A news story as big as a doctoral thesis? : deploying journalistic methodology in academic research

The purpose of this paper is to identify and recommend the emergence of an academic research methodology for Journalism the academic discipline, through reviewing various journalistic methods of research – those making up a key element in such methodology. Its focus is on journalistic styles of work employed in academic contexts especially research on mass media issues. It proposes that channelling such activity into disciplined academic forms will enhance both: allowing the former to provide more durable and deeper outcomes, injecting additional energy and intensity of purpose into the latter. It will briefly consider characteristics of research methodologies and methods, generally; characteristics of the Journalism discipline, and its relationship with mass media industries and professions. The model of journalism used here is the Western liberal stream. A proposition is made, that teaching and research in universities focused on professional preparation of journalists, has developed so that it is a mature academic discipline. Its adherents are for the most part academics with background in journalistic practice, and so able to deploy intellectual skills of journalists, while also accredited with Higher Degrees principally in humanities. Research produced in this discipline area stands to show two characteristics: (a) it employs practices used generally in academic research, e.g. qualitative research methods such as ethnographic studies or participant observation, or review of documents including archived media products, and (b) within such contexts it may use more specifically journalistic techniques, e.g. interviewing styles, reflection on practice of journalism, and in creative practice research, journalistic forms of writing – highlighting journalistic / practitioner capabilities of the author. So the Journalism discipline, as a discipline closely allied to a working profession, is described as one where individual professional skills and background preparation for media work will be applicable to academic research. In this connection the core modus operandi will be the directly research-related practices of: insistent establishment of facts, adept crafting of reportage, and economising well with time. Prospective fields for continuing research are described:- work in new media; closer investigation of relations among media producers and audiences; journalism as creative practice, and general publishing by journalists, e.g. writing histories.

Empirical evaluation of a service analysis and design methodology

Service-orientation has gained widespread acceptance and is increasingly being employed as a paradigm for structuring both business and IT architectures. An earlier study of extant service analysis and design methodologies discovered a need for holistic approaches that equally account for both business and software services, which motivated the design of a new, consolidated service analysis and design methodology. A challenge in design-oriented research is to evaluate the utility of the newly created artefacts (here: the methodology), as they are often intended to become part of complex socio-technical systems. Therefore, after presenting a brief overview of the consolidated methodology, the paper discusses possible approaches for the “evaluate” phase of this design-science research process and presents the results of an empirical evaluation conducted in an Action Research study at one of Australia’s largest financial services providers.

A population survey of the penetrance of contact lens wear in Australia : rationale, methodology and results

Purpose: A population based, cross-sectional telephone survey was conducted to estimate the total penetrance of contact lens wear in Australia. Methods: A total of 42,749 households around Australia were randomly selected from the national electronic telephone directory based on postcode distribution. Before contact was attempted, letters of introduction were sent. The number of individuals and contact lens wearers in each household was ascertained and lens wearers were interviewed to determine details of lens type and mode of wear using a structured questionnaire. Results: Of households contacted, 59.2% (19,171/32,405) agreed to participate. Response rates were only marginally higher amongst households that first received a letter of introduction. In these households, 35,914 individuals were identified, of which, 1,798 were contact lens wearers. The penetrance of contact lens wear during the study period was 5.01% (95% CI: 4.78-5.24). Soft hydrogel lenses had the largest penetrance in the community, (66.7% of all wearers), however, their market share decreased significantly over the study period with increased uptake of newly introduced lens types. Conclusions: The penetrance of contact lens wear concurs with market estimates and equates to approximately 680,000 contact lens wearers aged between 15 and 64 years in Australia. The low response rate obtained in this study highlights the difficulty in contemporary use of telephone survey methodology

Adiabatic compression testing - part II : background and approach to estimating severity of test methodology

Adiabatic compression testing of components in gaseous oxygen is a test method that is utilized worldwide and is commonly required to qualify a component for ignition tolerance under its intended service. This testing is required by many industry standards organizations and government agencies; however, a thorough evaluation of the test parameters and test system influences on the thermal energy produced during the test has not yet been performed. This paper presents a background for adiabatic compression testing and discusses an approach to estimating potential differences in the thermal profiles produced by different test laboratories. A “Thermal Profile Test Fixture” (TPTF) is described that is capable of measuring and characterizing the thermal energy for a typical pressure shock by any test system. The test systems at Wendell Hull & Associates, Inc. (WHA) in the USA and at the BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing in Germany are compared in this manner and some of the data obtained is presented. The paper also introduces a new way of comparing the test method to idealized processes to perform system-by-system comparisons. Thus, the paper introduces an “Idealized Severity Index” (ISI) of the thermal energy to characterize a rapid pressure surge. From the TPTF data a “Test Severity Index” (TSI) can also be calculated so that the thermal energies developed by different test systems can be compared to each other and to the ISI for the equivalent isentropic process. Finally, a “Service Severity Index” (SSI) is introduced to characterizing the thermal energy of actual service conditions. This paper is the second in a series of publications planned on the subject of adiabatic compression testing.

The conceptualisation, sensitivity and measurement of holding costs and other selected elements impacting housing affordability (Literature review and research methodology for confirmation of PhD candidature)

It is widely held that strong relationships exist between housing, economic status, and well being. This is exemplified by widespread housing stock surpluses in many countries which threaten to destabilise numerous aspects related to individuals and community. However, the position of housing demand and supply is not consistent. The Australian position provides a distinct contrast whereby seemingly inexorable housing demand generally remains a critical issue affecting the socio-economic landscape. Underpinned by high levels of immigration, and further buoyed by sustained historically low interest rates, increasing income levels, and increased government assistance for first home buyers, this strong housing demand ensures elements related to housing affordability continue to gain prominence. A significant, but less visible factor impacting housing affordability – particularly new housing development – relates to holding costs. These costs are in many ways “hidden” and cannot always be easily identified. Although it is only one contributor, the nature and extent of its impact requires elucidation. In its simplest form, it commences with a calculation of the interest or opportunity cost of land holding. However, there is significantly more complexity for major new developments - particularly greenfield property development. Preliminary analysis conducted by the author suggests that even small shifts in primary factors impacting holding costs can appreciably affect housing affordability – and notably, to a greater extent than commonly held. Even so, their importance and perceived high level impact can be gauged from the unprecedented level of attention policy makers have given them over recent years. This may be evidenced by the embedding of specific strategies to address burgeoning holding costs (and particularly those cost savings associated with streamlining regulatory assessment) within statutory instruments such as the Queensland Housing Affordability Strategy, and the South East Queensland Regional Plan. However, several key issues require investigation. Firstly, the computation and methodology behind the calculation of holding costs varies widely. In fact, it is not only variable, but in some instances completely ignored. Secondly, some ambiguity exists in terms of the inclusion of various elements of holding costs, thereby affecting the assessment of their relative contribution. Perhaps this may in part be explained by their nature: such costs are not always immediately apparent. Some forms of holding costs are not as visible as the more tangible cost items associated with greenfield development such as regulatory fees, government taxes, acquisition costs, selling fees, commissions and others. Holding costs are also more difficult to evaluate since for the most part they must be ultimately assessed over time in an ever-changing environment, based on their strong relationship with opportunity cost which is in turn dependant, inter alia, upon prevailing inflation and / or interest rates. By extending research in the general area of housing affordability, this thesis seeks to provide a more detailed investigation of those elements related to holding costs, and in so doing determine the size of their impact specifically on the end user. This will involve the development of soundly based economic and econometric models which seek to clarify the componentry impacts of holding costs. Ultimately, there are significant policy implications in relation to the framework used in Australian jurisdictions that promote, retain, or otherwise maximise, the opportunities for affordable housing.

Safety impacts of alcohol and other drugs in the construction industry : a research methodology

Anecdotal evidence from the infrastructure and building sectors highlights issues of drugs and alcohol and its association with safety risk on construction sites. Operating machinery and mobile equipment, proximity to live traffic together with congested sites, electrical equipment and operating at heights conspire to accentuate the potential adverse impact of drugs and alcohol in the workplace. While most Australian jurisdictions have identified this as a critical safety issue, information is limited regarding the prevalence of alcohol and other drugs in the workplace and there is limited evidential guidance regarding how to effectively and efficiently address such an issue. No known study has scientifically evaluated the relationship between the use of drugs and alcohol and safety impacts in construction, and there has been only limited adoption of nationally coordinated strategies, supported by employers and employees to render it socially unacceptable to arrive at a construction workplace with impaired judgement from drugs and alcohol. A nationally consistent collaborative approach across the construction workforce - involving employers and employees; clients; unions; contractors and sub-contractors is required to engender a cultural change in the construction workforce – in a similar manner to the on-going initiative in securing a cultural change to drink-driving in our society where peer intervention and support is encouraged. This study has four key objectives. Firstly, using the standard World Health Organisation AUDIT, a national qualitative and quantitative assessment of the use of drugs and alcohol will be carried out. This will build upon similar studies carried out in the Australian energy and mining sectors. Secondly, the development of an appropriate industry policy will adopt a non-punitive and rehabilitative approach developed in consultation with employers and employees across the infrastructure and building sectors, with the aim it be adopted nationally for adoption at the construction workplace. Thirdly, an industry-specific cultural change management program will be developed through a nationally collaborative approach to reducing the risk of impaired performance on construction sites and increasing workers’ commitment to drugs and alcohol safety. Finally, an implementation plan will be developed from data gathered from both managers and construction employees. Such an approach stands to benefit not only occupational health and safety, through a greater understanding of the safety impacts of alcohol and other drugs at work, but also alcohol and drug use as a wider community health issue. This paper will provide an overview of the background and significance of the study as well as outlining the proposed methodology that will be used to evaluate the safety impacts of alcohol and other drugs in the construction industry.

GYAN: A methodology for rule extraction from artificial neural networks

Artificial neural network (ANN) learning methods provide a robust and non-linear approach to approximating the target function for many classification, regression and clustering problems. ANNs have demonstrated good predictive performance in a wide variety of practical problems. However, there are strong arguments as to why ANNs are not sufficient for the general representation of knowledge. The arguments are the poor comprehensibility of the learned ANN, and the inability to represent explanation structures. The overall objective of this thesis is to address these issues by: (1) explanation of the decision process in ANNs in the form of symbolic rules (predicate rules with variables); and (2) provision of explanatory capability by mapping the general conceptual knowledge that is learned by the neural networks into a knowledge base to be used in a rule-based reasoning system. A multi-stage methodology GYAN is developed and evaluated for the task of extracting knowledge from the trained ANNs. The extracted knowledge is represented in the form of restricted first-order logic rules, and subsequently allows user interaction by interfacing with a knowledge based reasoner. The performance of GYAN is demonstrated using a number of real world and artificial data sets. The empirical results demonstrate that: (1) an equivalent symbolic interpretation is derived describing the overall behaviour of the ANN with high accuracy and fidelity, and (2) a concise explanation is given (in terms of rules, facts and predicates activated in a reasoning episode) as to why a particular instance is being classified into a certain category.

Implementing value management as a decision-making tool in the design stages of design and build construction projects : a methodology for improved cost optimization

Value Management (VM) has been proven to provide a structured framework, together with other supporting tools and techniques, that facilitate effective decision-making in many types of projects, thus achieving ‘best value’ for clients. One of the major success factors of VM in achieving better project objectives for clients is through the provision of beneficial input by multi-disciplinary team members being involved in critical decision-making discussions during the early stage of construction projects. This paper describes a doctoral research proposal based on the application of VM in design and build construction projects, especially focusing on the design stage. The research aims to study the effects of implementing VM in design and build construction projects, in particular how well the methodology addresses issues related to cost overruns resulting from poor coordination and overlooking of critical constructability issues amongst team members in construction projects in Malaysia. It is proposed that through contractors’ early involvement during the design stage, combined with the use of the VM methodology, particularly as a decision-making tool, better optimization of construction cost can be achieved, thus promoting more efficient and effective constructability. The main methods used in this research involve a thorough literature study, semi-structured interviews, and a survey of major stakeholders, a detailed case study and a VM workshop and focus group discussions involving construction professionals in order to explore and possibly develop a framework and a specific methodology for the facilitating successful application of VM within design and build construction projects.

Bayesian methodology incorporating expert judgment for ranking countermeasure effectiveness under uncertainty: Example applied to at grade railroad crossings in Korea

This paper describes the formalization and application of a methodology to evaluate the safety benefit of countermeasures in the face of uncertainty. To illustrate the methodology, 18 countermeasures for improving safety of at grade railroad crossings (AGRXs) in the Republic of Korea are considered. Akin to “stated preference” methods in travel survey research, the methodology applies random selection and laws of large numbers to derive accident modification factor (AMF) densities from expert opinions. In a full Bayesian analysis framework, the collective opinions in the form of AMF densities (data likelihood) are combined with prior knowledge (AMF density priors) for the 18 countermeasures to obtain ‘best’ estimates of AMFs (AMF posterior credible intervals). The countermeasures are then compared and recommended based on the largest safety returns with minimum risk (uncertainty). To the author's knowledge the complete methodology is new and has not previously been applied or reported in the literature. The results demonstrate that the methodology is able to discern anticipated safety benefit differences across candidate countermeasures. For the 18 at grade railroad crossings considered in this analysis, it was found that the top three performing countermeasures for reducing crashes are in-vehicle warning systems, obstacle detection systems, and constant warning time systems.

An evaluation methodology for the tangible and intangible assets of city-regions : the 6K1C framework

Together with hard and soft networks tangible and intangible regional assets play an important role in the knowledge-based development of competing city-regions. The aim of this paper, therefore, is to investigate the best ways of managing invaluable tangible and intangible assets of city-regions. The paper explores the importance of asset management of city-regions by giving special emphasis on their knowledge asset base. This paper develops and introduces a theoretical framework to conceptualise a new approach to articulate the strategic planning mechanism, so called the 6K1C framework. The 6K1C framework is part of the strategic planning process of continuous improvement of overall public sector performance. The framework provides a proactive check-list approach integrated for managing and harnessing tangible and intangible assets of the post-industrial city-regions.