Browsing by Subject "attityder"

The objective of this thesis was to explore how customers relate to the increase of technology-based selfservices. The subject was first approached by figuring out how to determine self-service and service quality. After that it was examined how customers build their expectations towards services and what their roles in them are. Next objective was to investigate how customers form their attitudes towards self-services and what affects their intentions to use them. The empirical study was made as a web-based survey distributed with the help of the Facebook network. The original focus group was asked to answer the questionnaire and forward the questionnaire to their Facebook contacts. A total of 348 answers from Finns over the age of 18 years were this way obtained. The answers were then studied with the help of analysis of variances, principal component analysis and regression analysis. The findings of this research were that customers have positive attitudes towards self-services and the increase of them in services. A positive attitude doesn’t necessarily mean that customers feel that service quality has increased. Most of the customers feel that self-services can be added as a part of the service. But that selfservice can and should not replace traditional service channels or encounters entirely. According to this research customer attitudes towards self-service are affected by demographic factors, selfservice attributes, customer individual attributes and situational influences. Of customers individual attributes, the resistance towards self-services, beliefs of their own capability to use self-services and the need for interaction in service encounters affects customers intention to use self-service technologies the most. Customers intention to use technology-based self –services can be modified by situational factors. Especially price and time are factors that can change a customer’s intention to use self-services considerably. When introducing self-services it is essential to remember the most important factor, which is customer experience. This is why companies should develop self-service technologies so that they are suitable and attainable for all demographic groups. They should also focus on marketing the advantages of using selfservices to inspire customers to start using them in the future.

Aims. Previous research shows that attitudes towards mental illness are to some extent negative and that stigmatization and discrimination exist, therefore a majority of the one´s who suffer from mental illness choose not to reveal their condition. Employees suffering from mental illness have a greater risk of losing their jobs, have worse career opportunities and are in the risk zone of being bullied or even left as an outcast. The aim of this study was to identify different attitudes towards mentally ill employees in Finland and Sweden, how these attitudes affect their everyday working life and if research indicates a change of attitudes over time. Methods. I chose to demarcate this thesis on studies on attitudes towards mental illnesses among employees in Finland and Sweden, published between 2012 and 2017. The material was retrieved from various databases including Google Scholar, Helda, Helka and Julkari and the searches were made in Swedish, Finnish and English. The keywords I used were: mental illness, mental health, attitudes, working life, stigma, psykisk ohälsa, psykisk hälsa, attityder, arbetsliv, mielenterveys, asenteet and työelämä. Results and conclusions. The results of this study show that stigmatization and negative attitudes towards mental illness within the working life are prevalent both in Finland and Sweden. Yet, the general awareness of mental illness is relatively high and the supportive discussion about the subject is improving in organizations. However, the majority of mentally ill employees in rehab, executives and the general population considered that in situations where an employee is mentally ill, and the employer knows about it, there might be a risk of a lower status or maybe even a loss of an employment. The career prospects for employees with mental illness are limited, because of an unwillingness to hire or keep an employee suffering from mental illness. Employers who have previous experience of employees with mental illnesses are more willing to hire people who have or have had a mental illness. The attitudes of the employers and colleagues turned out to have a major impact on the affected person, and the support was considered extremely important. The fear of stigmatization, special treatment and the potential loss of employment leads to a concealment of the condition for the majority of the affected. Although the results show that the attitudes towards mental illness in the working life have improved over time, unfortunately negative attitudes and stigmatization still exists.

Syftet med denna pro gradu -avhandling är att undersöka medborgares attityder till myndighetsövervakning. Avhandlingen undersöker hur medborgare förhåller sig till olika former av myndighetsövervakning samt vilka grupper av människor som är mer eller mindre accepterande till myndighetsövervakning. Det som undersöks är attityder till kameraövervakning på offentliga platser, myndigheters rätt till övervakning av e-post och annan information som utbyts över internet, samt attityder till myndigheters rätt att samla in information om vem som helst som bor i Finland utan att personen själv får veta om det. Logistiska regressioner görs på data av frågorna om myndighetsövervakning i European Values Study Svenskfinland 2018. Ur resultaten framkommer det att attityder gentemot de olika formerna av övervakning skiljer sig från varandra. Kameraövervakning är mest accepterat, medan en större skepsis kan urskiljas mot e-postövervakning och insamling av information utan samtycke. Därtill fastställs att äldre personer i regel är mer accepterande gentemot kamera- och e-postövervakning än de yngre. Det finns en skillnad mellan könen där kvinnor accepterar kameraövervakning i större utsträckning än män. Ur resultaten framkommer också att lägre utbildade är mer accepterande till e-postövervakning och myndigheternas rätt att samla information än högre utbildade. Institutionellt förtroende konstateras ha en signifikant effekt på inställningen till myndighetsövervakning, där de med högt institutionellt förtroende i större utsträckning accepterar internet- och e-postövervakningen samt att myndigheter samlar in information. Politisk orientering var den enda faktorn som gav signifikanta resultat på alla tre former av övervakning som i avhandlingen undersöktes. Där kunde konstateras att vänsterorienterade personer är mer kritiska till alla tre former av övervakning och informationsinsamling än högerorienterade.

In conjunction with the new regulations in early childhood education, there has been an increasing emphasis and demand on educators’ knowledge concerning gender issues and their ability to understand how preconceived notions of gender affect how they perceive and act towards children, the pedagogical environment as well as their ability to distinguish gender norms in theory and practice, both in themselves and in others. The purpose of this study is to present Fenno-Swedish early childhood educators’ experiences of gender pedagogy after going through a gender pedagogical training program. The study investigates how they perceive and internalize gender pedagogy in theory and in practice and what kind of attitudes they hold in relation to it. Previous studies have shown that early childhood educators who consider working gender pedagogically in theory do not, in fact, do so in practice due to lack of knowledge and the need of education concerning gender issues among educators. In this study, gender pedagogy is defined in accordance with its theoretical starting point, that is, the attempt to avoid encountering and treating children and how they act and behave after assumptions that stem from gender stereotypical dichotomies such as boy/girl. A qualitative research method was used in this study and data was collected through semi-structured interviews with four early childhood educators with experiences in gender pedagogical training and practice. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and the data was analyzed through qualitative content analysis. Results show that all four informants consider that they work with gender pedagogical issues, but in different ways. Two out of four informants show tendencies towards a cautious and negative attitude towards the gender pedagogical training program. One half of the informants regard gender pedagogy as a starting point in their pedagogy while the other half perceive it as a method. The study shows that the educators’ perception of gender pedagogy play a decisive role in how they implement it in practice. The educators’ own interest and attitude towards gender pedagogy has shown to be a prerequisite in order for them to be able to internalize gender pedagogical issues and thus be motivated to put them in to practice.

The purpose of this study is to search for people´s describing thoughts and furthermore positive and negative attitudes to the value and status of preschool teachers in the Finnish society, to explain a possible disharmony between these two. The theoretical frame of this study clarifies the concept of professionalism and its meaning in relation to the occupation of preschool teacher. It furthermore clarifies the concept of attitudes and its components, its origin and its ability to change. Furthermore, this study is a qualitative study and its approach is phenomenological, based on semi-structured interviews. Four people, regardless of earlier experience of children, are interviewed in Helsinki with the aim to seize the phenomenon, their positive, negative or indifferent attitudes towards preschool teachers in respect of their value verses their status in the Finnish society. Finally the result shows that positive, affective attitudes seem to be connected with children and positive, cognitive attitudes tend to be connected with their childhood witch creates a link to why preschool teachers has such high value in the society. According to this study, lack of knowledge and stereotypic point of views, lowers their status and therefor a disharmony is created between the preschool teacher´s value and status. Furthermore, in order to make a change, knowledge and visibility of the meaning of the profession as a preschool teacher within young children’s education is needed in purpose to bring their value and status to the same level.

Syftet med denna avhandling är att undersöka hur språket i nyhetsartiklar i några finlandssvenska medier förmedlar attityder om den sjunkande nativiteten i Finland, den så kallade barnbristen. De attitydförmedlande element som i synnerhet ligger i fokus är de ord och uttryck som kallas värdeord och som bär på en positiv eller negativ laddning. Undersökningen baserar sig på sammanlagt 21 nyhetsartiklar som publicerats i Hufvudstadsbladet eller på webbplatsen Svenska Yle åren 2017–2020. Samtliga artiklar behandlar den sjunkande nativiteten i Finland under de senaste åren ur olika synvinklar, från politiska och ekonomiska konsekvenser till frivillig eller ofrivillig barnlöshet. Metoden bygger på en genomgång av språket för att identifiera attitydförmedlande element, såsom värderingar, styrka och precision, varefter fynden har kategoriserats och analyserats för att se vilka attityder de förmedlar och vilken effekt de skapar. Resultaten av undersökningen visar att antalet attitydförmedlande element i artiklarna är stort och de gäller så väl den situation som den sjunkande nativiteten orsakar i Finland som de personer vars liv berörs av beslutet att bilda familj eller att inte göra det. Som en bakgrund till samtliga artiklar finns en presupposition om att de sjunkande nativitetssiffrorna är skadliga för Finland. Själva fenomenet beskrivs även med negativt laddade ord som signalerar kriser, katastrofer och problem. Det förekommer också paralleller mellan dagsläget och historiskt svåra tider, till exempel nödåren 1867–1868. Syftet med det attitydbärande språkbruket och dessa paralleller är att skapa en känsla av gemenskap och kampanda.

Purpose. Effect of the method “Grej of the Day” (GOTD) and sustainability pedagogics about Agenda 2030 is analyzed. The purpose is to support teaching of facts about Agenda 2030, raise the pupils’ motivation for environmental education and improve their attitudes. This study aims to see if pupils get more knowledge and better environmental attitudes after GOTD- microlessons about goals in Agenda 2030. The pupils’ feelings after the GOTD were analyzed. A swedish study shows that teachers think that their pupils get more knowledge and better motivation when teaching SO-subjects (society subjects) with GOTD. Methods. 22 pupils in grades 5–6 participated in this study. This was an action research and the pupils had 4 microlessons about 4 goals (12–15) from Agenda 2030. After the two first lessons a school project was analyzed using content analysis to see if something should be improved. Knowledge and attitudes related to Agenda 2030 were studied with a survey before and after the intervention. The survey also had two open questions about feelings before and after a GOTD-microlesson. Questions about the knowledge were based on Grön Flagg- surveys and results are presented by percentages of right and wrong. The survey about attitudes included statements to take a stand on on a Likert-scale. Results were analyzed using SPSS and presented statistically. The open questions were analyzed using content analysis. Results and conclusions. Knowledge before the intervention was very good and all the pupils gave the right answer to 7 of the 24 questions both before and after the intervention. In some questions about Goal 12 Sustainable consumtion and production the pupils lacked some knowledge and the intervention improved their knowledge a little. Attitudes about the environmental goals in Agenda 2030 were good and only a little improvement could be detected after the intervention. The improvement was not statistically significant. Content analysis of the answers to the open questions show that GOTD creates inner motivation for learning. The method “Grej of the Day” appears to be useful as a complement while teaching environmental issues in elementary schools.

Tämän tutkielman tavoitteena on saada käsitys Suomessa esiintyvien ruotsinkielisten murteiden puhujien asenteesta omaa kotimurrettansa kohtaan. Tutkielmassa kotimurteella tarkoitetaan sitä murretta, jonka vastaaja kokee ensimmäiseksi puhumakseen murteeksi. Suomessa puhuttavaa ruotsin kieltä leimaa vahvat alueelliset murteet. Toisen kotimaisen kielen puhujia on Suomessa noin 6 % mutta harva heistä puhuu kuitenkaan täysin samalla tavalla. Tutkielman pohjana toimii asennetutkimuksissa usein käytetty kolmen komponentin malli, jonka mukaan asenne koostuu tiedosta, tunteesta sekä toiminnasta. Kysely toteutettiin nettipohjaisella kyselylomakkeella loka-marraskuussa 2020 ja siihen vastasi yhteensä 338 henkilöä. Kyselylomake julkaistiin Facebook-ryhmässä, jonka jäsenet ovat yhden Suomen suosituimman ruotsin kielisen podcastin kuuntelijoita ja tämän perusteella olettamuk-sena oli, että vastaajat ovat ruotsinkielisiä. Kyselytutkimus sisälsi väittämiä sekä avoimia kysy-myksiä, jotka oli jaoteltu kolmen komponentin mallin mukaan. Tutkielmassa käytettiin sekä määrällistä että laadullista sisältöanalyysia tulosten tarkastelussa. Tutkimuksessa selvisi, että murre koetaan ylpeydenaiheena sekä merkityksellisenä asiana. Enemmistö vastaajista oli tyytyväisiä siihen, että ovat kasvaneet oman murteensa kanssa. He kokevat myös olevansa itsevarmempia käyttäessään omaa murrettansa. Se koetaan osana identi-teettiä sekä äidinkielenä, mutta tunteiden ilmaisemisen ei koeta olevan helpompaa omalla mur-teella. Enemmistön mielestä murre on luonnollisempi kommunikaatiokieli kuin standardiruotsi. Tutkimuksessa nousi esille kolme tilannetta, jotka useammalla vastaajalla oli johtanut asen-teenmuutokseen omaa murretta kohtaan. Tilanteet olivat muutto uuteen kielelliseen ympäris-töön, ikääntyminen sekä ajan kanssa opittu arvostus murretta kohtaan. Oma asenne murretta kohtaan ei ole täysin stabiili koko elämän ajan, vaan se voi muuttua. Murre voi myös aiheuttaa assosiaatioita ikävimpiin aikoihin tai paikkoihin, joka puolestaan osalla vastaajista aiheuttivat negatiivia asenteita murretta kohtaan. Tutkimustiedon perusteella murretta käytetään enemmän kuin standardiruotsia. Kielenkäyttö on kuitenkin kontekstisidonnaista. Standardiruotsia käytetään töissä ja tuntemattomien kanssa, kun taas murretta käytetään lapsuuden ystävien, sukulaisten ja perheen kanssa. Sama pätee sosiaali-seen mediaan. Mitä henkilökohtaisempi alusta on kyseessä, sitä enemmän murretta käytetään.

Kritik mot tvåsamhetsnormen har ökat och flersamhet har blivit allt mer populärt. I denna litteraturöversikt är mitt syfte att ge en inblick i konstruktionen av identitet hos flersamma personer, samt attityder kring flersamhet. Identiteten hos flersamma konstrueras i en relation, ifall man väljer flersamma relationer eller något som bara är naturligt. Flersamhet kan även ses som en relationell identitet. Flersamma personer konstruerar sin identitet både i relation till tvåsamma, och i relation till övriga icke-tvåsamma grupper. Attityder överlag till flersamma är mer negativa än till tvåsamma, men mer positiva i jämförelse gentemot övriga icke-tvåsamma. Det finns knappt med forskning i socialpsykologi i ämnet, och i litteraturöversikten föreslås även nya frågeställningar för kommande forskning.

In accordance with the fact that the core curriculum for basic education 2014 came into effect in the autumn of 2016, the discussion about teachers' digital competence has flared up in the media. The diverse views regarding the use of digital tools in teaching contributed to the Thesis's subject. The purpose of this survey was to identify the attitude of the teachers towards information and communication technology (ICT), as well as to investigate whether psychological factors and factors in the work environment affect the attitudes of ICT in teaching. The survey was conducted as a quantitative study and was limited to primary and secondary school teachers in Swedish-speaking schools in the metropolitan area. Data was collected using an electronic questionnaire sent to 40 headmasters by e-mail, which were then forwarded to the teachers. The questionnaire was sent out in January-February 2018 and was answered by a total of 87 teachers. The material was processed and analyzed using the SPSS statistics program. The results showed that the teachers largely seemed to be positive to the use of ICT. Nevertheless, there were many open comments that were critical to digitalization, resources and the possibility of further education. Attitudes towards and perceptions of ICT were unrelated to gender, age and school level, number of pupils and work experience as a teacher. However, the psychological factors engagement and workload had a positive versus negative impact on attitudes.