Implementing community-based provider participation in research: an empirical study

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

Background Since 2003, the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) has sought to restructure the clinical research enterprise in the United States by promoting collaborative research partnerships between academically-based investigators and community-based physicians. By increasing community-based provider participation in research (CBPPR), the NIH seeks to advance the science of discovery by conducting research in clinical settings where most people get their care, and accelerate the translation of research results into everyday clinical practice. Although CBPPR is seen as a promising strategy for promoting the use of evidence-based clinical services in community practice settings, few empirical studies have examined the organizational factors that facilitate or hinder the implementation of CBPPR. The purpose of this study is to explore the organizational start-up and early implementation of CBPPR in community-based practice. Methods We used longitudinal, case study research methods and an organizational model of innovation implementation to theoretically guide our study. Our sample consisted of three community practice settings that recently joined the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP) in the United States. Data were gathered through site visits, telephone interviews, and archival documents from January 2008 to May 2011. Results The organizational model for innovation implementation was useful in identifying and investigating the organizational factors influencing start-up and early implementation of CBPPR in CCOP organizations. In general, the three CCOP organizations varied in the extent to which they achieved consistency in CBPPR over time and across physicians. All three CCOP organizations demonstrated mixed levels of organizational readiness for change. Hospital management support and resource availability were limited across CCOP organizations early on, although they improved in one CCOP organization

An Empirical Study Regarding Radical Innovation, Research and Development Management, and Leadership

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Isada Fumihiko

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The objective of this research is to empirically compare the management that is most suitable for radical innovation with that needed for incremental innovation. The relationship between the results of research and development and management styles was surveyed using a questionnaire. Respondents included research and development leaders in Japanese manufacturing, with special attention given to the differences between radical innovation and incremental innovation. Results verified, in an integrated way, the management and leadership factors, taking into consideration the differences arising from the object under analysis and the environmental factors.

Conducting empirical research in virtual worlds

OpenAIRE

Minocha, Shailey

2011-01-01

We will focus on the following aspects of conducting empirical research in virtual worlds: the toolbox of techniques for data collection; selection of technique(s) for the research questions; tips on how the techniques need to be adapted for conducting research in virtual worlds; guidance for developing research materials such as the consent form, project summary sheet, and how to address the possible concerns of an institution’s ethics committee who may not be familiar with the avatar-based ...

Research on Evaluation Use: A Review of the Empirical Literature from 1986 to 2005

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Kelli; Greenseid, Lija O.; Toal, Stacie A.; King, Jean A.; Lawrenz, Frances; Volkov, Boris

2009-01-01

This paper reviews empirical research on the use of evaluation from 1986 to 2005 using Cousins and Leithwood's 1986 framework for categorizing empirical studies of evaluation use conducted since that time. The literature review located 41 empirical studies of evaluation use conducted between 1986 and 2005 that met minimum quality standards. The…

The use of moral deliberation in empirical research in bioethics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elma Zoboli

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The article presents an integrated empirical ethics research project that used the moral deliberation, according to the theoretical and philosophical conception, and methodical proposal of Diego Gracia, as a theoretical and methodological framework. The application showed the potential to realize the dynamics of the studied object in real life, making it possible, from the situation presented in the vignettes, for participants to include what they considered for dealing with the conflict of values. It also made the integration of philosophical and empirical approaches in bioethics research possible. The analytical category of prudence allowed the results to be assessed in a critical and comprehensive way.

The problem analysis for empirical studies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Groenland, E.A.G.

2014-01-01

This article proposes a systematic methodology for the development of a problem analysis for cross-sectional, empirical research. This methodology is referred to as the 'Annabel approach'. It is suitable both for academic studies and applied (business) studies. In addition it can be used for both

A research program in empirical computer science

Science.gov (United States)

Knight, J. C.

1991-01-01

During the grant reporting period our primary activities have been to begin preparation for the establishment of a research program in experimental computer science. The focus of research in this program will be safety-critical systems. Many questions that arise in the effort to improve software dependability can only be addressed empirically. For example, there is no way to predict the performance of the various proposed approaches to building fault-tolerant software. Performance models, though valuable, are parameterized and cannot be used to make quantitative predictions without experimental determination of underlying distributions. In the past, experimentation has been able to shed some light on the practical benefits and limitations of software fault tolerance. It is common, also, for experimentation to reveal new questions or new aspects of problems that were previously unknown. A good example is the Consistent Comparison Problem that was revealed by experimentation and subsequently studied in depth. The result was a clear understanding of a previously unknown problem with software fault tolerance. The purpose of a research program in empirical computer science is to perform controlled experiments in the area of real-time, embedded control systems. The goal of the various experiments will be to determine better approaches to the construction of the software for computing systems that have to be relied upon. As such it will validate research concepts from other sources, provide new research results, and facilitate the transition of research results from concepts to practical procedures that can be applied with low risk to NASA flight projects. The target of experimentation will be the production software development activities undertaken by any organization prepared to contribute to the research program. Experimental goals, procedures, data analysis and result reporting will be performed for the most part by the University of Virginia.

Educational texts as empirical basis in qualitative research in Physical Education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svendsen, Annemari Munk

This presentation will focus attention on educational texts as empirical basis in qualitative research in Physical Education (PE). Educational texts may be defined as all kinds of texts used in a pedagogical setting, including textbooks, popular articles, webpages and political reports (Selander......). This makes them fundamental sites for illuminating what counts as knowledge in an educational setting (Selander & Skjeldbred, 2004). This presentation will introduce a qualitative research study obtained with discourse analysis of educational texts in Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) in Denmark...... (Svendsen & Svendsen, 2014). It will present the theoretical and methodological considerations that are tied to the analysis of educational texts and discuss the qualities and challenges related to educational texts as empirical basis in qualitative research in PE. References: Apple, M. W. & Christian...

Technology-Facilitated Sexual Violence: A Literature Review of Empirical Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Henry, Nicola; Powell, Anastasia

2018-04-01

Technology-facilitated sexual violence (TFSV) refers to a range of behaviors where digital technologies are used to facilitate both virtual and face-to-face sexually based harms. Such behaviors include online sexual harassment, gender- and sexuality-based harassment, cyberstalking, image-based sexual exploitation, and the use of a carriage service to coerce a victim into an unwanted sexual act. This article reviews the current state of knowledge on these different dimensions, drawing on existing empirical studies. While there is a growing body of research into technology-facilitated harms perpetrated against children and adolescents, there is a dearth of qualitative and quantitative research on TFSV against adults. Moreover, few of the existing studies provide reliable data on the nature, scope, and impacts of TFSV. Preliminary studies, however, indicate that some harms, much like sexual violence more broadly, may be predominantly gender-, sexuality-, and age-based, with young women being overrepresented as victims in some categories. This review collects the empirical evidence to date regarding the prevalence and gender-based nature of TFSV against adults and discusses the implications for policy and programs, as well as suggestions for future research.

Empirical research on Waldorf education

OpenAIRE

Randoll, Dirk; Peters, Jürgen

2015-01-01

Waldorf education began in 1919 with the first Waldorf School in Stuttgart and nowadays is widespread in many countries all over the world. Empirical research, however, has been rare until the early nineties and Waldorf education has not been discussed within educational science so far. This has changed during the last decades. This article reviews the results of surveys during the last 20 years and is mainly focused on German Waldorf Schools, because most investigations have been done in thi...

Conference Report: Rechtsextremismusforschung – aktuelle Tendenzen empirischer Untersuchungen [Research on Right-wing Extremism—Latest Trends in Empirical Studies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Janina Söhn

2004-01-01

Full Text Available During this workshop scholars presented new, mainly empirical studies which explored different aspects of right-wing extremism in Germany. While a number of talks focused on political strategies and modern forms of organization of local neo-Nazi scenes, political elites and the music industry, others had chosen a biographical view on the personal development of young right-wing extremists. Studies on the local context of and conditions for right-wing extremist actions were complemented by representative survey data on political attitudes of German citizens. Apart from discussions about the phenomenon of right-wing extremism itself, participants had the opportunity to exchange their experience of doing empirical qualitative research in a dangerous field. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0401215

The Role of Ethnographic Studies in Empirical Software Engineering

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sharp, Helen; Dittrich, Yvonne; Souza, Cleidson R. B. de

2016-01-01

Ethnography is a qualitative research method used to study people and cultures. It is largely adopted in disciplines outside software engineering, including different areas of computer science. Ethnography can provide an in-depth understanding of the socio-technological realities surrounding ever...... as a useful and usable approach to empirical software engineering research. Throughout the paper, relevant examples of ethnographic studies of software practice are used to illustrate the points being made.......Ethnography is a qualitative research method used to study people and cultures. It is largely adopted in disciplines outside software engineering, including different areas of computer science. Ethnography can provide an in-depth understanding of the socio-technological realities surrounding...... everyday software development practice, i.e., it can help to uncover not only what practitioners do, but also why they do it. Despite its potential, ethnography has not been widely adopted by empirical software engineering researchers, and receives little attention in the related literature. The main goal...

Access to data and material for research: Putting empirical evidence into perspective

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rodriguez, V.

2009-01-01

The aim of this article is to put into critical perspective the empirical findings on secrecy and withholding in research. In other words, by taking existing empirical literature into account, it is intended that a crucial question is answered: Is secrecy and withholding in research harmful or

Supply chain strategy: empirical case study in Europe and Asia:

OpenAIRE

Sillanpää, Ilkka; Sillanpää, Sebastian

2014-01-01

The purpose of this case study research is to present a literature review of supply chain strategy approaches, develop supply chain strategy framework and to validate a framework in empirical case study. Literature review and case study research are the research methods for this research. This study presents the supply chain strategy framework which merges together business environment, corporate strategy, supply chain demand and supply chain strategy. Research argues that all the different c...

Educational virtual environments: A ten-year review of empirical research (1999-2009)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mikropoulos, Tassos; Natsis, Antonios

2011-01-01

This study is a ten-year critical review of empirical research on the educational applications of Virtual Reality (VR). Results show that although the majority of the 53 reviewed articles refer to science and mathematics, researchers from social sciences also seem to appreciate the educational...... value of VR and incorporate their learning goals in Educational Virtual Environments (EVEs). Although VR supports multisensory interaction channels, visual representations predominate. Few are the studies that incorporate intuitive interactivity, indicating a research trend in this direction. Few...

The normative background of empirical-ethical research: first steps towards a transparent and reasoned approach in the selection of an ethical theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Salloch, Sabine; Wäscher, Sebastian; Vollmann, Jochen; Schildmann, Jan

2015-04-04

Empirical-ethical research constitutes a relatively new field which integrates socio-empirical research and normative analysis. As direct inferences from descriptive data to normative conclusions are problematic, an ethical framework is needed to determine the relevance of the empirical data for normative argument. While issues of normative-empirical collaboration and questions of empirical methodology have been widely discussed in the literature, the normative methodology of empirical-ethical research has seldom been addressed. Based on our own research experience, we discuss one aspect of this normative methodology, namely the selection of an ethical theory serving as a background for empirical-ethical research. Whereas criteria for a good ethical theory in philosophical ethics are usually related to inherent aspects, such as the theory's clarity or coherence, additional points have to be considered in the field of empirical-ethical research. Three of these additional criteria will be discussed in the article: (a) the adequacy of the ethical theory for the issue at stake, (b) the theory's suitability for the purposes and design of the empirical-ethical research project, and (c) the interrelation between the ethical theory selected and the theoretical backgrounds of the socio-empirical research. Using the example of our own study on the development of interventions which support clinical decision-making in oncology, we will show how the selection of an ethical theory as a normative background for empirical-ethical research can proceed. We will also discuss the limitations of the procedures chosen in our project. The article stresses that a systematic and reasoned approach towards theory selection in empirical-ethical research should be given priority rather than an accidental or implicit way of choosing the normative framework for one's own research. It furthermore shows that the overall design of an empirical-ethical study is a multi-faceted endeavor which has to

Technology in Gifted Education: A Review of Best Practices and Empirical Research

Science.gov (United States)

Periathiruvadi, Sita; Rinn, Anne N.

2013-01-01

The article aims to explore the progress of technology use in gifted education and highlight the best practices and empirical research in this area. The literature on the use of technology with gifted students and their teachers has been extensive, with articles on best practices, but the empirical research in this area is still emerging. With the…

EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF CLUSTERS IN ROMANIA AND THE IMPACT ON THE ENTREPRENEURIAL ENVIRONMENT

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Tudor NISTORESCU

2017-05-01

Full Text Available The present research focuses on the empirical study about the features of clusters in Romania and its impact on business environment. In the scientific approach we tested five research hypotheses which have been validated. Methodological framework included as main instruments: questionnaires, semi-structured interviews with persons who represent the clusters, studies reported in the specialized literature, studies conducted in other projects, examples of best practice from countries with advanced economies. Findings which emerged from our empirical research, as a result of processing of data collection from respondents, may be useful to persons who manage clusters and decision-making authorities at regional and even national level.

Lessons from empirical studies in product and service variety management.

OpenAIRE

Lyons, Andrew C.L.

2013-01-01

[EN] For many years, a trend for businesses has been to increase market segmentation and extend product and service-variety offerings in order to provid more choice for customers and gain a competitive advantags. However, there have been relatively few variety-related, empirical studies that have been undertaken. In this research, two empirical studies are presented that address the impact of product and service variety on business and business function performance. In the first (service-vari...

Linguistic research in the empirical paradigm as outlined by Mario Bunge.

Science.gov (United States)

Zielińska, Dorota

2016-01-01

In view of the critique of the methodology of the dominant interdisciplinary research involving language studies as the main component, in particular clinical linguistics, Cummings (Pragmatic disorders. Perspectives in pragmatics, philosophy and psychology, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht, 2014) proposes that "It is perhaps appropriate at this point to move the debate onto non-empirical grounds." In Cummings (2014: 113) she starts such a debate on the grounds of the philosophy of language and pragmatics. In this article, I propose to expand that debate by including the input of the philosophy of science. I start the discussion by presenting the way one may carry out language research in the paradigm of empirical sciences from the perspective outlined in Bunge (Scientific research. Strategy and philosophy. Berlin, Springer, 1967; Method, model and matter (synthese library). D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, 1973; Emergence and convergence: qualitative novelty and the unity of knowledge. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 2003) and constrained by Altmann's (Towards a theory of language. Glottometrica 1:1-25, 1978) assumption about self-originating and self-regulatory nature of language.

Teaching Integrity in Empirical Research: A Protocol for Documenting Data Management and Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Ball, Richard; Medeiros, Norm

2012-01-01

This article describes a protocol the authors developed for teaching undergraduates to document their statistical analyses for empirical research projects so that their results are completely reproducible and verifiable. The protocol is guided by the principle that the documentation prepared to accompany an empirical research project should be…

Connecting theoretical and empirical studies of trait-mediated interactions

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Bolker, B.; Holyoak, M.; Křivan, Vlastimil; Rowe, L.; Schmitz, O.

2003-01-01

Roč. 84, č. 5 (2003), s. 1101-1114 ISSN 0012-9658 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z5007907 Keywords : community models * competition * empirical study Subject RIV: EH - Ecology, Behaviour Impact factor: 3.701, year: 2003

Physician Assistant Job Satisfaction: A Narrative Review of Empirical Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Hooker, Roderick S; Kuilman, Luppo; Everett, Christine M

2015-12-01

To examine physician assistant (PA) job satisfaction and identify factors predicting job satisfaction and identify areas of needed research. With a global PA movement underway and a half-century in development, the empirical basis for informing employers of approaches to improve job satisfaction has not received a careful review. A narrative review of empirical research was undertaken to inform stakeholders about PA employment with a goal of improved management. The a priori criteria included published studies that asked PAs about job satisfaction. Articles addressing PA job satisfaction, written in English, were reviewed and categorized according to the Job Characteristics Model. Of 68 publications reviewed, 29 met criteria and were categorized in a Job Characteristics Model. Most studies report a high degree of job satisfaction when autonomy, income, patient responsibility, physician support, and career advancement opportunities are surveyed. Age, sex, specialty, and occupational background are needed to understand the effect on job satisfaction. Quality of studies varies widely. Employers may want to examine their relationships with PAs periodically. The factors of job satisfaction may assist policymakers and health administrators in creating welcoming professional employment environments. The main limitation: no study comprehensively evaluated all the antecedents of job satisfaction. PAs seem to experience job satisfaction supported by low attrition rates and competitive wages. Contributing factors are autonomy, experienced responsibility, pay, and supportive supervising physician. A number of intrinsic rewards derived from the performance of the job within the social environment, along with extrinsic rewards, may contribute to overall job satisfaction. PA job satisfaction research is underdeveloped; investigations should include longitudinal studies, cohort analyses, and economic determinants.

Empirical data and moral theory. A plea for integrated empirical ethics.

Science.gov (United States)

Molewijk, Bert; Stiggelbout, Anne M; Otten, Wilma; Dupuis, Heleen M; Kievit, Job

2004-01-01

Ethicists differ considerably in their reasons for using empirical data. This paper presents a brief overview of four traditional approaches to the use of empirical data: "the prescriptive applied ethicists," "the theorists," "the critical applied ethicists," and "the particularists." The main aim of this paper is to introduce a fifth approach of more recent date (i.e. "integrated empirical ethics") and to offer some methodological directives for research in integrated empirical ethics. All five approaches are presented in a table for heuristic purposes. The table consists of eight columns: "view on distinction descriptive-prescriptive sciences," "location of moral authority," "central goal(s)," "types of normativity," "use of empirical data," "method," "interaction empirical data and moral theory," and "cooperation with descriptive sciences." Ethicists can use the table in order to identify their own approach. Reflection on these issues prior to starting research in empirical ethics should lead to harmonization of the different scientific disciplines and effective planning of the final research design. Integrated empirical ethics (IEE) refers to studies in which ethicists and descriptive scientists cooperate together continuously and intensively. Both disciplines try to integrate moral theory and empirical data in order to reach a normative conclusion with respect to a specific social practice. IEE is not wholly prescriptive or wholly descriptive since IEE assumes an interdepence between facts and values and between the empirical and the normative. The paper ends with three suggestions for consideration on some of the future challenges of integrated empirical ethics.

Mobile Systems Development: An Empirical Study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hosbond, J. H.

As part of an ongoing study on mobile systems development (MSD), this paper presents preliminary findings of research-in-progress. The debate on mobility in research has so far been dominated by mobile HCI, technological innovations, and socio-technical issues related to new and emerging mobile...... work patterns. This paper is about the development of mobile systems.Based on an on-going empirical study I present four case studies of companies each with different products or services to offer and diverging ways of establishing and sustaining a successful business in the mobile industry. From...... the case studies I propose a five-layered framework for understanding the structure and segmentation of the industry. This leads to an analysis of the different modes of operation within the mobile industry, exemplified by the four case studies.The contribution of this paper is therefore two-fold: (1) I...

A literature review of empirical research on learning analytics in medical education.

Science.gov (United States)

Saqr, Mohammed

2018-01-01

The number of publications in the field of medical education is still markedly low, despite recognition of the value of the discipline in the medical education literature, and exponential growth of publications in other fields. This necessitates raising awareness of the research methods and potential benefits of learning analytics (LA). The aim of this paper was to offer a methodological systemic review of empirical LA research in the field of medical education and a general overview of the common methods used in the field in general. Search was done in Medline database using the term "LA." Inclusion criteria included empirical original research articles investigating LA using qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methodologies. Articles were also required to be written in English, published in a scholarly peer-reviewed journal and have a dedicated section for methods and results. A Medline search resulted in only six articles fulfilling the inclusion criteria for this review. Most of the studies collected data about learners from learning management systems or online learning resources. Analysis used mostly quantitative methods including descriptive statistics, correlation tests, and regression models in two studies. Patterns of online behavior and usage of the digital resources as well as predicting achievement was the outcome most studies investigated. Research about LA in the field of medical education is still in infancy, with more questions than answers. The early studies are encouraging and showed that patterns of online learning can be easily revealed as well as predicting students' performance.

A quarter century of Culture's Consequences: a review of empirical research incorporating Hofstede's cultural values framework

OpenAIRE

Bradley L Kirkman; Kevin B Lowe; Cristina B Gibson

2006-01-01

Since Geert Hofstede's Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values (Sage, 1980) was published, researchers have utilized Hofstede's cultural values framework in a wide variety of empirical studies. We review 180 studies published in 40 business and psychology journals and two international annual volumes between 1980 and June 2002 to consolidate what is empirically verifiable about Hofstede's cultural values framework. We discuss limitations in the Hofstede-inspir...

Personal dimensions of identity and empirical research in APA journals.

Science.gov (United States)

Munley, Patrick H; Anderson, Mary Z; Baines, Tonita C; Borgman, Amy L; Briggs, Denise; Dolan, James P; Koyama, Miki

2002-11-01

This study reviewed 402 empirical research papers published during 1999 in 9 American Psychological Association journals from the perspective of the Personal Dimensions of Identity (PDI) model. Descriptions of participants were reviewed to determine whether researchers reported information concerning Dimensions A, B, and C of the PDI model. PDI A and B Dimensions of age, gender, education, and geographic location were reported with the highest frequency: 88.56%, 89.30%, 78.50%, and 73.88%, respectively, whereas race/ethnicity was reported with moderate frequency, 60.70%. The remaining PDI A Dimensions of language, physical disability, sexual orientation, and social class, and the remaining B Dimensions of citizenship status, employment status, income, marital status, military experience, occupation, and religion, were reported in relatively low percentages of studies.

An Empirical Study of Audit Expectation Gap in Hungary

OpenAIRE

Judit Füredi-Fülöp

2015-01-01

The audit expectation gap has preoccupied the finance and accounting profession for a long time. Considerable research has been conducted into this issue and attempts have been made to provide an accurate definition of the audit expectation gap, model this concept and assess the possibilities of its narrowing. Also, a number of studies investigate whether there is an audit expectation gap in several researched regions. The objectives of empirical studies on the structure and nature of the aud...

Empirical research on the experience of the New Homiletic in South Korea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hyun W. Park

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this article is to present empirical research to reveal the reality of the New Homiletic in South Korea. This research was conducted by means of semistructured interviews with seven pastors and eight laypeople of the evangelical faith, residing in Seoul and its metropolitan areas, within the age limits of 20�59 years. The aim was to uncover the experience of the sermons by both the preachers and the hearers of the sermons. The researcher chose Pieterse�s methodology of analysing the data, which is an inductive analysis called open coding. Six main categories from the pastor�s group and five categories from the laypeople emerged from the data. The categories were rearranged into four themes, which is a valuable finding for current-day Korean preaching in order to enhance the homiletical praxis.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article presents empirical research on the reality of the New Homiletic in South Korea. The results indicate similarity between South Korea and the USA. The conclusion is that traditional discourse should give way to the New Homiletic. This research can become the basis for finding new strategies for evangelical preaching.Keywods: Preaching; South Korean church; Empirical research; New Homiletic

Potential of qualitative network analysis in migration studies- Reflections based on an empirical analysis of young researchers' mobility aspirations

OpenAIRE

Elisabeth Scheibelhofer

2011-01-01

Based on the example of an empirical research study, the paper examines the strengths and limitations of a qualitative network approach to migration and mobility. The method of graphic drawings produced by the respondents within an interview setting was applied. With this method, we argue to be able to analyse migrants’ specific social embeddedness and its influence on future mobility aspirations. Likewise, connections between the migratory biography and the individuals’ various social relati...

YOUTH STUDIES – A SPECIFIC GENRE OF THE EMPIRICAL PARADIGM IN SOCIAL SCIENCES

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Agnė Dorelaitienė

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The article presents the situation of youth in contemporary society. Neoliberal economy, ageing society, rapid globalisation, technological changes, increase of social risk have prompted specific, historically unfamiliar, and fairly difficult to forecast social change. Social adaptation and construction of own identity are becoming challenging to youth as a specific social group in this period of great uncertainty, risk, and opportunities. Youth studies are referred to as one of the means to help understand the youth phenomenon and form the respective policy. Aim of the article is to reveal the role of youth studies as a specific interdisciplinary genre of the empirical-analytic paradigm in social sciences. Research objectives: (1 To identify the traditions of youth studies and differences between them; (2. To reveal the specific character of youth studies as an empirical paradigm in the contemporary context. Analysis of scientific sources and document analysis are used for achievement of the goal and objectives. Since the 20th century, youth studies have been developing as an independent research discipline and tradition. Perception of the notion of a young person has been changing along with development of the paradigmatic and methodological research traditions. Modernity has doubtlessly contributed to a young person finding his/her place in other age groups and putting an emphasis on the importance of youth as a specific social group. Recently, youth has been viewed as both the risk and the opportunity group. Although qualitative research, in particular, where youth emancipation is aspired, prevails in the contemporary research tradition, the empirical-analytic paradigm has not lost its relevance. The research has demonstrated that empirical-analytic paradigm is a specific genre of the youth studies characterised by quantitative approach and strong link to politics and practical situation of the phenomenon.

The Role of Light and Music in Gambling Behaviour: An Empirical Pilot Study

Science.gov (United States)

Spenwyn, Jenny; Barrett, Doug J. K.; Griffiths, Mark D.

2010-01-01

Empirical research examining the situational characteristics of gambling and their effect on gambling behaviour is limited but growing. This experimental pilot investigation reports the first ever empirical study into the combined effects of both music and light on gambling behaviour. While playing an online version of roulette, 56 participants…

Choice of Foreign Market Entry Mode - Cognitions from Empirical and Theoretical Studies

OpenAIRE

Zhao, Xuemin; Decker, Reinhold

2004-01-01

This paper analyzes critically five basic theories on market entry mode decision with respect to existing strengths and weaknesses and the results of corresponding empirical studies. Starting from conflictions both in theories and empirical studies dealing with the entry mode choice problem we motivate a significant need of further research in this important area of international marketing. Furthermore we provide implications for managers in practice and outline emerging trends in market entr...

A Scoping Review of Empirical Research Relating to Quality and Effectiveness of Research Ethics Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Nicholls, Stuart G; Hayes, Tavis P; Brehaut, Jamie C; McDonald, Michael; Weijer, Charles; Saginur, Raphael; Fergusson, Dean

2015-01-01

To date there is no established consensus of assessment criteria for evaluating research ethics review. We conducted a scoping review of empirical research assessing ethics review processes in order to identify common elements assessed, research foci, and research gaps to aid in the development of assessment criteria. Electronic searches of Ovid Medline, PsychInfo, and the Cochrane DSR, ACP Journal Club, DARE, CCTR, CMR, HTA, and NHSEED, were conducted. After de-duplication, 4234 titles and abstracts were reviewed. Altogether 4036 articles were excluded following screening of titles, abstracts and full text. A total of 198 articles included for final data extraction. Few studies originated from outside North America and Europe. No study reported using an underlying theory or framework of quality/effectiveness to guide study design or analyses. We did not identify any studies that had involved a controlled trial--randomised or otherwise--of ethics review procedures or processes. Studies varied substantially with respect to outcomes assessed, although tended to focus on structure and timeliness of ethics review. Our findings indicate a lack of consensus on appropriate assessment criteria, exemplified by the varied study outcomes identified, but also a fragmented body of research. To date research has been largely quantitative, with little attention given to stakeholder experiences, and is largely cross sectional. A lack of longitudinal research to date precludes analyses of change or assessment of quality improvement in ethics review.

Converging Paradigms: A Reflection on Parallel Theoretical Developments in Psychoanalytic Metapsychology and Empirical Dream Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmelowszky, Ágoston

2016-08-01

In the last decades one can perceive a striking parallelism between the shifting perspective of leading representatives of empirical dream research concerning their conceptualization of dreaming and the paradigm shift within clinically based psychoanalytic metapsychology with respect to its theory on the significance of dreaming. In metapsychology, dreaming becomes more and more a central metaphor of mental functioning in general. The theories of Klein, Bion, and Matte-Blanco can be considered as milestones of this paradigm shift. In empirical dream research, the competing theories of Hobson and of Solms respectively argued for and against the meaningfulness of the dream-work in the functioning of the mind. In the meantime, empirical data coming from various sources seemed to prove the significance of dream consciousness for the development and maintenance of adaptive waking consciousness. Metapsychological speculations and hypotheses based on empirical research data seem to point in the same direction, promising for contemporary psychoanalytic practice a more secure theoretical base. In this paper the author brings together these diverse theoretical developments and presents conclusions regarding psychoanalytic theory and technique, as well as proposing an outline of an empirical research plan for testing the specificity of psychoanalysis in developing dream formation.

Empirical research in business process management: introduction to the special issue

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Recker, Jan; Mutschler, B.B.; Wieringa, Roelf J.

In this editorial letter, we provide the readers of Information Systems and e-Business Management with an introduction to Business Process Management and the challenges of empirical research in this field. We then briefly describe selected examples of current research efforts in this field and how

Corporate Diversification and Firm Performance: an Empirical Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olu Ojo

2009-05-01

Full Text Available The importance of diversification and performance in then strategic management literature is widely accepted among academics and practitioners . However, the proxies for performance and diversification that have been employed in past strategy research has not been unanimously agreed upon. Given the current state of confusion that exists with regard to the impact of corporate diversification on firm performance in selected Nigerian companies. The reason for increased interest in diversification has always been on the possibility that diversification is related to corporate performance. However , while this topic is rich in studies, empirical evidence semerging from various studies about the effect of diversification on performance have so far yield mixed results that are inconclusive and contradictory. In addition , despite the existence of these studies, very litlle attention has been given to the companies in developing countries including Nigeria. This means that there is a major gap in the relevant literature on developing countries which has to be covered by research. This research attempts to fill this gap by studying the situation of the Nigeria companies and providing more empirical evidence on the effects of corporate diversification on firm performance based on individual company-level data. Survey research design was adopted in this study with the application of simple random sampling tehnique in selecting our case study companies as well as our respondents. Primary data were collected through questionnaire. Data were analysed through descriptive statistics and correlation and coefficient of determination were used to test our hypothese. It was discovered that diversification impacted performance of these companies posivitely and we recommend that these companies should engage in geographical diversification in addition to other forms of diversification they are currently involved in for maximum performance.

Decoupling among CSR policies, programs, and impacts : An empirical study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Graafland, Johan; Smid, Hugo

2016-01-01

There are relatively few empirical studies on the impacts of corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies and programs. This article addresses the research gap by analyzing the incidence of, and the conditions that affect, decoupling (defined as divergence) among CSR policies, implementation of

Towards Multi-Method Research Approach in Empirical Software Engineering

Science.gov (United States)

Mandić, Vladimir; Markkula, Jouni; Oivo, Markku

This paper presents results of a literature analysis on Empirical Research Approaches in Software Engineering (SE). The analysis explores reasons why traditional methods, such as statistical hypothesis testing and experiment replication are weakly utilized in the field of SE. It appears that basic assumptions and preconditions of the traditional methods are contradicting the actual situation in the SE. Furthermore, we have identified main issues that should be considered by the researcher when selecting the research approach. In virtue of reasons for weak utilization of traditional methods we propose stronger use of Multi-Method approach with Pragmatism as the philosophical standpoint.

Physician assistant job satisfaction : a narrative review of empirical research

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hooker, Roderick S; Kuilman, Luppo; Everett, Christine M

2015-01-01

PURPOSE: To examine physician assistant (PA) job satisfaction and identify factors predicting job satisfaction and identify areas of needed research. With a global PA movement underway and a half-century in development, the empirical basis for informing employers of approaches to improve job

Pay-What-You-Want pricing: An integrative review of the empirical research literature

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Torsten J.

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In a Pay What You Want (PWYW setting companies empower their customers to fix the prices buyers voluntarily pay for a delivered product or service. The seller agrees to any price (includ-ing zero customers are paying. For about ten years researchers empirically investigate customer reactions to and economic outcomes of this pricing method. The present paper distinguishes PWYW from other voluntary payment mechanisms and reviews 72 English- or German-speaking PWYW publications, which appeared between January 2006 and September 2016 and contain 97 independent empirical data sets. Prior PWYW research is structured with the help of a conceptual framework which incorporates payment procedure design, buyer, seller, focal sales object and market context characteristics as factors potentially influencing customer perceptions of the PWYW scheme and their behavioral reactions to PWYW offers. The review discusses both consistent key findings as well as contradictory results and derives recommendations for future empirical PWYW research efforts.

Online gaming addiction in children and adolescents: A review of empirical research.

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Kuss, Daria J; Griffiths, Mark D

2012-03-01

Research suggests that excessive online gaming may lead to symptoms commonly experienced by substance addicts. Since games are particularly appealing to children and adolescents, these individuals may be more at risk than other groups of developing gaming addiction. Given these potential concerns, a literature review was undertaken in order (i) to present the classification basis of online gaming addiction using official mental disorder frameworks, (ii) to identify empirical studies that assess online gaming addiction in children and adolescents, and (iii) to present and evaluate the findings against the background of related and established mental disorder criteria. Empirical evidence comprising 30 studies indicates that for some adolescents, gaming addiction exists and that as the addiction develops, online gaming addicts spend increasing amounts of time preparing for, organizing, and actually gaming. Evidence suggests that problematic online gaming can be conceptualized as a behavioral addiction rather than a disorder of impulse control.

Intrapreneur organizational culture and gender manager: an empirical study on SMES

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Monica García Solarte

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The aim of this research is to empirically identify the relationship between the gender manager of the SMEs and the characteristics of the intrapreneurculture. The empirical study was conducted using a sample of 600 SMEs in the region of Murcia (Spain. The intrapreneur culture is analyzed considering theclassification of Galvez and Garcia (2011. The results show that companies The results show that companies directed by women promoted greater extentthan men intrapreneur characteristics of culture such as: autonomy and risk taking, teamwork, compensation and support to management. The implicationsof our research are relevant and can help public authorities and managers to the analysis and development of policies that promote gender equity withinorganizations.

A Scoping Review of Empirical Research Relating to Quality and Effectiveness of Research Ethics Review.

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Stuart G Nicholls

Full Text Available To date there is no established consensus of assessment criteria for evaluating research ethics review.We conducted a scoping review of empirical research assessing ethics review processes in order to identify common elements assessed, research foci, and research gaps to aid in the development of assessment criteria. Electronic searches of Ovid Medline, PsychInfo, and the Cochrane DSR, ACP Journal Club, DARE, CCTR, CMR, HTA, and NHSEED, were conducted. After de-duplication, 4234 titles and abstracts were reviewed. Altogether 4036 articles were excluded following screening of titles, abstracts and full text. A total of 198 articles included for final data extraction.Few studies originated from outside North America and Europe. No study reported using an underlying theory or framework of quality/effectiveness to guide study design or analyses. We did not identify any studies that had involved a controlled trial--randomised or otherwise--of ethics review procedures or processes. Studies varied substantially with respect to outcomes assessed, although tended to focus on structure and timeliness of ethics review.Our findings indicate a lack of consensus on appropriate assessment criteria, exemplified by the varied study outcomes identified, but also a fragmented body of research. To date research has been largely quantitative, with little attention given to stakeholder experiences, and is largely cross sectional. A lack of longitudinal research to date precludes analyses of change or assessment of quality improvement in ethics review.

A Scoping Review of Empirical Research Relating to Quality and Effectiveness of Research Ethics Review

Science.gov (United States)

Nicholls, Stuart G.; Hayes, Tavis P.; Brehaut, Jamie C.; McDonald, Michael; Weijer, Charles; Saginur, Raphael; Fergusson, Dean

2015-01-01

Background To date there is no established consensus of assessment criteria for evaluating research ethics review. Methods We conducted a scoping review of empirical research assessing ethics review processes in order to identify common elements assessed, research foci, and research gaps to aid in the development of assessment criteria. Electronic searches of Ovid Medline, PsychInfo, and the Cochrane DSR, ACP Journal Club, DARE, CCTR, CMR, HTA, and NHSEED, were conducted. After de-duplication, 4234 titles and abstracts were reviewed. Altogether 4036 articles were excluded following screening of titles, abstracts and full text. A total of 198 articles included for final data extraction. Results Few studies originated from outside North America and Europe. No study reported using an underlying theory or framework of quality/effectiveness to guide study design or analyses. We did not identify any studies that had involved a controlled trial - randomised or otherwise – of ethics review procedures or processes. Studies varied substantially with respect to outcomes assessed, although tended to focus on structure and timeliness of ethics review. Discussion Our findings indicate a lack of consensus on appropriate assessment criteria, exemplified by the varied study outcomes identified, but also a fragmented body of research. To date research has been largely quantitative, with little attention given to stakeholder experiences, and is largely cross sectional. A lack of longitudinal research to date precludes analyses of change or assessment of quality improvement in ethics review. PMID:26225553

How Often Are Theories Developed through Empirical Research into Higher Education?

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Ashwin, Paul

2012-01-01

This article reports on a review of empirical research published in selected higher education journals in 2008, which was focused on examining how often theories are developed through research. This review found relatively little evidence of theory development. Drawing on the notions of internal and external languages of description, it is argued…

ACCOUNTING MANIPULATION: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY REGARDING MANAGERS’ BEHAVIOR

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Balaciu Diana Elisabeta

2014-07-01

Full Text Available The study analyses managers’ behaviour from Romania when dealing with creative accounting. For this we realized an empirical study within the Arad county space, having as main objective the identification of the managers’ perception regarding the usefulness of accounting information and of other factors considered when making decisions. Another aspect was to interpret the managers’ tendency towards manipulation or strategic management of results. The empirical research was carried out between December 2013 and January 2014, and the research method used was the survey, and as an instrument of the research we used the questionnaire. The questionnaires were posted on a website but some of them were applied directly in the field to ensure a response rate of at least 30%. For the analysis and confirmation of the feasibility of the questionnaire and of the measurement scale, we used Cronbach Alpha method. The results obtained after statistically processing the answers received from respondents and after testing the research hypotheses show that there is an increased interest of the managers from the investigated Arad firms to improve the quality of the financial accounting information and to give the users as beautiful an image as possible of the company’s performances; it is noticed their inclination to the manipulation of the accounting figures. On the other hand the results obtained demonstrate that, despite the fact that most of the managers from the sample consider that using ethics is a priority in making decisions, this idea is not an obstacle for more than a half to change an accounting policy that would affect the true image but would be favorable to the image of the company The utility of such research contributes to the insurance of the premises for the development of future research, looking to test the reaction of the professional accountants in our country, regarding the phenomenon of creative accounting.

Franchised fast food brands: An empirical study of factors influencing growth

OpenAIRE

Christopher A. Wingrove; Boris Urban

2017-01-01

Orientation: Franchising is a popular and multifaceted business arrangement that captures a sizeable portion of the restaurant industry worldwide. Research purpose: The study empirically investigated the influence of various site location and branding factors on the growth of franchised fast food restaurant brands across the greater Gauteng region. Motivation of the study: Researching which factors influence the growth of franchised fast food restaurant brands is important for an emer...

For a new dialogue between theoretical and empirical studies in evo-devo

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Giuseppe eFusco

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Despite its potentially broad scope, current evo-devo research is largely dominated by empirical developmental studies, whereas comparably little role is played by theoretical research. I argue that this represents an obstacle to a wider appreciation of evo-devo and its integration within a more comprehensive evolutionary theory, and that this situation is causally linked to a limited exchange between theoretical and experimental studies in evo-devo. I discuss some features of current theoretical work in evo-devo, highlighting some possibly concurring impediments to an effective dialogue with experimental studies. Finally, I advance two suggestions for enhancing fruitful cross-fertilization between theoretical and empirical studies in evo-devo: i to broaden the scope of evo-devo beyond its current conceptualization, teaming up with other variational approaches to the study of evolution, and ii to develop more effective forms of scientific interaction and communication.

Searching for a Common Ground--A Literature Review of Empirical Research on Scientific Inquiry Activities

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Rönnebeck, Silke; Bernholt, Sascha; Ropohl, Mathias

2016-01-01

Despite the importance of scientific inquiry in science education, researchers and educators disagree considerably regarding what features define this instructional approach. While a large body of literature addresses theoretical considerations, numerous empirical studies investigate scientific inquiry on quite different levels of detail and also…

Too Much Emphasis on Research? An Empirical Examination of the Relationship between Research and Teaching in Multitasking Environments

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Bak, Hee-Je; Kim, Do Han

2015-01-01

While the public is concerned that emphasizing research performance among university faculty results in inadequate attention to undergraduate teaching, research on the relationship between research and teaching in higher education has failed to confirm or deny the validity of this concern. To empirically test this popular concern, we examined how…

A theoretical and empirical review of the death-thought accessibility concept in terror management research.

Science.gov (United States)

Hayes, Joseph; Schimel, Jeff; Arndt, Jamie; Faucher, Erik H

2010-09-01

Terror management theory (TMT) highlights the motivational impact of thoughts of death in various aspects of everyday life. Since its inception in 1986, research on TMT has undergone a slight but significant shift from an almost exclusive focus on the manipulation of thoughts of death to a marked increase in studies that measure the accessibility of death-related cognition. Indeed, the number of death-thought accessibility (DTA) studies in the published literature has grown substantially in recent years. In light of this increasing reliance on the DTA concept, the present article is meant to provide a comprehensive theoretical and empirical review of the literature employing this concept. After discussing the roots of DTA, the authors outline the theoretical refinements to TMT that have accompanied significant research findings associated with the DTA concept. Four distinct categories (mortality salience, death association, anxiety-buffer threat, and dispositional) are derived to organize the reviewed DTA studies, and the theoretical implications of each category are discussed. Finally, a number of lingering empirical and theoretical issues in the DTA literature are discussed with the aim of stimulating and focusing future research on DTA specifically and TMT in general.

Matchmaking in organizational change : does every employee value participatory leadership? An empirical study

OpenAIRE

Rogiest, Sofie; Segers, Jesse; Witteloostuijn, van, Arjen

2018-01-01

Abstract: Although leadership is generally considered an important lever to increase commitment during organizational change, empirical research has yet to unravel many of the underlying mechanisms. In this paper, we propose that the impact of participative leadership on affective commitment to change will be contingent on employees orientation toward leadership. In our empirical study in two police organizations, we find evidence that followers orientation toward leadership is a useful inter...

Determinants of user acceptance of internet banking: An empirical study

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Hessam Zandhessami

2014-07-01

Full Text Available The boom of Internet usage and the significant funding dynamism in electronic banking have attracted the attention of researchers towards Internet banking. In the past, the traditional focus of Internet banking research has been on technological development, but it is now switching to user-focused research. This paper presents an empirical investigation to determine determinants of user acceptance of internet banking. The proposed study uses Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL technique to measure the relationships between different factors in a case study of Iranian firm. The results indicate that trust is the most important factor for development of internet banking.

Visual impact in the digital press: a Spanish empirical research

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Joan Francesc Fondevila Gascón

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Visual resource (photography and video inclusion in digital journalism is obtaining importance in the multimedia area. The principal resources of digital press are multimedia, hypertext and interactivity. Multimedia is in an initial process of evolution. The objective of this research is to observe empirically the use of visual resources by the digital pure player press. These media try to take advantage of the new multimedia possibilities in the development and presentation of the contents. We have analyzed empirically video and photography inclusion in the multimedia framework (text, photography, video, audio, infograph and animation programs in four digital newspapers (Libertad Digital and El Plural, in Spanish, and Vilaweb.cat and e-Noticies, in Catalan analyzed according to journalistic genres.

Understanding Adoptive Families: An Integrative Review of Empirical Research and Future Directions for Counseling Psychology

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O'Brien, Karen M.; Zamostny, Kathy P.

2003-01-01

Contrary to societal stereotypes about adoption, this integrative review of published empirical research on adoptive families noted several positive and few negative out-comes with regard to satisfaction with the adoption, familial functioning, and parent-child communication. The critical analysis of 38 studies on adoptive families revealed a…

A new prescription for empirical ethics research in pharmacy: a critical review of the literature

OpenAIRE

Cooper, R J; Bissell, P; Wingfield, J

2007-01-01

Empirical ethics research is increasingly valued in bioethics and healthcare more generally, but there remain as yet under-researched areas such as pharmacy, despite the increasingly visible attempts by the profession to embrace additional roles beyond the supply of medicines. A descriptive and critical review of the extant empirical pharmacy ethics literature is provided here. A chronological change from quantitative to qualitative approaches is highlighted in this review, as well as differi...

Beyond Clinical Case Studies in Psychoanalysis: A Review of Psychoanalytic Empirical Single Case Studies Published in ISI-Ranked Journals

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Meganck, Reitske; Inslegers, Ruth; Krivzov, Juri; Notaerts, Liza

2017-01-01

Single case studies are at the origin of both theory development and research in the field of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. While clinical case studies are the hallmark of psychoanalytic theory and practice, their scientific value has been strongly criticized. To address problems with the subjective bias of retrospective therapist reports and uncontrollability of clinical case studies, systematic approaches to investigate psychotherapy process and outcome at the level of the single case have been developed. Such empirical case studies are also able to bridge the famous gap between academic research and clinical practice as they provide clinically relevant insights into how psychotherapy works. This study presents a review of psychoanalytic empirical case studies published in ISI-ranked journals and maps the characteristics of the study, therapist, patient en therapies that are investigated. Empirical case studies increased in quantity and quality (amount of information and systematization) over time. While future studies could pay more attention to providing contextual information on therapist characteristics and informed consent considerations, the available literature provides a basis to conduct meta-studies of single cases and as such contribute to knowledge aggregation. PMID:29046660

Empirical Studies of Exchange Rates: Price Behavior, Rate Determinationand Market Efficiency

OpenAIRE

Richard M. Levich

1983-01-01

Theoretical and empirical research completed over the last decade has dramatically increased our understanding of exchange rate behavior. The major insight to come from this decade of research is that foreign exchange is a financial asset. In an asset pricing framework, current exchange rates reflect the expected values of future exogenous variables. The purpose of this paper is to survay the empirical evidence on exchange rate behavior, market efficiency and related topics. Section 2 present...

An empirically based conceptual framework for fostering meaningful patient engagement in research.

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Hamilton, Clayon B; Hoens, Alison M; Backman, Catherine L; McKinnon, Annette M; McQuitty, Shanon; English, Kelly; Li, Linda C

2018-02-01

Patient engagement in research (PEIR) is promoted to improve the relevance and quality of health research, but has little conceptualization derived from empirical data. To address this issue, we sought to develop an empirically based conceptual framework for meaningful PEIR founded on a patient perspective. We conducted a qualitative secondary analysis of in-depth interviews with 18 patient research partners from a research centre-affiliated patient advisory board. Data analysis involved three phases: identifying the themes, developing a framework and confirming the framework. We coded and organized the data, and abstracted, illustrated, described and explored the emergent themes using thematic analysis. Directed content analysis was conducted to derive concepts from 18 publications related to PEIR to supplement, confirm or refute, and extend the emergent conceptual framework. The framework was reviewed by four patient research partners on our research team. Participants' experiences of working with researchers were generally positive. Eight themes emerged: procedural requirements, convenience, contributions, support, team interaction, research environment, feel valued and benefits. These themes were interconnected and formed a conceptual framework to explain the phenomenon of meaningful PEIR from a patient perspective. This framework, the PEIR Framework, was endorsed by the patient research partners on our team. The PEIR Framework provides guidance on aspects of PEIR to address for meaningful PEIR. It could be particularly useful when patient-researcher partnerships are led by researchers with little experience of engaging patients in research. © 2017 The Authors Health Expectations Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Strategic Orientation of SMEs: Empirical Research

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Jelena Minović

2016-04-01

Full Text Available The main objective of the paper is to identify the sources of competitive advantage of small and medium-sized enterprises in Serbia. Gaining a competitive advantage is the key priority of market-oriented enterprises regardless of their size and sector. Since business environment in Serbia is not stimulating enough for enterprises’ growth and development, the paper highlights the role of strategic orientation in business promotion and development. In order to identify the sources of competitive advantage, the empirical research is conducted by using the survey method. The research sample is created by using a selective approach, namely, the sample includes enterprises with more than ten employees, and enterprises identified to have the potential for growth and development. The research results indicate that small and medium-sized enterprises in Serbia are generally focused on costs as a source of competitive advantage, i.e., they gain competitive advantage in a selected market segment by offering low price and average quality products/services. In addition, the results of the research point out that the Serbian small and medium-sized enterprises are innovation-oriented. Organizations qualifying as middle-sized enterprises are predominantly focused on process innovations, while small businesses are primarily oriented towards product innovations. One of the limitations of the research refers to the small presence of the research sample within the category of middle-sized enterprises. The smaller sample presence than it was previously planned is mostly due to the lack of managers’ willingness to participate in the research, as well as to the fact that these enterprises account for the smaller share in the total number of enterprises in the small-and medium-sized enterprises’ sector. Taking into account that the sector of small and medium-sized enterprises generates around 30% of the country’s GDP, we consider the research results to be

Influence of Gender on the Supervisory Relationship: A Review of the Empirical Research from 1996 to 2010

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Hindes, Yvonne L.; Andrews, Jac J. W.

2011-01-01

Twelve empirical studies published since 1996 regarding the effects of gender on the supervisory relationship are reviewed. Each study was reviewed and critiqued in relation to its methodology, research design, critical findings, and limitations. The results of these studies indicate that (a) gender influences the openness and affiliation one…

Lessons from empirical studies in product and service variety management.

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Andrew C.L. Lyons

2013-07-01

Full Text Available For many years, a trend for businesses has been to increase market segmentation and extend product and service-variety offerings in order to provid more choice for customers and gain a competitive advantags. However, there have been relatively few variety-related, empirical studies that have been undertaken. In this research, two empirical studies are presented that address the impact of product and service variety on business and business function performance. In the first (service-variety study, the focus concerns the relationship between service provision offered by UK-based, third-party logistics (3PL providers and the operational and financial performance of those providers. Here, the results of a large survey identify the  most important services offered by 3PLs and the most important aspects of 3PL operational performance. Also, the research suggests that the range of service variety offered by 3PLs does not directly influence the 3PLs’ financial performance. The second (product-variety study presents the findings from an analysis of data from 163 manufacturing plants where the impact of product variety on the performance of five business functions is examined. An increase in product variety was found to influence business functions differently depending on the combination of customisation and variety offered to customers

How do Companies Invest in Corporate Social Responsibility? An Ordonomic Contribution for Empirical CSR Research

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Matthias Georg Will

2014-07-01

Full Text Available This paper takes both a conceptual and an empirical approach to answer the question as to how Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR can be connected to the company’s role as an agent of social value creation when it operates within an imperfect institutional framework of market competition. To develop a functional design for an empirical study, we draw on the concept of ordonomics, which provides a heuristics for responsible business activities in society. Drawing on ordonomics, we devise three questions: Referring to action responsibility we ask in which CSR activities companies do invest in their day-to-day business. Referring to governance responsibility we ask as to how companies realize win-win solutions through strategic commitments. In addition, with regard to discourse responsibility we ask in which stakeholder dialogues companies engage in order to discuss and find functional rules for organizing win-win solutions. In our empirical study, we reveal insights into the micro-level analysis of the CSP-CFP link and generate several new questions to be the subject of future research.

Strategic Management Tools and Techniques: A Comparative Analysis of Empirical Studies

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Albana Berisha Qehaja

2017-01-01

Full Text Available There is no doubt that strategic management tools and techniques are important parts of the strategic management process. Their use in organizations should be observed in a practice-based context. This paper analyzes the empirical studies on the usage of strategic management tools and techniques. Hence, the main aim of this study is to investigate and analyze which enterprises, according to their country development level, use more strategic management tools and techniques and which of these are used the most. Also, this paper investigates which strategic management tools and techniques are used globally according to the results of empirical studies. The study presents a summary of empirical studies for the period 1990–2015. The research results indicate that more strategic tools and techniques are used in developed countries, followed by developing countries and fewest in countries in transition. This study is likely to contribute to the field of strategic management because it summarizes the most used strategic tools and techniques at the global level according to varying stages of countries’ economic development. Also, the findings from this study may be utilized to maximize the full potential of enterprises and reduce the cases of entrepreneurship failures, through creating awareness of the importance of using strategic management tools and techniques.

An empirical study of desired versus actual compensation practices in determining intrapreneurial behaviour

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Ugochukwu O. Madu

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Orientation: Past research recognises that human resources management practices may influence innovative behaviour, particularly as compensation systems can be used as a tool to increase intrapreneurial activity. Research purpose: The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between actual versus desired compensation practices and elevated intrapreneurial behaviour. This is in line with research that focuses on how to promote business innovation, rather than merely research whether innovation is desirable for businesses or not. Motivation for the study: Recognising that entrepreneurial actions are the bedrock of intrapreneurial behaviour and that these behaviours may be critical to the long-term vitality of a firm and economy, it is important to facilitate the empirical study of them in an underresearched, emerging market environment. Moreover, compensation such as reward preferences and variable pay schemes remain controversial in terms of their costs versus contributions, and these constructs deserve more empirical research. Research approach, design and method: The study employed a quantitative research design, using a cross-sectional and empirical approach with primary data sources. A structured webbased instrument rendered a sample of 209 respondents from a diverse set of businesses. Canonical correlational analysis was carried out to test the hypotheses. Main findings: The results reveal that a gap exists between an employee’s perception of desired compensation practices and the actual compensation practices. The results further highlight that non-outcome-based measures like pay risk, job risk and expectations of success play a role in determining whether employees decide to be intrapreneurial or not. Practical/managerial implications: Due to the potential impact rewards have on intrapreneurial behaviour, it is necessary to design relevant compensation systems as part of organisational architecture in order to foster

Enhancement, ethics and society: towards an empirical research agenda for the medical humanities and social sciences.

Science.gov (United States)

Pickersgill, Martyn; Hogle, Linda

2015-12-01

For some time now, bioethicists have paid close attention to issues associated with 'enhancement'; specifically, the appropriate use and regulation of substances and artefacts understood by some to improve the functioning of human bodies beyond that associated with 'normal' function. Medical humanities scholars (aside from philosophers and lawyers) and social scientists have not been frequent participants in debates around enhancement, but could shine a bright light on the range of dilemmas and opportunities techniques of enhancement are purported to introduce. In this paper, we argue that empirical research into the notion and practice of enhancement is necessary and timely. Such work could fruitfully engage with-and further develop-existing conceptual repertoires within the medical humanities and social sciences in ways that would afford benefit to scholars in those disciplines. We maintain that empirical engagements could also provide important resources to bioethicists seeking to regulate new enhancements in ways that are sensitive to societal context and cultural difference. To this end, we outline an empirical agenda for the medical humanities and social sciences around enhancement, emphasising especially how science and technology studies could bring benefits to-and be benefitted by-research in this area. We also use the example of (pharmaceutical) cognitive enhancement to show how empirical studies of actual and likely enhancement practices can nuance resonant bioethical debates. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Empirical study on the feasibility of measures for public self-protection capability enhancement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goersch, Henning G.; Werner, Ute

2011-01-01

The empirical study on the feasibility of measures for public self-protection capability enhancement covers the following issues with several sections: (1) Introduction: scope of the study; structure of the study. (2) Issue coherence: self-protection; reduction and prevention of damage by personal emergency preparedness, personal emergency preparedness in Germany. (3) Solution coherence: scientific approaches, development of practical problem solution approaches, proposal of a promotion system. (4) Empirical studies: Promotion system evaluation by experts; questioning of the public; Delphi-study on minimum standards in emergency preparedness; local networks in emergency preparedness. (5) Evaluation of models for personal emergency preparedness (M3P). (6) Integration of all research results into the approach of emergency preparedness: scope; recommendations, conclusions.

Empirical Philosophy of Science

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mansnerus, Erika; Wagenknecht, Susann

2015-01-01

knowledge takes place through the integration of the empirical or historical research into the philosophical studies, as Chang, Nersessian, Thagard and Schickore argue in their work. Building upon their contributions we will develop a blueprint for an Empirical Philosophy of Science that draws upon...... qualitative methods from the social sciences in order to advance our philosophical understanding of science in practice. We will regard the relationship between philosophical conceptualization and empirical data as an iterative dialogue between theory and data, which is guided by a particular ‘feeling with......Empirical insights are proven fruitful for the advancement of Philosophy of Science, but the integration of philosophical concepts and empirical data poses considerable methodological challenges. Debates in Integrated History and Philosophy of Science suggest that the advancement of philosophical...

Empirical Research on Spatial Diffusion Process of Knowledge Spillovers

Science.gov (United States)

Jin, Xuehui

2018-02-01

Firstly, this paper gave a brief review of the core issues of previous studies on spatial distribution of knowledge spillovers. That laid the theoretical foundation for further research. Secondly, this paper roughly described the diffusion process of solar patents in Bejing-Tianjin-Hebei and the Pearl River Delta regions by means of correlation analysis based on patent information of the application date and address of patentee. After that, this paper introduced the variables of spatial distance, knowledge absorptive capacity, knowledge gap and pollution control and built the empirical model of patent, and then collecting data to test them. The results showed that knowledge absorptive capacity was the most significant factor than the other three, followed by the knowledge gap. The influence of spatial distance on knowledge spillovers was limited and the most weak influence factor was pollution control.

The rise of empirical research in medical ethics: a MacIntyrean critique and proposal.

Science.gov (United States)

Lawrence, Ryan E; Curlin, Farr A

2011-04-01

Hume's is/ought distinction has long limited the role of empirical research in ethics, saying that data about what something is cannot yield conclusions about the way things ought to be. However, interest in empirical research in ethics has been growing despite this countervailing principle. We attribute some of this increased interest to a conceptual breakdown of the is/ought distinction. MacIntyre, in reviewing the history of the is/ought distinction, argues that is and ought are not strictly separate realms but exist in a close relationship that is clarified by adopting a teleological orientation. We propose that, instead of recovering a teleological orientation, society tends to generate its own goals via democratic methods like those described by Rousseau or adopt agnosticism about teleology such as described by Richard Rorty. In both latter scenarios, the distinction between is and ought is obscured, and the role for empirical research grows, but for controversial reasons. MacIntyre warns that the is/ought distinction should remain, but reminds ethicists to make careful arguments about when and why it is legitimate to move from is to ought.

Equifinality in empirical studies of cultural transmission.

Science.gov (United States)

Barrett, Brendan J

2018-01-31

Cultural systems exhibit equifinal behavior - a single final state may be arrived at via different mechanisms and/or from different initial states. Potential for equifinality exists in all empirical studies of cultural transmission including controlled experiments, observational field research, and computational simulations. Acknowledging and anticipating the existence of equifinality is important in empirical studies of social learning and cultural evolution; it helps us understand the limitations of analytical approaches and can improve our ability to predict the dynamics of cultural transmission. Here, I illustrate and discuss examples of equifinality in studies of social learning, and how certain experimental designs might be prone to it. I then review examples of equifinality discussed in the social learning literature, namely the use of s-shaped diffusion curves to discern individual from social learning and operational definitions and analytical approaches used in studies of conformist transmission. While equifinality exists to some extent in all studies of social learning, I make suggestions for how to address instances of it, with an emphasis on using data simulation and methodological verification alongside modern statistical approaches that emphasize prediction and model comparison. In cases where evaluated learning mechanisms are equifinal due to non-methodological factors, I suggest that this is not always a problem if it helps us predict cultural change. In some cases, equifinal learning mechanisms might offer insight into how both individual learning, social learning strategies and other endogenous social factors might by important in structuring cultural dynamics and within- and between-group heterogeneity. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Trends of Empirical Research in South Korean Mental Health Social Work

Science.gov (United States)

Song, In Han; Lee, Eun Jung

2017-01-01

Since the introduction of evidence-based practice in South Korea, it has gained significant attention for its potential to promote the efficacy of social work services and to integrate knowledge and practice in mental health social work. In order to see how empirical research in South Korean mental health social work has changed, we examined…

Rape treatment outcome research: empirical findings and state of the literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Vickerman, Katrina A; Margolin, Gayla

2009-07-01

This article reviews empirical support for treatments targeting women sexually assaulted during adolescence or adulthood. Thirty-two articles were located using data from 20 separate samples. Of the 20 samples, 12 targeted victims with chronic symptoms, three focused on the acute period post-assault, two included women with chronic and acute symptoms, and three were secondary prevention programs. The majority of studies focus on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and/or anxiety as treatment targets. Cognitive Processing Therapy and Prolonged Exposure have garnered the most support with this population. Stress Inoculation Training and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing also show some efficacy. Of the four studies that compared active treatments, few differences were found. Overall, cognitive behavioral interventions lead to better PTSD outcomes than supportive counseling does. However, even in the strongest treatments more than one-third of women retain a PTSD diagnosis at post-treatment or drop out of treatment. Discussion highlights the paucity of research in this area, methodological limitations of examined studies, generalizability of findings, and important directions for future research at various stages of trauma recovery.

Rape Treatment Outcome Research: Empirical Findings and State of the Literature

Science.gov (United States)

Vickerman, Katrina A.; Margolin, Gayla

2009-01-01

This article reviews empirical support for treatments targeting women sexually assaulted during adolescence or adulthood. Thirty-two articles were located using data from 20 separate samples. Of the 20 samples, 12 targeted victims with chronic symptoms, three focused on the acute period post-assault, two included women with chronic and acute symptoms, and three were secondary prevention programs. The majority of studies focus on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and/or anxiety as treatment targets. Cognitive Processing Therapy and Prolonged Exposure have garnered the most support with this population. Stress Inoculation Training and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing also show some efficacy. Of the four studies that compared active treatments, few differences were found. Overall, cognitive behavioral interventions lead to better PTSD outcomes than supportive counseling does. However, even in the strongest treatments more than one-third of women retain a PTSD diagnosis at post-treatment or drop out of treatment. Discussion highlights the paucity of research in this area, methodological limitations of examined studies, generalizability of findings, and important directions for future research at various stages of trauma recovery. PMID:19442425

Individual Breast Cancer risk assessment in Underserved Populations: Integrating empirical Bioethics and Health Disparities Research

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Emily E.; Hoskins, Kent

2013-01-01

Research suggests that individual breast cancer risk assessment may improve adherence to recommended screening and prevention guidelines, thereby decreasing morbidity and mortality. Further research on the use of risk assessment models in underserved minority populations is critical to informing national public health efforts to eliminate breast cancer disparities. However, implementing individual breast cancer risk assessment in underserved patient populations raises particular ethical issues that require further examination. After reviewing these issues, we will discuss how empirical bioethics research can be integrated with health disparities research to inform the translation of research findings. Our in-progress National Cancer Institute (NCI) funded study, How Do Underserved Minority Women Think About Breast Cancer?, conducted in the context of a larger study on individual breast cancer risk assessment, is presented as a model. PMID:23124498

Empirical study on how social media promotes product innovation

OpenAIRE

Idota, Hiroki; Bunno, Teruyuki; Tsuji, Masatsugu

2014-01-01

Social media such as SNS, Twitter, and the blogs has been spreading all over the world, and a large number of firms recognize social media as new communication tools for obtaining information on consumer needs and market for developing new goods and services and promoting marketing. In spite of increasing its use in the reality, academic research on whether or how social media contributes to promoting product innovation is not enough yet. This study thus attempts to analyze empirically how so...

Comparing empirical results of transaction avoidance rules studies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Dijck, G.

2008-01-01

Empirical legal research in the UK and in the Netherlands has provided data on the extent to which the transaction avoidance rules (avoidance powers, actio Pauliana) generate practical problems. This article’s goal is to explore the similarities and differences of the data. To achieve this, existing

Residential solar energy users: a review of empirical research and related literature

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Unseld, C.T.; Crews, R.

1979-12-01

This report reviews 15 empirical studies of residential solar energy users and related literature on residential solar energy use. The purpose of the review is to summarize and analyze the experiences of residential solar users for helping formulate policies concerning the accelerated commercialization of solar technologies. Four of the studies employed case histories or focus group techniques. The 11 questionnaire studies represented interviews with over 1,600 owners of solar systems. The demographic characteristics of samples are listed and compared; research findings and conclusions are presented. Findings on user satisfaction and system performance, possible reasons for evidence of lacking correlation between them, and implications for consumer protection and future research are discussed. General findings are: (1) systematic research on the experiences of solar users is lacking - much research remains to be done; (2) the reported overall experiences of users has been very positive; (3) user reports indicate that system performance is generally good but there is some evidence that user reports are not accurate measures of actual performance; (4) a need exists for adequate consumer protection; (5) design or installation problems are evidenced in significant numbers of early solar installations; and (6) these problems evidently are resolvable. An annotated bibliography describes 10 other studies in progress.

Interactions between Obsessional Symptoms and Interpersonal Ambivalences in Psychodynamic Therapy: An Empirical Case Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Cornelis, Shana; Desmet, Mattias; Van Nieuwenhove, Kimberly L H D; Meganck, Reitske; Willemsen, Jochem; Inslegers, Ruth; Feyaerts, Jasper

2017-01-01

The classical symptom specificity hypothesis (Blatt, 1974) particularly associates obsessional symptoms to interpersonal behavior directed at autonomy and separation from others. Cross-sectional group research, however, has yielded inconsistent findings on this predicted association, and a previous empirical case study (Cornelis et al., in press; see Chapter 2) documented obsessional pathology to be rooted in profound ambivalences between autonomous and dependent interpersonal dynamics. Therefore, in the present empirical case study, concrete operationalizations of the classical symptom specificity hypothesis are contrasted to alternative hypotheses based on the observed complexities in Chapter 2. Dynamic associations between obsessional symptoms and interpersonal functioning is further explored, aiming at further contribution to theory building (i.e., through suggestions for potential hypothesis-refinement; Stiles, 2009). Similar to the first empirical case study (Chapter 1), Consensual Qualitative Research for Case studies is used to quantitatively and qualitatively describe the longitudinal, clinical interplay between obsessional symptoms and interpersonal dynamics throughout the process of supportive-expressive psychodynamic therapy. In line with findings from Chapter 1, findings reveal close associations between obsessions and interpersonal dynamics, and therapist interventions focusing on interpersonal conflicts are documented as related to interpersonal and symptomatic alterations. Observations predominantly accord to the ambivalence-hypothesis rather than to the classical symptom specificity hypothesis. Yet, meaningful differences are observed in concrete manifestations of interpersonal ambivalences within significant relationships. Findings are again discussed in light of conceptual and methodological considerations; and limitations and future research indications are addressed.

Interactions between Obsessional Symptoms and Interpersonal Ambivalences in Psychodynamic Therapy: An Empirical Case Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shana Cornelis

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The classical symptom specificity hypothesis (Blatt, 1974 particularly associates obsessional symptoms to interpersonal behavior directed at autonomy and separation from others. Cross-sectional group research, however, has yielded inconsistent findings on this predicted association, and a previous empirical case study (Cornelis et al., in press; see Chapter 2 documented obsessional pathology to be rooted in profound ambivalences between autonomous and dependent interpersonal dynamics. Therefore, in the present empirical case study, concrete operationalizations of the classical symptom specificity hypothesis are contrasted to alternative hypotheses based on the observed complexities in Chapter 2. Dynamic associations between obsessional symptoms and interpersonal functioning is further explored, aiming at further contribution to theory building (i.e., through suggestions for potential hypothesis-refinement; Stiles, 2009. Similar to the first empirical case study (Chapter 1, Consensual Qualitative Research for Case studies is used to quantitatively and qualitatively describe the longitudinal, clinical interplay between obsessional symptoms and interpersonal dynamics throughout the process of supportive-expressive psychodynamic therapy. In line with findings from Chapter 1, findings reveal close associations between obsessions and interpersonal dynamics, and therapist interventions focusing on interpersonal conflicts are documented as related to interpersonal and symptomatic alterations. Observations predominantly accord to the ambivalence-hypothesis rather than to the classical symptom specificity hypothesis. Yet, meaningful differences are observed in concrete manifestations of interpersonal ambivalences within significant relationships. Findings are again discussed in light of conceptual and methodological considerations; and limitations and future research indications are addressed.

Getting meaningful informed consent from older adults: a structured literature review of empirical research.

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Sugarman, J; McCrory, D C; Hubal, R C

1998-04-01

To perform a structured literature review of the published empirical research on informed consent with older adults in order to make recommendations to improve the informed consent process and to highlight areas needing further examination. Relevant literature was identified by searching electronic databases (AGELINE, BIOETHICSLINE, CancerLit, Ethics Index, Health, LegalTrac, MEDLINE, PAIS International, PsycInfo, and Sociofile). Studies were included if they were reports of primary research data about informed consent and, if patients or other subjects were used, older subjects were included in the sample. Data related to the aspect of informed consent under study (recruitment, decision-making capacity, voluntariness, disclosure of information, understanding of information, consent forms, authorization, and policies and procedures) were abstracted and entered into a specially designed database. Characterization of the population, age of subjects, setting, whether informed consent was being studied in the context of research or treatment, study design, the nature of outcome or dependent variables, independent variables (e.g., experimental conditions in a randomized controlled trial or patient/subject characteristics in a nonrandomized comparison), and results according to the aspect of informed consent under study. A total of 99 articles met all the inclusion criteria and posed 289 unique research questions covering a wide range of aspects of informed consent: recruitment (60); decision making capacity (21); voluntariness (6); disclosure (30); understanding (139); consent forms (7); authorization (11); policies (13); and other (2). In the secondary analyses of numerous studies, diminished understanding of informed consent information was associated with older age and fewer years of education. Older age was also sometimes associated with decreased participation in research. Studies of disclosure of informed consent information suggest strategies to improve

Empirical agent-based modelling challenges and solutions

CERN Document Server

Barreteau, Olivier

2014-01-01

This instructional book showcases techniques to parameterise human agents in empirical agent-based models (ABM). In doing so, it provides a timely overview of key ABM methodologies and the most innovative approaches through a variety of empirical applications.  It features cutting-edge research from leading academics and practitioners, and will provide a guide for characterising and parameterising human agents in empirical ABM.  In order to facilitate learning, this text shares the valuable experiences of other modellers in particular modelling situations. Very little has been published in the area of empirical ABM, and this contributed volume will appeal to graduate-level students and researchers studying simulation modeling in economics, sociology, ecology, and trans-disciplinary studies, such as topics related to sustainability. In a similar vein to the instruction found in a cookbook, this text provides the empirical modeller with a set of 'recipes'  ready to be implemented. Agent-based modeling (AB...

Empirical Study on Learners' Self-Efficacy in ESL/EFL Context

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Lihong

2016-01-01

With the popularity of learner-oriented approach in language teaching, research on learners is gaining more and more importance. This paper attempts to review the empirical researches on self-efficacy in the ESL/EFL settings during the past 10 years with the purpose of depicting the extent to which the self-efficacy research in ESL/EFL has…

What 'empirical turn in bioethics'?

Science.gov (United States)

Hurst, Samia

2010-10-01

Uncertainty as to how we should articulate empirical data and normative reasoning seems to underlie most difficulties regarding the 'empirical turn' in bioethics. This article examines three different ways in which we could understand 'empirical turn'. Using real facts in normative reasoning is trivial and would not represent a 'turn'. Becoming an empirical discipline through a shift to the social and neurosciences would be a turn away from normative thinking, which we should not take. Conducting empirical research to inform normative reasoning is the usual meaning given to the term 'empirical turn'. In this sense, however, the turn is incomplete. Bioethics has imported methodological tools from empirical disciplines, but too often it has not imported the standards to which researchers in these disciplines are held. Integrating empirical and normative approaches also represents true added difficulties. Addressing these issues from the standpoint of debates on the fact-value distinction can cloud very real methodological concerns by displacing the debate to a level of abstraction where they need not be apparent. Ideally, empirical research in bioethics should meet standards for empirical and normative validity similar to those used in the source disciplines for these methods, and articulate these aspects clearly and appropriately. More modestly, criteria to ensure that none of these standards are completely left aside would improve the quality of empirical bioethics research and partly clear the air of critiques addressing its theoretical justification, when its rigour in the particularly difficult context of interdisciplinarity is what should be at stake.

From Discovery to Justification: Outline of an Ideal Research Program in Empirical Psychology

Science.gov (United States)

Witte, Erich H.; Zenker, Frank

2017-01-01

The gold standard for an empirical science is the replicability of its research results. But the estimated average replicability rate of key-effects that top-tier psychology journals report falls between 36 and 39% (objective vs. subjective rate; Open Science Collaboration, 2015). So the standard mode of applying null-hypothesis significance testing (NHST) fails to adequately separate stable from random effects. Therefore, NHST does not fully convince as a statistical inference strategy. We argue that the replicability crisis is “home-made” because more sophisticated strategies can deliver results the successful replication of which is sufficiently probable. Thus, we can overcome the replicability crisis by integrating empirical results into genuine research programs. Instead of continuing to narrowly evaluate only the stability of data against random fluctuations (discovery context), such programs evaluate rival hypotheses against stable data (justification context). PMID:29163256

Empirical Music Aesthetics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grund, Cynthia M.

The toolbox for empirically exploring the ways that artistic endeavors convey and activate meaning on the part of performers and audiences continues to expand. Current work employing methods at the intersection of performance studies, philosophy, motion capture and neuroscience to better understand...... musical performance and reception is inspired by traditional approaches within aesthetics, but it also challenges some of the presuppositions inherent in them. As an example of such work I present a research project in empirical music aesthetics begun last year and of which I am a team member....

Mechanisms of change in psychotherapy for depression : An empirical update and evaluation of research aimed at identifying psychological mediators

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lemmens, L.H.J.M.; Müller, V.N.L.S.; Arntz, A.; Huibers, M.J.H.

2016-01-01

We present a systematic empirical update and critical evaluation of the current status of research aimed at identifying a variety of psychological mediators in various forms of psychotherapy for depression. We summarize study characteristics and results of 35 relevant studies, and discuss the extent

Taxation and Foreign Direct Investment: A Synthesis of Empirical Research

OpenAIRE

Ruud A. de Mooij; Sjef Ederveen

2001-01-01

This paper reviews the empirical literature on the impact of company taxes on the allocation of foreign direct investment. We make the outcomes of 25 empirical studies comparable by computing the tax rate elasticity under a uniform definition. Read also the accompanying press release . The mean value of the tax rate elasticity in the literature is around 3.3, i.e. a 1%-point reduction in the host-country tax rate raises foreign direct investment in that country by 3.3%. There exists substanti...

Symbiotic empirical ethics: a practical methodology.

Science.gov (United States)

Frith, Lucy

2012-05-01

Like any discipline, bioethics is a developing field of academic inquiry; and recent trends in scholarship have been towards more engagement with empirical research. This 'empirical turn' has provoked extensive debate over how such 'descriptive' research carried out in the social sciences contributes to the distinctively normative aspect of bioethics. This paper will address this issue by developing a practical research methodology for the inclusion of data from social science studies into ethical deliberation. This methodology will be based on a naturalistic conception of ethical theory that sees practice as informing theory just as theory informs practice - the two are symbiotically related. From this engagement with practice, the ways that such theories need to be extended and developed can be determined. This is a practical methodology for integrating theory and practice that can be used in empirical studies, one that uses ethical theory both to explore the data and to draw normative conclusions. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Guidelines for using empirical studies in software engineering education

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Fabian Fagerholm

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Software engineering education is under constant pressure to provide students with industry-relevant knowledge and skills. Educators must address issues beyond exercises and theories that can be directly rehearsed in small settings. Industry training has similar requirements of relevance as companies seek to keep their workforce up to date with technological advances. Real-life software development often deals with large, software-intensive systems and is influenced by the complex effects of teamwork and distributed software development, which are hard to demonstrate in an educational environment. A way to experience such effects and to increase the relevance of software engineering education is to apply empirical studies in teaching. In this paper, we show how different types of empirical studies can be used for educational purposes in software engineering. We give examples illustrating how to utilize empirical studies, discuss challenges, and derive an initial guideline that supports teachers to include empirical studies in software engineering courses. Furthermore, we give examples that show how empirical studies contribute to high-quality learning outcomes, to student motivation, and to the awareness of the advantages of applying software engineering principles. Having awareness, experience, and understanding of the actions required, students are more likely to apply such principles under real-life constraints in their working life.

An empirical study on primary school teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education in Jakarta, Indonesia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kurniawati, Farida; Minnaert, A.E.M.G.; Mangunsong, F.; Ahmed, W.

2012-01-01

Empirical research revealed that teachers’ attitudes play a crucial role in successful implementation of inclusive education. This study aimed to examine primary school teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education in Jakarta, Indonesia. Respondents completed the attitude scale which comprised the

Top management team heterogeneity and firm performance: An empirical research on Chinese listed companies

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

ZHANG Ping

2007-01-01

An empirical study of the 2001-2002 data from 356 Chinese companies listed in the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges indicates that within the social context of China the characteristics of a firm's top management team have a different impact on firm performance from those of foreign countries. Also, the tenure heterogeneity and functional experience heterogeneity of the top management team are inversely related to firm performance. This paper analyzes and discusses the findings in detail and points out areas for future research.

Empirical study of the important elements in the researcher development journey

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Anthony E. Ward

2013-03-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the results of a study into what is important in the researcher development journey as perceived by students, academic supervisors and research administrators. The study was undertaken within the Department of Electronics at the University of York to test the survey instrument for a wider, multidisciplinary and multi-institutional survey. It was undertaken in the National context of a focus on the importance of postgraduate skills development being an integral part of the researcher journey. An integrated support system is used in the department for all postgraduate students. Results show that students and supervisors both agree that helping the student gain a PhD and seeing them as a professional researcher are of high importance. Research outputs were rated lowest for students and both rate administrative needs low. The study informs engagement with the administrative and skills development agendas thinking and is being used by the system development team.

Software Engineering Researchers' Attitudes on Case Studies and Experiments: an Exploratory Survey

OpenAIRE

Tofan, Dan; Galster, Matthias; Avgeriou, Paris; Weyns, Danny

2011-01-01

Background: Case studies and experiments are research methods frequently applied in empirical software engineering. Experiments are well-­understood and their value as an empirical method is recognized. On the other hand, there seem to be different opinions on what constitutes a case study, and about the value of case studies as a thorough research method. Aim: We aim at exploring the attitudes of software engineering researchers on case studies and experiments. Furthermore, we investigate ho...

Empirical studies on informal patient payments for health care services: a systematic and critical review of research methods and instruments

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Pavlova Milena

2010-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Empirical evidence demonstrates that informal patient payments are an important feature of many health care systems. However, the study of these payments is a challenging task because of their potentially illegal and sensitive nature. The aim of this paper is to provide a systematic review and analysis of key methodological difficulties in measuring informal patient payments. Methods The systematic review was based on the following eligibility criteria: English language publications that reported on empirical studies measuring informal patient payments. There were no limitations with regard to the year of publication. The content of the publications was analysed qualitatively and the results were organised in the form of tables. Data sources were Econlit, Econpapers, Medline, PubMed, ScienceDirect, SocINDEX. Results Informal payments for health care services are most often investigated in studies involving patients or the general public, but providers and officials are also sample units in some studies. The majority of the studies apply a single mode of data collection that involves either face-to-face interviews or group discussions. One of the main methodological difficulties reported in the publication concerns the inability of some respondents to distinguish between official and unofficial payments. Another complication is associated with the refusal of some respondents to answer questions on informal patient payments. We do not exclude the possibility that we have missed studies that reported in non-English language journals as well as very recent studies that are not yet published. Conclusions Given the recent evidence from research on survey methods, a self-administrated questionnaire during a face-to-face interview could be a suitable mode of collecting sensitive data, such as data on informal patient payments.

Quality-Enhancing Interventions for People with Profound Intellectual and Multiple Disabilities: A Review of the Empirical Research Literature

Science.gov (United States)

Maes, Bea; Lambrechts, Greet; Hostyn, Ine; Petry, Katja

2007-01-01

Background: This study provides an overview of empirical research on the effectiveness of quality-enhancing interventions for people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD). Method: Through computerised searches of the PsycINFO and ERIC databases, and using several search criteria specifically relating to the target group and…

The emerging empirics of evolutionary economic geography

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boschma, R.A.; Frenken, K.

2011-01-01

Following last decade’s programmatic papers on Evolutionary Economic Geography, we report on recent empirical advances and how this empirical work can be positioned vis-a`-vis other strands of research in economic geography. First, we review studies on the path dependent nature of clustering, and

The emerging empirics of evolutionary economic geography

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boschma, R.A.; Frenken, K.

2010-01-01

Following last decade’s programmatic papers on Evolutionary Economic Geography, we report on recent empirical advances and how this empirical work can be positioned vis-à-vis other strands of research in economic geography. First, we review studies on the path dependent nature of clustering, and how

The emerging empirics of evolutionary economic geography.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boschma, R.A.; Frenken, K.

2011-01-01

Following last decade’s programmatic papers on Evolutionary Economic Geography, we report on recent empirical advances and how this empirical work can be positioned vis-a`-vis other strands of research in economic geography. First, we review studies on the path dependent nature of clustering, and

Empirical studies on usability of mHealth apps: a systematic literature review.

Science.gov (United States)

Zapata, Belén Cruz; Fernández-Alemán, José Luis; Idri, Ali; Toval, Ambrosio

2015-02-01

The release of smartphones and tablets, which offer more advanced communication and computing capabilities, has led to the strong emergence of mHealth on the market. mHealth systems are being used to improve patients' lives and their health, in addition to facilitating communication between doctors and patients. Researchers are now proposing mHealth applications for many health conditions such as dementia, autism, dysarthria, Parkinson's disease, and so on. Usability becomes a key factor in the adoption of these applications, which are often used by people who have problems when using mobile devices and who have a limited experience of technology. The aim of this paper is to investigate the empirical usability evaluation processes described in a total of 22 selected studies related to mHealth applications by means of a Systematic Literature Review. Our results show that the empirical evaluation methods employed as regards usability could be improved by the adoption of automated mechanisms. The evaluation processes should also be revised to combine more than one method. This paper will help researchers and developers to create more usable applications. Our study demonstrates the importance of adapting health applications to users' need.

Does Branding Need Web Usability? A Value-Oriented Empirical Study

Science.gov (United States)

Bolchini, Davide; Garzotto, Franca; Sorce, Fabio

Does usability of a web-based communication artifact affect brand, i.e., the set of beliefs, emotions, attitudes, or qualities that people mentally associate to the entity behind that artifact? Intuitively, the answer is “yes”: usability is a fundamental aspect of the quality of the experience with a website, and a “good” experience with a “product” or its reifications tends to translate into “good” brand perception. To date, however, the existence of a connection between web usability and brand perception is shown through anecdotic arguments, and is not supported by published systematic research. This paper discusses a study that empirically investigates this correlation in a more rigorous, analytical, and replicable way. Our main contribution is twofold: on the one hand, we provide empirical evidence to the heuristic principle that web usability influences branding, and we do that through four between subjects controlled experiments that involved 120 subjects. On the other hand, we inform the study with a systematic value-oriented approach to the user experience, and thus provide a conceptual framework that can be reused in other experimental settings, either for replicating our study, or for designing similar studies focusing on the correlation of web branding vs. design factors other than usability.

Empirical research on constructing Taiwan's ecoenvironmental ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In this paper, the material flow indicators and ecological footprint approach structured are adopted to construct eco-environmental stress indicators. We use relevant data to proceed with the empirical analyses on environmental stress and ecological impacts in Taiwan between the years of 1998 and 2007. Analysis of ...

Information Assurance in Saudi Organizations - An Empirical Study

Science.gov (United States)

Nabi, Syed Irfan; Mirza, Abdulrahman A.; Alghathbar, Khaled

This paper presents selective results of a survey conducted to find out the much needed insight into the status of information security in Saudi Arabian organizations. The purpose of this research is to give the state of information assurance in the Kingdom and to better understand the prevalent ground realities. The survey covered technical aspects of information security, risk management and information assurance management. The results provide deep insights in to the existing level of information assurance in various sectors that can be helpful in better understanding the intricate details of the prevalent information security in the Kingdom. Also, the results can be very useful for information assurance policy makers in the government as well as private sector organizations. There are few empirical studies on information assurance governance available in literature, especially about the Middle East and Saudi Arabia, therefore, the results are invaluable for information security researchers in improving the understanding of information assurance in this region and the Kingdom.

Social commitment of volunteering in clown-therapy: an empowering empirical research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Rosaria Strollo

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This paper describes a quantitative empirical research on the factors influencing volunteers in clown-therapy. The field of the volunteering has social relevance particularly for its positive aspects on social community and on prosocial behavior. However, after a broad literature review on the topic of volunteering, the researcher aims to investigate the specific issue of volunteering in clown-therapy, exploring similarities and differences with voluntary activities in other settings, and analysing motivations and reasons for the choice to become a volunteer. A comparative and statistical approach is the real innovative aspect of this research in that it carried out factor analysis, comparative analysis and overcame the limits of the prior research on volunteering, which had dealt just with some dimensions of the complex phenomenon of volunteering.Finally, the research results confirm the hypothesis that volunteering in general, and volunteering in clown-therapy in particular, is an activity empowering both for the individual and for the entire community.

Aggregation, Validation, and Generalization of Qualitative Data - Methodological and Practical Research Strategies Illustrated by the Research Process of an empirically Based Typology.

Science.gov (United States)

Weis, Daniel; Willems, Helmut

2017-06-01

The article deals with the question of how aggregated data which allow for generalizable insights can be generated from single-case based qualitative investigations. Thereby, two central challenges of qualitative social research are outlined: First, researchers must ensure that the single-case data can be aggregated and condensed so that new collective structures can be detected. Second, they must apply methods and practices to allow for the generalization of the results beyond the specific study. In the following, we demonstrate how and under what conditions these challenges can be addressed in research practice. To this end, the research process of the construction of an empirically based typology is described. A qualitative study, conducted within the framework of the Luxembourg Youth Report, is used to illustrate this process. Specifically, strategies are presented which increase the likelihood of generalizability or transferability of the results, while also highlighting their limitations.

EMPIRICAL STUDY REGARDING SUSTAINABILITY OF ROMANIAN PENSION SYSTEM

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Oprean Delia

2013-07-01

Full Text Available This paper is part of a broad, applied scientific research, based on popular empirical procedures (such as natural observation. Positivistic and constructive research methodology used was based on the consensual-inductive system (Locke, which is why we studied the different views of specialists on sustainability of pensions in Romania, necessary to formulate the problem of generating relevant information. Research strategies used were the comparative and longitudinal ones, as we analyzed the time evolution of qualitative indicators VUAN (unitary value of net asset specific to pension funds Pillar II and Pillar III of Romania, concomitant with the number of participants in these funds, as to determine their direct relationship with the need for sustainability in this area. The hypotheses regarding causal relationship efficiency – participants - sustainability and needed measures for pension reform were built in this paper inductively (by analyzing the sustainability issues of pensions in time, causally (by explaining the cause and effect phenomenon studied, deductively, logically and subjectively (due to the existence and perpetuation of conflict premise between generations and social inequality between employees and pensioners. The qualitative approach of the phenomenon studied by collecting information (using mediated data collection technique has allowed the relevant findings and practical solutions necessary for all those involved in this concerted action of pensions, which affects us all.

Gambling behavior and problems among older adults: a systematic review of empirical studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Tse, Samson; Hong, Song-Iee; Wang, Chong-Wen; Cunningham-Williams, Renee M

2012-09-01

With the rapid aging of the population and the increased availability of gambling facilities over the past three decades, older adults may gamble more and may be increasingly at risk for problem gambling (PG) or pathological gambling disorder (PGD). To facilitate a better understanding of gambling behavior among older adults that will inform preventive strategies, this article systematically examined empirical studies on issues related to older adults' gambling. This article reviewed 75 empirical studies including data on the distribution and determinants of PG and PGD and the outcomes of gambling. This review used the broad term of "disordered gambling" as a means to explain a continuum of problems caused by PG and PGD. The analyses covered seven topics concerning older adults' gambling behaviors: Participation rates for gambling, prevalence rates of disordered gambling, motivation for initially beginning to gamble, risk and protective factors for disordered gambling, and negative and positive health outcomes from gambling. Based on research gaps identified in the review, this article proposes six recommendations for future studies focusing on well-being of older adults who gamble, research method issues, and taking into account older adults' inspirations and adjustment to the aging process in the 21st century.

A Framework for Studying Organizational Innovation in Research Libraries

Science.gov (United States)

Jantz, Ronald C.

2012-01-01

The objective of this paper is two-fold: to propose a theoretical framework and model for studying organizational innovation in research libraries and to set forth propositions that can provide directions for future empirical studies of innovation in research libraries. Research libraries can be considered members of a class of organizations…

The Influence of Education and Socialization on Radicalization: An Exploration of Theoretical Presumptions and Empirical Research.

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Pels, Trees; de Ruyter, Doret J

2012-06-01

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Research into radicalization does not pay much attention to education. This is remarkable and possibly misses an important influence on the process of radicalization. Therefore this article sets out to explore the relation between education on the one hand and the onset or prevention of radicalization on the other hand. METHOD: This article is a theoretical literature review. It has analyzed empirical studies-mainly from European countries-about the educational aims, content and style of Muslim parents and parents with (extreme) right-wing sympathies. RESULTS: Research examining similarity in right-wing sympathies between parents and children yields mixed results, but studies among adolescents point to a significant concordance. Research also showed that authoritarian parenting may play a significant role. Similar research among Muslim families was not found. While raising children with distrust and an authoritarian style are prevalent, the impact on adolescents has not been investigated. The empirical literature we reviewed does not give sufficient evidence to conclude that democratic ideal in and an authoritative style of education are conducive to the development of a democratic attitude. CONCLUSION: There is a knowledge gap with regard to the influence of education on the onset or the prevention of radicalization. Schools and families are underappreciated sources of informal social control and social capital and therefore the gap should be closed. If there is a better understanding of the effect of education, policy as well as interventions can be developed to assist parents and teachers in preventing radicalization.

Technology teachers as researchers : philosophical and empirical technology education studies in the Swedish TUFF Research School

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Skogh, I.B.; Vries, de M.J.

2013-01-01

This book presents the scientific output of the TUFF research school in Sweden. In this school, a group of active teachers worked together on a series of educational research studies. All of those studies were related to the teaching about technology and engineering. The research program consisted

An Empirical Study of Relationships between Student Self-Concept and Science Achievement in Hong Kong

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Wang, Jianjun; Oliver, Steve; Garcia, Augustine

2004-01-01

Positive self-concept and good understanding of science are important indicators of scientific literacy endorsed by professional organizations. The existing research literature suggests that these two indicators are reciprocally related and mutually reinforcing. Generalization of the reciprocal model demands empirical studies in different…

Reflective equilibrium and empirical data: third person moral experiences in empirical medical ethics.

Science.gov (United States)

De Vries, Martine; Van Leeuwen, Evert

2010-11-01

In ethics, the use of empirical data has become more and more popular, leading to a distinct form of applied ethics, namely empirical ethics. This 'empirical turn' is especially visible in bioethics. There are various ways of combining empirical research and ethical reflection. In this paper we discuss the use of empirical data in a special form of Reflective Equilibrium (RE), namely the Network Model with Third Person Moral Experiences. In this model, the empirical data consist of the moral experiences of people in a practice. Although inclusion of these moral experiences in this specific model of RE can be well defended, their use in the application of the model still raises important questions. What precisely are moral experiences? How to determine relevance of experiences, in other words: should there be a selection of the moral experiences that are eventually used in the RE? How much weight should the empirical data have in the RE? And the key question: can the use of RE by empirical ethicists really produce answers to practical moral questions? In this paper we start to answer the above questions by giving examples taken from our research project on understanding the norm of informed consent in the field of pediatric oncology. We especially emphasize that incorporation of empirical data in a network model can reduce the risk of self-justification and bias and can increase the credibility of the RE reached. © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Organisational learning capabilities as determinants of social innovation: An empirical study in South Africa

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Boris Urban

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Orientation: A critical reading of the human resource management (HRM literature finds limited contributions to understanding the organisational determinants of social enterprises and how these may contribute to higher levels of social innovativeness. Although innovation is a key theme in organisational research it has been acknowledged that the field needs more theory-based examinations of different types of innovativeness. Research purpose: To determine how different organisational capabilities are related to social innovation. Motivation for the study: Many social enterprises in developing countries do not have the requisite capabilities to efficiently manage all their programmes, which presents a major threat to organisational sustainability. Research design, approach and method: The empirical analysis is a cross-sectional study based on primary survey data. Hypotheses are tested using correlational and regression analysis. Main findings: The results show that the organisational learning capabilities of knowledge conversion, risk management, organisational dialogue and participative decision-making all have a significant and positive relationship with social innovation. Practical/managerial implications: Managers and practitioners can leverage the different organisational learning capabilities to improve social innovations in their social enterprises. Contribution/value-add: The study is one of the first in an African market context to empirically investigate social enterprises in terms of social innovation and organisational learning perspectives.

How do we know about resilience? An analysis of empirical research on resilience, and implications for interdisciplinary praxis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Downes, Barbara J; Miller, Fiona; Barnett, Jon; Glaister, Alena; Ellemor, Heidi

2013-01-01

We sought to understand how knowledge about resilience is produced. We examined empirical research into resilience from the social and natural sciences, randomly selected a sample of these studies and analysed their methods using common criteria to enable comparison. We found that studies of resilience from social scientists largely focus on the response of individuals to human-induced change events, while those from natural scientists largely focus on the response of ecological communities and populations to both environmental and human-induced change events. Most studies were of change over short time periods and focused on small spatial scales. Social science studies were dominated by one-off surveys, whereas natural science studies used a diversity of study designs to draw inferences about cause-and-effect. Whilst these differences typically reflect epistemological and methodological traditions, they also imply quite different understandings of resilience. We suggest that there are significant methodological barriers to producing empirical evidence about interactions between complex social and ecological systems. (letter)

Connecting Research to Teaching: Using Data to Motivate the Use of Empirical Sampling Distributions

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Lee, Hollylynne S.; Starling, Tina T.; Gonzalez, Marggie D.

2014-01-01

Research shows that students often struggle with understanding empirical sampling distributions. Using hands-on and technology models and simulations of problems generated by real data help students begin to make connections between repeated sampling, sample size, distribution, variation, and center. A task to assist teachers in implementing…

A REVIEW of WEBERIAN STUDIES ON THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE

OpenAIRE

MAZMAN, İbrahim

2018-01-01

This study examines the secondary literature on Max Weber’s (1864-1920) writings onIslam and the Ottoman Empire. It demarcates approaches prevalent in the secondaryliterature. Three basic themes are apparent:- Section a) concentrates on authors who applied Weber’s concepts of patrimonialism andbureaucracy to non-Ottoman countries, such as Maslovski (on the Soviet bureaucracy)and Eisenberg (on China).- Section b) focuses on authors who studied the Ottoman Empire utilizing non-Weberianaboveall ...

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – A clinically empirical approach to its definition and study

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Papanicolaou Dimitris A

2005-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The lack of standardized criteria for defining chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS has constrained research. The objective of this study was to apply the 1994 CFS criteria by standardized reproducible criteria. Methods This population-based case control study enrolled 227 adults identified from the population of Wichita with: (1 CFS (n = 58; (2 non-fatigued controls matched to CFS on sex, race, age and body mass index (n = 55; (3 persons with medically unexplained fatigue not CFS, which we term ISF (n = 59; (4 CFS accompanied by melancholic depression (n = 27; and (5 ISF plus melancholic depression (n = 28. Participants were admitted to a hospital for two days and underwent medical history and physical examination, the Diagnostic Interview Schedule, and laboratory testing to identify medical and psychiatric conditions exclusionary for CFS. Illness classification at the time of the clinical study utilized two algorithms: (1 the same criteria as in the surveillance study; (2 a standardized clinically empirical algorithm based on quantitative assessment of the major domains of CFS (impairment, fatigue, and accompanying symptoms. Results One hundred and sixty-four participants had no exclusionary conditions at the time of this study. Clinically empirical classification identified 43 subjects as CFS, 57 as ISF, and 64 as not ill. There was minimal association between the empirical classification and classification by the surveillance criteria. Subjects empirically classified as CFS had significantly worse impairment (evaluated by the SF-36, more severe fatigue (documented by the multidimensional fatigue inventory, more frequent and severe accompanying symptoms than those with ISF, who in turn had significantly worse scores than the not ill; this was not true for classification by the surveillance algorithm. Conclusion The empirical definition includes all aspects of CFS specified in the 1994 case definition and identifies persons with

Software Engineering Researchers' Attitudes on Case Studies and Experiments : an Exploratory Survey

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tofan, Dan; Galster, Matthias; Avgeriou, Paris; Weyns, Danny

2011-01-01

Background: Case studies and experiments are research methods frequently applied in empirical software engineering. Experiments are well-­understood and their value as an empirical method is recognized. On the other hand, there seem to be different opinions on what constitutes a case study, and

Abnormal Time Experiences in Major Depression: An Empirical Qualitative Study.

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Stanghellini, Giovanni; Ballerini, Massimo; Presenza, Simona; Mancini, Milena; Northoff, Georg; Cutting, John

2017-01-01

Phenomenological psychopathology, through theoretical and idiographic studies, conceptualizes major depressive disorder (MDD) as a disorder of time experience. Investigations on abnormal time experience (ATE) in MDD adopting methodologies requested by the standards of empirical sciences are still lacking. Our study aimed to provide a qualitative analysis, on an empirical ground and on a large scale, of narratives of temporal experiences of persons affected by MDD. We interviewed 550 consecutive patients affected by affective and schizophrenic disorders. Clinical files were analysed by means of consensual qualitative research. Out of 100 MDD patients, 96 reported at least 1 ATE. The principal categories of ATE are vital retardation - the experience of a stagnation of endogenous vital processes (37 patients), the experience of present and future dominated by the past (29 patients), and the experience of the slackening of the flow oftime (25 patients). A comparison with ATE in schizophrenia patients showed that in MDD, unlike in schizophrenia, there is no disarticulation of time experience (disorder of temporal synthesis) but rather a disorder of conation or inhibition of becoming. The interview style was not meant to make a quantitative assessment ("false negatives" cannot be excluded). Our findings confirm the relevance of distinctive features of ATE in MDD, support the hypothesis of an intrinsic disordered temporal structure in depressive symptoms, and may have direct implications in clinical practice, especially in relation to differential diagnosis, setting the boundaries between "true" and milder forms of depression, and neurobiological research. © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Service delivery innovation architecture: An empirical study of antecedents and outcomes

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Rajeev Verma

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The research examines service delivery innovation architecture and its role in achieving sustainable competitive advantage of firms. The study develops and empirically examines an antecedent based model of service delivery innovation. We collected data from 203 service sector professionals working in Mexican financial and information technology firms, and tested the proposed relationship. Further, the study investigates the moderating role of customer orientation on innovation driven performance outcomes. Results show that customer orientation strengthens the service delivery–performance relationship. This paper aims to contribute to the strategic planning of service firms by guiding their resource allocation to ensure sustainable growth.

Guidelines for Qualitative Research in Organization Studies: Controversy and Possibilities

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Maria Fernanda Rios Cavalcanti

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The aim of the present article is to tackle the controversy of establishing guidelines for qualitative research in Organization and Management Theory (OMT and to present a summary of suggestions on how to conduct good qualitative research given by methodologists on top-tier international publications. In order to do so, the article discusses: general guidelines for qualitative research; how to achieve coherence and transparency in a qualitative empirical study; the meaning and importance of the concept of reflexivity; and, finally how to establish a theoretical contribution and transferability of findings in such context. The work presents a valuable contribution because such guidelines, concepts, and approaches can be adopted by students and researchers when conducting a qualitative research proposal, and by periodic reviewers to evaluate the quality of existing empirical studies.

The Ethical Problems of Reserach : An empirical study of ethics in research practice

OpenAIRE

Colnerud, Gunnel

2013-01-01

Most accounts of the ethical problems facing researchers across a broad spectrum of research fields come from ethicists, ethics committees and specialists committed to the study of ethics in human research. In contrast, this study reports on the ethical questions that researchers, themselves, report facing in their everyday practice. Fifty-five Swedish researchers contributed 109 examples of ethical dilemmas, conflicts and problems in research. They were all researchers at the post-doctoral l...

Gaming addiction, definition, and measurement: a large-scale empirical study

OpenAIRE

Spekman, MLC; Konijn, EA; Roelofsma, PHMP; Griffiths, MD

2013-01-01

Aims: Although the general public appears to have embraced the term 'video game addiction', the scientific debate as to whether 'gaming addiction' can actually be considered an addiction similar to substance addictions of DSM-IV is still unsettled. To date, research on gaming addiction has focused on problematic behavior from the gaming activity itself and there has been little empirical research related to pathological personality patterns that usually are associated with substance addiction...

A New Empirical Model for Short-Term Forecasting of the Broadband Penetration: A Short Research in Greece

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Salpasaranis Konstantinos

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The objective of this paper is to present a short research about the overall broadband penetration in Greece. In this research, a new empirical deterministic model is proposed for the short-term forecast of the cumulative broadband adoption. The fitting performance of the model is compared with some widely used diffusion models for the cumulative adoption of new telecommunication products, namely, Logistic, Gompertz, Flexible Logistic (FLOG, Box-Cox, Richards, and Bass models. The fitting process is done with broadband penetration official data for Greece. In conclusion, comparing these models with the empirical model, it could be argued that the latter yields well enough statistics indicators for fitting and forecasting performance. It also stresses the need for further research and performance analysis of the model in other more mature broadband markets.

An empirical research on strategic planning in public libraries of Mainland China

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Ping KE; Yingfang HE; Wenliang ZHANG; Dongqin JIA; Tinghan LI

2012-01-01

Purpose:As an important issue,strategic planning in public libraries has been paid more attention in China recent years.However,a comprehensive and systematic research,especially strategic models based on empirical studies,is required in the public library strategic planning.The purpose of this research is to investigate the current practices and propose an appropriate reference and guidance of strategic planning in public libraries in Mainland China.Design/methodology/approach:A questionnaire-based survey method is carried out to collect the views of public libraries staff at different levels in Mainland China.The questionnaire is designed on the following four aspects toward strategic planning in public libraries:The attitude,the status quo,basic issues and the guides.The 882 valid questionnaires are processed by a statistic analysis to reflect the current practices of strategic planning in public libraries in Mainland China.Findings:Our research results reveal that the unclear and confused understanding of the strategic planning still exist among the public libraries staff in Mainland China.However,the majority of respondents still believe that the strategic planning in public libraries is significant and the library developments will be affected for lacking strategic planning.Moreover,it is considerable that the strategic plans are jointly made by independent agencies and public libraries,or by the public library itself.Also,guidelines and a set of softwares in strategic planning are needed.Research limitations/implications:The study was restricted to six main areas in China.A wider geographic sampling can preferable show the basic status of strategic planning in public libraries.The procedures of data collection would be another limitation.Nevertheless,case studies should be used in the further research.Originality:The importance of this research originates from a large number of first-hand data about strategic planning in public libraries in mainland China

An empirical research on strategic planning in public libraries of Mainland China

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Ping; KE; Yingfang; HE; Wenliang; ZHANG; Dongqin; JIA; Tinghan; LI

2012-01-01

Purpose: As an important issue, strategic planning in public libraries has been paid more attention in China recent years. However, a comprehensive and systematic research, especially strategic models based on empirical studies, is required in the public library strategic planning. The purpose of this research is to investigate the current practices and propose an appropriate reference and guidance of strategic planning in public libraries in Mainland China.Design/methodology/approach: A questionnaire-based survey method is carried out to collect the views of public libraries staff at different levels in Mainland China. The questionnaire is designed on the following four aspects toward strategic planning in public libraries: The attitude, the status quo, basic issues and the guides. The 882 valid questionnaires are processed by a statistic analysis to reflect the current practices of strategic planning in public libraries in Mainland China.Findings: Our research results reveal that the unclear and confused understanding of the strategic planning still exist among the public libraries staff in Mainland China. However, the majority of respondents still believe that the strategic planning in public libraries is significant and the library developments will be affected for lacking strategic planning. Moreover, it is considerable that the strategic plans are jointly made by independent agencies and public libraries, or by the public library itself. Also, guidelines and a set of softwares in strategic planning are needed.Research limitations/implications: The study was restricted to six main areas in China. A wider geographic sampling can preferable show the basic status of strategic planning in public libraries.The procedures of data collection would be another limitation. Nevertheless, case studies should be used in the further research.Originality: The importance of this research originates from a large number of first-hand data about strategic planning in public

Giddens à la carte? Appraising empirical applications of structuration theory in management and organization studies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

den Hond, F.; Boersma, F.K.; Heres, L.; Kroes, E.H.J.; van Oirschot, E.

2012-01-01

There is an increasing interest in the application of Structuration Theory in the fields of management and organization studies. Based upon a thorough literature review, we have come up with a data-set to assess how Structuration Theory has been used in empirical research. We use three key concepts

Supply strategy configuration in fragmented production systems: An empirical study

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Claudia Chackelson

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Purpose: Companies survive in saturated markets trying to be more productive and more efficient. In this context, it becomes critical for companies to manage the entire supply network to optimize overall performance.  Hence, the supply strategy plays an important role because it influences the way in which production and logistics network has to be configured and managed. This paper explores the benefits obtained configuring different supply strategies adapted to customer needs.Design/methodology/approach: For this purpose a case research from a Tier 2 point of view of the supply chain has been conducted. Findings and Originality/value: The case research demonstrates that a higher service level, less holding costs and increase turnovers can be obtained implementing the adequate supply strategy. Originality/value: There is a scarcity of research specifically focused on applied Supply Chain Principles within network configuration processes. Moreover, there are few empirical studies of global Tier 2 with multiple decoupling points into its supply chain network.

Mission Operations Planning with Preferences: An Empirical Study

Science.gov (United States)

Bresina, John L.; Khatib, Lina; McGann, Conor

2006-01-01

This paper presents an empirical study of some nonexhaustive approaches to optimizing preferences within the context of constraint-based, mixed-initiative planning for mission operations. This work is motivated by the experience of deploying and operating the MAPGEN (Mixed-initiative Activity Plan GENerator) system for the Mars Exploration Rover Mission. Responsiveness to the user is one of the important requirements for MAPGEN, hence, the additional computation time needed to optimize preferences must be kept within reasonabble bounds. This was the primary motivation for studying non-exhaustive optimization approaches. The specific goals of rhe empirical study are to assess the impact on solution quality of two greedy heuristics used in MAPGEN and to assess the improvement gained by applying a linear programming optimization technique to the final solution.

Integrated empirical ethics: loss of normativity?

Science.gov (United States)

van der Scheer, Lieke; Widdershoven, Guy

2004-01-01

An important discussion in contemporary ethics concerns the relevance of empirical research for ethics. Specifically, two crucial questions pertain, respectively, to the possibility of inferring normative statements from descriptive statements, and to the danger of a loss of normativity if normative statements should be based on empirical research. Here we take part in the debate and defend integrated empirical ethical research: research in which normative guidelines are established on the basis of empirical research and in which the guidelines are empirically evaluated by focusing on observable consequences. We argue that in our concrete example normative statements are not derived from descriptive statements, but are developed within a process of reflection and dialogue that goes on within a specific praxis. Moreover, we show that the distinction in experience between the desirable and the undesirable precludes relativism. The normative guidelines so developed are both critical and normative: they help in choosing the right action and in evaluating that action. Finally, following Aristotle, we plead for a return to the view that morality and ethics are inherently related to one another, and for an acknowledgment of the fact that moral judgments have their origin in experience which is always related to historical and cultural circumstances.

An empirical study of Malaysian firms' capital structure

OpenAIRE

Zain, Sharifah Raihan Syed Mohd

2003-01-01

Merged with duplicate record 10026.1/821 on 27.03.2017 by CS (TIS) It is sometimes purported that one of the factors affecting a firm's value is its capital structure. The event of the 1997 Asian financial crisis was expected to affect the firms' gearing level as the firms' earnings deteriorated and the capital market collapsed. The main objective of this research is to examine empirically the determinants of the capital structure of Malaysian firms. The main additional aim is ...

Empirical scholarship in contract law: possibilities and pitfalls

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Russell Korobkin

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Professor Korobkin examines and analyzes empirical contract law scholarship over the last fifteen years in an attempt to guide scholars concerning how empiricism can be used in and enhance the study of contract law. After defining the parameters of the study, Professor Korobkin categorizes empirical contract law scholarship by both the source of data and main purpose of the investigation. He then describes and analyzes three types of criticisms that can be made of empirical scholarship, explains how these criticisms pertain to contract law scholarship, and considers what steps researchers can take to minimize the force of such criticisms.

Attachment Theory and Religiosity: A Summary of Empirical Research with Implications for Counseling Christian Clients

Science.gov (United States)

Reinert, Duane F.; Edwards, Carla E.; Hendrix, Rebecca R.

2009-01-01

The authors summarize the growing body of empirical research literature in the area of psychology of religion that has been guided by attachment theory and indicate implications for counseling, including practical suggestions for case conceptualization, possible spiritual interventions, and ethical guidelines for practice. Attachment theory…

Unveiling Research Agendas: a study of the influences on research problem selection among academic researchers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bianco, M.; Sutz, J.

2016-07-01

Research problem selection is central to the dynamics of scientific knowledge production. Research agendas result from the selection of research problems and the formulation of individual and/or collective academic strategies to address them. But, why researchers study what they study? This paper presents incipient research focused on the way different factors influence the construction of academic research agendas. It takes a researcher-oriented approach relying on opinions and perspectives of a wide range of researchers in all fields of knowledge. The empirical work is carried out in Uruguay, a country in the periphery of mainstream science, whose academic community struggles in search of a balance between the requirements of the world community of scholars and the demands from different national stakeholders. The methodology and research results from this study may be relevant to other countries, at different peripheries. Further, understanding the interplay of influences that shape research agendas is an important tool for policy analysis and planning everywhere. (Author)

An Empirical Study Of User Acceptance Of Online Social Networks Marketing

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Olumayowa Mulero

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The explosion of Internet usage has drawn the attention of researchers towards online Social Networks Marketing (SNM. Research has shown that a number of the Internet users are distrustful and indecisive, when it comes to the use of social networks marketing system. Therefore, there is a need for researchers to identify some of the factors that determine users’ acceptance of social networks marketing using Technology Acceptance Model (TAM. This study extended the Technology Acceptance Model theoretical framework to predict consumer acceptance of social networks marketing within Western Cape Province of South Africa. The research model was tested using data collected from 470 questionnaires and analysed using linear regression. The results showed that user intentions to use SNM are strongly and positively correlated with user acceptance of using SNM systems. Empirical results confirmed that perceived credibility and perceived usefulness are the strongest determinant in predicting user intentions to use SNM system.

Empirical ethics, context-sensitivity, and contextualism.

Science.gov (United States)

Musschenga, Albert W

2005-10-01

In medical ethics, business ethics, and some branches of political philosophy (multi-culturalism, issues of just allocation, and equitable distribution) the literature increasingly combines insights from ethics and the social sciences. Some authors in medical ethics even speak of a new phase in the history of ethics, hailing "empirical ethics" as a logical next step in the development of practical ethics after the turn to "applied ethics." The name empirical ethics is ill-chosen because of its associations with "descriptive ethics." Unlike descriptive ethics, however, empirical ethics aims to be both descriptive and normative. The first question on which I focus is what kind of empirical research is used by empirical ethics and for which purposes. I argue that the ultimate aim of all empirical ethics is to improve the context-sensitivity of ethics. The second question is whether empirical ethics is essentially connected with specific positions in meta-ethics. I show that in some kinds of meta-ethical theories, which I categorize as broad contextualist theories, there is an intrinsic need for connecting normative ethics with empirical social research. But context-sensitivity is a goal that can be aimed for from any meta-ethical position.

Antecedents of positive self-disclosure online: an empirical study of US college students’ Facebook usage

OpenAIRE

Chen H

2017-01-01

Hongliang Chen Department of Communication, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA Abstract: This study investigates the factors predicting positive self-disclosure on social networking sites (SNSs). There is a formidable body of empirical research relating to online self-disclosure, but very few studies have assessed the antecedents of positive self-disclosure. To address this literature gap, the current study tests the effects of self-esteem, life satisfact...

Characterizing Student Expectations: A Small Empirical Study

Science.gov (United States)

Warwick, Jonathan

2016-01-01

This paper describes the results of a small empirical study (n = 130), in which undergraduate students in the Business Faculty of a UK university were asked to express views and expectations relating to the study of a mathematics. Factor analysis is used to identify latent variables emerging from clusters of the measured variables and these are…

Risk and Protective Factors of Internet Addiction: A Meta-Analysis of Empirical Studies in Korea

OpenAIRE

Koo, Hoon Jung; Kwon, Jung-Hye

2014-01-01

Purpose A meta-analysis of empirical studies performed in Korea was conducted to systematically investigate the associations between the indices of Internet addiction (IA) and psychosocial variables. Materials and Methods Systematic literature searches were carried out using the Korean Studies Information Service System, Research Information Sharing Service, Science Direct, Google Scholar, and references in review articles. The key words were Internet addiction, (Internet) game addiction, and...

Factors affecting management accounting and control systems. A critical review of empirical studies

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Joanna Dyczkowska

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Knowledge of management accounting & control systems and factors which may affect the design of such systems has become crucial due to emerging changes both in the external and internal business environment. Therefore it is necessary to conduct comprehensive, long-term basic research in order to prove previously formulated hypotheses in new conditions and fulfil the research gap. Based on critical review of empirical studies published in prestigious scientific journals this paper aims at validating the assumed hypotheses and at generalising research findings on impacts of various determinants on man-agement accounting & control systems. The predominant contingent factors include: type of strategy implemented, national culture, perceived environment uncertainty and integrated information system.

Empirical Studies on English Vocabulary Learning Strategies in Mainland China over the Past Two Decades

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Zhongxin Dai

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Wen and Wang (2004 reviewed the empirical studies over the past two decades (from 1984 to 2003 on learning strategies that Chinese EFL learners used. This article, following their methodological framework, reviews about 45 empirical studies on Chinese EFL learners’ English vocabulary learning strategies, conducted by Mainland Chinese scholars over the past two decades. The review shows that more than half of the Chinese scholars are interested in questionnaire investigation of EFL learners’ preferences for vocabulary learning. The reports of the questionnaire investigations indicate that most Chinese EFL learners prefer rote learning of vocabulary to learning vocabulary in context or through language use. The experimental studies suggest that strategies-based instruction results in the learners’ vocabulary achievement. Cognitive and metacognitive strategies are the two groups of strategies that Chinese researchers show particular interest in.

Organisational Learning and Performance--An Empirical Study

Science.gov (United States)

Jyothibabu, C.; Pradhan, Bibhuti Bhusan; Farooq, Ayesha

2011-01-01

This paper explores the important question "how the learning entities--individual, group or organisation--are affecting organisational performance". The answer is important for promoting learning and improving performance. This empirical study in the leading power utility in India found that there is a positive relation between…

Living network meta-analysis compared with pairwise meta-analysis in comparative effectiveness research: empirical study

Science.gov (United States)

Nikolakopoulou, Adriani; Mavridis, Dimitris; Furukawa, Toshi A; Cipriani, Andrea; Tricco, Andrea C; Straus, Sharon E; Siontis, George C M; Egger, Matthias

2018-01-01

Abstract Objective To examine whether the continuous updating of networks of prospectively planned randomised controlled trials (RCTs) (“living” network meta-analysis) provides strong evidence against the null hypothesis in comparative effectiveness of medical interventions earlier than the updating of conventional, pairwise meta-analysis. Design Empirical study of the accumulating evidence about the comparative effectiveness of clinical interventions. Data sources Database of network meta-analyses of RCTs identified through searches of Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews until 14 April 2015. Eligibility criteria for study selection Network meta-analyses published after January 2012 that compared at least five treatments and included at least 20 RCTs. Clinical experts were asked to identify in each network the treatment comparison of greatest clinical interest. Comparisons were excluded for which direct and indirect evidence disagreed, based on side, or node, splitting test (Pmeta-analysis. The frequency and time to strong evidence was compared against the null hypothesis between pairwise and network meta-analyses. Results 49 comparisons of interest from 44 networks were included; most (n=39, 80%) were between active drugs, mainly from the specialties of cardiology, endocrinology, psychiatry, and rheumatology. 29 comparisons were informed by both direct and indirect evidence (59%), 13 by indirect evidence (27%), and 7 by direct evidence (14%). Both network and pairwise meta-analysis provided strong evidence against the null hypothesis for seven comparisons, but for an additional 10 comparisons only network meta-analysis provided strong evidence against the null hypothesis (P=0.002). The median time to strong evidence against the null hypothesis was 19 years with living network meta-analysis and 23 years with living pairwise meta-analysis (hazard ratio 2.78, 95% confidence interval 1.00 to 7.72, P=0.05). Studies directly comparing

Environmental management in Slovenian industrial enterprises - Empirical study

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Vesna Čančer

2002-01-01

Full Text Available timulated with the firm belief that environmental management helps enterprises to achieve business success, expressed by a majority of managers in the sample enterprises, we present the results of an empirical study in the Slovene processing industry. The purpose of our research work is to identify, analyse and present the importance of the environment in business decision-making, the role of environmental management in strategic decision-making and its distribution across the business functions; environmental performance in business processes; the use of the methods for environmentally oriented business decision-making and the developmental tendencies of environmental management in Slovene enterprises of the processing industry. We define the key drivers of environmental management and their effect on the environmental behaviour of these enterprises. We present and interpret data indicating that environmental management is caused not only by compliance and regulation, but also by competition and enterprises’ own initiative.

Environmental ethics and wilderness management: an empirical study

Science.gov (United States)

William A. Valliere; Robert E. Manning

1995-01-01

The underlying hypothesis of this study is that environmental ethics influence public attitudes toward wilderness management. To study this hypothesis, environmental ethics were defined, categorized, and measured empirically. Additionally, attitudes toward selected wilderness management issues were measured. Associations were found between beliefs in selected...

Is it lonely at the top? An empirical study of managers' and nonmanagers' loneliness in organizations.

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, Sarah

2012-01-01

Loneliness is often assumed to be an occupational hazard for senior-ranked members of an organization. However, most of what researchers hear about being "lonely at the top" is anecdote. This article provides empirical evidence from three separate studies assessing loneliness in managers and nonmanagers. Across all three studies, loneliness did not differ by managerial status. Managers were no more or less lonely than their nonmanager counterparts. This suggests that factors beyond seniority may be contributing to loneliness in organizational settings. Ideas for future research are discussed.

The Synergy of applying virtual collaboration tools and problem-based approach for development of knowledge sharing skills : empirical research

OpenAIRE

Schoop, Eric; Kriaučiūnienė, Roma; Brundzaitė, Rasa

2004-01-01

This article analyses the needs and possibilities to educate new type of virtual collaboration skills for the university students, who are currently studying in business and information systems area. We investigate the possibility to incorporate problem-based group learning and computer supported tools into university curricula. The empirical research results are presented, which summarize experiences of using the virtual collaborative learning (VCL) environment, provided by Business informat...

Empirical pseudo-potential studies on electronic structure

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Theoretical investigations of electronic structure of quantum dots is of current interest in nanophase materials. Empirical theories such as effective mass approximation, tight binding methods and empirical pseudo-potential method are capable of explaining the experimentally observed optical properties. We employ the ...

A Review of Empirical Studies Investigating Antecedents and Consequences of Collective Learning Behaviors in Hospitals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Florina D. Spânu

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This study is a systematic review of the field research conducted in medical settings investigating collective learning behaviors. The review was driven by several research foci. Our main interest was in identifying antecedents and consequences of collective learning in hospitals. We also report results on the types of research questions addressed, research designs used, and types of medical teams investigated. Twelve studies met our inclusion criteria. Our findings revealed that highly contextualized studies that use different ways of measuring learning, different ways of conceptualizing medical teams, and different research methodologies, discuss similar antecedents. Variables like leadership behaviors, unit interpersonal climate, and hierarchical position were found to play a role in explaining organizational learning in hospitals across studies. We also found that despite an intense public discourse on the link between collective learning processes and patients’ safety and medical organizations’ performance, few studies actually report empirical data supporting this relationship.

An empirical study on primary school teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education in Jakarta, Indonesia

OpenAIRE

Kurniawati, Farida; Minnaert, A.E.M.G.; Mangunsong, F.; Ahmed, W.

2012-01-01

Empirical research revealed that teachers’ attitudes play a crucial role in successful implementation of inclusive education. This study aimed to examine primary school teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education in Jakarta, Indonesia. Respondents completed the attitude scale which comprised the theory-driven cognitive, affective and behavioral components of attitude. The findings show that teachers are in favor of inclusion and their attitudes seem to be related to their teaching experie...

An Empirical Study Analyzing Job Productivity in Toxic Workplace Environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Anjum, Amna; Ming, Xu; Siddiqi, Ahmed Faisal; Rasool, Samma Faiz

2018-05-21

Purpose: This empirical study aims to determine the effects of a toxic workplace environment, which can negatively impact the job productivity of an employee. Methodology: Three hundred questionnaires were randomly distributed among the staff members of seven private universities in Pakistan with a final response rate of 89%. For analysis purposes, AMOS 22 was used to study the direct and indirect effects of the toxic workplace environment on job productivity. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was conducted to ensure the convergent and discriminant validity of the factors, while the Hayes mediation approach was used to verify the mediating role of job burnout between the four dimensions of toxic workplace environment and job productivity. A toxic workplace with multiple dimensions, such as workplace ostracism, workplace incivility, workplace harassment, and workplace bullying, was used in this study. Findings: By using the multiple statistical tools and techniques, it has been proven that ostracism, incivility, harassment, and bullying have direct negative significant effects on job productivity, while job burnout was shown to be a statistical significant mediator between the dimensions of a toxic workplace environment and job productivity. Finally, we concluded that organizations need to eradicate the factors of toxic workplace environments to ensure their prosperity and success. Practical Implications: This study encourages managers, leaders, and top management to adopt appropriate policies for enhancing employees’ productivity. Limitations: This study was conducted by using a cross-sectional research design. Future research aims to expand the study by using a longitudinal research design.

An Empirical Study Based on the SPSS Variance Analysis of College Teachers' Sports Participation and Satisfaction

OpenAIRE

Yunqiu Liang

2013-01-01

The study on University Teachers ' sports participation and their job satisfaction relationship for empirical research, mainly from the group to participate in sports activities situation on the object of study, investigation and mathematical statistics analysis SPSS. Results show that sports groups participate in job satisfaction higher than those in groups of job satisfaction; sports participation, different job satisfaction is also different. Recommendations for college teachers to address...

Review of the human reliability analysis performed for Empire State Electric Energy Research Corporation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Swart, D.; Banz, I.

1985-01-01

The Empire State Electric Energy Research Corporation (ESEERCO) commissioned Westinghouse to conduct a human reliability analysis to identify and quantify human error probabilities associated with operator actions for four specific events which may occur in light water reactors: loss of coolant accident, steam generator tube rupture, steam/feed line break, and stuck open pressurizer spray valve. Human Error Probabilities (HEPs) derived from Swain's Technique for Human Error Rate Prediction (THERP) were compared to data obtained from simulator exercises. A correlation was found between the HEPs derived from Swain and the results of the simulator data. The results of this study provide a unique insight into human factors analysis. The HEPs obtained from such probabilistic studies can be used to prioritize scenarios for operator training situations, and thus improve the correlation between simulator exercises and real control room experiences

Evidence for the Effectiveness of Jungian Psychotherapy: A Review of Empirical Studies

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Christian Roesler

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Since the 1990s several research projects and empirical studies (process and outcome on Jungian Psychotherapy have been conducted mainly in Germany and Switzerland. Prospective, naturalistic outcome studies and retrospective studies using standardized instruments and health insurance data as well as several qualitative studies of aspects of the psychotherapeutic process will be summarized. The studies are diligently designed and the results are well applicable to the conditions of outpatient practice. All the studies show significant improvements not only on the level of symptoms and interpersonal problems, but also on the level of personality structure and in every day life conduct. These improvements remain stable after completion of therapy over a period of up to six years. Several studies show further improvements after the end of therapy, an effect which psychoanalysis has always claimed. Health insurance data show that, after Jungian therapy, patients reduce health care utilization to a level even below the average of the total population. Results of several studies show that Jungian treatment moves patients from a level of severe symptoms to a level where one can speak of psychological health. These significant changes are reached by Jungian therapy with an average of 90 sessions, which makes Jungian psychotherapy an effective and cost-effective method. Process studies support Jungian theories on psychodynamics and elements of change in the therapeutic process. So finally, Jungian psychotherapy has reached the point where it can be called an empirically proven, effective method.

Research on Browsing Behavior in the Libraries: An Empirical Analysis of Consequences, Success and Influences

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Shan-Ju L. Chang

2000-12-01

Full Text Available Browsing as an important part of human information behavior has been observed and investigated in the context of information seeking in the library in general and has assumed greater importance in human-machine interaction in particular. However, the nature and consequences of browsing are not well understood, and little is known of the success rate of such behavior.In this research, exploratory empirical case studies from three types of libraries were conducted, using questionnaires, observation logs, interviews, and computer search logs, to derive the empirical evidence to understand, from the user point of view, what are the consequences of browsing, what constitutes successful browsing, and what factors influence the extent of browsing. Content analysis and statistical analysis were conducted to analyze and synthesize the data. The research results show: (1 There are nine categories of the consequence of browsing, including accidental findings, modification of information need, found the desirable information, learning, feeling relaxation/recreational, information gathering, keeping updated, satisfying curiosity, and not finding what is needed. (2 Four factors that produce successful browsing: intention, the amount or quality of information, the utility of what is found, and help for solving problem or making judgment. (3 Three types of reasons for unsuccessful experience in browsing: not finding what one wanted, inadequate volume or quality of information, and not finding some things useful or interesting. (4 Three types of reasons for partial success: found the intended object but not happy with the quality or amount of information in it, not finding what one wanted but discovering new or potential useful information, not accomplish one purpose but achieve another one given multiple purposes. (5 The influential factors that affect the extent one engages in browsing include browser’s time, scheme of information organization, proximity to

Empirical studies on changes in oil governance

Science.gov (United States)

Kemal, Mohammad

Regulation of the oil and gas sector is consequential to the economies of oil-producing countries. In the literature, there are two types of regulation: indirect regulation through taxes and tariffs or direct regulation through the creation of a National Oil Company (NOC). In the 1970s, many oil-producing countries nationalized their oil and gas sectors by creating and giving ownership rights of oil and gas resources to NOCs. In light of the success of Norway in regulating its oil and gas resources, over the past two decades several countries have changed their oil governance by changing the rights given to NOC from ownership right to mere access rights like other oil companies. However, empirical literature on these changes in oil governance is quite thin. Thus, this dissertation will explore three research questions to investigate empirically these changes in oil governance. First, I investigate empirically the impact of the changes in oil governance on aggregate domestic income. By employing a difference-in-difference method, I will show that a country which changed its oil governance increases its GDP per-capita by 10%. However, the impact is different for different types of political institution. Second, by observing the changes in oil governance in Indonesia , I explore the impact of the changes on learning-by-doing and learning spillover effect in offshore exploration drilling. By employing an econometric model which includes interaction terms between various experience variables and changes in an oil governance dummy, I will show that the change in oil governance in Indonesia enhances learning-by-doing by the rigs and learning spillover in a basin. Lastly, the impact of the changes in oil governance on expropriation risk and extraction path will be explored. By employing a difference-in-difference method, this essay will show that the changes in oil governance reduce expropriation and the impact of it is different for different sizes of resource stock.

Integrating technology readiness into the expectation-confirmation model: an empirical study of mobile services.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Shih-Chih; Liu, Ming-Ling; Lin, Chieh-Peng

2013-08-01

The aim of this study was to integrate technology readiness into the expectation-confirmation model (ECM) for explaining individuals' continuance of mobile data service usage. After reviewing the ECM and technology readiness, an integrated model was demonstrated via empirical data. Compared with the original ECM, the findings of this study show that the integrated model may offer an ameliorated way to clarify what factors and how they influence the continuous intention toward mobile services. Finally, the major findings are summarized, and future research directions are suggested.

Labour flexibility in China's companies: An Empirical Study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Y. Chen (Yongping)

2001-01-01

textabstractLabour flexibility in China???s Companies: An Empirical Study explores labour flexibility at the workplace in ten manufacturing companies in China. It addresses how HRM contributes and facilitates management in coping with increasing market competition. Flexible labour practices are

The empirical study of norms of justice - an overview

OpenAIRE

Jacquemain, Marc

2003-01-01

The paper discusses what is empirical study of justice feeling, drawing the line between this and normative study, but defending nevertheless that there are important linkis between both stances. It gives an overview of main theories whitin normative study of justice feelings

Mechanisms of change in psychotherapy for depression: An empirical update and evaluation of research aimed at identifying psychological mediators.

Science.gov (United States)

Lemmens, Lotte H J M; Müller, Viola N L S; Arntz, Arnoud; Huibers, Marcus J H

2016-12-01

We present a systematic empirical update and critical evaluation of the current status of research aimed at identifying a variety of psychological mediators in various forms of psychotherapy for depression. We summarize study characteristics and results of 35 relevant studies, and discuss the extent to which these studies meet several important requirements for mechanism research. Our review indicates that in spite of increased attention for the topic, advances in theoretical consensus about necessities for mechanism research, and sophistication of study designs, research in this field is still heterogeneous and unsatisfactory in methodological respect. Probably the biggest challenge in the field is demonstrating the causal relation between change in the mediator and change in depressive symptoms. The field would benefit from a further refinement of research methods to identify processes of therapeutic change. Recommendations for future research are discussed. However, even in the most optimal research designs, explaining psychotherapeutic change remains a challenge. Psychotherapy is a multi-dimensional phenomenon that might work through interplay of multiple mechanisms at several levels. As a result, it might be too complex to be explained in relatively simple causal models of psychological change. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Empirical study of supervised gene screening

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Ma Shuangge

2006-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Microarray studies provide a way of linking variations of phenotypes with their genetic causations. Constructing predictive models using high dimensional microarray measurements usually consists of three steps: (1 unsupervised gene screening; (2 supervised gene screening; and (3 statistical model building. Supervised gene screening based on marginal gene ranking is commonly used to reduce the number of genes in the model building. Various simple statistics, such as t-statistic or signal to noise ratio, have been used to rank genes in the supervised screening. Despite of its extensive usage, statistical study of supervised gene screening remains scarce. Our study is partly motivated by the differences in gene discovery results caused by using different supervised gene screening methods. Results We investigate concordance and reproducibility of supervised gene screening based on eight commonly used marginal statistics. Concordance is assessed by the relative fractions of overlaps between top ranked genes screened using different marginal statistics. We propose a Bootstrap Reproducibility Index, which measures reproducibility of individual genes under the supervised screening. Empirical studies are based on four public microarray data. We consider the cases where the top 20%, 40% and 60% genes are screened. Conclusion From a gene discovery point of view, the effect of supervised gene screening based on different marginal statistics cannot be ignored. Empirical studies show that (1 genes passed different supervised screenings may be considerably different; (2 concordance may vary, depending on the underlying data structure and percentage of selected genes; (3 evaluated with the Bootstrap Reproducibility Index, genes passed supervised screenings are only moderately reproducible; and (4 concordance cannot be improved by supervised screening based on reproducibility.

Factors affecting research productivity of production and operations management groups: An empirical study

OpenAIRE

George C. Hadjinicola; Andreas C. Soteriou

2006-01-01

This paper identifies factors that promote research productivity of production and operations management (POM) groups of researchers in US business schools. In this study, research productivity of a POM group is defined as the number of articles published per POM professor in a specific period of time. The paper also examines factors that affect research quality, as measured by the number of articles published per POM professor in journals, which have been recognized in the POM literature as ...

An Empirical Study Analyzing Job Productivity in Toxic Workplace Environments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amna Anjum

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Purpose: This empirical study aims to determine the effects of a toxic workplace environment, which can negatively impact the job productivity of an employee. Methodology: Three hundred questionnaires were randomly distributed among the staff members of seven private universities in Pakistan with a final response rate of 89%. For analysis purposes, AMOS 22 was used to study the direct and indirect effects of the toxic workplace environment on job productivity. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA was conducted to ensure the convergent and discriminant validity of the factors, while the Hayes mediation approach was used to verify the mediating role of job burnout between the four dimensions of toxic workplace environment and job productivity. A toxic workplace with multiple dimensions, such as workplace ostracism, workplace incivility, workplace harassment, and workplace bullying, was used in this study. Findings: By using the multiple statistical tools and techniques, it has been proven that ostracism, incivility, harassment, and bullying have direct negative significant effects on job productivity, while job burnout was shown to be a statistical significant mediator between the dimensions of a toxic workplace environment and job productivity. Finally, we concluded that organizations need to eradicate the factors of toxic workplace environments to ensure their prosperity and success. Practical Implications: This study encourages managers, leaders, and top management to adopt appropriate policies for enhancing employees’ productivity. Limitations: This study was conducted by using a cross-sectional research design. Future research aims to expand the study by using a longitudinal research design.

New empirical generalizations on the determinants of price elasticity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bijmolt, THA; Van Heerde, HJ; Pieters, RGM

The importance of pricing decisions for firms has fueled an extensive stream of research on price elasticities. In an influential meta-analytical study, Tellis (1988) summarized price elasticity research findings until 1986. However, empirical generalizations on price elasticity require

An empirical and model study on automobile market in Taiwan

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Ji-Ying; Qiu, Rong; Zhou, Yueping; He, Da-Ren

2006-03-01

We have done an empirical investigation on automobile market in Taiwan including the development of the possession rate of the companies in the market from 1979 to 2003, the development of the largest possession rate, and so on. A dynamic model for describing the competition between the companies is suggested based on the empirical study. In the model each company is given a long-term competition factor (such as technology, capital and scale) and a short-term competition factor (such as management, service and advertisement). Then the companies play games in order to obtain more possession rate in the market under certain rules. Numerical simulation based on the model display a competition developing process, which qualitatively and quantitatively agree with our empirical investigation results.

A Guide to Visual Multi-Level Interface Design From Synthesis of Empirical Study Evidence

CERN Document Server

Lam, Heidi

2010-01-01

Displaying multiple levels of data visually has been proposed to address the challenge of limited screen space. Although many previous empirical studies have addressed different aspects of this question, the information visualization research community does not currently have a clearly articulated consensus on how, when, or even if displaying data at multiple levels is effective. To shed more light on this complex topic, we conducted a systematic review of 22 existing multi-level interface studies to extract high-level design guidelines. To facilitate discussion, we cast our analysis findings

INNOVATION, CUSTOMER ATTACHMENT SOURCE IN RETAIL SERVICES EMPIRICAL RESEARCH IN DIY RETAIL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Săniuţă Adina

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The topic of the present study is innovation of services in the retail trade of bricolage (Do-It-Yourself, DIY products and the influence that innovation has on the increase of customer attachment to companies in this field. The Romanian bricolage market brings together representatives of large specialised retail chains in Europe along with large domestic operators, which led us to the choice of this trade as a research field. Innovation is considered an important factor that brings a significant contribution to the success of a business (O\\'Cass, Song and Yuan, 2012, and services are a priority for economic development. Despite all these, innovation in services is still insufficiently exploited both theoretically and empirically. The object of this study is to apply a qualitative research through semi-conducted interviews with managers from the bricolage retail field in order to validate the conceptual model whose inputs, innovation along with the availability and professionalism of the sales staff, act as generators of customer attachment to the company, leading to increased turnover, a permanent fund of customers and loyalty to the store. As a second stage, the proposed model will be tested through a quantitative research, by making use of the customer’s points of view. The three hypotheses of this research (H1: Innovation in services is determined by: the customer’s involvement in the implementation of the service, the use of gadgets in the store to facilitate access to information to the customer, the extension of the in-store services to the virtual environment and customer experience; H2: Innovation together with the availability and knowledge of the sales staff are sources of the customer’s attachment; H3: attachment acts as a catalyst for the turnover, the permanent fund of customers and the loyalty to the store have been accepted, the study revealing that in the retail trade of bricolage products, the staff’s availability and

A Reliable and Valid Weighted Scoring Instrument for Use in Grading APA-Style Empirical Research Report

Science.gov (United States)

Greenberg, Kathleen Puglisi

2012-01-01

The scoring instrument described in this article is based on a deconstruction of the seven sections of an American Psychological Association (APA)-style empirical research report into a set of learning outcomes divided into content-, expression-, and format-related categories. A double-weighting scheme used to score the report yields a final grade…

The Nonuse, Misuse, and Proper Use of Pilot Studies in Experimental Evaluation Research

Science.gov (United States)

Westlund, Erik; Stuart, Elizabeth A.

2017-01-01

This article discusses the nonuse, misuse, and proper use of pilot studies in experimental evaluation research. The authors first show that there is little theoretical, practical, or empirical guidance available to researchers who seek to incorporate pilot studies into experimental evaluation research designs. The authors then discuss how pilot…

Umayyad Relations with Byzantium Empire

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Mansoor Haidari

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This research investigates the political and military relations between Umayyad caliphates with the Byzantine Empire. The aim of this research is to clarify Umayyad caliphate’s relations with the Byzantine Empire. We know that these relations were mostly about war and fight. Because there were always intense conflicts between Muslims and the Byzantine Empire, they had to have an active continuous diplomacy to call truce and settle the disputes. Thus, based on the general policy of the Umayyad caliphs, Christians were severely ignored and segregated within Islamic territories. This segregation of the Christians was highly affected by political relationships. It is worthy of mentioning that Umayyad caliphs brought the governing style of the Sassanid kings and Roman Caesar into the Islamic Caliphate system but they didn’t establish civil institutions and administrative organizations.

Using Generic Inductive Approach in Qualitative Educational Research: A Case Study Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Lisha

2016-01-01

Qualitative research strategy has been widely adopted by educational researchers in order to improve the quality of their empirical studies. This paper aims to introduce a generic inductive approach, pragmatic and flexible in qualitative theoretical support, by describing its application in a study of non-English major undergraduates' English…

Matchmaking in organizational change : Does every employee value participatory leadership? An empirical study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rogiest, Sofie; Segers, Jesse; van Witteloostuijn, Arjen

2018-01-01

Although leadership is generally considered an important lever to increase commitment during organizational change, empirical research has yet to unravel many of the underlying mechanisms. In this paper, we propose that the impact of participative leadership on affective commitment to change will be

Economic reasons behind the decline of the Ottoman empire

OpenAIRE

Duranoglu, Erkut; Okutucu, Guzide

2009-01-01

This study addresses the economic reasons of the decline and fall of the Ottoman Empire. On the contrary to the previous researches, by undertaking both global and domestic developments, the paper examines the decline of the empire from an economical point of perspective. Although international developments such as industrialization in European countries, pressure on the Ottomans in terms of integrating with the world economy, global economic factors like depressions and war...

Estimating study costs for use in VOI, a study of dutch publicly funded drug related research

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van Asselt, A.D.; Ramaekers, B.L.; Corro Ramos, I.; Joore, M.A.; Al, M.J.; Lesman-Leegte, I.; Postma, M.J.; Vemer, P.; Feenstra, T.F.

2016-01-01

Objectives: To perform value of information (VOI) analyses, an estimate of research costs is needed. However, reference values for such costs are not available. This study aimed to analyze empirical data on research budgets and, by means of a cost tool, provide an overview of costs of several types

Localization in random bipartite graphs: Numerical and empirical study

Science.gov (United States)

Slanina, František

2017-05-01

We investigate adjacency matrices of bipartite graphs with a power-law degree distribution. Motivation for this study is twofold: first, vibrational states in granular matter and jammed sphere packings; second, graphs encoding social interaction, especially electronic commerce. We establish the position of the mobility edge and show that it strongly depends on the power in the degree distribution and on the ratio of the sizes of the two parts of the bipartite graph. At the jamming threshold, where the two parts have the same size, localization vanishes. We found that the multifractal spectrum is nontrivial in the delocalized phase, but still near the mobility edge. We also study an empirical bipartite graph, namely, the Amazon reviewer-item network. We found that in this specific graph the mobility edge disappears, and we draw a conclusion from this fact regarding earlier empirical studies of the Amazon network.

ACTUALIZATION OF THE PERSON OF STUDENTS AS BEARERS OF INNOVATION CULTURE IN HIGHER EDUCATION: EMPIRICAL STUDIES

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Tatyana B. Zagorulya

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of the study is to consider the problem of empirical research aimed at identifying the personality traits of students as bearers of innovation culture: innovative susceptibility, assertiveness, autonomy in decision-making, initiative and responsibility.Methods. In accordance with the object and purpose of the empirical research, empirical methods are used: instructional design model, observation, notes and forming experiments, testing, questionnaire, interview, qualitative analysis of empirical data; block of complementary techniques: «Research of features of response to conflict» (by K. Thomas, «Assertiveness», «Leader. Qualities of a Leader», «Leading representative system».Scientific novelty and results. Scientific novelty consists in the justification of psycho-pedagogical tools for diagnosing the level of development of the innovation culture of students of high school. It is found that students who successfully realizing the potential strength and ability to organize their own life, educational activities and communication on the basis of aggregate conscious goals, values in assertiveness, are outer-directed to innovation taking place in society and in the world. The use of innovative technologies in the educational process, especially creative projects, the decision of cases, holding debates, simulations and role-playing games creates conditions for the development of assertive behavior required in the process of successful adaptation and integration of students in the educational environment of the university, the acquisition of competitiveness in the society. It is concluded that the presence of the students’ considerable potential for the development of an innovation culture, in particular the leading representative of different systems, allowing to develop communication skills and engage in constructive dialogue.Practical significance. Appropriate methods and appropriate tools for diagnosing the level

An Empirical Study on the Application of Cooperative Learning to Comprehensive English Classes in a Chinese Independent College

Science.gov (United States)

Meng, Ji

2017-01-01

This research investigated a comparison between the effect of cooperative learning and lecture teaching on Comprehensive English classes in a Chinese Independent College. An empirical study for two semesters was carried out in the forms of pretest, posttest, questionnaire and interviews. While control class was taught in the conventional way,…

Antecedents of employee electricity saving behavior in organizations: An empirical study based on norm activation model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Yixiang; Wang, Zhaohua; Zhou, Guanghui

2013-01-01

China is one of the major energy-consuming countries, and is under great pressure to promote energy saving and reduce domestic energy consumption. Employees constitute an important target group for energy saving. However, only a few research efforts have been paid to study what drives employee energy saving behavior in organizations. To fill this gap, drawing on norm activation model (NAM), we built a research model to study antecedents of employee electricity saving behavior in organizations. The model was empirically tested using survey data collected from office workers in Beijing, China. Results show that personal norm positively influences employee electricity saving behavior. Organizational electricity saving climate negatively moderates the effect of personal norm on electricity saving behavior. Awareness of consequences, ascription of responsibility, and organizational electricity saving climate positively influence personal norm. Furthermore, awareness of consequences positively influences ascription of responsibility. This paper contributes to the energy saving behavior literature by building a theoretical model of employee electricity saving behavior which is understudied in the current literature. Based on the empirical results, implications on how to promote employee electricity saving are discussed. - Highlights: • We studied employee electricity saving behavior based on norm activation model. • The model was tested using survey data collected from office workers in China. • Personal norm positively influences employee′s electricity saving behavior. • Electricity saving climate negatively moderates personal norm′s effect. • This research enhances our understanding of employee electricity saving behavior

Mixed Methods Research Prevalence Studies: Field-Specific Studies on the State of the Art of Mixed Methods Research

OpenAIRE

Molina-Azorín, José F.; Fetters, Michael D.

2016-01-01

The Journal of Mixed Methods Research (JMMR) has always welcomed two main kinds of manuscripts: original empirical articles and methodological/theoretical articles (Creswell & Tashakkori, 2007; Fetters & Freshwater, 2015a; Mertens, 2011). Both types of articles must clearly state methodological aims, review mixed methods literature relative to the methodological aim, and advance the field of mixed methods—empirical articles must address integration (Fetters & Freshwater, 2015b). In this edito...

Youths’ Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Intentions. Empirical Study on Students with Entrepreneurship Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nițu–Antonie Renata

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The research aimed to identify the psychological and behavioural characteristics as potential triggers of youths’ entrepreneurial intentions within the context of rational action and planned behaviour theory. The empirical study proposed nine antecedents of entrepreneurial intentions for Romanian students with entrepreneurial higher education background. The results emphasized that behavioural variables (favourable subjective norms and attitude development, perceived behavioural control influence entrepreneurial intentions in a higher degree than the psychological ones (propensity to risk-taking, self-confidence, need for achievement, innovativeness. Moreover, some psychological variables (locus of control and tolerance of ambiguity have been identified as having insignificant influence on entrepreneurial intentions of the respondent students.

AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF ECONOMIC ALTERNATIVES FOR THE ELDERLY IN ROMANIA

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Podoabă Lucia

2013-04-01

Full Text Available This paper is part of an applied, broad, based popular empirical procedures (such as natural observation scientific research. The positivist research methodology used was based on consensual-inductive system (Locke, which is why we studied different specialists’ opinions on the use of EU funds for the elderly in Romania or employer contributions to voluntary private funds, necessary to formulate the problem of generating relevant information. The used research strategies were the comparative and longitudinal ones, as we analyzed the time evolution in time of the number of pensioners and employees in Romania, in the main time with the EU funding for the elderly, to determine Romania's concrete economic alternatives to support this category of populations. Causality assumptions about the relationship efficient use of EU funds-beneficiaries was inductively built in this paper (by analyzing the European funds management issue in Romania, causally (by cause and effect explanation of the studied phenomenon, deductively, logically and subjectively (on the basis of existence and perpetuation of fund premise conflict between strategic absorption of European funds and regional development. The qualitative approach of the phenomenon studied was made by collecting information (using the mediate data collection technique has allowed relevant findings and practical solutions necessary for all those involved in this concerted action for the elderly, which affects us all.

Roughness-reflectance relationship of bare desert terrain: An empirical study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shoshany, M.

1993-01-01

A study of the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) in relation to surface roughness properties was conducted in arid land near Fowlers Gap Research Station, New South Wales, Australia. Such empirical study is necessary for investigating the possibility of determining terrain geomorphological parameters from bidirectional reflectance data. A new apparatus was developed to take accurate hemispherical directions radiance measurements (HDRM). A digitizer for three-dimensional in situ roughness measurements was also developed. More than 70 hemispherical data sets were collected for various illumination conditions and surface types of desert stony pavements and rocky terrain slopes. In general, it was found that most of the surfaces exhibited an anisotropic reflection, combining a major component of backscattering. The BRDF of different surface types in relation to their roughness properties as determined by the field digitizer were then examined. Results showed that sites that are considered to differ significantly from a geomorphological point of view would not necessarily form a different BRDF

Empirical Study towards the Drivers of Sustainable Economic Growth in EU-28 Countries

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Daniel Ştefan Armeanu

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This study aims at empirically investigating the drivers of sustainable economic growth in EU-28 countries. By means of panel data regression models, in the form of fixed and random effects models, alongside system generalized method of moments, we examine several drivers of real gross domestic product (GDP growth rate, as follows: higher education, business environment, infrastructure, technology, communications, and media, population lifestyle, and demographic changes. As regards higher education, the empirical results show that expenditure per student in higher education and traditional 18–22 year-old students are positively linked with sustainable economic growth, whereas science and technology graduates negatively influence real GDP growth. In terms of business environment, total expenditure on research and development and employment rates of recent graduates contributes to sustainable development, but corruption perceptions index revealed a negative association with economic growth. As well, the results provide support for a negative influence of infrastructure abreast technological measures on economic growth. Besides, we found a negative connection between old-age dependency ratio and sustainable economic growth.

Theoretical Semi-Empirical AM1 studies of Schiff Bases

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arora, K.; Burman, K.

2005-01-01

The present communication reports the theoretical semi-empirical studies of schiff bases of 2-amino pyridine along with their comparison with their parent compounds. Theoretical studies reveal that it is the azomethine group, in the schiff bases under study, that acts as site for coordination to metals as it is reported by many coordination chemists. (author)

Visual Design Principles: An Empirical Study of Design Lore

Science.gov (United States)

Kimball, Miles A.

2013-01-01

Many books, designers, and design educators talk about visual design principles such as balance, contrast, and alignment, but with little consistency. This study uses empirical methods to explore the lore surrounding design principles. The study took the form of two stages: a quantitative literature review to determine what design principles are…

Effects of Student Participation in Decision Making at School. A Systematic Review and Synthesis of Empirical Research

Science.gov (United States)

Mager, Ursula; Nowak, Peter

2012-01-01

This article reviews empirical research on the effects of student participation in school decision-making processes. Out of 3102 searched citations, a total of 32 publications met the inclusion criteria. The qualitative analyses employed in this review yielded a typology of student participation, a categorisation of the diverse effects of student…

Factors affecting research productivity of production and operations management groups: An empirical study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

2006-01-01

Full Text Available This paper identifies factors that promote research productivity of production and operations management (POM groups of researchers in US business schools. In this study, research productivity of a POM group is defined as the number of articles published per POM professor in a specific period of time. The paper also examines factors that affect research quality, as measured by the number of articles published per POM professor in journals, which have been recognized in the POM literature as an elite set. The results show that three factors increase both the research productivity and the quality of the articles published by professors of a POM group. These factors are (a the presence of a POM research center, (b funding received from external sources for research purposes, and (c better library facilities. Doctoral students do assist in improving research quality and productivity, but they are not the driving force. These results have important implications for establishing policy guidelines for business schools. For example, real-world problems are funded by external sources and have a higher probability of publication. Furthermore, schools could place more emphasis on external funding, as most engineering schools do, since groups receiving external funding are more productive in terms of research.

Differing Perceptions Concerning Research Integrity Between Universities and Industry: A Qualitative Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Godecharle, Simon; Nemery, Benoit; Dierickx, Kris

2017-09-14

Despite the ever increasing collaboration between industry and universities, the previous empirical studies on research integrity and misconduct excluded participants of biomedical industry. Hence, there is a lack of empirical data on how research managers and biomedical researchers active in industry perceive the issues of research integrity and misconduct, and whether or not their perspectives differ from those of researchers and research managers active in universities. If various standards concerning research integrity and misconduct are upheld between industry and universities, this might undermine research collaborations. Therefore we performed a qualitative study by conducting 22 semi-structured interviews in order to investigate and compare the perspectives and attitudes concerning the issues of research integrity and misconduct of research managers and biomedical researchers active in industry and universities. Our study showed clear discrepancies between both groups. Diverse strategies in order to manage research misconduct and to stimulate research integrity were observed. Different definitions of research misconduct were given, indicating that similar actions are judged heterogeneously. There were also differences at an individual level, whether the interviewees were active in industry or universities. Overall, the management of research integrity proves to be a difficult exercise, due to many diverse perspectives on several essential elements connected to research integrity and misconduct. A management policy that is not in line with the vision of the biomedical researchers and research managers is at risk of being inefficient.

How Physics Teachers Approach Innovation: An Empirical Study for Reconstructing the Appropriation Path in the Case of Special Relativity

Science.gov (United States)

De Ambrosis, Anna; Levrini, Olivia

2010-01-01

This paper concerns an empirical study carried out with a group of high school physics teachers engaged in the Module on relativity of a Master course on the teaching of modern physics. The study is framed within the general research issue of how to promote innovation in school via teachers' education and how to foster fruitful interactions…

Approaches to the development of cognitive process dimensions in financial literacy: an empirical study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kateřina Berková

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The article explores various approaches to the development of cognitive process dimensions in financial literacy. It is based on the empirical research of the financial literacy levels among 1,207 fifteen-year-old Czech students compared with 18 countries worldwide (OECD, 2014a. Applying the regression model, the study has examined the strength of the relationship between the actual financial competence of 284 Czech students aged 17-18, studying economic disciplines, and their school performance. The research has produced the following conclusions: (a a weak dependence of actual skills on school performance; (b inherently associated consequence of school performance is not corresponding to the actual financial skills; (c a low level of financial competence in the dimensions - Remember, Understand and Apply. Proceeding from the research results, it will be desirable to focus on the transfer of economic methods and foreign practice into the learning process, thereby contributing to the improvement of the current situation in Czech Republic.

Positioning and Priorities of Growth Management in Construction Industrialization: Chinese Firm-Level Empirical Research

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Jingxiao Zhang

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this research is to quantitatively evaluate the growth phase, position, and priorities of the industrialization policy management of the construction industry at firm level. The goal is to integrate quantitative dynamics into the policy-making process for sustainable policy development in future China. This research proposes an integrated framework, including growth management model and industrial policy evaluation method, to identify the challenges of construction industrialization and policy management. The research applies the mixed system method, which includes entropy method and average score method, to analyze the growth stage and major impact indexes targeting 327 survey samples. The empirical results show that the proposed conceptual framework and policy evaluation method could effectively determine the growth position and directions of the construction industrialization. For verification purpose, the study uses the local industry data from Shaanxi Province, China. The calculation results substantiate that the construction industry is in the middle section of the third growth phase. The comparison of the results from statistical methods shows that the local construction industry still needs substantial effort in policy management to improve its sustainable industrialization level. As countermeasures, the policy priorities should concentrate on: (1 enhancing effective cooperation among universities, research institutions and enterprises; (2 improving actions towards technology transfer into productivity; and (3 encouraging market acceptance of construction industrialization. This research complements the existing literature of policy evaluation of construction industrialization. Moreover, it provides theoretical and operational steps on industry policy evaluation and growth management framework, with accurate and ample data analysis on firm-level survey. Researchers and policy makers can use this research for further

Empathy at the confluence of neuroscience and empirical literary studies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Burke, M.; Mangen, Anne; Kuzmicova, Anezka; Schilhab, Theresa

2016-01-01

The objective of this article is to review extant empirical studies of empathy in narrative reading in light of (a) contemporary literary theory, and (b) neuroscientific studies of empathy, and to discuss how a closer interplay between neuroscience and literary studies may enhance our understanding

Academic Advising Systems: A Systematic Literature Review of Empirical Evidence

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Omiros Iatrellis

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This paper aims to provide the reader with a comprehensive background for understanding current knowledge on Academic Advising Systems (AAS and its impact on learning. It constitutes an overview of empirical evidence behind key objectives of the potential adoption of AAS in generic educational strategic planning. The researchers examined the literature on experimental case studies conducted in the domain during the past ten years (2008–2017. Search terms identified 98 mature pieces of research work, but inclusion criteria limited the key studies to 43. The authors analyzed the research questions, methodology, and findings of these published papers and categorized them accordingly. The results have highlighted three distinct major directions of the AAS empirical research. This paper discusses the emerged added value of AAS research and highlights the significance of further implications. Finally, the authors set their thoughts on possible uncharted key questions to investigate both from pedagogical and technical considerations.

Selecting the most appropriate inferential statistical test for your quantitative research study.

Science.gov (United States)

Bettany-Saltikov, Josette; Whittaker, Victoria Jane

2014-06-01

To discuss the issues and processes relating to the selection of the most appropriate statistical test. A review of the basic research concepts together with a number of clinical scenarios is used to illustrate this. Quantitative nursing research generally features the use of empirical data which necessitates the selection of both descriptive and statistical tests. Different types of research questions can be answered by different types of research designs, which in turn need to be matched to a specific statistical test(s). Discursive paper. This paper discusses the issues relating to the selection of the most appropriate statistical test and makes some recommendations as to how these might be dealt with. When conducting empirical quantitative studies, a number of key issues need to be considered. Considerations for selecting the most appropriate statistical tests are discussed and flow charts provided to facilitate this process. When nursing clinicians and researchers conduct quantitative research studies, it is crucial that the most appropriate statistical test is selected to enable valid conclusions to be made. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Reverse logistics: an empirical study for operational framework

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yusuf, I.

2013-01-01

This paper presents framework of reverse logistics optimizing the stakeholders gain, social gain, economic gain and environmental gain. It identifies the roadblocks that prevail in recycling industry and describes various types of returns and wastes. Framework of the reverse logistics is evolved on the basis of actual happening of the items shown in table 1-4 disposed off from industries shown in table 6. The rejected items require environmental disposal passing through the different phases described in flow of operational framework. An operational framework of reverse logistics is developed studying fifty organizations.. In ad -dition three best practices of reverse logistics are proposed by consolidating the experiential information and rich hands on industrial experience in supply chain and reverse logistics area. The research has proposed the Social, Stakeholder, Economic and Environmental (SSEE) sustained gain model optimizing the benefits of stakeholders and highlights the variety of waste and its operational methodology in Pakistani industry. The proposed framework does not include the hospital waste, radioactive waste, hazardous materials waste, municipal waste, agricultural waste and cold chain waste like meat, milk, etc.The operational framework is existing way of doing that takes the waste materials from point of origin to the point of recycling. A better understanding of this framework may help researchers and front line managers to develop better, more ac -curate models for effective and sustainable utilization of waste materials, benefiting organizations and soci -ety by simultaneously enhancing the cost effectiveness and improving environmental awareness. The paper provides an operational framework of reverse logistics and 2S2E sustained gain model. Specific applications are examined through empirical research. (author)

Salt intrusion study in Cochin estuary - Using empirical models

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Jacob, B.; Revichandran, C.; NaveenKumar, K.R.

been applied to the Cochin estuary in the present study to identify the most suitable model for predicting the salt intrusion length. Comparison of the obtained results indicate that the model of Van der Burgh (1972) is the most suitable empirical model...

ORGANIZATIONAL VALUES AND MORAL VIRTUES OF ENTREPRENEUR: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF SLOVENIAN ENTREPRENEURS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vasilij Mate

2013-05-01

Full Text Available This article examines the self-reflexion of Slovenian entrepreneurs to their own business activity, with a focus on their core values and virtues, which would consequently affect the performance, growth and development of entrepreneurship in Slovenia. The article starts with a theoretical understanding of organizational values and moral virtues of entrepreneurs and review of the recent empirical studies as the basis on which it is possible to achieve the explanation of the attitude of Slovenian entrepreneurs towards entrepreneurship. We have conducted our own empirical quantitative study on the representative sample of Slovenian entrepreneurs (n =114. Using the obtained results, we tried to verify the six hypotheses. We were particularly interested in those hypotheses that presuppose the entrepreneur who highly appreciates and respects the values and virtues of an ethical businesspearson in practice, will be more economically successful. Based on the results of our research we indicated that the Slovenian entrepreneurs are largely aware of the relevant organizational values and moral virtues, although this is not always obvious in their actions in everyday business practices. The article concludes with an interpretation of the results and discussion of the prospects and challenges for further exploration of the topics covered.

Factors Influencing Beliefs for Adoption of a Learning Analytics Tool: An Empirical Study

Science.gov (United States)

Ali, Liaqat; Asadi, Mohsen; Gasevic, Dragan; Jovanovic, Jelena; Hatala, Marek

2013-01-01

Present research and development offer various learning analytics tools providing insights into different aspects of learning processes. Adoption of a specific tool for practice is based on how its learning analytics are perceived by educators to support their pedagogical and organizational goals. In this paper, we propose and empirically validate…

A Systematic Review of Research Strategies Used in Qualitative Studies on School Bullying and Victimization.

Science.gov (United States)

Patton, Desmond Upton; Hong, Jun Sung; Patel, Sadiq; Kral, Michael J

2017-01-01

School bullying and victimization are serious social problems in schools. Most empirical studies on bullying and peer victimization are quantitative and examine the prevalence of bullying, associated risk and protective factors, and negative outcomes. Conversely, there is limited qualitative research on the experiences of children and adolescents related to school bullying and victimization. We review qualitative research on school bullying and victimization published between 2004 and 2014. Twenty-four empirical research studies using qualitative methods were reviewed. We organize the findings from these studies into (1) emic, (2) context specific, (3) iterative, (4) power relations, and (5) naturalistic inquiry. We find that qualitative researchers have focused on elaborating on and explicating the experiences of bully perpetrators, victims, and bystanders in their own words. Directions for research and practice are also discussed. © The Author(s) 2015.

Franchised fast food brands: An empirical study of factors influencing growth

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christopher A. Wingrove

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Orientation: Franchising is a popular and multifaceted business arrangement that captures a sizeable portion of the restaurant industry worldwide. Research purpose: The study empirically investigated the influence of various site location and branding factors on the growth of franchised fast food restaurant brands across the greater Gauteng region. Motivation of the study: Researching which factors influence the growth of franchised fast food restaurant brands is important for an emerging market context such as South Africa when considering the marked increase in the consumption of fast foods. Design: A sample of 140 customers was surveyed from 12 leading franchised fast food outlets. Primary data were collected for various items representing site location and brand factors. Regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. Findings: The overall findings showed that convenience and central facilities of a retail location are positively and significantly associated with the growth of the franchise fast food outlet. Practical implications: The study findings have implications for practitioners who need to take into account which factors influence revenue growth, since targeted interventions may be required to implement sustainable strategies by franchisors. Contribution: The findings may serve as a catalyst for this growing and important activity in South Africa and other emerging markets.

An empirical analysis of overlap publication in Chinese language and English research manuscripts.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joseph D Tucker

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: There are a number of sound justifications for publishing nearly identical information in Chinese and English medical journals, assuming several conditions are met. Although overlap publication is perceived as undesirable and ethically questionable in Europe and North America, it may serve an important function in some regions where English is not the native tongue. There is no empirical data on the nature and degree of overlap publication in English and Chinese language journals. METHODS/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A random sample of 100 English manuscripts from Chinese institutions was selected from PubMed. Key words and institutions were searched in the China National Knowledge Infrastructure, a comprehensive Chinese language research database. Unacknowledged overlap was a priori defined according to International Committee of Medical Journal Editor (ICMJE guidelines following examination by two individuals. 19% (95% CI 11-27 of English manuscripts from Chinese institutions were found to have substantial overlap with Chinese published work based on full text examination. None of the manuscripts met all of the criteria established by the ICMJE for an acknowledged overlap publication. Individual-level, journal-level, and institutional factors seem to influence overlap publication. Manuscripts associated with an institution outside of China and with more than one institution were significantly less likely to have substantial overlap (p<0.05. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Overlap publication was common in this context, but instances of standard ICMJE notations to acknowledge this practice were rare. This research did not cite the identified overlap manuscripts with the hope that these empirical data will inform journal policy changes and structural initiatives to promote clearer policies and manuscripts.

Religiosity, CSR attitudes, and CSR behavior : An empirical study of executives’ religiosity and CSR

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mazereeuw, C.; Graafland, J.J.; Kaptein, M.

In this paper, we examine the relationship between Christian religiosity, attitudes towards corporate social responsibility (CSR), and CSR behavior of executives. We distinguish four types of CSR attitudes and five types of CSR behavior. Based on empirical research conducted among 473 Dutch

Innovation in Information Technology: Theoretical and Empirical Study in SMQR Section of Export Import in Automotive Industry

Science.gov (United States)

Edi Nugroho Soebandrija, Khristian; Pratama, Yogi

2014-03-01

This paper has the objective to provide the innovation in information technology in both theoretical and empirical study. Precisely, both aspects relate to the Shortage Mispacking Quality Report (SMQR) Claims in Export and Import in Automotive Industry. This paper discusses the major aspects of Innovation, Information Technology, Performance and Competitive Advantage. Furthermore, In the empirical study of PT. Astra Honda Motor (AHM) refers to SMQR Claims, Communication Systems, Analysis and Design Systems. Briefly both aspects of the major aspects and its empirical study are discussed in the Introduction Session. Furthermore, the more detail discussion is conducted in the related aspects in other sessions of this paper, in particular in Literature Review in term classical and updated reference of current research. The increases of SMQR claim and communication problem at PT. Astra Daihatsu Motor (PT. ADM) which still using the email cause the time of claim settlement become longer and finally it causes the rejected of SMQR claim by supplier. With presence of this problem then performed to design the integrated communication system to manage the communication process of SMQR claim between PT. ADM with supplier. The systems was analyzed and designed is expected to facilitate the claim communication process so that can be run in accordance with the procedure and fulfill the target of claim settlement time and also eliminate the difficulties and problems on the previous manual communication system with the email. The design process of the system using the approach of system development life cycle method by Kendall & Kendall (2006)which design process covers the SMQR problem communication process, judgment process by the supplier, claim process, claim payment process and claim monitoring process. After getting the appropriate system designs for managing the SMQR claim, furthermore performed the system implementation and can be seen the improvement in claim communication

Knowledge Management and its Role in Customer Relationship Marketing Campaigns Empirical study of online CRM tools

OpenAIRE

Al-Hayaly, Ali

2015-01-01

This empirical study aimed at conducting a cross case analysis of a four targeted Web-based CRM companies (Microsoft dynamics, Salesforce.com, Sugarcrm and Oracle on demand), in which this research will recognize the extent of knowledge management implantations used in these selected systems. Then highlighting the enhancement role of knowledge management implantations on these web-based CRM selected systems. Besides conducting the cross mapping the marketing campaigns of these selected system...

Reporting research methods of empirical studies | Korb | Journal of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Full Text: EMAIL FULL TEXT EMAIL FULL TEXT · DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT · AJOL African Journals Online. HOW TO USE AJOL... for Researchers · for Librarians · for Authors · FAQ's · More about AJOL · AJOL's Partners · Terms and Conditions of Use · Contact AJOL · News. OTHER RESOURCES.

Empirically Exploring Higher Education Cultures of Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Fuller, Matthew B.; Skidmore, Susan T.; Bustamante, Rebecca M.; Holzweiss, Peggy C.

2016-01-01

Although touted as beneficial to student learning, cultures of assessment have not been examined adequately using validated instruments. Using data collected from a stratified, random sample (N = 370) of U.S. institutional research and assessment directors, the models tested in this study provide empirical support for the value of using the…

The emotional involvement in the workplace: An empirical study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana María Lucia-Casademunt

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Purpose: In a multitude of studies, it is verified that the generation of positive attitudes for employees such as job satisfaction or job involvement, have a positive influence on productivity levels of companies. The current investigation focus on the identification of employee-profile -who is emotionally involved with their work activity- through the use of a set of individual, job related and attitudinal factors.Design/methodology: A review of the literature about the main factors that affect the job involvement particularly on its emotional dimension has been completed. For its measurement at the empirical level, various items related to psychological well being of employees included in the IV European Working Conditions Survey-2010 are used. Moreover, those items are identified in Job Involvement Questionnaire (Lodahl & Kejner, 1965. Since then, an empirical and multidimensional study is carried out by applying a logistic regression model on the sample of 11,149 employees obtained with European survey cited previously.Findings: The logistic regression model identifies the factors, which are directly related to emotional involvement at the workplace. Ultimately, is raised a definitive model that define the European employee-profile -who is emotionally involved at the workplace-: a rather aged person who has been working at his/her present place of employment for several years in a medium-sized company where possibly there exist a good working relationship between workers and their superiors –social support-. These employees are “white-collar” workers, have career advancement opportunities in the organizational hierarchy. They perform variety, flexible and complex tasks, which leads to satisfaction in terms of pay and working conditions.Research limitations/implications: Emotional involvement has been measured through self-awareness and, therefore, the corresponding bias in the key variable must be assumed. In addition, the casual

Construction of Fine Particles Source Spectrum Bank in Typical Region and Empirical Research of Matching Diagnosis

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xing; Sun, Wenliang; Guo, Min; Li, Minjiao; Li, Wan

2018-01-01

The research object of this paper is fine particles in typical region. The construction of component spectrum bank is based on the technology of online source apportionment, then the result of the apportionment is utilized to verify the effectiveness of fine particles component spectrum bank and which also act as the matching basis of online source apportionment receptor sample. On the next, the particle source of air pollution is carried through the matching diagnosis empirical research by utilizing online source apportionment technology, to provide technical support for the cause analysis and treatment of heavy pollution weather.

Use of empirically supported interventions for psychopathology: can the participatory approach move us beyond the research-to-practice gap?

Science.gov (United States)

Becker, Carolyn Black; Stice, Eric; Shaw, Heather; Woda, Susan

2009-04-01

Dissemination, or distribution, of empirically supported interventions (ESIs) for psychopathology remains a significant challenge. This paper reviews the principles of community-partnership research (CPR) and explores why CPR might improve distribution of psychological ESIs. Benefits of CPR include building trust, pooling resources and knowledge, and better serving a community by directly involving its members in the design and implementation of research. In addition, after establishing a community's trust using CPR, researchers are likely to be better positioned to partner with communities in the further distribution of ESIs via community networks. This paper reviews the case of dissonance-based eating disorder prevention interventions to provide an example of how CPR can facilitate the adoption and distribution of an ESI by a community, in this case, sororities. CPR also presents a number of challenges, however, because it is time consuming and does not always align with funding mechanisms and research designs used in randomized controlled trials. Further, CPR does not necessarily solve the challenge of training providers, though it may help with problem solving. Ultimately, we suggest that the benefits of CPR far outweigh the challenges, and hope that more researchers will adopt these practices so that more individuals can benefit from empirically supported psychological interventions.

An Automated Defect Prediction Framework using Genetic Algorithms: A Validation of Empirical Studies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juan Murillo-Morera

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Today, it is common for software projects to collect measurement data through development processes. With these data, defect prediction software can try to estimate the defect proneness of a software module, with the objective of assisting and guiding software practitioners. With timely and accurate defect predictions, practitioners can focus their limited testing resources on higher risk areas. This paper reports the results of three empirical studies that uses an automated genetic defect prediction framework. This framework generates and compares different learning schemes (preprocessing + attribute selection + learning algorithms and selects the best one using a genetic algorithm, with the objective to estimate the defect proneness of a software module. The first empirical study is a performance comparison of our framework with the most important framework of the literature. The second empirical study is a performance and runtime comparison between our framework and an exhaustive framework. The third empirical study is a sensitivity analysis. The last empirical study, is our main contribution in this paper. Performance of the software development defect prediction models (using AUC, Area Under the Curve was validated using NASA-MDP and PROMISE data sets. Seventeen data sets from NASA-MDP (13 and PROMISE (4 projects were analyzed running a NxM-fold cross-validation. A genetic algorithm was used to select the components of the learning schemes automatically, and to assess and report the results. Our results reported similar performance between frameworks. Our framework reported better runtime than exhaustive framework. Finally, we reported the best configuration according to sensitivity analysis.

The interaction of economic and pedagogical ideals in the context of workplace learning in Germany: a framework for empirical research - inspired by business ethics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tina Röbel

2016-10-01

Full Text Available As an effect of marketisation, the importance of workplace learning in Germany has increased. The article follows up on the long-standing discourse around the question of how economic and pedagogical ideals interact in this context. In order to develop a theoretical framework for empirical research, three major positions of the discipline of business ethics are introduced. Business ethics in more abstract ways deals with the very same question, namely how do ideas such as profit orientation interact with other norms and values? The new perspectives show that the discourse has been hitherto based on a specific understanding of economy. In order to derive an empirical answer to the research question, the question is re-formulated as follows: Which values are inherent in the decisions taken? Consequently, it suggests using the concept of "rationalities of justification" for empirical research. The article shows how this concept can be applied by conducting a test run.

A Web-based multimedia collaboratory. Empirical work studies in film archives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pejtersen, A.M.; Albrechtsen, H.; Cleal, B.

2001-01-01

and interfaces for collaborative work and content-based access to digital repositories for film archives, researchers and end-users. This report is based on empirical analysis of three film archives inGermany, Austria and the Czech Republic, and seeks to elicit the user needs for a collaboratory in this domain....... Both the collection and analysis of data have been organised according to principles of Cognitive Work Analysis (CWA) as pioneered at Risø (cf.Rasmussen, Pejtersen and Goodstein 1994). Research based work on individual film projects is, due to international distribution and multiple versions, dependent......The Collaboratory for Annotation, Indexing and Retrieval of Digitized Historical Archive Material (Collate) is intended to foster and support collaboration on research, cultural mediation and preservation of films through a distributed multimediarepository. The tool will provide web-based tools...

Relationships between Unemployment and Economic Growth - the Review (Results of the Theoretical and Empirical Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katarzyna Nagel

2015-04-01

Full Text Available The article aims to discuss the relationship between economic growth and unemployment as well as related determinant factors based on literature review. The traditional approach presents this relationship through the prism of the effects of creation, capitalization, pool of savings and creative destruction. Nowadays, an increasing number of researchers attach more importance to the impact of institutional factors, such as minimum and efficiency wages or the flexibility of the labor market. Both theoretical and empirical research reveal both the evolution of the relevant views and the lack of consistency between the concepts explaining the relationship between economic growth and unemployment in different regions of the world and in different groups of countries.

Consumer trust in food safety--a multidisciplinary approach and empirical evidence from Taiwan.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Mei-Fang

2008-12-01

Food scandals that happened in recent years have increased consumers' risk perceptions of foods and decreased their trust in food safety. A better understanding of the consumer trust in food safety can improve the effectiveness of public policy and allow the development of the best practice in risk communication. This study proposes a research framework from a psychometric approach to investigate the relationships between the consumer's trust in food safety and the antecedents of risk perceptions of foods based on a reflexive modernization perspective and a cultural theory perspective in the hope of benefiting the future empirical study. The empirical results from a structural equation modeling analysis of Taiwan as a case in point reveal that this research framework based on a multidisciplinary perspective can be a valuable tool for a growing understanding of consumer trust in food safety. The antecedents in the psychometric research framework comprised reflexive modernization factors and cultural theory factors have all been supported in this study except the consumer's perception of pessimism toward food. Moreover, the empirical results of repeated measures analysis of variance give more detailed information to grasp empirical implications and to provide some suggestions to the actors and institutions involved in the food supply chain in Taiwan.

[Forms of pathological gambling: empirical research on consumers behaviour of sport betting and lottery participants].

Science.gov (United States)

Plöntzke, Babett; Albrecht, Ulrike; Thalemann, Carolin; Grüsser, Sabine Miriam

2004-08-01

Gambling is one of the favourite leisure activities. 70-90 % of the grown-up population have gambled at least once in their life. Over the last few years, however, the variety of opportunities to gamble has changed. Decreasing numbers of casino visitors can be seen against an ever-increasing number of people using slot machines, and taking part in national lotteries and sport betting. Comprehensive empirical research regarding consumer behaviour and addiction potential involved in sport betting has been non-existent and only a few studies have dealt with lottery. In the present study, 108 subjects were questioned in Austrian betting offices. 33.3 % of the sample fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for pathological sport betting. Of the sport betting subjects who additionally play lottery, 22.92 % were diagnosed as being pathological lottery gamblers. Based on the criteria of substance addiction, the data demonstrate that sport betting and lottery have addiction potential and can therefore be seen as non-substance-related addiction.

Empirical research on drive mechanism of firms' environmental management

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Cao Jingshan; Qin Ying

2007-01-01

Firms'transformation from passive envrionmental management to active environmental management is the key to solving environmental problems. This paper empirically studies the impact of environmental management incentives on environmental management through model construction. Based on the data and reality of China, we can build a concept model of environmental management driving mechanism, and put forward theoretical hypothesis that can be tested: take the 13 environmental management behaviors (EMBs) as substitute of the comprehensiveness, introduce counting variables, and use NB model, Possion Model and Ordered Probit model the regression analysis. The theory and methods brought forward in this paper will provide references for firms in China to further implement voluntary environmental management, and offer advises and countertneasures for leaders to implement environmental management effectively.

Student Interactions in Online Discussion Forum: Empirical Research from "Media Richness Theory" Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Balaji, M. S.; Chakrabarti, Diganta

2010-01-01

The present study contributes to the understanding of the effectiveness of online discussion forum in student learning. A conceptual model based on "theory of online learning" and "media richness theory" was proposed and empirically tested. We extend the current understanding of media richness theory to suggest that use of…

an empirical study of poverty in calabar and its environs.

African Journals Online (AJOL)

DJFLEX

2009-06-17

Jun 17, 2009 ... AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF POVERTY IN CALABAR AND ITS. ENVIRONS. ... one of the poorest nations in the world (CBN, 2001). Specifically, these .... rural development in poor regions, inadequate access to education ...

Weathering the empire: meteorological research in the early British Straits Settlements.

Science.gov (United States)

Williamson, Fiona

2015-09-01

This article explores meteorological interest and experimentation in the early history of the Straits Settlements. It centres on the establishment of an observatory in 1840s Singapore and examines the channels that linked the observatory to a global community of scientists, colonial officers and a reading public. It will argue that, although the value of overseas meteorological investigation was recognized by the British government, investment was piecemeal and progress in the field often relied on the commitment and enthusiasm of individuals. In the Straits Settlements, as elsewhere, these individuals were drawn from military or medical backgrounds, rather than trained as dedicated scientists. Despite this, meteorology was increasingly recognized as of fundamental importance to imperial interests. Thus this article connects meteorology with the history of science and empire more fully and examines how research undertaken in British dependencies is revealing of the operation of transnational networks in the exchange of scientific knowledge.

Effect Of Accounting Lecturer Lecturer Commitment To The Development Of Professional Accounting Empirical Study Lecturer Accounting Faculty Of Economics University Of Muhammadiyah Tangerang 2013

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Endraria

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract The purpose of the study in which the researcher is interested in conducting research by taking the title The Effect of Commitment Against Lecturer - Lecturer in Accounting Accounting Profession Development Empirical Study of Accounting Lecturer Faculty of Economics University of Muhammadiyah Tangerang in 2013 . This research was conducted at the Faculty of Economics University of Muhammadiyah Tangerang is located at Independence Pioneer Road I No.33 Cikokol Tangerang City. The experiment was conducted at the research site easily accessible for the author. The method used in this research is descriptive quantitative methods which aim to describe the descriptive method of data distribution of each variable.There are significant accounting lecturers commitment to the development of the accounting profession Empirical Study of Accounting Lecturer Faculty of Economics University of Muhammadiyah Tangerang in 2013 this is evidenced by the results of hypothesis testing that has been done obtained tcount ttable value 5.7193 and with a significance level of 5 and df n - 2 40-2 38 is equal to 1.686 with the statement concluded that t count t table. Thus Ha Ho accepted and rejected. The conclusion was that there are significant accounting lecturers commitment to the development of the accounting profession Empirical Study of Accounting Lecturer Faculty of Economics University of Muhammadiyah Tangerang in 2013. As for advice to be conveyed in this study is the government as a regulator should be able to evaluate the development of the accounting profession especially in Indonesia with the influence of commitment accounting lecturers are expected to improve and develop the accounting profession especially in the Faculty of Economics University of Muhammadiyah Tangerang.

Does age impact self-actualization needs?—an empirical study ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Thus, although this study supports the existence of needs, the chronology of their dominance may not be as per Maslow's hierarchy pyramid. This empirical study establishes that there may not be progressive increase in self-actualization need as age progresses. Keywords: Maslow, need priorities, age, self-actualization ...

Empirical prediction of ash deposition propensities in coal-fired utilities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Frandsen, F.

1997-01-01

This report contain an outline of some of the ash chemistry indices utilized in the EPREDEPO (Empirical PREdiction of DEPOsition) PC-program, version 1.0 (DEPO10), developed by Flemming Frandsen, The CHEC Research Programme, at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark. DEPO10 is a 1st generation FTN77 Fortran PC-programme designed to empirically predict ash deposition propensities in coal-fired utility boilers. Expectational data (empirical basis) from an EPRI-sponsored survey of ash deposition experiences at coal-fired utility boilers, performed by Battelle, have been tested for use on Danish coal chemistry - boiler operational conditions, in this study. (au) 31 refs.

Empirical comparison of theories

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Opp, K.D.; Wippler, R.

1990-01-01

The book represents the first, comprehensive attempt to take an empirical approach for comparative assessment of theories in sociology. The aims, problems, and advantages of the empirical approach are discussed in detail, and the three theories selected for the purpose of this work are explained. Their comparative assessment is performed within the framework of several research projects, which among other subjects also investigate the social aspects of the protest against nuclear power plants. The theories analysed in this context are the theory of mental incongruities and that of the benefit, and their efficiency in explaining protest behaviour is compared. (orig./HSCH) [de

An Empirical Taxonomy of Crowdfunding Intermediaries

OpenAIRE

Haas, Philipp; Blohm, Ivo; Leimeister, Jan Marco

2014-01-01

Due to the recent popularity of crowdfunding, a broad magnitude of crowdfunding intermediaries has emerged, while research on crowdfunding intermediaries has been largely neglected. As a consequence, existing classifications of crowdfunding intermediaries are conceptual, lack theoretical grounding, and are not empirically validated. Thus, we develop an empirical taxonomy of crowdfunding intermediaries, which is grounded in the theories of two-sided markets and financial intermediation. Integr...

[Empirical study of the market orientation of veterinarians in The Netherlands].

Science.gov (United States)

Schuurmans, A J; Smidts, A

1990-04-01

Linked to the theoretical framework of marketing in the veterinary practice, as explained in Schuurmans and Smidts (1) pp. 1-10 and Schuurmans and Smidts (2), an empirical research project has been undertaken. This research gives insight into the extent to which practices base their services on a marketing orientation. By means of telephone inquiries among a sample of 166 veterinarians, this was investigated. The research shows that veterinarians think more in a product-oriented way than in a market-oriented way, and they do not use all the opportunities a marketing orientation could bring to their services. This expresses itself, among others by not using market segmentation, by the inadequate use of the marketing mix elements communication and distribution, and by the fact that the opportunities of the marketing information system are hardly applied. By means of further research in individual practices it might be possible to give concrete advise fit for that practice. Research among the clients of the veterinarians might, beside many other kinds of research, also give valuable insights.

An Empirical Investigation of Strategic Planning in QS Practices

OpenAIRE

Murphy, Roisin

2012-01-01

The benefit of engaging in strategic planning has been well documented over several decades of strategic management research. Despite the significant body of existing knowledge in the field, there remains a limited collection of empirically tested research pertaining to strategic planning within professional service firms (PSFs) in construction, particularly from an Irish context. The research is an exploratory study involving in-depth, semi-structured interviews and a widespread survey of...

Knowledge-oriented strategies in the metal industry (empirical studies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Krawczyk-Sołtys

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The aim of this article is an attempt to determine which knowledge-oriented strategies can give metal industry enterprises the best results in achieving and maintaining a competitive advantage. To determine which of these discussed in the literature and implemented in various organizations knowledge-oriented strategies may prove to be the most effective in the metal industry, empirical research has begun. A chosen strategy of knowledge management and supporting strategies are the basis of a choice of methods and means of intended implementation. The choice of a specific knowledge management strategy may also result in the need for changes in an organization, particularly in an information system, internal communication, work organization and human resource management.

A comparison of social accounting between local public healthcare services:An empirical research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paolo Ursillo

2010-03-01

Full Text Available

Introduction: Social accounting in healthcare is a quantitative–qualitative accounting tool which marks the bond between the business and its social background. It displays healthcare business results and information to the stakeholder. Actually, its use is not widespread in Italy, but often published in United States and other Countries.

Methods: This work is based upon an empirical research, studying social accounting from Local Health Units (LHU, Italian ASL of Adria, Brindisi, Firenze and Umbria region published between 2006 and 2008. These documents have been analyzed, studying the business’ structure, healthcare services, social and economical conditions, financial status, performance indexes and much more data about most company activities.

Results: Accountability in Italy has been studied carefully through longitudinal and cross sectional analysis, observing models and contents, elaborating a concrete proposal for social accounting.

Discussion: Social accounting in healthcare can guarantee important information for non-expert users and expert technicians, allowing the former to take more conscious decisions, and the latter to study its business aspects more deeply. This is made possible by the consideration of extended economical data available in other accountability forms (like annual financial statement, and other performance indexes which give valuable data about social impact, efficiency and effectiveness to the end user.

The mediating role of guanxi network and communication performance in transforming Web 2.0 technologies usage to work performance : An empirical study in China

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wong, L.H.M.; Davison, R.M.; Ou, C.X.J.; Cheng, Z.; Tan, F.B.; Bunker, D.

2014-01-01

Motivated by both the increasing popularity of Web 2.0 technologies and the lack of empirical studies to conceptualize and validate their roles in the work place, in this research we aim to establish a research model to capture how Web 2.0 technologies can enhance individual work performance.

The Role of Demographic Factors of International Students on Teaching Preferences: An Empirical Research from the United States

Science.gov (United States)

Rao, Pramila

2016-01-01

Purpose: This empirical research was conducted in a medium-sized private university located in the north-eastern region of the USA. The purpose of this paper was to understand whether demographic attributes (age, gender, country of origin and years of stay in the USA) of international students will predict any preferences for specific teaching…

Macro-evolutionary studies of cultural diversity: a review of empirical studies of cultural transmission and cultural adaptation.

Science.gov (United States)

Mace, Ruth; Jordan, Fiona M

2011-02-12

A growing body of theoretical and empirical research has examined cultural transmission and adaptive cultural behaviour at the individual, within-group level. However, relatively few studies have tried to examine proximate transmission or test ultimate adaptive hypotheses about behavioural or cultural diversity at a between-societies macro-level. In both the history of anthropology and in present-day work, a common approach to examining adaptive behaviour at the macro-level has been through correlating various cultural traits with features of ecology. We discuss some difficulties with simple ecological associations, and then review cultural phylogenetic studies that have attempted to go beyond correlations to understand the underlying cultural evolutionary processes. We conclude with an example of a phylogenetically controlled approach to understanding proximate transmission pathways in Austronesian cultural diversity.

Empirical knowledge in legislation and regulation : A decision making perspective

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Trautmann, S.T.

2013-01-01

This commentary considers the pros and cons of the empirical approach to legislation from the vantage point of empirical decision making research. It focuses on methodological aspects that are typically not considered by legal scholars. It points out weaknesses in the empirical approach that are

Complex decision-making: initial results of an empirical study

OpenAIRE

Pier Luigi Baldi

2011-01-01

A brief survey of key literature on emotions and decision-making introduces an empirical study of a group of university students exploring the effects of decision-making complexity on error risk. The results clearly show that decision-making under stress in the experimental group produces significantly more errors than in the stress-free control group.

Empirical research on the internal audit position of companies in Serbia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ljubisavljević Snežana

2011-01-01

Full Text Available In the context of the globalization of business operations and the increasing use of information technologies, complexity of business transactions, and business risk, the role of internal audit is becoming increasingly important and the range of tasks performed by internal auditors is growing. As a part of the company control system, the internal audit assesses the efficiency, effectiveness, economy, and fairness of the realization of tasks, provides consulting services to the enterprise’s management, and promotes the effectiveness of risk management with the aim of creating added value and enhancing business activities. It is the aim of this work, through empirical research conducted in large and medium-sized Serbian companies, to show the degree of development of the internal audit, the perception of accountants in respect to the tasks and responsibilities of internal audit, and whether there is a connection between the enterprise size and legal form on the one hand, and the organization and responsibilities of internal audit on the other.

Voluntariness of consent to HIV clinical research: A conceptual and empirical pilot study.

Science.gov (United States)

Mamotte, Nicole; Wassenaar, Douglas

2017-09-01

Obtaining voluntary informed consent for research participation is an ethical imperative, yet there appears to be little consensus regarding what constitutes a voluntary consent decision. An instrument to assess influences on participants' consent decision and perceived voluntariness was developed and piloted in two South African HIV clinical trials. The pilot study found high levels of perceived voluntariness. The feeling of having no choice but to participate was significantly associated with lower perceived voluntariness. Overall the data suggest that it is possible to obtain voluntary and valid consent for research participants in ethically complex HIV clinical trials in a developing country context.

An Empirical Study about China: Gender Equity in Science Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Jianjun; Staver, John R.

A data base representing a random sample of more than 10,000 grade 9 students in an SISS (Second IEA Science Study) Extended Study (SES), a key project supported by the China State Commission of Education in the late 1980s, was employed in this study to investigate gender equity in student science achievement in China. This empirical data analysis…

Empirical evidence of design-related bias in studies of diagnostic tests

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lijmer, J. G.; Mol, B. W.; Heisterkamp, S.; Bonsel, G. J.; Prins, M. H.; van der Meulen, J. H.; Bossuyt, P. M.

1999-01-01

CONTEXT: The literature contains a large number of potential biases in the evaluation of diagnostic tests. Strict application of appropriate methodological criteria would invalidate the clinical application of most study results. OBJECTIVE: To empirically determine the quantitative effect of study

Is knowledge important? Empirical research on nuclear risk communication in two countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Perko, Tanja; Zeleznik, Nadja; Turcanu, Catrinel; Thijssen, Peter

2012-06-01

Increasing audience knowledge is often set as a primary objective of risk communication efforts. But is it worthwhile focusing risk communication strategies solely on enhancing specific knowledge? The main research questions tackled in this paper were: (1) if prior audience knowledge related to specific radiation risks is influential for the perception of these risks and the acceptance of communicated messages and (2) if gender, attitudes, risk perception of other radiation risks, confidence in authorities, and living in the vicinity of nuclear/radiological installations may also play an important role in this matter. The goal of this study was to test empirically the mentioned predictors in two independent case studies in different countries. The first case study was an information campaign for iodine pre-distribution in Belgium (N = 1035). The second was the information campaign on long-term radioactive waste disposal in Slovenia (N = 1,200). In both cases, recurrent and intensive communication campaigns were carried out by the authorities aiming, among other things, at increasing specific audience knowledge. Results show that higher prior audience knowledge leads to more willingness to accept communicated messages, but it does not affect people’s perception of the specific risk communicated. In addition, the influence of prior audience knowledge on the acceptance of communicated messages is shown to be no stronger than that of general radiation risk perception. The results in both case studies suggest that effective risk communication has to focus not only on knowledge but also on other more heuristic predictors, such as risk perception or attitudes toward communicated risks.

Investigating Low-Carbon City: Empirical Study of Shanghai

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xuan Yang

2018-04-01

Full Text Available A low-carbon economy is an inevitable choice for achieving economic and ecological sustainable development. It is of significant importance to analyze a city’s low-carbon economy development level scientifically and reasonably. In order to achieve this goal, we propose an urban low-carbon economic development level evaluation model based on the matter-element extension method. First, we select some indicators from the existing indicator system based on past research and experience. Then, a matter-element model is established on the basis of weight to evaluate the level of a city’s low-carbon, the critical value of each index is determined through the classical domain and the section domain, calculating the correlation degree of a single index and a comprehensive index. Finally, we analyze the low-carbon economy development status and future development trends according to the analysis results. In this study, we select Shanghai as an empirical study—the results show that Shanghai is a city with a low-carbon level and there is a trend of further improvement in Shanghai’s low-carbon economy. But its low carbon construction and low carbon technology investment are relatively low. In summary, this method can provide another angle for evaluating a city’s low-carbon economy.

Some Preliminary Notes on an Empirical Test of Freud’s Theory on Depression

Science.gov (United States)

Desmet, Mattias

2012-01-01

A review of the literature indicates that empirical researchers have difficulty translating Freud’s theory on depression into appropriate research questions and hypotheses. In their attempt to do so, the level of complexity in Freud’s work is often lost. As a result, what is empirically tested is no more than a caricature of the original theory. To help researchers avoid such problems, this study presents a conceptual analysis of Freud’s theory of depression as it is presented in Mourning and Melancholia (Freud, 1917). In analyzing Freud’s theory on the etiology of depression, it is essential to differentiate between (1) an identification with the satisfying and frustrating aspects of the love object, (2) the inter- and an intrapersonal loss of the love object, and (3) conscious and unconscious dynamics. A schematic representation of the mechanism of depression is put forward and a research design by which this schema can be empirically investigated is outlined. PMID:23675357

Some Preliminary Notes on an Empirical Test of Freud’s Theory on Depression

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mattias eDesmet

2013-05-01

Full Text Available A review of the literature indicates that empirical researchers have difficulty translating Freud’s theory on depression into appropriate research questions and hypotheses. In their attempt to do so, the level of complexity in Freud’s work is often lost. As a result, what is empirically tested is no more than a caricature of the original theory. To help researchers avoid such problems, this study presents a conceptual analysis of Freud’s theory of depression as it is presented in Mourning and Melancholia (Freud, 1917. In analyzing Freud’s theory on the etiology of depression, it is essential to differentiate between (1 an identification with the satisfying and frustrating aspects of the love object, (2 the inter- and an intrapersonal loss of the love object, and (3 conscious and unconscious dynamics. A schematic representation of the mechanism of depression is put forward and a research design by which this schema can be empirically investigated is outlined.

Complex decision-making: initial results of an empirical study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pier Luigi Baldi

2011-09-01

Full Text Available A brief survey of key literature on emotions and decision-making introduces an empirical study of a group of university students exploring the effects of decision-making complexity on error risk. The results clearly show that decision-making under stress in the experimental group produces significantly more errors than in the stress-free control group.

Parental alienation and the Brazilian justice system: an empirical approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mariana Cunha de Andrade

2016-08-01

Full Text Available This research addresses the judiciary's role in the conflict resolution involving parental alienation. How the judiciary faces the allegations of parental alienation or sexual abuse? What is the predominant gender of alienating parents? What acts of parental alienation are alleged by the parties? Which measures the judges take to avoid parental alienation? The answers to these questions are gathered using an empirical research. For this purpose, we performed a data collection of cases involving parental alienation in the Courts of Appeal in the states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais, between 2009 and 2014. It is a demographic and quantitative empirical study that seeks to provide an overview of actions involving the parental alienation phenomenon.

[Systematic review and evidence mapping of empirical studies on health status and medical care among refugees and asylum seekers in Germany (1990-2014)].

Science.gov (United States)

Bozorgmehr, Kayvan; Mohsenpour, Amir; Saure, Daniel; Stock, Christian; Loerbroks, Adrian; Joos, Stefanie; Schneider, Christine

2016-05-01

Owing to a lack of routine statistics on the health status and medical care of asylum seekers, empirical studies play a major role in the mapping of these aspects. The aim of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview of the research landscape in this area, synthesizing knowledge from empirical studies and identifying evidence gaps. A three-tiered search strategy included searching for empirical studies in national/international databases and on the internet, screening reference lists, and contacting experts. Studies meeting predefined inclusion criteria were thematically organized and described in a narrative synthesis. The searches generated 1,190 hits; 52 articles met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 41 were quantitative studies (78.9 %), 10 qualitative (19.2 %), and 1 was a review (1.9 %). A total of 30 primary articles (58.9 %) analyzed mental health aspects, followed by infectious diseases (n = 12, 23.5 %). Qualitative studies, mainly ethnographies and case studies, explored mental health and social determinants of health, providing evidence for the impact of living conditions on health and medical care. Few studies analyzed chronic diseases (n = 3) or childhood illnesses (n = 6). No studies analyzed the health needs or medical care of asylum-seeking women during pregnancy and child birth. In 62.7 % of the primary studies, a single sampling point was used to recruit asylum seekers. Nationwide external validity was given in two quantitative studies. The priority research areas identified are chronic diseases and childhood and maternal health. The divergency and heterogeneity of the studies hamper a comprehensive and comparable acquisition of knowledgeand emphasize the  need for collaborative research to close the existing evidence gaps.

Intermediation by Banks and Economic Growth: A Review of Empirical Evidence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marijana Bađun

2009-06-01

Full Text Available This paper provides a review of empirical research on the link between financial intermediation by banks and economic growth. Special attention is paid to the issues of causality, non-linearity, time perspective, financial intermediation proxies, and interaction terms. The review shows that there are still quite a few unresolved issues in empirical research, which causes scepticism towards prioritizing financial sector policies in order to cause economic growth. Progress in the finance and growth literature is slow and researchers seem to go round in circles. A possibly fruitful direction for future empirical research is the relationship between government and banks, especially from the standpoint of political economy.

Conceptualizing boundaries for the professionalization of healthcare ethics practice: a call for empirical research.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Nancy C; McGee, Summer Johnson

2014-12-01

One of the challenges of modern healthcare ethics practice is the navigation of boundaries. Practicing healthcare ethicists in the performance of their role must navigate meanings, choices, decisions and actions embedded in complex cultural and social relationships amongst diverse individuals. In light of the evolving state of modern healthcare ethics practice and the recent move toward professionalization via certification, understanding boundary navigation in healthcare ethics practice is critical. Because healthcare ethics is endowed with many boundaries which often delineate concerns about professional expertise and authority, epistemological reflection on the relationship between theory and practice points toward the social context as relevant to the conceptualization of boundaries. The skills of social scientists may prove helpful to provide data and insights into the conceptualization and navigation of clinical ethics qua profession. Empirical ethics research, which combines empirical description (usually social scientific) with normative-ethical analysis and reflection, is a way forward as we engage and reflect upon issues which have implications for practice standards and professionalization of the role. This requires cooperative engagement of the descriptive and normative disciplines to explore our understandings of boundaries in healthcare ethics practice. This will contribute to the ongoing reflection not only as we envision the professional role but to ensure that it is enacted in practice.

Successful intelligence and giftedness: an empirical study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mercedes Ferrando

Full Text Available The aim of our research is to look into the diversity within gifted and talented students. This is important to better understand their complexity and thus offer a more appropriate educational programs. There are rather few empirical works which attempt to identify high abilities profiles (giftedness and talent that actually exist beyond the theoretical level. The present work intends to single out the different patterns or profiles resulting from the combination of the successful intelligence abilities (analytical, synthetic and practical, as defined by Stenberg. A total of 431 students from the Region of Murcia participated in this study. These students performed the Aurora Battery tasks (Chart, Grigorenko, & Sternberg, 2008, designed to measure the analytical, practical and creative intelligence. Analytically gifted students (n=27, practically gifted (n=33 and creatively gifted (n= 34 were identified, taking as criteria scores equal to or higher than 120 IQ on each intelligence. Different Q-factor analyses were carried out for the three groups of students, in such a way that students were grouped according to their similarities. A total of 10 profiles showing how successful intelligence abilities are combined were obtained, something that has made possible to support the theory put forward by Sternberg (2000: the analytical, practical and creative talent profiles, as well as the resulting combinations, the analytical-practical, analytical-creative, practical-creative profiles, along with the consummate balance talent (high performance in the three types of intelligence.

Empirical Requirements Analysis for Mars Surface Operations Using the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station

Science.gov (United States)

Clancey, William J.; Lee, Pascal; Sierhuis, Maarten; Norvig, Peter (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Living and working on Mars will require model-based computer systems for maintaining and controlling complex life support, communication, transportation, and power systems. This technology must work properly on the first three-year mission, augmenting human autonomy, without adding-yet more complexity to be diagnosed and repaired. One design method is to work with scientists in analog (mars-like) setting to understand how they prefer to work, what constrains will be imposed by the Mars environment, and how to ameliorate difficulties. We describe how we are using empirical requirements analysis to prototype model-based tools at a research station in the High Canadian Arctic.

Living network meta-analysis compared with pairwise meta-analysis in comparative effectiveness research: empirical study.

Science.gov (United States)

Nikolakopoulou, Adriani; Mavridis, Dimitris; Furukawa, Toshi A; Cipriani, Andrea; Tricco, Andrea C; Straus, Sharon E; Siontis, George C M; Egger, Matthias; Salanti, Georgia

2018-02-28

To examine whether the continuous updating of networks of prospectively planned randomised controlled trials (RCTs) ("living" network meta-analysis) provides strong evidence against the null hypothesis in comparative effectiveness of medical interventions earlier than the updating of conventional, pairwise meta-analysis. Empirical study of the accumulating evidence about the comparative effectiveness of clinical interventions. Database of network meta-analyses of RCTs identified through searches of Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews until 14 April 2015. Network meta-analyses published after January 2012 that compared at least five treatments and included at least 20 RCTs. Clinical experts were asked to identify in each network the treatment comparison of greatest clinical interest. Comparisons were excluded for which direct and indirect evidence disagreed, based on side, or node, splitting test (Pmeta-analyses were performed for each selected comparison. Monitoring boundaries of statistical significance were constructed and the evidence against the null hypothesis was considered to be strong when the monitoring boundaries were crossed. A significance level was defined as α=5%, power of 90% (β=10%), and an anticipated treatment effect to detect equal to the final estimate from the network meta-analysis. The frequency and time to strong evidence was compared against the null hypothesis between pairwise and network meta-analyses. 49 comparisons of interest from 44 networks were included; most (n=39, 80%) were between active drugs, mainly from the specialties of cardiology, endocrinology, psychiatry, and rheumatology. 29 comparisons were informed by both direct and indirect evidence (59%), 13 by indirect evidence (27%), and 7 by direct evidence (14%). Both network and pairwise meta-analysis provided strong evidence against the null hypothesis for seven comparisons, but for an additional 10 comparisons only network meta-analysis provided

Integrated Management Systems and Workflow-Based Electronic Document Management: An Empirical Study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pho, Hang Thu; Tambo, Torben

2014-01-01

trustworthiness. Social implications: IMS has a tendency to stay with professionals, e.g. line managers and QA/QC/QMS professionals. The EDMS line of discussion suggests a broader inclusion. Originality/value: Researching IMS as a technological implementation is giving a better platform of aligning the IMS...... (EDMS) is essential, especially at global enterprises where a large amount of documents generated by processes flows through different work cultures. However, there is no "one-size-fits-all" design for EDMS because it depends on organizations' needs, size and resource allocation. This article discusses...... the interrelation between EDMS and IMS in order to suggest a best practice. Design/methodology/approach: This article methodologically based upon a qualitative, interpretivistic, longitudinal empirical study in a wind turbine factory. Findings and Originality/value: IMS improvement and effectiveness has been...

Empirical distribution function under heteroscedasticity

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Víšek, Jan Ámos

2011-01-01

Roč. 45, č. 5 (2011), s. 497-508 ISSN 0233-1888 Grant - others:GA UK(CZ) GA402/09/0557 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10750506 Keywords : Robustness * Convergence * Empirical distribution * Heteroscedasticity Subject RIV: BB - Applied Statistics , Operational Research Impact factor: 0.724, year: 2011 http://library.utia.cas.cz/separaty/2011/SI/visek-0365534.pdf

“Empire is a state of mind” – Imagining Eurasia in Russia –

OpenAIRE

Vehkasalo, Veera Kaisa

2011-01-01

In this thesis I study the Neo-Eurasianist movement in Russia and the ways the activists of the movement construct Eurasia as a unified entity and an empire. The central research questions of this work are: What is the empire and what are its central motivations and themes? How is the idea of empire constructed or understood, and how can this be interpreted? What could be seen to be the effects of their ways of imagining Eurasia? My material consists of interviews that were collected during t...

A Bibliometric Study on Culture Research in International Business

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claudia Frias Pinto

2014-07-01

Full Text Available National cultures and cultural differences provide a crucial component of the international business (IB research context. We conducted a bibliometric study of articles published in seven leading IB journals over a period of three decades to analyze how national culture has been impacting IB research. Co-citation mappings permit us to identify the ties binding works dealing with culture and cultural issues in IB. We identify two main clusters of research, each comprising two sub-clusters, with Hofstede’s (1980 work delineating much of the conceptual and empirical approach to culture-related studies. One main cluster entails works on the conceptualization of culture and its dimensions and the other cluster focuses on cultural distance. This conceptual framework captures the extant IB research incorporating culture-related concepts and influences.

Pluvials, Droughts, Energetics, and the Mongol Empire

Science.gov (United States)

Hessl, A. E.; Pederson, N.; Baatarbileg, N.

2012-12-01

The success of the Mongol Empire, the largest contiguous land empire the world has ever known, is a historical enigma. At its peak in the late 13th century, the empire influenced areas from the Hungary to southern Asia and Persia. Powered by domesticated herbivores, the Mongol Empire grew at the expense of agriculturalists in Eastern Europe, Persia, and China. What environmental factors contributed to the rise of the Mongols? What factors influenced the disintegration of the empire by 1300 CE? Until now, little high resolution environmental data have been available to address these questions. We use tree-ring records of past temperature and water to illuminate the role of energy and water in the evolution of the Mongol Empire. The study of energetics has long been applied to biological and ecological systems but has only recently become a theme in understanding modern coupled natural and human systems (CNH). Because water and energy are tightly linked in human and natural systems, studying their synergies and interactions make it possible to integrate knowledge across disciplines and human history, yielding important lessons for modern societies. We focus on the role of energy and water in the trajectory of an empire, including its rise, development, and demise. Our research is focused on the Orkhon Valley, seat of the Mongol Empire, where recent paleoenvironmental and archeological discoveries allow high resolution reconstructions of past human and environmental conditions for the first time. Our preliminary records indicate that the period 1210-1230 CE, the height of Chinggis Khan's reign is one of the longest and most consistent pluvials in our tree ring reconstruction of interannual drought. Reconstructed temperature derived from five millennium-long records from subalpine forests in Mongolia document warm temperatures beginning in the early 1200's and ending with a plunge into cold temperatures in 1260. Abrupt cooling in central Mongolia at this time is

The relationship between intellectual capital quality and corporate performance: An empirical study of Russian and European companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shakina Elena

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this research is to develop cost-effectiveness tools for the analysis of company’s intellectual resources, in terms of resource-based and value-based approaches. Our study focuses on the evaluation of intellectual capital methods to discover the drivers of company growth. We suppose that the potential effectiveness of intellectual capital resources varies according to different institutional factors. Several statistical methods will be used for the empirical issues in this research, including common cross-sectional and panel data analysis, and the instrumental variables method. The database collected for this purpose will consist of financial and economic indicators underlying the intellectual capital evaluation, such as strategic performance indicators (EVA© and FGV©. The dataset includes companies from different countries and industries according to the Knowledge Economy Index of the World Bank. The industries presented in the dataset are selected according to the predominance of several intellectual capital elements. The database includes financial services, wholesale and retail trade, machinery and equipment manufacture, the chemical industry, and transport and communications. As a result of the empirical research, we expect to answer the following questions: • Is there a close relationship between intellectual capital quality and company performance? • What are the external and internal factors affecting this relationship? (country, industry, company size, market dynamics, etc.

A Comparative Study of the Empirical Relationship in Student Performance between Physics and Other STEM Subjects

Science.gov (United States)

Guerra, Maricela

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) advocated by the National Research Council emphasize the connections among Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. By design, NGSS is expected to replace the previous science education standards to enhance the quality of STEM education across the nation. To support this initiative, this investigation was conducted to fill a void in the research literature by developing an empirical indicator for the relationship of student performance across STEM subjects using a large-scale database from the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). In particular, an innovative approach has been taken in this study to support the canonical correlation analysis of student plausible scores between physics and other STEM subjects at different grade levels and in a cross-country context. Results from this doctoral research revealed the need to strengthen the alignment between the intended, implemented, and attained curricula to support the integration of STEM disciplines in the United States.

Climate change, income and happiness: An empirical study for Barcelona

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sekulova, F.; van den Bergh, J.C.J.M.

2013-01-01

The present article builds upon the results of an empirical study exploring key factors which determine life satisfaction in Barcelona. Based on a sample of 840 individuals we first look at the way changes in income, notably income reductions, associated with the current economic situation in Spain,

Educational Inequality and Income Inequality: An Empirical Study on China

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Jun; Huang, Xiao; Li, Xiaoyu

2009-01-01

Based on the endogenous growth theory, this paper uses the Gini coefficient to measure educational inequality and studies the empirical relationship between educational inequality and income inequality through a simultaneous equation model. The results show that: (1) Income inequality leads to educational inequality while the reduction of…

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS IN THE SOFTWARE INDUSTRY AND THEIR RELATION WITH STRATEGIC BUSINESS ORIENTATION: AN EMPIRICAL-EXPLORATORY STUDY

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Manuel Rodenes Adam

2007-05-01

Full Text Available This article presents the results of an empirical-exploratory study applied to companies of the Software Industry (IndSw sector. One of the objectives pursued was to know the Critical Success Factors (CSF of the SWInd and their relation with the business strategic orientation. The CSF identified and analyzed were: Government Support, Human Capital, Marketing, Quality and Innovation. The research results reveal that it is possible to identify the existence of at least two main groups of strategic orientation (cost and differentiation within this sector. The analysis of the relation between business strategic orientation and the CSF emphasizes the following CSF: Human Capital, Quality and Innovation, the remaining factors present a little significant relation. The empirical study was made through multivariate analysis techniques. The analysis of results is based on data collected through the application of a web survey (Internet to Mexican software companies. The survey was applied in July 2005.

Matrix effect studies with empirical formulations in maize saplings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bansal, Meenakshi; Deep, Kanan; Mittal, Raj

2012-01-01

In X-ray fluorescence, the earlier derived matrix effects from fundamental relations of intensities of analyte/matrix elements with basic atomic and experimental setup parameters and tested on synthetic known samples were found empirically related to analyte/matrix elemental amounts. The present study involves the application of these relations on potassium and calcium macronutrients of maize saplings treated with different fertilizers. The novelty of work involves a determination of an element in the presence of its secondary excitation rather than avoiding the secondary fluorescence. Therefore, the possible utility of this process is in studying the absorption for some intermediate samples in a lot of a category of samples with close Z interfering constituents (just like Ca and K). Once the absorption and enhancement terms are fitted to elemental amounts and fitted coefficients are determined, with the absorption terms from the fit and an enhancer element amount known from its selective excitation, the next iterative elemental amount can be directly evaluated from the relations. - Highlights: ► Empirical formulation for matrix corrections in terms of amounts of analyte and matrix element. ► The study applied on K and Ca nutrients of maize, rice and potato organic materials. ► The formulation provides matrix terms from amounts of analyte/matrix elements and vice versa.

Empirical Investigation of Key Business Factors for Digital Game Performance

OpenAIRE

Aleem, Saiqa; Capretz, Luiz Fernando; Ahmed, Faheem

2015-01-01

Game development is an interdisciplinary concept that embraces software engineering, business, management, and artistic disciplines. This research facilitates a better understanding of the business dimension of digital games. The main objective of this research is to investigate empirically the effect of business factors on the performance of digital games in the market and to answer the research questions asked in this study. Game development organizations are facing high pressure and compet...

Using MultiMedia Content to Present Business Ethics: An Empirical Study

Science.gov (United States)

Stanwick, Peter A.

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study is to empirically examine whether presenting a multimedia case study enhances the learning experience of students in an undergraduate management class. A questionnaire was administered before and after the presentation of the case study and the results showed that the multimedia case did indeed enhance the learning…

Empirical Asset Pricing: Eugene Fama, Lars Peter Hansen, and Robert Shiller

OpenAIRE

Campbell, John Y.

2016-01-01

The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for 2013 was awarded to Eugene Fama, Lars Peter Hansen, and Robert Shiller for their contributions to the empirical study of asset pricing. Some observers have found it hard to understand the common elements of the laureates research, preferring to highlight areas of disagreement among them. This paper argues that empirical asset pricing is a coherent enterprise, which owes much to the laureates seminal contributions, and that important themes in ...

Prevention of White-Collar Crime by Knowledge and Learning in Business Organizations: An Empirical Study of Chief Financial Officer Management

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Hans Solli-Soether

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Knowledge and learning are important in combating financial crime generallyand white-collar crime in particular. The purpose of this research is to generateinsights into prevention approaches in practice that may reflect on acontingent approach. The five hundred largest business companies in termsof annual turnover were identified in Norway for our empirical study of whitecollarcrime. A paper letter was mailed to the chief financial officer (CFOasking him or her to fill in the questionnaire to be found on a web site usinga password found in the letter. The open-ended question in the questionnaireto CFOs about prevention of white-collar crime was formulated as follows:How can white-collar crime best be prevented in your company? Survey resultsindicate an even distribution of respondents emphasizing control and respondentsemphasizing influence. This empirical research steps back from manybest practice articles and provides insights into preferences of chief financialofficers on how to prevent white-collar crime in the company.

How well do financial experts perform? A review of empirical research on performance of analysts, day-traders, forecasters, fund managers, investors, and stockbrokers

OpenAIRE

Andersson, Patric

2004-01-01

In this manuscript, empirical research on performance of various types of financial experts is reviewed. Financial experts are used as the umbrella term for financial analysts, stockbrokers, money managers, investors, and day-traders etc. The goal of the review is to find out about the abilities of financial experts to produce accurate forecasts, to issue profitable stock recommendations, as well as to make successful investments and trades. On the whole, the reviewed studies show discouragin...

Research on Consumers’ Use Willingness and Opinions of Electric Vehicle Sharing: An Empirical Study in Shanghai

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Ning Wang

2015-12-01

Full Text Available An empirical study in Shanghai was performed to explore consumers’ use willingness and opinions on electric vehicle sharing (EVS to help operators effectively operate and expand the new business model. Through the multinomial logistic regression developed for different groups, the results show that the factors of the main trip mode in daily use, monthly transportation expenditure, driving range of electric vehicles, gender, age, marital status and occupation have significant influences on consumers’ use willingness. In short, the population characteristics of people choosing to use EVS are male, aged between 18 and 30 and usually taking the subway and bus as the daily transportation modes. Otherwise, the factors of the acceptable highest price of EVS, occupation and personal monthly income have significant impacts on the use willingness of people who keep a neutral stance. These people pay more attention to convenience and the economy of EVS. These results reveal that a reasonable price, accurate positioning of target groups, convenient site layout and usage are required for operators to successfully launch a new transportation mode of EVS.

Understanding Angle and Angle Measure: A Design-Based Research Study Using Context Aware Ubiquitous Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Crompton, Helen

2015-01-01

Mobile technologies are quickly becoming tools found in the educational environment. The researchers in this study use a form of mobile learning to support students in learning about angle concepts. Design-based research is used in this study to develop an empirically-substantiated local instruction theory about students' develop of angle and…

Assessment of empirical antibiotic therapy optimisation in six hospitals: an observational cohort study.

Science.gov (United States)

Braykov, Nikolay P; Morgan, Daniel J; Schweizer, Marin L; Uslan, Daniel Z; Kelesidis, Theodoros; Weisenberg, Scott A; Johannsson, Birgir; Young, Heather; Cantey, Joseph; Srinivasan, Arjun; Perencevich, Eli; Septimus, Edward; Laxminarayan, Ramanan

2014-12-01

Modification of empirical antimicrobials when warranted by culture results or clinical signs is recommended to control antimicrobial overuse and resistance. We aimed to assess the frequency with which patients were started on empirical antimicrobials, characteristics of the empirical regimen and the clinical characteristics of patients at the time of starting antimicrobials, patterns of changes to empirical therapy at different timepoints, and modifiable factors associated with changes to the initial empirical regimen in the first 5 days of therapy. We did a chart review of adult inpatients receiving one or more antimicrobials in six US hospitals on 4 days during 2009 and 2010. Our primary outcome was the modification of antimicrobial regimen on or before the 5th day of empirical therapy, analysed as a three-category variable. Bivariate analyses were used to establish demographic and clinical variables associated with the outcome. Variables with p values below 0·1 were included in a multivariable generalised linear latent and mixed model with multinomial logit link to adjust for clustering within hospitals and accommodate a non-binary outcome variable. Across the six study sites, 4119 (60%) of 6812 inpatients received antimicrobials. Of 1200 randomly selected patients with active antimicrobials, 730 (61%) met inclusion criteria. At the start of therapy, 220 (30%) patients were afebrile and had normal white blood cell counts. Appropriate cultures were collected from 432 (59%) patients, and 250 (58%) were negative. By the 5th day of therapy, 12·5% of empirical antimicrobials were escalated, 21·5% were narrowed or discontinued, and 66·4% were unchanged. Narrowing or discontinuation was more likely when cultures were collected at the start of therapy (adjusted OR 1·68, 95% CI 1·05-2·70) and no infection was noted on an initial radiological study (1·76, 1·11-2·79). Escalation was associated with multiple infection sites (2·54, 1·34-4·83) and a positive

Case Studies Approach in Tourism Destination Branding Research

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Adeyinka-Ojo S.F.

2014-01-01

Full Text Available A review of literature indicates that there are different types of qualitative research methods such as action research, content analysis, ethnography, grounded theory, historical analysis, phenomenology and case study. However, which approach is to be used depends on several factors such as the nature and objectives of the research. The aim of this paper is to focus on the research methodology aspects of applying case study as a research approach and its relevance in tourism destination branding research specifically on a single case study (SCS context. There are arguments that the SCS is a weak research strategy. Some of the potentials or shortcomings highlighted in the literature include the primitive nature of SCS, flexibility of sample technique, data collection method and data analysis. Others include lack of rigour, reliability, validity, credibility of findings and generalisation. This paper has adopted content analysis of the literature on tourism destination branding. Findings indicate that the quality of SCS can be verified using specific case study tactics for four design tests such as validity (construct, internal and external; and reliability using the case study protocol. Theoretical implication suggests that SCS is an empirical enquiry use to understand complex phenomena and favoured by practitioners.

Building Dynamic Capabilities in Web Startups: An Empirical Study of Norwegian Web Startups

OpenAIRE

Sahlen, Martin Abelson; Gran-Jansen, Sigurd; Rygh, Mathias

2014-01-01

Purpose: This thesis explores how web startups operating in a crowded, fast-moving and highly competitive marketplace can gain competitive advantage through building dynamic capabilities and what these capabilities consist of. Design/methodology/approach: Firstly, insight was obtained through reviewing key themes within classic resource based theory and entrepreneurship theory. Newer empirical research on entrepreneurial success factors, as well as popular science and advice given by expert w...

Advance directives in dementia research: The opinions and arguments of clinical researchers − an empirical study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

K.R. Jongsma (Karin); S. van de Vathorst (Suzanne)

2015-01-01

textabstractIn order to discover an effective treatment for dementia it is necessary to include dementia patients in clinical research trials. Dementia patients face an increased risk to lose the capacity to consent to research participation, and research possibilities with incompetent participants

Review of psychological consequences of nuclear accidents and empirical study on peoples reactions to radiation protection activities in an imagined situation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haukkala, A.; Eraenen, L.

1994-10-01

The report consist of two parts: a review of studies on psychological consequences of nuclear and radiation accidents in population and an empirical study of peoples reactions to protection actions in an event of hypothetical accident. Review is based on research results from two nuclear reactor accidents (Three Mile Island 1979, Chernobyl 1986) and a radiation accident in Goiania, Brazil 1987. (53 refs, 2 figs.,7 tabs.)

Willkommen, Mr. Chance: Methodologische Betrachtungen zur Gute empirischer Forschung in der Padagogik, diskutiert vor allem an der neueren Untersuchung uber Gewalt von Heitmeyer u.a. (1995) = Welcome, Mr. Chance: Methodological Considerations Concerning the Quality of Empirical Research in Educational Science Based on a Recent Study on Violence Published by Heitmeyer et al. (1995).

Science.gov (United States)

Wellenreuther, Martin

1997-01-01

Argues that the usefulness of strictly quantitative research is still questioned in educational studies, primarily due to deficiencies in methodological training. Uses a critique of a recent study by Heitmeyer et al. (1995) to illustrate the requirements of "good" empirical research. Considers the problems of hypothesis testing in field research.…

Methodological and Methodical Principles of the Empirical Study of Spiritual Development of a Personality

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Olga Klymyshyn

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The article reveals the essence of the methodological principles of the spiritual development of a personality. The results of the theoretical analysis of psychological content of spirituality from the positions of system and structural approach to studying of a personality, age patterns of the mental personality development, the sacramental nature of human person, mechanisms of human spiritual development are taken into consideration. The interpretation of spirituality and the spiritual development of a personality is given. Initial principles of the organization of the empirical research of the spiritual development of a personality (ontogenetic, sociocultural, self-determination, system are presented. Such parameters of the estimation of a personality’s spiritual development as general index of the development of spiritual potential, indexes of the development of ethical, aesthetical, cognitive, existential components of spirituality, index of religiousness of a personality are described. Methodological support of psychological diagnostic research is defined.

What Happened to Remote Usability Testing? An Empirical Study of Three Methods

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Stage, Jan; Andreasen, M. S.; Nielsen, H. V.

2007-01-01

The idea of conducting usability tests remotely emerged ten years ago. Since then, it has been studied empirically, and some software organizations employ remote methods. Yet there are still few comparisons involving more than one remote method. This paper presents results from a systematic...... empirical comparison of three methods for remote usability testing and a conventional laboratorybased think-aloud method. The three remote methods are a remote synchronous condition, where testing is conducted in real time but the test monitor is separated spatially from the test subjects, and two remote...

The gains and losses of collusion: An empirical research on the market behaviors of China’s power enterprises

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Ruize Gao

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Purpose: Collusion is a common behavior of oligarch enterprises aiming to get an advantage in market competition. The purpose of the thesis is to use the empirical research methods to explore positive or negative effects that the electricity generation manufacturers’ collusion has caused at the macro level of Market Economy and the micro level of enterprises’ behaviors. Design/methodology/approach: The designed research model in the thesis is an extension of Porter’s model (Porter, 1984. It applies a more advanced measurement method, FIML. In the example of price bidding project that started by electricity generation enterprises of China’s power industry, the thesis analyzes the relevant price data of subordinate power plants of China’s five power generation groups in pilots of price bidding Policy. Findings: It is found in the thesis that power generation enterprises are facing collusion issues in the market. To be exact, it is such a situation in which non-cooperative competition and collusion alternate. Under the competition, market is relatively steady, thus forming a lower network price. It is helpful to the development of the whole industry. However, once Cartel is formed, the price will rise and clash with power enterprises and transmission-distribution companies concerning the interests conflicts. At the same time, a higher power price will form in the market, making consumers suffer losses. All of these are bad for industry development. Not only the collusion of power enterprises affects power price but also the market power that caused by long-time Cartel will reduce the market entrant in electricity generation. Market resources are centralized in the hands of Cartel, causing a low effective competition in the market, which has passive effects on users. Implications: The empirical research also indicates that collusion undoubtedly benefits the power enterprises that involved. As a cooperation pattern, collusion can lead to

Empirical Studies on Financial Markets: Private Equity, Corporate Bonds and Emerging Markets

NARCIS (Netherlands)

G.J. de Zwart (Gerben)

2008-01-01

textabstractThis dissertation consists of five empirical studies on financial markets. Each study can be read independently and covers a specific market, either private equity, corporate bonds or emerging markets. The first study documents that risk factors cannot account for the significant excess

Using ERP and WfM Systems for Implementing Business Processes: An Empirical Study

Science.gov (United States)

Aversano, Lerina; Tortorella, Maria

Software systems mainly considered from enterprises for dealing with a business process automation belong to the following two categories: Workflow Management Systems (WfMS) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. The wider diffusion of ERP systems tends to favourite this solution, but there are several limitations of most ERP systems for automating business processes. This paper reports an empirical study aiming at comparing the ability of implementing business processes of ERP systems and WfMSs. Two different case studies have been considered in the empirical study. It evaluates and analyses the correctness and completeness of the process models implemented by using ERP and WfM systems.

Antecedents of positive self-disclosure online: an empirical study of US college students' Facebook usage.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Hongliang

2017-01-01

This study investigates the factors predicting positive self-disclosure on social networking sites (SNSs). There is a formidable body of empirical research relating to online self-disclosure, but very few studies have assessed the antecedents of positive self-disclosure. To address this literature gap, the current study tests the effects of self-esteem, life satisfaction, social anxiety, privacy concerns, public self-consciousness (SC), and perceived collectivism on positive self-disclosure on SNSs. Data were collected online via Qualtrics in April 2013. Respondents were undergraduate students from the University of Connecticut. Using ordinary least squares regression, the current study found that self-esteem and perceived collectivism increased positive self-disclosure, life satisfaction, and privacy concerns decreased positive self-disclosure, and the effects of social anxiety and public SC were not significant.

Comparing On-Line to In-Person Course Delivery: An Empirical Study

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Jammie Price

2007-05-01

Full Text Available Web-based technologies have been used in the classroom for over 15 years, including websites, email, listserves, library reserves, and text books. Among these options, social scientists range widely in their web usage – from simply posting syllabi on-line to delivering a course fully on-line in asynchronous learning networks. Use of web-based technology for instructional purposes is increasing, as is enrollment in distance education courses and on-line course offerings. Many administrators and faculty promote on-line instruction as the solution to managing increased college enrollments, particularly among non-traditional students. However, are the academic outcomes of on-line instruction similar to traditional in-person instruction? Few empirical studies have been done. This is unfortunate. The results of an experiment to evaluate the relative effectiveness of on-line verses an in-person course on sociological research are presented. Unfortunately the on-line participants did much worse than the in-person course.

Researching wicked problems in a construction project

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jacobsen, Peter Holm

(Lave, 1988) and critical psychology (Axel, 2002; Dreier, 2008; Højholt & Kousholt, 2011). Situated learning theories have developed some valuable methodologies that can be used to study learning as an aspect of social practices and critical psychology have expanded theories of situated learning...... be elaborated more upon (Pink et. al., 2010). Getting access, formulating strategies for analyses, finding concepts and selecting methods such as participant observations and interviews are often problematic aspects, that influences the knowledge that researchers produces in a number of ways that relates...... to empirical research. I will argue that uncertainty is an important aspect of doing empirical research because the empirical research is a part of a situated learning process and that uncertain situations are a central part of conducting empirical research. I will use an example from my study of the early...

Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing and Personal Genomics Services: A Review of Recent Empirical Studies

Science.gov (United States)

Ostergren, Jenny

2013-01-01

Direct-to-consumer genetic testing (DTC-GT) has sparked much controversy and undergone dramatic changes in its brief history. Debates over appropriate health policies regarding DTC-GT would benefit from empirical research on its benefits, harms, and limitations. We review the recent literature (2011-present) and summarize findings across (1) content analyses of DTC-GT websites, (2) studies of consumer perspectives and experiences, and (3) surveys of relevant health care providers. Findings suggest that neither the health benefits envisioned by DTC-GT proponents (e.g., significant improvements in positive health behaviors) nor the worst fears expressed by its critics (e.g., catastrophic psychological distress and misunderstanding of test results, undue burden on the health care system) have materialized to date. However, research in this area is in its early stages and possesses numerous key limitations. We note needs for future studies to illuminate the impact of DTC-GT and thereby guide practice and policy regarding this rapidly evolving approach to personal genomics. PMID:24058877

Empirical evidence about inconsistency among studies in a pair‐wise meta‐analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Turner, Rebecca M.; Higgins, Julian P. T.

2015-01-01

This paper investigates how inconsistency (as measured by the I2 statistic) among studies in a meta‐analysis may differ, according to the type of outcome data and effect measure. We used hierarchical models to analyse data from 3873 binary, 5132 continuous and 880 mixed outcome meta‐analyses within the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Predictive distributions for inconsistency expected in future meta‐analyses were obtained, which can inform priors for between‐study variance. Inconsistency estimates were highest on average for binary outcome meta‐analyses of risk differences and continuous outcome meta‐analyses. For a planned binary outcome meta‐analysis in a general research setting, the predictive distribution for inconsistency among log odds ratios had median 22% and 95% CI: 12% to 39%. For a continuous outcome meta‐analysis, the predictive distribution for inconsistency among standardized mean differences had median 40% and 95% CI: 15% to 73%. Levels of inconsistency were similar for binary data measured by log odds ratios and log relative risks. Fitted distributions for inconsistency expected in continuous outcome meta‐analyses using mean differences were almost identical to those using standardized mean differences. The empirical evidence on inconsistency gives guidance on which outcome measures are most likely to be consistent in particular circumstances and facilitates Bayesian meta‐analysis with an informative prior for heterogeneity. © 2015 The Authors. Research Synthesis Methods published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. © 2015 The Authors. Research Synthesis Methods published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. PMID:26679486

A study on online monitoring system development using empirical models

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

An, Sang Ha

2010-02-15

Maintenance technologies have been progressed from a time-based to a condition-based manner. The fundamental idea of condition-based maintenance (CBM) is built on the real-time diagnosis of impending failures and/or the prognosis of residual lifetime of equipment by monitoring health conditions using various sensors. The success of CBM, therefore, hinges on the capability to develop accurate diagnosis/prognosis models. Even though there may be an unlimited number of methods to implement models, the models can normally be classified into two categories in terms of their origins: using physical principles or historical observations. I have focused on the latter method (sometimes referred as the empirical model based on statistical learning) because of some practical benefits such as context-free applicability, configuration flexibility, and customization adaptability. While several pilot-scale systems using empirical models have been applied to work sites in Korea, it should be noticed that these do not seem to be generally competitive against conventional physical models. As a result of investigating the bottlenecks of previous attempts, I have recognized the need for a novel strategy for grouping correlated variables such that an empirical model can accept not only statistical correlation but also some extent of physical knowledge of a system. Detailed examples of problems are as follows: (1) missing of important signals in a group caused by the lack of observations, (2) problems of signals with the time delay, (3) problems of optimal kernel bandwidth. In this study an improved statistical learning framework including the proposed strategy and case studies illustrating the performance of the method are presented.

Continued Use of a Chinese Online Portal: An Empirical Study

Science.gov (United States)

Shih, Hung-Pin

2008-01-01

The evolution of the internet has made online portals a popular means of surfing the internet. In internet commerce, understanding the post-adoption behaviour of users of online portals can help enterprises to attract new users and retain existing customers. For predicting continued use intentions, this empirical study focused on applying and…

Critical Realism and Empirical Bioethics: A Methodological Exposition.

Science.gov (United States)

McKeown, Alex

2017-09-01

This paper shows how critical realism can be used to integrate empirical data and philosophical analysis within 'empirical bioethics'. The term empirical bioethics, whilst appearing oxymoronic, simply refers to an interdisciplinary approach to the resolution of practical ethical issues within the biological and life sciences, integrating social scientific, empirical data with philosophical analysis. It seeks to achieve a balanced form of ethical deliberation that is both logically rigorous and sensitive to context, to generate normative conclusions that are practically applicable to the problem, challenge, or dilemma. Since it incorporates both philosophical and social scientific components, empirical bioethics is a field that is consistent with the use of critical realism as a research methodology. The integration of philosophical and social scientific approaches to ethics has been beset with difficulties, not least because of the irreducibly normative, rather than descriptive, nature of ethical analysis and the contested relation between fact and value. However, given that facts about states of affairs inform potential courses of action and their consequences, there is a need to overcome these difficulties and successfully integrate data with theory. Previous approaches have been formulated to overcome obstacles in combining philosophical and social scientific perspectives in bioethical analysis; however each has shortcomings. As a mature interdisciplinary approach critical realism is well suited to empirical bioethics, although it has hitherto not been widely used. Here I show how it can be applied to this kind of research and explain how it represents an improvement on previous approaches.

An empirical operationalization study of DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for premature ejaculation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Waldinger, M. D.; Hengeveld, M. W.; Zwinderman, A. H.; Olivier, B.

1998-01-01

The DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for premature ejaculation remain to be investigated by a clinical study. A prospective study was therefore conducted to investigate the DSM-IV definition and to provide an empirical operationalization of premature ejaculation. In this study 140 men suffering from

Structural properties of silicon clusters: An empirical potential study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gong, X.G.; Zheng, Q.Q.; He Yizhen

1993-09-01

By using our newly proposed empirical interatomic potential for silicon, the structure and some dynamical properties of silicon cluster Si n (10 ≤ n ≤ 24) have been studied. It is found that the obtained results are close to those from ab-initio methods. From present results, we can gain a new insight into the understanding of the experimental data on the Si n clusters. (author). 20 refs, 6 figs

Empirical study on the feasibility of measures for public self-protection capability enhancement; Empirische Untersuchung der Realisierbarkeit von Massnahmen zur Erhoehung der Selbstschutzfaehigkeit der Bevoelkerung

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Goersch, Henning G.; Werner, Ute

2011-07-01

The empirical study on the feasibility of measures for public self-protection capability enhancement covers the following issues with several sections: (1) Introduction: scope of the study; structure of the study. (2) Issue coherence: self-protection; reduction and prevention of damage by personal emergency preparedness, personal emergency preparedness in Germany. (3) Solution coherence: scientific approaches, development of practical problem solution approaches, proposal of a promotion system. (4) Empirical studies: Promotion system evaluation by experts; questioning of the public; Delphi-study on minimum standards in emergency preparedness; local networks in emergency preparedness. (5) Evaluation of models for personal emergency preparedness (M3P). (6) Integration of all research results into the approach of emergency preparedness: scope; recommendations, conclusions.

Social Justice Advocacy among Graduate Students: An Empirical Investigation

Science.gov (United States)

Linnemeyer, Rachel McQuown

2009-01-01

Although social justice advocacy has increasingly been acknowledged as important in the field of psychology (e.g., Goodman et al., 2004; Toporek et al., 2006a, Vera & Speight, 2003), there is a dearth of empirical research examining social justice advocacy across graduate psychology students. This mixed-methods study examined demographic and…

Using a tag team of undergraduate researchers to construct an empirical model of auroral Poynting flux, from satellite data

Science.gov (United States)

Cosgrove, R. B.; Bahcivan, H.; Klein, A.; Ortega, J.; Alhassan, M.; Xu, Y.; Chen, S.; Van Welie, M.; Rehberger, J.; Musielak, S.; Cahill, N.

2012-12-01

Empirical models of the incident Poynting flux and particle kinetic energy flux, associated with auroral processes, have been constructed using data from the FAST satellite. The models were constructed over a three-year period by a tag-team of three groups of undergraduate researchers from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), working under the supervision of researchers at SRI International, a nonprofit research institute. Each group spent one academic quarter in residence at SRI, in fulfillment of WPI's Major Qualifying Project (MQP), required for graduation from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The MQP requires a written group report, which was used to transition from one group to the next. The student's research involved accessing and processing a data set of 20,000 satellite orbits, replete with flaws associated with instrument failures, which had to be removed. The data had to be transformed from the satellite reference frame into solar coordinates, projected to a reference altitude, sorted according to geophysical conditions, and etc. The group visits were chaperoned by WPI, and were jointly funded. Researchers at SRI were supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation, which was tailored to accommodate the undergraduate tag-team approach. The NSF grant extended one year beyond the student visits, with increased funding in the final year, permitting the researchers at SRI to exercise quality control, and to produce publications. It is expected that the empirical models will be used as inputs to large-scale general circulation models (GCMs), to specify the atmospheric heating rate at high altitudes.; Poynting Flux with northward IMF ; Poynting flux with southward IMF

A critical perspective on the measurement of performance in the empirical multinationality and performance literature

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Richter, Nicole Franziska; Schmidt, Robert; Ladwig, Tina J.

2017-01-01

used in empirical studies and the underlying theoretical streams that explain the effects on benefits and costs of multinationality. Our findings indicate that authors still largely rely on overall financial performance measures. Theoretical arguments, in contrast, refer to specific benefit and cost......This paper contributes to the core research in international business (IB), namely the relation between multinationality and performance, and is concerned with the quality of past empirical research designs. On the basis of 49 studies, we critically evaluate the match between performance measures...... positions that are better reflected in operational performance indicators. In our view, the idiosyncratic choice of the performance measures contributes to the varying results in past studies. We offer suggestions for improving future research designs....

A Formidable Task: Reflections on obtaining legal empirical evidence on human trafficking in Canada

OpenAIRE

Hayli Millar; Tamara O'Doherty; Katrin Roots

2017-01-01

This article explores the experiences, challenges and findings of two empirical research studies examining Canada’s legal efforts to combat human trafficking. The authors outline the methodologies of their respective studies and reflect on some of the difficulties they faced in obtaining empirical data on human trafficking court cases and legal proceedings. Ultimately, the authors found that Canadian trafficking case law developments are in their early stages with very few convictions, despit...

Empirical study on flow experience in China tourism e-commerce market

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jianling Wang

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Purpose: While tourism e-commerce develops rapidly in China, these channels are truly new to both web providers and web consumers, understanding the nature of these media attaches greater importance. This study investigates the mediation effects of flow experience on the relationship between motivation and behavior intention in tourism e-commerce.Design/methodology/approach: Based on the technology acceptance model, an empirical study is designed to test this relationship.we estimated the measurement model with 13 manifest indicators and 4 latent constructs by CFA to assess the reliability and validity of the construct measures, then tested hypotheses by OLS regression and a formal three-step mediation procedure.Findings: Overall, the results reveal that trust is incorporated in motivation and play it’s role together with other motivations; telepresence and concentration are confirmed in flow experience, and both partially mediated the relationship.Research limitations/implications: This study demonstrates that to improve consumers’ usage adoption, marketers should pay much attention to not only consumers’ motivation but also the areas such as flow experience.Originality/value: This study takes flow experience as a new perspective to explore china tourism e-commerce, estimates its measurement and tests its roles between motivation and behavior intention.

Empirical results of entrepreneurs’ network: case study of Slovakia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ladislav Mura

2017-05-01

Full Text Available The changes in economic development of different countries in recent decades are influenced by processes that have modified the ways and forms of doing business. While in the past, the emphasis was put on size of the company, currently its participation in various forms of network cooperation prevails. The following paper presents results of empirical research realized between the small and medium sized enterprises involved into entrepreneurs’ networks. Research was conducted during the period 2014 – 2015 in a frame of scientific research project VEGA 1/0381/13 and KEGA 001UCM-4/2016. The main aim of paper is to propose the basic model of network entrepreneurial cooperation in the conditions of the Slovak republic. The novelty of this paper is to mention the main steps that should be done by stakeholders, if they want to create successful network. The partial aims of this paper are: the evaluation of quantitative and qualitative conditions for networking and description of partial steps which lead to creation of network cooperation. We used selected quantitative methods (Localization coefficient with combination of BCG matrix. Qualitative conditions will be evaluated through the results of questionnaire survey, which identified the entrepreneurs’ suggestions of business for engagement into the network (by using Pearson chi-square, Kruskal Wallis and Median Tests.

Sources of Currency Crisis: An Empirical Analysis

OpenAIRE

Weber, Axel A.

1997-01-01

Two types of currency crisis models coexist in the literature: first generation models view speculative attacks as being caused by economic fundamentals which are inconsistent with a given parity. Second generation models claim self-fulfilling speculation as the main source of a currency crisis. Recent empirical research in international macroeconomics has attempted to distinguish between the sources of currency crises. This paper adds to this literature by proposing a new empirical approach ...

Intuition in Decision Making –Theoretical and Empirical Aspects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kamila Malewska

2015-11-01

Full Text Available In an economy dominated by information and knowledge, analysis ceases to be the sole and sufficient source of knowledge. Managers seek alternative ways of obtaining and interpreting information and knowledge. Here, managerial intuitive potential begins to play an important role. The aim of this paper is to present the issue of intuition in decision making in both theoretical and empirical terms. The first part presents the essence of intuition and its role in management, especially in decision making. Then, the empirical part attempts to identify the intuitive potential of managers and the extent of its use in practical decision making. The case study method was used in order to achieve this goal. The analysis involved a Polish food company “Fawor” that employs more than 300 workers. These literature and empirical studies in the area of intuition were conducted within the research project „The impact of managerial intuitive potential on the effectiveness of decision making processes”, financed by the National Science Centre, Poland (funds allocated on the basis of decision No. DEC-2014/13/D/HS4/01750

Social-Emotional Well-Being and Resilience of Children in Early Childhood Settings--PERIK: An Empirically Based Observation Scale for Practitioners

Science.gov (United States)

Mayr, Toni; Ulich, Michaela

2009-01-01

Compared with the traditional focus on developmental problems, research on positive development is relatively new. Empirical research in children's well-being has been scarce. The aim of this study was to develop a theoretically and empirically based instrument for practitioners to observe and assess preschool children's well-being in early…

Two concepts of empirical ethics.

Science.gov (United States)

Parker, Malcolm

2009-05-01

The turn to empirical ethics answers two calls. The first is for a richer account of morality than that afforded by bioethical principlism, which is cast as excessively abstract and thin on the facts. The second is for the facts in question to be those of human experience and not some other, unworldly realm. Empirical ethics therefore promises a richer naturalistic ethics, but in fulfilling the second call it often fails to heed the metaethical requirements related to the first. Empirical ethics risks losing the normative edge which necessarily characterizes the ethical, by failing to account for the nature and the logic of moral norms. I sketch a naturalistic theory, teleological expressivism (TE), which negotiates the naturalistic fallacy by providing a more satisfactory means of taking into account facts and research data with ethical implications. The examples of informed consent and the euthanasia debate are used to illustrate the superiority of this approach, and the problems consequent on including the facts in the wrong kind of way.

An Empirical Study of Security Issues Posted in Open Source Projects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zahedi, Mansooreh; Ali Babar, Muhammad; Treude, Christoph

2018-01-01

When developers gain thorough understanding and knowledge of software security, they can produce more secure software. This study aims at empirically identifying and understanding the security issues posted on a random sample of GitHub repositories. We tried to understand the presence of security...

Analysing the ‘green’ consumer segment in China – An Empirical Study on ‘green’ characteristics of consumers in Ningbo and Shanghai

OpenAIRE

Otte, Maren

2009-01-01

This paper analyses the green consumer segment in China with the means of an empirical study on ‗green‘ characteristics of consumers in two of China‘s western cities Ningbo and Shanghai. The methodological approach in this research was constructionist in terms of its ontology, and a combination of interpretivism and positivism with regards to the epistemology. The research tool in my dissertation was a self-completion questionnaire, with a descriptive cross-sectional design. Information wa...

MDMA is certainly damaging after 25 years of empirical research: a reply and refutation of Doblin et al. (2014).

Science.gov (United States)

Parrott, Andrew C

2014-03-01

Human Psychopharmacology recently published my review into the increase in empirical knowledge about the human psychobiology of MDMA over the past 25 years (Parrott, 2013a). Deficits have been demonstrated in retrospective memory, prospective memory, higher cognition, complex visual processing, sleep architecture, sleep apnoea, pain, neurohormonal activity, and psychiatric status. Neuroimaging studies have shown serotonergic deficits, which are associated with lifetime Ecstasy/MDMA usage, and degree of neurocognitive impairment. Basic psychological skills remain intact. Ecstasy/MDMA use by pregnant mothers leads to psychomotor impairments in the children. Hence, the damaging effects of Ecstasy/MDMA were far more widespread than was realized a few years ago. In their critique of my review, Doblin et al. (2014) argued that my review contained misstatements, omitted contrary findings, and recited dated misconceptions. In this reply, I have answered all the points they raised. I have been able to refute each of their criticisms by citing the relevant empirical data, since many of their points were based on inaccurate summaries of the actual research findings. Doblin and colleagues are proponents of the use of MDMA for drug-assisted psychotherapy, and their strongest criticisms were focused on my concerns about this proposal. However, again all the issues I raised were based on sound empirical evidence or theoretical understanding. Indeed I would recommend potentially far safer co-drugs such as D-cycloserine or oxytocin. In summary, MDMA can induce a wide range of neuropsychobiological changes, many of which are damaging to humans. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Wireless and empire geopolitics radio industry and ionosphere in the British Empire 1918-1939

CERN Document Server

Anduaga, Aitor

2009-01-01

Although the product of consensus politics, the British Empire was based on communications supremacy and the knowledge of the atmosphere. Focusing on science, industry, government, the military, and education, this book studies the relationship between wireless and Empire throughout the interwar period.

Empirical research on constructing Taiwan's eco- environmental ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

EJIRO

Analysis of research results brings several important findings. (1) Taiwan's economic ..... above that this study is an innovative expansion and combination of material flow calculation and ..... using thermodynamic approach. Resour. Conserv.

Empirical Estimates in Economic and Financial Optimization Problems

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Houda, Michal; Kaňková, Vlasta

2012-01-01

Roč. 19, č. 29 (2012), s. 50-69 ISSN 1212-074X R&D Projects: GA ČR GAP402/10/1610; GA ČR GAP402/11/0150; GA ČR GAP402/10/0956 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10750506 Keywords : stochastic programming * empirical estimates * moment generating functions * stability * Wasserstein metric * L1-norm * Lipschitz property * consistence * convergence rate * normal distribution * Pareto distribution * Weibull distribution * distribution tails * simulation Subject RIV: BB - Applied Statistics, Operational Research http://library.utia.cas.cz/separaty/2012/E/houda-empirical estimates in economic and financial optimization problems.pdf

Exploring Advertising in Higher Education: An Empirical Analysis in North America, Europe, and Japan

Science.gov (United States)

Papadimitriou, Antigoni; Blanco Ramírez, Gerardo

2015-01-01

This empirical study explores higher education advertising campaigns displayed in five world cities: Boston, New York, Oslo, Tokyo, and Toronto. The study follows a mixed-methods research design relying on content analysis and multimodal semiotic analysis and employs a conceptual framework based on the knowledge triangle of education, research,…

Cloud Computing (SaaS Adoption as a Strategic Technology: Results of an Empirical Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pedro R. Palos-Sanchez

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The present study empirically analyzes the factors that determine the adoption of cloud computing (SaaS model in firms where this strategy is considered strategic for executing their activity. A research model has been developed to evaluate the factors that influence the intention of using cloud computing that combines the variables found in the technology acceptance model (TAM with other external variables such as top management support, training, communication, organization size, and technological complexity. Data compiled from 150 companies in Andalusia (Spain are used to test the formulated hypotheses. The results of this study reflect what critical factors should be considered and how they are interrelated. They also show the organizational demands that must be considered by those companies wishing to implement a real management model adopted to the digital economy, especially those related to cloud computing.

Holding-based network of nations based on listed energy companies: An empirical study on two-mode affiliation network of two sets of actors

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Huajiao; Fang, Wei; An, Haizhong; Gao, Xiangyun; Yan, Lili

2016-05-01

Economic networks in the real world are not homogeneous; therefore, it is important to study economic networks with heterogeneous nodes and edges to simulate a real network more precisely. In this paper, we present an empirical study of the one-mode derivative holding-based network constructed by the two-mode affiliation network of two sets of actors using the data of worldwide listed energy companies and their shareholders. First, we identify the primitive relationship in the two-mode affiliation network of the two sets of actors. Then, we present the method used to construct the derivative network based on the shareholding relationship between two sets of actors and the affiliation relationship between actors and events. After constructing the derivative network, we analyze different topological features on the node level, edge level and entire network level and explain the meanings of the different values of the topological features combining the empirical data. This study is helpful for expanding the usage of complex networks to heterogeneous economic networks. For empirical research on the worldwide listed energy stock market, this study is useful for discovering the inner relationships between the nations and regions from a new perspective.

Empirical Studies on English Vocabulary Learning Strategies in Mainland China over the Past Two Decades

OpenAIRE

Zhongxin Dai; Yao Zhou

2015-01-01

Wen and Wang (2004) reviewed the empirical studies over the past two decades (from 1984 to 2003) on learning strategies that Chinese EFL learners used. This article, following their methodological framework, reviews about 45 empirical studies on Chinese EFL learners’ English vocabulary learning strategies, conducted by Mainland Chinese scholars over the past two decades. The review shows that more than half of the Chinese scholars are interested in questionnaire investigation of EFL learners’...

[The current conception of the unconscious - empirical results of neurobiology, cognitive sciences, social psychology and emotion research].

Science.gov (United States)

Schüssler, Gerhard

2002-01-01

The influence of the unconscious on psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy: a comprehensive concept of unconscious processes based on empirical evidence. The theory of the Unconscious constitutes the basis of psychoanalysis and of psychodynamic therapy. The traditional description of the Unconscious as given by Freud is of historical significance and not only gained widespread acceptance but also attracted much criticism. The most important findings of neurobiology, the cognitive sciences, social psychology and emotion research in relation to the Unconscious are compared with this traditional definition. Empirical observations on defence mechanisms are of particular interest in this context. A comprehensive concept of unconscious processes is revealed: the fundamental process of brain function is unconscious. Parts of the symbolic-declarative and emotional-procedural processing by the brain are permanently unconscious. Other parts of these processing procedures are conscious or can be brought to the conscious or alternatively, can also be excluded from the conscious. Unconscious processes exert decisive influence on experience and behaviour; for this reason, every form of psychotherapy should take into account such unconscious processes.

Replicating empirical research in behavioral ecology: how and why it should be done but rarely ever is.

Science.gov (United States)

Kelly, Clint D

2006-09-01

That empirical evidence is replicable is the foundation of science. Ronald Fisher a founding father of biostatistics, recommended that a null hypothesis be rejected more than once because "no isolated experiment, however significant in itself can suffice for the experimental demonstration of any natural phenomenon" (Fisher 1974:14). Despite this demand, animal behaviorists and behavioral ecologists seldom replicate studies. This practice is not part of our scientific culture, as it is in chemistry or physics, due to a number of factors, including a general disdain by journal editors and thesis committees for unoriginal work. I outline why and how we should replicate empirical studies, which studies should be given priority, and then elaborate on why we do not engage in this necessary endeavor. I also explain how to employ various statistics to test the replicability of a series of studies and illustrate these using published studies from the literature.

Mapping Translation Technology Research in Translation Studies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schjoldager, Anne; Christensen, Tina Paulsen; Flanagan, Marian

2017-01-01

section aims to improve this situation by presenting new and innovative research papers that reflect on recent technological advances and their impact on the translation profession and translators from a diversity of perspectives and using a variety of methods. In Section 2, we present translation......Due to the growing uptake of translation technology in the language industry and its documented impact on the translation profession, translation students and scholars need in-depth and empirically founded knowledge of the nature and influences of translation technology (e.g. Christensen....../Schjoldager 2010, 2011; Christensen 2011). Unfortunately, the increasing professional use of translation technology has not been mirrored within translation studies (TS) by a similar increase in research projects on translation technology (Munday 2009: 15; O’Hagan 2013; Doherty 2016: 952). The current thematic...

Using face validity to recognize empirical community observations.

Science.gov (United States)

Gaber, John; Gaber, Sharon L

2010-05-01

There is a growing interest among international planning scholars to explore community participation in the plan making process from a qualitative research approach. In this paper the research assessment tool "face validity" is discussed as one way to help planners decipher when the community is sharing empirically grounded observations that can advance the applicability of the plan making process. Face validity provides a common sense assessment of research conclusions. It allows the assessor to look at an entire research project and ask: "on the face of things, does this research make sense?" With planners listening to citizen comments with an ear for face validity observations, holds open the opportunity for government to empirically learn from the community to see if they "got it right." And if not, to chart out a course on how they can get it right. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Visual Semiotics & Uncertainty Visualization: An Empirical Study.

Science.gov (United States)

MacEachren, A M; Roth, R E; O'Brien, J; Li, B; Swingley, D; Gahegan, M

2012-12-01

This paper presents two linked empirical studies focused on uncertainty visualization. The experiments are framed from two conceptual perspectives. First, a typology of uncertainty is used to delineate kinds of uncertainty matched with space, time, and attribute components of data. Second, concepts from visual semiotics are applied to characterize the kind of visual signification that is appropriate for representing those different categories of uncertainty. This framework guided the two experiments reported here. The first addresses representation intuitiveness, considering both visual variables and iconicity of representation. The second addresses relative performance of the most intuitive abstract and iconic representations of uncertainty on a map reading task. Combined results suggest initial guidelines for representing uncertainty and discussion focuses on practical applicability of results.

Surprise... Surprise..., An Empirical Investigation on How Surprise is Connected to Customer Satisfaction

NARCIS (Netherlands)

J. Vanhamme (Joëlle)

2003-01-01

textabstractThis research investigates the specific influence of the emotion of surprise on customer transaction-specific satisfaction. Four empirical studies-two field studies (a diary study and a cross section survey) and two experiments-were conducted. The results show that surprise positively

An empirical study on critical success factors for electronic commerce in the Chinese publishing industry

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

HUANG Jinghua; ZHAO Chunjun; LI Jingting

2007-01-01

Critical success factors for electronic commerce (e-commerce) have been a hot topic in both the academe and industry. This paper puts forward hypotheses on success factors for e-commerce of traditional companies first. Then, it conducts an empirical study on the Chinese publishing industry in order to verify the hypotheses. After testing the validity and reliability of the data, this paper verifies the hypotheses with regression analyses, and finally identifies factors impacting e-commerce success such as leadership, strategy, organization, management, IT, customers, comprehensive functions of website and customer- oriented functions. In addition, customers, strategy, IT and comprehensive functions of website are identified as the critical factors impacting e-commerce success. This research not only stimulates e-commerce research in China, but also has an instructional effect on the implementation of e-commerce so that Chinese publishing enterprises can increase the success rate of their e-commerce objectives.

An anthology of theories and models of design philosophy, approaches and empirical explorations

CERN Document Server

Blessing, Lucienne

2014-01-01

While investigations into both theories and models has remained a major strand of engineering design research, current literature sorely lacks a reference book that provides a comprehensive and up-to-date anthology of theories and models, and their philosophical and empirical underpinnings; An Anthology of Theories and Models of Design fills this gap. The text collects the expert views of an international authorship, covering: ·         significant theories in engineering design, including CK theory, domain theory, and the theory of technical systems; ·         current models of design, from a function behavior structure model to an integrated model; ·         important empirical research findings from studies into design; and ·         philosophical underpinnings of design itself. For educators and researchers in engineering design, An Anthology of Theories and Models of Design gives access to in-depth coverage of theoretical and empirical developments in this area; for pr...

Energy structure, marginal efficiency and substitution rate: An empirical study of China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Han Zhiyong; Fan Ying; Jiao Jianling; Yan Jisheng; Wei Yiming

2007-01-01

Energy efficiency is an important factor in developing energy policies as it represents the extent to which resources support economic output. In recent literature, relevant studies have mainly focused on aggregate energy efficiency, but rarely touched on the marginal efficiency of diverse energy resources and their comparative substitution rate. During 1978-2003, China's energy efficiency continually increased; and consequently became a hot topic in contemporary literature. However, there is no empirical study on the relationship between energy structure and energy efficiency. In order to close the gap, this paper reports the empirical study of the impact of China's energy structure on its energy efficiency from 1978 to 2003. The work covered primary estimation of the marginal efficiency of coal and petroleum in China, as well as the comparative substitution rate. Results indicate that the substitution rate between petroleum and coal is a factor of 5.38

An Empirical Study on Capital Structure Determinants of Selected ASEAN Countries

OpenAIRE

Ngo, Hoang Anh

2013-01-01

Capital structure has been a controversial topic for decades. Conflicting arguments in theories and mixed findings in empirical work require further studies on this subject. More importantly, most previous studies have focused on developed countries and little attention is paid to emerging economies, especially ASEAN. Therefore, this study attempts to fill the gap by examining effects of capital structure's determinants on different measures of leverage of listed manufacturing companies in se...

The Need for a Cross-Cultural Empirical Musicology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marc Leman

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The paper by Lara Pearson shows that a case study based on qualitative description may reveal interesting aspects about the co-occurrence of hand gestures and singing in a particular music culture. However, above all the paper lets us dream about what could be possible if forces from cultural studies and music cognition research were to be combined. A cross-cultural empirical musicology holds the promise of scientific work that goes far beyond qualitative descriptions.

A comparative study of semi-empirical interionic potentials for alkali halides - II

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khwaja, F.A.; Naqvi, S.H.

1985-08-01

A comprehensive study of some semi-empirical interionic potentials is carried out through the calculation of the cohesive energy, relative stability and pressure induced solid-solid phase transformations in alkali halides. The theoretical values of these properties of the alkali halides are obtained using a new set of van der Waals coefficients and zero-point energy in the expression for interionic potential. From the comparison of the present calculations with some previous sophisticated ab-initio quantum-mechanical calculations and other semi-empirical approaches, it is concluded that the present calculations in the simplest central pairwise interaction description with the new values of the van der Waals coefficients and zero-point energy are in better agreement with the experimental data than the previous calculations. It is also concluded that in some cases the better choice of the interionic potential alone in the simplest semi-empirical picture of interaction gives an agreement of the theoretical predictions with the experimental data much superior to the ab-initio quantum mechanical approaches. (author)

Evolution of viral virulence: empirical studies

Science.gov (United States)

Kurath, Gael; Wargo, Andrew R.

2016-01-01

The concept of virulence as a pathogen trait that can evolve in response to selection has led to a large body of virulence evolution theory developed in the 1980-1990s. Various aspects of this theory predict increased or decreased virulence in response to a complex array of selection pressures including mode of transmission, changes in host, mixed infection, vector-borne transmission, environmental changes, host vaccination, host resistance, and co-evolution of virus and host. A fundamental concept is prediction of trade-offs between the costs and benefits associated with higher virulence, leading to selection of optimal virulence levels. Through a combination of observational and experimental studies, including experimental evolution of viruses during serial passage, many of these predictions have now been explored in systems ranging from bacteriophage to viruses of plants, invertebrates, and vertebrate hosts. This chapter summarizes empirical studies of viral virulence evolution in numerous diverse systems, including the classic models myxomavirus in rabbits, Marek's disease virus in chickens, and HIV in humans. Collectively these studies support some aspects of virulence evolution theory, suggest modifications for other aspects, and show that predictions may apply in some virus:host interactions but not in others. Finally, we consider how virulence evolution theory applies to disease management in the field.

Digital ethnography and the social dimension of introspection: an empirical study in two Colombian schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Rieken, Johannes; Garcia-Sanchez, Efraín; Trujillo, Mónica Pérez; Bear, Daniel

2015-06-01

We developed a teaching-led research project to empirically ground methodological reflection about digital ethnography. Drawing on Cordelois' collective ethnographic observation approach, fifteen emerging professionals (from a private general education university and a Police Academy in Bogota) collaborated in a method seminar on digital ethnography. They worked in cross-institutional research teams, each carrying SenseCams for 3 days. Students had a dual role as both participants and observers during self-confrontation interviews. The research design enabled emerging professionals to introspect about what it is to be a member of their institution. The SenseCam provided an additional opportunity for observation as it elicited different reactions in the two institutions. The fact that SenseCams produce sequential accounts of activity as well as its situated nature made apparent the autonomy to study and solve daily issues (e.g. transport, security, commitments) by students from the university, while students in the police academy are more focused on responding to unforeseen activities (e.g. police services, unexpected requests). Finally, our research highlights the relevance of the social dimension of introspection for digital ethnography. How digital data that captures an individual perspective is negotiated in a group becomes a key methodological question.

Using Loss Functions for DIF Detection: An Empirical Bayes Approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Zwick, Rebecca; Thayer, Dorothy; Lewis, Charles

2000-01-01

Studied a method for flagging differential item functioning (DIF) based on loss functions. Builds on earlier research that led to the development of an empirical Bayes enhancement to the Mantel-Haenszel DIF analysis. Tested the method through simulation and found its performance better than some commonly used DIF classification systems. (SLD)

Motivation and Emotions in Competition Systems for Education: An Empirical Study

Science.gov (United States)

Muñoz-Merino, Pedro J.; Molina, Manuel Fernández; Muñoz-Organero, Mario; Kloos, Carlos Delgado

2014-01-01

A lack of student motivation is a problem in many courses in electrical engineering. Introducing competition between students can enhance their motivation, but it can also generate negative emotions. This paper presents an empirical study of students in a telecommunications engineering degree; it measured their level of motivation, and their…

Performance-Based Service Quality Model: An Empirical Study on Japanese Universities

Science.gov (United States)

Sultan, Parves; Wong, Ho

2010-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to develop and empirically test the performance-based higher education service quality model. Design/methodology/approach: The study develops 67-item instrument for measuring performance-based service quality with a particular focus on the higher education sector. Scale reliability is confirmed using the Cronbach's alpha.…

Empirical Estimates in Stochastic Optimization via Distribution Tails

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kaňková, Vlasta

2010-01-01

Roč. 46, č. 3 (2010), s. 459-471 ISSN 0023-5954. [International Conference on Mathematical Methods in Economy and Industry. České Budějovice, 15.06.2009-18.06.2009] R&D Projects: GA ČR GA402/07/1113; GA ČR(CZ) GA402/08/0107; GA MŠk(CZ) LC06075 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10750506 Keywords : Stochastic programming problems * Stability * Wasserstein metric * L_1 norm * Lipschitz property * Empirical estimates * Convergence rate * Exponential tails * Heavy tails * Pareto distribution * Risk functional * Empirical quantiles Subject RIV: BB - Applied Statistics, Operational Research Impact factor: 0.461, year: 2010

Discussing empirical research on the language and culture relationship to inform English as an additional/foreign language pedagogy and teacher education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gloria Gil

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract In spite of the existence of a substantial body of theoretical literature that deals with the intersection of language and culture in the field of English as a foreign/additional (EA/FL language teaching and learning, there are very few empirical studies that investigate this issue with real teachers and learners. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to review some of those empirical studies with a view to informing additional/foreign language pedagogy and teacher education.  For that, the paper, first, summarizes some of the main theoretical issues by discussing the different ways in which the relationship of language and culture has been subjacent to EA/FL pedagogies. Then, the paper shows that there are three different types of language-and-culture-related empirical studies: on coursebooks, on teacher cognition, and on classroom interaction and teacher cognition. A review of these types of studies is made by discussing their main findings. Finally, the paper brings about some implications for the field from the findings of the empirical studies and proposes some topics for further research. Key-words: Culture and language relation. English as an additional/foreign language. Empirical studies.   Resumo Apesar da existência de uma vasta literatura teórica que lida com a interseção entre língua e cultura na área de ensino e aprendizagem do inglês como língua adicional/estrangeira (LA/E, existem poucos estudos empíricos que investigam essa questão com professores e alunos reais. Portanto, o objetivo deste trabalho é revisar alguns desses estudos empíricos com o intuito de contribuir com a pedagogia e a formação de professores de inglês como LA/E. Para isso este trabalho, em primeiro lugar, resume algumas das principais questões teóricas, discutindo as diferentes maneiras em que a relação entre língua e cultura tem subjazido às pedagogias do Inglês como LA/E.  Em seguida, o trabalho mostra que há três tipos

College Education and Attitudes toward Democracy in China: An Empirical Study

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Gang; Wu, Liyun; Han, Rongbin

2015-01-01

The modernization theory contends that there is a link between education and democracy. Yet few empirical studies have been done to investigate the role of higher education on promoting democratic values in the Chinese context. Using China General Social Survey 2006, this paper generates several findings which are not completely consistent with…

Empirical techniques in finance

CERN Document Server

Bhar, Ramaprasad

2005-01-01

This book offers the opportunity to study and experience advanced empi- cal techniques in finance and in general financial economics. It is not only suitable for students with an interest in the field, it is also highly rec- mended for academic researchers as well as the researchers in the industry. The book focuses on the contemporary empirical techniques used in the analysis of financial markets and how these are implemented using actual market data. With an emphasis on Implementation, this book helps foc- ing on strategies for rigorously combing finance theory and modeling technology to extend extant considerations in the literature. The main aim of this book is to equip the readers with an array of tools and techniques that will allow them to explore financial market problems with a fresh perspective. In this sense it is not another volume in eco- metrics. Of course, the traditional econometric methods are still valid and important; the contents of this book will bring in other related modeling topics tha...

Caught between Empires: Ambivalence in Australian Films ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Caught between Empires: Ambivalence in Australian Films. Greg McCarthy. AJOL African Journals Online. HOW TO USE AJOL... for Researchers · for Librarians · for Authors · FAQ's · More about AJOL · AJOL's Partners · Terms and Conditions of Use · Contact AJOL · News. OTHER RESOURCES... for Researchers · for ...

Dissociative identity disorder: An empirical overview.

Science.gov (United States)

Dorahy, Martin J; Brand, Bethany L; Sar, Vedat; Krüger, Christa; Stavropoulos, Pam; Martínez-Taboas, Alfonso; Lewis-Fernández, Roberto; Middleton, Warwick

2014-05-01

Despite its long and auspicious place in the history of psychiatry, dissociative identity disorder (DID) has been associated with controversy. This paper aims to examine the empirical data related to DID and outline the contextual challenges to its scientific investigation. The overview is limited to DID-specific research in which one or more of the following conditions are met: (i) a sample of participants with DID was systematically investigated, (ii) psychometrically-sound measures were utilised, (iii) comparisons were made with other samples, (iv) DID was differentiated from other disorders, including other dissociative disorders, (v) extraneous variables were controlled or (vi) DID diagnosis was confirmed. Following an examination of challenges to research, data are organised around the validity and phenomenology of DID, its aetiology and epidemiology, the neurobiological and cognitive correlates of the disorder, and finally its treatment. DID was found to be a complex yet valid disorder across a range of markers. It can be accurately discriminated from other disorders, especially when structured diagnostic interviews assess identity alterations and amnesia. DID is aetiologically associated with a complex combination of developmental and cultural factors, including severe childhood relational trauma. The prevalence of DID appears highest in emergency psychiatric settings and affects approximately 1% of the general population. Psychobiological studies are beginning to identify clear correlates of DID associated with diverse brain areas and cognitive functions. They are also providing an understanding of the potential metacognitive origins of amnesia. Phase-oriented empirically-guided treatments are emerging for DID. The empirical literature on DID is accumulating, although some areas remain under-investigated. Existing data show DID as a complex, valid and not uncommon disorder, associated with developmental and cultural variables, that is amenable to

Guidelines for Conducting Positivist Case Study Research in Information Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Graeme Shanks

2002-11-01

Full Text Available The case study research approach is widely used in a number of different ways within the information systems community. This paper focuses on positivist, deductive case study research in information systems. It provides clear definitions of important concepts in positivist case study research and illustrates these with an example research study. A critical analysis of the conduct and outcomes of two recently published positivist case studies is reported. One is a multiple case study that validated concepts in a framework for viewpoint development in requirements definition. The other is a single case study that examined the role of social enablers in enterprise resource planning systems implementation. A number of guidelines for successfully undertaking positivist case study research are identified including developing a clear understanding of key concepts and assumptions within the positivist paradigm; providing clear and unambiguous definitions of the units and interactions when using any theory; carefully defining the boundary of the theory used in the case study; using hypotheses rather than propositions in the empirical testing of theory; using fuzzy or probabilistic propositions in recognising that reality can never be perfectly known; selecting case studies carefully, particularly single case studies; and recognising that generalisation from positivist, single case studies is inherently different from generalisation from single experiments. When properly undertaken, positivist, deductive case study research is a valuable research approach for information systems researchers, particularly when used within pluralist research programs that use a number of different research approaches from different paradigms.

A Review of the Empirical Generations at Work Research: Implications for School Leaders and Future Research

Science.gov (United States)

Edge, Karen

2014-01-01

Most schools currently employ three generations of teachers and leaders: Baby Boomers (1946-65), Generation X (1966-80) and Generation Y (1981-2003). However, the implications for school leaders of multi-generational schools remain relatively unexplored. This paper examines the empirical multi-disciplinary generations at work evidence to identify…

The effects of contingency factors on management control systems: an empirical study at CERN

CERN Document Server

Paaso, Ilkka

Contingency theory and management control systems research offer avenues for investigating how contextual factors in organizations affect performance. This quantitative case study investigates how the context of CERN internal services influences the performance consciousness of functional service managers. A literature review recognized four contingency factors relevant for performance consciousness: interdependence, scope, standardization and variation. Data from these factors was measured empirically using a cross-sectional electronic survey and supplemented by data gathered from CERN internal documentation. A quantitative analysis of the data was performed using structural equation modelling. The main findings were congruent with existing literature indicating that a.) high interdependence between work units is associated with decreased variation, increased standardization and increased performance consciousness. b.) high scope is related to increased variation and decreased standardization. Overall, a bet...

Recruitment strategies should not be randomly selected: empirically improving recruitment success and diversity in developmental psychology research

Science.gov (United States)

Sugden, Nicole A.; Moulson, Margaret C.

2015-01-01

Psychological and developmental research have been critiqued for the lack of diversity of research samples. Because differences in culture, race, and ethnicity can influence participant behavior, limited diversity limits the generalizability of the findings. These differences may also impact how participants behave in response to recruitment attempts, which suggests that recruitment itself may be leveraged to increase sample diversity. The goal of the current study was to determine what factors, within a recruitment interaction, could be leveraged to increase success and diversity when recruiting families with children for developmental research. Study 1 found three factors influenced success: (1) recruitment was more successful when other potential participants were also interested (i.e., recruiters were busy), (2) recruiters of particular races were more successful than recruiters of other races, and (3) differences in success were related to what the recruiter said to engage the potential participant (i.e., the script). The latter two factors interacted, suggesting some recruiters were using less optimal scripts. To improve success rates, study 2 randomly assigned scripts to recruiters and encouraged them to recruit more vigorously during busy periods. Study 2 found that two factors influenced success: (1) some scripts were more successful than others and (2) we were more successful at recruiting non-White potential participants than White participants. These two interacted, with some scripts being more successful with White and other scripts being more successful with non-White families. This intervention significantly increased recruitment success rate by 8.1% and the overall number of families recruited by 15.3%. These findings reveal that empirically evaluating and tailoring recruitment efforts based on the most successful strategies is effective in boosting diversity through increased participation of children from non-White families. PMID:25972829

The effects of performance measurement and compensation on motivation: An empirical study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Herpen, M.; van Praag, C.M.; Cools, K.

2003-01-01

The design and implementation of a performance measurement and compensation system can strongly affect the motivation of employees. Building on economic and psychological theory this study develops a conceptual model that is used to empirically test this effect. Our survey results demonstrate a

An Integrative Review of Empirical Research on Perceptions and Behaviors Related to Prescribed Burning and Wildfire in the United States

Science.gov (United States)

Dupéy, Lauren Nicole; Smith, Jordan W.

2018-06-01

Social science research from a variety of disciplines has generated a collective understanding of how individuals prepare for, and respond to, the risks associated with prescribed burning and wildfire. We provide a systematic compilation, review, and quantification of dominant trends in this literature by collecting all empirical research conducted within the U.S. that has addressed perceptions and behaviors surrounding various aspects of prescribed burning and wildfire. We reviewed and quantified this literature using four thematic categories covering: (1) the theory and methods that have been used in previous research; (2) the psychosocial aspects of prescribed burning and wildfire that have been studied; (3) the biophysical characteristics of the fires which have been studied; and (4) the types of fire and management approaches that have been examined. Our integrative review builds on previous literature reviews on the subject by offering new insight on the dominant trends, underutilized approaches, and under-studied topics within each thematic category. For example, we found that a select set of theories (e.g., Protection Motivation Theory, Attribution Theory, etc.) and approaches (e.g., mixed-methods) have only been used sparingly in previous research, even though these theories and approaches can produce insightful results that can readily be implemented by fire-management professionals and decision makers. By identifying trends and gaps in the literature across the thematic categories, we were able to answer four questions that address how future research can make the greatest contribution to our understanding of perceptions and behaviors related to prescribed burning and wildfire.

An Integrative Review of Empirical Research on Perceptions and Behaviors Related to Prescribed Burning and Wildfire in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Dupéy, Lauren Nicole; Smith, Jordan W

2018-06-01

Social science research from a variety of disciplines has generated a collective understanding of how individuals prepare for, and respond to, the risks associated with prescribed burning and wildfire. We provide a systematic compilation, review, and quantification of dominant trends in this literature by collecting all empirical research conducted within the U.S. that has addressed perceptions and behaviors surrounding various aspects of prescribed burning and wildfire. We reviewed and quantified this literature using four thematic categories covering: (1) the theory and methods that have been used in previous research; (2) the psychosocial aspects of prescribed burning and wildfire that have been studied; (3) the biophysical characteristics of the fires which have been studied; and (4) the types of fire and management approaches that have been examined. Our integrative review builds on previous literature reviews on the subject by offering new insight on the dominant trends, underutilized approaches, and under-studied topics within each thematic category. For example, we found that a select set of theories (e.g., Protection Motivation Theory, Attribution Theory, etc.) and approaches (e.g., mixed-methods) have only been used sparingly in previous research, even though these theories and approaches can produce insightful results that can readily be implemented by fire-management professionals and decision makers. By identifying trends and gaps in the literature across the thematic categories, we were able to answer four questions that address how future research can make the greatest contribution to our understanding of perceptions and behaviors related to prescribed burning and wildfire.

Empirical psychology, common sense, and Kant's empirical markers for moral responsibility.

Science.gov (United States)

Frierson, Patrick

2008-12-01

This paper explains the empirical markers by which Kant thinks that one can identify moral responsibility. After explaining the problem of discerning such markers within a Kantian framework I briefly explain Kant's empirical psychology. I then argue that Kant's empirical markers for moral responsibility--linked to higher faculties of cognition--are not sufficient conditions for moral responsibility, primarily because they are empirical characteristics subject to natural laws. Next. I argue that these markers are not necessary conditions of moral responsibility. Given Kant's transcendental idealism, even an entity that lacks these markers could be free and morally responsible, although as a matter of fact Kant thinks that none are. Given that they are neither necessary nor sufficient conditions, I discuss the status of Kant's claim that higher faculties are empirical markers of moral responsibility. Drawing on connections between Kant's ethical theory and 'common rational cognition' (4:393), I suggest that Kant's theory of empirical markers can be traced to ordinary common sense beliefs about responsibility. This suggestion helps explain both why empirical markers are important and what the limits of empirical psychology are within Kant's account of moral responsibility.

Research on the relationship of institutional innovation, organizational learning and synergistic effect: An empirical study of chineses university spin-offs

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Zhang Hao

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Purpose: At present, the Central Government of China pays more attention to the synergistic innovation, and the national strategy policy of “innovation driven development” are made to implementations. Thus, the university plays an important role in the national innovation system, so that how the university gets involved in innovative activities becomes the primary problem of innovation strategy. This paper utilizes Chinese university spin-offs survey data to identify the influence process from institutional innovation and organizational learning to synergistic effect of organization. Design/methodology/approach: Firstly, we found that following the procedural view, each one of these three elements can be divided into two parts. Then, we established structural equation modeling with the connections between these six subdivisions. Secondly, by taking 270 university Spin-offs in China as samples, we verified the fit of the model through statistical data on the questionnaire survey. Thirdly, we analyzed the relationship and influence path of the institutional innovation, organizational learning and synergistic effect. Findings: The results of empirical research show that institutional implementation process is positive correlation on both sides of synergistic effect, and, the intermediary role is obvious that external organizational learning played a regulatory role between institutional innovation synergistic effects. Research limitations/implications: A large-scale questionnaire survey showed that the influence path of “institutions -organization-innovation performance" are existed. Therefore, the system analysis framework should be introduced to the emergence and development of University spin-offs, and further explored the synergistic process of institutional change and organizational evolution. Practical implications: University spin-offs are a mode of university - industry cooperation, and it takes participation in market competition

Empirical Hamiltonians

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peggs, S.; Talman, R.

1987-01-01

As proton accelerators get larger, and include more magnets, the conventional tracking programs which simulate them run slower. The purpose of this paper is to describe a method, still under development, in which element-by-element tracking around one turn is replaced by a single man, which can be processed far faster. It is assumed for this method that a conventional program exists which can perform faithful tracking in the lattice under study for some hundreds of turns, with all lattice parameters held constant. An empirical map is then generated by comparison with the tracking program. A procedure has been outlined for determining an empirical Hamiltonian, which can represent motion through many nonlinear kicks, by taking data from a conventional tracking program. Though derived by an approximate method this Hamiltonian is analytic in form and can be subjected to further analysis of varying degrees of mathematical rigor. Even though the empirical procedure has only been described in one transverse dimension, there is good reason to hope that it can be extended to include two transverse dimensions, so that it can become a more practical tool in realistic cases

The effectiveness of innovative processes implemented by the SME companies. Results of the empirical research

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Tomasz Norek

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The essence and the importance of innovation in the process of building the competitiveness of enterprises is widely described in the economic literature. But the analysis of innovative activity of companies very often indicates that the innovations introduced to the market do not bring the expected benefits. This leads to the conclusion that very often innovation activities of enterprises are inefficient. And detailed analysis of such cases can identify the key barriers to implementing effective innovation.The modern model for the innovative activity indicates that one of the key factors for success of innovative activity of enterprises is properly implemented the introduction of new solutions to market. The problem of diffusion of innovation involves a number of issues related to the process of spreading and promoting innovation in the market. It is widely recognized that the powers of innovation diffusion is an important determinant of the capacity of firms.Author posed the following research hypothese: Innovative activities carried out by the surveyed companies is inefficient.The purpose of this paper is to present the problems associated with effective diffusion of innovation in the SME sector business activity in Poland, with particular emphasis on the barriers in this area. Commonly available statistical data, the author’s empirical research results from the period 2009–2012 and results of other studies conducted by the University of Szczecin were used to prepare this publication.

An Empirical Study of Gender Gap in Children Schooling in Nigeria ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

An Empirical Study of Gender Gap in Children Schooling in Nigeria. Olanrewaju Olaniyan. Abstract. African Journal of Economic Policy Vol10(1) 2003: 117-131. Full Text: EMAIL FULL TEXT EMAIL FULL TEXT · DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT · http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ajep.v10i1.24245 · AJOL African ...

The Credibility Revolution in Empirical Economics: How Better Research Design is Taking the Con out of Econometrics. NBER Working Paper No. 15794

Science.gov (United States)

Angrist, Joshua; Pischke, Jorn-Steffen

2010-01-01

This essay reviews progress in empirical economics since Leamer'rs (1983) critique. Leamer highlighted the benefits of sensitivity analysis, a procedure in which researchers show how their results change with changes in specification or functional form. Sensitivity analysis has had a salutary but not a revolutionary effect on econometric practice.…

Assessing communities of practice in health policy: a conceptual framework as a first step towards empirical research.

Science.gov (United States)

Bertone, Maria Paola; Meessen, Bruno; Clarysse, Guy; Hercot, David; Kelley, Allison; Kafando, Yamba; Lange, Isabelle; Pfaffmann, Jérôme; Ridde, Valéry; Sieleunou, Isidore; Witter, Sophie

2013-10-20

Communities of Practice (CoPs) are groups of people that interact regularly to deepen their knowledge on a specific topic. Thanks to information and communication technologies, CoPs can involve experts distributed across countries and adopt a 'transnational' membership. This has allowed the strategy to be applied to domains of knowledge such as health policy with a global perspective. CoPs represent a potentially valuable tool for producing and sharing explicit knowledge, as well as tacit knowledge and implementation practices. They may also be effective in creating links among the different 'knowledge holders' contributing to health policy (e.g., researchers, policymakers, technical assistants, practitioners, etc.). CoPs in global health are growing in number and activities. As a result, there is an increasing need to document their progress and evaluate their effectiveness. This paper represents a first step towards such empirical research as it aims to provide a conceptual framework for the analysis and assessment of transnational CoPs in health policy.The framework is developed based on the findings of a literature review as well as on our experience, and reflects the specific features and challenges of transnational CoPs in health policy. It organizes the key elements of CoPs into a logical flow that links available resources and the capacity to mobilize them, with knowledge management activities and the expansion of knowledge, with changes in policy and practice and, ultimately, with an improvement in health outcomes. Additionally, the paper addresses the challenges in the operationalization and empirical application of the framework.

Assessing communities of practice in health policy: a conceptual framework as a first step towards empirical research

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Communities of Practice (CoPs) are groups of people that interact regularly to deepen their knowledge on a specific topic. Thanks to information and communication technologies, CoPs can involve experts distributed across countries and adopt a ‘transnational’ membership. This has allowed the strategy to be applied to domains of knowledge such as health policy with a global perspective. CoPs represent a potentially valuable tool for producing and sharing explicit knowledge, as well as tacit knowledge and implementation practices. They may also be effective in creating links among the different ‘knowledge holders’ contributing to health policy (e.g., researchers, policymakers, technical assistants, practitioners, etc.). CoPs in global health are growing in number and activities. As a result, there is an increasing need to document their progress and evaluate their effectiveness. This paper represents a first step towards such empirical research as it aims to provide a conceptual framework for the analysis and assessment of transnational CoPs in health policy. The framework is developed based on the findings of a literature review as well as on our experience, and reflects the specific features and challenges of transnational CoPs in health policy. It organizes the key elements of CoPs into a logical flow that links available resources and the capacity to mobilize them, with knowledge management activities and the expansion of knowledge, with changes in policy and practice and, ultimately, with an improvement in health outcomes. Additionally, the paper addresses the challenges in the operationalization and empirical application of the framework. PMID:24139662

Empirical Model Building Data, Models, and Reality

CERN Document Server

Thompson, James R

2011-01-01

Praise for the First Edition "This...novel and highly stimulating book, which emphasizes solving real problems...should be widely read. It will have a positive and lasting effect on the teaching of modeling and statistics in general." - Short Book Reviews This new edition features developments and real-world examples that showcase essential empirical modeling techniques Successful empirical model building is founded on the relationship between data and approximate representations of the real systems that generated that data. As a result, it is essential for researchers who construct these m

Supervision for School Psychologists in Training: Developing a Framework from Empirical Findings

Science.gov (United States)

Gibbs, Simon; Atkinson, Cathy; Woods, Kevin; Bond, Caroline; Hill, Vivian; Howe, Julia; Morris, Sue

2016-01-01

Similar to other professional disciplines, the importance of supervision within school psychology has attracted considerable attention within recent years. Despite this, systematic review of current literature reveals a dearth of empirical literature proposing underlying theoretical structures. This study extends recent qualitative research by…

Antecedents of positive self-disclosure online: an empirical study of US college students’ Facebook usage

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Chen H

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Hongliang Chen Department of Communication, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA Abstract: This study investigates the factors predicting positive self-disclosure on social networking sites (SNSs. There is a formidable body of empirical research relating to online self-disclosure, but very few studies have assessed the antecedents of positive self-disclosure. To address this literature gap, the current study tests the effects of self-esteem, life satisfaction, social anxiety, privacy concerns, public self-consciousness (SC, and perceived collectivism on positive self-disclosure on SNSs. Data were collected online via Qualtrics in April 2013. Respondents were undergraduate students from the University of Connecticut. Using ordinary least squares regression, the current study found that self-esteem and perceived collectivism increased positive self-disclosure, life satisfaction, and privacy concerns decreased positive self-disclosure, and the effects of social anxiety and public SC were not significant. Keywords: positive self-disclosure, self-esteem, life satisfaction, social anxiety, privacy concerns, public self-consciousness, perceived collectivism

The gravity model specification for modeling international trade flows and free trade agreement effects: a 10-year review of empirical studies

OpenAIRE

Kepaptsoglou, Konstantinos; Karlaftis, Matthew G.; Tsamboulas, Dimitrios

2010-01-01

The gravity model has been extensively used in international trade research for the last 40 years because of its considerable empirical robustness and explanatory power. Since their introduction in the 1960's, gravity models have been used for assessing trade policy implications and, particularly recently, for analyzing the effects of Free Trade Agreements on international trade. The objective of this paper is to review the recent empirical literature on gravity models, highlight best practic...

Is Economics an Empirical Science? If not, can it become one?

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Sergio Mario Focardi

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Today’s mainstream economics, embodied in Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE models, cannot be considered an empirical science in the modern sense of the term: it is not based on empirical data, is not descriptive of the real-world economy, and has little forecasting power. In this paper, I begin with a review of the weaknesses of neoclassical economic theory and argue for a truly scientific theory based on data, the sine qua non of bringing economics into the realm of an empirical science. But I suggest that, before embarking on this endeavor, we first need to analyze the epistemological problems of economics to understand what research questions we can reasonably ask our theory to address.. I then discuss new approaches which hold the promise of bringing economics closer to being an empirical science. Among the approaches discussed are the study of economies as complex systems, econometrics and econophysics, artificial economics made up of multiple interacting agents as well as attempts being made inside present main stream theory to more closely align the theory with the real world

Benchmarking Supplier Development: An Empirical Case Study of Validating a Framework to Improve Buyer-Supplier Relationship

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Shahzad Khuram

2016-03-01

Full Text Available In today’s dynamic business environment, firms are required to utilize efficiently and effectively all the useful resources to gain competitive advantage. Supplier development has evolved as an important strategic instrument to improve buyer supplier relationships. For that reason, this study focuses on providing the strategic significance of supplier development approaches to improve business relationships. By using qualitative research method, an integrated framework of supplier development and buyer-supplier relationship development has been tested and validated in a Finnish case company to provide empirical evidence. It particularly investigates how supplier development approaches can develop buyer-supplier relationships. The study present a set of propositions that identify significant supplier development approaches critical for the development of buyer-supplier relationships and develop a theoretical framework that specifies how these different supplier development approaches support in order to strengthen the relationships. The results are produced from an in-depth case study by implementing the proposed research framework. The findings reveal that supplier development strategies i.e., supplier incentives and direct involvements strongly effect in developing buyer-supplier relationships. Further research may focus on considering in-depth investigation of trust and communication factors along with propositions developed in the study to find out general applicability in dynamic business environment. Proposed integrated framework along with propositions is a unique combination of useful solutions for tactical and strategic management’s decision making and also valid for academic researchers to develop supplier development theories.

High-frequency volatility combine forecast evaluations: An empirical study for DAX

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Wen Cheong Chin

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This study aims to examine the benefits of combining realized volatility, higher power variation volatility and nearest neighbour truncation volatility in the forecasts of financial stock market of DAX. A structural break heavy-tailed heterogeneous autoregressive model under the heterogeneous market hypothesis specification is employed to capture the stylized facts of high-frequency empirical data. Using selected averaging forecast methods, the forecast weights are assigned based on the simple average, simple median, least squares and mean square error. The empirical results indicated that the combination of forecasts in general shown superiority under four evaluation criteria regardless which proxy is set as the actual volatility. As a conclusion, we summarized that the forecast performance is influenced by three factors namely the types of volatility proxy, forecast methods (individual or averaging forecast and lastly the type of actual forecast value used in the evaluation criteria.

An empirically based model for knowledge management in health care organizations.

Science.gov (United States)

Sibbald, Shannon L; Wathen, C Nadine; Kothari, Anita

2016-01-01

Knowledge management (KM) encompasses strategies, processes, and practices that allow an organization to capture, share, store, access, and use knowledge. Ideal KM combines different sources of knowledge to support innovation and improve performance. Despite the importance of KM in health care organizations (HCOs), there has been very little empirical research to describe KM in this context. This study explores KM in HCOs, focusing on the status of current intraorganizational KM. The intention is to provide insight for future studies and model development for effective KM implementation in HCOs. A qualitative methods approach was used to create an empirically based model of KM in HCOs. Methods included (a) qualitative interviews (n = 24) with senior leadership to identify types of knowledge important in these roles plus current information-seeking behaviors/needs and (b) in-depth case study with leaders in new executive positions (n = 2). The data were collected from 10 HCOs. Our empirically based model for KM was assessed for face and content validity. The findings highlight the paucity of formal KM in our sample HCOs. Organizational culture, leadership, and resources are instrumental in supporting KM processes. An executive's knowledge needs are extensive, but knowledge assets are often limited or difficult to acquire as much of the available information is not in a usable format. We propose an empirically based model for KM to highlight the importance of context (internal and external), and knowledge seeking, synthesis, sharing, and organization. Participants who reviewed the model supported its basic components and processes, and potential for incorporating KM into organizational processes. Our results articulate ways to improve KM, increase organizational learning, and support evidence-informed decision-making. This research has implications for how to better integrate evidence and knowledge into organizations while considering context and the role of

Understanding Functional Reuse of ERP Requirements in the Telecommunication Sector: an Empirical Study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Daneva, Maia

2014-01-01

This paper is an empirical study on the application of Function Points (FP) and a FP-based reuse measurement model in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) projects in three organizations in the telecommunication sector. The findings of the study are used to compare the requirements reuse for one

The Impact of Motivation and Hygiene Factors on Research Performance: An Empirical Study from A Turkish University

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Oya Tamtekin Aydın

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to find the differences of the effect of motivation factors and hygiene factors on research performance of Foundation University members in Turkey on the number of articles published in Science Citation Index and Social Science Citation Index. The study was conducted on 150 academics in a Turkish Foundation University. The following results are obtained from the study: i The perception of academics on the effect of hygiene factors which include salary, job security, company policy-administration, supervision, interpersonal relations, status and working conditions on research performance is positive except status, ii The perception of academics on the effect of motivators which include the possibility of growth, work itself, responsibility, achievement, advancement and recognition on research performance is positive.

DETERMINANTS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY IN TIMES OF CRISIS: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

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Hatmanu (Gagea Mariana

2014-07-01

Full Text Available In the context of the present economic crisis, entrepreneurship has re-emerged as a topic of interest both for policy makers worldwide as well as for academic research. A wide range of psychological, economic and sociological factors influencing entrepreneurial activity is presented by the existing literature. The aim of this paper is to identify the economic and institutional factors that influenced entrepreneurial activity both before and during the crisis. Data for 27 countries worldwide from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, World Bank World Development Indicators and World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators international databases were collected for the years 2007, 2009 and 2012. A three stage empirical research was conducted: a comparative analysis of the distribution of the selected variables for the three years, principal components analysis in order to provide an image of the intensity and direction of the relationship between the variables and to characterize the statistical units and econometric modelling to describe the variation of entrepreneurial activity in relation with its economic and institutional determinants. Contrary to expectations, the research findings show that before the crisis, the variation of entrepreneurial activity is explained by the negative influence of the perceived confidence in the rules of society and during the crisis it is negatively influenced by the perceived government effectiveness. The limitations of the research are also presented.

Empirical Studies on the Use of Social Software in Global Software Development - a Systematic Mapping Study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Giuffrida, Rosalba; Dittrich, Yvonne

2013-01-01

of empirical studies on the usage of SoSo are available in related fields, there exists no comprehensive overview of what has been investigated to date across them. Objective: The aim of this review is to map empirical studies on the usage of SoSo in Software Engineering projects and in distributed teams...... for collaborative work, fostering awareness, knowledge management and coordination among team members. Contrary to the evident high importance of the social aspects offered by SoSo, socialization is not the most important usage reported. Conclusions: This review reports how SoSo is used in GSD and how it is capable...... of supporting GSD teams. Four emerging themes in global software engineering were identified: the appropriation and development of usage structures; understanding how an ecology of communication channels and tools are used by teams; the role played by SoSo either as a subtext or as an explicit goal; and finally...

AN INVESTIGATION OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEADERSHIP STYLES OF HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER, CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING CAPACITY AND CAREER SATISFACTION: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

OpenAIRE

Hüseyin YILMAZ

2016-01-01

The aim of this study is the creative problem-solving capacity of the organization with leadership behaviors of human resources managers and employees to examine the relationship between career satisfaction and is tested empirically. Research within the scope of the required data structured questionnaire method, operating in the province of Aydin was obtained from 130 employees working in five star hotels. Democratic leadership style according to the factor analysis, easygoing, participants c...

An empirical study on entrepreneurs' personal characteristics

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Ahmad Ahmadkhani

2012-04-01

Full Text Available The personality of an entrepreneur is one of the most important characteristics of reaching success by creating jobs and opportunities. In this paper, we demonstrate an empirical study on personal characteristics of students who are supposed to act as entrepreneur to create jobs in seven fields of accounting, computer science, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, metallurgy engineering, electrical engineering and drawing. There are seven aspects of accepting reasonable risk, locus of control, the need for success, mental health conditions, being pragmatic, tolerating ambiguity, dreaming and the sense of challenging in our study to measure the level of entrepreneurship. We uniformly distribute 133 questionnaires among undergraduate students in all seven groups and analyze the results based on t-student test. Our investigation indicates that all students accept reasonable amount of risk, they preserve sufficient locus of control and they are eager for success. In addition, our tests indicate that students believe they maintain sufficient level of mental health care with strong sense of being pragmatic and they could handle ambiguity and challenges.

Empirically based Suggested Insights into the Concept of False-Self Defense: Contributions From a Study on Normalization of Children With Disabilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Eichengreen, Adva; Hoofien, Dan; Bachar, Eytan

2016-02-01

The concept of the false self has been used widely in psychoanalytic theory and practice but seldom in empirical research. In this empirically based study, elevated features of false-self defense were hypothetically associated with risk factors attendant on processes of rehabilitation and integration of children with disabilities, processes that encourage adaptation of the child to the able-bodied environment. Self-report questionnaires and in-depth interviews were conducted with 88 deaf and hard-of-hearing students and a comparison group of 88 hearing counterparts. Results demonstrate that despite the important contribution of rehabilitation and integration to the well-being of these children, these efforts may put the child at risk of increased use of the false-self defense. The empirical findings suggest two general theoretical conclusions: (1) The Winnicottian concept of the environment, usually confined to the parent-child relationship, can be understood more broadly as including cultural, social, and rehabilitational variables that both influence the parent-child relationship and operate independently of it. (2) The monolithic conceptualization of the false self may be more accurately unpacked to reveal two distinct subtypes: the compliant and the split false self. © 2016 by the American Psychoanalytic Association.

Corpus-Aided Business English Collocation Pedagogy: An Empirical Study in Chinese EFL Learners

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Lidan

2017-01-01

This study reports an empirical study of an explicit instruction of corpus-aided Business English collocations and verifies its effectiveness in improving learners' collocation awareness and learner autonomy, as a result of which is significant improvement of learners' collocation competence. An eight-week instruction in keywords' collocations,…

The Patronage Behaviour of Islamic Bank's Customers: Empirical Studies in Aceh

OpenAIRE

Abd. Majid, M. Shabri; Zulhanizar, Said

2016-01-01

This study is aimed at empirically exploring the pertinent factors, which customers and non-customer perceive as germane to their selection of Islamic bank in Aceh, Indonesia. A sample of 300 customers and non-customer of Bank Aceh Syariah were selected based on the convenience sampling technique. Using the logistic regression technique, the study documented that the customers’ selection of the banks were influenced by the factors of banks’ characteristic, services and trust, shari’ah complia...

Towards an empirical ethics in care: relations with technologies in health care.

Science.gov (United States)

Pols, Jeannette

2015-02-01

This paper describes the approach of empirical ethics, a form of ethics that integrates non-positivist ethnographic empirical research and philosophy. Empirical ethics as it is discussed here builds on the 'empirical turn' in epistemology. It radicalizes the relational approach that care ethics introduced to think about care between people by drawing in relations between people and technologies as things people relate to. Empirical ethics studies care practices by analysing their intra-normativity, or the ways of living together the actors within these practices strive for or bring about as good practices. Different from care ethics, what care is and if it is good is not defined beforehand. A care practice may be contested by comparing it to alternative practices with different notions of good care. By contrasting practices as different ways of living together that are normatively oriented, suggestions for the best possible care may be argued for. Whether these suggestions will actually be put to practice is, however, again a relational question; new actors need to re-localize suggestions, to make them work in new practices and fit them in with local intra-normativities with their particular routines, material infrastructures, know-how and strivings.

Empirical Investigation into the Determinants of Compliance with IFRS 7 Disclosure Requirements

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Atanasko Atanasovski

2015-04-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to assess the quality of disclosures related to financial instruments provided in annual financial statements of Macedonian listed companies and empirically investigate factors that have the potential to influence the quality of these disclosures in accordance with IFRS 7 requirements. Based on the postulates and the results of the empirical investigations of prior IAS compliance studies I have constructed a disclosure index for each listed company and performed regression analysis with independent variables representing some characteristics of listed companies investigated, such as their size, industry, type of auditor engaged, ownership concentration, profitability and leverage. My regression analysis results supported the conclusion that the level of compliance with IFRS 7 requirements is related to the type of auditor engaged and ownership concentration in investigated companies. The results of my research will contribute the large body of empirical studies on IFRS disclosure and compliance, providing evidence from South- East European Transitional Economy that adopted IFRS as national financial reporting framework.

Public University Students' Expectations: An Empirical Study Based on the Stakeholders Theory

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Emerson Wagner MAINARDES

2012-02-01

Full Text Available In accordance with the importance that the student stakeholder represents to universities, the objective of this research project was to identify and classify the leading expectations of students at public universities. In order to achieve this, the study adopted both the premises of Stakeholder Theory and the approaches of earlier studies on the management of university stakeholders. This empirical study began with an exploratory study of students, at one university, to identify their expectations this resulting in a list of a total of twenty-five confirmed expectations. This provided the basis for the subsequent quantitative study involving students attending eleven Portuguese public universities. Through recourse to an online questionnaire, we obtained 1,669 correctly completed surveys that provided the input for data analysis deploying descriptive statistical processes and multiple linear regressions. Our findings show that the most important student expectations are the academic level of demand, the university’s connections with the employment market, student personal self-fulfillment and the prevailing university environment. According to students, these expectations should gain priority attention by university managers, once they consider them the most relevant aspects to the relationship between the student and the university.

Are Leadership and Management Essential for Good Research? An Interview Study of Genetic Researchers

Science.gov (United States)

Antes, Alison L.; Mart, Adelina; DuBois, James M.

2016-01-01

Principal investigators are responsible for a myriad of leadership and management activities in their work. The practices they employ to navigate these responsibilities ultimately influence the quality and integrity of research. However, leadership and management roles in research have received scant empirical examination. Semi-structured interviews with 32 National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded genetic researchers revealed that they considered leadership and management essential for effective research, but their scientific training inadequately prepared them. We also report management practices that the researchers described employing in their labs, as well as their perceptions of a proposed intervention to enhance laboratory leadership. These findings suggest best practices for the research community, future directions for scientific training, and implications for research on leadership and management in science. PMID:27646401

Are Leadership and Management Essential for Good Research? An Interview Study of Genetic Researchers.

Science.gov (United States)

Antes, Alison L; Mart, Adelina; DuBois, James M

2016-12-01

Principal investigators are responsible for a myriad of leadership and management activities in their work. The practices they use to navigate these responsibilities ultimately influence the quality and integrity of research. However, leadership and management roles in research have received scant empirical examination. Semi-structured interviews with 32 National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded genetic researchers revealed that they considered leadership and management essential for effective research, but their scientific training inadequately prepared them. We also report management practices that the researchers described using in their labs, as well as their perceptions of a proposed intervention to enhance laboratory leadership. These findings suggest best practices for the research community, future directions for scientific training, and implications for research on leadership and management in science.

Exchange Rate Exposures and Strategies of Industrial Companies: An Empirical Study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aabo, Tom

2001-01-01

This article investigates empirically the potential and actual exchange rate exposure strategies of industrial companies in relation to identifying and quantifying the neutral financial positions in an optimal hedging strategy.......This article investigates empirically the potential and actual exchange rate exposure strategies of industrial companies in relation to identifying and quantifying the neutral financial positions in an optimal hedging strategy....

Use of psychophysiological measurements in communication research: teachings from two studies of corporate reputation

OpenAIRE

Salla-Maaria LAAKSONEN; Mikko SALMINEN; Alessio FALCO; Pekka AULA; Niklas RAVAJA

2013-01-01

In this paper we evaluate the possibilities psychophysiological study of emotions can offer to communication research, main focus being on studies of organizational reputation. We briefly discuss the study of emotion in communication sciences and then describe the experimental protocol for studying reputation and emotions with the psychophysiological methods and offer some empirical results from our first experiments. The results obtained from studies reviewed in this paper show that reputati...

Setting healthcare priorities in hospitals: a review of empirical studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Barasa, Edwine W; Molyneux, Sassy; English, Mike; Cleary, Susan

2015-04-01

Priority setting research has focused on the macro (national) and micro (bedside) level, leaving the meso (institutional, hospital) level relatively neglected. This is surprising given the key role that hospitals play in the delivery of healthcare services and the large proportion of health systems resources that they absorb. To explore the factors that impact upon priority setting at the hospital level, we conducted a thematic review of empirical studies. A systematic search of PubMed, EBSCOHOST, Econlit databases and Google scholar was supplemented by a search of key websites and a manual search of relevant papers' reference lists. A total of 24 papers were identified from developed and developing countries. We applied a policy analysis framework to examine and synthesize the findings of the selected papers. Findings suggest that priority setting practice in hospitals was influenced by (1) contextual factors such as decision space, resource availability, financing arrangements, availability and use of information, organizational culture and leadership, (2) priority setting processes that depend on the type of priority setting activity, (3) content factors such as priority setting criteria and (4) actors, their interests and power relations. We observe that there is need for studies to examine these issues and the interplay between them in greater depth and propose a conceptual framework that might be useful in examining priority setting practices in hospitals. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine © The Author 2014; all rights reserved.

Empirical models of structure of personal qualities of heads: affective type of social action by M. Weber (results of applied researches

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A. A. Oseev

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The article is devoted to methodological foundations of research of leader’s personal qualities. In difference from the previous work, which was devoted to a research of personal qualities of heads, including civil officers, at works of Plato, Aristotle and M. Weber, where were shown empirical models of structure of personal qualities of heads: instrumental-rational and value-rational social actions. This publication presents the empirical models of structure of personal qualities of heads of affective type of M. Weber’s social action. Thanks to it, M. Weber’s concept about social action receives one more approach to verification in practice. The following directions of social researches are allocated. The first direction. When in structure of personal qualities the emotional component is a dominant (“emotional unbalance”, in comparison with intellectual, moral, strong-willed and other personal qualities (diplomacy, social experience, and so forth. Those people, whose indicators of emotional unbalance are in extreme, in maximum borders - carry to psychopaths and they are an object of clinical psychology and medicine. The second direction. When in structure of personal qualities emotional unbalance competes on equal terms (equally has bright difference, a deviation from average values to intellectual, moral and strong-willed qualities. The third direction. When in structure of personal qualities intellectual, moral and strong-willed and others personal qualities dominate over affective lines.

Empirical Studies of Contemporaneous Banking Research

OpenAIRE

Reeg, Johannes

2017-01-01

Banks perform important functions for the economy. Besides financial intermediation, banks provide information, liquidity, maturity- and risk-transformation (Fama, 1985). Banks ensure the transfer of liquidity from depositors to the most profitable investment projects. In addition, they perform important screening and monitoring services over investments hence contributing steadily to the efficient allocation of resources across the economy (Pathan and Faff, 2013). Since banks provide financi...

RETAIL STORE IMAGE: A COMPARISON AMONG THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL DIMENSIONS IN A BRAZILIAN STUDY

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Janaina de Moura Engracia Giraldi

2008-01-01

Full Text Available The retail store can be the key success factor, the competitive advantage of a retail company. An important element to the retail strategy is the store image; the total sum of customers’ perceptions about a store. The present paper compares the theoretical and empirical dimensions of retail store’s image in a Brazilian study. The type of research used was the quantitative study, and the data collected was analyzed by use of the factor analysis technique, in order to identify the underlying factors to retail store image. In conclusion, it was observed that the form by which the respondents evaluate the image of a specific supermarket in Brazil is simpler than what was foreseen by theory, with nine factors representing the following store image dimensions: quality,price, after sales service, advertising, clientele, assortment, convenience, atmosphere and services. An important practical contribution of the present study refers to the development of a simpler scale, that can be used by retailers in a viable form to obtain data on their perceived image.

AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS EFFECTIVENESS IN SLOVENIAN MARKET

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Damjana Jerman

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with the value or more specifically, the contribution of marketing communications strategy to effectiveness of marketing communications and hypothesizes that marketing communications strategy correlate with the effectiveness of marketing communications. The paper consists of two parts: the theoretical framework for the role of marketing communications strategy for the effectiveness of the marketing communications and the empirical analysis, based on the primary data collected. The concept of the marketing communication effectiveness assumes that there are variables that can have a positive influence on the effectiveness of marketing communications, which incorporates facets of the marketing communication strategy and bidirectional communications. The results suggest that Slovenian organisations which design and implement marketing communication strategy, also have more effective marketing communications. The development of marketing communications strategy was correlated with increased effectiveness of marketing communications in their organisation. Managerial implications are discussed along with directions for further research.

A Balanced Theoretical and Empirical Approach for the Development of a Design Support Tool

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Thomas Aakjær; Hansen, Claus Thorp

1996-01-01

The introduction of a new design support system may change the engineering designer's work situation. Therefore, it may not be possible to derive all the functionalities for a design support system from solely empirical studies of manual design work. Alternatively the design support system could ...... system, indicating a proposal for how to balance a theoretical and empirical approach. The result of this research will be utilized in the development of a Designer's Workbench to support the synthesis activity in mechanical design....

Radical and Incremental Innovation Preferences in Information Technology: An Empirical Study in an Emerging Economy

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Tarun K. Sen

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Radical and Incremental Innovation Preferences in Information Technology: An Empirical Study in an Emerging Economy Abstract Innovation in information technology is a primary driver for growth in developed economies. Research indicates that countries go through three stages in the adoption of innovation strategies: buying innovation through global trade, incremental innovation from other countries by enhancing efficiency, and, at the most developed stage, radically innovating independently for competitive advantage. The first two stages of innovation maturity depend more on cross-border trade than the third stage. In this paper, we find that IT professionals in in an emerging economy such as India believe in radical innovation over incremental innovation (adaptation as a growth strategy, even though competitive advantage may rest in adaptation. The results of the study report the preference for innovation strategies among IT professionals in India and its implications for other rapidly growing emerging economies.

An empirical study of the relationship between restaurant image and customer loyalty

OpenAIRE

Oh, Heung Chul

1995-01-01

The primary objective of this study was to empirically determine the relationship between restaurant images and loyalties toward seven competing casual dinner house restaurant chains, and to understand the nature of their competition by matching patronage behavior toward alternative restaurant chains with perceptions of alternative restaurants on particular image attributes.

An Empirical Study on the Job Satisfaction of College Graduates in China

Science.gov (United States)

Changjun, Yue

2014-01-01

This study used nationwide, randomly sampled data from the Peking University Institute of Economics of Education 2011 survey of college graduates to conduct an empirical analysis of their job satisfaction. The results indicate that work-related factors have a significant effect on the job satisfaction of college graduates, while nonwork factors…

Empirical studies on the cross-section of corporate bond and stock markets

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Zundert, Jeroen

2018-01-01

This dissertation contains five empirical studies on the efficiency of corporate bond and stock markets. In Chapter 2, the pricing of interest rate risk in the stock market is analyzed. Over the long run, 1927 to 2015, the price of bearing interest rate risk is positive as expected, but there is

@doesyourairlinetweet? An empirical examination of the use of twitter by 50 international airlines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lucy Budd

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Purpose: To provide empirical evidence of the extent to which 50 of the world’s largest passenger airlines use the social media site twitter.Design/methodology/approach: Original empirical data on the presence and usage of 50 airlines’ official twitter accounts was accessed.Research limitations/implications: Research demonstrates the extent to which airlines are using twitter as a communications tool and suggests that some airline are not currently utilising twitter to its full extent.Practical implications: The research provides information on current twitter use and penetration, thus enabling airlines to benchmark their performance in this social media channel.Originality/value: The paper provides an original empirical insight into a growing phenomenon which is currently underreported in academic literatures.

Inglorious Empire

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Khair, Tabish

2017-01-01

Review of 'Inglorious Empire: What the British did to India' by Shashi Tharoor, London, Hurst Publishers, 2017, 296 pp., £20.00......Review of 'Inglorious Empire: What the British did to India' by Shashi Tharoor, London, Hurst Publishers, 2017, 296 pp., £20.00...

Comparing Web Applications with Desktop Applications: An Empirical Study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pop, Paul

2002-01-01

In recent years, many desktop applications have been ported to the world wide web in order to reduce (multiplatform) development, distribution and maintenance costs. However, there is little data concerning the usability of web applications, and the impact of their usability on the total cost...... of developing and using such applications. In this paper we present a comparison of web and desktop applications from the usability point of view. The comparison is based on an empirical study that investigates the performance of a group of users on two calendaring applications: Yahoo!Calendar and Microsoft...... Calendar. The study shows that in the case of web applications the performance of the users is significantly reduced, mainly because of the restricted interaction mechanisms provided by current web browsers....

Educational Leaders and Emotions: An International Review of Empirical Evidence 1992-2012

Science.gov (United States)

Berkovich, Izhak; Eyal, Ori

2015-01-01

The aim of the present article is to review the international evidence about emotional aspects related to educational leaders. The review focuses on empirical studies published in peer-refereed educational journals between 1992 and 2012. First, we address the importance of researching emotions for understanding educational leaders. Next, we…

General Strain Theory and School Bullying: An Empirical Test in South Korea

Science.gov (United States)

Moon, Byongook; Morash, Merry; McCluskey, John D.

2012-01-01

Despite recognition of bullying as a serious school and social problem with negative effects on students' well-being and safety, and the overlap between aggressive bullying acts and delinquent behavior, few empirical studies test the applicability of criminological theories to explaining bullying. This limitation in research is especially evident…

Toward a bioethical framework for antibiotic use, antimicrobial resistance and for empirically designing ethically robust strategies to protect human health: a research protocol.

Science.gov (United States)

Hernández-Marrero, Pablo; Martins Pereira, Sandra; de Sá Brandão, Patrícia Joana; Araújo, Joana; Carvalho, Ana Sofia

2017-12-01

Introduction Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a challenging global and public health issue, raising bioethical challenges, considerations and strategies. Objectives This research protocol presents a conceptual model leading to formulating an empirically based bioethics framework for antibiotic use, AMR and designing ethically robust strategies to protect human health. Methods Mixed methods research will be used and operationalized into five substudies. The bioethical framework will encompass and integrate two theoretical models: global bioethics and ethical decision-making. Results Being a study protocol, this article reports on planned and ongoing research. Conclusions Based on data collection, future findings and using a comprehensive, integrative, evidence-based approach, a step-by-step bioethical framework will be developed for (i) responsible use of antibiotics in healthcare and (ii) design of strategies to decrease AMR. This will entail the analysis and interpretation of approaches from several bioethical theories, including deontological and consequentialist approaches, and the implications of uncertainty to these approaches.

Practical implications of empirically studying moral decision making

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heinzelmann, N.; Ugazio, G.; Tobler, P.N.

2012-01-01

This paper considers the practical question of why people do not behave in the way they ought to behave. This question is a practical one, reaching both into the normative and descriptive domains of morality. That is, it concerns moral norms as well as empirical facts. We argue that two main

An Empirical Investigation on Chinese High School Students' Choice of Pursuing Undergraduate Education Abroad

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Jiankun

2014-01-01

Globalization has greatly promoted student mobility around the world. Being a developing economy, China witnessed significant growth of students studying internationally, especially with the number of students study at undergraduate programs. However, empirical research on high school students' choice and the decision-making process of pursuing…

The Role of Empirical Evidence for Transferring a New Technology to Industry

Science.gov (United States)

Baldassarre, Maria Teresa; Bruno, Giovanni; Caivano, Danilo; Visaggio, Giuseppe

Technology transfer and innovation diffusion are key success factors for an enterprise. The shift to a new software technology involves, on one hand, inevitable changes to ingrained and familiar processes and, on the other, requires training, changes in practices and commitment on behalf of technical staff and management. Nevertheless, industry is often reluctant to innovation due to the changes it determines. The process of innovation diffusion is easier if the new technology is supported by empirical evidence. In this sense our conjecture is that Empirical Software Engineering (ESE) serves as means for validating and transferring a new technology within production processes. In this paper, the authors report their experience of a method, Multiview Framework, defined in the SERLAB research laboratory as support for designing and managing a goal oriented measurement program that has been validated through various empirical studies before being transferred to an Italian SME. Our discussion points out the important role of empirical evidence for obtaining management commitment and buy-in on behalf of technical staff, and for making technological transfer possible.

Migration Studies and Academic Research on International Migration Policies in Argentina

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eduardo Domenech

2017-05-01

Full Text Available This article approaches the historical development of the field of migratory studies in Argentina and makes a review of the academic production around the so - called "migratory policies." The systematization of these studies, historically placed on migration policies, aims to highlight some of the most significant contributions of the research during the last 30 years, to understand or explain various aspects and dimensions of the Argentinean migration policy. To achieve this, texts were selected that derived from empirical research that explicitly assume the migratory policies as the object of study, or whose themes and research problems adopt as a framework for discussion the policies and practices aimed at regulating migration and mobility in Argentina. The organization and presentation of these selected texts consider issues related to the interests and thematic concerns, disciplinary and analytical approaches, distinct periods, scales of analysis and sources of information.

Evolution of the empirical and theoretical foundations of eyewitness identification reform.

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, Steven E; Moreland, Molly B; Gronlund, Scott D

2014-04-01

Scientists in many disciplines have begun to raise questions about the evolution of research findings over time (Ioannidis in Epidemiology, 19, 640-648, 2008; Jennions & Møller in Proceedings of the Royal Society, Biological Sciences, 269, 43-48, 2002; Mullen, Muellerleile, & Bryan in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 1450-1462, 2001; Schooler in Nature, 470, 437, 2011), since many phenomena exhibit decline effects-reductions in the magnitudes of effect sizes as empirical evidence accumulates. The present article examines empirical and theoretical evolution in eyewitness identification research. For decades, the field has held that there are identification procedures that, if implemented by law enforcement, would increase eyewitness accuracy, either by reducing false identifications, with little or no change in correct identifications, or by increasing correct identifications, with little or no change in false identifications. Despite the durability of this no-cost view, it is unambiguously contradicted by data (Clark in Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7, 238-259, 2012a; Clark & Godfrey in Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 16, 22-42, 2009; Clark, Moreland, & Rush, 2013; Palmer & Brewer in Law and Human Behavior, 36, 247-255, 2012), raising questions as to how the no-cost view became well-accepted and endured for so long. Our analyses suggest that (1) seminal studies produced, or were interpreted as having produced, the no-cost pattern of results; (2) a compelling theory was developed that appeared to account for the no-cost pattern; (3) empirical results changed over the years, and subsequent studies did not reliably replicate the no-cost pattern; and (4) the no-cost view survived despite the accumulation of contradictory empirical evidence. Theories of memory that were ruled out by early data now appear to be supported by data, and the theory developed to account for early data now appears to be incorrect.

Trade liberalization, social policies and health: an empirical case study.

Science.gov (United States)

McNamara, Courtney

2015-10-12

This study investigates the health impacts of a major liberalization episode in the textile and clothing (T&C) sector. This episode triggered substantial shifts in employment across a wide range of countries. It is the first study to empirically link trade liberalization to health via changes in employment and offers some of the first empirical insights on how trade liberalization interacts with social policies to influence health. Data from 32 T&C reliant countries were analysed in reference to the pre- and post-liberalization periods of 2000-2004 and 2005-2009. Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) was used to examine the association between countries' a) level of development b) labour market and welfare state protections c) T&C employment changes and d) changes in adult female and infant mortality rates. Process tracing was used to further investigate these associations through twelve in-depth country studies. Results from the fsQCA relate changes in employment after the phase-out to both changing adult female and infant mortality rates. Findings from the in-depth country studies suggest that the worsening of adult female mortality rates is related to workers' lack of social protection, both in the context of T&C employment growth and loss. Overall, it is found that social protection is often inaccessible to the type of workers who may be the most vulnerable to processes of liberalization and that many workers are particularly vulnerable due to the structure of social protection policies. Social policies are therefore found to both moderate pathways to health and influence the type of health-related pathways resulting from trade liberalizing policies.

How physics teachers approach innovation: An empirical study for reconstructing the appropriation path in the case of special relativity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna De Ambrosis

2010-08-01

Full Text Available This paper concerns an empirical study carried out with a group of high school physics teachers engaged in the Module on relativity of a Master course on the teaching of modern physics. The study is framed within the general research issue of how to promote innovation in school via teachers’ education and how to foster fruitful interactions between research and school practice via the construction of networks of researchers and teachers. In the paper, the problems related to innovation are addressed by focusing on the phase during which teachers analyze an innovative teaching proposal in the perspective of designing their own paths for the class work. The proposal analyzed in this study is Taylor and Wheeler’s approach for teaching special relativity. The paper aims to show that the roots of problems known in the research literature about teachers’ difficulties in coping with innovative proposals, and usually related to the implementation process, can be found and addressed already when teachers approach the proposal and try to appropriate it. The study is heuristic and has been carried out in order to trace the “appropriation path,” followed by the group of teachers, in terms of the main steps and factors triggering the progressive evolution of teachers’ attitudes and competences.

School Climate Research

Science.gov (United States)

Thapa, Amrit

2013-01-01

School climate research is clearly evolving. The field demands rigorous and empirically sound research that focuses on relating specific aspects and activities of interventions to changes in specific components of school climate. We also need empirical evidence based on sound research techniques on how both interventions and climate affect…

Parents' experiences of neonatal transfer. A meta-study of qualitative research 2000-2017.

Science.gov (United States)

Aagaard, Hanne; Hall, Elisabeth O C; Ludvigsen, Mette S; Uhrenfeldt, Lisbeth; Fegran, Liv

2018-02-15

Transfers of critically ill neonates are frequent phenomena. Even though parents' participation is regarded as crucial in neonatal care, a transfer often means that parents and neonates are separated. A systematic review of the parents' experiences of neonatal transfer is lacking. This paper describes a meta-study addressing qualitative research about parents' experiences of neonatal transfer. Through deconstruction and reflections of theories, methods, and empirical data, the aim was to achieve a deeper understanding of theoretical, empirical, contextual, historical, and methodological issues of qualitative studies concerning parents' experiences of neonatal transfer over the course of this meta-study (2000-2017). Meta-theory and meta-method analyses showed that caring, transition, and family-centered care were main theoretical frames applied and that interviewing with a small number of participants was the preferred data collection method. The meta-data-analysis showed that transfer was a scary, unfamiliar, and threatening experience for the parents; they were losing familiar context, were separated from their neonate, and could feel their parenthood disrupted. We identified 'wavering and wandering' as a metaphoric representation of the parents' experiences. The findings add knowledge about meta-study as an approach for comprehensive qualitative research and point at the value of meta-theory and meta-method analyses. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Inter-firm Networks, Organizational Learning and Knowledge Updating: An Empirical Study

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Su-rong; Wang, Wen-ping

In the era of knowledge-based economy which information technology develops rapidly, the rate of knowledge updating has become a critical factor for enterprises to gaining competitive advantage .We build an interactional theoretical model among inter-firm networks, organizational learning and knowledge updating thereby and demonstrate it with empirical study at last. The result shows that inter-firm networks and organizational learning is the source of knowledge updating.

The investor behavior and futures market volatility A theory and empirical study based on the OLG model and high-frequency data

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Yun Wang; Renhai Hua; Zongcheng Zhang

2011-01-01

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the futures volatility could attect the investor behavior and what trading strategy different investors could adopt when they meet different information conditions.Design/methodology/approach-This study introduces a two-period overlapping generation model (OLG) model into the future market and set the investor behavior model based on the future contract price,which can also be extended to complete and incomplete information.It provides the equilibrium solution and uses cuprum tick data in SHFE to conduct the empirical analysis.Findings-The two-period OLG model based on the future market is consistent with the practical situation;second,the sufficient information investors such as institutional adopt reversal trading patterns generally;last,the insufficient information investors such as individual investors adopt momentum trading patterns in general.Research limitations/implications-Investor trading behavior is always an important issue in the behavioral finance and market supervision,but the related research is scarce.Practical implications-The conclusion shows that the investors' behavior in Chinese future market is different from the Chinese stock market.Originality/value-This study empirically analyzes and verifies the different types of trading strategies investors could;investors such as institutional ones adopt reversal trading patterns generally;while investors such as individual investors adopt momentum trading patterns in general.

An Introduction to Experimental Design Research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cash, Philip; Stanković, Tino; Štorga, Mario

2016-01-01

Design research brings together influences from the whole gamut of social, psychological, and more technical sciences to create a tradition of empirical study stretching back over 50 years (Horvath 2004; Cross 2007). A growing part of this empirical tradition is experimental, which has gained in ...

Impact of Company Size on Manufacturing Improvement Practices: An empirical study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Syan, C S; Ramoutar, K

2014-01-01

There is a constant search for ways to achieve a competitive advantage through new manufacturing techniques. Best performing manufacturing companies tend to use world-class manufacturing (WCM) practices. Although the last few years have witnessed phenomenal growth in the use of WCM techniques, their effectiveness is not well understood specifically in the context of less developed countries. This paper presents an empirical study to investigate the impact of company size on improving manufacturing performance in manufacturing organizations based in Trinidad and Tobago (T and T). Empirical data were collected via a questionnaire survey which was send to 218 manufacturing firms in T and T. Five different company sizes and seven different industry sectors were studied. The analysis of survey data was performed with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. The study signified facilitating and impeding factors towards improving manufacturing performance. Their relative impact/importance is dependent on varying company size and industry sectors. Findings indicate that T and T manufacturers are still practicing traditional approaches, when compared with world class manufacturers. In the majority of organizations, these practices were not 100% implemented even though they started the implementation process more than 5 years ago. The findings provided some insights in formulating more optimal operational strategies, and later develop action plans towards more effective implementation of WCM in T and T manufacturers

Impact of Company Size on Manufacturing Improvement Practices: An empirical study

Science.gov (United States)

Syan, C. S.; Ramoutar, K.

2014-07-01

There is a constant search for ways to achieve a competitive advantage through new manufacturing techniques. Best performing manufacturing companies tend to use world-class manufacturing (WCM) practices. Although the last few years have witnessed phenomenal growth in the use of WCM techniques, their effectiveness is not well understood specifically in the context of less developed countries. This paper presents an empirical study to investigate the impact of company size on improving manufacturing performance in manufacturing organizations based in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T). Empirical data were collected via a questionnaire survey which was send to 218 manufacturing firms in T&T. Five different company sizes and seven different industry sectors were studied. The analysis of survey data was performed with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. The study signified facilitating and impeding factors towards improving manufacturing performance. Their relative impact/importance is dependent on varying company size and industry sectors. Findings indicate that T&T manufacturers are still practicing traditional approaches, when compared with world class manufacturers. In the majority of organizations, these practices were not 100% implemented even though they started the implementation process more than 5 years ago. The findings provided some insights in formulating more optimal operational strategies, and later develop action plans towards more effective implementation of WCM in T&T manufacturers.

An Empirical Examination of Factors Affecting Group Effectiveness in Information Systems Projects

Science.gov (United States)

Hasan, Bassam; Ali, Jafar

2007-01-01

Although group project concepts and skills have become a major component in most information systems (IS) academic programs, very little research has attempted to examine factors that may improve or undermine effectiveness of IS group projects. Accordingly, based on relevant literatures, this study develops and empirically tests a model of factors…

Gathering Empirical Evidence Concerning Links between Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Creativity

Science.gov (United States)

Musta'amal, Aede Hatib; Norman, Eddie; Hodgson, Tony

2009-01-01

Discussion is often reported concerning potential links between computer-aided designing and creativity, but there is a lack of systematic enquiry to gather empirical evidence concerning such links. This paper reports an indication of findings from other research studies carried out in contexts beyond general education that have sought evidence…

An Empirical Study on Environmental System Perception of Tourism Island Residents: A Case Study in Hainan Island

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qiong Sun

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Today the development of island tourism has attracted more and more attention from domestic and international tourism researches. Tourism island has become the important scenic spot in coastal cities in China. Through the empirical research of local residents' awareness of environmental system, we can better hold people's perception of the touristic environment. Method can also be drawn to promote public participation more actively in the tourism development of the islands. This paper mainly shows the residents' attitude towards tourism through their feelings of the changes of economy, local social culture and the island environment brought by tourism. The results show that residents' positive perception of tourism is more intense than negative perception, and the perception of economy is stronger than that of culture and environment. On the overall perception, there exists no significant difference while in the tiny level there are still some differences remained.

Self-Published Books: An Empirical "Snapshot"

Science.gov (United States)

Bradley, Jana; Fulton, Bruce; Helm, Marlene

2012-01-01

The number of books published by authors using fee-based publication services, such as Lulu and AuthorHouse, is overtaking the number of books published by mainstream publishers, according to Bowker's 2009 annual data. Little empirical research exists on self-published books. This article presents the results of an investigation of a random sample…

An Empirical Study on the Driving Path of Optimizing the Resources Allocation of Foreign Trade Enterprises from the Perspective of Energy Supply-side Reform

Science.gov (United States)

You, Yu-cong; Yi, Lu-xia

2017-11-01

From the perspective of energy supply-side reform, this paper, by conducting an empirical study on foreign trade enterprises, conducts a research on the cross-role effect of optimizing the resources allocation and enhancing the energy efficiency. Methodologically, this paper creatively introduces the HILE's probabilistic structured property into Granger causality test analysis, forming an HILE-Granger (H-G) model, so as to empirically estimate both the short-term and long-term causal relationship effects between the energy efficiency and resources allocation. Conclusion is drawn that optimization of resources allocation is positively proportional with the energy efficiency enhancement. This paper is to provide a decision-making reference for the supply side reform strategy of foreign trade enterprises under the background of green energy economy.

Debunking Confabulation : Emotions and the Significance of Empirical Psychology for Kantian Ethics

NARCIS (Netherlands)