Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Their Fear - Our Fear, Anne Aly

"Exploding Media Myths : Misrepresenting Australia?" - Forum

No abstract provided.

Free To Be Obese In A " Super Nanny State " ?, Nadine Henley

School of Marketing, Tourism and Leisure Publications

Should individuals be free to make lifestyle decisions (such as what, when and how much to eat and how much physical activity to take), without undue interference from the state, even when their decisions may lead to negative consequences (obesity, heart disease, diabetes)?

Pastoral Care In Education, Lydia Hearn, Renee Campbell-Pope, Joanne House, Donna Cross

Research outputs pre 2011

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. During the past decade, there has been growing recognition the school environment plays a major role in the social and emotional competence and wellbeing of children. As a consequence, increasing national and international commitment has been directed towards the development of Health Promoting Schools2, with efforts being made to assess how curriculum and pastoral practice can best contribute to students’ social, emotional, physical and moral wellbeing. Within Australia, the National Safe Schools Framework3 has set as a key priority the importance of achieving a shared vision of physical and emotional safety and wellbeing for all students …

Website Usability: A Window Into A Learning Environment, Julia Gross, Lynette Leslie

Research outputs pre 2011

Academic library websites provide a vital online learning environment for students. They should follow sound design principles, provide functionality, and ease of navigation. As part of a strategy to make effective changes to the library website, Edith Cowan University Library wanted to gather evidence to discover how users went about locating information resources accessible from its website. Concerns existed amongst the library staff about how intuitive it was to locate the various information resources provided. This paper will outline the action research process taken to test the website heuristics to determine what improvements were needed in the design. Using Jakob …

Protecting The Digital Citizen: The Impact Of Digital Personae On Ideas Of Universal Access To Knowledge And Community, Mark Balnaves, Joseph Luca

Research outputs pre 2011

Universal service obligations (USOs) are designed to ensure that citizens of a modern state get access to basic services, from telecommunications to postal services. USOs are interventions in the marketplace to ensure that inequalities caused by geography or income or other impediments to access are compensated for. What constitutes access to 'basic' telecommunications, however, is being challenged by new technologies and new understandings about how people use telecommunications and media. In the past the Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) was the 'basic' service. However, in this paper the authors argue that internet telecommunications makes 'persona' an important part of definition …

Understanding Celebrity And The Public Sphere, Lelia Rosalind Green

Research outputs pre 2011

However, he argues, this is a cause for celebration because the 'old model' ('modernist' construction) of the public sphere suited and benefited an influential minority in society (white, middle-class, educated males) and the new model of the ('postmodern') public sphere increasingly engages the sectors of society systematically excluded and marginalised by modernity's view of what the public sphere should be and does. An Introduction was pitched as a starting point for debate and thus wasn't explicitly addressed to me-after all, I've studied and written on the public sphere myself.18 McKee's book was consequently an unexpected treat and all the more …

Free To Be Obese In A 'Super Nanny State'?, Nadine Henley

Research outputs pre 2011

Should individuals be free to make lifestyle decisions (such as what, when and how much to eat and how much physical activity to take), without undue interference from the state, even when their decisions may lead to negative consequences (obesity, heart disease, diabetes)?

Communication On A Health-Related Website Offering Therapeutic Support: Phase 1 Of The Heartnet Website, Leesa N. Bonniface, Lelia Rosalind Green, Maurice G. Swanson

Research outputs pre 2011

This paper investigates the usefulness of a modest-budget website set up to support people recovering from heart-related incidents through a combination of all or some of the following: surgery, drugs, and lifestyle change. Online communities have been shown to offer support for their members. Ideally, the members of this experimental site would eventually constitute an online community. Effective interaction and personal communication indicate that an online community is developing. The opposite is also true: declining and aborted exchanges might indicate a failure to establish community. This paper reports on the first eight weeks of the experimental website HeartNET. As a …

Overseas Accounting Students In Australia And Performance In Literary Work : An Empirical Test, Theo Christopher, Colleen Hayes

Research outputs pre 2011

This study compared the performance of local and overseas students, studying in a Western Australian university, in respect of both a literary and practical component of an examination question associated with a second year accounting unit. An analysis of the results, using an analysis of variance, indicated that language background for these two groups of students was a significant discriminating variable. This result lends support for the claim by the large Australian-based major public accounting firms that overseas accounting graduates lack language skill, which is, in turn, cited by the firms as a basis for not employing the graduates. Notwithstanding …

Research Into Integrated Crime Prevention Strategies For Rail Station Environs: Final Report, Trudi Cooper, Terence Love, Erin Donovan

Research outputs pre 2011

The initial impetus for this project arose from concerns about responses to ‘anti-social behaviour’, especially by young people, in and around rail stations. The primary goal of the research was to develop a collaborative approach that provided a more constructive and integrated response that would produce benefit for local communities, for the Public Transport Authority, and for the young people themselves. In practical terms, this involved:

• Development of interagency collaboration processes to support agencies with diverse goals to participate constructively without loss of autonomy;

• Identification at a local level of the common issues of concern, their causes, and …

Play Up! Play Up! And Play The Game!, Lelia Rosalind Green, Ben Guinery

Research outputs pre 2011

This paper is about LANing culture. For some, this is ‘gaming culture plus’ – for others, the games are the smokescreen for the BitTorrent sites, porn and illegal downloads. Either way, the LANing activity is a cultural choice overwhelmingly associated with young males and with the kind of commitment and technological dedication that was first recognised in Kidder’s (1981) work, The Soul of the New Machine. Alongside the passion for ‘pimping’ the machine – adding heat sinks, coolers, neon lights, high speed graphic cards etc – is the need to be doing all these things to excess. LANing is at …

Real Interest Rates And Inflation In Norway, David E. Allen, Tinashe Mapfumba

Research outputs pre 2011

We analyse the effectiveness of the monetary stance adopted by the Norwegian central bank in implementing monetary policy assessing how it relates to the neutral rate of interest. The neutral rate is frequently defined as the level of real interest rate consistent with both stable inflation and a level of production equal to potential production; providing no stimulus or restraint to the economy. We attempt to calculate this rate and to examine the long run link between real interest rates and inflation in Norway. We apply cointegration analysis to explore whether the gap between the real and neutral rate of …

Evaluating The Impact Of Peer Review And Participation Awareness In An Online Collaborative Document Authoring Environment, Greg Baatard

Theses : Honours

Online Learning Environments (OLEs) have been widely adopted by higher education facilities, offering distance education with the potential to support the social and collaborative aspects deemed crucial to modern constructivist pedagogy. Groupware, a form of software which aims to facilitate group work, has been the subject of much research, from both educational and enterprise perspectives. This research introduced Reportal, an online groupware system designed to facilitate the collaborative authoring of a document. Reportal's peer review and participation awareness features were the focus of this research, and their impact was measured against the elements of online collaboration, a typology established by …

Contextualising Identity : The Intersection Of Gay Culture And Consumer Culture On The Gay Male Body, Dan Gladden

Theses : Honours

Gay Culture is largely informed and influenced by the wider social values and systems that surround it. Commodity culture infiltrates every area of day-to-day living, and is no less influential within gay culture. Images presented by the media, particularly gay targeting media such as DNA magazine, show a male body as almost exclusively young, muscular, good-looking and of western appearance. The continuously repeated image of the male body as being of only one specific type can be problematic within a minority culture as it can lead to exclusion for those who do not measure up to the standards. While acceptance …

Perceived Multi-Dimensional Locus Of Control Over Young To Older Adults : A Contemporary Australian Cross-Sectional Study, Richard Syrkiewicz

Theses : Honours

Locus of control (LOG) influences many aspects of one's behaviour and associated quality of life (Rotter, 1992). LOG is particularly important for the increasing older adult population and wider health-care system (Swett & Bishop, 2004). Researchers have criticised LOG studies for: an assumed dichotomy of LOG, a lack of recent investigation, non-validity of underlying theoretical position, pronounced inconsistency of findings, and inattention to possible age and gender effects. The current review presents a contemporary focus of LOG research literature to highlight the aforementioned concerns, and provides a systematic account of generalisability for key studies. In addition to discussing the associations …

Age-Phasing And The Use Of Life-Cycle Funds, Shelley Farr

Theses : Honours

The Superannuation Guarantee legislation has made many Australian employees compulsory investors. The reality that many Australian employees are failing to save adequate retirement benefits highlights the importance of selecting an appropriate superannuation investment strategy. With a majority of members having their employer-sponsored contributions in Defined Contribution Funds, it is ultimately members who are responsible for making investment decisions. Given that Australian employees are faced with myriad investment options, it is opportune to examine how members are exercising investment choice. A key factor for a member to consider is whether their investment strategy should be influenced by their age. Using the …

Electoral Professionalism And The 2004 Australian Federal Election Campaign, Ryan Boyd

Theses : Honours

Electoral professionalism, a. term first coined by Panebianco (1988), explains the changing organisational structure of modern political parties and changes to the way parties engage with the electorate. This thesis demonstrates the extent to which electoral professionalism was prevalent during the 2004 Australian federal election campaign. Australian democracy has undergone a process of professionalisation in recent decades. The Liberal Party and the Labor Party's ability to adapt to these changes has enabled Australia's two major parties to remain relevant and come to dominate Australia's political system. Campaign professionals skilled in areas such as polling, marketing, media management, computer technologies, direct …

The Experience Of The Transition To An Aged-Care Facility: A Qualitative Exploration, Jenny M. Smith

Theses : Honours

The transition from one's place of residence to an aged-care facility may be a daunting prospect, with many factors relevant to the degree of ease in which this change occurs. Whilst this is a significant life event, qualified information about older adults' experience of it is limited, with little found about Australia. Much of what is available focuses on the caregivers' and relatives' viewpoints or their interactions with staff and do not pertain to the transition period itself, but to aged care in general. The main findings from the available literature suggest that the way a new resident perceives their …

Death Lilly : Performing The 'Flower Girl' Role In The Age Of Consumption, Catherine Gomersall

Theses : Honours

This self-reflexive photomedia project interrogates the 'flower girl' role as a cultural fetishism of 'innocent' white-girl femininity, which I claim is perpetuated in the bridal fantasy. In my photomedia work the theme of 'death' and the uncanny is explored as well as the themes of 'wildness' and 'violence' in order to subvert the dominant discourse of ideal white femininity which is defined in popular culture by a sanitised bourgeois aesthetic. I attack the bourgeois surface of the bridal magazine in my artwork as I perform the 'flower girl' role in the context of popular culture and capitalism. The flower girl …

The Relationship Between Body Image And Self-Esteem In Older Adulthood, Lucie Guegan

Theses : Honours

Purpose: Given the global trend of population ageing and the fact that Australia will experience a significant increase in the proportion of older adults, research into ageing issues has become a National priority. Whilst body image and self-esteem have been empirically linked, the relationship among older adults has been neglected. The present study investigated several body image variables and their relationship to self-esteem in a sample of older adults. Design and Methods: Questionnaires consisting of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire were administered to 148 adults aged between 65 and 85 years, living independently in the …

That's Freakin' Sweet: The Collecting Of Family Guy, Matthew Knight

Theses : Honours

The animated series Family Guy (1999-2006) has been cancelled twice and resurrected twice mainly because of the efforts of viewers. It is worth asking, however; why has Family Guy attained a level of fanaticism that repeatedly rescues it from permanent cancellation? Arguably, the Family Guy audience is made up predominantly of members of generation y and as such, the way they view the program and their relationship to it will differ to that of previous generations. In short, Family Guy was cancelled due to poor ratings, however, these ratings were a result of erratic scheduling that was not conducive to …

Natural Death In The West Australian Newspaper, Heinrich Benz

Theses : Honours

This thesis analyses the way The West Australian presents natural death to its readers. Previous research involving death notices and obituaries has focused on gender and numerical analysis. There are hundreds of books dealing with death, covering legal, biological, physical, sociological and spiritual aspects of death, but books on death in the media tend to skirt around natural death. The diverse areas of death research fail to postulate a common definition of natural death. A similar diversity of views exists on the good death and the concepts surrounding life after death. This encourages the analysis of material from daily life, …

Older Adults' Perspective On Engaging In Physical Activity After The Age Of 65 : An Exploratory Study, Amanda Kathleen England

Theses : Honours

The increasing number of older Australians who are living sedentary lifestyles is of great concern due to the significant implications of increasing health risks for these people and the increasing pressure on the nation's welfare services as well as its health care systems. To alleviate the pressure, factors that motivate or inhibit older adults' engagement in physical activity should be identified. The purpose of the current review is to examine the literature that is relevant to the engagement in physical activity past the age of 65. Issues of prevalence, benefits, risks, deterrents and attractions of physical activity in older adulthood …

The Politics Of Problem Gambling: Explaining Differences Between Victoria And Western Australia, Ryan Blake

Theses : Honours

Greater accessibility of electronic gaming machines increases the prevalence of problem gambling. The emergence of gaming machines in the context of Australian gambling is a relatively recent phenomenon. Victoria has had strong growth in electronic gaming machines, whereas in Western Australia growth and accessibility has been very limited. This dissertation examines the importance of gambling revenue to the state economies, what factors explain Western Australia's lower dependence on gambling revenue and the extent to which problem gambling is more prevalent in Victoria.

Bullying And Victimisation In Primary Schools: Relations Between Bully Status, Empathy, And Gender, Teresa B. Sapienza

Theses : Honours

Bullying and victimisation at school has been associated with increased reports of psychological and psychosomatic health issues. As such, schools have sought to implement programmes to reduce the prevalence of bullying. These programmes commonly include empathy-raising strategies which are expected to reduce the incidences of bullying. The present paper reviews the empathy and bullying literature, focussing on the suggested relationship between the two. The literature revealed that the concepts of empathy and bullying have undergone rapid development over recent years and as a result, there is much methodological variation between studies, culminating in inconsistent results. However, early research pertaining to …

The Influence Of Genetics And The Environment On Human Personalities, Relationships And Experiences, Patrice Smith

Theses : Honours

It's no mystery that our genetic make-up plays an integral part in the outcome of our lives, but to what extent exactly are our personalities, relationships and experiences pre-determined by this genetic code? There are two forces that contribute to the outcome of these aspects of our lives. Genetics and Environment. The significance of the environment, i.e., our upbringing, lifestyle and the world around us is often emphasized by psychologists as the more dominant force, however our genes are just as, if not more, influential on our lives. My choreographic process is directly in relation to the group of artists …

Where Are The Active Citizens Of Tomorrow? We Need Them Now..., Margaret E. Piasecka

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

In 1997, Hindess labelled the gap between governments and citizens the democratic deficit. This gap, or deficit, has arisen over a long time period as a result of public scandals, perceptions of poor performance and poor economies. Local governments around the world are now attempting to regain community respect and support - the unstated mandate for governance - and seeking to implement government policies relating to concepts variously described as community engagement, capacity building, active citizenship or public/citizen participation. This thesis has identified a methodology for finding people who are motivated to act in the public interest in one local …

Another Paradise Lost? : A Case Study Of Nation Building In East Timor, Brendan Paul Mcshanag

Theses : Honours

This thesis examines the form of reconstruction intervention known as 'nation building', through a case study of the United Nations led operation in East Timor that began in 1999. It examines how the idea of the nation and statehood first arose, and how these ideals are still prevalent in modern nation building interventions. The thesis also examines the weaknesses and ambiguities that have become associated with nation building, and how such weaknesses have found a common thread through subsequent interventions The thesis then uses the case study of the intervention in East Timor, dividing the operation in to three stages; …

Silenced Voices: Experiences Of Grief Following Road Traffic Crashes In Western Australia, Lauren Breen

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Despite the introduction of road safety measures and media campaigns, crashes are a leading cause of death in Western Australia. While economic costs of crashes are relatively easy to determine, their psychosocial burden remains appreciably under-studied, as are the social, cultural, historical, temporal, and political contexts within which grief experiences are housed. As such, I explored the experience of grief resulting from losing a loved one in a crash in Western Australia and described the influence of contextual factors on those grief experiences.

Discrepancies In Intimate Violence Reporting For Men And Women's Violence: A Meta-Analysis, James L. Herbert

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The report of intimate violence is often taken on face value in research. With no gold standard existing, one partner's report is often an accepted measure of violence in the relationship. This discrepancy in reporting between intimate partners has been thoroughly examined, yet researchers still debate the reliability of single partner reporting. The current study extends upon the Archer (1999) meta-analysis of intimate violence discrepancy reporting, and includes current studies, instruments and research methods in the analysis. This study examines the discrepancy effect among thirty-four samples from studies of heterosexual intimate violence, finding that the discrepancy in general was sizeable …