups of American Indian college students discussing the subject of American Indian intermarried families. Significant distinctions were identified by both analyses which indicate a complex relationship between intermarriage status, American Indian culture, family problem solving, and marital satisfaction. / Graduation date: 1996

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1983. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 171-179).

The field of psychotherapy is not objective. Like any social construction, it is a product of the values of the culture in which it was developed. The theories and principles that form the cornerstones of Western psychotherapy reflect a number of Western ideals and biases, one of which is individualism. As such, it is important that we examine the impact that such a bias can have on clinical judgment, particularly since so many clients come from collectivist cultures, and since inaccurate clinical decisions that derive from flawed etiologies and character assessment can have such serious repercussions. / The following study investigates, both qualitatively and quantitatively, how this individualistic bias in Western psychotherapy influences the clinical judgment and inference-making process. Within a Repeated Measures design, 84 graduate students provided assessments of two different clinical vignettes that were each alternated to reflect a client with either individualist or collectivist values. All participants were also asked to provide qualitative assessments of the casefiles, and a total of seven participants discussed their clinical impressions in greater depth during two different focus groups that were conducted at a later date. The focus groups were organized around four broad-based themes that were intended to clarify the study's earlier findings, and shed light on the processes underlying participants' clinical assessments. / Results from this study suggest that clinicians do tend to view individualism as psychologically healthier than collectivism. While the findings indicate that clinicians tend to pathologize collectivism more in men than in women, factors other than gender also appear to interact with individualism-collectivism values to impact clinical assessment. Implications of these findings, as well as proposed directions for future research within the context of this study's limitations, are discussed.

The underlying assumptions of Western counselling and psychotherapy are based on Western European values such as individualism and autonomy. How applicable then are the goals and practices of Western counselling and psychotherapy when applied to non-Western cultures? This research study interviews eight Western-trained Chinese counsellors/psychotherapists who have experience with counselling both Western European clients and Chinese clients. It was found that the establishment of rapport using traditional Western counselling theories has varying amounts of success depending on (a.) the familiarity of the client to Western values, (b.) the familiarity of the counsellor/psychotherapist with Chinese values, (c.) the awareness to not apply knowledge of a client's culture in a stereotypical way, and (d.) the willingness of the counsellor/psychotherapist to be open, flexible, and patient in negotiating a process that fits comfortably with BOTH the particular counsellor/psychotherapist's cultural bias and the particular client's cultural bias.

The study examined the benefits of implementing multicultural music education into an elementary school's music curriculum. Conducted in a region with a culturally diverse student population, the study surveyed in-service music teachers and elementary students' parents on their perceptions of multicultural music education. Meanwhile, a set of experimental classes focused on Chinese music was taught to a diverse class of Grade 5 students to study their reactions and learning outcomes when studying non-Western music. Results indicate that (a) multicultural music needs to be better implemented in Ontario's music curriculum, (b) students receive non-Western music with enthusiasm, and (c) if taught responsibly, learning music from non-Western cultures can expand individual students' musical and cultural horizons, help eliminate stereotypes and discrimination in society, and possibly elevate the status of music education in schools.