Problem Redefinition Research Articles

Dealing with Crucial Aspects of Action Research

Action research, which is a dynamic iterative process, is a deliberate and solution-oriented investigation accomplished collectively or personally in order to solve an existing problem. It entails the participants who scrutinize their own instructive practice systematically and cautiously. It is characterized by spiraling cycles of problem identification, systematic data collection, reflection, analysis, actions taken based on data, and finally problem redefinition. It is an applied form of inquiry useful in divergent situations. It involves such people who keep working to improve their performances, skills, strategies and techniques. The prime objective of this article is to deal with the crucial aspects of action research, such as definitions of action research, field of action research, process, steps, principals, characteristics, benefits and demerits of action research. This article has been prepared on the basis of secondary data gathered from research books and journal articles. It is useful especially to the researchers, because it focuses on the indispensable aspects of action research, and it is undoubtedly necessary for them to have basic ideas about its underlying facets to carry out action researches in their real life situations.

Cyberspace is what states make of it: The social construction (and deconstruction) of strategic concepts

Why do some strategic concepts come to dominate over alternative, often-entrenched views of warfighting? And what determines the staying power and proneness to change over time of the prevailing vision? Focusing on cyberspace, I describe the Internet as an artifact interpreted differently by competing interest groups. I show that reconciliation of these interpretations comes from individuals with the position and motivation to make technology work for a specific vision of use and spread that vision to other parts of the organization. By tracing the role of such key network nodes in the evolution of strategic concepts, I show that information technologies themselves act to break down barriers to engagement between social sub-elements of complex organization, making the whole susceptible to narrow parochial change. Moreover, I illustrate how the cyberspace concept is both impermanent and an attempt at problem redefinition leading to an ill-fitting lens, rather than simply a rhetorical-institutional reorientation.

Perancangan Marketing Gallery & Club House dengan Pendalaman Prinsip Health and Wellbeing

Humans will essentially live influenced by the environment. Human life continues to thrive in line with lifestyle and the natural environment. in line with the development of the era from time to time, several new problems arise due to changes in lifestyle and the natural environment. Humans who are increasingly facilitated by technology in doing everything, spend a lot of time indoors. This gives rise to new phenomena that are not considered a serious problem by space users. It will have a more negative impact if allowed to occur continuouslyNot only operational and aesthetic functions are considered in the design of a space in a building, but all things that affect the physical health and well-being of users, as well as connectivity with nature, should also be considered. Marketing Gallery & Clubhouse is a facility and infrastructure owned by property developers to meet the company’s operational support facilities as well as to complement public facilities for the local people. The focus issue is how to apply the principles of health & wellbeing as a solution to improve the quality of life of users, while also facilitating all the needs and convenience of users in it. Interior design with the application of health & wellbeing principles is applied to the design process of the Marketing Gallery & Clubhouse Citraland Puncak Tidar in Malang. The method used in market research is literature study and analysis. While the methods used in the design are problem identification, problem exploration, problem redefinition, and solution proposal.

政策デザインにおける問題の再定義―法的アプローチによるリニア・モデルの再定式化―

政策デザインにおける問題の再定義―法的アプローチによるリニア・モデルの再定式化―

Multicollinearity in hierarchical linear models

This study investigates an ill-posed problem (multicollinearity) in Hierarchical Linear Models from both the data and the model perspectives. We propose an intuitive, effective approach to diagnosing the presence of multicollinearity and its remedies in this class of models. A simulation study demonstrates the impacts of multicollinearity on coefficient estimates, associated standard errors, and variance components at various levels of multicollinearity for finite sample sizes typical in social science studies. We further investigate the role multicollinearity plays at each level for estimation of coefficient parameters in terms of shrinkage. Based on these analyses, we recommend a top-down method for assessing multicollinearity in HLMs that first examines the contextual predictors (Level-2 in a two-level model) and then the individual predictors (Level-1) and uses the results for data collection, research problem redefinition, model re-specification, variable selection and estimation of a final model.

Innovations in Local Domiciliary Long-Term Care: From Libertarian Criticism to Normalisation

This article assesses how social innovations in the field of local domiciliary long-term care are shaped and implemented. It proposes a mapping of innovations in terms of two structuring discourses that inform welfare state reforms: a libertarian and a neo-liberal discourse. It then provides an analysis of the concrete trajectories of three local innovations for elderly people in Hamburg (Germany), Edinburgh (Scotland) and Geneva (Switzerland). Theoretically, social innovation is considered as a discursive process of public problem redefinition and institutionalisation. New coalitions of new actors are formed along this double process, and these transform the original discourse of innovation. The comparative analysis of the three processes of institutionalisation of local innovation shows that, in the context of local policy making, social innovations inspired by a libertarian critique of the welfare state undergo differentiated processes of normalisation.

Future visioning for sustainable household practices: spaces for sustainability learning?

Despite widely articulated concerns about unsustainable production and consumption processes, governance interventions have led to only incremental shifts in routinised production and consumption behaviour, particularly within households of western, industrialised societies. In response, techniques of future visioning have been mooted as more ambitious governing mechanisms that could help to liberate policymakers and other stakeholders from current patterns of disjointed incrementalism in the field of sustainable production and consumption. At the heart of these claims is the assertion that visioning promotes learning that can lead to the emergence of innovative approaches to sustainability challenges from problem redefinition to practical action. This paper examines the extent to which participatory visioning creates spaces for sustainable learning using empirical evidence from workshops focused on transforming household consumption practices in Ireland. It is concluded that participatory visioning approaches do provide supportive physical places and intellectual spaces for personal and collaborative learning with regard to potential sustainability transformations. The bounded nature of the particular workshops examined, in terms of duration, focus and participants, means that embedding such learning within wider organisational structures and practices is likely to be a much less certain process that, if it does occur, will unfold over longer timescales and in unpredictable ways.

Creativity in Design

The ability to develop new problem descriptions to enable new solutions has been related to the creative capability by many who have examined creative processes. This has been called problem re-structuring in architectural design and has been documented using models and methods of human information processing. In the realm of engineering, a similar phenomenon exists. The solution engineers have adopted to deal with uncertainties of problem redefinition involves the use of standards. Problems approached in this manner are routine problems. Non-routine problems tend to produce signature designs while routine ones lead to anonymous designs. Looking at human creativity through problem restructuring, so far, has led to interesting insights. If pursued further, this approach is likely to offer more research results and questions that can benefit our understanding of the role of creativity in professional practice and related decision-making.

Enhancing the utility of science: exploring the linkages between a science provider and their end-users in New Zealand

Increasingly, publicly funded research is being required to demonstrate its contribution to the public good. In response to this trend, a science provider of soil quality research in New Zealand initiated a research project that set out to identify and characterise its end-users in order to improve the utility of their research. The researchers recognised the complex nature of this problem and adopted an action research approach based on soft systems methodology (SSM). The research process entailed 4 action research cycles, allowing greater levels of problem redefinition and participant learning. The quality of linkages between the science provider and their end-users was found to be crucial for improving the utility of that science, and is determined by: (i) the nature of the personal relationships between them, (ii) how the information meets the needs of the end-users, (iii) the end-users’ perceptions of the science provider, and (iv) the culture and structure of the end-user organisations.

Human-centric intelligent systems for exploration and knowledge discovery

This speculative article discusses research and development relating to computational intelligence (CI) technologies comprising powerful machine-based search and exploration techniques that can generate, extract, process and present high-quality information from complex, poorly understood biotechnology domains. The integration and capture of user experiential knowledge within such CI systems in order to support and stimulate knowledge discovery and increase scientific and technological understanding is of particular interest. The manner in which appropriate user interaction can overcome problems relating to poor problem representation within systems utilising evolutionary computation (EC), machine-learning and software agent technologies is investigated. The objective is the development of user-centric intelligent systems that support an improving knowledge-base founded upon gradual problem re-definition and reformulation. Such an approach can overcome initial lack of understanding and associated uncertainty.

A scheme for functional reasoning in conceptual design

An ideal functional reasoning environment should support designs of any nature, routine or innovative, at any level of detail, as well as through varying levels of detail. In this paper, three existing functional reasoning models are reviewed in this perspective. It has been found that none of these models support all of these requirements. It has been shown that a functional reasoning approach cannot guarantee the generation of solution concepts, which are combinations of known solutions, unless guided by the knowledge of existing solutions. A new model which can support design both across a level of detail and down through levels of detail has been proposed, which, using a divide and rule approach and using recursive problem redefinition while incorporating existing solutions, could support conceptual design. It is also shown that, although the generation of completely new solutions is not supported by the model, the model, when aided by a framework allowing a sustained progress of its knowledge base by transfer of knowledge from existing designs in the form of basic structures and rules of combination, could support generation of designs which otherwise would be considered unsupportable in a systematic way (innovative).

A science-based approach to product design theory Part I: formulation and formalization of design process

This paper, first of the two parts series, addresses a science-based approach to the study of design processes. Design process is an evolving process that begins with design requirements and ends with product descriptions. A general design governing equation is proposed to characterize the design process. We also proposed a design process model that embodies synthesis and evaluation processes, design problem redefinition process, and design decomposition process. The basis of the design process model is primitive design which is formalized as a six-step process. Any design problem can be decomposed into primitive designs. Utilizing the design representation scheme we established using set theory, the design process is mathematically formulated and formalized. The detailed explanations are provided to illustrate the design governing equation, the design process model and the mathematical formulation.

Le Passante ferroviario de Milan

The Passante ferroviario is an underground railway junction of the terminus stations of the two train networks, the Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) and Ferrovie nord Milano Spa (FNM), which provide service for Milan. This rail interconnection is the keystone in a much larger public transportation project which will both suppress the separation between the FS and FNM networks, and assert the complementarity of the different modes present within a new transportation system, which will then be hierarchized and integrated on the levels of infrastructure, fares and management. One specific operator will be named to organize and administer this new regional train service. The project for the Passante emerged during the 60s, and it should be open for service to the public by the end of this century. This somewhat long delay may be explained by an evolution in the decision-making process in which, from an initial determination of a solution to a problem, the situation finally became the redefinition of problems after the various actors had taken over the project. This is a good illustration of the notion of the "garbage can" conceptualized by M. Cohen, J. March and J. Olsen. Using the example of the Passante, interconnection appears to be a process which corresponds to a state of instability, which in turn refers to a territorial imbalance. Moreover, this type of project, between sector (transportation) and territory (on different levels), involving multiple partnerships, would seem to be able to provide the opportunity for setting up innovative mechanisms and/or the local co-ordination of transportation and urban planning.

Optimization, Option Disclosure, and Problem Redefinition

Optimization, Option Disclosure, and Problem Redefinition

The redefinition of the situation: the social construction of spiritual healing experiences.

This paper is based on interviews with 160 persons who were participants in spiritual healing groups in Baltimore between 1981 and 1983. Survey data are used to describe how participants in spiritual healing groups presented their health problems, and how and if these problems were resolved or 'healed' over a six‐month period. The majority of respondents claimed some degree of healing, associated mainly with symptom alleviation rather than cure. A process of health problem redefinition occurred among some respondents, that provided better 'fit' with outcome descriptions of healing than original problem formulations. Redefined health problems were often less serious, less medical, more chronic, and more 'emergent' than those initially defined, and respondents who redefined problems were significantly more likely to claim a healing experience. 'Psychologisation' of problems suggest that healing experiences can be conceived as socially constructed events.

Rhetoric and ?doing philosophy?

By drawing new distinctions labelled “appeal” and “response” to replace traditional rhetorical modes of written discourse, the essay sketches a new perspective about what philosophers are doing rhetorically in “doing philosophy.” To think of philosophers as simply engaged in argument is an oversimplification and a distortion of what philosophers do. Crucial to doing philosophy are four activities: (1) definition and redefinition of problems and issues that form both the focus of the canonical historical literature of philosophy and what goes on in contemporary philosophy as a discipline, (2) the development and use of formal languages and technical vocabularies to abbreviate and label complexity and to disambiguate and precise distinctions necessary to deal with problems and issues, (3) the development and exploration of argumentative appeals for acceptance or refutation of answers to questions raised by the philosophical problematic, and (4) the development and exploration of explanatory responses to questions raised by the problematic. In so far as these four activities are driven and sanctioned by the current, self-defining philosophical problematic, contemporary philosophy as a body of knowledge is historical, cumulative, and marked by progress, and the doing of philosophy is fundamentally the making of written appeals and responses about its problematic.

The Mouse that Roared

This analysis seeks to contribute to the growing literature on the subject of “the weak in the world of the strong.” It examines Taiwan's attempts to cope with U.S. commerical pressure in view of its mounting bilateral trade surplus in the recent years ($10.6 billion in 1985, and $6.2 billion in the first half of 1986). Taiwan's past ability to achieve relatively favorable outcomes in its commerical dealings with the United States is explained at two levels. At the more micro level of bargaining tactics used by the weak in managing the strong, attention is directed to Taiwan's resort to: (1) problem redefinition, (2) damage limitation, (3) exploring loopholes, (4) linkage politics, and (5) transnational coalitions. These measures are complemented by more long-term and basic economic adaptation termed positive adjustment. At the more macro level, two prerequisites suggested by Yoffie (1983) for successful adaptation in a protectionist and competitive economic environment are discussed: (1) Taiwan's policy capacity, and (2) U.S. accommodative behavior. Taiwan's institutional capabilities (especially in terms of the autonomy and strength of the state), and its historical niche in U.S. domestic politics and Washington's Cold War containment policy are examined. The discussion argues that Taiwan's coping behavior in the trade area must be understood in the broader context of a metagame that seeks to preserve vital political and security contributions from the United States as well.

Tile Stigmatizing Aspects of Severe Disability: Strategies for Change

This article treats several aspects of attitudes toward disabled individuals and suggests strategies for changing these attitudes. The authors contend that attitudes towards those with disabilities remain negative despite current legislation to improve the status of disabled individuals. Secondly, the authors analyze the healer-patient relationship as it is evidenced in our current rehabilitation practices, and conclude that that relationship is patronizing toward disabled individuals. Thirdly, the notion of acceptance of disability is shown to be intrinsically derogating. Strategies for changing attitudes toward disabled people include: (1) redefinition of acceptance of disability to mean tolerance of disability; (2) redefinition of role relationships in such a way as to treat a disabled person because he is human, not because he is “sick”; (3) redefinition of “handicap” in terms of the environment; (4) redefinition of problems of disabled individuals as problems not unlike those of which all people face. Finally, several means by which rehabilitation counselors and rehabilitation counselor educators might implement these strategies are suggested.