Background. Long-term sick leave is one of the main risk factors for permanent exit out of the labour market. The longer the duration of sickness absence, the less likely sick leave conclusion. Objectives and Methods. The aims were to analyse possible determinants of sick leave conclusion and their relative impacts, to analyse the properties of two models for the assessment of sick leave conclusion, to study the impact of a multidisciplinary vocational intervention for sick leave conclusion in a high-risk group for long-term sick leave compared to a matched-control group, and to compare the patients’ own assessment on chance to sick leave conclusion within 6 months with the assessment of a team of rehabilitation professionals. A prospective cohort study of 943 patients aged 18 to 63 years, sickness certified at a Primary Health Care Centre in Sweden during 8 months in 2004, and follow-up for three years. Results. Significant determinants increasing time to sick leave conclusion were number of sick leave days the year before baseline, age and a psychiatric diagnosis (F in ICD-10). Concordance between actual sick leave conclusion and that predicted by a computer-based model was 73-76% during the first 28-180 days in a manual model, and approximately 10% units higher in a computer based model. Three nomograms provided detailed information on the probability on sick leave conclusion. Before intervention started, the rehabilitation group had a 73% higher sick leave conclusion rate than the control group but during the rehabilitation programme period, a 51% lower conclusion rate, and after there were no significant differences between the groups. The patients’ and the rehabilitation teams’ assessment scores were highly correlated (r=0.49).   Conclusions. Previous sick leave was the most influential variable associated with sick leave conclusion. A computer- based assessment model gave more detailed information on sick leave conclusion than a manual model. A multidisciplinary intervention declined sick leave in a high-risk group for long-term sick leave but after intervention there was no difference between groups. Patients’ own view on sick leave conclusion was highly correlated to the assessment of professionals’.

In the thesis the aim is to investigate different aspects of what teachers value when grading in Swedish physical education (PE) and to analyses how sociological background factors impact students’ grades. Grades in PE have included aspects other than those prescribed in the grading criteria, for instance motivation and effort. Teachers sometimes find their value-setting difficult to articulate and refer to a “gut feeling”. In order to explore both explicit and implicit forms of value-setting, the Repertory Grid interview technique is employed. The thesis includes four sub-studies, three interview studies with Swedish PE teachers and a fourth study based on registry data from the Swedish National Agency for Education. The data of all students leaving nine-year compulsory school in 2014 (n=95317) is analysed to explore how sociological background factors, such as migration background, parents’ education, school provider and gender, affect PE grades. The results reveal aspects of grading that are not detectable in the official description of the grading assignment and highlight problems that teachers need to address when grading. Four themes are discerned in the teachers’ grading practices: motivation, knowledge, confidence and social skills. The implementation of a new national curriculum with specified knowledge requirements seems to improve the alignment with the national criteria, but there is still a gap between policy and practice. The knowledge requirements for movement are often interpreted as performances in competitive sports, even if the teachers try to find other interpretations. The odds ratio for getting a higher grade in PE is greater for the variables migration background and parents’ education than for the other investigated variables. The concepts formulated by Bernstein are applied to explore the relations between teachers’ grading practices and cultural and political influences and to discuss how the tensions between different interests could affect teachers’ grading. The conclusion is that the gap between policy and practice confirmed in this study is related to tensions between the interests and purposes of different agents, all of whom strive to influence steering documents and practice. Cultural and political influences need to be considered and facilitate discussions about how to understand which knowledge is valued in PE and who has better possibilities to assimilate it. / Forskningslinjen Utbildning

Ekonomiska beslut tagna på magkänsla är ett av de fundamentala finansiella tillvägagångssätten.Beslut tagna på fel premisser kan leda till förluster. Genom att ta rätt beslut baserat på rätt premisser kan resultaten bli önskvärda. Det finns många teorier och förklaringsmodeller för att förklara beslutsfattande. Även om det är många teorier så är dessa uppdelade i huvudsak i två typer, normativ teori och deskriptiv teori. Den normativa stödjer rationellt beslutsfattande, den senare hur besluten tas av människor. Både dessa teorier speglar verkligheten, även beskrivande teori söker en viss nivå av rationalitet i det faktiska beslutsfattandet.  Studien utfördes med en kvalitativ metod, där underlaget baserats på intervjuer av sju beslutsfattare som tar någon form av finansiella beslut. Analysen av denna undersökning visade att magkänsla är något de undersökta respondenterna använt sig av vid beslut, ibland godtycklig och ibland med en stark underliggande bas av rationellt tänkande.  Uppsatsen kan visa att magkänsla enligt teorins begrepp är varierbar beroende på kunskapsområde. I stället går det att understryka att den används vid en mängd olika situationer. Slutsatsen visade att det är alltför många definitioner, distinktioner och grundläggande förutsättningar som var tvunget att redas ut först innan frågan kunde besvaras i sin helhet, då fråganinte gick att besvara på ett rimligt kortfattat sätt under tio veckor. Undersökningen visade att magkänsla och finansiellt beslutsfattandet trots det används enligt teorin och i denna undersökning. / Financial decisions made on gut feeling are one of the fundamental financial approaches. Decisions made on the wrong premises can lead to financial losses. By making the right decision based on the right premises, the results can be desirable. There are many theories and models to explain decision making. Although there are many theories, these are mainly divided into two types, normative theory and descriptive theory. The normative supports rational decision-making, the latter how people make decisions. Both of these theories reflect reality, even descriptive theory seeks a certain level of rationality in actual decision-making. The study was carried out using a qualitative method, where the data was based on interviews with seven decision-makers who make some form of financial decision. The analysis of this survey showed that gut feeling is something the surveyed respondents used in decisions, sometimes arbitrary and sometimes with a strong underlying basis of rational thinking. The essay can show that gut feeling according to the concept of the theory is variable depending on the area of knowledge. Instead, it can be emphasized that it is used in a variety of situations.The conclusion showed that there are too many definitions, distinctions and basic conditions that had to be sorted out first before the question could be answered in its entirety, as the question could not be answered in a reasonably concise manner for ten weeks. The study showed that gut feeling and financial decision making are nevertheless used according to the theory and in this study.

This study is about conception in the evaluation of financial assistance within the social services. The aim of this study is to describe and understand how social workers reason about variation, conception and local norms and its significance in the evaluation process. To reach this purpose we have conducted semi-structured interviews with eight social workers in which different themes were discussed and reasoned about. In order to understand and analyze our results we have studied/used the knowledge about tacit knowledge and street-level bureaucracy. Our results showed, as previous research states, that social workers do have conceptions about clients. Beyond that it also showed that they were well aware of the presence of the conception and that it is consistently processed with the help of colleagues. In addition to the help of colleagues the use of self-reflection was valuable to increase the awareness about conception. Furthermore the study showed that social workers believe that the conceptions are established through ones qualities and experiences. Social workers also suggest that these two variables contribute to their gut feeling, which they mean to be inevitable in the evaluation process. The study concluded that there is an ongoing reasoning about conception in the evaluation process of financial assistance among social workers and that social workers found it to be important to continuously discuss and deal with this issue.

En kris såsom Coronapandemin är en extrem situation som skiljer sig från normala förhållanden och kräver att rätt beslut tas. Det sätter press på chefen i en organisation att fatta ett beslut som många gånger är improviserat, dels på grund av tidspress och stress, dels på grund av att varje kris är unik där det är otydligare vad som är rätt och fel beslut. Det beslut som chefen tar under en kris kan många gånger skilja sig från hur beslutet hade tagits under en normal situation. Bör chefen göra mer analyser före beslutet tas eftersom krisen är så pass komplex eller bör chefen i stället förlita sig mer på sin magkänsla eftersom krisens komplexitet är alltför omfattande att göra en analys av? Det är en fråga som har fått mycket uppmärksamhet inom beslutsforskning, inte minst under extrema situationer och kriser såsom en pandemi. Syftet med denna studie är att öka förståelsen för hur chefer hanterar det improviserande beslutsfattandet som uppstår under en kris. I studien sätts analytiska beslut i kontrast till beslut baserade på intuition eller magkänsla, men öppnar samtidigt upp för en möjlighet att båda kan kombineras. Intervjuer har gjorts med chefer från olika branscher runtom i Sverige för att öka förståelsen för krisbeslut under Coronapandemin. Studien visar att de flesta chefer använder analys eller kombinerar analys med intuition. Endast ett fåtal chefer tenderar att enbart använda intuition. Vidare framkommer det att hur chefen betraktar krisen får en effekt på vilka beslut som tas. Betraktas pandemin enbart som ett hot väljer chefen att fokusera på interna aktiviteter som ämnar lindra pandemins negativa påverkan i organisationen och stödja medarbetarna. Väljer chefen att även betrakta pandemin som en möjlighet så öppnar det upp för externa aktiviteter som kan dra nytta av pandemin, såsom att expandera verksamheten till och bredda kontaktnätverken för nya affärsmöjligheter. I de allra flesta beslut framkommer det att de baseras på ett nära samspel och kommunikation med andra aktörer. Det är sällan som ett beslut tas utan någon som helst kommunikation med någon annan. Denna kommunikation tycks ha motarbetat de negativa effekter som olika biaser medför i besluten. Exempelvis är cheferna mindre partiska när andras perspektiv tas med i beaktning före ett beslut tas. Slutligen tror de flesta cheferna att denna pandemi har gjort dem till en bättre beslutsfattare och vissa tror att tidigare stressfulla situationer och kriser har varit till stor hjälp även under Coronapandemin. / A crisis such as the Covid-19 pandemic is an extreme situation that differs from day-to-day situations and require that the right decisions be made. Such extreme situations put pressure on managers in organizations to make decisions that many times are improvised, in part because of time pressure and stress, and in part because each crisis is unique and makes it harder to know what the right decision is. The decisions managers make during a crisis are often different from how those decisions would have been made during a normal situation. Should the manager analyse the situation before the decision is made because the crisis is so complex, or should the manager instead follow his or her gut feeling because the crisis’ complexity is too overwhelming to possibly analyse? Such a question has received much attention in research of decision making, not least under extreme situations and crisis such as a pandemic. The purpose of this study is to increase the understanding of how managers deal with the improvised decision making that occur during a crisis. This study contrasts analytical decisions to intuitive decisions, while at the same time opens for the possibility that both styles of decision making could be combined. Interviews have been made with managers from different industries throughout Sweden to increase the understanding of crisis decision making during the Covid-19 pandemic. The study shows that most managers use analysis or combine analysis with intuition. Few managers tend to use intuition only. Furthermore, this study shows that the way the manager views the crisis can affect the decisions that he or she makes. If the manager views the merely as a threat, he or she will tend to focus on internal activities aimed at reducing the negative effects caused by the pandemic on the organisation and their members. If the manager chooses also to view the pandemic as an opportunity, it can lead to external activities that can take advantage of the pandemic, by for example expanding their business and business network. The study shows that most decisions have been made through communication and interplay with other actors. Only few decisions have been made without any communication or interplay whatsoever. The fact that most decisions have been made through communication with others seem to have reduced the effect of different biases. Managers have become less partial when other people’s perspectives have been included in the decisions. Finally, most managers believe that this pandemic has made them a better decision maker, and some believe that prior stressful situations and crisis have greatly assisted them during this pandemic.

Background: This study investigates the role of gut feelings in early-stage venture investments, particularly in environments characterized by high uncertainty. By examining how both inexperienced and experienced investors utilize intuition, the research aims to uncover the cognitive and emotional foundations that influence investment decisions. Purpose: The research aims to understand how gut feelings impact investment decisions across different levels of investor experience. It compares the strategies of seasoned investors with those of novices, providing insights into how intuition and analytical reasoning are integrated. The objective is to offer practical guidance for investors on effectively combining gut feelings with analytical methods to navigate uncertain investment landscapes. Method: A multi-method qualitative approach was employed, combining semi-structured interviews and think-aloud protocols to capture real-time decision-making processes. Data were gathered from 11 investors, resulting in 14 hours of verbal protocols, which were subsequently analyzed using protocol analysis. A hypothetical investment scenario involving a fictional company, EcoPower Innovations, was used to elicit detailed responses from participants. Conclusion: The study finds significant differences in how gut feelings influence investment decisions based on the level of investor experience. Experienced investors skillfully blend intuition with data analysis, leveraging their expertise to manage uncertainty more effectively. In contrast, inexperienced investors tend to rely more on emotional impulses, demonstrating less integration of intuitive judgment with analytical reasoning. These findings highlight the importance of investor education in promoting the balanced use of gut feelings and analytical techniques, thereby improving decision-making in uncertain environments. Additionally, the research offers valuable insights for entrepreneurs on tailoring their approaches to potential investors based on their level of experience and expertise.

This thesis aims to develop a new methodological concept better to understand art and curating in a post-human setting. Departing from a post-humanist ontology, my initial idea was to analyse contemporary artworks dealing with food and trace and substantiate a figuration of the gut/intestinal system (connected to post-human notions as the ideas of trans- corporeality, vibrant matter, etc.) and how it could create a productive reading of these works. During my research on food-related art projects, I realised that the gut-figuration has broader implications and could function as a tool to understand the contemporary art world and curating at large, through a post-human lens. Accordingly, I suggest my thesis to be a contribution to what I would like to name an “intestinal turn”, a contemporary post-humanist, trans-corporeal understanding of art that could change how art is perceived and how the subjectivity of the artist, and curatorial work, could be understood today.

Denna studie handlar om lärarens dubbla uppdrag inom gymnasieskolans ekonomiprogram och är ännu en studie som visar på att uppgiftsorienterat/elevaktivt förhållningssätt ger läraren förutsättning att uppfylla Skollagens båda uppdrag, att ge eleverna kunskaper och demokratiska värden, samt känna lust i lärandet samtidigt. Utgångspunkt är Skollagen och Skolverkets texter.  Skollagen initierar att eleverna genom sin utbildning skall erhålla kunskaper och demokratiska värden. Det är detta som är studiens definition av det dubbla uppdraget.   Tanken bakom studien är; Skollagen initierar det dubbla uppdraget, detta realiseras via uppgiftsorienterat/ elevaktivt förhållningssätt vilket ger eleven en dialektisk utveckling. Syftet i studien är att undersöka om eleverna genom arbetssätten uppgiftsorienterat/elevaktivt förhållningssätt utvecklar de medierande metoderna ”förberedelser med informationsintag inför deliberativa samtal” och ”förmåga att delta i deliberativa samtal.”  Om detta skulle visa sig stämma skulle detta vara en användbar modell för att genomföra lärarens dubbla uppdrag samtidigt. Studiens frågeställningar: Utvecklar eleverna bättre översikt eller arbetsplanering av kursen? Upplever eleverna lust i lärandet? Påverkar metoden elevernas kunskapsresultat? Begrepp som är väsentliga för studien är; beslutsprocesser, det deliberativa samtalet, dialektik, elevaktivitet, grundprincipen offentlighet i det deliberativa samtalet, lärarens dubbla uppdrag, medierande metoder, påverka utbildningen till form och innehåll, uppgiftsorienterad pedagogik. Varför det är väsentligt att arbeta med de demokratiska värdena samt ge eleverna arbetssätt för att snabbt ta in information just inom Ekonomiprogrammet? Eleverna inom detta program kommer i sina framtida yrkesroller att delta i beslutsfattande i miljöer som inte präglas av demokratiska värden. Det är därför viktigt att de lär sig demokratiska arbetssätt som det deliberativa samtalet inför sitt yrkesliv. Det handlar om vilka ledare vi skapar inför framtiden. Eleverna måste även kunna arbeta självständigt med informationssökning i sina yrkesroller. Studien är utformad som en enkätstudie där två klasser, EK13 & EK14, som läser marknadsföring parallellt, ombeds utvärdera ett kursmoment (kurs1) som genomförs med ordinarie lärares ”vanliga” arbetssätt. Därefter genomförs ett kursmoment (kurs2) som är utformat i enlighet med uppgiftsorienterat/elaktivt förhållningssätt. Eleverna ombeds utvärdera även denna kurs med samma enkätformulär som för kurs1. Teoretisk referensram för utformning av studien är Egidius, Hansén, Nihlfors, Selberg, Vygotskij med fokus på elevinflytande och hur det kan påverka utveckling av kompetenser i form av kunskaper och demokratiska värden. Undersökningen visar att arbetssätten ger eleverna möjlighet att utveckla medierande metoder för ”förberedelser med informationsintag inför deliberativa samtal” och ”förmåga att delta i deliberativa samtal”. Det finns indikationer på att eleverna utvecklar en bättre arbetsplanering och översikt över kursen. Det finns starka indikationer på att eleverna upplever större lust i lärandet. Resultaten visar även att arbetssätten är effektiva med avseende på elevernas kunskapsutveckling. Därmed konstateras att uppgiftsorienterat/elevaktivt förhållningssätt är en användbar modell för att genomföra lärarens dubbla uppdrag samtidigt inom ekonomiprogrammet. / This study is about the teacher's dual mission in upper secondary school alignment economy and is yet another study showing that the approach joint influence in learning, gives teachers prerequisite to meet the two missions stated in the Education Act, to give students both skills and democratic values, and feel the desire of learning at the same time. Starting point of the study is the texts of the Education Act and the National Agency for Education. The Education Act initiates that the students through their training shall receive skills and democratic values. It is this which is the study's definition of the dual task. The idea behind the study is; The Education Act initiates the dual task, this is then realized through joint influence in learning, giving pupils a dialectical development. The purpose of the study is to investigate whether the students through joint influence in learning, develops the mediating methods "preparation of information intake before the deliberative dialogue 'and' ability to participate in deliberative dialogue." If this proved correct, this would be a useful model for implement teacher's dual mission simultaneously. The study's questions: Does students develop better overview or work planning of the course? Does the students experience desire for learning? Does the method affect the students' academic achievement? Concepts that are essential for the study; decision-making, the deliberative dialogue, dialectic, joint influence in learning, the principle of openness in the deliberative dialogue, the teacher's dual role, mediating practices, influencing the education in form and content, Achievement goal theory. Theoretical framework for the design of the study is Egidius, Hansen, Nihlfors, Selberg, Vygotsky, focusing on joint influence in learning and how this can affect the development of competencies in terms of knowledge and democratic values. Why is it essential to work with democratic values in alignment economy? Students of this program, will in their future professional roles, participate in decision making in environments that are not characterized by democratic values. It is therefore important that they learn democratic functioning as deliberative dialogue before his or hers professional life. It's about what kind of leaders we create for the future. The students must also be able to work independently with different kinds of information in their professional roles. The study is designed as a survey in which two classes, EK13 and EK14, which both read marketing in parallel, are asked to evaluate the course modules (course1) undertaken by the regular teachers 'usual' approach. Then a lesson is conducted (course2) which is designed in accordance with joint influence in learning. Students are asked to evaluate also this course with the same questionnaire as for course1. The survey shows that the working methods in joint influence in learning gives students the opportunity to develop mediating methods of "preparation of information intake before the deliberative dialogue' and 'ability to participate in deliberative dialogue'. There are indications that students develop a better work planning and overview of the course. There are strong indications that students experience a greater desire for learning. The results also show that working methods are efficient in terms of pupil achievement. Thus found that joint influence in learning is a useful model for implementing the teacher's dual mission simultaneously.