Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Research Data Management In A Collaborative Network, Darren Gibson, Julia Gross

Research outputs 2011

Darren Gibson and Julia Gross explore the research data challenges that may arise within a collaborative research network, and offer possible solutions.

Prisoner Education And Training, And Other Characteristics: Western Australia, July 2005 To June 2010, Margaret Giles, Jacqui Whale

Research outputs 2011

Executive summary

Spending public funds on educating and training prisoners can generate a significant return on investment, because as this report argues, studying in prison can reduce costly recidivism and improve life outcomes for ex-prisoners. What are the costs of recidivism? Let’s start with incarceration. Prisoners cost money - about $110,000 per prisoner a year. With over 4,000 prisoners in WA prisons at any one time and a turnover of 8,000 prisoners per year, incarceration is a costly business. In addition, there are policing and legal costs related to finding, charging and sentencing alleged offenders; as well as costs to …

Managing Research Data : A Collaborative Approach, Darren Gibson, Julia Gross, Matthew Wyatt

Research outputs 2011

To ensure maximum benefit is achieved from the investigations in a collaborative research network, it is essential that research data is managed effectively. However, there is no set model to follow. Normally an institution will establish its own policy and procedures applicable to their researchers and data. This causes difficulties for researchers sharing data across a collaborative network. Edith Cowan University (ECU) is one of fifteen Australian universities striving to create world-class research capacity and capability through investment in the Collaborative Research Network (CRN) project. The CRN project at ECU aims to accelerate the growth of research activity from 2011 …

Excessive Internet Use Among Australian Children, Lelia Green, Khartan Olafsson, Danielle Brady, David Smahel

Research outputs 2011

This brief report builds upon the findings of the EU Kids Online project’s work into Excessive Internet Use among the 19,834 European children (aged 11-16) participating in that study. It compares the European data with the much smaller cohort of 300 Australian children (aged 11-16) who were researched in the parallel AU Kids Online project. In both cases the children were selected according to a random sampling strategy. The full EU Kids Online report includes the research methodology and can be accessed via: http://www2.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/EUKidsOnline/EU%20Kids%20II%20(2009- 11)/EUKidsOnlineIIReports/D4FullFindings.pdf The full AU Kids Online report can be accessed via: http://cultural-science.org/journal/index.php/culturalscience/article/view/49/129 The EU Kids Online …

Excessive Internet Use Among European Children, David Smahel, Ellen Helsper, Lelia Green, Veronika Kalmus, Lukas Blinka, Kjartan Olafsson

Research outputs 2011

This report presents new findings and further analysis of the EU Kids Online 25-country survey regarding excessive use of the internet by children. It shows that while a number of children (29%) experienced one or more of the five components associated with excessive internet use, very few (1%) can be said to show pathological levels of use.

Performing New Tasks With Old Skills: Is Prediction Possible?, Craig P. Speelman, John D. Forbes, Kristine Giesen

Research outputs 2011

This research evaluated the extent to which power functions can predict performance on a task when performance context has been altered. Since power functions reliably describe performance improvements during practice, an assumption implicit in some theories of skill acquisition and transfer is that transfer performance will continue to improve as an extrapolation of the practice power function. In the training phase of the current experiment, 120 participants practiced solving simple problems from the six times table. In the transfer phase, these same problems were presented again, intermixed with problems from one of six conditions differing in various respects to the …

Learning Through Standard English: Cognitive Implications For Post-Pidgin/-Creole Speakers, Ian Malcolm

Research outputs 2011

Despite their (albeit limited) access to Standard Australian English through education, Australian Indigenous communities have maintained their own dialect (Aboriginal English) for intragroup communication and are increasingly using it as a medium of cultural expression in the wider community. Most linguists agree that the most significant early ancestor of Aboriginal English is New South Wales Pidgin, which developed in the first decades after the European occupation of Australia in 1788. Influence of present or past Aboriginal languages can be traced in Aboriginal English both directly and by way of NSW Pidgin and other contact varieties. Recent work in Western Australia …

Everyday Life In The Tourist Zone, Donell J. Holloway, David Holloway

Research outputs 2011

This article makes a case for the everyday while on tour and argues that the ability to continue with everyday routines and social relationships, while at the same time moving through and staying in liminal or atypical zones of tourist locales, is a key part of some kinds of tourist experience. Based on ethnographic field research with grey nomads (retirees who take extended tours of Australia in caravans and motorhomes) everyday life while on tour is examined, specifically the overlap and intersection between the out-of-the-ordinary “tourist zone” and the ordinariness of the “everyday zone.”

The Development Of A Code For Australian Psychologists, Alfred Allan

Research outputs 2011

Section 35(1)(c) of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act (200929. Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act of 2009. (Queensland). View all references) requires the newly formed Psychology Board of Australia (PsyBA) “to develop or approve standards, codes and guidelines.” In 2010 the PsyBA decided to initially adopt the Australian Psychological Society's (APS) Code of Ethics (200711. Australian Psychological Society . 2007 . Code of ethics , Melbourne, , Australia : Author . View all references) and develop a new code in the future with the involvement of key stakeholders without deciding what the nature of this code will be. …

An Emerging Theory Of Apology, Debra J. Slocum, Alfred Allan, Maria M. Allan

Research outputs 2011

There is no consensus in the psychological literature regarding the operational definition of an apology, nor is there a comprehensive theory of apology. The object of this study was to use a hermeneutic phenomenological approach and grounded theory methodology to develop a theory of apology based on lay people's interpretation of apologetic responses. Data were methodically gathered by interviewing 23 people who had been wronged by an intimate partner. The analysis of the data suggests that there is not a single discrete definition of an apology, but that it is more appropriate to conceptualise apology as a process that consists …

Review Of Indigenous Offender Health [Journal Article], Jocelyn Grace, Ineke Krom, Caitlin Maling, Tony Butler, Richard Midford

Research outputs 2011

This review provides an overview of health issues facing the Indigenous offender population, including some of the social and historical factors relevant to Indigenous health and incarceration. In doing so, it is important to first understand how Indigenous people conceptualise health. Health as it is understood in western society is a fairly discrete category, which differs from the traditional Indigenous perspective of health as holistic [1]. This is made explicit in the 1989 National Aboriginal health strategy that states 'health to Aboriginal peoples is a matter of determining all aspects of their life, including control over their physical environment, of …

Journalism And Hrecs: From Square Pegs To Squeaky Wheels, Kayt Davies

Research outputs 2011

This article follows on from a discussion by Richards (2010) about ethics committees and journalism researchers being ‘uneasy bedfellows’. It argues that there is scope for research using journalism as a methodology to be approved by Human Research Ethics Committees (HRECs), while acknowledging that work needs to be done in familiarising journalism academics with the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (2007) and HRECs with journalism as a research methodology. The issues that arise as journalism academics and HRECs meet tend to focus on the requirement of informed consent and timing problems, but these are not insurmountable and …

Reasonable' Perceptions Of Stalking: The Influence Of Conduct Severity And The Perpetrator-Target Relationship, Adrian J. Scott, Lorraine Sheridan

Research outputs 2011

Ex-partner stalkers are more persistent and dangerous than stranger stalkers, but are less likely to be convicted of an offence. This research considers whether the just world hypothesis (JWH) can account for this apparent contradiction. An experimental 3×3 independent factorial design was used to investigate the influence of conduct severity and the perpetrator–target relationship on perceptions of stalking. Three hundred and thirty-four students were presented with one of nine vignettes and asked to complete five scale items relating to the situation described. Conduct severity and the perpetrator–target relationship produced significant main effects for the combined scale items. The perpetrator's behaviour …

Health Reporting: The Missing Links, Trevor A. Cullen

Research outputs 2011

There is a growing interest in health stories. This is evident from both the increase of health publications and online research for health information. But how accurate and reliable are these stories. Two surveys in the United States that examined the state of online health reporting exposed the extent of spin, the lack of medical evidence and the narrow frame and context of many health stories. This last point, narrowcasting, is the main focus of this article and the research questions examine why this is so and how coverage could be widened. Using press coverage of HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) …

Xtreme Credit Risk Models: Implications For Bank Capital Buffers, David E. Allen, Akhmad R. Kramadibrata, Robert J. Powell, Abhay K. Singh

Research outputs 2011

The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) highlighted the importance of measuring and understanding extreme credit risk. This paper applies Conditional Value at Risk (CVaR) techniques, traditionally used in the insurance industry to measure risk beyond a predetermined threshold, to four credit models. For each of the models we use both Historical and Monte Carlo Simulation methodology to create CVaR measurements. The four extreme models are derived from modifications to the Merton structural model (which we term Xtreme-S), the CreditMetrics Transition model (Xtreme-T), Quantile regression (Xtreme-Q), and the author’s own unique iTransition model (Xtreme-i) which incorporates industry factors into transition matrices. For …

Psychologists' Understanding Of Resilience: Implications For The Discipline Of Psychology And Psychology Practice, Lynne Cohen, Julie Ann Pooley, Catherine A. Ferguson, Craig A. Harms

Research outputs 2011

Current adoptions of strength-based approaches, as suggested by the positive psychology movement, asks professionals to develop different perspectives on familiar constructs. Given that we have little understanding how psychologists define and work with psychological phenomena, this current study sought to determine how Western Australian registered psychologists understand resilience. The 213 participants were asked to provide definitions and information about their understanding of resilience via an open-ended questionnaire. Demographic questions included the level and year ofqualification(s) and nature of psychological work undertaken. The definitions obtained from the participants were rated against definitions of resilience in the literature. The participants understandings of …

Review Of Indigenous Oral Health, Scott Williams, Lisa Jamieson, Andrea Macrae, A Gray

Research outputs 2011

Indigenous Australians1 have poorer oral health than other Australians [1, 2]. Indigenous people suffer from more caries, periodontal diseases, and tooth loss than non-Indigenous people [3]. Tooth decay among the Indigenous population more commonly goes untreated, leading to more extractions. This discrepancy is attributed in part to the fact that access to culturally appropriate and timely dental care is often not available to Indigenous people, especially in rural and remote areas. Other information on oral health such as culturally appropriate resources about maintaining healthy teeth and mouths, and nutritional guidance on how much sugar is contained in certain foods and …

A Pre & Post Analysis Of The Impact Of Carbon Regulation & Ratification Of The Kyoto Protocol: An Australian Perspective, Maya Purushothaman, Ross Taplin

Research outputs 2011

This study examines emission and energy disclosures of 400 randomly selected Australian listed companies in 2005, 2007 and 2009 using a disclosure index derived from the Global Reporting Initiative. The longitudinal nature of this study provides a more comprehensive view of the online emissions and energy disclosures of Australian companies and highlights the impact of the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol and the introduction of carbon regulations, National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) and Energy Efficiency Opportunities (EEO).The results were compared between the two periods, it was noted that rate of increase was lower during the latter (2007 to 2009) …

An Investigation Into The Use Of Sound Moderators On Firearms For Game And Feral Management In New South Wales, Martin Maccarthy, Martin O'Neill, Helen Cripps

Research outputs 2011

This report has been prepared as a summary of the key findings of a study investigating the feasibility of using sounds moderators on firearms in New South Wales (NSW) for the purposes of hunting game and feral animals. The study was commissioned by the Game Council for NSW (hereafter referred to as the ‘Council’) with the intent of identifying any known impediments to the use of sound moderators for hunting purposes. While based largely on secondary data, the investigative panel found no link between sound moderators and their use in petty or organised criminal activity. Further, and based upon a …

Australian Children’S Experiences Of Parents’ Online Mediation, Lelia Green, John Hartley, Catharine Lumby, Danielle Brady

Research outputs 2011

This paper draws on the work of the "EU Kids Online" network funded by the EC (DG Information Society) Safer Internet plus Programme (project code SIP-KEP-321803); see www.eukidsonline.net, and addresses Australian children‟s online activities in terms of risk, harm and opportunity. In particular, it draws upon data that indicates that Australian children are more likely to encounter online risks – especially around seeing sexual images, bullying, misuse of personal data and exposure to potentially harmful user-generated content – than is the case with their EU counterparts. Rather than only comparing Australian children with their European equivalents, this paper places the …

Prescription Drug Use Among Detainees: Prevalence, Sources And Links To Crime, Catherine Mcgregor, Natalie Gately, Jennifer Fleming

Research outputs 2011

Concern regarding the diversion and non-medical use of prescription pharmaceuticals continues to grow as anecdotal evidence and other research points to a sizeable increase in the illegal market for such drugs. Estimating the prevalence of illegal use and understanding how pharmaceutical drugs come to be traded in the illegal drug market remain key research priorities for policymakers and practitioners in both the public health and law enforcement sectors. This report is the first of its kind in Australia to examine the self-reported use of illicit pharmaceuticals among a sample of police detainees surveyed as part of the Australian Institute of …

Normative Influence On Retirement Savings Decisions: Do People Care What Employers And The Government Want?, Peter G. Croy, Paul A. Gerrans, Craig P. Speelman

Research outputs 2011

The need for Australians to increase retirement savings has been widely promoted. Yet our understanding of the motivations of individuals to save at a higher rate remains sparse. This article reports the findings of a survey of superannuation fund members and their intentions to contribute more to superannuation and to manage their investment strategy. The article uses the theory of planned behaviour to focus on the important motivational influence of social norms. Formative research identified a number of influential social referents. Among identified referents, the study found that spouses appear to be the primary source of social influence for retirement …

Anthoethnography: Emerging Research Into The Culture Of Flora, Aesthetic Experience Of Plants, And The Wildflower Tourism Of The Future, John C. Ryan

Research outputs 2011

How does anthoethnography contribute to the development of understandings of aesthetic experiences of wild plants and wildflower tourism? As exemplified by the quintessentially aesthetic industry of wildflower tourism, the culture of flora represents diverse engagements between people and plants. Such complex engagements offer further avenues for research. The critical methodology of anthoethnography has been one such approach to circumscribing the values, practices and rhetoric of wildflower tourism. Interviews have revealed perceptual phenomena such as the orchid and everlasting effects as two counterpoised examples of the differences between visual aesthetic values occurring in the region. For appreciators such as Tinker, botanical …

Selling Sin: How Culture Influences The Sale Of Firearm Suppressors In Australia And New Zealand, Martin Maccarthy, Martin O'Neill, Helen Cripps

Research outputs 2011

This paper is a summary of a 2011 academic study commissioned by the New South Wales Government (Game Council) investigating the possible legalizing of firearm sound moderators for hunting and shooting. The study examined the pragmatic advantages and disadvantages of this product in the event it could be made available to the general public in Australia. A comparison between Australia and New Zealand vis-à-vis public access to sound moderators highlights not only the opposite ends of the continuum adopted by two similar countries, but also the arbitrary nature of how attitudes influence product acceptability and availability. Advantages of de-criminalisation in …

Introduction To Special Issue: Globalisation And Economic Integration In East Asia, Paul De Grauwe, Zhaoyong Zhang

Research outputs 2011

No abstract provided.

A Quantitative Study Of Women In Sri Lanka's Export Processing Zones: Capital Accumulation And Social Investment, Peter Hancock, Jamie C. Moore, Sharon Middleton

Research outputs 2011

This paper is based on research that was funded by AusAID’s Australian Development Research Award and conducted by investigators from Edith Cowan University (ECU) – Australia and The Centre for Research on Women (CENWOR) – Sri Lanka. The research sampled 2304 women who worked in factories in Sri Lanka’s Export Processing Zones (2008-2011). The research was predicated on questioning the assumptions and arguments that the majority of women in developing nations have been dis-empowered due to global and national patriarchy. In this paper we present data and allow it to ‘do the talking’. The paper provides a valuable and thorough …

Resilience In Families With Same-Sex Parents [Journal Article], Natasha Griffiths, Julie Ann Pooley

Research outputs 2011

Research suggests resilience can be viewed as a dynamic process facilitating positive functioning within the context of significant adversity. A nuclear family type that remains a controversial and stigmatized group is families with same-sex parents. Same sex families face a great number of challenges, due to the presence of heterosexism in society and they are often heavily criticised within the broad public domain. The current study adopted a phenomenological methodology to identify the family resilience processes utilised by same-sex families. Five lesbian couples raising children in Perth, Western Australia were interviewed. A thematic analysis technique was then conducted. Seven family …

The "100 Patient Stories" Project: Patient And Family Member Views On How Clinicians (Should) Enact Open Disclosure - A Qualitative Study, Rick Iedema, Suellen Allen, Kate Britton, Donella Piper, Andrew Baker, Carol Grbich, Alfred Allan, Liz Jones, Anthony Tuckett, Allison Williams, Elizabeth Manias, Thomas H Gallagher

Research outputs 2011

Objectives To investigate patients’ and family members’ perceptions and experiences of disclosure of healthcare incidents and to derive principles of effective disclosure. Design Retrospective qualitative study based on 100 semi-structured, in depth interviews with patients and family members. Setting Nationwide multisite survey across Australia. Participants 39 patients and 80 family members who were involved in high severity healthcare incidents (leading to death, permanent disability, or long term harm) and incident disclosure. Recruitment was via national newspapers (43%), health services where the incidents occurred (28%), two internet marketing companies (27%), and consumer organisations (2%). Main outcome measures Participants’ recurrent experiences and …

Journalism As Research Within The Framework Of Academic Ethics, Kayt Davies

Research outputs 2011

This paper makes a case for a review of the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (NHMRC, 2007a) and/or its accompanying documentation to more clearly acknowledge the beneficent role of journalism as an academic methodology and to resolve issues that currently force journalism academics to work around, rather than through, their universities’ Human Research Ethics Committees. In recent years the case has been made that, in addition to being a profession governed by an explicit, internationally-recognised ethical code, journalism is also a valuable academic research methodology (Lamble, 2004; Pearson & Patching, 2010). There are problems with this though, …

Web Scale Discovery: The User Experience, Julia Gross, Lutie Sheridan

Research outputs 2011

Purpose – This study aims to look at how a small group of university students used the new library web scale search discovery tool, “Summon”, and whether they encountered any difficulties pertaining to navigation, ease of use and the quality of the search results. Design/methodology/approach – Researchers conducted a series of usability studies in which students were observed as they conducted some typical library resource searches using the new discovery search platform. Findings – The paper analyses the data, describes and reports the findings of the usability tests. The study found that the new homepage design of providing a single …