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A study of the road safety authorities use of fear appeals to communicate a public health message
Get PDFThis dissertation provides an insight into the Road Safety Authorities (RSA) use of fear appeals \ud
to communicate a public health message. The RSA use fear appeals such as shock, threats, scare \ud
tactics and emotion to communicate a public health message. A fear appeal is a means of \ud
persuasion that threatens the audience with a negative physical, psychological or social \ud
consequence that is likely to occur if they engage in a particular behaviour. This dissertation \ud
provides an insight into: \ud
The factors that contribute to road safety \ud
The effectiveness of fear appeals as a method of communicating a public health message \ud
The impact gender and age has on the effectiveness of a fear appeal advertisement \ud
The ethical concerns relating to fear appeal advertising \ud
The wear-out effect of fear appeal advertising, and \ud
The fear appeal models used to evaluate the effectiveness/ineffectiveness of a particular \ud
fear appeal advertisement \ud
This study comprises a two stage data collection process. Two focus groups were conducted. \ud
One focus group consisted of females and the other of males; the participants were college \ud
students between the ages of 18-27. The objective of the focus groups was to gain an insight into \ud
the attitudes and opinions regarding the effectiveness of the RSA’s fear appeal advertising from \ud
the viewpoint of the target audience. Four in-depth interviews were conducted with road safety \ud
experts to identify the effectiveness of RSA fear appeal advertisements from their viewpoint
The treatment of sex offenders in the Republic of Ireland
No full textThis report is an examination of the current practice and policy in the Republic of\ud
Ireland for the assessment, treatment and management of those that perpetrate sexual\ud
abuse and violence. This is considered in the light of international best practice, and\ud
specifically compared to the policy and practice in Northern Ireland, to illuminate the\ud
situation in the Republic. A core concern that emerged is the standard\ud
implementation of intensive sex offender therapy within a prison regime, and\ud
therefore, this is examined, in an attempt to progress and advance the management of\ud
sex offenders. Consequently, this review includes theory, research and statistics\ud
pertaining to the prison regime, as well as an examination of alternatives, such as\ud
secure, therapeutic, residential settings.\ud
A series of semi-structured interviews were carried out with the key stakeholders in\ud
the design and implementation of policy and practice for the management of sex\ud
offenders in the Republic of Ireland. Through a process of reflective equilibrium, the\ud
data from these interviews was used to examine how the respondents interpret their\ud
respective roles, their understanding of the current situation and the issues involved.\ud
On coding the data key themes emerged.\ud
Considering the practice of implementing intensive sex offender treatment within a\ud
prison regime, this study found that the introduction of modem psycosocial\ud
rehabilitation has not been matched by adequate alterations to the regime,\ud
environment, training, or otherwise within the Irish Prison Service, which can only\ud
negatively impact on the outcomes of the treatment carried out there. An alternative\ud
to this has been recommended.\ud
This research found that there is a gap in the provision of community based\ud
programmes, identified as necessary for those sex offenders that never enter the\ud
criminal justice system, as well as for the continued support for the successful\ud
reintegration of sex offenders leaving prison. There is a need for interagency\ud
protocol and collaboration on this issue between the Department of Health and the\ud
Department of Justice and Law Reform, in line with best practice
Collaborative supply chain practices during severe economic downturn in the Republic of Ireland
Get PDFConstruction in the Republic of Ireland held a dominant position in the economy in the decade to 2007, at peak accounting for 24% of GDP. Given the scale of this \ud
contribution it is clear that leveraging even modest efficiencies in the supply chain could yield significant benefits. Recent literature in the field of construction s\ud
upply chain management suggests such collaboration is far more difficult to achieve in times of austerity. Post 2007 the industry suffered a spectacular decline, a collapsing property bubble, exasperated by the world economic downturn in 2008 led to a circa 75% decline in output. A study commenced in 2011 to investigate the extent and nature of supply chain management practices in the industry and to record the impact \ud
of the prevailing austerity. A review of relevant literature showed a significant deficit of information pertaining to the Irish industry. As a consequence of this an \ud
exploratory questionnaire survey was undertaken to collect data on supply chain management attitudes and practices in the industry to inform and scope future \ud
research strands. The results indicate a high degree of understanding of supply chain concepts and strong industry support for collaborative supply chain management approaches. Respondents also have a reasonably clear grasp of the potential of collaborative approaches and the barriers that militate against its wider use. The survey results is compared to previous results from the UK, supporting the general conclusion of an increased focus on 'cost' related supply chain factors in Ireland at present. The generally supportive results of the survey towards collaborative \ud
approaches are also compared with evidence that suggests the industry is engaging in \ud
widespread opportunistic behaviours such as below cost tendering, claims and late payment that are contrary to collaborative approaches. This prompts the further \ud
conclusion that the industry is not practicing what it preaches
Implementation of a quality risk management approach to commissioning and qualification in the biopharmaceutical industry
Get PDFInefficient, traditional C&Q practices and a more recent regulatory focus on the application\ud
of risk assessment to pharmaceutical processes, assessing impact on product quality and the\ud
protection of the patient, have led to a new approach to C&Q. Commissioning and\ud
qualification is an integral part of the Process Validation Lifecycle and, if not executed\ud
efficiently, can contribute to increased costs and schedule delays in delivering facilities that\ud
are fit for their intended use.\ud
The focus of this research is to map the current implementation of Quality Risk Management\ud
and risk-based C&Q, to assess the benefits of risk-based C&Q and to analyse the obstacles to\ud
its implementation in the biopharmaceuticals industry.\ud
The research methods adopted in this dissertation consists of an extensive literature review, a\ud
comprehensive review of recent conference proceedings and a set of focused interviews with\ud
five biopharmaceutical industry Subject Matter Experts with a range of experience in C&Q\ud
in the biopharmaceuticals industry.\ud
The findings from the research show that the implementation of risk-based C&Q is at an\ud
early stage in the industry, that up to now the industry has focused too firmly on risk\ud
assessment tools at the expense of Quality Management Systems and that the industry faces a\ud
challenge in implementing the requisite supporting practices and in making the\ud
organisational and operational changes necessary to successfully execute risk-based C&Q.\ud
This dissertation recommends that senior management need to take greater ownership of the\ud
Quality Risk Management programme and run it as a site-wide programme. Organisations\ud
need to become more proficient at a wider range of risk assessment tools and practices and it\ud
also recommends that companies adopting a risk-based approach need to upgrade their\ud
programmes in the supporting practices of Good Engineering Practice, Design Review and\ud
Change Management
An investigation into the development of brand communities in the convenience good sector
No full textThe first chapter aims to provide an introduction to the research problem as well as\ud
identifying the objectives of the research. Rationale for this research is included to\ud
give an understanding of the research topic and the need the need for it to be\ud
conducted. While finally a time scale is supplied showing a detailed synopsis of each\ud
step undertaken during the process of compiling the dissertation.\ud
The Literature review presented in chapter 2 will endeavour to provide an evaluation\ud
of the research that has been conducted to date. Firstly the foundation literature\ud
comprising of previous writing in the areas of community, convenience goods,\ud
relationship marketing and branding is provided. This is followed by a review of the\ud
immediate literature surrounding the topic of brand community.\ud
Chapter 3 offers an explanation of the methodology used during the research. This\ud
section will begin with a justification of the mixed methodology (quantitative and\ud
qualitative) research used for the study. Following this a close examination of the\ud
qualitative method of in-depth interviews will be provided along with an inspection of\ud
the quantitative method of email questionnaires. This chapter is a breakdown of the\ud
methods used and it will act as a follow on from the findings established in chapter 2 .\ud
Finally all research techniques will be examined and validated while the chapter will\ud
be concluded by expressing the ethical concerns and limitations involved in carrying\ud
out this study.\ud
In chapter 4, the findings from the research process will then be compiled and\ud
analysed. This chapter will provide analyses of the research objectives given in\ud
chapter 1 under the findings obtained throughout the research process. Firstly, an\ud
overview of the research respondents will be presented which will be followed by a\ud
summary of the sampling techniques used to profile the respondents. The research\ud
findings section of this paper ultimately aims to broaden the area of research on the\ud
brand communities of convenience goods.\ud
Finally, chapter 5 aims to set a number of conclusions and synthesis based upon the\ud
findings unearthed during the process of both qualitative and quantitative research and\ud
discussed in Section 4 of this study, as well the previous literature found on the\ud
research topic that is examined in Section 2. This chapter looks at the brand communities of convenience goods, their significance to marketing, their development, the impact of social media on their growth and the contrasts in opinion\ud
on them
‘Think B4 U Click’: an educational online safety resource for the Irish CSPE curriculum
Get PDFYoung people in Ireland, like their counterparts across Europe, are enthusiastic social networkers. EU Kids Online found that in 2010 82% of children in Ireland, aged 13-16, had a social networking (SNS) profile (O’Neill, Grehan, & Ólafsson, 2011). Social networking gives young people extraordinary opportunities to communicate with peers, share information and explore new friendships, in the relative security of an online community created through a social networking platform. Much concern has been expressed about young people's apparent lack of concern about privacy issues (Boyd & Marwick, 2011) and about the dangers they may be exposed to by failing to keep their SNS profiles restricted to friends or personal acquaintances. Education has been slow to address this issue in part due to the reluctance of schools to allow social networking on school networks and as well as more traditional resistance to intervene in youth cultures outside the normal curriculum
An analysis of CRM and E-CRM strategies in small to medium businesses in Ireland
Get PDFThe central research question for this current study is: The analysis of Customer\ud
Relationship Management (CRM) and Electronic Customer Relationship Management\ud
(E-CRM) strategies in small to medium businesses in Ireland. In order to answer this\ud
question, the following research questions were devised and the answers were deduced\ud
from the findings and results of the qualitative analysis conducted:\ud
RQ1: Define the principles of CRM and E-CRM that are linked with the retention of\ud
customers.\ud
RQ2: Find and discuss the online channels that are available to businesses so that they\ud
can better define their E-CRM. Find out exactly what practises are being used in order to\ud
evaluate and control customers. Examples of market leaders and their E-CRM strategies\ud
will be outlined and discussed here.\ud
RQ3: Analyse the importance that is being placed on E-CRM from an Irish online\ud
business perspective. Make an assessment of their views and thoughts on E-CRM\ud
activities.\ud
RQ4: Finding out how innovative, focused and productive they are in their processes\ud
when using online channels for E-CRM
Teaching java programming using cable in a collaborative online environment
Get PDFWith the emergence and evolution of computer hardware, software and networks - virtual classrooms now exist which enable teachers and students to experience learning activities and to work together at a distance either directly or on a part-time basis. We are increasingly confronted with a need for ‘lifelong training’ and it is becoming increasingly difficult for us to attend physical classrooms on a full-time basis. Research to date has highlighted an area of interest with regard to teaching computer programming in an online environment. We investigate here the use of a Cognitive Apprenticeship-Based Learning Environment (CABLE) in the teaching of Java programming in an attempt to validate its effectiveness. This paper outlines the result of using a pedagogical model which employed a combination of instructional strategies including directive support, responsive cognitive apprenticeship, collaborative learning, stimulating metacognition (organising, motivating (through a “spark”, modifying one’s own skills), and using various technologies via the use of online discussion through Blackboard
Evaluating the power of online forums in consumer buyer behaviour
Get PDFPURPOSE: This research aims to examine the power and influence of online \ud
forums in shaping consumer buyer behaviour in Ireland. \ud
DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The researcher adopted Creswell’s (2011) \ud
exploratory sequential design of; qualitative research, building to quantitative \ud
research. Data collection was divided into two phases, the first being a \ud
qualitative approach of semi-structured interviews followed by quantitative \ud
online questionnaire. Judgement sampling technique was applied to both \ud
phases. Semi-structured Interviews were undertaken with four industry experts \ud
ranging from online community managers to online forum founders. The second \ud
phase of the research consisted of digital questionnaires targeting the users of \ud
online forums. Data collection was performed using a web-based survey tool \ud
‘Survey Monkey’. \ud
FINDINGS: The findings suggest that online forums influence the buyer behaviour \ud
of forum users but also of non-users, as the content within online forums \ud
appears within the results of search engines. It was also found that users of \ud
online forums are categorised as early adaptors. However, while the results \ud
suggest that online forums have influential value during the decision making \ud
process, advertisements within online forums have little to no impact in the \ud
influence of consumers purchases, therefore companies should look at using \ud
online forums for relationship marketing, market research and listening to \ud
consumers. \ud
RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS: Defining the sample size within an online \ud
forum has presented a number of challenges. The researcher found, as previous \ud
research highlighted that sampling and distribution remain a challenge to any \ud
online survey. However, it still remains the only way to access groups and \ud
individuals who would be difficult, if not impossible, to reach through other \ud
channels (Andrews et al., 2003). ii \ud
\ud
ORIGINALITY/VALUE: This research provides useful insights into the value of online \ud
forums to marketers and provides seminal academic research on the influence \ud
of online forums in Ireland. This research will be a useful tool for researchers \ud
conducting experimental research in the area. \ud
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH: Further research on online forums in Ireland \ud
could focus on more specific industries or sectors. This could, in turn, present a \ud
larger amount of qualitative and quantitative responses. A case study approach \ud
could also be applied to highlight incidences of best practice. Furthermore, \ud
additional research into this area may perhaps adopt the same methodology \ud
along with incorporating an ethnographic approach to discover social patterns \ud
and meanings (Schensul et al., 1999) and is known for being the best technique \ud
for providing insight into consumer behaviours of online communities (Kozinets, \ud
2002