Researching a segmented market:reflections on telephone interviewing

Purpose The purpose of this paper was to review the effectiveness of telephone interviewing for capturing data and to consider in particular the challenges faced by telephone interviewers when capturing information about market segments. Design/methodology/approach The platform for this methodological critique was a market segment analysis commissioned by Sport Wales which involved a series of 85 telephone interviews completed during 2010. Two focus groups involving the six interviewers involved in the study were convened to reflect on the researchers’ experiences and the implications for business and management research. Findings There are three principal sets of findings. First, although telephone interviewing is generally a cost-effective data collection method, it is important to consider both the actual costs (i.e. time spent planning and conducting interviews) as well as the opportunity costs (i.e. missed appointments, “chasing participants”). Second, researchers need to be sensitised to and sensitive to the demographic characteristics of telephone interviewees (insofar as these are knowable) because responses are influenced by them. Third, the anonymity of telephone interviews may be more conducive for discussing sensitive issues than face-to-face interactions. Originality/value The present study adds to this modest body of literature on the implementation of telephone interviewing as a research technique of business and management. It provides valuable methodological background detail about the intricate, personal experiences of researchers undertaking this method “at a distance” and without visual cues, and makes explicit the challenges of telephone interviewing for the purposes of data capture

The ‘oldest tricks in the book’ don’t work! Reports of burglary by DUMA detainees in Western Australia

Explores the methods and motivations of those actively involved in committing burglaries. Foreword Research investigating the methods and motivations of burglars has typically focused on incarcerated offenders. The Australian Institute of Criminology’s Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) program provided an opportunity for the authors to explore the methods and motivations of those actively involved in committing burglaries, whether or not they had actually been caught or detained for that offence. The findings support Routine Activity Theory, indicating that offenders consider a number of factors in determining whether a property will be targeted for a break and enter offence. As might be expected, opportunistic burglars choose easy to access properties, stay a minimum length of time and take goods that can be disposed of easily. It was concluded that simple prevention strategies could minimise the risk of becoming a victim of opportunistic burglary, which also has implications for law enforcement, the security industry and insurance agencies

Feeding back to feed forward:formative assessment as a platform for effective learning

Students construct meaning through relevant learning activities (Biggs, 2003) which are largely determined by the type, amount, and timing of feedback (Carless, 2006). The aim of the present study was to develop a greater awareness and understanding of formative assessment and feedback practices and their relationship with learning. During 2011 five focus group discussions were undertaken with students and academic staff involved with a range of modules and degree pathways at a UK University. Three of the focus groups were with undergraduate students (one at each level of study), and one was with taught postgraduate students. Discussions focussed on integration of formative assessment and feedback into modules, as well as an exploration of the effectiveness of feedback on future learning. The findings revealed that in order to emphasise continuous learning – feeding back to feed forward (Rushton, 2005) – and to encourage self-regulated learning (Nicol & Macfarlane-Dick, 2006), students need to have opportunities to make mistakes and to learn from them prior to summative assessment (through formative assessment and feedback). There was also firm evidence of different approaches to learning, emphasising in particular the transitional importance of the first year of study as the foundation upon which future achievement is built

Of Balance Wheels and Bodies Politic: Arthur Lower and the Liberal Vision of Canadian History

Arthur Lower was one of the most prominent historians of Canada in the middle of the twentieth century. Throughout his illustrious career, he presented a narrative of Canadian history that emphasized evolution, growth, and progress, despite the appearance of several obstacles and setbacks in the general plot. But what underlying assumptions structured the manner in which he fashioned the narrative? This paper challenges the predominant understandings of Canadian liberal historiography by dissecting the thought of one of its most prominent spokespersons. At its core, his vision of Canada reflected a set of deterministic interpretations of social and political change. For Lower, history unfolded according to a series of natural laws and forces that acted upon the body politic; deviation from these inevitably led to social ruin. The following pages trace the implications of this theoretical framework upon the manner in which Lower conceived of the Canadian past

Very Low Mass Stellar and Substellar Companions to Solar-like Stars from MARVELS. II. A Short-period Companion Orbiting an F Star with Evidence of a Stellar Tertiary and Significant Mutual Inclination

We report the discovery via radial velocity (RV) measurements of a short-period (P = 2.430420 ± 0.000006 days) companion to the F-type main-sequence star TYC 2930-00872-1. A long-term trend in the RV data also suggests the presence of a tertiary stellar companion with P > 2000 days. High-resolution spectroscopy of the host star yields T_(eff) = 6427 ± 33 K, log g = 4.52 ± 0.14, and [Fe/H] = –0.04 ± 0.05. These parameters, combined with the broadband spectral energy distribution (SED) and a parallax, allow us to infer a mass and radius of the host star of M_1 = 1.21 ± 0.08 M_☉ and R_1 = 1.09^(+0.15)_(–0.13) R_☉. The minimum mass of the inner companion is below the hydrogen-burning limit; however, the true mass is likely to be substantially higher. We are able to exclude transits of the inner companion with high confidence. Further, the host star spectrum exhibits a clear signature of Ca H and K core emission, indicating stellar activity, but a lack of photometric variability and small v sin I suggest that the primary's spin axis is oriented in a pole-on configuration. The rotational period of the primary estimated through an activity-rotation relation matches the orbital period of the inner companion to within 1.5 σ, suggesting that the primary and inner companion are tidally locked. If the inner companion's orbital angular momentum vector is aligned with the stellar spin axis as expected through tidal evolution, then it has a stellar mass of ~0.3-0.4 M_☉. Direct imaging limits the existence of stellar companions to projected separations <30 AU. No set of spectral lines and no significant flux contribution to the SED from either companion are detected, which places individual upper mass limits of M_([2,3]) ≾ 1.0 M_☉, provided they are not stellar remnants. If the tertiary is not a stellar remnant, then it likely has a mass of ~0.5-0.6 M_☉, and its orbit is likely significantly inclined from that of the secondary, suggesting that the Kozai-Lidov mechanism may have driven the dynamical evolution of this system

Multiple Roles of Ret Signaling in Mechanosensory Neuron Development

Somatosensation is critical for interaction with the surrounding environment. Somatosensory stimuli are detected by primary somatosensory neurons of the dorsal root ganglia and trigeminal ganglia, which detect distinct classes of stimuli, such as temperature, pain, and pressure. In Chapters 2 and 3 of this thesis, we focus on rapidly adapting low-threshold mechanoreceptors (RALTMRs), which mediate the detection of light touch. RALTMRs are molecularly defined by the early embryonic expression of the receptor tyrosine kinase Ret. Ret is required for the development of central axonal projections of RALTMRs into the dorsal spinal cord. RET responds to the glial cell line-derived family of neurotrophic factors, which activate RET in combination with GPI-linked GFRα co-receptors. In vitro, RET can be activated by co-receptor expressed in the same cell (cis signaling) or by co-receptor expressed by neighboring cells (trans signaling), but previous studies suggest that trans RET signaling may not play a physiologically relevant role in vivo. Here, we show that RET in mouse RALTMRs can be activated by both GFRα2 expressed in the same cell (cis signaling) and GFRα1 expressed by neighboring cells (trans signaling), and that trans RET signaling is sufficient for the development of RALTMR central projections in vivo. Peripherally, Ret is required for the development of vibration sensitive Pacinian corpuscle RALTMR end organs. We show that Ret mediates the neuronal expression of the ETS transcription factor Er81, which is also required for Pacinian corpuscle development, and that deficient axon/Schwann cell communication is the primary deficit in Pacinian corpuscle development in Er81 mutant mice. Furthermore, we show that Neuregulin-1, an important mediator of axon/Schwann cell interactions, is required for Pacinian corpuscle development, and that Er81 regulates the expression of specific Neuregulin-1 isoforms. In total, we demonstrate that RET signaling drives the development of distinct developmental processes in both the central and peripheral axonal branches of RALTMRs. In Chapter 4, we describe the expression of itch-related neuropeptides GRP and NMB and their receptors in somatosensory neurons and the dorsal spinal cord

Further development of a Badal type photoretinoscope

Several design changes have been made to Improve the sensitivity of the existing experimental Badal type photoretinoscope apparatus to make the instrumentation more practical as a screening device. The design changes include the use of: aspheric lenses; a narrow pass light filter; a decreased exit pupil diameter; and a single luminous object used with a coincidence (vernier) Scheiner system implemented with a pair of vertically oriented pinhole apertures to test the vertical meridian of the test eye. The resolution of the apparatus (using an emmetropic human eye analogue) was well under 1.0 D. Further modifications contemplated for the future include: a second pair of pinholes, horizontally oriented, to test the horizontal meridian, and the ability to axially rotate the pinholes along with the doubling prisms so as to sample oblique meridians, if necessary. Finally, the entire apparatus will need to be miniaturized and lightened to make it portable for field use (screening)

Supreme Court Voting Behavior: 1999 Term

This Study, the fourteenth in a series, tabulates and analyzes the voting behavior of the United States Supreme Court during the 1999 Term. The analysis is designed to determine whether individual Justices and the Court as a whole are voting more conservatively, more liberally, or about the same as compared with past Terms. This Term\u27s survey suggests a reversal of the Court\u27s liberal trend over the past two Terms, with conservative movement in six of the ten categories. Specifically, the Court\u27s support of statutory civil rights claims plummeted to an all time low, while the Court exhibited a dramatic conservative shift in cases decided by one vote. Furthermore, the Study\u27s second most reliable category for indicating liberal/conservative trends, Civil/ State Party, showed solid conservative movement in all types of decisions. Yet, this apparent conservative movement is counterbalanced somewhat by the fact that the Study\u27s most reliable category for indicating conservative/liberal trends, Criminal/Federal Party, demonstrated some liberal movement. A more in-depth analysis for each category is set forth in Part IV-B of this Study

Agreement in student performance in assessment

Assessment of a student’s performance on a particular module may often be thought of as a single evaluation of the extent to which the student has met some or all of the module’s learning outcomes. More helpfully, however, when there is more than one assessment task in a particular module, it may be thought of as the combination of different assessment tasks (whatever the weighting attached to each of them). In this sense, the level of agreement between performances on the different tasks may elucidate the nature of overall student performance further still. Typically, assessment tasks within a module tend not to be of the same kind; often they are complementary, sometimes through the use of different media. The primary aim of the present study was to investigate agreement in student performance between assessment tasks within two modules