Contextual Sensitivity in Grounded Theory: The Role of Pilot Studies

Grounded Theory is an established methodological approach for context specific inductive theory building. The grounded nature of the methodology refers to these specific contexts from which emergent propositions are drawn. Thus, any grounded theory study requires not only theoretical sensitivity, but also a good insight on how to design the research in the human activity systems to be studied. The lack of this insight may result in inefficient theoretical sampling or even erroneous purposeful sampling. These problems would not necessarily be critical, as it could be argued that through the elliptical process that characterizes grounded theory, remedial loops would always bring the researcher to the core of the theory. However, these elliptical remedial processes can take very long periods of time and result in catastrophic delays in research projects. As a strategy, this paper discusses, contrasts and compares the use of pilot studies in four different grounded theory projects. Each pilot brought different insights about the context, resulting in changes of focus, guidance to improve data collection instruments and informing theoretical sampling. Additionally, as all four projects were undertaken by researchers with little experience of inductive approaches in general and grounded theory in particular, the pilot studies also served the purpose of training in interviewing, relating to interviewees, memoing, constant comparison and coding. This last outcome of the pilot study was actually not planned initially, but revealed itself to be a crucial success factor in the running of the projects. The paper concludes with a theoretical proposition for the concept of contextual sensitivity and for the inclusion of the pilot study in grounded theory research designs

Diferentes "estilos" ou "personalidades" científicas: um estudo de caso

Dentro da história da ciencia é possível encontrar exemplos de diferentes "estilos" ou "personahdades" científicas. Estudiosos que vivem em urna mesma época mmtas vezes reagem de modos completamente diferentes -algumas vezes antagónicos- ao trabalho científico em geral (hipóteses, teorías ou experimentos), sejam eles feítos por eles mesmos ou por seus colegas. As razões apostas caracterizam os casos limite. Entretanto, nem sempre aparece um contraste Uio claro, existindo várias nuances entre os extremos N este trabalho descreveremos u m exemplo histórico de um caso limite, analisando as atitudes de dais dentistas que contribuíram para o desenvolvimento da chamada genética clássica o estilo rigoroso de William Bateson (1861-1926) e o estilo prático de Thomas Hunt Morgan (l866-1945)

Lamarck, Darwin e o conceito de espécie

No início do século XIX, quando Jean Pierre Antaine de Monet, Chevalier de Lamarck (1744- 1829) apresentou suas idéías sobre evoluçao organica, a maioria dos naturalistas acreditava que as espécies eram fixas. Assim, de um modo geral, aceitava-se a concepçao aristotélica de que as espécies apresentavam uma forma potencial que nao pode ser modificada e que passava de pais para filhos. Georges Lépold Chrétien Frédéric Dagobert, Baron de Cuvier (1769-1832), coetaneo de Lamarck, admitía que as espécies eram fixas e estavam sujeitas a extinçao, seudo entiío produzidas novas espécies. Nesses casos, as espécies já surgiam adaptadas ao meio ambiente

El desarrollo del pensamiento evolutivo de Thomas Hunt Morgan: 1903-1916

El objetivo de este articulo es analizar si hubo cambios significativos en el pensamiento evolutivo de Morgan entre 1903 y 1916. El punto de partida de este análisis son los estudios iniciales de este científico sobre regeneración y embriología, además de los libros mencionados. Cabe resaltar que el período que analizaremos en este trabajo se caracterizó justamente por estar conformado por una serie de experimentos en el campo científico cuya finalidad era someter a prueba la selección natural

Aceptación o rechazo de las hipótesis o teorías: Un nuevo método de análisis

Generalmente los historiadores y filósofos de la ciencia proponen explicaciones para la aceptación o rechazo de una hipótesis o teoría dada por los científicos. Estas explicaciones, tanto a un nivel conceptual ("internalistas'') como a un nivel no conceptual ("externalista": sociológicas, psicológicas, etc.) pueden variar. Sin embargo, generalmente se ignora un punto que es fundamental: ¿qué es lo que significa aceptar una hipótesis o teoría? Hasta ahora, no han sido propuestos criterios que permitan determinar de una manera clara lo que es aceptación o lo que es rechazo. El objetivo de este trabajo es mostrar un método de análisis que consiga resolver este problema. El método va a ser ejemplificado a través de la discusión de la posición que adopta el naturalista inglés William Bateson (1861-1926) ante la teoría cromosómica entre 1902 y 1926

Compact ion-source based on superionic rubidium silver iodide (RbAg4I5) solid electrolyte

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia FísicaA compact ion-beam source based on rubidium silver iodide (RbAg4I5) solid electrolyte, deposited on a sharpened silver tip, has been developed and studied. Through an accelerating potential above 10 kV, established between emitter and collector, silver positive ions move through the electrolyte towards the emitting surface, where they are emitted from and accelerated. Via partial redox reaction occurring at the silver/RbAg4I5 interface, silver atoms are oxidised into Ag+ ions and migrate into the electrolyte, compensating the loss of emitted ions in the apex region. The emitted ions are collected by a Faraday cup, producing an electric current in the level of tens picoamperes. It was found that silver ions (atomic or clustered) make a major contribution to the measured ion current, although rubidium ions were also detected with concentration in six times lower than silver. The apex diameters of the final emitters were estimated in the range of 4-9 μm. The highest stable current was produced by an emitter whose apex diameter corresponds to 8.2 ± 0.5 μm. This current remained in the level of 20-25 pA for nearly 90 minutes and it was obtained at 92ºC, using an extraction voltage of 20 kV. Furthermore, it was observed that the current increased exponentially with temperature and linearly with applied voltage, at least for temperatures below 150 ºC and voltages in the range of 10-22 kV. Dependence on the apex diameter was not studied, since the RbAg4I5 film deposited on silver tips was not totally uniform. Several improvements should be performed to optimize the deposition methods, the design of heating system and methodology of the measurements (m/z characterization of the emitted particles). However, the developed ion-beam source can produce a stable current over a long period of time with minimal expenditure of energy and source material. Such sources have potential applications in materials science and spacecraft engineering as principal elements of miniaturized electric propulsion systems (ionic thrusters)

Transport properties of strongly correlated electrons in quantum dots using a simple circuit model

Numerical calculations are shown to reproduce the main results of recent experiments involving nonlocal spin control in nanostructures (N. J. Craig et al., Science 304, 565 (2004)). In particular, the splitting of the zero-bias-peak discovered experimentally is clearly observed in our studies. To understand these results, a simple "circuit model" is introduced and shown to provide a good qualitative description of the experiments. The main idea is that the splitting originates in a Fano anti-resonance, which is caused by having one quantum dot side-connected in relation to the current's path. This scenario provides an explanation of Craig et al.'s results that is alternative to the RKKY proposal, which is here also addressed.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

International Day of Persons with Disabilities

Poster Week 2/14. ESTeSC – Coimbra Health School. December 1-5, 2014.info:eu-repo/semantics/draf