Case Studies Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Since the late 1990s, voluntary travel behaviour change (VTBC) has been an increasingly popular strategy in Australia, applied to reduce both reliance on the car and greenhouse gas emissions. Early efforts to evaluate the impact of this... more

Since the late 1990s, voluntary travel behaviour change (VTBC) has been an increasingly popular strategy in Australia, applied to reduce both reliance on the car and greenhouse gas emissions. Early efforts to evaluate the impact of this strategy were generally implemented by the agency that also implemented the policy and used small sample, self-report surveys. The paper starts out by discussing the nature and size of travel behaviour changes that are frequently expected in current policy, noting that these are often smaller than the sampling and measurement errors in traditional methods of measuring travel behaviour. The paper then discusses some alternative methods of evaluating voluntary travel behaviour change implementations using panels to reduce sampling error, and using a combination of personal Global Positioning System devices and odometer reading surveys to measure travel patterns. From these considerations, a number of guidelines are suggested for what is required to evaluate voluntary travel behaviour change. The paper describes three recent case studies in Australia in which such methods have been used and evaluates the methodological approaches used in these studies against the suggested guidelines.

In this chapter, actual business practices are examined by analysing the corporate activities of five particular companies over several years. Apparently, companies' assertions regarding their business behaviour communicated in their... more

In this chapter, actual business practices are examined by analysing the corporate activities of five particular companies over several years. Apparently, companies' assertions regarding their business behaviour communicated in their annual sustainability, corporate (social) responsibility or (global) citizenship reports often diverge significantly from reality. To illustrate this gap between theory and practice this chapter is based on a media analysis, which was conducted with the help of a database provided by RepRisk AG, Switzerland. This database captures negative media as presented in newspaper articles, NGO-reports and other statements amongst others. While a single press article in many cases only shows the tip of the iceberg, the whole story usually develops over several years before it is fully unfolded. Hence, uncovered scandals are never only snapshots of dubious operations. Each scandal tells a story about a single incident, which is often embedded in a bigger picture of even more incidents occurring over time, leaving an impression of systematic unjust practices. After explaining the methodology of this case study in the first section, more background information on business activities globally is provided in a subsequent section. Then each of the five company cases is presented in detail, which includes information on the respective CSR or sustainability report, information on the particular CSR and sustainability strategy, a contrasting account of the business reality of each company and an analysis of their latest communication in light of these incidents. Each case closes with a summary and conclusion.

The notion of “success” is narrowly defined and appropriated within an educational context. Typically limited to objective measures of organizational productivity, effectiveness, and efficiency, “successful” principal practices, we argue,... more

The notion of “success” is narrowly defined and appropriated within an educational context. Typically limited to objective measures of organizational productivity, effectiveness, and efficiency, “successful” principal practices, we argue, engender action and attention to a broader array of issues and interrelationships. In this study, we conducted an exploratory case study drawing from interviews with five superintendents and three principals to probe broader definitions of successful school leadership. Data analysis revealed three themes to guide further research on successful leadership practice: capillarity of leadership actions, principals’ positionality in relation to members of the school community, and principals’ actions as moral ends.

This qualitative case study reports how 5 first-year kindergarten/primary teachers utilized knowledge and skills from their teacher preparation program as a means of approaching curricular decision-making for instructional practice. In... more

This qualitative case study reports how 5 first-year kindergarten/primary teachers utilized knowledge and skills from their teacher preparation program as a means of approaching curricular decision-making for instructional practice. In many ways, participants drew from university courses, field experiences, or both to help them make sense of their work and to guide their decisions. This was achieved as participants adopted,

Previous qualitative studies show that when the formal organization of a school and patterns of informal interaction are aligned, faculty and leaders in a school are better able to coordinate instructional change. This article combines... more

Previous qualitative studies show that when the formal organization of a school and patterns of informal interaction are aligned, faculty and leaders in a school are better able to coordinate instructional change. This article combines social network analysis with interview data to analyze how well the formal and informal aspects of a school’s social context are aligned. The focus is on two elementary schools engaged in initiatives aimed to use data to inform instructional decision making. The multimethod case study integrated findings from questionnaire and interview data. Data were collected over two years from case study schools. By fitting multilevel social selection models to longitudinal social network data collected from surveys, the authors estimated the relative influence of formal and informal processes on patterns of advice giving in each school. They used interview data to contextualize and corroborate findings. The social selection models they fit revealed distinct patt...

A central commitment of current reforms in science education is that all students, regardless of culture, gender, race, and/ or socioeconomic status, are capable of understanding and doing science. The study “Bridging the Gap: Equity in... more

A central commitment of current reforms in science education is that all students, regardless of culture, gender, race, and/ or socioeconomic status, are capable of understanding and doing science. The study “Bridging the Gap: Equity in Systemic Reform” assessed equity in systemic reform using a nested research design that drew on both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. As part of the study, case studies were conducted in two urban middle schools in large Ohio cities. The purpose of the case studies was to identify factors affecting equity in urban science education reform. Data were analyzed using Kahle's (1998) equity metric. That model allowed us to assess progress toward equity using a range of research-based indicators grouped into three categories critical for equitable education: access to, retention in, and achievement in quality science education. In addition, a fourth category was defined for systemic indicators of equity. Analyses indicated that the culture and climate of the case study schools differentially affected their progress toward equitable reform in science education. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 1130–1144, 2001

Purpose: The importance of coordination of educational services has been well documented in the literature. For students with disabilities, coordinated programs result in more rapid acquisition of targeted behaviors and the increased... more

Purpose: The importance of coordination of educational services has been well documented in the literature. For students with disabilities, coordinated programs result in more rapid acquisition of targeted behaviors and the increased likelihood of long-term maintenance of gains. The purpose of this study was to assess whether "priming" or exposing students with autism and disruptive behaviors to school assignments before their presentation in class would affect academic performance and problem behaviors. Method: Two students diagnosed with autism who attended general education classrooms, both of whom exhibited numerous disruptive behaviors and low academic performance, participated in this study. A repeated reversals design was used to monitor student progress. Results: The results demonstrated decreases in problem behavior and increases in academic responding when priming sessions occurred. Clinical Implications: Application is discussed in terms of a mechanism for speec...

In this paper we articulate an alternative approach to look at video games and learning to become a creator and contributor in the digital culture. Previous discussions have focused mostly on playing games and learning. Here, we discuss... more

In this paper we articulate an alternative approach to look at video games and learning to become a creator and contributor in the digital culture. Previous discussions have focused mostly on playing games and learning. Here, we discuss game making approaches and their benefits for illuminating game preferences and learning both software design and other academic content. We report on an ongoing ethnographic study that documents youth producing video games in a community design studio. We illustrate how video game making can provide a context for addressing issues of participation, transparency and ethics. Author Keywords

This deliverable has been produced in the context of the Knowledge-Practice Laboratory (KPLab) project, which is aimed at facilitating innovative practices of working with knowledge in higher education, teacher training, and professional... more

This deliverable has been produced in the context of the Knowledge-Practice Laboratory (KPLab) project, which is aimed at facilitating innovative practices of working with knowledge in higher education, teacher training, and professional networks. This delverable is a synopsis of the first experiences encountered during the first 6 months of the work in WP10. WP10 focused on tools and practices where elicitation, capturing and creating knowledge in different representational modes aims to making them available for problem solving and collaborative knowledge advancement in professional networks. During the first 6 months the emphasis of work has been on the state-of-the-art research, organizing and negotiating the empirical cases with professional organizations and on the coevolutionary process of defining the requirements of KP-Lab tools and practices. State-ofthe- art research has concentrated on how In WP 10 we have started to refine the research approaches as there were no ready ...

Conduction aphasia is a type of fluent aphasia, which is caused due to the damage to the supramarginal gyrus and arcuate fasciculus resulting in repetition disturbance. It has been speculated that linguistic system in bilingual aphasics... more

Conduction aphasia is a type of fluent aphasia, which is caused due to the damage to the supramarginal gyrus and arcuate fasciculus resulting in repetition disturbance. It has been speculated that linguistic system in bilingual aphasics can breakdown in different ways across languages. There is a lack of detailed linguistic studies in specific aspects of bilingual aphasia in Indian context. The present study highlights linguistic investigations across languages in bilingual aphasics. Measures like spontaneous speech analysis, paraphasia checklist and paradigmatic distance could help in determining languages for therapy even though such decisions cannot be effectively carried out only by traditional test like Western aphasia battery. It is thus suggested that linguistic analysis form a part of routine aphasia evaluation and more subtypes be profiled in a similar way. (Contains 2 graphs.)

Assessing the impact of cultures and structures on individual and organisational capability ... Supporting vocational education and training providers in building capability for the future ... A study in difference: Structures and... more

Assessing the impact of cultures and structures on individual and organisational capability ... Supporting vocational education and training providers in building capability for the future ... A study in difference: Structures and cultures ... The views and opinions expressed in this ...