A playbook for research methods: Integrating conceptual frameworks and project management.
01 Jan 2013-
About: The article was published on 2013-01-01 and is currently open access. It has received 477 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Project management & Conceptual framework.
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TL;DR: This study investigates how the characteristics of the device, the context and the user can support the adoption and the sustained use of health and fitness wearables and finds that the factors thatsupport the former differ from those that support the latter.
Abstract: The Internet of Things (IoT) and, particularly, wearable products have changed the focus of the healthcare industry to prevention programmes that enable people to become active and take responsibil
168 citations
Cites background from "A playbook for research methods: In..."
...It is not uncommon for exploratory studies to be guided by theory, like ours, to give ‘coherence to the data collection and analysis phase’ (Shields & Rangarjan, 2013, p. vii)....
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Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this paper, a systematic review of studies published between 2010 and 2016 on mobile learning in higher education in the African context explores the application, impact and challenges of mobile technology-supported learning.
Abstract: The spread and popularity of mobile devices has led to their increased application in higher education. While studies have reviewed mobile learning initiatives in different contexts, none has explored this subject in Africa. This systematic review collates and compares studies published between 2010 and 2016 on mobile learning in higher education in the African context to explore the application, impact and challenges of mobile technology-supported learning. Findings show that mobile learning within higher education institutions in Africa increased student and lecturer collaboration and, provide dinstant communication, increased student participation and engagement, facilitating authentic learning and reflective practice, as well as fostering learning communities. A change in the lecturers’ approaches to teaching also occurred. The findings also indicate significant challenges in integrating mobile learning in higher education institutions within Africa: poor technological infrastructure, lack of access to modern mobile devices, lack of mobile learning pedagogical skills among lecturers, poor attitudes among students and lecturers, and incompatibility of mobile devices with the university online management systems. Policies to guide the implementation of mobile learning were also lacking.
Large-scale studies assessing the effectiveness of mobile learning within African higher education institutions are lacking and existing studies lacked a theoretical framework. The review highlights enabling conditions for successful integration of mobile learning in African institutions addressing access, training, curriculum design, support and technical requirements. The absence of studies reporting on existing mobile learning projects reflects the limited penetration of this technology and associated pedagogies and a need to strengthen research in this emerging field.
133 citations
Cites background from "A playbook for research methods: In..."
...Further, three studies employed descriptive research which studies groups of people without manipulation or looking for any specific relationships/correlations or change of environment (Shields & Rangarajan, 2013)....
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the relationship between quality and safety using a homogeneous sample of 569 projects from an Australian construction company with an annual turnover in excess of $1 billion Australian dollars (AU$).
Abstract: Recent research undertaken revealed that a significant positive relationship exists between quality and safety performance. A major limitation of this research, however, was the nature of the sample; it was heterogeneous (i.e., a combination of U.S. and international projects) and the sample was restricted to 18 projects. Building upon initial research, this paper re-examines the association between quality and safety using a homogeneous sample of 569 projects, which were derived from an Australian construction company with an annual turnover in excess of $1 billion Australian dollars (AU$). A total of 19,314 nonconformances and 17,783 injuries were used to determine the validity and reliability of previous research. A weak association between quality and safety performance was found (p < 0.01). The p-values did not indicate any significant association between first aid and quality rates, except for the injury rate and rework frequency per million scope, which yielded an r-value of 0.307 and p-value 0.046 that is significant at 0.01 level. An association, however, between injuries and rework was identified (r2=0.70). The discrepancy between this research's findings and that of previous work led to an examination of the issues of using ratios in correlation analysis. Thus, the statistical and arithmetic issues associated with the use of ratios are discussed, and it is recommended that estimating the relationships between quality and safety should be examined using regression techniques or analysis of covariance. Linear regression, therefore, was performed with the injury data as the dependent variable, and rework frequency and personnel hours as the independent variables. The regression results demonstrated that there is a significant association between injuries, and rework and personnel hours; it was revealed that both predictors accounted for 68.2% of the explained variability in injury frequency. The replication of t
107 citations
Cites background from "A playbook for research methods: In..."
...When the purpose of research is to gain familiarity with a phenomenon or acquire new insight to formulate a more precise problem or develop hypothesis, exploratory studies are a pertinent and justifiable approach to adopt (Babbie 2007; Shields and Rangarjan 2013)....
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...Exploratory research is undertaken to replicate and examine the preliminary research carried out by Wanberg et al. (2013) because their research had not been clearly defined and/or understood and relied upon a small sample and data that was heterogeneous (Shields and Rangarjan 2013)....
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...(2013) because their research had not been clearly defined and/or understood and relied upon a small sample and data that was heterogeneous (Shields and Rangarjan 2013)....
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...In the Wanberg et al. (2013) research, the recordable injuries, FAIs, and rework are expressed as a ratio per million personnel hours and per US$ million project scope....
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TL;DR: This paper is a discussion on how to use an innovative analysing framework called ABCD model on a given business model, or on a business strategy or an operational concept/idea or business system, and the overarching framework for four specific instances in hand are outlined here.
Abstract: Studying the implications of a business model, choosing success strategies, developing viable operational concepts or evolving a functional system, it is important to analyse it in all dimensions. For this purpose, various analysing techniques/frameworks are used. This paper is a discussion on how to use an innovative analysing framework called ABCD model on a given business model, or on a business strategy or an operational concept/idea or business system. Based on four constructs Advantages, Benefits, Constraints, and Disadvantages, this system considers all determinants in key areas through analyzing the major issues and identifying the critical constituent elements. The overarching framework for four specific instances in hand namely Business model, Business strategy, Operational concept and Functional system are outlined here. Finally, ABCD analysing framework is compared with other known analyzing techniques like SWOC, Competitive Profile Matrix (CPM) analysis, EFE & IFE Matrices, BCG analysing frameworks, Porter's Five Forces Model, and PESTLE Analysis.
86 citations
TL;DR: Diversity is an important facet of public administration, thus it is important to take stock and examine how the discipline has evolved in response to questions of representative democracy, social... as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Diversity is an important facet of public administration, thus it is important to take stock and examine how the discipline has evolved in response to questions of representative democracy, social ...
79 citations
Cites background from "A playbook for research methods: In..."
...Descriptive articles usually summarize the existing studies and their findings (Shields & Rangarajan, 2013)....
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