A framework for mathematics graphical tasks : The influence of the graphic element on student sense making

Graphical tasks have become a prominent aspect of mathematics assessment. From a conceptual stance, the purpose of this study was to better understand the composition of graphical tasks commonly used to assess students’ mathematics understandings. Through an iterative design, the investigation described the sense making of 11–12-year-olds as they decoded mathematics tasks which contained a graphic. An ongoing analysis of two phases of data collection was undertaken as we analysed the extent to which various elements of text, graphics, and symbols influenced student sense making. Specifically, the study outlined the changed behaviour (and performance) of the participants as they solved graphical tasks that had been modified with respect to these elements. We propose a theoretical framework for understanding the composition of a graphical task and identify three specific elements which are dependently and independently related to each other, namely: the graphic; the text; and the symbols. Results indicated that although changes to the graphical tasks were minimal, a change in student success and understanding was most evident when the graphic element was modified. Implications include the need for test designers to carefully consider the graphics embedded within mathematics tasks since the elements within graphical tasks greatly influence student understanding.

Sense-making across space and time : implications for the organization and findability of information

This paper presents the results from a study of information behaviors, with specific focus on information organisation-related behaviours conducted as part of a larger daily diary study with 34 participants. The findings indicate that organization of information in everyday life is a problematic area due to various factors. The self-evident one is the inter-subjectivity between the person who may have organized the information and the person looking for that same information (Berlin et. al., 1993). Increasingly though, we are not just looking for information within collections that have been designed by someone else, but within our own personal collections of information, which frequently include books, electronic files, photos, records, documents, desktops, web bookmarks, and portable devices. The passage of time between when we categorized or classified the information, and the time when we look for the same information, poses several problems of intra-subjectivity, or the difference between our own past and present perceptions of the same information. Information searching, and hence the retrieval of information from one's own collection of information in everyday life involved a spatial and temporal coordination with one's own past selves in a sort of cognitive and affective time travel, just as organizing information is a form of anticipatory coordination with one's future information needs. This has implications for finding information and also on personal information management.

Enablers of sense-making and responding and their impact on the effectiveness of management accounting practices

Management accounting practices are expected to adapt and evolve with changing information requirements. The purpose of this study is to determine the factors that enable management accounting adaptability and effectiveness. This study identifies three factors that drive management accounting adaptability through their support of sense-making and responding. Specifically, it is examined how top management team knowledge, team-based structures, and information system flexibility affect management accounting adaptability. The hypotheses are tested using data collected from an online survey of Australian and New Zealand companies. The results support the proposed relationships. Also a positive association between management accounting adaptability and management accounting effectiveness was found. This empirical study contributes to the literature on management accounting change by determining a number of drivers that improve upon the agility of organizational management accounting practices.

The BoP approach and its links to main related research fields: sense-making of the current discussion

A Base-da-Pirâmide (Base ofthePyramid- BoP) é referida na literatura como sendo o segmento sócio-econômico mais baixo em termos de paridade do poder de compra. Esse segmento encontrase geralmente excluído do sistema capitalista global. Esta tese analisa o tema BoP e discute dentro de um contexto sócio-econômico, como essa abordagem se relaciona com outras áreas de pesquisa, assim como a teoria do desenvolvimento internacional e a teoria de negócios internacionais. Estas duas teorias são identificadas como tendo uma relação mais forte com BoP. No que se segue, a abordagem BoP é incorporada nessas duas teorias com o objetivo de tornar este conceito mais claro e abrangente. Seguindo este raciocínio a abordagem BoP vem identificar contribuições no tocante a cada uma dessas abordagens teóricas. O argumento principal da tese é que a abordagem BoP é capaz de ligar essas duas teorias (teoria do desenvolvimento internacional e a teoria de negócios internacionais) em um só modelo teórico, mostrando assim que essas duas abordagens teóricas distintas podem na realidade serem complementares.

Struggling, Coping, And Thriving: Sense-Making In Stepfamily Couples' Narratives About Coparenting

The term coparenting implies a bioparental dyad that often excludes the stepparent's role in sharing parenting across joint-custody households. Focusing solely on this dyad also precludes gaining an understanding of how stepfamily couples manage together the communication and sharing of parental responsibilities with the parent(s) in the shared children's other home. In a departure from this bioparental dyad-focused approach, this study locates the stepfamily couple at the center of an inquiry into managing coparenting across households. This mixed methods design study included in-depth interviews of 32 stepfamily couples whose narratives about coparenting were analyzed using grounded theory methods. Forty-one percent of stepparents engage in direct coparenting communication, sometimes manifested as the coactive approach identified in this study. Stepfamily couples also involve the stepparent indirectly in coparenting communication, through the conferred and consultative approaches. As well, the couples' narratives about coparenting identify them as either united, where they share the experience, or divided, where coparenting is reserved exclusively for the bioparent to manage. The stepfamily couples' narratives about significant coparenting experiences revealed that they experience and make sense of coparenting as 1) struggling, 2) coping, or 3) thriving. No significant relationship was found between marital satisfaction and experiencing coparenting as strugglers, copers or thrivers. Grounded theory analysis of these narratives also reflects the four dichotomous dimensions of 1) regard-disregard, 2) decency-duplicity, 3) facilitation-interference, and 4) accommodation-inflexibility. Significant incidents located along these dimensions contribute to the stepfamily couples' identification as struggling, coping, or thriving in coparenting. Experiences on the extreme ends of the dichotomous dimensions generate positive and negative turning points for the coparenting interactions and relationships. As well, experiences on the negative end of the dimensional poles can present challenges for the stepfamily couples. Finally, a synthesis of the findings related to the dichotomous dimensions generates a theory of shared parenting values expectancy.

Sense-Making Bodies: Feminist Materiality and Phenomenology in Constructive Body Theologies

Constructive body theology provides an ethical commitment to and a set of analytical principles for understanding bodily experience. If we insist upon the theological value of embodied experience, how can we give an adequate account of it? Are feminist appeals to the senses useful in developing theological truth claims based in embodied experiences? Feminist theologies which explicitly seek to overcome body/mind dualisms often reinscribe them when they neglect to attend to perception as a critical element of bodily experience. Phenomenological analyses of perception (such as suggested by Merleau-Ponty) strengthen and refine our conception of embodiment. Grounding constructive theology in experience requires understanding experience as bodily perceptual orientation, as perceptual bodily and cultural acts involved in socially and historically situated contextual meaning-making processes. This shift expands phenomenological concepts such as intentionality and habit, and allows for a comparative investigation of historical and cultural differences in embodied experiences through examples found in sensory anthropology. Body theology, framed as principles, strengthens theological projects (such as those by Carter Heyward and Marcella Althaus-Reid, as well as new constructive possibilities) through opening dialogical avenues of exploration into embodied being in the world. Body theology principles help us conceive of and address how our bodily experiencing--our feeling, tasting, hearing, imaging, remembering and other sensory knowledge --comes to matter in our lives, especially where oppressive forces viscerally affect embodied life.

Finding meaning in parenting a child with Asperger syndrome: correlates of sense making and benefit finding

This study explored the nature of two construals of meaning, benefit finding and sense making, in parents of a child with Asperger syndrome, and examined relations between both meaning constructs and the Double ABCX family stress model variables (initial stressor and pile-up of demands, appraisal, social support, coping strategies and adjustment) [H.I. McCubbin, J.M. Patterson, Social Stress and the Family: Advances and Developments in Family Stress Theory and Research, Haworth, New York, 1983, pp. 7-37]. A total of 59 parents completed questionnaires. Content analyses of parents' responses to questions inquiring about gains and sense making explanations revealed 8 benefit and 12 sense making themes. Results of correlations indicated that one or more of the meaning variables were related to each of the Double ABCX model predictors of parental adjustment. The meaning variables were positively related to adaptive coping processes: social support, self-efficacy, and problem-focused and emotional approach coping strategies. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Living together with age related macular degeneration:an interpretative phenomenological analysis of sense-making within a dyadic relationship

In this article, we present an idiographic analysis of a couple's experience of living and coming to terms with age-related macular degeneration. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to explore three joint interviews, conducted over an 18-month period, with a married couple (aged 82 and 77 years) both living with age-related macular degeneration. Three themes are discussed: the disruption of vision impairment, managing mutual deterioration and resilience through togetherness. We discuss the existential challenges of vision impairment and consider the applicability of Galvin and Todres' typology of well-being as a means of understanding well-being in older adults.

What's in it for us? A case study research about micro sense making processes through the eyes of front line employees, during culture change implementation

Abstract How employees make sense of change is a very complex process. Recently, academics have neglected to research sense making activities in a micro culture implementation context, through the eyes of front line employees. In contrast to a macro view, a micro perspective limits researchers to only look at an individual, departmental or group level. By doing so, we can zoom in on the details of sense making processes that employees use in their daily work life. A macro (organisational) view is based on the notion that there is a general integrated culture that can be found in all organisational units and departments. It is assumed that culture can be researched by using the entire organisation as one single research entity. This thesis challenges this assumption. In case of planned change it is usually the management community who are in charge of the change intervention. Because of their formal hierarchical position, they have the power to abort or initiate change programs. It is perhaps therefore that researchers tend to be focused on the management community rather than on lower level organisational members, such as front line employees. Apart from the micro view, scholars also neglected to research culture change implementation through the eyes of front line employees. This thesis is an attempt to fill these two gaps that currently exists in academic change management publications. The main research question is therefore: From a micro point of view how do front-line employees make sense of the impact of culture change, during the implementation phase? This thesis starts with a literature review which exposes the two main gaps. The most important outcome of this review is that only 2% of the research articles dealt with culture implementation, through the eyes of front line employees. A conceptual research model is built on the integrated sense making theory of Weber and Manning (2001) and the micro variables of Raelin and Cataldo (2011). These theories emphasize elements of sense making in a daily working context. It is likely that front line employees can identify themselves with research elements such as tasks, skills practices, involvement and behaviour. Front line employees were selected, because as lower level organisational members they are usually the change recipients. They are further away from the change initiating scene (usually the management of an organisation) and form a potential sense making ‘hotspot’ that could provide new academic insights. In order to carry out the primary research, two case organisations were selected in the leisure industry. A participative case study research method was chosen. This meant that the researcher worked in the concerning departments of the case organisations. The goal was to observe and interview front line employees, while they were performing their jobs. The most important advantage of this approach is that the researcher temporarily becomes one with the organisation and is therefore able to acquire both formal and informal narratives that front line employees use during sense making activities. It was found that front line employees make sense of organisational change by using a practical approach. They make sense of the change program by carrying out new tasks, developing new skills and sharing best practices. The most noticeable conclusion was that sense making activities predominantly take place at an individual level in relation to change acceptance. Organisational members tend to create a mental equation in order to weigh the advantages against the disadvantages. They evaluate whether the concerning change program is beneficial to them or not. For future research a sense making scheme model is suggested that is based on two methods: an introspection and an action method.

Sense making by middlemanagement

Aanleiding voor het onderzoek Deze scriptie sluit aan bij de afstudeerkring “effectieve verandermanagers”. Aanleiding voor dit onderzoek was de brede vraag “Wat onderscheidt een effectieve veranderingsmanager op het middenniveau in organisaties van een minder effectieve bij het implementeren van veranderingen?” Binnen deze brede vraag past de centrale vraagstelling in dit onderzoek: “Welke neerwaartse activiteiten oefenen middenmanagers uit in een sensemakingproces tijdens een verandering?“ Middenmanager Allereerst definiëren we het begrip ‘middenmanager’. De middenmanager bevindt zich op een kruispunt: In de verticale lijn tussen het topmanagement en de werkvloer, op de horizontale lijn tussen de diverse afdelingen (Nonaka,1994). Ten behoeve van mijn onderzoek sluit ik mij aan bij de positionering van Huy (2001). Hij plaatst de middenmanager 2 lagen onder de CEO en 1 laag boven lijnmedewerkers en professionals. In een veranderingsproces heeft de middenmanager verschillende rollen te vervullen. Deze verschillende rollen zijn, onder anderen, beschreven door Huy (2001) en Quinn (1998). Zij noemen: entrepreneur, communicator en therapeut, stimulator, mentor, innovator, bemiddelaar, producent, bestuurder, coördinator, controleur. De onderzoekers zijn het er over eens dat de middenmanager moet balanceren en doseren in de verschillende rollen om effectief te kunnen zijn in een veranderingsproces. Sensemakingproces Dit onderzoek probeert meer kennis te genereren over welke neerwaartse activiteiten middenmanagers uitoefenen gedurende een sensemakingproces tijdens een verandering. We definiëren het begrip ‘sensemakingproces’. Het sensemakingproces vindt plaats als mensen geconfronteerd worden met boodschappen of gebeurtenissen die nieuw zijn. Door met deze nieuwe informatie te kijken naar de bestaande werkelijkheid, is een bewustwording op gang geholpen die kan leiden tot verandering. Er is nog weinig onderzoek gedaan naar de activiteiten (wat doen middenmanagers op dagelijkse basis) van middenmanagers in sensemakingprocessen. Rouleau & Balogun (2007) hebben dat wel onderzocht en onderscheiden de volgende vier sensegivingactiviteiten: het uitrollen van netwerken; het distribueren van gedachten door het voeren van gesprekken; het identificeren van sociale en culturele systemen. Relevantie onderzoek De externe validiteit van het hierboven genoemde onderzoek van Rouleau & Balogun (2007) is echter beperkt, doordat deze is uitgevoerd onder een kleine populatie in Canada en het Verenigd Koninkrijk. Mijn onderzoek wil een bijdrage leveren aan de toename van de externe validiteit door te verifiëren of de neerwaartse activiteiten van de middenmanager die gevonden zijn in het onderzoek van Rouleau & Balogun (2007) middels een andere onderzoeksmethode en met een andere onderzoekspopulatie (de Nederlandse zorginstelling Tactus). Wat betreft de praktische relevantie kan gezegd worden dat mijn onderzoek meer inzicht geeft aan de middenmanagers in welke activiteiten zij uitvoeren of zouden kunnen uitvoeren. Zij kunnen zich bewust worden van hun mogelijkheden om invloed uit te oefenen op het sensemakingproces van hun medewerkers. Ik verwacht daarmee hun effectiviteit te vergroten. Centrale vraag en deelvragen Bij de centrale vraag kunnen de volgende deelvragen geformuleerd worden: 1. Wat is de rol van middenmanagers in een sensemakingproces tijdens een verandering? 2. Zijn de neerwaartse sensemakingactiviteiten van middenmanagers (uit de studie van Rouleau & Balogun, 2007) ook te identificeren zijn binnen één Nederlandse GGZ-stichting? 3. Zijn er andere neerwaartse sensemakingactiviteiten van middenmanagers te identificeren? Conceptuele model Het model dat de basis is voor de beantwoording van de tweede en derde deelvraag, is gebaseerd op de literatuur. In dit model worden de sensemakingactiviteiten van de middenmanager als een onafhankelijke variabele gezien die direct invloed heeft op het sensemakingproces binnen het team. Daarbij kunnen we enkele mediërende en modererende factoren onderscheiden. Als modererende factor noemen we, ten eerste, de mate waarin voor het teamlid het persoonlijke triggerpoint bereikt is. Hoe dichter genaderd, hoe meer kans op verandering bij dit teamlid (Kloosterboer, 2008). Ten tweede noemen we het sneeuwbaleffect van de positieve feedback (Kelman, 2005): hoe verder in het proces, hoe meer kans op verandering. Tenslotte noemen we als modererende factor het emotiemanagement van de middenmanager. Hoe meer de middenmanager in staat is de balans te vinden, hoe meer kans op verandering (Huy, 2002). Als mediërende factor kunnen we de horizontale sensegiving noemen, ofwel de sensegiving door peers (Balogun & Johnson, 2005). Deze sensegiving kan, los van de sensemakingactiviteiten van de manager een geheel eigen verandering op gang brengen. Het kan dus gezien worden als (een deel van) de verklaring voor het sensemakingproces binnen het team. Dit onderzoek beperkt zich tot het bestuderen van de sensemakingactiviteiten van de middenmanager en hun effect op het sensemakingproces binnen het team. In het onderzoek worden de modererende factoren en de mediërende factor dus niet meegenomen. Onderzoeksopzet Het onderzoek is opgesteld als multiple-case design, toetsend onderzoek. Toetsend, omdat de externe validering van de neerwaartse sensemakingactiviteiten van de middenmanager nog laag is. Het multiple-case design biedt de mogelijkheid om cases met elkaar te vergelijken en bredere steun te vinden voor de geformuleerde proposities. De voorgenomen bronnen waren een (één op één) interview met acht middenmanagers, een groepsinterview met meerdere medewerkers per middenmanager en documenten. De focus in alle interviews was de middenmanager en diens sensemakingactiviteiten. De opgevraagde en aangeleverde documenten zijn echter geen adequate bron van informatie gebleken. Resultaten De eerste deelvraag is beantwoord middels literatuurstudie. De onderzoekers zijn het er over eens dat de middenmanager moet balanceren en doseren in de verschillende rollen om effectief te kunnen zijn in een veranderingsproces. De tweede en derde deelvraag werden beantwoord middels een multiple-case design onderzoek. De resultaten uit dit onderzoek laten zien dat de neerwaartse sensemakingactiviteiten uit de studie van Rouleau & Balogun (2007), inderdaad gevonden werden binnen de genoemde GGZ-stichting. De hypothese is daarmee geverifieerd. De derde conclusie is dat er geen andere neerwaartse sensemakingactiviteiten van middenmanagers zijn geïdentificeerd. Door de verkregen informatie over de vier sensemakingactiviteiten van middenmanager terug te brengen naar handelingsniveau, is zichtbaar geworden dat er verschillen zijn tussen de middenmanagers. De handelingen in gezamenlijkheid leidden wel tot de vier sensemakingactiviteiten. Discussie De casestudie heeft geen nieuwe activiteiten aangetoond. Dat maakt de definiëring van het begrip steviger. Door de vier sensemakingactiviteiten (Rouleau & Balogun, 2007) op een derde niveau op te delen in kleinere eenheden, draagt deze casestudie tevens bij aan een nadere definiëring van het begrip ‘neerwaartse sensemakingactiviteiten van de middenmanager’. Door de verduidelijking van het begrip is kwantitatief onderzoek beter mogelijk, waardoor nu ook causale verbanden tussen de neerwaartse sensemakingactiviteiten van de middenmanager en de sensemaking bij de medewerkers gemaakt kunnen worden. Aanbevelingen In een vervolgonderzoek zou het conceptuele model deels of geheel onderzocht kunnen worden. Met een dergelijk onderzoek, of meerdere onderzoeken zou meer duidelijkheid kunnen komen over de mate van invloed van de mediërende factoren en modererende factor op de sensemaking. Aanbeveling voor verder onderzoek is om de onderzoeksmethode te variëren of uit te breiden met bijvoorbeeld participerende observatie. Dan zou waarneming kunnen plaatsvinden vanuit het perspectief van een betrokkene (Yin, 2003). Een andere methode om de activiteiten beter te inventariseren is het laten bijhouden door managers van hun sensemakingactiviteiten. Een bijkomende propositie die dit onderzoek oplevert, is dat de relatie tussen al dan niet hebben van onbewuste kennis en het beschikken over ervaring als leidinggevende niet gelegd kan worden. Deze propositie zou verder onderzocht kunnen worden.

Sense-making in theory and practice: a metatheoretical foundation and application for health information seeking

This thesis attempts to provide deeper historical and theoretical grounding for sense-making, thereby illustrating its applicability to practical information seeking research. In Chapter One I trace the philosophical origins of Brenda Dervin’s theory known as “sense making,” reaching beyond current scholarship that locates the origins of sense-making in twentieth-century Phenomenology and Communication theory and find its rich ontological, epistemological, and etymological heritage that dates back to the Pre-Socratics. After exploring sense-making’s Greek roots, I examine sense-making’s philosophical undercurrents found in Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit (1807), where he also returns to the simplicity of the Greeks for his concept of sense. With Chapter Two I explore sense-making methodology and find, in light of the Greek and Hegelian dialectic, a dialogical bridge connecting sense-making’s theory with pragmatic uses. This bridge between Dervin’s situation and use occupies a distinct position in sense-making theory. Moreover, building upon Brenda Dervin’s model of sense-making, I use her metaphors of gap and bridge analogy to discuss the dialectic and dialogic components of sense making. The purpose of Chapter Three is pragmatic – to gain insight into the online information-seeking needs, experiences, and motivation of first-degree relatives (FDRs) of breast cancer survivors through the lens of sense-making. This research analyses four questions: 1) information-seeking behavior among FDRs of cancer survivors compared to survivors and to undiagnosed, non-related online cancer information seekers in the general population, 2) types of and places where information is sought, 3) barriers or gaps and satisfaction rates FDRs face in their cancer information quest, and 4) types and degrees of cancer information and resources FDRs want and use in their information search for themselves and other family members. An online survey instrument designed to investigate these questions was developed and pilot tested. Via an email communication, the Susan Love Breast Cancer Research Foundation distributed 322,000 invitations to its membership to complete the survey, and from March 24th to April 5th 10,692 women agreed to take the survey with 8,804 volunteers actually completing survey responses. Of the 8,804 surveys, 95% of FDRs have searched for cancer information online, and 84% of FDRs use the Internet as a sense-making tool for additional information they have received from doctors or nurses. FDRs report needing much more information than either survivors or family/friends in ten out of fifteen categories related to breast and ovarian cancer. When searching for cancer information online, FDRs also rank highest in several of sense-making’s emotional levels: uncertainty, confusion, frustration, doubt, and disappointment than do either survivors or friends and family. The sense-making process has existed in theory and praxis since the early Greeks. In applying sense–making’s theory to a contemporary problem, the survey reveals unaddressed situations and gaps of FDRs’ information search process. FDRs are a highly motivated group of online information seekers whose needs are largely unaddressed as a result of gaps in available online information targeted to address their specific needs. Since FDRs represent a quarter of the population, further research addressing their specific online information needs and experiences is necessary.