Walking the talk : an investigation of the pedagogical practices and discourses of an international broadcasting organisation : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education in Adult Education, Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand

Increasingly our knowledge of the world around us comes from the media, mediated by professional broadcasters. As the education and training of broadcasters has progressively become associated with educational institutions there has been more theorising about what broadcasters should know and how they should be educated, however the actual educational and training practices of broadcasting organisations remains under researched and under theorised. This research looks at the educational and training practices of an international broadcasting organisation and how they are sustained by the organisational ethos through a series of interviews with people directly involved in the organisation‟s training practices and an examination of a selection of the organisation‟s promotional and policy documents. From this comes a picture of an organisation committed to excellence and also a vision of broadcasting as an emancipatory activity. This commitment and vision is reflected in its inhouse training practices and also its media development work. The interviews with trainers, project managers, administrators and researchers reveal broadcasters who are pragmatic idealists and reflective practitioners and whose passion and commitment to the transformative powers of education and training are undeniable

A modified Corrado test for assessing abnormal security returns

Event studies typically use the methodology developed by Fama et al. [19699. Fama , E. , Fisher , L. , Jensen , M. and Roll , R. 1969 . The adjustment of stock prices to new information . International Economic Review , 10 ( 1 ) : 1 – 21 . [CrossRef] View all references. The adjustment of stock prices to new information. International Economic Review 10, no. 1: 1–21] to segregate a stock's return into expected and unexpected components. Moreover, conventional practice assumes that abnormal returns evolve in terms of a normal distribution. There is, however, an increasing tendency for event studies to employ non-parametric testing procedures due to the mounting empirical evidence which shows that stock returns are incompatible with the normal distribution. This paper focuses on the widely used non-parametric ranking procedure developed by Corrado [19896. Corrado , C. 1989 . A nonparametric test for abnormal security price performance in event studies . Journal of Financial Economics , 23 ( 2 ) : 385 – 95 . [CrossRef], [Web of Science ®] View all references. A nonparametric test for abnormal security price performance in event studies. Journal of Financial Economics 23, no. 2: 385–95] for assessing the significance of abnormal security returns. In particular, we develop a consistent estimator for the variance of the sum of ranks of the abnormal returns, and show how this leads to a more efficient test statistic (as well as to less cumbersome computational procedures) than the test originally proposed by Corrado (19896. Corrado , C. 1989 . A nonparametric test for abnormal security price performance in event studies . Journal of Financial Economics , 23 ( 2 ) : 385 – 95 . [CrossRef], [Web of Science ®] View all references). We also use the theorem of Berry [19413. Berry , A. 1941 . The accuracy of the Gaussian approximation to the sum of independent variates . Transactions of the American Mathematical Society , 49 ( 1 ) : 122 – 36 . [CrossRef] View all references. The accuracy of the Gaussian approximation to the sum of independent variates. Transactions of the American Mathematical Society 49, no. 1: 122–36] and Esseen [19458. Esseen , C. 1945 . Fourier analysis of distribution functions: A mathematical study of the Laplace–Gaussian law . Acta Mathematica , 77 ( 1 ) : 1 – 125 . [CrossRef] View all references. Fourier analysis of distribution functions: A mathematical study of the Laplace–Gaussian law. Acta Mathematica 77, no. 1: 1–125] to demonstrate how the distribution of the modified Corrado test statistic developed here asymptotically converges towards the normal distribution. This shows that describing the distributional properties of the sum of the ranks in terms of the normal distribution is highly problematic for small sample sizes and small event windows. In these circumstances, we show that a second-order Edgeworth expansion provides a good approximation to the actual probability distribution of the modified Corrado test statistic. The application of the modified Corrado test developed here is illustrated using data for the purchase and sale by UK directors of shares in their own companies

Time varying costs of capital and the expected present value of future cash flows

The use of an inter-temporally constant discount rate or cost of capital is a strong assumption in many exante models of finance and in applied procedures such as capital budgeting. We investigate how robust this assumption is by analysing the implications of allowing the cost of capital to vary stochastically over time. We use the Feynman–Kac functional to demonstrate how there will, in general, be systematic differences between present values computed on the assumption that the currently prevailing cost of capital will last indefinitely into the future and present values determined by discounting cash flows at the expected costs of capital that apply up until the point in time at which cash flows are to be received. Comparisons are also made with the environmental economics literature where similar problems have been addressed by invoking a ‘gamma discounting’ methodology

What to Expect When You\u27re Expected: Uncovering the Role of Cultural Capital in College Success

Uncovering the Role of Cultural Capital in College Success Introduction First-generation college students are almost three times as likely to withdraw from school within three years of admission as students with parents who have a bachelor’s degree. Despite this, first-generation students make up about one-third of students enrolled in college (National Center for Education Statistics). To encourage the creation of fair and equal college experiences, there is a need to understand what first-generation college students require to be successful. Prior research has examined the general barriers to success that college students experience (e.g., Hansell, 1982; Sgan-Choen & Lowental, 1988), but we know very little about how parental expectations and prior academic experience shape student success. Methods and Results To investigate the role of parental expectations and academic experience, five first-year college-age women from a liberal arts institution in the northeast United States were interviewed. Through the creation of concept maps and memos, findings were examined, results were compared, and common themes were discovered associated with parental expectations and familiarity with the academic and social aspects of college life. Analysis of narratives of students whose parents are college-educated revealed a specific collection of behaviors that were employed by these students to succeed; while examination of narratives of first-generation college students uncovered the challenges that these students encountered navigating college without the cultural capital that is afforded by parents who have college educations. Specifically, students who had college-educated parents were encouraged to attend college. Many parents pushed their children to pursue paths similar to theirs, and even pressured children to the extent that attending college was presented as the only reasonable option after high school graduation. All students were pressured by their parents to prioritize location and distance of colleges, but for different reasons. Many parents identified acceptable distances for where their children could travel for their college educations based on family needs and previous experience. Parents who attended college saw value in attending college close to home for financial reasons, while parents who did not attend college encouraged their children to attend colleges close to home so that they could continue working and helping in the family home. Parents who attended college expected their children to contact them regularly, monitoring their children’s new-found independence. Parents who did not attend college did not emphasize the need for frequent contact with their children and seemed naïve about college students engaging in under-age drinking or skipping classes. Lastly, parents who attended college strongly encouraged their children to reach out and create relationships with their professors. In contrast, students whose parents did not attend college were not aware of the value of networking with professors and alumni. Conclusion These preliminary data suggest that the first-year college students’ experiences are shaped by their parents’ experience and familiarity with the academic and social aspects of college life. The findings from this study point to the need for counseling directed toward first-year students about behaviors that can foster achievement and confidence in college, and accessibility to skill toolkits that will equip first-generation college students to thrive in an environment with which their parents have had limited exposure. Additionally, this research could be used to create informational material for the parents of first-year college students. Through this study, attention was brought to the important role of cultural capital in parental expectations which foster constructive behaviors in first-year college women. Selected References Hansell, S. 1982. “Student, Parent, and School Effects on the Stress of College Application.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 23, 1, 38-51. National Center for Education Statistics, First-Generation Students, “College Access, Persistence, and Post Bachelor’s Outcomes,” https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/ pubsinfo.asp?pubid= 2018421. Sgan-Choen, H.D., & Lowental, U. 1988. “Sources of Stress among Israeli Dental Students.” The Journal of American College Health Association, 36, 6, 317-321