Marketing research and its value: the experience of Australian organisations

There is a continuing need for organisations to identify the returns obtained from marketing research, such as direct knowledge acquisition or the indirect results of decisions made using this information (e.g., financial returns). This paper reports on a study based on a conceptual model proposed by earlier researchers that explored knowledge acquisition derived from marketing research, together with its dissemination and utilisation. An adequate fit for the model was found using primary data from a sample of decision-makers in Australian organisation. The findings of this empirical study show an association between marketing research, knowledge utilisation, and the performance of the organisations sampled.

The value of guided operating theatre experience for undergradaute nurses

Not all undergraduate nurses visit the operating theatre. Does this impact on care provided pre and post-operatively? Knowledge testing revealed a 76% pass rate for guided compared to 56% for non-guided learners at graduation and a 100% pass rate for guided compared to 53% of non-guided after their Graduate Nurse Year.

The role of IT governance in generating business value from IT investments in healthcare: lessons from an Australian experience

Digitizing the core processes of healthcare delivery is looked at as a solution to control the escalating costs without compromising quality or patient outcomes. However, to date the business value of such IT solutions remains elusive, especially in view of the high failure rate of many solutions coupled with the high user resistance. The uniqueness of the healthcare industry makes measuring the business value of IT a complex missions, yet it is the thesis of this research that such an activity is an essential first step if we are to realise the full potential of IT in healthcare. The role IT governance can play is of high importance to generate business value from IT investments in healthcare. This is investigated using an integrative model that is proffered to conceptualise the business value of IT in healthcare. This conceptual model is then used to guide an exploratory case study based at a leading private healthcare provider in Melbourne-Australia.

The experience of Asian expatriates in Australia

Workforces in individualistic countries, such as the US, the UK and Auslralia, are becoming increasingly culturally diverse. In Australia, the population now comprises people from more than 220 nationalities, approximately 45% of whom were born overseas. It is expected that. by the year 2030, 25% of the Australian population will be of Asian origin Nankervis. Compton, & McCarthy, 1999). Despite large Asian expatriations, the small number of Asian permanent residents in Australia (i.e. 4.7% of 18m people) infers that Asians may be having difficulty fitting into the Australian context. This paper will highlight the unaddressed racial tension in Australian workplaces and discuss the experience of Asian expatriates in light of the racial and value dissimilarity associated with Asian (collectivist) and Australian (individualist) cultures.

Aligning system requirements with stakeholder concerns : use of case studies and patterns to capture domain experience

Traditionally system development starts with the specification of system requirements. The focus of such an approach is on the system under construction, which is considered as of primary importance to the development success. The major problem with such an approach, however, is the neglect of concerns held by the various system stakeholders, whose opinions, loyalties and fears may impact considerably the perception and the reception of the implemented system, its functions and its features. Typically, stakeholder concerns are not collected or identified, and are viewed as of little significance in the system development process. In this paper, however, we present the case for recognising the value of stakeholder concerns, and their use in aligning business needs with system requirements. We describe a method of gathering and analysing stakeholder concerns across an application domain, and then packaging the development experience in dealing with these concerns into patterns. Experience patterns can subsequently be used to guide systems analysts in selecting the most appropriate requirements for the target stakeholder community.

The value of asthma camps for young people in Victoria, Australia

Purpose: This paper investigates the impact of the Asthma Foundation of Victoria's educational camp program on children's knowledge of asthma and its management, their feelings about asthma, and their attitudes toward physical and social activities. Parents' observations of changes in their child's behaviour and attitudes are also reported.

Design and methods: This research was descriptive and applied. It used questionnaires at four stages (directly pre- and post- camp, three-four months and ten-15 months post-camp) of an asthma education camp program to assess child asthma knowledge levels. At three months post-camp, parental observations of children's attitudes and behaviours were assessed using a questionnaire. Children's feelings toward asthma were also assessed using a questionnaire pre- and post-camp.

Results: The children surveyed displayed a better knowledge of asthma and how to manage their condition immediately after the camp. This knowledge tended to return to pre-camp levels after ten months. The children also reported less anxiety and fear about their illness, a greater sense of wellbeing, and more confidence in participating in a whole range of physical and social activities. Many parents also noted positive changes in their children in terms of activities and asthma management at three months post-camp.

Clinical implications: Although there were limitations to sustaining knowledge gained in the asthma camping program, the camping experience provided a benefit for children in terms of promoting their mental and social wellbeing. When readers consider modernising asthma education (eg shorter camps, education in everyday social settings such as schools), they need to consider retaining the key ingredients of the more traditional camping program that supports good asthma management, wellbeing and social participation.

A theoretical discussion about the clinical value of phenomenology for nurses

This article develops a theoretical discussion related to the value of a phenomenological framework in contributing to contemporary nursing knowledge. Nursing is based on the understanding of patients' personal experiences and their responses to their illness. Phenomenological methodology utilizes the patient's own language to reflect meanings embedded in their health experience.

Value perception in music information systems

When referring to the value that IS adds to business and provides to consumers, we often (implicitly or explicitly) pertain to monetary value. However, perspectives exist regarding the notion of value which go beyond the monetary significance and maintain a direct influence on businesses and their performance. This paper explores the concept of value, its importance in IS, and the importance of understanding of how IS stakeholders perceive value. The paper focuses on the challenge of studying value in IS -although value manifests in properties of an information system, it can only be experienced and perceived subjectively through sense perception, experience and judgement of the system stakeholders. To address this challenge, the paper suggests the existence of a clearly shifting trend in the perception of IS technology and comments on the social impacts of end-users (consumers) being absorbed into the value-creation process for an information system in the music industry.

Engagement and learning through social software in finance : the trading room experience

The introduction of a social software blog space called “The Trading Room” in an undergraduate Finance unit for an assessment task generated a great deal of activity to support student learning. A subsequent evaluation of this pilot demonstrated that students perceived high value in the opportunity it provided for them to reaffirm theories, obtain individualized feedback and benchmark their work against others. Whilst assessment is generally seen as both the carrot and the stick of learning, and certification; students in the study reported that they would still participate in reading and posting to the “Trading Room” blog even if there was no assessment requirement! Additionally they did not see any value in the environment as a purely social space, reporting that they saw it primarily as a professional educational community. It would appear that just as there are different communities in the real world social space, there are also different types of communities in the online space. Context, structure and activity design, perhaps are the most important facets of online interaction for learning.

Screening for type 2 diabetes and impaired glucose metabolism – the Australian experience

OBJECTIVE--To assess the Australian protocol for identifying undiagnosed type 2 diabetes and impaired glucose metabolism.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS--The Australian screening protocol recommends a stepped approach to detecting undiagnosed type 2 diabetes based on assessment of risk status, measurement of fasting plasma glucose (FPG) in individuals at risk, and further testing according to FPG. The performance of and variations to this protocol were assessed in a population-based sample of 10,508 Australians.

RESULTS--The protocol had a sensitivity of 79.9%, specificity of 79.9%, and a positive predictive value (PPV) of 13.7% for detecting undiagnosed type 2 diabetes and sensitivity of 51.9% and specificity of 86.7% for detecting impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) or impaired fasting glucose (IFG). To achieve these diagnostic rates, 20.7% of the Australian adult population would require an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Increasing the FPG cut point to 6.1 mmol/l (110 mg/dl) or using Hb[A.sub.1c], instead of FPG to determine the need for an OGTT in people with risk factors reduced sensitivity, increased specificity and PPV, and reduced the proportion requiring an OGTT. However, each of these protocol variations substantially reduced the detection of IGT or IFG.

CONCLUSIONS--The Australian screening protocol identified one new case of diabetes for every 32 people screened, with 4 of 10 people screened requiring FPG measurement and 1 in 5 requiring an OGTT. In addition, 1 in 11 people screened had IGT or IFG. Including Hb[A.sub.1c] measurement substantially reduced both the number requiring an OGTT and the detection of IGT or IFG.

Perceptions of the value of site visits in assisting undergraduate learning

This study evaluates the usefulness of site visits in assisting the learning experience of undergraduate students. The research is based on a survey of undergraduates students enrolled in built-environment courses in property and construction. Past research has shown that it is becoming more difficult to provide students with access to building sites to provide learning experiences. While students were positive about the benefits of real site visits, universities have been encouraged to develop virtual approaches to teaching construction technology using photographs, movies and computer simulations.

This strategic research investigates the perceptions of students towards a number of different site visits each with particular characteristics. This was done to examine the most effective use of real site visits within an undergraduate course. The results identified that some aspects of construction technology could be easily replaced by computer simulations and the like. However, other aspects of the curriculum are more effectively taught by retaining real site visits. The research was intended to provide a more structured approach to determining the value of site-based learning in construction related courses.

The case for reverse mortgages in Australia : applying the USA experience

In the USA, reverse mortgages have been promoted as a means of accessing equity locked up in a residence, especially after the owner/s has retired. Although there have been some teething problems, the concept of mortgaging the family home after achieving freehold ownership has many merits. Often an asset-rich household must survive on relatively small regular income, and is unable to access the increasing wealth of the family home. A reverse mortgage overcomes this hurdle.

The largest asset for many ageing households is their primary place of residence, the traditional house and suburban land parcel. Recently, the Australian housing market has witnessed substantial growth in the value of its capital city housing, especially on the east coast of Australia. This can be attributed to factors such as owner-occupiers trading up to a better class of dwelling, and the continuing gentrification process for owners choosing not to relocate. At the same time, demographic changes have placed pressure on the regular income of retirees, many of whom have no superannuation fund. For example, life expectancy rates continue to rise and there are an increasing proportion of single person households in society. This has placed additional pressure on financial resources of retirees, especially those with a substantial investment in their family home and a relatively small pension.

This paper visits the reverse mortgage scenario in the USA and considers potential implications for the Australian market. Strengths and weaknesses of this product are contemplated, and the viability of reverse mortgages is discussed. Although there are obvious benefits for certain segments of society, reverse mortgages are a unique product and caution should be exercised to ensure the public is fully knowledgeable from the outset.

The spatial pattern of natural selection when selection depends upon experience

Apostatic (frequency‐ or density‐dependent) selection, aposematic signals, and mate choice behavior generally require that the mean prey or potential mate density m value be high enough (above a threshold T) to result in sufficient encounter rates for the searcher to learn or retain the association between conspicuous signals and prey unprofitability, to forage apostatically, or to choose among mates. This assumes that all searchers experience , which implicitly assumes an even dispersion of targets among searcher territories. Uneven dispersion generates new phenomena. If , then only territories with local density x values that are greater than T favor experience‐based behavior, leading to spatially variable frequency‐ or density‐dependent selection intensity. As aggregation increases, the increase in percentage of targets in favorable territories ( ) is greater than the increase in the percentage of territories that are favorable. The relationship is reversed when . In both cases, because as few as 10% of the territories can contain 80% of the targets, only a few territory holders may account for most of the selection on most of the target population; accidents of experience in only a few searchers can have unexpectedly large effects on the target population. This also provides an explanation for high searcher behavior variation (personalities) : individuals from favorable territories will behave differently in behavioral experiments than those from unfavorable territories, at least with respect to similar kinds of targets. These effects will generate spatial heterogeneity in natural and sexual selection in what are otherwise uniform environments.

Students' perceptions of the value of the elements of an online learning environment : looking back in moving forward

In 2003, Deakin University implemented a centralised learning management system (LMS) under the banner of Deakin Studies Online (DSO), as well as implementing policies requiring all its units of study to have at least a basic online presence from 2004. Given the scope of the university's commitment to online education, it was considered essential to evaluate the effectiveness of this investment. Based on more than 5400 responses obtained from students in 2004 and 2005 as part of the DSO evaluation survey, the analysis presented here identifies those elements of the online learning environment (OLE) that are most used and valued by students, those elements of the OLE that students most want to see improved, and, those factors that most contribute to students' perceptions that use of the OLE enhanced their learning experience. The most used and valued elements were core LMS functions, including accessing unit information, accessing lecture/tute/lab notes, interacting with unit learning resources, reading online discussions, contacting lecturers/tutors and submitting assignments online. The OLE elements identified as most needing attention were receiving feedback on assignments; viewing my marks; and reviewing unit progress. Students felt that using DSO enhanced their learning experience when they were adequately supported by unit teachers and technical support services; when they were able to find and use unit information; and when they were able to read the online contributions of other unit members. The retrospective analysis of data collected in the period 2004-2005 has been shaped by a forward-looking agenda. The array of elements available within, and in association with, traditional LMSs which has emerged since that time raises the future challenge of how to maximise and evidence educational value through the optimal combination of elements from the portfolio of e-learning technologies increasingly available to educators.