1,720,972 research outputs found
Uno stabile che “hanno deciso di riaprire” o una “casa occupata”? Prese di posizione e decisioni in una organizzazione post burocratica
No full textThis study shows the relationship between position-taking and decision-making in a borough committee of a middle size Northern Italian city. The study applies the Naturalistic Decision Making theory which is particularly sensitive to the contextual aspects of decision-making processes. The committee is considered an instance of post-bureaucratic organization because of the fact that citizens can participate directly to meetings in which important decisions for the borough are taken. Discursive analysis of two video recorded meetings has focused on the relationship between position-taking and the use of a particular linguistic expression by a local association's spokesperson and by some members of the committee. The results of the research show that specific proposals forwarded by participants takes different meanings depending on the different argumentative stances in which it is spoken and that these stances mediate the conclusive decision of members of the committee
Disagreements in Situated Decision Making: From Virtual to Everyday
Full text linkThis research investigates disagreements in decision making processes in a virtual setting, an experimental web simulation and in an everyday setting, involving a university research team from the Situated Action Theory perspective.
The specific focus is on disagreements, because they lead to critical situations which put at stake two vital issues that are common between the simulation and the research team, namely, a limited amount of time and mutual aims that must be met within a set deadline. More specifically the study investigates: (1) how participants manage disagreements within these two contexts and (2) which theoretical and methodological implications Situated Action Theory suggests for studying both of them.
The simulation in which the first part of this study takes place is a website in which participants had to choose a house to rent. It has been developed in four stages which involved 306 participants: a preliminary study, two validation studies and one study with single participants, in order to assess gender differences in chosen house. After the study with the single participants a study with the participants in couples (N=87) was performed, in order to study how they managed disagreements.
The second context in which this study takes place is an interdisciplinary research team which aimed at studying the access and communication of migrant citizens to public municipality services. All meetings that took place from December 2007 until May 2008 were video and/or audio recorded.
The corpus of the study consists of 10 hours and 50 minutes of video recorded interactions for the experimental simulation and 9 hours and 30 minutes of video and audio recorded interactions for the research team, which have been analysed from a perspective that includes conversation analysis, field notes, analysis of documents and interviews with the participants.
Analysis shows that some aspects were common within the two contexts but also that some issues differentiated the virtual context from the everyday one. A discursive re-structuring of controversial issues allowed the participants to both contexts to reach a shared decision: decision making seems to be linked more with sense making than with a rational consideration of different alternatives.
Another common characteristic of the web simulation and the research team is that the management of disagreements is mediated by the use of different micro discursive strategies studied by conversation analysts, like anticipatory completions, quotations (all of which were found within both contexts), extreme case formulations, challenging questions, format tying.
However, some differences, along with important methodological implications, have been also found. Some moments of interaction, in fact, cannot not be explained by only focusing on what the participants orient as relevant for them within the interaction, while some other moments that could be explained through conversation analysis but, when we integrated such analysis with a broader ethnographic perspective, we had a very different analysis.
All the findings suggest that a simulation allows the studying of decision-making processes from a situated perspective, however the research team study suggests that the results of such study should be contextualized to obtain a deeper knowledge of situated decision-making processes in everyday settings.Questo studio analizza i disaccordi che emergono nei momenti di presa di decisione sia in un contesto virtuale (una simulazione web sperimentale), sia in un contesto quotidiano (un gruppo di ricerca universitario). La prospettiva adottata fa riferimento alla teoria dell'azione situata.
Ci si è focalizzati sui disaccordi poiché essi sono dei momenti critici per entrambi i contesti studiati: interagiscono infatti con delle dimensioni fondamentali dei processi in atto, quali la gestione del tempo e degli obiettivi dei partecipanti. Gli scopi più specifici di questo studio sono: (1) analizzare come i partecipanti alla ricerca, nei due diversi contesti, gestiscono i momenti di disaccordo; (2) evidenziare gli apporti teorici e metodologici che la teoria dell'azione situata può fornire per lo studio dei disaccordi in questi due contesti tra loro molto diversi.
Il primo contesto oggetto di studio è una simulazione web attraverso cui era richiesto ai partecipanti di scegliere una casa da prendere in affitto. La simulazione è stata sviluppata in quattro fasi che hanno coinvolto 306 partecipanti: uno studio preliminare, due validazioni e uno studio con partecipanti singoli, il quale ha permesso di verificare eventuali differenze di genere nella scelta della casa. Successivamente a queste fasi è stato effettuato uno studio con coppie di partecipanti (N=87), in maniera tale da approfondire i momenti di disaccordo eventualmente emersi.
Il secondo contesto oggetto di studio è un gruppo di ricerca interdisciplinare il cui scopo era studiare l'accesso e la comunicazione dei cittadini migranti a due sportelli comunali. Sono state video/audio registrate tutte le riunioni del gruppo di ricerca che hanno avuto luogo tra dicembre 2007 e maggio 2008.
Il corpus totale di questo studio è costituito da 10 ore e 50 minuti di registrazioni video per quanto riguarda la simulazione, a cui si aggiungono 9 ore e 30 minuti di video o audio registrazioni per quanto riguarda il gruppo di ricerca. Le registrazioni sono state analizzate mediante analisi della conversazione, che è stata integrata con note di campo, analisi di documenti e interviste ai partecipanti.
L'analisi permette di mostrare che ci sono alcuni aspetti comuni ai due contesti studiati, ma anche delle importanti differenze. In entrambi i contesti una ri-strutturazione discorsiva di una questione controversa ha consentito ai partecipanti di risolvere un momento di disaccordo: ciò suggerisce che le prese di decisione possano essere considerate un processo di sense making, piuttosto che una scelta razionale tra diverse alternative.
Un'altra caratteristica comune che è stata riscontrata è l'utilizzo, nella risoluzione dei disaccordi, di micro strategie discorsive analizzate nell'ambito dell'analisi della conversazione: anticipatory completions e quotations (riscontrate in entrambi i contesti), extreme case formulations, challenging questions, format tying.
Sono state riscontrate, tuttavia, anche delle differenze tra i due contesti, le quali suggeriscono importanti considerazioni metodologiche. Alcuni momenti di interazione (in particolare all'interno del gruppo di ricerca) non potevano essere compresi tenendo conto soltanto degli aspetti esplicitati dai partecipanti nell'interazione: è stato necessario prendere in considerazione diversi aspetti contestuali e istituzionali condivisi solo implicitamente tra i partecipanti. Si è visto inoltre che, anche se alcuni momenti di interazione potevano essere spiegati mediante l'analisi della conversazione, l'integrazione di tale spiegazione con i risultati dell'etnografia, ha permesso di effettuare un'analisi molto più accurata e differente da quella conversazionale.
Complessivamente l'analisi suggerisce che una simulazione consente lo studio dei processi decisionali secondo una prospettiva situata, tuttavia lo studio all'interno del gruppo di ricerca suggerisce anche che tale analisi dovrebbe essere contestualizzata mediante l'etnografia, in modo da comprendere meglio come tali processi si svolgano nei contesti quotidiani (che presentano una maggiore complessità rispetto alle simulazioni)
Overview of the First 6 Months of Clinical Trials for COVID-19 Pharmacotherapy: The Most Studied Drugs
No full textSARS-CoV-2 rapidly spread from China until it was defined a pandemic by WHO in March 2020. Related scientific papers have rapidly extended information regarding the diagnosis, treatment and epidemiology of COVID-19 infection. To date, no vaccine or definitive treatment is available to defeat the virus and therapies are mainly based on existing drugs used to treat other conditions. Existing therapies used in several clinical trials work by affecting the biology of COVID-19 and/or counteracting the harmful host excessive immune response. Here, we have reviewed 526 ongoing clinical trials for COVID-19 to provide a perspective on the first 6 months of global efforts to identify an effective therapy. The drugs most actively tested in various centers include hydroxychloroquine, ritonavir, azithromycin, tocilizumab, lopinavir chloroquine and ivermectin. Our analysis shows that most clinical trials focus on a small number of candidate drugs (namely hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine representing 25% of total clinical trials) while underestimating the potential of other promising drugs. A global coordination in clinical trial management could avoid duplications and increase the effectiveness of the response to the global challenge
Dire è fare intercultura: discorsi politici e pratiche di intervento in una Commissione di quartiere
No full textPosizionamento discorsivo e intercultura: analisi di un caso di studio sugli sportelli di servizio pubblico cittadino
No full textThe main aim of this paper is to analyze the processes of discursive construction and positioning of cultural mediators who work in a public service. For this reason a case study represented by the cultural mediators of municipality counters of a middle-sized Northern Italian town has been chosen. Our paper is rooted on the theoretical and methodological perspective of Intercultural Psychology. Moreover it refers to Discourse Analysis and, within this perspective, to the construct of discursive positioning. The cultural mediators who work in a Council service on activities which are specific for migrants participated to this study, which has been conducted through semi-structured interviews. The excerpts that were selected from the transcriptions of the interviews allowed to identify the construction in interaction of specific rhetorical devices and interpretative repertoires. Results show how participants co-construct a value-related dimension which is also linked to their work practices tasks, thus emphasizing aspects of distinctiveness from the other operators who work in public service
13. Quale contesto? Ma per quale obiettivo? Metodologia e aspetti situati nell'analisi della conversazione e del discorso
No full text
Developing a Simulated Environment to Study Naturalistic Decision Making Processes
No full textMotivation – Combination of qualitative and quantitative methodologies to develop a simulated
environment to study decision-making processes from a NDM perspective. Research approach –
Discourse analysis to find interpretative repertoires, use of Visual Analog Scales and ANOVA to validate
the reportoires. Findings/Design – Usefulness of qualitative and quantitative methodologies to develop
the simulation, importance of a rigorous validation. Research limitations/Implications – Need for
comparison with a real website in further studies. Originality/Value – Use of NDM perspective to
investigate processes that were studied just from a DM perspective. Take away message – It is possible
to study decision-making processes by naturally simulating them, with computer mediated technology, in
a laboratory
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