Learning Qualitative Models in the Presence of Noise

G. M. Coghill, S. M. Garrett and R. D. King (2002), Learning Qualitative Models in the Presence of Noise, QR'02 Workshop on Qualitative Reasoning

Qualitative Futures

Price, C., Trave-Massuyes, L., Milne, R., Ironi, L., Forbus, K., Bredeweg, B., Lee, M., Struss, P., Snooke, N., Lucas, P., Cavazza, M., Coghill, G. (2006). Qualitative Futures. The Knowledge Engineering Review, 21 (4), 317-334. Sponsorship: MONET European Network on Qualitative and Model-Based Reasoning

Qualitative evaluation of KA24 (Knowledge Access 24)

Durbin, J. & Urquhart, C. (2003). Qualitative evaluation of KA24 (Knowledge Access 24). Aberystwyth: Department of Information Studies, University of Wales Aberystwyth. Sponsorship: Knowledge Access 24 (NHS)

Exhibiting the behaviour of time-delayed systems via an extension to qualitative simulation

I. Miguel and Q. Shen. Exhibiting the behaviour of time-delayed systems via an extension to qualitative simulation. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Part A: Systems and Humans, 35(2):298-305, 2005.

Debugging: the good, the bad, and the quirky -- a qualitative analysis of novices' strategies

Murphy, L., Lewandowski, G., McCauley, R., Simon, B., Thomas, L., and Zander, C. 2008. Debugging: the good, the bad, and the quirky -- a qualitative analysis of novices' strategies. SIGCSE Bull. 40, 1 (Feb. 2008), 163-167

In pursuit of an identity: A qualitative exploration of retirement from women's artistic gymnastics

David Lavallee, Hannah K. Robinson, In pursuit of an identity: A qualitative exploration of retirement from women's artistic gymnastics, Psychology of Sport and ExerciseVolume 8, Issue 1, , January 2007, Pages 119-141. RAE2008

Internationalization motives and facilitating factors: Qualitative evidence from smaller specialist retailers

Hutchison, K.; Alexander, N.; Quinn, B.; and Doherty, A. M. (2007). Internationalization motives and facilitating factors: Qualitative evidence from smaller specialist retailers. Journal of International Marketing. 15(3), pp.96-122 RAE2008

‘It was almost like the opposite of what I needed’: a qualitative exploration of client experiences of unhelpful therapy

Background: The issue of unhelpful and harmful therapy outcome has received an increasing amount of attention within the research literature in recent years. However, little research exists on the client's perspective of what constitutes unhelpful therapy. Aim: The aim of this study was to explore clients’ experiences of unhelpful therapy. Method: Semi-structured interviews were carried out with ten therapists who, as clients, experienced unhelpful therapy. Interview transcripts were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Findings: Participants recounted therapy episodes characterised by an absence of negotiation, collaboration and care; pivotal moments when they knew that they would not return; and ongoing negative effects. Conclusions: The findings of this study have implications for training and strategies for supporting clients who have been harmed by therapy.

A importância da marca no processo de tomada de decisão de compra industrial

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ciências da Comunicação, com especialização em Marketing e Comunicação Estratégica.

La pensée Sensible

Tese apresentada à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para obtenção do grau de Doutor em Ciências Sociais, especialidade em Psicologia

Participant experiences in a breastmilk biomonitoring study: A qualitative assessment.

BACKGROUND: Biomonitoring studies can provide information about individual and population-wide exposure. However they must be designed in a way that protects the rights and welfare of participants. This descriptive qualitative study was conducted as a follow-up to a breastmilk biomonitoring study. The primary objectives were to assess participants' experiences in the study, including the report-back of individual body burden results, and to determine if participation in the study negatively affected breastfeeding rates or duration. METHODS: Participants of the Greater Boston PBDE Breastmilk Biomonitoring Study were contacted and asked about their experiences in the study: the impact of study recruitment materials on attitudes towards breastfeeding; if participants had wanted individual biomonitoring results; if the protocol by which individual results were distributed met participants' needs; and the impact of individual results on attitudes towards breastfeeding. RESULTS: No participants reported reducing the duration of breastfeeding because of the biomonitoring study, but some responses suggested that breastmilk biomonitoring studies have the potential to raise anxieties about breastfeeding. Almost all participants wished to obtain individual results. Although several reported some concern about individual body burden, none reported reducing the duration of breastfeeding because of biomonitoring results. The study literature and report-back method were found to mitigate potential negative impacts. CONCLUSION: Biomonitoring study design, including clear communication about the benefits of breastfeeding and the manner in which individual results are distributed, can prevent negative impacts of biomonitoring on breastfeeding. Adoption of more specific standards for biomonitoring studies and continued study of risk communication issues related to biomonitoring will help protect participants from harm.

The senior female international managerial career move: a qualitative study in a European context

Research investigating the position of women in management has, largely, been confined within national boundaries. Over the last fifteen years, empirical studies of women in international management have been undertaken, predominantly in North America. In this research field, many questions remain unanswered or have been only partially addressed. The particular focus of this study is on the senior female international managerial career move in Europe — a relatively unexplored area. Fifty senior female expatriate managers were interviewed, representing a wide range of industry and service sectors. The study, for the first time, assesses an exclusively senior sample of female managers who have made at least one international career move. This study of senior females in international management makes a theoretical contribution, not only to the analysis of gender and international human resource management, but also to wider debates within the contemporary women in management and career theory literatures. The aims of the study were to develop an understanding of the senior female international career move in a European context in order to more fully understand both the covert and overt barriers that may limit women’s international career opportunities. The results of the study show that the senior international career move has largely been developed along a linear male model of career progression, a development which, taken together with gender disparity both in organisations and family responsibilities, frequently prevents women employees from reaching senior managerial positions. The study proposes a model of the senior female international managerial career move, thereby contributing primarily to the international human resource management literature. The implications of the study for research literatures in women in management and career theory are also explored and a future research agenda developed.

Issues in the prescribing of psychotropic and psychoactive medication for persons with learning disability: quantitative and qualitative perspectives

The administration of psychotropic and psychoactive medication for persons with learning disability and accompanying mental illness and/or challenging behaviour has undergone much critical review over the past two decades. Assessment and diagnosis of mental illness in this population continues to be psychopharmacological treatment include polypharmacy, irrational prescription procedures and frequent over-prescription. It is clear that all forms of treatment including non-pharmacological interventions need to be driven by accurate and appropriate diagnoses. Where a psychiatric diagnosis has been identified, it greatly aides the selection of appropriate medication, although a specific medication for each diagnosis, as was once hoped, is simply no longer a reality in practice. Part one of the present thesis seeks to address many of the current issues in mental health problems and pharmacological treatment to date. The author undertook a drug prevalence study within both residential and community facilities for persons with learning disability within the Mid-West region of Ireland in order to ascertain the current level of prescribing of psychotropic and psychoactive medications for this population. While many attempts have been made to account for the variation in prescribing, little systematic and empirical research has been undertaken to investigate the factors thought to influence such prescribing. While studies investigating the prescribing behaviours of General Practitioners (GP's) have illustrated the complex nature of the decision making process in the context of general practice, no similar efforts have yet been directed at examining the prescribing behaviours of Consultant Psychiatrists. Using The Critical Incident Technique, the author interviewed Consultant Psychiatrists in the Republic of Ireland to gather information relating not only to their patterns of prescribing for learning disabled populations, but also to examine reasons influencing their prescribing in addition to several related factors. Part two of this thesis presents the findings from this study and a number of issues are raised, not only in relation to attempting to account for the findings from part one of the thesis, but also with respect to implications for improved management and clinical practice.

Understanding student stress: a qualitative study of the stress experienced by third level students

Stress can be understood in terms of the meaning of stressful experiences for individuals. The meaning of stressful experiences involves threats to self-adequacy, where self-adequacy is considered a basic human need. Appropriate research methods are required to explore this aspect of stress. The present study is a qualitative exploration of the stress experienced by a group of 27 students at the National Institute of Higher Education, Limerick (since renamed the University of Limerick). The study was carried out by the resident student counsellor at the college. A model of student stress was explored, based on student developmental needs. The data consist of a series of interviews recorded with each of the 27 students over a 3 month period. These interviews were transcribed and the resulting transcripts are the subject of detailed analysis. The analysis of the data is an account of the sense-making process by the student counsellor of the students' reported experiences. The aim of the analysis was to reduce the large amounts of data to their most salient aspects in an ordered fashion, so as to examine the application of a developmental model of stress with this group of students. There were two key elements to the analysis. First, the raw data were edited to identify the key statements contained in the interviews. Second, the statements were categorised, as a means of summarising the data. The results of the qualitative dataanalysis were then applied to the developmental model. The analysis of data revealed a number of patterns of stress amongst the sample of students. Patterns of academic over-identification, parental conflict and social inadequacy were particularly noteworthy. These patterns consisted of an integration of academic, family and social stresses within a developmental framework. Gender differences with regard to the need for separateness and belonging are highlighted. Appropriate student stress intervention strategies are discussed. Based on the present results, the relationship between stress and development has been highlighted and is recommended as a firm basis for future studies of stress in general and student stress in particular.

The lived experience of Irish diocesan priests. A qualitative study of clerical identity, obedience and celibacy.

The main aim of this thesis is to document and explore the lived experience of Irish diocesan priests and former priests, in order to explore the reality of diocesan priesthood in contemporary Ireland, and to investigate how, if at all, diocesan priesthood has changed in Ireland during the past fifty years. It sought to do this by interrogating the stories of thirty-three diocesan priests and former priests, and by placing their individual stories within the broader context of Irish society and the Catholic Church, during the fifty-year period, 1962–2012. The research focused on three core areas of priesthood – identity, obedience, and celibacy – and it addressed the following questions. First, how do Irish diocesan priests understand their priesthood and how has this understanding changed over time, if at all? I will argue that three paradigms of priesthood co-exist in the contemporary Irish Church, and that each of these models corresponds with a distinct period in contemporary Irish Church history. I will also demonstrate the existence of underlying similarities in the cultural practice of priesthood that transcend the different generations of priests. Second, how do Irish diocesan priests negotiate their priesthood within a large and complex institution? My study suggests that Irish diocesan priests are typically loyal and obedient. However, they are not necessarily subservient. Third, how do Irish diocesan priests understand and experience celibacy in their day-to-day lives? My study demonstrates that celibacy is typically understood and experienced along a continuum, ranging from total acceptance to total rejection, with most priests somewhere in between. Fourth, I will argue that while priests are experiencing many difficulties in their lives, there is insufficient evidence from the present study to indicate they are experiencing a crisis.