Thesis (Ph. D.)--Yale University, 1914. / Bibliography: p. 201.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1973. / Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 76-77).

Thesis (M.Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 188-204) Also available in print.

This study was concerned with developing and exploring a reasonably, comprehensive scheme of categories which describes, from the perspective of The University of British Columbia education faculty members, what facilitates and hinders their scholarly activity. The Critical Incident Technique was used to elicit 547 incidents from forty-one faculty members. These incidents were categorized in three separate ways: according to who facilitated and hindered (the reported responsible agent or agency), to what facilitated and hindered (the reported action of the agent or agency), and to the phase of scholarly activity that was reported facilitated or hindered. Six agent or agency, twenty-three action, and six phase categories were identified. An examination of the action categories themselves revealed that they could be grouped under the superordinate categories: direct, enable, and motivate. An examination of the frequency of reported incidents in categories permitted the identification of relationships among agent or agency, phase, and action categories. Several types of evidence provided support for the reliability and validity of the category schemes. From an examination of the findings as a whole, six conclusions were drawn. First, not all action categoriesare relevant for every person, project or phase. Second, not all agent or agency categories are involved to a noticeable extent with every action category. Third, the action categories are interrelated. Fourth, the action categories are bipolar in the sense that each actually does contain or may plausibly be said to contain both facilitating and hindering events. Fifth, the action categories happen or could happen as part of everyday university life. Sixth, there is evidence to suggest that the action categories are useful. Future studies might: 1) undertake further studies which will more fully explore and validate the action categories; 2) determine to what extent the action category scheme applies to other faculties of education and other faculties; 3) use alternative methods to confirm relationships among action, agent or agency and phase categories; 4) examine how the action category scheme is affected by diverse types of change; and 5) determine how an administrator can best accomplish the task of motivating, enabling, and directing scholarly activity. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

This work is focused on the measurement and prevention of procrastination behavior among college level introductory physics students completing online assignments in the form of mastery-based online learning modules. The research is conducted in two studies. The first study evaluates the effectiveness of offering students the opportunity to earn a small amount of extra credit for completing portions of their homework early. Unsupervised machine learning is used to identify an optimum cutoff duration which differentiates taking a short break during a continuous study session from a long break between two different study sessions. Using this cutoff, the study shows that the extra credit encouraged students to complete assignments earlier. The second study examines the impact of adding a planning-prompt survey prior to a string of assignments. In the survey, students were asked to write a plan for when and where they would work on their online homework assignments. Using a difference in differences method, a multilinear modeling technique adopted from economics research, the study shows that the survey led to students completing their homework on average 18 hours earlier and spreading their efforts on the homework over time significantly more. On the other hand, behaviors associated with disengagement, such as guessing or answer-copying, were not impacted by the introduction of the planning prompt. These studies showcase novel methods for measurement of procrastination behavior, as well as evaluating the effectiveness of the designed interventions to help students avoid waiting until the last minute to make progress on assigned tasks.

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This thesis presents a series of studies in early modern manuscript culture based on Chetham’s Library MS A.4.15 (MC15). These studies develop an understanding of the reception of texts in manuscripts through an analysis of their copying, dissemination and collection: concepts which are linked by their treatment of manuscripts collections as texts whose processes of production are indelibly registered in their physical form. Chapter 1 reviews the methods by which scholars have engaged with manuscript collections, and proposes that a series of ‘object studies’ based on texts from MC15 is a strong way of engaging with the collection, allowing ready comparisons of diverse material characteristics. Chapter 2 extends these arguments through close analysis of the processes of production of several manuscript collections, culminating in an extended critical description of MC15. Chapters 3 to 6 read a series of texts of MC15 in comparison with other copies. Chapter 3 argues that handwriting analysis gives essential evidence for different modes of copying epigrams, and suggests the ways in which they are significant. Chapter 4 presents an account of a verse libel that was copied many times in the seventeenth century; building on the work of the previous chapter, it argues that the material dimension of manuscript libels have a great deal to offer more general narratives of early Stuart history. Chapter 5 concerns letters of the second Earl of Essex, whose reception in various combinations of material in manuscript collections are best contextualised through readings found in print. Chapter 6, a study of metrical psalms, contextualizes the very limited dissemination of metrical psalms by amateur and professional scribes within a ‘psalm culture’ dominated by print. Taken collectively, the chapters of this thesis attest to the heterogeneity of MC15 as a collection; through their attention to processes of copying, dissemination and collection, they demonstrate some of the most characteristic features of early modern manuscripts.