Digital Commons Network^™

“It Takes A Village To Raise A Rigorous Qualitative Project”: Studying Family Financial Socialization Using Team-Based Qualitative Methods, Loren D. Marks, Christina M. Rosa, Ashley B. Lebaron, E. Jeffery Hill

Faculty Publications

This purpose of this case study is to relate the methods used to conduct a qualitative research project about family financial socialization designed by emerging adults, primarily employing emerging adults as the primary research participants (although some of their parents and grandparents are interviewed). A sample of 153 respondents (128 undergraduate students, 17 parents, and eight grandparents) at three universities was recruited to assure diversity. We outline and discuss our team-based approach to qualitative data collection, analysis, and coding procedures, as well as how a team of 10 undergraduate students was incorporated into this approach. We relate the challenges and …

Late-Career Unemployment Has Mixed Effects In Retirement, Wendy C. Birmingham, Maren Wright Voss, M Beth Merryman, Lisa Crabtree, Kathy Subasic, Lori Wadsworth, Man Hung

Faculty Publications

Paid work forms a pattern of occupational engagement that shifts during both unemployment and retirement. Similar to unemployment, the occupational disruption associated with involuntary retirement has been linked to poorer physical and mental health outcomes. To better understand the health impact of work transitions during the pre- and post-retirement years, 24 retired individuals with late-career unemployment were interviewed at the Huntsman World Senior Games in October 2016. Demographic data were collected. Braun and Clarke’s (2006) approach was utilized to thematically analyse the interview data and interpretations were evaluated against existing theory. Themes identified included struggle, freedom, and transition, followed by …

Report On The Future Role Of Engineers In Society And The Skills And Competences Engineering Will Require, Brad Tabas, Una Beagon, Klara Kövesi

Reports

This literature review outlines the current state of the art knowledge in relation to the influence of diversity, attractiveness of the engineering profession and the skills and competencies required of engineers to achieve the SDGs. We aim to answer the overall research question: How do engineering educators develop new learning and teaching approaches (methods) that will attract a diverse group of students (and mature learners) whilst achieving the SDGs in 2030? The main objective of the A-STEP 2030 project is to create an attractive and fascinating learning environment to encourage young people with diverse backgrounds to engage in engineering studies …

Redmond (2002) Revisited: Have Standardized Behavioral Rating Scales Gotten Better At Accommodating For Overlapping Symptoms With Language Impairment?, Kirsten M. Hannig, Sean M. Redmond, Amy Wilder

Faculty Publications

Seventeen years ago, Redmond ¹ reviewed five standardized behavioral rating scales and identified several aspects of their design that made them prone to mischaracterize language impairments as socioemotional behavioral disorders. The purpose of this report is to provide an update and extension of the original audit. We consulted test manuals to evaluate: (1) representation of children with language impairments in their standardization samples; (2) presence of language, or academic items within their inventories; (3) accommodations for administering the measure to children with language impairments; and (4) procedures for identifying inordinately punitive ratings. Overlapping language and academic symptoms continued to be …

Bidirectional Interference Between Simulated Driving And Speaking, Christopher Dromey, Kelsey Simmons

Faculty Publications

Purpose: This study relied on acoustic measures of connected speech and several indices of driving performance to quantify interference between speaking and simulated driving. Method: Three groups of 20 younger (ages 20–30 years), middle-age (ages 40–50 years), and older (ages 60–71 years) adults produced monologues and completed a simulated driving task, which involved maintaining a constant speed and lane position on a freeway. Both tasks were completed separately and concurrently. Results: There were significant divided attention effects, with a reduced speaking time ratio, and increases in vocal intensity, speed variability, and steering wheel adjustments. There was a significant between-subjects age …

Listeners’ Ability To Identify The Gender Of Preadolescent Children In Different Linguistic Contexts, Christopher Dromey, Shawn Nissen, Sharalee Blunck, Anita Dromey

Faculty Publications

This study evaluated listeners’ ability to identify the gender of preadolescent children from speech samples of varying length and linguistic context. The listeners were presented with a total of 190 speech samples in four different categories of linguistic context: segments, words, sentences, and discourse. The listeners were instructed to evaluate each speech sample and decide whether the speaker was a male or female and rate their level of confidence in their decision. Results showed listeners identified the gender of the speakers with a high degree of accuracy, ranging from 86% to 95%. Significant differences in listener judgments were found across …

How Architecture And Engineering Students Conceptualize Design Creation: Report Of A Pilot Study, Shannon Chance, Mike Mimirinis, Ines Direito, John E. Mitchell, Emanuela Tilley

Conference papers

This study uses phenomenographic research methodologies to identify qualitatively different ways engineering and architecture students conceptualize design creation; it seeks to discover if and how their conceptualizations of design creation relate to their conceptualizations of knowledge generation. This work extends prior research by King and Kitchener (1994) and others (Baxter Magolda, 1992; Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, & Tarule, 1986; Hofer & Pintrich, 2002; Perry, 1970) about the ways students develop increasingly sophisticated ways of: understanding and conceptualizing knowledge; sources of truth; how to evaluate various opinions and points-of-view; and ways to assess truthfulness and validity of new ideas. This project stems …

International Student Support Groups: Learning From Experienced Group Members And Leaders, Nathan` Page, Mark Beecher, Derek Griner, Timothy B. Smith, Aaron Jackson, Klint Hobbs

Faculty Publications

Adjustment to college can be particularly difficult for international students. A multi-site qualitative study investigated the experiences of six group leaders and 10 group members who participated in seven different university counseling center international student support groups. Analyses of interview data using hermeneutic interpretation resulted in nine major themes and ten sub-themes organized into four sections: (1) Recruitment and group design, (2) Experiences of group members, (3) Experiences of group leaders, and (4) Additional considerations. College and university counseling centers can effectively work with international students by providing outreach and support groups.

Learner Engagement In Blended Learning Environments: A Conceptual Framework, Lisa R. Halverson, Charles R. Graham

Faculty Publications

Learner engagement correlates with important educational outcomes, including academic achievement and satisfaction. Although research is already exploring learner engagement in blended contexts, no theoretical framework guides inquiry or practice, and little consistency or specificity exists in engagement definitions and operationalizations. Developing definitions, models, and measures of the factors that indicate learner engagement is important to establishing whether changes in instructional methods (facilitators) result in improved engagement (measured via indicators). This article reviews the existing literature on learner engagement and identifies constructs most relevant to learning in general and blended learning in particular. The authors present a possible conceptual framework for …

Interaction, Student Satisfaction, And Teacher Time Investment In Online High School Courses, Chad Turley, Charles R. Graham

Faculty Publications

This case study explores differences between two online course models by investigating the results of a student end-of-course evaluation survey and teacher communication logs in two online high school courses. The two course models were designed with different types and levels of interaction, one with high levels of student-content interaction, the second with high levels of student-content and student-teacher interaction. The majority of research on interaction in online learning has been conducted with adult learners at the university level. There is far less literature focusing on K-12 online learning while investigating interaction, student satisfaction, and teacher time investment. This case …

Experiences With Personalized Learning In A Blended Teaching Course For Preservice Teachers, Karen T. Arnesen, Charles R. Graham, Cecil R. Short, Douglas Archibald

Faculty Publications

In this study, we explored the experiences of preservice teachers as they learned about and experienced personalized learning in a one-credit class designed to introduce students to four core competency areas in K–12 blended teaching contexts: online integration, data practices, personalization, and online interactions. The course included online synchronous, online asynchronous, and in-person class meetings. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, we examined students’ pre and post readiness surveys, activity data, and reflections on their experiences in the course. We found that through course readings; creation of an online module based on blended learning pedagogies, which included personalized learning experiences; …

Driving, Sustaining And Scaling Up Blended Learning Practices In Higher Education Institutions: A Proposed Framework, Cher Ping Lim, Tianchong Wang, Charles R. Graham

Faculty Publications

Higher education institutions (HEIs) have recognised the role of blended learning (BL) in enhancing teaching and learning quality; many of these institutions have implemented BL initiatives as part of their quality enhancement efforts. Despite these efforts, HEIs face sustainability and scalability challenges and issues. There have been pockets of innovative BL practices but these practices are not prevalent across courses and programmes within institutions. In response, this paper proposes a framework to inform institutional strategic planning for driving, sustaining, and scaling up BL practices in HEIs. There are seven strategic dimensions in this framework: (1) curriculum; (2) vision and policy …

Reward Type And Performance: An Examination Of Organizational Wellness Programs, William G. Heninger, Steven D. Smith, David A. Wood

Faculty Publications

We examine organizational control in the context of wellness programs—organizational initiatives designed to improve the physical and mental health of employees. In a field study setting, we examine the associations of three different types of incentives (cash, gift cards, and tangible rewards) with wellness program performance. We find that employees who successfully complete program challenges are associated with greater weight loss. We also find participants choosing gift cards are associated with the greatest program success, even though cash rewards are selected more than twice as often as gift cards. Tangible rewards are the least frequently selected reward and are associated …

Parental Mediation And The Internet: Findings Of Net Children Go Mobile For Parents' Mediation Strategies In Ireland: Mediazione Dei Genitori E Internet: Risultati Di Net Children Go Mobile Per Le Strategie Di Mediazione Di Genitori In Irlanda., Thuy Dinh, Brian O'Neill

Articles

Based on data collected from the Net Children Go Mobile project, a cross- national study of children aged 9-16 in seven European countries with a focus on the Irish context, this article examines parental mediation of children’ online ac- tivities. The relationship between children’s digital skills (including internet and smartphone use) and parental mediation is also examined and factors influenc- ing parent mediation are highlighted. Parents implement a range of strategies, favouring strict mediation and rules over active mediation on internet safety, but these were associated with reduced children’s online activities and digital skills. These findings challenge researchers to identify …

Would A Robot Trust You? Developmental Robotics Model Of Trust And Theory Of Mind, S Vinanzi, M Patacchiola, A Chella, A Cangelosi

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Trust is a critical issue in human-robot interaction: as robotic systems gain complexity, it becomes crucial for them to be able to blend in our society by maximizing their acceptability and reliability. Various studies have examined how trust is attributed by people to robots, but less have investigated the opposite scenario, where a robot is the trustor and a human is the trustee. The ability for an agent to evaluate the trustworthiness of its sources of information is particularly useful in joint task situations where people and robots must collaborate to reach shared goals. We propose an artificial cognitive architecture …

Plastics, The Environment And Society: Current Consensus And Future Directions, Richard C. Thompson, Sabine Pahl

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

In less than 60 years, plastics have transformed our daily lives. Usage is increasing and now exceeds 330 million tonnes per annum. In this concluding chapter we summarise current understanding about the benefits and concerns of plastics usage and look to future priorities, challenges and opportunities. It is clear that plastics bring many societal benefits and offer the potential for further advances in medical and technological applications, as well as carbon reductions. However, it is also widely acknowledged that current production, use and disposal of plastics is not sustainable. Our understanding of the issues associated with end of life plastics …

Auditions And … More Auditions, John Matthews, Guevara Vl De

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Musical Borrowing In Sonification, Núria Bonet

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

Sonification presents some challenges in communicating information, particularly because of the large difference between possible data to sound mappings and cognitively valid mappings. It is an information transmission process which can be described through the Shannon-Weaver Theory of Mathematical Communication. Musical borrowing is proposed as a method in sonification which can aid the information transmission process as the composer’s and listener’s shared musical knowledge is used. This article describes the compositional process of Wasgiischwashäsch (2017) which uses Rossini’s William Tell Overture (1829) to sonify datasets relating to climate change in Switzerland. It concludes that the familiarity of audiences with the …

Second Language Tutoring Using Social Robots: A Large-Scale Study, P Vogt, Den Berghe R Van, Haas M De, L Hoffman, J Kanero, E Mamus, J-M Montanier, C Oranc, O Oudgenoeg-Paz, Dh Garcia, F Papadopoulos, T Schodde, J Verhagen, Cd Wallbridgell, B Willemsen, Wit J De, T Belpaeme, T Goksun, S Kopp, E Krahmer, Ac Kuntay, P Leseman, Ak Pandey

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

We present a large-scale study of a series of seven lessons designed to help young children learn English vocabulary as a foreign language using a social robot. The experiment was designed to investigate 1) the effectiveness of a social robot teaching children new words over the course of multiple interactions (supported by a tablet), 2) the added benefit of a robot's iconic gestures on word learning and retention, and 3) the effect of learning from a robot tutor accompanied by a tablet versus learning from a tablet application alone. For reasons of transparency, the research questions, hypotheses and methods were …

Accurate Eye Center Localization Via Hierarchical Adaptive Convolution, H Cai, B Liu, Z Ju, S Thill, T Belpaeme, B Vanderborght, H Liu

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Eye center localization has been an active research topic for decades due to its important biological properties, which indicates human's visual focus of attention. However, accurate eye center localization still remains challenging due to the high degree appearance variation caused by different kinds of viewing angles, illumination conditions, occlusions and head pose. This paper proposes a hierarchical adaptive convolution method (HAC) to localize the eye center accurately while consuming low computational cost. It mainly utilizes the dramatic illumination changes between the iris and sclera. More specifically, novel hierarchical kernels are designed to convolute the eye images and a differential operation …

The Case Of Inter-Expert Creative Collaboration In Science Gallery Dublin: A Discourse Analytical Approach, Diane Tangney [Thesis]

Doctoral

The phenomenon of creativity has been a focus of enquiry by psychologists for many years. Compared with individual creativity, much less is known about creativity in collaborative contexts (Glăveanu, 2010; Sawyer, 2010). Taking a sociocultural view of creativity, this study contributes to an emerging strand of research that focusses centrally on how creativity unfolds in the performance of creative collaboration.

The research design followed an inductive path conducive to theory building and employed a single case study method (Yin, 2009). Science Gallery Dublin, part of Trinity College Dublin (TCD), is presented as a special place for creative collaboration.

In response …

Towards Supporting Academic Authors, Researchers And Phd Students In Higher Education, Eileen O'Donnell, Liam O'Donnell

Books/Book Chapters

Academic authors, researchers, PhD, Doctoral, and Master’s students, write articles for journals, books, book chapters for inclusion in edited books, papers for conferences and conference proceedings, and so forth as a method of communicating and sharing scholarly research findings. This chapter reviews the supports necessary to learn how to effectively undertake research and successfully publish the findings. These supports could satisfactorily be provided through an e-learning portal or an e-learning platform. An e-learning module could be used to facilitate collaboration amongst staff, researchers, PhD, and post graduate students, who share similar research interests. Staff and students should be encouraged to …

Re-Assessing The Place Of The “Silent Period” In The Development Of English As An Additional Language Among Children In Early Years Settings, Ruth Harris

Articles

This paper explores the acceptance of a “silent period” as a stage in second language development for children acquiring English as an Additional Language in Early Years settings. Current views suggest that it is normal for children to very quickly stop using their mother tongue and enter a period of silence. A positive perspective on this is that children may be using this time to observe and grow in understanding of the second language. However, there may also be negative effects, as children may become withdrawn and miss out on opportunities to develop relationships and language. It is the argument …

Men And The Drug Buzz: Masculinity And Men’S Motivations For Illicit Recreational Drug Use, Clay Darcy

Articles

The purpose of this article is to explore the motivations behind some men’s recreational use of illicit drugs from a gender standpoint. The rationale for this analysis stems from men’s predominance as illicit drug users and their likelihood of experiencing problem drug use and becoming a part of an over-represented population in drug treatment services. Explanations for men’s problematic/addicted patterns of drug use often point to marginalisation, disadvantage, and/or men’s tendency towards problematic health behaviours. This article argues that men’s illicit recreational drug use is often glossed over as a gendered activity and receives less scrutiny than problematic/addicted patterns of …

Emerging Food Processing Technologies And Factors Impacting Their Industrial Adoption, Anushree Priyadarshini, Gaurav Rajauria, Colm. P. O'Donnell, Brijesh K. Tiwari

Articles

Innovative food processing technologies have been widely investigated in food processing research in recent years. These technologies offer key advantages for advancing the preservation and quality of conventional foods, for combatting the growing challenges posed by globalization, increased competitive pressures and diverse consumer demands. However, there is a need to increase the level of adoption of novel technologies to ensure the potential benefits of these technologies are exploited more by the food industry. This review outlines emerging thermal and non-thermal food processing technologies with regard to their mechanisms, applications and commercial aspects. The level of adoption of novel food processing …

When Do We Cooperate With Robots?, Debora Zanatto

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Robotic usage is entering the world into many diverse ways, from advanced surgical areas to assistive technologies for disabled persons. Robots are increasingly designed and developed to assist humans with everyday tasks. However, they are still perceived as tools to be manipulated and controlled by humans, rather than complete and autonomous helpers. One of the main reasons can be addressed to the development of their capabilities to appear credible and trustworthy. This dissertation explores the challenge of interactions with social robots, investigating which specific situations and environments lead to an increase in trust and cooperation between humans and robots. After …

The Battle For Commercial Hearts And Minds And The Internal Brand Within A Charity Shop Network In Ireland, Edmund O'Callaghan

Articles

Charities are increasingly adopting commercial branding strategies to capture consumer hearts and minds for competitive gain, with little attention on the internal organisational battle for hearts and minds within a not-for-profit context. This paper explores the internal brand of a charity that currently operates 227 charity shops on the island of Ireland, using Hankinson’s 2004 framework that focuses on functional, symbolic, behavioural and experiential components. An exploratory case study was developed based on a survey of organisational members (n = 138), interviews with six regional shopmanagers, observation in retail stores and supplemented by organisation documentation. Findings indicate a clarity of …

Agents Of Change: Using Transformative Learning Theory To Enhance Courses In Business Ethics And Social Entrepreneurship, Christina C. Benson, Gary R. Palin, Thomas M. Cooney, Kathleen Farrell

Articles

How can we catalyze “entrepreneurial thinking” and cultivate a deeper understanding of social responsibility and sustainability in business education? Academic scholars have begun to explore the key characteristics and origins of an “entrepreneurial mindset” through new streams of research in the areas of “entrepreneurial cognition” and “design thinking”. Similarly, modern scholarship on “sustainable business” and “creating shared value” has offered a new sense of direction for research on social responsibility. If only a simple lecture or power point presentation could convey all the real-world complexities involved in actually creating shared value, or in effectively balancing “people, planet and profits.” If …

The Same But Different: Understanding Entrepreneurial Behaviour In Disadvantaged Communities, Thomas M. Cooney, Michelle Licciardi

Books/Book Chapters

While entrepreneurship is widely viewed as being equally accessible in all contexts, it could be questioned if potential or nascent entrepreneurs from minority and disadvantaged communities experience entrepreneurship in a similar manner to the mainstream population. This chapter examines immigrant, people with disability, youth, gay and unemployed communities to explore how their entrepreneurial behaviour might differ from the practices of mainstream entrepreneurs. What emerges is that marginalised communities can frequently find it difficult to divorce business from social living. This can have both positive and negative connotations for an entrepreneur, plus they face additional and distinctive challenges that mainstream entrepreneurs …

Entrepreneurship Book Of Vietnamese Cases, Thomas M. Cooney, Vũ Thế Dũng, Trần Hoàng Hải, Vũ Văn Thiệu, Lê Hà Như Thảo, Huỳnh Thị Kim Hà, Tạ Hùng Anh, Đinh Nguyễn Khánh Phương, Huỳnh Minh Nhựt

Books/Book Chapters

This publication ‘Entrepreneurship Book of Vietnamese Cases’ is part of the ‘Supporting Entrepreneurial Development in ICT in Vietnamese HEIs – ICTentr’ project, an initiative which aims to support the national goals of Vietnam to modernise higher education systems and improve skills in ICT through capacity development. The overall objective of this project is to provide ICT students with an entrepreneurial mindset, soft skills and a professional attitude when graduating from the university. The activities are targeted both to students and teachers involved in enhancing innovation. The project is coordinated by the University of Turku (UTU), Finland. The consortium is also …