Social perspectives on natural resources management have become an increasingly valuable part of natural resources management decision making, especially at the policy or governance level. However, due to the range of social contexts that can exist around management questions, not every technique for incorporating stakeholders into management is suited for every management problem. My research examines the social landscape around chronic wasting disease (CWD) management on the Canadian prairies in order to identify a way forward for stakeholder involvement in CWD management. CWD is a prion disease that results in neurodegeneration and death in cervids. CWD has the potential for broad social impact because it infects elk and deer, species which are both hunted and ranched. Furthermore, management and monitoring efforts in free-ranging cervids frequently incorporate hunting activity. Q methodology was used to survey stakeholders in Saskatchewan and Manitoba and synthesize perspectives about stakeholder understanding of CWD as a problem and preferences for potential solutions. The perspectives that emerged emphasized the importance of increasing knowledge about CWD and a generalized trust in government management, coupled with a desire for stakeholder consultation under the auspices of government leadership. I found that CWD management may not be ready for stakeholder spearheaded management activity due to ambivalence and uncertainty among stakeholders, but stakeholder involvement in CWD management can still offer valuable insight for managers. This is especially notable in light of the recent loss of Saskatchewan’s CWD monitoring program.

O objetivo desta tese é compreender a produção da qualidade quando aplicada no campo de atividade do professor universitário. A questão da qualidade é um dos desafios centrais da educação universitária no Brasil pelo caráter estratégico de seus resultados para a nação. Dessa educação emerge a capacidade das futuras gerações. A definição de qualidade é uma tarefa difícil dentro de quase todas as ciências sociais e muito mais difícil dentro do contexto da educação universitária que é frequentemente dividida por ideologias, tradições e critérios ontológicos. Esta tese produziu um resumo da literatura tentando responder a questão do que é qualidade no ensino superior quando aplicada ao desempenho do docente universitário. A literatura não apresenta consenso a essa questão, mas oferece cinco dimensões para a consideração do problema. O conceito do ensino superior, a gestão do professor, o comportamento do professor, o desenvolvimento e atualização do professor e as condições do trabalho constituem as fontes de ações para a produção de qualidade no desempenho rotineiro do professor. Este estudo foi complementado com uma investigação empírica dirigida para a identificação dos fatores que estão disponíveis e acessíveis aos coordenadores e professores da universidade e para contribuir para a produção da qualidade. Esta investigação empírica foi desenhada e realizada através da escala Q que é um método frequente nos estudos das teorias e ideologias que estão implícitas em papéis, identidades, fatores e critérios. A escala Q foi construída sobre as proposições encontradas na literatura que identificavam as cinco dimensões e aplicada a uma população de professores e coordenadores das instituições universitárias. Os resultados revelaram fatores que contribuem com a qualidade do ensino universitário em quatro das cinco dimensões. Conceito do ensino superior, comportamento do professor, desempenho e atualização do professor e condições de trabalho. A única dimensão que não alcançou significância na produção de qualidade foi a gestão dos professores por parte dos coordenadores. Futuras investigações deverão ser dirigidas para aprofundar a força destas dimensões / The objective of this thesis is the understanding of the production of quality when applied to the realms of the higher education institution. The issue of quality became one of the central challenges of Brazilian higher education institutions because of the strategic character of its outcomes to the nation. Out of it emerge the skills, competencies and knowledge of future generations. The definition of quality is a difficult task in most of the social sciences fields and even more difficult within the context of education which is often split by ideologies, traditions and ontological criteria. This thesis summarized the discussion presented by the literature trying to answer the question what is quality when that concept is applied to the performance of lecturers at the any university degree. The literature has hardly a consensual view and offers five dimensions to figure it out. The concept of higher education, the management of the lecturers, the lecturers behavior, the lecturers development and updating and the working conditions were understood as the main sources of actions for the production of quality in lecturers ordinary performance. This study was complemented by an empirical research directed to the investigation of the factors that are at the hands of managers and lecturers and contribute significantly to the quality of lecturers` performance. That investigation was designed and achieved through the Q Scale as a method quite popular for the study of theories and ideologies underlying roles, identities, factors and criteria. A Q-Scale was build out of the literature on the grounds of the five dimensions above mentioned and applied to a population of lecturers and pedagogic supervisors taken from two institutions. The results came across with factors related to the conception of higher education, faculty performance, working conditions and the faculty development. The only dimension which did not reach level of significance in its contribution to quality was the faculty management. Future research should investigate deeper on those dimensions

The cooperativism executed in the CPA (Land-production Cooperatives), stimulated by the MST (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra Movement of Landless Workers), where possession of land and production are under the control of the cooperative, represents a model which is scarcely employed and, throughout the years these CPAs presented internal conflicts among some of its members, that preferred to work individually. The goal of this research is to analyze the subjectivity of rural settlement members located in the county of Charqueadas (RS), divided in two groups: i) those that are working under the integral perspective, (CPA) and ii) those who choose to work individually. The idea was to know the general point of view of these groups in relation to the individual and collective use of land. For this, we used the Q methodology that combines qualitative techniques such as in-depth interviews and qualified informers and quantitative techniques such as factorial statistical analyses of data. In the implementation of the methodology people were interviewed as qualified informers, where the most important set of 41 statements were selected and presented to 40 members of the rural settlement, divided between 20 from the integral model (CPA) and 20 from the individual model. The 41 statements were classified according to their importance in a pre-determined table and the data was analyzed and interpreted using a special statistical software program called PCQ. The results of the factorial analysis show that 5 factors emerged: i) one factor completely in favor of the individual approach, and ii) four factors in favor of collective approaches, with differences among them. In this sense, one factor was completely pro collective, and three factors were pro collective but with criticism to the model. According to the affirmations, the pro individual group believes the CPA experience was a mistake. For the other 4 pro collective groups, 1 of them was satisfied with the organization, and the other 3 groups demonstrated criticism and safeguard to collective model. The pro collective group and the pro individual group selected the same statements but were ranked inversely. It was also observed that in the other three collective groups there were insatisfactions in some aspects of the functioning of the CPA and that improvements could be made in these areas: i) solidarity among members, ii) inducement and centralization in the decision making process, and iii) encouragement to productivity. / O cooperativismo praticado nas CPA (Cooperativas de Produção Agropecuária) estimuladas pelo MST (Movimento dos Trabalhadores rurais Sem Terra), onde a posse da terra e a organização da produção estão sob controle da cooperativa, representa um modelo de assentamento pouco praticado, e com o passar dos anos as CPAs existentes enfrentaram conflitos como desagregações e divisões no quadro de associados, com uma parcela preferindo trabalhar individualmente. O objetivo desta pesquisa é analisar a subjetividade dos assentados no município de Charqueadas - RS, que estão divididos entre dois grupos: i) os que produzem coletivamente em uma CPA e ii) os atuais individuais que preferiram sair da mesma. A idéia foi saber o ponto de vista destes grupos sobre o modelo coletivo e individualizado de produção da terra. Para isso empregando a metodologia Q, a qual combina técnicas qualitativas como entrevistas em profundidade com informantes qualificados e técnicas quantitativas como as análises estatísticas do tipo fatorial sobre os dados. Na execução da metodologia foram entrevistados informantes qualificados de onde foram selecionadas as 41 afirmações mais importantes, apresentadas a uma amostra de 40 assentados, divididos entre 20 que estão no coletivo e 20 que passaram a trabalhar individualmente. As 41 afirmações foram classificadas de acordo com sua importância em uma grade pré-estabelecida e suas respostas foram analisadas e interpretadas mediante um programa estatístico especial de software chamado PCQ. Os resultados da análise fatorial mostram que 5 fatores emergiram: i) um fator totalmente favorável ao modo de trabalho individual, e ii) quatro fatores favoráveis ao modo de trabalho coletivo, mas com diferenças entre estes. Neste sentido, um fator totalmente favorável ao modo de trabalho coletivo e os outros três fatores coletivos, porém com críticas ao modelo. Pelas afirmações selecionadas, para o grupo do fator favorável ao trabalho individual a experiência na CPA foi um engano. Para os outros 4 grupos favoráveis ao trabalho coletivo, 1 totalmente pró-coletivo está muito satisfeito pela organização e conquistas adquiridas, e outros 3 grupos apresentam críticas e ressalvas ao coletivismo. O grupo favorável ao trabalho individual e o grupo totalmente prócoletivo selecionaram as mesmas afirmações, porém selecionadas completamente inversas sobre as que mais concordam e mais discordam. Foi constatado nos outros 3 grupos favoráveis ao coletivo que existem insatisfações em alguns aspectos no funcionamento da CPA e que poderiam ser melhorados como: i) maior solidariedade entre membros, ii) sobre decisões, alguns consideraram que as vezes ocorrem processos de induções e centralização na administração, e iii) um incentivo a produtividade.

Orientador: Linda Gentry El-Dash / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-23T14:37:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Nogueira_AlessandraSartori_D.pdf: 1587777 bytes, checksum: afbf4ec3cd89da3c253334b281178de7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: A finalidade deste estudo é investigar as percepções de alunos e professores de inglês como língua estrangeira (ILE) sobre o processo de aprendizagem de vocabulário. Nosso interesse por vocabulário é direcionado pela importância que vem recebendo nas últimas décadas, depois de um longo período de negligência. Assumindo que a exposição à língua-alvo promove a aprendizagem, buscamos compreender como essa exposição é aproveitada, do ponto de vista dos participantes. Para o estudo de percepções, encontramos na Metodologia Q a ferramenta adequada. Definida como um método para o estudo científico da subjetividade, a metodologia caracteriza-se por um conjunto de procedimentos que revelam os perfis existentes na comunidade investigada, agrupando os participantes de acordo com os pontos de vista que compartilham. Esses procedimentos incluem: (1) levantamento do Universo de Ideias, que são opiniões diversas sobre o assunto de interesse; (2) seleção de assertivas retiradas do Universo de Ideias; (3) apresentação das assertivas aos participantes, para que as distribuam num tabuleiro de acordo com o grau de concordância, distribuição esta chamada Classificação Q; (4) digitação dos dados em um software para análise estatística; (5) análise qualitativa interpretativista dos perfis revelados pela análise estatística. Para este estudo, o Universo de Ideias foi constituído por entrevistas individuais e grupos focais, conduzidos com professores e alunos, do ensino superior e médio públicos. Do Universo de Ideias, foram selecionadas 52 assertivas. A Classificação Q contou com a participação de 30 graduandos de cursos variados de uma universidade pública (todos frequentando algum curso de ILE), 16 alunos do terceiro ano do ensino médio de uma escola pública e 29 professores de inglês de vários segmentos da educação. Para cada uma dessas três comunidades, foi conduzido um Estudo Q separadamente (Q1-Q3). Revelados os perfis pela análise estatística, fez-se uma análise qualitativa levando em conta as concordâncias e rejeições que delineiam um perfil. Para cada perfil, atribuímos uma expressão que resumisse seus interesses mais proeminentes. Os resultados revelaram os seguintes perfis em cada comunidade: alunos universitários (Q1): Foco no Aproveitamento das Oportunidades, Liberdade na Escolha do que Aprender, Foco na Gramática, Foco na Aprendizagem Diretamente na LE sem Uso da LM, Foco no Apoio da LM; alunos do ensino médio (Q2): Foco na Utilidade, Foco na Orientação da Aprendizagem, Foco na Leitura; professores (Q3): Foco na Gramática, Foco na Produção Livre, Foco na Desvalorização da Gramática, Foco na Diversidade. Entrevistas e questionários follow-up foram conduzidos com um representante de cada perfil, para confirmação da análise interpretativista. Um Estudo de Segunda Ordem (Q4), que reúne os dados dos Estudos Q1-Q3, foi realizado, o que permitiu uma comparação das percepções dos alunos com as dos professores. Os seguintes perfis emergiram no Estudo Q4: Foco na Produção, Foco na Liberdade e Foco na Mediação da LM. Neste trabalho, são consideradas questões históricas e sócio-ideológicas que influenciam as percepções dos sujeitos, e são apresentadas implicações para o ensino de ILE / Abstract: This study reports on the perceptions of students and teachers about the acquisition of vocabulary in English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Research in this area has increased in the past decades, although it was long neglected. Assuming that exposure to the target language can lead to acquisition, we seek to understand how this input is used, from the point of view of the participants. Q Methodology was used, as it allows the study of people's perceptions. It consists of procedures that provide the basis for a scientific study of subjectivity. Following the procedures leads to the emergence of a number of factors (points of view) of whatever community is being investigated. These procedures include the following steps: (1) identifying a Concourse of ideas, which consists of a large and diversified sample of opinions about the topic; (2) selecting a sample of statements (called the Q Sample) from the Concourse; (3) having participants sort the statements according to those they most agree and disagree with (the Q Sorting procedure); (4) entering the data for statistical analysis by computer software; (5) performing a qualitative analysis of the factors revealed by the statistical analysis. For this study, the Concourse was taken from statements made by individuals in individual interviews and focal groups composed of teachers and students from the university and high-school level. Fifty-two statements were chosen for the Q Sample. Q sorting was conducted with three communities, the first composed of 30 public university students from a variety of majors (all enrolled in EFL classes), the second composed of 16 public high-school seniors, and the third composed of 29 EFL teachers from various educational contexts. A separate Q Study was performed for each community (Q1-Q3). A qualitative analysis of each factor revealed by the statistical analysis was conducted. This analysis resulted in the assignment of a descriptive expression for each factor that summarizes the most prominent interests of the participants of that factor. The following factors emerged from each community: university students (Q1): Focus on Opportunities, Freedom to Choose What to Learn, Focus on Grammar, Focus on Learning Directly in the FL Without the Use of L1, Focus on the Support Provided by the Use of L1; high-school seniors (Q2): Focus on Usefulness, Focus on Orientation to Learn, Focus on Reading; teachers (Q3): Focus on Grammar, Focus on Uncontrolled Production, Focus on the Rejection of Grammar, Focus on Diversity. Follow-up interviews, based on a pre-prepared questionnaire, were conducted with one member of each factor to confirm our hermeneutic analysis. A Second-Order Study (Q4), which combined the data from the other three studies (Q1-Q3), made it possible to compare the perceptions of the students and teachers. The following factors emerged in the second-order study (Q4): Focus on Production, Focus on Freedom, Focus on Mediation of L1. Our analyses consider historical and socio-ideological issues that influence people's perceptions. Implications of these positions for Applied Linguistics are considered / Doutorado / Lingua Estrangeira / Doutora em Lingüística Aplicada

Retrofitting the UK domestic built environment presents an excellent opportunity to improve its energy performance. However, retrofitting homes is a complex challenge conflated by multiple factors. Due to this complexity, a shortfall exists between the full potential and realised adoption of energy efficiency measures in the UK, a phenomenon termed the ‘Energy Efficiency Gap’. While a number of technical or economic factors may help explain this gap, difficult to quantify factors, such as social motivations, barriers, and viewpoints towards energy are also significant and often under-emphasised in public policy. As such, in order to improve the understanding of the Energy Efficiency Gap and the uptake of future retrofit initiatives, this research adopted a socio-technical approach that considered social and technical retrofit factors together. Specifically, this research collected data from interviews, questionnaires, and a Q Study in the cities of Manchester and Cardiff, alongside a questionnaire that measured energy efficiency technology and behaviour preferences. An original contribution to knowledge was using the data to empirically identify motivations and barriers to adopting energy efficient technologies, as well as identifying household viewpoints towards energy use and linking them to retrofit technology and energy efficiency behaviour preferences. As a result of this research, specific policy recommendations are presented to help promote energy efficiency retrofits in the UK. This research was carried out as part of the Engineering & Physical Science Research Council and Sustainable Urban Environment research programme, “Re-Engineering the City 2020-2050 Urban Foresight and Transition Management (RETROFIT 2050)”.

Uncertainty about how chemicals affect human health and the environment, and shortcomings in current chemicals legislation, make it necessary to motivate chemical users to work actively with risk management in order to achieve a high level of protection. In this study, the drivers of chemical risk management have been investigated in order to find out how a pro-active work could be promoted. A Q-methodology study was performed online with 15 respondents at 10 different engineering companies in the Gnosjö region in Sweden. The respondents were part of the middle management and the local top management and had an environmental responsibility. Two groups with different views on drivers were identified. To comply with legislation was the main driver of the market-oriented group, while the plant-oriented group considered an improved work environment for employees as the main driver. A tendency to differences between how drivers were valued by middle management and local top management could be distinguished. The study indicated a need to motivate companies to stay ahead of legislation, as well as to enhance the understanding of the environmental impact that the operations have on the environment, and may be used as a basis for further studies of drivers of chemical risk management. / Osäkerhet om hur kemikalier påverkar människors hälsa och miljön samt brister i nuvarande kemikalielagstiftning gör att företag som hanterar kemikalier behöver motiveras till att arbeta aktivt med riskhantering för att en hög skyddsninvå ska kunna uppnås. I föreliggande studie har drivkrafterna bakom arbetet med riskantering av kemikalier undersökts i syfte att ta reda på hur ett proaktivt arbete skulle kunna främjas. En Q-metodologistudie genomfördes online med 15 respondenter på 10 olika verkstadsföretag i Gnosjöregionen i Sverige. Respondenterna utgjordes av personer på mellanchefs- och ledningsgruppsnivå med miljöansvar. Två grupper med olika syn på drivkrafter identifierades. Att uppfylla lagstifning var den viktigaste drivkraften för den marknadsorienterade gruppen, medan den fabriksorienterade gruppen betraktade en förbättrad arbetsmiljö för anställda som den viktigaste drivkraften. En tendens till skillnad i hur drivkrafter värderades på mellanchefs- och ledningsgruppsnivå kunde urskiljas. Studien indikerade ett behov av att motivera företagen till att ligga steget före lagstiftning, samt att öka förståelsen för verksamheternas påverkan på miljön och kan ligga till grund för fortsatta studier rörande drivkrafter bakom riskhantering av kemikalier.

The purpose of this thesis is to test the Q method applied in discursive analysis in public policy. The author will carry out research using available scientific literature dealing with the method and prepare a case study whose purpose will be to test the reliability of the method Q in a practical case. Promoters of the Q method argue that the uniqueness of the method rests in its resistance to the subjective influence of the researcher. The purpose of this work is therefore a practical verification of to what extent may the researcher's subjective stance at the selection of the default set of statements reflect on the overall result of the analysis.

People perceive the importance of ecosystem services in different ways, depending on their values, beliefs and needs. This study provides a nuanced understanding of the multiple ways stakeholder groups perceive the benefits derived from hydrologic services in the surrounding area of the "Gialova" coastal wetland in Messenia, Greece. The social-ecological system of this region depends on a steady flow of water-related ecosystem services and livelihoods are closely linked to agriculture and tourism. At the same time, these activities, along with climate change driven weather extremes, could affect regional water quality and availability. The objective of the study is to understand the stakeholders' key viewpoints on water-based ecosystem services (WES) and provide contextual information regarding the drivers affecting the identified WES. A "value pluralism" lens is applied to capture the multiple dimensions of values expressed by the participants of the study. The study's primary method is "Q-methodology", a participatory mixed-methods approach suitable for eliciting patterns of valuation that are held in common within a group. Thirty-two stakeholders participated in the study and the analysis highlighted five key perspectives, titled "Basic needs first", "Us vs. them", "Tradition and history", "Modern environmentalists" and "Ecocentric". The results indicate different perceptions of the importance of WES, alongside a range of multiple explanations of why the WES are important. The five perspectives were compared and they reflected divergent understandings of i) the nested nature of socio-ecological systems, ii) spatial perception of ecosystem services and, iii) trade-off between relational and instrumental values. The points of consensus and disagreement among the participants along with their perceptions of drivers of change, suggest promising leverage points for sustainable and inclusive water resource management. In addition, this empirical case study contributes methodological insights to the ecosystem services socio-cultural valuation body of literature.

The main aim of this thesis is to design a school educational programme for physics education at a combined lyceum. The thesis first gives a brief overview of the development of curriculum documents in the Czech lands from the 18th century to the present day and summarizes three trends in the philosophy of education regarding curriculum documents in order to base this design on an awareness of the broader context of trends in education. As the pupil's opinions are also important to us, the results of a Q-methodology study conducted on 22 pupils of a combined lyceum are also presented. They were asked to express their viewpoint for physics topics from the framework educational programme. Pupils of a Prague grammar school were also asked to the same thing, so we can compare their views with pupils of the combined lyceum. Moreover, future teachers were asked to try to estimate the views of the pupils of this lyceum. The school educational programme for physics education at the combined lyceum was designed at the end. We based this design on the previous parts of the thesis, the current revision of the framework educational programme for the combined lyceum, the wishes of the school management and the opinions and preferences of the current pupils of this school.

No description available.