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The focus of my Master’s thesis is to compare calibrated weights with adjusted weights generated by using the RPW (Response propensity weighting) method. The estimated response propensities are calculated by using multinomial logistic regression in which the dependent variable is ternary and indicates response in web/cati or nonresponse. Possible differences in results between these two data collection modes are examined in my research as well. Three explanatory variables were used in modeling and the same variables were also included in calibration: gender, age group and major region. Thus the weights will be comparable. In addition, I will generate another model with some auxiliary variables from the data warehouse in order to see their effect. Those variables are income class, socioeconomic status, family status and origin. However, that information is not entirely up to date due to the delay of getting data. The data sets I’m using are from the Finnish Consumer survey, November 2012. The second mixed-mode survey pilot research was carried out alongside the monthly data collection at that time. Combining modes is worth of examination because it may offer an effective way to reach a larger amount of respondents and thus raise response rates in surveys. Web surveys, for instance, are relatively easy to set up and not so expensive.

This study seeks to comparatively analyse how well-being is distributed across the social structure in European welfare regimes. Welfare regime refers to a group of countries having a relatively similar orientation and culture regarding social policy. Well-being is interpreted and operationalised as a multidimensional concept. More concretely, well-being is approached in terms of the traditional core areas of welfare and social policy (indicators: economic hardship, sickness) but a special emphasis is piaced upon social aspects of life (indicators: social relations, social contribution, local ties, recognition and societal pessimism). The perspective of vulnerable social positions (unemployment, poverty, immigration background etc.) is chosen in all the analyses. The data set of the European Social Survey (round 3, 2006/2007) is used in the study since it includes an extensive module on well-being, which enables convenient and fruitful analytical paths. Multilevel analysis is chosen as the key method for the study due to its ability to handle data that involve grouped observations (e.g. individuals in countries) and research questions that are of multilevel nature themselves. The overall methodological idea is to start from general and broad descriptions and move towards a narrower and more specific focus. Four indicators are chosen for the in-depth analysis: economic hardship, sickness, societal pessimism and recognition. The results mostly corroborate the view that well-being is to a significant extent conditioned by the position one occupies in the social structure and also by the welfare regime one lives in. How life chances are distributed across the social structure varies between the country groups due to their different approaches to welfare policy. The Eastern European country group is generally characterised by relatively frequent ill-being — lack of well-being — on almost all dimensions included in the analysis. Economic hardship is conspicuousiy prevalent in these nations, especially among the unemployed. In fact, unemployment is a major risk factor for economic hardship in all regimes. The Nordic regime is distinguished by low rates of ill-being in virtually all dimensions, but the relatively high sickness rate is an exception: poverty in particular exposes to sickness in the Nordic world of welfare. The link between vulnerability and societal pessimism is rather typical for both the Eastern European and Continental European regimes. Poverty makes future views bleaker in almost ali country groups, whereas immigrants are generally less pessimistic. However, in the Nordic regime immigration background seems to be an adverse factor with respect to well-being. Poverty, unemployment and oneliness are associated to low recognition, whereas old age seems to be related to more respectful treatment. Living in the liberal welfare regime and being poor or unemployed is the combination that most severely exposes its occupant to the demoralising expetiences of low recognition. In other words, the moral flavour of everyday life in a vulnerable social position differs by country groups. Welfare regimes are more than just systems of benefit allocation and service production - also culture matters.

Tämä Pro gradu – tutkielma käsittelee Surfrider Foundation Europe nimistä ympäristöjärjestöä ja sen toimintaa Pohjois-Euroopan alueella, etenkin sen merten suojeluun keskittyvän Ocean Initiatives -kampanjan kautta. Surfrider Foundation Europe on alun perin lainelautailijoiden perustama kansainvälinen ympäristöjärjestö, jonka kampanjat liittyvät yhä läheisesti vesiurheiluun. Tutkimuksessa analysoidaan mertensuojelun yhteyttä vaihtoehtoisiin vesiurheilulajeihin, eli tässä tapauksessa lainelautailuun, leijalautailuun, purjelautailuun ja SUP-lautailuun. Erityisesti tutkimus keskittyy Ocean Initiatives – kampanjaan ja siihen liittyvään ympäristökasvatusajatukseen. Kampanjan tavoitteena on saada aikaan muutoksia ihmisten ympäristökäyttäytymisessä ja siten vähentää meriroskan määrää. Tätä päämäärää tavoitellaan paikallisten roskiensiivoustalkoiden kautta meri-, ranta-, järvi- ja jokiympäristöissä. Tutkielman tavoitteena on osoittaa, kuinka ympäristökasvatus on osana paikallisissa, vapaaehtoisten järjestämissä kampanjatapahtumissa. Tutkimus liittyy antropologisiin keskusteluihin luontosuhteesta, ympäristöliikkeisiin liittyvistä identiteeteistä sekä ympäristökasvatuksesta. Tutkimuksen tuloksia on analysoitu yhteydessä näihin keskusteluihin. Tutkimus perustuu monipaikkaiseen kenttätyöhön Belgiassa, Alankomaissa ja Suomessa keväällä 2015. Kenttätyö sisälsi osallistuvaa havainnointia ja epämuodollisia keskusteluja Ocean Initiatives – kampanjan tapahtumissa, järjestön vapaaehtoisten tapaamisissa sekä järjestön toimistossa Brysselissä 4 kuukauden työharjoittelun ajan. Tämä lisäksi tutkimus sisältää syvällisemmät haastattelut viiden informantin kanssa Belgiassa, Suomessa ja Ruotsissa. Analyysi perustuu myös kirjoittajan omaan, pitkäaikaiseen kokemukseen vesiurheilun ja siihen liittyvän yhteisön parissa. Tutkimuksen analyysi esittää, että suojellessaan vesiympäristöjä vesiurheilijat suojelevat samanaikaisesti myös omia henkilökohtaisia intressejään. Tutkimuksen kohteena olevan ympäristöliikkeen identiteettiä ja suojelun kohdetta rakennetaan ja neuvotellaan ajassa ja paikassa. Tutkimus osoittaakin, että kansainvälinen ympäristökampanja voi saada erilaisia merkityksiä eri paikoissa. Ocean Initiatives – kampanja voidaan nähdä ympäristökasvatuksena monilta osin ja tutkimuksessa tuli selväksi, että kampanjan kontekstissa tapahtuu monenlaista oppimista. Kuitenkin näkemykset kampanjan kasvatuksellisesta puolesta voivat erota suurestikin paikallisten kampanjavapaaehtoisten sekä kampanjaa suunnittelevan ja kehittävän järjestön henkilökunnan välillä.

This study attempts to discover the best predictors of mathematics and language learning outcomes across Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Uganda, and Tanzania by analysing World Bank SDI data and using machine learning methods for variable selection purposes. Firstly, I use the SDI data to show the current fragilities in the quality of education service delivery, while also highlighting deficiencies in student learning outcomes. Then, I use CV Lasso, Adaptive Lasso, and Elastic Net regularisation methods to help discover the best predictors of learning outcomes. While the results from the regularisation methods show that private schools, teacher subject knowledge, and teacher pedagogical skills are good predictors of learning outcomes in a sample combining observations from Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Uganda, and Tanzania, the results fail to infer causality by not distinguishing if unobservable factors are driving the results. To quantify the relationship of key predictors, and for statistical significance testing purposes, I then conduct subsequent OLS analysis. Despite not expecting the true partial derivative effects to be identical to the OLS coefficients presented in this study, this study highlights deficiencies in education service delivery and applies methods which help select key predictors of learning outcomes across the sampled schools in the SDI data.

This research examines how social work lecturers and fourth-year students reflect on the journey towards becoming a social worker in the Zambian context, and how the challenges the students face can be understood. Through a case study approach, the research aims to capture the becoming that occurs during the years of education, before the students graduate and enter the field as professionals. The 'becoming' is approached as a process of identity formation, influenced by interconnected external and interior dimensions. The research examines the challenges that the students and lecturers face, both within the training but also in society at large. The concept of becoming is used as a key tool when trying to capture the transition from student to professional. Since the process of becoming is considered to be connected to time, change and transition, the informants have been asked to reflect on the past, the present and the future. The informants discuss their career choice, the training provided at the institution and the professions current status within the Zambian society. The research framework has a postcolonial approach and constitutes of Margaret Archer's theory on reflexivity and Henry Giroux's thoughts on the crisis of higher education. Due to the lack of previous research within this topic, the importance of both contextualising the research, as well as addressing the professions Western roots is emphasised. The study argues that the impacts of colonialism has to be considered when trying to understand and connect the prevailing rhetoric and practices of social work in general. The question of whether the western theories and methods really are applicable in the Zambian context is raised. The concept of indigenous social work and the struggle to localise the profession is discussed in relation to the idea of a standardised, universal and international profession. The empirical phase of the research was carried out in Lusaka in June and July 2017. Eight semi-structured individual interviews with lecturers in social work and one group interview with five fourth-year social work students were conducted at the University of Zambia. A questionnaire completed by 34 fourth-year students in social work was used as a third source of data. The data has been analysed through a thematic approach. The themes were abstracted mainly through a qualitative thematic content analysis, however a quantitative content analysis was also used on the questionnaire to provide the study with an overview of the educational context. The analysis starts with examining how the university training shapes the students’ processes of becoming professional social workers. The lack of teaching resources and the hierarchy within the institution are discussed topics. Further on the analysis examines the informants’ thoughts on the future, both for the graduating students as well as for the profession. One of the main themes that run through the findings is the profession's lack of recognition and resources, which affects the students and practitioners in many ways. The lack of a clear policy for social services as well as the absence of institutional guidance are also challenges that affect the Zambian welfare system and the people working within it. According to the study, these challenges have resulted in a struggle for the profession to form a collective identity and maintain a certain level of professionalism. Another common thread is the need for contextualisation of the profession, meaning redesigning the profession and the education to better fit the local context and decrease the western influences. To conclude, the biggest challenges for both the social work profession in Zambia as well as for the graduating students were said to be the lack of recognition, resources, regulation and local academic knowledge. This study maps out these challenges and how they are positioned in relation to each other.

This thesis asks whether Finland should experiment with unemployment insurance (UI) benefit frontloading. To answer this question, a comprehensive literature review on the matter is conducted. Covering both theoretical research and empirical frontloading studies, the subject matter is further examined by performing synthetic control method simulations on frontloading experiments in Sweden and Hungary. The data used in the empirical analysis extend from 1990 to 2020 and is hand-picked from freely available WorldBank databases. The question of frontloading has repeatedly came up in the Finnish political discussions during recent years. Experimenting with frontloading has found support among some government parties, but most concrete plans for reforming the UI benefit schedule have came from the opposition, namely from the National Coalition Party. The governing parties have struggled finding a concensus on the frontloading question, mostly due to lack of empirical evidence on its consequences. This thesis sheds light on what measures have been used when the Finnish UI system has been reformed earlier during the 21st century, and what response the Finns have presented for previous adjustments in the UI benefit system. It also discusses on the potential outcomes of the National Coalition Party’s proposals based on the theory, and highlights the effect on overall generousity of Finnish UI system to be negative. Simultaneously, this thesis presents that different frontloading method in Hungary had the desired employment effects while maintaining the overall generousity, resulting in a Pareto-improvement for the society. This thesis contributes to existing UI literature by not only connecting the theory of optimal UI and job search models to empirical experiments in Sweden and Hungary, but also by presenting synthetic control design methods to unemployment rate analysis. Empirical simulations in this thesis from two unconnected frontloading experiments reveal the special preparations needed to work with as volatile variables as the unemployment rate. Even though neither of the simulations resulted in statistically significant results, the methods presented display important features of usage of synthetic control design with unemployment rates concerning future studies.

This study attempts to offer a consistent reading of Martin Heidegger’s notion of meaning within his philosophy of language. The reading widely utilizes Heidegger’s lifetime work, reaching from his earlier writings published prior to his first major work Being and Time (Sein und Zeit, 1927) to his later publications of the late 1950s. Through a discussion on the key concepts of Heidegger’s approach to language as introduced in Being and Time, an understanding of meaning as a dynamic process of execution, rooted in Heidegger’s earlier concept of Vollzugssinn, is suggested. The pre-predicative element of meaning, often viewed in secondary-literature as remaining beyond language and hence as being characteristically non-linguistic, is regarded in the presented reading as remaining within language. This is related to Heidegger’s effort to circumvent what he called the 'metaphysical distinction' (metaphysischer Unterschied), i.e., the traditional distinction between contingent sounds and the definitional meaning they refer to. The study elaborates the notion of meaning in Heidegger’s later publications as a process of continuous execution and connects it with the concept of movement. Movement as a distinctive character of language is distinguished from the idea of an unattainable chaotic stream. Here I briefly compare Heidegger’s standpoint to that of Wilhelm Dilthey (1833–1911) and his take on language. I show that Heidegger’s new notion of linguistic meaning leads to a transformed notion of experience. Finally, the acquired terminological tools are utilized to conceptually unfold language and to carefully examine the boundary between language and silence, music, gesture and dance. In this context, Heidegger’s terms 'earth' (Erde) and 'world' (Welt) are approached. My reading thus attempts to illustrate how Heidegger attains a renewed, broader notion of meaning beyond the metaphysical distinction and thus introduces an innovative and novel conception of language.

This research examines the role and meaning of borders in the life of international students by having a focus on the personal border stories of international students acquired through a problem-centred interview (Witzel, 1982). The mental aspect of borders has so far been overlooked in the border research. Therefore, the question aroused whether the classical border definition needs to be updated based on the students’ personal border stories. This is done by comparing the border stories with other researchers’ border definitions. Furthermore, when investigating the role of borders in an international students’ life, a paradoxical treatment by the Finnish authorities was discovered. A phenomenon which Moskal (2016) describes as ‘liberal paradox’. For this reason, I decided to also focus on whether the liberal paradox, meaning the states caught between open and closed borders, can really be discovered in Finland. This is done by comparing the interview content with the statements of the Finnish government and the University of Helsinki. The data is analysed with of Grounded Theory by Glaser & Strauss (1967). The analytical results can show that the liberal paradox is existing in Finland in the following areas: residence permit, travelling, banking and working. However, international students are in general satisfied with the situation. Problems are only reported at the beginning of the studies, when the residence permit is expired and after graduation. Furthermore, the working regulations are not satisfying international students. Even though the liberal paradox seems to be not severe from the international students’ perspective, it would be advisable for the Finnish government to improve the conditions in the listed areas. Border regulations do matter when an international student is choosing a country to study in abroad. Nevertheless, international students do not oppose border regulations in general, they are rather in the support of the regulation if the implementation is fair. In the end, international students also struggle with the liberal paradox and do not find it realistic to have a world without borders despite their dreams about it. The more theoretical part of the analysis of this master thesis can prove that researching the mental aspect of borders would be a valuable addition for the border research. However, a totally new border definition is not needed. Mezzadra & Neilson (2012)’s approach to treat borders as a method proved to be a sufficient approach as it allows the inclusion of personal border stories (Mezzadra & Neilson, 2012).

Apotti is an electronic health record system (EHRs) used in the Uusimaa region of Finland. The system is based on structured records which aims to maximize the collection of big data, which is expected to bring long-awaited solutions for our health care system suffering from structural funding and efficiency issues. As such, Apotti reflects the paradigm of datafication, which means quantifying social reality into data to be later used in value-making purposes. However, the endeavors gaining benefits from big data might be problematic from the point of view of nursing, that is hard, if not impossible to quantify due to its multidimensional nature, which also operates beyond visible performance. For this reason, there is a tension between the datafication paradigm and nursing practice in a more data-driven health care system. In this thesis, I explore this tension by examining the experiences of Finnish nurses using the Apotti system. The material of this thesis consists of eight in-depth interviews of nurses using the Apotti system, collected during the year 2023. The analysis was done using theory-guided content analysis. As a theoretical framework, Hartmut Rosa’s theory of social acceleration is used. According to the theory of social acceleration, the essence of modernity is acceleration, consisting of technical acceleration, acceleration of social change and the acceleration of pace of life. Rosa’s theory suggests that accelerated life leads to an alienated relationship with the world, as modern subjects seek to do more in absolute numbers but end up doing qualitatively worse. Rosa also uses care work as an example of an alienated relationship: caretakers do not encounter the patient on a reciprocal basis anymore, but the patient is fragmented into discrete pieces of parameters on which the health care staff focuses on under constant pressures of being effective. Accelerated life, according to Rosa, roots back to the ethos of controllability which seeks to dominate the surrounding reality by technological and scientific processes. As such, for both datafication and controllability, value creation is linked to how successfully the surrounding reality becomes exploitable for humans. The analysis consists of three parts, starting with handling time scarcity in nursing practice. Datafication is linked to this in two ways: firstly, doing the EHRs is not a minor, but major work task in nursing practice. Secondly, as value and meaning assimilates with data, work that does not show in the data starts lacking crucial evidence of its existence, leading to an accelerating data mill with increased amount of mandatory data work. The second part of the analysis elucidates the “invisible” work of nurses not shown in the data. In this part, challenges related to the nature of structural records against the nursing practice are also scrutinized, as well as more profound problems related to data collection and uncritical use of data. In the third part of the analysis, the medication process in Apotti is examined. Even if the medication process in Apotti is rendered as rock solid as possible, by shifting the focus away from nurses own judgement to technological procedures that are never flawless and often very complex, new hazards to medication safety emerge. This thesis discusses how Apotti, being a technological solution for time scarcity in the health care sector, has not decreased time scarcity, but instead by changing the social reality of nurses has resulted into an opposite outcome with increasing demands raising from datafication. Nevertheless, nurses hold resistance to these demands by actively maintaining more holistic relationship with patients by focusing on the human behind the parameters representing a human and prioritizing patient care over data work. The main contribution of this thesis is showing the limits to quantitative data in representing and guiding nursing practice, which should be acknowledged when health care sector becomes more data-driven. As nursing is being quantified regardless of being a profession that seems hard if not impossible to define in quantitative manners, qualitative research is also needed to elucidate essential work that remains in the shadows of quantification.

This research delves into the experiences of staff or volunteers and asylum seekers or refugees making relationships with each other in three locations, Finland, Ireland and Greece. Both of the former countries are understudied locations in this area, and offer different perspectives to areas experiencing larger-scale asylum applications or immigration such as Greece, which has been particularly well-studied since 2015. The focus on the relationships in and of themselves is a novel perspective. This ethnographic research utilises interviews and the author’s own observational experiences in addition to the Irish comparative case study. The thesis concentrates on the meaning of these interactions to individuals involved and how they managed these relationships in a context of social distance created by the social political conditions of their meeting. Key results include ambivalence in the research participants’ emotions resulting in a layered experience of their relationships, as well as the extremity of the context of their relationship-making, which my ethnographic fieldwork suggests contributed to the intensity of the relationships. I also suggest that making meaningful relationships is a way of creating forward motion in the lives of asylum seekers, and explore how different strategies are used by the research participants to overcome social distance. The study concludes that the particular context in which the research participants developed relationships made close bonds somewhat inevitable, illustrating the benefits of intimacy in this context. Using the concepts of biopower, boundary-making and bureaucratic violence, this study also illustrates how long arm of the state intervenes in intimate relations.