Canada’s new Open Access Policy: what does it mean for Brock researchers?

Presentation at Brock Library Spring Symposium 2015: What's really going on?

Supporting and maximizing communication between individuals with intellectual disabilities and health care providers

The goal of the present study was to examine the barriers to access in health services faced by individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID), as well as the nature of communication between people with ID and those who are directly involved in supporting their health and well being. The study included in-depth interviews with five adults who have been identified as having ID and are supported by a community agency, five community agency support staff and four physicians who are specialists in supporting people who have ID. A qualitative content analysis approach facilitated the comparative exploration of key themes that each participant group saw as positive or negative influences on health care access and on effective health care communication. Themes drawn from the findings emphasize the unique roles each of these groups plays within the dialogical framework of the health care encounter. Of particular importance to informants was the issue of people with ID being seen as full participants in their own health care who, like all people, are unique individuals and not simply members of an identified or marginalized group. Participants across groups emphasized the need for the health care recipient to be known as an individual who is an expert in her/his own health and well being and, therefore, entitled to full participation with the support of but not control by others.

Grade 9 students' perceptions of the impact of a Drop Everything and Read (D.E.A.R.) program /

Educators continually look for strategies to enhance and improve the reading practices of their students. This is an especially challenging task for secondary level teachers as high school students often lack intrinsic motivation to read for pleasure (Bucher & Manning, 2004; Horton, 2005; Wooicott, Research Pty. Ltd. 2001). The purpose of this study was to detennine the effects of the Drop Everything and Read (D.E.A.R.) program on writing, on reading, and on grades, from the perspective of eight Grade 9 students. Of particular interest were the students' perceptions of the effect that participation in the program had on their grades, their writing, their motivation to reading, and their concept of themselves as readers. The eight participants were tracked over the course of a semester. Using qualitative research techniques, data were collected from four sources: two student surveys, researcher's daily field observations, students' weekly reading logs, and three open-ended one-on-one interviews. In order to gain an understanding of the impact of the D.E.A.R program, the data were corroborated, and analyzed with NVivo: N7 (2006). From the data analysis, five themes emerged as a function of the Grade 9 students' experiences in the D.E.A.R. program: Reading Preferences, Time Spent Reading, Making Associations with Reading for Pleasure, Perceptions of Self-as-Reader, and Evaluations of the D.E.A.R Program. In the interest of supporting students' positive reading habits and for the future implementation, these five themes are presented as a series of findings together with recommendations for practice.

An impact evaluation of the Ontario ban on smoking in schools and on school property : does the ban on smoking influence high school students' intentions to smoke cigarettes?

The Ontario Tobacco Control Act of 1994 imposed a total ban on smoking in schools, and on school property for every school in the province. The imposition of this policy created problems for school administrators. For instance, students who were smoking on walkways and properties adjacent to school boundaries, clashed with neighbouring property owners who were angry about the resulting damage and disruption. The enforcement of this policy consumes valuable resources at each school; therefore, knowledge about the impact of the policy is important. If effective, this policy has the potential to improve the health of students over their lifetime, by preventing or delaying smoking behaviour. Alternatively, an ineffective policy will continue to create administrative problems for the school and serve no legitimate purpose. Therefore, knowledge about the impact of the smoking ban policy on students' smoking intentions assists policy makers and school administrators in their understanding of the policy's impact within the schools. This research provided an impact evaluation of the ban on smoking in schools and on school property in Ontario. A total of 2069 students, from five high schools, in the Niagara Region, provided complete responses to a survey, designed to test whether smoking intentions were affected by the imposition of the policy. The study used Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen, 1991), specifically, the perceived behavioural control measure, to gain some understanding of students' perceptions of control over smoking imposed by the ban. The findings indicate the policy has the potential to influence students' overall smoking intentions. The ban on smoking policy was found to be a significant predictor of the smoking intentions of high school students. As well, attitude, social norms, and perceptions of control were significant predictors of smoking intentions. Exploratory findings also indicated differences between the control beliefs of students from different high schools, indicating potential differences in the enforcement of the smoking ban between schools. The findings also support the utility of the theory of planned behaviour as a methodology for evaluating the influence of punitive policies. This research study should be continued by utilizing the full theory of planned behaviour, including two phases of data collection and the measurement of actual smoking behaviour.

Second-Career Adults: Issues Encountered in Teacher Education Programs

The purpose of this case study was to gain an in-depth understanding of the experiences of 3 second-career males prior to and during their participation in teacher education programs. Case study research techniques were used to elicit data from 3 participants who had completed teacher education programs and were actively teaching in various capacities in Ontario. Data were collected through an email questionnaire, 2 open-ended, one-on-one interviews, and the researcher's field notes and reflections of the interview process. These data were coded, analyzed for emerging trends, collated, and presented as a series of findings. The study revealed that these 3 second-career males transitioning into teacher education programs encountered a number of difficulties, some of which are a result of the way program providers structure their recruitment processes and present their curricula. Findings indicated that the second-career males in this study appeared to be inadequately prepared to work in a female-dominated profession. The study also found incompatibilities between associate teachers and these second-career candidates during practice teaching sessions. The findings and implications are of interest to teacher educators, school boards, teacher federations, and prospective adult candidates that may be considering teaching as an alternative second career.

THE USE OF COGNITIVE INTERVIEWS TO EVALUATE THE LIVING CONDITIONS SURVEY

Cognitive interviews were used to evaluate two draft versions of a financial survey in Jamaica. The qualitative version used a few open-ended questions, and the quantitative version used numerous close-ended questions. A secondary analysis based on the cognitive interview literature was used to guide a content analysis of the aggregate data of both surveys. The cognitive interview analysis found that the long survey had fewer respondent errors than the open-ended questions on the short survey. A grounded theory analysis then examined the aggregate cognitive data, showing that the respondents attached complex meanings to their financial information. The main limitation of this study was that the standard assessments of quantitative and qualitative reliability and validity were not utilized. Further research should utilize statistical methods to compare and contrast aggregated cognitive interview probe responses on open and close ended surveys.

Margin requirements and volatility : evidence from Canadian stocks

Margin policy is used by regulators for the purpose of inhibiting exceSSIve volatility and stabilizing the stock market in the long run. The effect of this policy on the stock market is widely tested empirically. However, most prior studies are limited in the sense that they investigate the margin requirement for the overall stock market rather than for individual stocks, and the time periods examined are confined to the pre-1974 period as no change in the margin requirement occurred post-1974 in the U.S. This thesis intends to address the above limitations by providing a direct examination of the effect of margin requirement on return, volume, and volatility of individual companies and by using more recent data in the Canadian stock market. Using the methodologies of variance ratio test and event study with conditional volatility (EGARCH) model, we find no convincing evidence that change in margin requirement affects subsequent stock return volatility. We also find similar results for returns and trading volume. These empirical findings lead us to conclude that the use of margin policy by regulators fails to achieve the goal of inhibiting speculating activities and stabilizing volatility.