An Exploratory Study on the Factors Influencing Managers’ Use of Mobile Tablets

Although mobile tablets such as iPads are being used by many managers, there has been a relative dearth of research on the managerial use of the mobile technology. This exploratory study aims to identify and understand the factors influencing the use of mobile tablets by managers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a panel of seven managers who had incorporated mobile tablets into their work routine. The study has found that the mobile tablet is a suitable device for managerial tasks due to these nine main factors: non-routineness, collaborative nature, time-critical, information-centric, mobility, user friendliness of the interface, reliability, connectivity, and autonomy. This exploratory study fills in the research gap and provides a basis to help managers establish a business case for or against mobile tablets adoption

Collaboration between student affairs and academic affairs: an exploratory study

Although the existence of collaborative relationships between student affairs and academic affairs is well documented in the literature, the relationship between them has not been well documented. The purpose of this study was to fill that gap in the literature and explore that relationship. Qualitative research methods were utilized. Respondents included faculty and student affairs specialists that work together in a learning community in the College of Design at Midwestern University*. The profile of respondents gave a context to gaining a better understanding of the choices that they made as professionals and within the collaboration. The study found that all of the respondents\u27 views on the purpose of the program revealed that they share a similar commitment to the program. The respondents\u27 idea of the role of faculty and student affairs in academia revealed the understanding but not concise articulation of the role of the other. The respondents also discussed their own role and major contribution to the learning community. The instructional leader of the group was mentioned by all of the respondents to be a most important factor to the success of the learning community. There were challenges to the collaboration of student and academic affairs. The program was not designed totally for student affairs or faculty. As a result, both were somewhat out of their element and needed to find their own niche within the program. Respondents advised others attempting a similar collaboration that they need to set clear and firm goals, include students in the discussion, make an informed commitment to the program and to ensure a smoother collaboration, and get to know colleagues on an informal level

Spartan Daily, February 7, 1973

Volume 60, Issue 62https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/5697/thumbnail.jp

An exploratory study to classify, with a specific tool, teacher participation in the group discussion process in courses dealing with the study of human behavior.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston Universit

Perceptions of the tourism and hospitality industry by Singapore polytechnic hospitality students: An exploratory study

Many Singapore polytechnic students are not keen to join the hospitality line even after being enrolled in a 3-year hospitality program. Many students find the nature of the job too stressful and strenuous. Students have also cited reasons such as long working hours, shift work, dealing with unpredictable circumstances in the job environment and having lower starting remuneration as compared other industries (K. Ong, personal communications, June 16, 2010). Other perceived qualitative reasons that have been given by students for not joining the industry would be the semi-professional nature of the hospitality industry as compared to other industries such as education, law, engineering and business-related industries (Khan, 1992). Students especially from a semi-traditional Asian-Singapore context are not encouraged to join the hospitality line because their parents do not support their decision as the jobs in this industry is seen as one which is ‘servitude’ and have little prospects of promotion from rank-and-file. The polytechnics also play a major role in influencing the choice of career of their students through their faculty, curriculum, resources and links to the industry. Therefore Singapore hospitality schools would need to manage student expectations prior to and during the course of studies to encourage students to stay within the industry after graduation. Industrial practitioners must also re-look at their job environment, practices, wages and welfare treatment of their staff so that they can retain and grow human capital to prevent a dearth of manpower in the hospitality and tourism industry

An exploratory study of social justice education in residence life

In this dissertation, I explored how residence life professionals are teaching social justice. Using critically informed qualitative methods, I conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 student affairs professionals who are responsible for ongoing social justice-oriented initiatives in residence life. I also analyzed documents associated with these initiatives. Initiatives included living and learning communities, resident advisor courses, workshops for residents, and peer education programs. I found that personal experiences, professional preparation and development, and academic resources informed the design of these initiatives; while institutional factors, stakeholders, and human resources influenced design. The seven key behaviors for delivering these initiatives were largely consistent with critical pedagogy, even as participants did not systematically draw upon this theory, or specific other theories. While there is much to praise about the work being done, there is a need to enhance training for professional staff facilitators, incorporate assessment of the impact these initiatives are having, and reconceive the competency and value of inclusion

EARLY CHILDHOOD LITERACY TRAINING FOR LIBRARY ASSISTANTS IN PUBLIC LIBRARIES: AN EXPLORATORY CASE STUDY

Early literacy programs in public libraries are well positioned to support a variety of children in developing literacy skills, as libraries are geographically dispersed, free to use, and oriented to families. Indeed, such programs are frequently offered in North American public libraries, and are not always conducted by librarians. Instead, other library employees are tasked with planning and conducting early literacy programs, who have varying conceptions of how literacy learning proceeds. As such, the training they receive at their libraries likely informs their understandings and subsequent programming practices. This qualitative, exploratory case study describes the content and instructional strategies of the training that public library employees (called library assistants, or LAs) received to plan and conduct early literacy programs at a public library in Western Canada. Library assistants’ responses to their training are also described. Using observations of training, interviews with trainers and library assistants, analysis of training documents, and a survey of LAs, this study found that early literacy program training has the potential to communicate not only information about early literacy learning, but also organizational expectations about programs and considerations of the identities and contexts of program participants. At the research site, this training also contributed to establishing and then sustaining different, sometimes conflicting communities of practice: one of librarians and another of library assistants. The separation of these two communities of practice meant that LAs were not able to contribute their varied knowledge and skills to the training process and consequently, that training at times did not empower LAs with the autonomy needed to create or adapt early literacy programming according to their diverse needs. This structure also meant that large amounts of information could be consistently shared among the many library assistants employed at this library. Understanding training in this way illuminates particular collaborative moves from within these differing communities of practice that supported or inhibited learning. The findings from this study have implications for public libraries and other sites where community-based literacy learning occurs. In particular, awareness of how training may contribute to a separation between different kinds of staffing groups can lead to training structures that are supportive to the professional contributions of all educators. Additionally, both trainers and programmers should consider how program participants’ contexts impact their experiences of inclusion

Mind-life continuity: a qualitative study of conscious experience

There are two fundamental models to understanding the phenomenon of natural life. One is thecomputational model, which is based on the symbolic thinking paradigm. The other is the biologicalorganism model. The common difficulty attributed to these paradigms is that their reductive tools allowthe phenomenological aspects of experience to remain hidden behind yes/no responses (behavioraltests), or brain ‘pictures’ (neuroimaging). Hence, one of the problems regards how to overcome meth-odological difficulties towards a non-reductive investigation of conscious experience. It is our aim in thispaper to show how cooperation between Eastern and Western traditions may shed light for a non-reductive study of mind and life. This study focuses on the first-person experience associated withcognitive and mental events. We studied phenomenal data as a crucial fact for the domain of livingbeings, which, we expect, can provide the ground for a subsequent third-person study. The interventionwith Jhana meditation, and its qualitative assessment, provided us with experiential profiles based uponsubjects' evaluations of their own conscious experiences. The overall results should move towards anintegrated or global perspective on mind where neither experience nor external mechanisms have thefinal wor

An exploratory study of expectant mothers’ knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about infant vaccination

Background: Childhood vaccination decision making occurs during pregnancy. However, more insight is needed to determine how expectant mothers in the United States decide whether to vaccinate their children — particularly as the first vaccine, Hepatitis B, is recommended within 24 hours of birth. Aim: This qualitative study used the foundational lens of the Theory of Reasoned Action to 1) explore how expectant mothers formulate knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about infant vaccination, and 2) discern if differences exist regarding how first-time expectant mothers approach vaccine decision making. Methods: Eleven focus groups were conducted with pregnant participants from an obstetrics practice in the southeastern United States. Thematic analysis was undertaken, utilizing the constant comparative method. Results: Four overarching themes emerged: the need for evidence-based childhood vaccine information during pregnancy; perceptions of source trustworthiness and the social media paradox; concerns about the “one-size-fits-all” vaccine schedule; and the process of vaccine risk-benefit analysis of first-time mothers. Discussion: Practical implications highlight a need for standardized vaccine-related education during the prenatal care period. Theoretical implications reveal that the decision of whether to vaccinate one’s infant remains complex, involving a variety of factors. Conclusion: Compared to expectant mothers who had children previously, first-time expectant mothers especially reported feeling ill-informed to make infant vaccine decisions

An exploratory study : the family's experience of the initial interview at the Child Guidance Clinic

This project was an evaluation of the initial interview as experienced by a sample of six families who utilised the services of the CGC in 2003. Families were given a semi-structured interview schedule which focussed on a number of common experiences of the assessment interview. A thematic analysis was employed to understand this qualitative enquiry into the family's perception of a service sometimes criticised as traditional, elitist and contradictory to the proposal that a broader, more community based intervention be proffered