The South African mining sector, once the bedrock of the economy, has been in decline this century while other countries have experienced growth in this sector. The mining sector in South Africa makes a significant contribution to the South African economy through direct and indirect jobs, taxes, royalties, skills development and foreign exchange revenue. The decline of this sector is concerning given its potential for employment, taxes and foreign exchange in a South Africa in great need of all three. Gold, PGMs1, coal and iron-­‐ore account for about 81% of South Africa’s mining output. The price, demand and production of these four commodities in the 21st century will be established as a benchmark and South Africa’s production will be tested against this. Mixed method research using secondary quantitative data and a qualitative survey will be utilised to test the hypotheses. Quantitative secondary data is used to establish price and production trends. A qualitative survey conducted with key stakeholders in the mining sector identifies opinions and reasons for the South African mining trends. This study confirms the important role of institutions in creating certainty and encouraging investment. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / zkgibs2015 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / Unrestricted

The purpose of this study was to provide an initial evaluation of the effect of ‘Together for Sweden’s (TFS) storytelling method regarding anti-religious prejudice, based on a social identity perspective. Furthermore, the aim was to understand the possible self-perceived changes that the storytelling method contributes to regarding anti-religious prejudice. The study applied a mixed-method approach with a quasi-experimental design. The quantitative data collection consisted of a pre-and posttest with an experiment and control condition. The qualitative data collection consisted of semi-structured interviews with participants from the experiment condition. The quantitative results point to a positive self-perceived change in anti-religious prejudice. However, the change was small and not statistically significant in relation to the control condition. The qualitative find suggests that for some participants, the storytelling could provide an opportunity for a positive intergroup contact, counter-examples, counter-stereotypic information as well as addressing the categorization process through multiple and shared group memberships. The qualitative findings also point to a change regarding the view of religious people but not concerning the view of religion. This, together with a mixed response regarding affective shifts and a lack of intentional shifts, can help to explain the quantitative results. The findings of the study address the need to evaluate prejudice-reduction intervention in a school context as well as the need to test a social identity perspective outside a laboratory context. It also provided a first and tentative assessment of TFS’ storytelling method, which can contribute to a further adjustment of the method or future in-schools interventions.

abstract: Over the last decade, post-secondary international student enrollment has grown in the United States (US). In part, this growth has been facilitated by an increasing number of third-party recruitment partnerships; wherein US universities sign agreements to allow parties to engage in the recruitment and advising of students. By creating and expanding partnerships the university seeks to enroll more students at their university. With these additional parties involved in the advising process, it is more important than ever that students have as much information as possible to make an enrollment decision that makes them feel like they are members of the campus community and that they belong. To attain feelings of membership and belonging the university staff and faculty should be reaching out to students early in their academic career about the resources that are likely to enhance their feelings of membership and belonging at university. To understand and improve students’ feelings of membership and belonging the researcher developed a mixed-method intervention that included a control and experimental group. All groups completed a pre-posttest survey. The experimental group was exposed to 1:1 belongingness advising sessions and debriefing interviews. Twenty-two first-year international students participated in the study. The intervention had two objectives: 1) understand how a semester-long advising program, in the students first-year, enhanced international students feeling of membership and belonging at the university; and what components of the program were most effective and 2) based on how students were recruited to university, how did they differ in their developing feelings of belongingness and membership. The intervention was informed by agency theory, dropout model, and previous research on students’ feelings of membership and belonging. The results suggested that students in the experimental group were more likely to feel like members of the university when compared to their control group peers. Additionally, the results suggest that students in the experimental group were able to build relationships, knowledge, and support systems that enhanced their feelings of belonging. The discussion explains these outcomes as they are related to the research questions and extant literature. It also summarizes, implications for practice, future research, and lessons learned. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2020

abstract: Neighborhoods are important aspects of the adolescent and family ecology. Cultural developmental perspectives posit that neighborhood environments contain both promoting and inhibiting characteristics for ethnic-racial minoritized populations (García Coll et al., 1996). Historically, neighborhood researchers have approached Latino neighborhoods from a deficit perspective. Thus, there is limited research about how Latino neighborhoods support Latino youth development and family processes. In my dissertation, I examine both the promoting and inhibiting aspects of Latino identified neighborhoods for adolescent development. In study 1, I prospectively examined a model in which Mexican-origin parents’ perceptions of social and cultural resources in neighborhoods may support parents to engage in higher levels of cultural socialization and, in turn, promote adolescents’ ethnic-racial identity (ERI). Findings suggest neighborhood social and cultural cohesion in late childhood promoted middle adolescents’ ERI affirmation via intermediate increases in maternal cultural socialization. Similar patterns were observed for ERI resolution, but only for adolescents whose mothers were born in the United States. Findings have critical implications for how neighborhoods support parents’ cultural socialization practices and adolescents’ ERI. In study 2, I used a convergent mixed methods research design to compare and contrast researchers’ neighborhood assessments collected using systematic social observations (e.g., physical disorder, sociocultural symbols) with adolescents’ qualitative neighborhood assessments collected by semi-structured interviews with Mexican-origin adolescents. Using quantitative methods, I found that researchers observed varying degrees of physical disorder, physical decay, street safety, and sociocultural symbols across adolescents’ neighborhood environments. Using qualitative methods, I found that adolescents observed these same neighborhood features about half the time, but also that they often layered additional meaning on top of distinct neighborhood features. Using mixed methods I found that, in the context of high spatial concordance, there was a high degree of overlap between researchers and adolescents in terms of agreement on the presence of physical disorder, physical decay, street safety, and sociocultural symbols. Lastly, adolescents often expanded upon these neighborhood environmental features, especially with references to positive and negative affect and resources. Overall, findings from study 2 underscore the importance using mixed methods to address the shared and unique aspects of researchers’ objectivity and adolescents’ phenomenology. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Family and Human Development 2020

Aufgrund der demografischen Entwicklung in Deutschland ist mit einem wachsenden Anteil von Patienten mit Migrationshintergrund in der stationären Versorgung im Krankenhaus zu rechnen. Gerade in der Pflege ist die Interaktion mit Patienten von besonderer Bedeutung und insbesondere in der Interaktion von Menschen mit unterschiedlichem kulturellen Hintergrund kann es zu Problemen kommen. In solchen Situationen benötigen Pflegekräfte Interkulturelle Kompetenz, die bisher jedoch kaum in arbeitspsychologischen Studien erforscht wurde. Die Forschungsfragen lauten: Wann wird Interkulturelle Kompetenz in der Pflege erforderlich, was zeichnet sie aus und wie kann Interkulturelle Kompetenz in der Pflege messmethodisch erfasst werden? Als Methoden kommen hauptsächlich qualitative Methoden (Fokusgruppen, Leitfadeninterviews) und in geringerem Umfang quantitative Methoden (Fragebogen) zum Einsatz, die in einem Mixed-Method-Forschungsdesign verbunden werden. Es wurden sowohl Pflegekräfte als auch Patienten mit Migrationshintergrund und Experten für interkulturelle Pflege befragt. Bedeutende Erkenntnisse aus der qualitativen Studie sind, neben den typischen interkulturellen Überschneidungssituationen, die Fähigkeit zur interkulturellen Empathie, die Wichtigkeit der Berücksichtigung der religiösen Bedürfnisse der Patienten und die Beachtung von sprachlichen Barrieren. Die Ergebnisse werden in der Diskussion auf ihren jeweiligen Bezugsrahmen (Organisation, Patient, Ressourcen der Pflegekraft) und ihre Pflegespezifität hin analysiert. Hinsichtlich der methodischen Diskussion sind insbesondere die Problematik der Rekrutierung und die angemessene Befragung der Patienten mit Migrationshintergrund zu nennen. Aus einem Teil der qualitativen Ergebnisse wurde der Situative Fragebogen Interkulturelle Kompetenz Pflege (SFIKP) entwickelt. Die vorhandenen Fallgeschichten ergaben einen Schwerpunkt auf türkische und muslimische Patienten. Eine Pilotversion wurde an einer Stichprobe von Pflegekräften erprobt. Nach einer Evaluation der Testkonstruktion kann der SFIKP in seiner jetzigen Form nicht als eigenständiges Messinstrument zur Erfassung der Interkulturellen Kompetenz bei Pflegekräften empfohlen werden. Als Forschungsinstrument oder als Grundlage für Trainings könnte der SFIKP jedoch Verwendung finden. Die Zusammenführung aus qualitativen und quantitativen Ergebnissen hat einige neue Aspekte ergeben. So sollte in der interkulturellen Pflegesituation dem Prozess der Entscheidungs- und Lösungsfindung durch die Pflegekraft besondere Beachtung geschenkt werden. Außerdem wird diskutiert, unter welchen Bedingungen Interkulturelle Kompetenz aus dem Handlungserfolg abgeleitet werden kann, was direkte Auswirkungen auf die Messbarmachung dieses Konstrukts hat.

abstract: The focus of this study was to investigate better learning opportunities at the epicenter of field-level aircraft maintenance technical training for the United States Air Force. While narrow in focus, this project may be informative for training communities across diverse industries. The intent of this project is to improve the transfer of training from the classroom to the workplace by implementing a blended learning classroom pedagogy, successively enhancing class time for more meaningful construction of student-centered learning. This mixed-methods research study utilized surveys, observations, and interviews with students, instructors and supervisors to explore perceptions that aircraft maintainers have about the current and potential value of curriculum. The first significant finding was that aircraft maintainers do believe there is opportunity to improve the current rote transmission style of curriculum and make it more learner-centered. The second significant finding is that aircraft maintainers do see a blended learning classroom as a means to explore the curriculum in more depth and improve the transfer of their knowledge in a more meaningful way to the workplace. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2019

This study investigates how grammar is represented in four textbooks for Swedish 2 in upper secondary school. The research questions to be answered are “To what extent is grammar represented in the textbooks for Swedish 2” and “What conceptions of grammar are reflected in the textbooks for Swedish 2?”. Conceptions are operationalised with the ideas of grammar as product and process. The study has a mixed method approach, which means that the study uses both a quantitative and a qualitative method. The results show that the representation of grammar is varied in the four textbooks. Two of the texbooks include grammatical content in more than a third of the analyzed pages. Moreover, the results show that all of the textbooks reflect a high amount of grammar as product. Grammar as process is included to a high degree in three out of four textbooks as they continually incorporate grammar in other subjects.

Cette thèse étudie l'évolution des carrières, des rôles et de l’influence des Directeurs Financiers au regard du processus de financiarisation en France. En analysant la financiarisation et les Directeurs Financiers à travers une approche institutionnaliste, cette recherche présente leurs relations réciproques depuis les années 1980. Alors que le processus de financiarisation a influencé l'évolution de la profession de Directeur Financier, ces derniers ont de leur côté contribué à la financiarisation de différentes manières. Au moyen d'une approche méthodologique mixte, basée sur 1 040 Curriculum Vitae de Directeurs Financiers et 58 entretiens, cette thèse offre une étude approfondie et à grande échelle de l'évolution des Directeurs Financiers au regard du processus de financiarisation en France. / This dissertation investigates the evolution of the Chief Financial Officers’ (CFO) backgrounds, roles and agencies along with the financialization process in France. By studying financialization and CFOs from an institutional perspective, it presents their reciprocal relationships since the 1980s. While the financialization process has influenced the evolution of the CFO profession, CFOs also have various repercussions on financialization. Thanks to 1,040 resumes of CFOs and 58 interviews analyzed through a multiphase mixed method, this dissertation offers both a large scale and an in-depth study of the evolution of the CFOs along with the financialization process.

A renewed focus on foreign language (FL) learning and speech for communication has resulted in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) software developed with Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR). ASR features for FL pronunciation (Lafford, 2004) are functional components of CALL designs used for FL teaching and learning. The ASR features available with the TeLL me More French software provides pronunciation, intonation and speaking practice and feedback. ASR features are examined quantitatively through French student performance of recorded ASR-scored speech and compared with human raters of the same produced speech samples. A comparison of ASR scores to human raters considers the validity of ASR-scored feedback for individualized and FL classroom instruction. Qualitative analyses of student performances and perceptions of ASR are evaluated using an online survey linked to individual pronunciations and performance and examined for positive impact (Chapelle, 2001) and usability.

The interest in football around the world is ever increasing with more than half of the world’s population watching the last World Cup. The amount and the granularity of information available about football is endless. In recent years the advent of new technology has led to possibilities to track and log all aspects of the game, making advanced statistics available to everyone. The focus of the research community of football statistics today is on professionals as the end recipient. The knowledge, requirements and goals of enthusiasts and experts differ which means that the design of statistics targeted at the different groups should differ. This design study took an exploratory mixed methods approach to study how to design football statistics for enthusiasts. A variety of methods were used including, expert interview, survey and interviews with 8 football enthusiasts led to design suggestions of statistics which were evaluated in two phases. The iterative approach led to general guidelines of how to design football statistics, and 12 design suggestions of visualizations of statistics. The visualizations function as instantiations of the knowledge gained throughout the study. The design suggestions communicate information about how the conclusions drawn in the study can be practically implemented in a smartphone application about football statistics. The results of the study can be used to guide the design of football statistics for enthusiasts.