Suchergebnisse

The presented paper summarizes a basic theory of indirect condition assessment including a definition of condition assessment, factors contributing to deterioration and possible outputs of the condition assessment. Furthermore, the legal requirements concerning this issue specifically in the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic are listed. As a part of the intended complex methodology for condition assessment of water distribution systems (WDS), a methodology for condition assessment of water mains was developed. The methodology is based on condition indicators (CI) and multi-objective optimization. The paper presents the proposed methodology and its application in two case studies. The proposed methodology achieved good results and it showed certain significant benefits – e.g. satisfactory level of detail, optional user modification. ; Předložený článek shrnuje základní teorii nepřímého hodnocení technického stavu včetně definice hodnocení technického stavu, faktorů přispívajících k technickému stárnutí vodovodů a možných výstupů hodnocení technického stavu, legislativních požadavků v České a Slovenské republice. Článek dále představuje navrženou metodiku hodnocení technického stavu vodovodních přiváděcích řadů včetně dvou z provedených případových studií.

This article describes the new qualitative methodology developed for use in CIRAS (Confidential Incident Reporting and Analysis System), the confidential database set up for the UK railways by the University of Strathclyde. CIRAS is a project in which qualitative safety data are disidentified and then stored and analysed in a central database. Due to the confidential nature of the data provided, conventional (positivist) methods of checking their accuracy are not applicable; therefore a new methodology was developed - the Applied Hermeneutic Methodology (AHM). Based on Paul Ricoeur's `hermeneutic arc', this methodology uses appropriate computer software to provide a method of analysis that can be shown to be reliable (in the sense that consensus in interpretations between different interpreters can be demonstrated). Moreover, given that the classifiers of the textual elements can be represented in numeric form, AHM crosses the `qualitative-quantitative divide'. It is suggested that this methodology is more rigorous and philosophically coherent than existing methodologies and that it has implications for all areas of the social sciences where qualitative texts are analysed.

There is a wide array of multi-attribute decision analysis methods and associated sensitivity analysis procedures in the literature. However, there is no detailed discussion of sensitivity analysis methods solely relating to additive hierarchical value models. The currently available methodology in the literature is unsophisticated and can be hard to implement into complex models. The methodology proposed in this research builds mathematical foundations for a robust sensitivity analysis approach and extends the current methodology to a more powerful form. The new methodology is easy to implement into complex hierarchical value models and gives flexible and dynamic capabilities to decision makers during sensitivity analysis. The mathematical notation is provided in this study along with applied examples to demonstrate this methodology. Global and local sensitivity analysis are considered and implemented using the proposed robust technique. This research provides consistency and a common standard for the decision analysis community for sensitivity analysis of multi-attribute deterministic hierarchical value models.

In any analysis of a decision problem involving public risks, ethical implications are introduced. In some cases, these ethical implications may be introduced simply because an analysis is being done. Additional ethical implications may be inherently part of the methodology being utilized or introduced into the specific analysis of the decision problem. In this paper, we investigate where and how ethical implications enter when using the methodology of decision analysis to examine problems involving public risks. We conclude that the methodology of decision analysis is sufficiently robust to allow for numerous different ethical viewpoints to be accounted for in any specific analysis. Stated alternatively, decision analyses of public risks can be conducted in a manner consistent with utilitarianism, deontological theories, libertarianism, egalitarianism, and so forth. However, any specific analysis has embedded within it numerous ethical implications. This suggests that the careful ethical scrutiny of analyses involving the methodology of decision analysis should be placed on the specific application and not on the methodology per se or on the fact that an analysis is undertaken.

This article interrogates the politics of belonging in scholar–practitioner collaborationsby analysing and reflecting upon a group project that advocated for a more equitable approach to newcomer belonging and integration in an urban setting in the UnitedStates. The structure of our collaboration revealed unaddressed and unspoken dynamics that collectively reinforced boundaries and hierarchies in our group, despite a level of intentionality around democratic praxis among the community-engaged scholars who initially brought participants together. The article asks: How can we work towards anotion of belonging if we haven't worked out an equitable approach within our own group where everyone, including newcomers, feels like they belong? The article relies on a methodology of critical reflexive dialogue between the four co-authors – two scholars and two practitioners – to analyse and reflect on the ways that power imbalances are bound up in questions of belonging and representation.

This article offers a reassessment of the main import of Peter Winch's philosophy of the social sciences. Critics argue that Winch presented a flawed methodology for the social sciences, while his supporters deny that Winch's work is about methodology at all. Contrary to both, the author argues that Winch deals with fundamental questions about methodology, and that there is something substantial to learn from his account. Winch engages methodological questions without being committed to social ontology. Instead, Winch's work on methodology is best described as a descriptive metaphysics of social inquiry. This alternative reading clarifies the close link between Winch's argument for the autonomy of the social sciences and R. G. Collingwood's philosophy of history.

AbstractThis paper argues that Relevance, Formality, and Process are themes that form an intellectual structure for making sense of the application of systems methodologies to real‐world problem situations and hence provide a starting point for a theory of soft systems practice. These themes are developed from a consideration of the development and use of Soft Systems Methodology. The core concepts and structure of Soft Systems Methodology are described and then a view of Soft Systems Methodology as a tool for managing inquiry‐based intervention into action‐oriented communities is developed and illustrated. The case studies are then used to explore the themes of relevance, formality, and process and to analyse areas of strength and weakness in Soft Systems Methodology.

EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. This edited volume discusses the methodological and ethical challenges that researchers are currently facing whilst attempting to document the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities throughout Europe.

"This Handbook presents established and innovative perspectives on involving older adults as co-creators in ageing research. It reorients research and policy toward more inclusive and adequate designs that capture the voices and needs of older adults. The Handbook: - introduces types of participatory approaches in ageing research; - highlights key methodological aspects of these approaches; - gives insights from projects across different cultural contexts and academic disciplines, showing ways in which older participants can be involved in co-designing different stages of the research cycle; - examines key issues to consider when involving older participants at each step of the research process; - includes the voices of older adults directly; - draws out conclusions and points ways forward for future research. This Handbook will be essential reading for researchers and students interested in the field of ageing and/or participatory methods, as well as for those policy stakeholders in the fields of ageing and demographic change, social and public policy, or health and wellbeing who are interested in involving older adults in policy processes. It will be useful for third sector advocacy organisations and international non-governmental and public agencies working either in citizen involvement/participation or the ageing sector"--

Margaret Price examines the experiences of disabled academics to show how attempts at providing individual accommodations actually impede rather than enhancing access.

"This textbook takes a case study approach to media and audience analytics. Realizing the best way to understand analytics in the digital age is to practice it, the authors have created a collection of cases using data sets that present real and hypothetical scenarios for students to work through. Media Analytics introduces the key principles of media economics and management. It outlines how to interpret and present results, the principles of data visualization and storytelling and the basics of research design and sampling. Although shifting technology makes measurement and analytics a dynamic space, this book takes an evergreen, conceptual approach, reminding students to focus on the principles and foundations that will remain constant. Aimed at upper-level students in the fast-growing area of media analytics in a cross-platform world, students using this text will learn how to find the stories in the data and to present those stories in an engaging way to others. Instructor and Student Resources include an Instructor's Manual, discussion questions, short exercises and links to additional resources. They are available online at www.routledge.com/cw/hollifield"--

Entscheidungen in Polizei, Politik und Verwaltung sollen adäquat theoretisch fundiert sein und auf einer soliden empirischen Basis gründen. Um diese Grundlagen zu entwickeln, sind Kenntnisse der wesentlichen Grundzüge empirischer Sozialforschung unverzichtbar. Dieses Lehrbuch bietet daher neben einer allgemeinen Einführung in die sozialwissenschaftliche Forschung praxisbezogene und beispielgestützte Hinweise für die Konzeption, Durchführung, Auswertung und Darstellung von zahlreichen quantitativen, qualitativen und mixed-methods-Ansätzen. Darüber hinaus werden der Nutzen, aber auch die Grenzen sozialwissenschaftlicher Forschung für die Polizei und die öffentliche Verwaltung aufgezeigt. Die Herausgeber Dr. Stefan Hollenberg ist Professor an der Hochschule für Polizei und öffentliche Verwaltung Nordrhein-Westfalen (HSPV NRW), Abteilung Köln. Er lehrt insbesondere Psychologie sowie sozialwissenschaftliche Methoden/Statistik. Dr. Claudia Kaup ist Dozentin für Politikwissenschaft und Soziologie an der Hochschule für Polizei und öffentliche Verwaltung Nordrhein-Westfalen (HSPV NRW), Abteilung Münster.

James R. Shaw argues that the centerpiece of Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations is made up of two completely different projects, with different guiding questions and methodologies. He claims that central, recurrent interpretive difficulties trace to conflating these two projects. Once we separate them out, we get our first clear understanding of the point of Wittgenstein's work. He then shows the power of Wittgenstein's resulting views by applying the resources of the reading to a well-known skeptical problem (that purports to demonstrate there are no facts about what we mean by any of our words), showing that it provides a new and illuminating way of rebutting that skepticism with extremely weak resources.