How Can Brand-Owned Media Be Managed? Exploring the Managerial Success Factors of the New Interrelation Between Brands and Media

Although owned media formats that pursue brand-policy objectives have been receiving considerable attention in industries since the beginning of the millennium, virtually no research results are available about their conceptual background and strategic management. Using total interpretive structural modeling, this study examines two research questions: (1) Which success factors for the evolving brand-owned media concept can be identified? (2) How can these factors be systematized in terms of interrelations and hierarchies? Results indicate that the success of brand-owned media depends on a complex interrelation of eight factors. Content-centric factors such as content quality and the non-advertising character of brand-owned media are most important for creating relevant content and for achieving media success in terms of reach and frequency. In contrast, brand strength is not regarded as a precondition of brand-owned media success but rather as a result.     

A changed language of education with new actors and solutions: the authorization of promotion and prevention programmes in Swedish schools

This article demonstrates how changes in the language of Swedish education policy have opened up a new social perception of education, in which space has been created for new actors, models and solutions in terms of managing activities in schools. Specifically, it seeks to illustrate how various promotion and prevention programmes have been authorized and disseminated without critical inquiry or resistance in the education sector. To this end, we analyse how the specific, essentially contested concepts of health, value base and communication have been employed in authoritative national documents over the two last decades. For our analysis, we draw on speech act theory, with a focus on linguistic performativity, as we have been interested in analysing how concrete authoritative actors have ‘performed’ various arguments. The analysis helps us to understand how the linguistic force originating from authoritative agencies can be used by different actors as a way to legitimize their arguments and actions. The results demonstrate how different national authorities, as a consequence of their use of the three concepts analysed, have contributed to the establishment of promotion and prevention programmes in education.     

Lower Secondary Students’ Views in Astrobiology

Astrobiology is, on a profound level, about whether life exists outside of the planet Earth. The question of existence of life elsewhere in the universe has been of interest to many societies throughout history. Recently, the research area of astrobiology has grown at a fast rate, mainly due to the development of observational methods, and the media is frequently reporting on new research findings. International surveys show that astrobiology questions are among those that interest young people the most. The popularity of astrobiology and the way it captures much science content makes it an interesting area for science teaching. However, there is very little research directly focused upon students’ views in astrobiology. The study reported in this paper draws from the answers of 186 Swedish lower secondary students (16 years old) to a questionnaire, with closed and open-ended questions regarding their views of issues in astrobiology. The study was guided by the worldview theory (Cobern 1991; Cobern, Science Education 80(5):579–610, 1996; Cobern, Science and Education 9:219–246, 2000). The results show that even though basic reasoning in astrobiology is known by a majority of the students, there is a considerable number of students, for whom this is not the case. Furthermore, it was found that for all questions, there are students answering in different ways when asked to describe their own view and the view they associate with science researchers. The implications of the study for further research and for the teaching of astrobiology in science class are discussed.     

Discourses on employability: constituting the responsible citizen

In the last couple of decades, there has been a shift from speaking about employment to speaking about employability. The interest in this article is directed at how discourses on employability are mobilised in the wider discursive terrain of governance. How does governance operate, what subject is produced and, more specifically, who is positioned as responsible for the employability of the citizen through such discourses? These questions are addressed by analysing three different kinds of texts: transnational policy documents on lifelong learning and the labour market, a Swedish policy text on in-service training in the health care sector and interviews with employees at six nursing homes for elderly people. A discourse analysis is performed inspired by the concepts of governmentality and the enabling state. The analysis indicates that the individual is constructed as responsible for her/his own employability, and the state and the employer are construed as enablers. However, this is not clear-cut or deterministic as different kinds of texts produce different kinds of positioning. This kind of analysis might help open up a new space for thought and action.     

A Competency Model for Process Dynamics and Control and Its Use for Test Construction at University Level

This study examined students’ competencies in engineering education at the university level. First, we developed a competency model in one specific field of engineering: process dynamics and control. Then, the theoretical model was used as a frame to construct test items to measure students’ competencies comprehensively. In the empirical application, the reliability of the test was examined. The results confirmed the applicability of the theory-based test. Also, associations between students’ competencies and individual characteristics were explored. Students who showed higher competencies could be identified based on their individual characteristics, such as participation in self-assessments. Finally, we demonstrated how to apply the standards of theory-based testing to everyday routines at the university and also highlighted some challenging issues to be considered when implementing theory-based testing in practice. This approach could be valuable: Tests based on theoretically sound models allow for appropriate measurement of students’ competencies in higher education.     

Naïve and informed views on the nature of scientific inquiry in large-scale assessments: Two sides of the same coin or different currencies?

Many models in the field of epistemic cognition conceptualize students' views as being on a continuum between the poles of naïve and informed views. Against this background, the aim of the present study was to find out whether views on the nature of scientific inquiry (NOSI views) should be conceptualized and quantitatively assessed in a more multiplistic manner, considering naïve and informed views in their own, separate dimensions. Based on a competence model defining three inquiry methods, we developed a Likert-scaled questionnaire containing 10 scales, each assessing one NOSI view. We administered the questionnaire to a sample of 802 students in the lower and upper levels of secondary school. Based on structural equation modeling, the analyses confirmed a 10-dimensional model, distinguishing between each naïve and informed views as the only adequate representation of the data. Latent class analysis and interview data revealed four profiles of NOSI views in the data, which differed with regard to their agreement or disagreement with different naïve and informed views. We interpret these findings as evidence that supports more multiplistic models, with relevance to conceptualizing, measuring, and fostering NOSI views. We derive future directions of nature of science and NOSI research linking basic and applied research using experimental studies.     

Is Procrastination Related to Low-Quality Data?

While it is easy to assume that university students who wait until the last minute to complete surveys for their class research requirements provide low-quality data, this issue has not been empirically examined. The goal of the present study was to examine the relation between student research procrastination and two important data quality issues—careless responding and measurement noninvariance. Data gathered from university students across two semesters tentatively indicated that procrastination is related to low-quality survey data. Procrastination was slightly more problematic for certain data quality issues (measurement noninvariance) than others (careless responding). These relations, however, were small and contingent on how procrastination and careless responding were measured. Accordingly, it seems more beneficial for researchers to select a sampling window that supports their research goals and statistical power requirements rather than select a sampling window that attempts to minimize careless survey responding or other measurement issues.     

Associations between showering behaviours following physical education,physical activity and fitness in English schoolchildren

We aimed to describe the frequency of showering after physical education (PE) in English high-school pupils. We examined differences in physical activity (PA) and cardiorespiratory fitness according to showering behaviours and examined predictors of showering. We measured PA and cardiorespiratory fitness of n = 3921 pupils (11–16 years, 53.5% males) from eight high schools. Pupils self-reported showering behaviour and parental PA levels. We calculated deprivation and distance travelled to school from their home postcode. Overall, 53% of boys and 68% of girls said they never shower after PE. Pupils who did not shower after PE were less physically active and engaged in fewer team sports. Girls who did not shower also had lower cardiorespiratory fitness than those who did. Showering behaviour varied greatly by school, so we adjusted for clustering at the school level. Pupils were more likely to shower if they were active with their parents [odds ratio (OR) = 1.72; 95% CI: 1.43, 2.07] and less likely to shower if they were from deprived areas (OR = 0.68; 95% CI: 0.52, 0.88). Showering after PE is relatively rare in English schoolchildren, particularly girls. While we cannot infer causality regarding the relationships found here, the low rates of showering and the lower PA and cardiorespiratory fitness (in girls) observed in schoolchildren who do not shower suggest research is needed to determine whether showering is a barrier to being physically active during PE.     

青少年训练主体概念的重建

在原有的运动训练学的背景下,我们在此处描述的对运动训练质的研究设计肯定会被看作是在以自然科学中的量为主导的学科中的一个例外,我们的研究目的在于获得对青少年训练对象的理解。站在教练员的立场,与此项研究相关的方面是错综复杂的,换句话说,此项研究的重点不是研究者的视角,更多的是被研究者的立场观点。本项目的研究内容是青少年训练过程中运动员主观条件的重要性,研究重点是探讨无法进行标准化研究的知识所适用的研究形式。调研几乎涵盖了儿童及青少年训练阶段的全部时间节点,采取了部分标准化、主线鲜明的采访形式,使得调研目的得以完美实现：实事求是地凸显出青少年竞技类运动项目训练体系的内在特征,并且可以对这些特征的合理程度在各种运动项目的对照下进行比较分析。与量化研究方法相比,成功青少年训练的主体概念项目强调了质性研究方法的特征,其采用的调查分析方法体现了探索特性,重建或建设性的特性和形成理论的特性。然而在调查结论中得出了一个成功青少年教练主观理论的逻辑,完全颠覆了针对调研中心思想预先规定的主题结构,有必要通过实验进行更多以客观认知与调查分析为基础的干预性研究,以澄清青少年训练中一些尚不明确的细节问题。此外,在研究成功的青少年训练时,如不考虑教育学、心理学、社会学等方面的因素,我们无法单单从训练科学的角度出发就能足够系统化地分析儿童和青少年在“日常理论”中的训练过程。