Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Exposing England For Famine Wrongs, Ian Kilroy

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A critical review of The Famine Plot by Tim Pat Coogan. Coogan blames English government policy for the Irish Famline.

Walking In Sunshine, Or Away From It? Creating A Unified Transparency Index, John Hogan, Raj Chri, Gary Murphy

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Abstract: Despite the strengths of the two bodies of literature on Freedom of Information (FOI) and Lobbying Regulation, a main inadequacy is that they fail to meet each other. The reason why both the FOI and lobbying regulation literatures need to be synthesized is that both should be seen as the two sides of the deliberative democracy coin: FOI legislation aims to regulate the actions of state officials, while lobbying laws seek to regulate the actions of private interests attempting to influence such officials. The novelty of this paper is that we thus extend and link the ideas raised in …

A Theoretical Framework For Serious Game Design: Exploring Pedagogy, Play And Fidelity And Their Implications For The Design Process, Pauline Rooney

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It is widely acknowledged that digital games can provide an engaging, motivating and “fun” experience for students. However an entertaining game does not necessarily constitute a meaningful, valuable learning experience. For this reason, experts espouse the importance of underpinning serious games with a sound theoretical framework which integrates and balances theories from two fields of practice: pedagogy and game design (Kiili, 2005; Seeney & Routledge, 2009). Additionally, with the advent of sophisticated, immersive technologies, and increasing interest in the opportunities for constructivist learning offered by these technologies, concepts of fidelity and its impact on student learning and engagement, have emerged …

Rehabilitation, Research, And Reform: Prison Policy In Ireland, Mary Rogan

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The paper tracks the concept of rehabilitation within official thinking in

Ireland since the foundation of the State. It explores when and how the term was first

used and how it has fared since. It then examines barriers to and the role of research

in the making of prison policy and comments on data deficits in the system at present.

Finally it looks at the role of interest groups within the criminal justice system in

Ireland, and specifically their effect, or potential effect, on the formation of prison

policy.

A Question Of Sources, Michael Foley

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A project designed to record the experiences of participants in the 30-ynears of political unheavel in Northern Ireland has led to debates over academic and jouralistic sources and the right to maintain source anoymity. The interviews with former IRA and Loyalist paramilitaries for the Boston College project has led to a debate about academic freedoms as the PSNi is demanding through the United States Courts access to the confidential material. The legal actin in both the US and the Northern Ireland Courts has raised questions about journalism, academia, the First Amendmet to the US Constitution and relationships between the UK …

Rhyme Or Reason:That Is The Question?, Jim Roche

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Noting that “the aesthetic should not be limited merely to the way things look” the organisers of this conference sought “in part to address the discursive limitation in architecture and related subjects by broadening the aesthetic discourse beyond questions relating to purely visual phenomena in order to include those derived from all facets of human experience”.

So where does etchics come in? Well, the introductory brochure noted that most philosophical trained aestheticians will say that “the aesthetic is everything” hinting perhaps of the necessity for a more haptic experience of architecture. It also drew on Wittgenstein’s quote that “ethics and …

Tracing The Path To ‘Tiger Hood’: Ireland’S Move From Protectionism To Outward-Looking Economic Development, Paul Donnelly

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Up to very recently, Ireland was spoken of in very adulatory terms, to the point of being dubbed the ‘Celtic Tiger.’ However, the tiger is no more, having been consumed by a property-led boom, the collapse of which was compounded by the global financial crisis. Taking path dependence as lens, this paper looks at an early sequence of events that shaped the country’s path to ‘tiger hood’, i.e., the policy shift from protectionism to outward-looking economic development. From relatively contingent and unpredictable beginnings evolved an institutional matrix, with a clear focus on the global, that, ex ante, could not have …

Women Are The Dominant Decision Makers When Selecting Restaurants To Dine, Frank Cullen

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The primary objective of this research was to investigate the selection process used by consumers when choosing a restaurant to dine. The findings of the research displayed a preference by Dublin consumers for Italian and Chinese styled restaurants and identified quality of the food, type of food, cleanliness of the restaurant, its location and reputation were the key decision variables/attributes used by consumers to select restaurants. The study also established that the importance of the attributes changed, depending on the consumers age, prior experience, their mood and the occasion involved.

An Investigation In Culinary Life And Professional Identity In Practice During Internship, Frank Cullen

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The primary objective of this research was to investigate the selection process used by consumers when choosing a restaurant to dine. This study examined literature on consumer behavior, restaurant selection, and decision-making, underpinning the contention that service quality is linked to the consumer’s selection of a restaurant. It supports the utility theories that consumers buy bundles of attributes that simultaneously combined represent a certain level of service quality at a certain price. The findings of the research displayed a preference by Dublin consumers for Italian and Chinese styled restaurants and identified quality of the food, type of food, cleanliness of …

Understanding Policy Change Using A Critical Junctures Theory In Comparative Context: The Cases Of Ireland And Sweden, Paul Donnelly, John Hogan

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Utilizing a new theory for examining critical junctures, we seek to better understand the nature of industrial policy change in Ireland during the 1950s and macroeconomic policy change in Sweden in the 1980s. Did these policy changes constitute critical junctures, or something less, and if so why? The theory consists of three elements – economic crisis, ideational change, and the nature of the policy change – that must be identified for us to be able to declare with some certainty if a policy change constitutes a critical juncture. Herein, we will be examining the roles of a variety of change …

Restaurant Selection In Dublin, Frank Cullen

Articles

The primary objective of this research was to investigate the selection process used by consumers when choosing a restaurant to dine. This study examined literature on consumer behaviour, restaurant selection, and decision-making, underpinning the contention that service quality is linked to the consumer’s selection of a restaurant. It supports the utility theories that consumers buy bundles of attributes that simultaneously combined represent a certain level of service quality at a certain price. The findings of the research displayed a preference by Dublin consumers for Italian and Chinese styled restaurants and identified quality of the food, type of food, cleanliness of …

Journalism Education And Children's Rights: New Approaches To Media Development In Cee/Cis Countries, Michael Foley, Noirin Hayes, Brian O'Neill

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This article gives the background to a project entitled Children's Rights and Journalism Practice, which was carried out for UNICEF in university journalism faculties in CEE/CIS countries

By focusing on journalism in the context of the academy and raising awareness of children’s rights from a journalistic perspective, the project seeks to provide a relatively safe space for critical engagement with journalistic ethics and values. Children are targets of, or are implicated in, nearly all aspects of public policy, yet are largely invisible in news-media coverage, and rarely have their voices heard in matters affecting them. By using the UNCRC as …

Reasons For Non-Engagement With The Provision Of Emotional Competency Coaching: A Qualitative Study Of Irish First Year Undergraduate Students, Aiden Carthy, Celesta Mccann, Sinead Mcgilloway, Colm Mcguinness

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Very little is known as to why students choose not to participate in emotional intelligence coaching programmes. This qualitative study was undertaken with a sample of Irish undergraduate students (n=20), who chose not to engage with the provision of coaching at a technical college inDublin. The reasons for non-engagement were explored by means of face-to-face interviews. The four principal reasons for non-engagement were: failing to appreciate the value of coaching; a perceived heavy academic workload; the fact that coaching was not a mandatory component of the academic curriculum; and fear that coaching may reveal weaknesses of character. Based on the …

Trust In The Information Society, Brian O'Neill

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Trust is an important feature for all users of the Internet who rely on the safety and security of network technologies and systems for their daily lives. Trust, or the lack of it, has also been identified by the European Commission’s Digital Agenda as a major barrier to further development of the information society in Europe. One of the areas in which concerns have been raised is in relation to children’s safety online. As a result, substantial efforts have been made by policymakers and by the industry to build greater trust and confidence in online digital safety. This paper examines …

The Challenges Faced By Portuguese-Speaking Universities In Africa, Stephen Thompson, Jorge Ferrao

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A common challenge faced by members of the Association of Portuguese Language Universities (AULP) and by other higher education institutions around the world is providing access to up-to-date and relevant academic literature. In an age where more research is being published than ever before, institutions need to move with the times and recognise that we should change our approach to tertiary education. This report considers how a university based in a Portuguese speaking country can use e-learning to overcome some of the barriers presented by language in higher education.

Avoiding The Mistakes Of The Past, Tom Dunne

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Tom Dunne explores the long term drivers of dysfunction in Ireland's housing markets and what a more sustainable housing system would look like.

Selection And Acquisition Of E-Books In Irish Institutes Of Technology Libraries: A Study, Wanda Carin, Lucy Tedd

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Purpose: To report on a study of the acquisition of e-books in libraries in Institutes of Technology (ITs) in Ireland undertaken in 2009. Methodology: Websites of the libraries of the 15 ITs were studied and this was followed by telephone interviews, using a structured set of questions, with the acquisition librarians. Details are provided of the e-book suppliers used, reasons for acquiring (and not acquiring) e-books, links with Virtual Learning Environments and methods of promotion. Findings: Librarians from 12 of the 15 ITs agreed to be interviewed giving a response rate of 80%. The ITs are using e-books from a …

The Irish ‘Working Group On Information Literacy’ E Edging Towards A National Policy, Terry O'Brien, Philip Russell

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The authors of this paper provide an overview of the activities of the Irish Working Group on Information Literacy (WGIL) and its role in advancing a national policy for information literacy in the Republic of Ireland. The study focuses on the work of the group during its lifetime including the various activities, marketing and advocacy initiatives and some of the challenges and issues the group faced, in particular, the diversity of the Irish library and information sector and the lack of an integrated approach for information literacy development. The study presents the findings of the report produced by WGIL entitled …

Young Men Consuming Newspaper Prostitution: A Discourse Analysis Of Responses To Irish Newspaper Coverage Of Prostitution, Joseph Fitzgerald, Brendan O'Rourke

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No abstract provided.

Crisis And Policy Change: The Role Of The Political Entrepreneur, John Hogan, Sharon Feeney

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This paper seeks to investigate the inner mechanics of policy change. It aims to discover how ideas enter the political arena, and how endogenous forces within the policy making environment transform ideas into new policies. The central hypothesis is that in times of crisis, new ideas emanate from a number of change agents, but in order for any of these ideas to enter the institutional environment, one specific agent of change must be present: the political entrepreneur. Without political entrepreneurs, ideational change, and subsequent policy change, would not occur. The paper sets out a framework for identifying and explaining the …

Slimplexity: A Glimpse Inside The Hive Mind Of Snohetta, Noel Brady

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Simplexity is an interview with Craig Dykers cofounder of Snohetta. The firm has a unique structure in Architecture circles with a Hive Mind like structure. In addition its parallel interests in Architecture and Landscape Design has meant that both professional strands have equal parity in the firms operation.

Sport, Media And The Gaelic Athletic Association: The Quest For The “Youth” Of Ireland, John Connolly, Paddy Dolan

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Social developments and related dynamic relationships connected with the sports– media complex is a recurrent focus of sociological investigation. However, in explaining developments in the relationship between sports associations and media organizations the specific structure of power relations between them and other related organizations is often given primacy. We argue that this negates how changes in people’s social habitus – how people think feel and act – are interconnected with and critical to such explanations. Consequently, in this article we apply the theoretical frame of figurational sociology to demonstrate how the gradual development and expansion of specialist communications and media …

Is A Self-Catering Holiday With The Family Really A Holiday For Mothers? Examining The Balance Of Household Responsibilities While On Holiday From A Female Perspective, Ziene Mottiar, Deirdre Quinn

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The commonly cited definition of what constitutes a holiday is that it is a change from the norm, or an escape from everyday life. But is this the case if tourists are going on a self-catering holiday where many of the tasks from everyday life such as cleaning, minding children and cooking must still be undertaken? This research is specifically interested in the role of mothers, from their own perspectives, on such holidays. It explores how household responsibilities are divided between partners when on holiday and questions does this differ from the situation when at home? In so doing this …

Information-Seeking Behaviour Of Nurses: Where Is Information Sought And What Processes Are Followed?, Denise O'Leary, Siobhan Ni Mhaolrunaigh

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Aim This paper is a report of a study on how nurses inform their decision-making in the workplace

Background Despite the growing availability of research evidence, nurses have been slow to adopt it into their daily decision-making.

Method The study was undertaken in Ireland between 2006 and 2007 using a sequential mixed methods approach. In phase 1, the views of a quota sample of 29 nurses were explored using semi-structured interviews incorporating vignettes. Phase 2 involved the design and dissemination of a survey to a disproportionate stratified random sample of 1356 nurses. The response rate was 29%.

Findings In decision-making, …

How Irish Political Parties Are Using Social Networking Sites To Reach Generation Z: An Insight Into A New Online Social Network In A Small Democracy, Kevin Lynch, John Hogan

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No abstract provided.

Connectedness In The Lives Of Older People In Ireland, Carmel Gallagher

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This paper presents an analysis of the connectedness of older people in two sample areas, one urban and one rural in Ireland. The paper is based on a study of the communal participation of older people in two geographic localities, Rathmore, a suburban area of Dublin, and Rathbeg, a rural area in County Donegal, conducted between 2000 and 2005. A multi stage study that used both qualitative and quantitative methods examined significant communal interactions of older people across a range of arenas, including leisure interests, involvement in clubs, religious practices, voluntary work, relationships with kin, friends and neighbours, helping activities, …

Tax Facts, Tom Dunne

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Tom Dunne Clarifies the issues surrounding different forms of property tax