The purpose of this study is to explore care in Ontario, Canada from the perspective of patients. I took on the roles of both a patient and a researcher, exploring the current state of care as a patient who has navigated the health system and as a researcher with background in disability studies and social geography. I use feminist auto/ethnographic methods, including observation and fieldnotes, journaling, memory, and notes in my patient records as data. I also conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews with seven individuals who underwent hip or knee replacement surgery and two family members who provided informal care to individuals post-operatively. I have organized data using three storylines: being patient, negotiating care, and mending fault lines. There are two layers of my analysis: our individual encounters with carers alongside our changing embodiment and the broader care relations of the system, increasingly influenced by neoliberalism. Care is increasingly informalized and commodified as austerity measures cut public financing for care and services are de-listed. Neoliberalism produces poor and precarious working conditions for nurses and personal support workers and this translates into insufficient care for patients and support for families. With care increasingly being shifted to the home and community, individuals and families are taking on more responsibility in terms of caring for family members. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / In this study I explore care in Ontario, Canada both as a patient and as a researcher with background in disability studies and social geography. I observed care and recorded fieldnotes as a patient researcher over thirty-two months and interviewed a total of nine people who underwent hip or knee replacement surgery about their experiences of care pre and post-operatively. Two daughters of participants also took part in interviews. I explore our individual stories of care and how the broader health system helps to shape our encounters with health care workers. Government reductions in funding for care and the de-listing of services translates into poor working conditions for health care workers and insufficient care for patients. The responsibility for care is increasingly being shifted from the state to individuals. My research reveals how patients manage within this fragmented system made up of formal, informal, and private care arrangements.

Yes / Considerable effort has been made in recent years to gain a better understanding of the effectiveness of different interventions for supporting breastfeeding. However, research has tended to focus primarily on measuring outcomes and has paid comparatively little attention to the relational, organisational and wider contextual processes that may impact delivery of an intervention. Supporting a woman with breastfeeding is an interpersonal encounter that may play out differently in different contexts, despite the apparently consistent aims and structure of an intervention. We consider the limitations of randomised controlled trials for building understanding of the ways in which different components of an intervention may impact breastfeeding women and how the messages conveyed through interactions with breastfeeding supporters might be received. We argue that qualitative methods are ideally suited to understanding psychosocial processes within breastfeeding interventions and have been under-used. After briefly reviewing qualitative research to date into experiences of receiving and delivering breastfeeding support, we discuss the potential of theoretically-informed qualitative methodologies to provide fuller understanding of intervention processes by focusing on three examples: phenomenology, ethnography and discourse analysis. The paper concludes by noting some of the epistemological differences between qualitative methodologies and the broadly positivist approach of trials, and we suggest there is a need for further dialogue as to how researchers might bridge these differences in order to develop a fuller and more holistic understanding of how best to support breastfeeding women.

Advancements in computer technology are making video conferencing a viable communication medium for desktop computers. These same advancements are changing the structure and means by which information workers conduct business. From a human factors perspective, however, the study of new communication technologies and their relationships with end users presents a challenging research domain. This study employed two diverse research approaches to the problem of reduced video frame rate in desktop video conferencing. In the first study, a psychophysical method was used to evaluate video image quality as a function of frame rate for a series of different scenes. Scenes varied in terms of level of detail, velocity of panning, and content. Results indicate that for most scenes, differences in frame rate become less detectable above approximately 10 frames per second (fps), suggesting a curvilinear relationship between image quality and frame rate. For a traditional conferencing scene, however, a linear increase in frame rate produced a linear improvement in perceived image quality. High detail scenes were perceived to be of lower quality than the low detail scenes, while panning velocity had no effect. In the second study, a collection of research methods known as ethnography was used to examine long-term use of desktop video by collaborators in a real work situation. Participants from a graduate course met each week for seven weeks and worked on a class project under one of four communication conditions: face-to-face, 1 fps, 10 fps, and 25 fps. Dependent measures included interviews, questionnaires, interaction analysis measures, and ethnomethodology. Recommendations are made regarding the utility and expense of each method with respect to uncovering human factors issues in video-mediated collaboration. It is believed that this research has filled a significant gap in the human factors literature of advanced telecommunications and research methodology. / Ph. D.

This dissertation represents a product of research conducted in 2004-2005 examining the curriculum network of an elementary teacher education program at a large public university in the United States. Using ethnographic data (e.g., interviews with preservice teachers and faculty, observations in and outside of coursework, and other artifacts), I address the questions of how preservice teachers characterized relationships between teacher education program components, how those characterizations varied and changed, and how preservice teachers explained the value or relevance of program components to teaching. I discuss how preservice teachers shaped their understandings of main program emphases. I describe how they tended to experience closer correspondence between program recommendations and the policies and philosophies in certain schools and classrooms in suburban county schools near the university compared to the policies and philosophies in certain schools and classrooms they identified as having, for example, fewer resources (e.g., funds, manipulatives). I make the case that the program-based philosophies developed by and for the preservice teachers helped to coordinate context-specific meanings and relevance for program components and further to construct failures of the kind where either (1) schools interfered with the accomplishment of program objectives or (2) program objectives proved unrealistic for schools. Without intending to, and perhaps even contrary to certain program intentions, program suggestions treating instruction as context-independent tended to favor middle-class White children and to marginalize urban or diverse schools and classrooms, or schools having more limited resources, as viable places to engage in program-recommended practices for good teaching. These results have potential implications for practice in teacher education and mathematics education and also have relevance to discussions of ongoing standards-based teacher education and mathematics education reforms. I offer that these results help to reveal certain limitations of popular ways of defining and researching preservice teachers' learning and teacher education program coursework and fieldwork relationships. I raise the question of whether teacher educators or researchers might benefit from considering how to more substantively integrate curriculum and give greater attention to place and to the broader socio-political goals we aim to accomplish through our work. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this project was two-fold. First the intent was to learn about the strengths of caregivers and bring the more latent view of caregivers as "strengthed" rather than stressed to the forefront. Second, the study explored the usefulness of applying a competency-based therapy approach to caregiver issues and experiences. Specifically, twelve caregivers of adults were self-referred and participated in a weekly group over the course of a six week time frame. The study addressed a gap of a strength discourse in the literature on adult caregivers, and also provides important information about the breadth of the applicability of a competency-based therapy approach with older adults in a group setting. A qualitative research design was employed, the approaches of ethnography and action research were the specific types of qualitative methods for this project. An analysis was performed of qualitative data that consisted of transcripts of fieldnotes and audiotaped focus group interviews. Six major themes that emerged from the analysis of the data included: self-care, guidance, togetherness, separation, relationship with family members, and caregivers as experts. These themes are discussed as they relate to caregiver strengths. Suggestions for future research and for clinical practice are considered in conjunction with the need to provide valuable information about family enrichment with caregivers, and new interventions that build on a strength discourse. / Ph. D.

This dissertation presents a study of the design and use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) in education. It concentrates on a specific type of Internet-based CMC called asynchronous structured discourse (ASD). Using ethnographic methods and data from real-word case studies. this research focuses on three related problems. First, the effective application of any technology (like ASD) within any domain of complex practice (like education) requires collaboration between technology specialists and domain practitioners. This research studies both the techniques of collaborative design and the relationship between collaborators within the process. Second. while the use of computer networks in education offers obvious benefits (e.g., allowing the separation of students in time and space) much remains to be learned about the more subtle possibilities and effects of ASD (and CMC, in general) in education. This study focusses on the social. motivational. and organizational possibilities and effects of ASD applications. Finally. a meta-level focus of this research is assessing the utility of ethnography for computer application design and research. Design process results include the following argument for effective collaborative design: 1) The object of collaborative design should include the pedagogical activity, as well as the technological system; 2) Scenarios are particularly useful as activity design representations (but. must be augmented with other representations of system design); 3) Collaborative design includes an inherent power asymmetry insofar as technologists define and orchestrate the methodology; 4) But, educators and technologists can and should design together in direct collaboration. Results regarding ASO applications include the following argument for effective use: 1) ASO applications provide an effective means to transcend the traditional classroom social structure; 2) But, they should be used as a complementary medium within educational activities (not as a replacement for face-to-face interaction): 3) They can inject writing into instruction in an unobtrusive and authentic form; 4) And, they help shift the paradigm of learning from individual apprehension of knowledge to social construction of knowledge. Finally, this dissertation demonstrates that ethnographic methods can be effective for application design and research. In particular. it defines and demonstrates a specific methodology for ethnography-based collaborative design. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this study is to examine the social and political functions of the video halls in Kampala, Uganda, based on a field study conducted during two months in the end of 2011. 13 video halls in nine different areas of Kampala form the basis of this study, and the methods being used are observations and structured and semistructured interviews with video hall owners, attendees, street vendors and "people on the street". The video halls are then problematized and discussed through theories on (social) space: Michel Foucault's (1967/1984) concept of "other spaces" and heterotopia; David Harvey's (1996) dialectical approach to the production of space, and; Nick Couldry and Anna McCarthy's (2004) volume on the concept of MediaSpace. The study finds that the social space of the video hall is closely linked with questions of morale and “otherness”: the video hall is by many regarded an immoral place, where thieves gather and people do drugs. This frames the video hall outside of the "normal" social imaginary, even by many of the people attending the hall. The study also finds that the potential for political resistance or an alternative public sphere – one of the main features of Foucault's heterotopia – as seen in the video parlors in Nigeria (Okome 2007) do not seem to have any bearing in the Ugandan context. Factors such as the lack of educational films, and the moral contestation of the social space, is argued to be the cause of this, however the study also makes the argument that the video hall itself, as well as the academic field of film in general, has to be taken more seriously by the academia in Uganda in order to make sense of the functions and implications of this "othering" of the social space that is the video hall.

The identities of people residing in the vicinity of national borders are complex and affected by many factors, especially by narratives imposed by national governments through the national education system. The European Union, as a supranational organization, also provides narratives that expose individuals to globalized, versus national, ideals. This ethnographic case study asks how individuals living along the Macedonian-Bulgarian border, sharing strong ethnic and cultural ties, view their regional, national and European identities. The study finds that individuals have developed a strong attachment to their national identity. Many Bulgarians hold a strong vision based on historic claims to the Bulgarian Kingdom. Many Bulgarians see Macedonian as having been carved out of the ancient territory and therefore refer to the people as Bulgarians, thus denying their right to self-identify. Macedonians, on the other hand, choose not to refer to the 'other' as part of their own population, but rather as neighbors. They view their national identity is based on the idea of the country being 'attacked' by its neighbors and having to struggle for recognition in the world. The E.U. does not currently offer an alternative, as individuals have little attachment to their European identity related to E.U. membership. / Ph. D.

Participatory approaches to international and community development have gained significant popularity, and are commonly held to be intrinsically empowering processes. In the context of development, both participation and empowerment were borne of radical claims and democratizing goals, but over time, both concepts have been confused and misappropriated. The popularity of the terms participation and empowerment, coupled with the ambiguity of their meanings, illustrates a symptom of their co-optation away from their radical and political roots. This ethnographic case study explored the mechanics of the participatory approach and claims of empowerment within the experience of a non-governmental organization based in Chiapas, Mexico. This study aimed to investigate the linkages between participation and empowerment, in their original radical and theoretical forms, as well as in practice—addressing questions of whether and how participation may lead to empowerment. The organization's endeavors to create space for participatory learning for critical consciousness and self-sufficiency, as understood through 30 semi-structured interviews and three months of participant observation, provided insight into these questions and their conceptual underpinnings. I analyzed data by drawing upon Freirean critical pedagogy, critical theory, and theories of participation and participatory learning. Findings examine the influence of clientelism, Catholic liberation theology, and the Zapatista uprising on the ways rural campesinos develop critical consciousness and organize to dismantle systems of oppression. Findings illustrate examples of interactive participation and self-mobilization. The study serves to demonstrate the importance of cultural and historical contexts, and of solidarity and downward accountability within the praxis of participation and empowerment. / Master of Science in Life Sciences

Engineering undergraduate students have opinions and perceptions of engineering disciplines and engineering undergraduate students do not always matriculate and graduate in precisely the same discipline. Understanding how these two characteristics of engineering undergraduate students interact to inform behaviors is important for engineering educators and administrators to increase and improve recruitment and retention among their students. This dissertation approached each characteristic of engineering students, first separately and then together. A nationwide survey of undergraduate engineering students found significant differences in how students perceive various engineering disciplines along several paired-term anchored scales. These differences were equally significant when scores were considered in terms of discipline-membership. Membership was found to lead to higher scores for Difficulty and Friendliness compared to scores of non-members for any given specific discipline. Using historical data, transfer paths of students into, out of, or within engineering were identified by frequency of occurrence as either the origin of a transfer or the destination of a transfer. Industrial Engineering was found to be considerably more frequently experienced as a destination of transfers, regardless of whether the origin degree program was another engineering discipline or from outside of engineering. Conversely, Aerospace Engineering was considerably more frequently experienced as an origin of transfers. Additionally, the transfer path relationship between Computer Engineering and Electrical Engineering was investigated. Combining these two characteristics of engineering students—that of having opinions of engineering disciplines and that of having the potential to transfer between degree programs— an ethnographic research methodology was implemented. Factors unrelated to grade performance were identified as common program-change instigators, including personal interest considerations and predicted career opportunities. Ultimately, this dissertation contributes to an understanding of how perceptions of engineering disciplines and degree program transfer behavior affects undergraduate engineering student experiences.