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Browsing by study line "Samhällsdatavetenskap"

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  • Ren, Yu (2024)
    Abstract: Background: The study validates separately the three-factor models of study burnout and engagement, and examines study burnout and engagement across two types of Finnish higher education institutions (universities and universities of applied science), additionally the effects of alcohol consumption and financial strain on study burnout and engagement with undergraduate students. Methods: The study uses data from University Student Health Survey 2016, a total of 2140 students (1354 university students, 784 university of applied science students) on study burnout and engagement, alcohol consumption and financial strain. Results: Confirmatory factor analysis supported separately of the three-factor models of study burnout (CFI = 0.969; TLI = 0.954; RMSEA = 0.068; SRMR = 0.039) with exhaustion (EX), cynicism (CY), and inadequacy (IN), and study engagement (CFI = 0.971; TLI = 0.957; RMSEA = 0.076; SRMR = 0.026) with energy (EE), dedication (DE) and absorption (AB). The findings from the multilevel structural equation model revealed that no significant difference in study burnout between undergraduate students from universities or universities of applied science, however, significant differences were observed in the dedication and absorption of engagement. Alcohol consumption had a significant negative on burnout and a positive effect on engagement. In addition, financial strain had a positive correlation with burnout, particularly of high financial strain; however, evidence for its impact on study engagement was insufficient. Finally, path analysis confirms that study engagement as the mediation between alcohol consumption, financial strain, type of university and study burnout. Conclusions: This study emphasized the significant impacts of alcohol consumption and financial strain on study burnout and engagement in Finnish higher education, which aims to reduce burnout and enhance engagement at higher education institutions, study engagement is the effective mediator between alcohol consumption, financial strain, type of university and study burnout.
  • Kytölä, Aleksi (2024)
    The EU has been in the recent decades one of the most important innovators globally. However, due to the recent events in its external environment, such as supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19, third-country dependencies and external geopolitical pressures, its position in global innovation is challenged. These developments are often discussed under the headline “strategic autonomy”, which refers to the EU’s capacity to act autonomously in key strategic policy areas. As capacity to innovate is what crucially undergirds the EU’s economic power, the EU’s innovation policy plays a fundamental role in achieving strategic autonomy. Yet, peer reviewed study of the implications of strategic autonomy for EU innovation policy has remained thus far uncharted. This thesis asks: how the discourse on strategic autonomy frames EU innovation policy? To answer the research question, this thesis deployed a framing analysis in parallel with qualitative content analysis. This approach was applied to policy documents published by the European Commission in the period of 2019-2023. This thesis aimed to investigate the extent to which strategic autonomy has influenced EU innovation policy. Secondly, the thesis explored how the concept(s) inform policymakers about the identified problem and examines the policy justifications that arise from this assessment. The qualitative content analysis found that the discourse on strategic autonomy has become increasingly relevant for the EU innovation policy, showcasing high levels of frequency in the use of the concept in the policy area. Moreover, a closer look at the use of the concept revealed that not only is the concept invoked frequently, but has only become highly influential for the shaping of the policy. In addition, an overarching framing could be identified that perceives the environment external to the EU being increasingly hostile and competitive, complicated by antagonisms towards the rules-based world order. From this assessment arises novel policy justifications for international cooperation in R&I. Also, EU innovation policy is increasingly interested in securing autonomous capacity to innovate and have access and control of critical technologies. In terms of international cooperation, a balancing act between openness and assertiveness could be observed. The analysis also had implications for internal developments as the EU is showing a much more active role in directing funding to critical sectors to enhance its industrial capacity and competitiveness.
  • Liyanage, Lashini Navodika (2024)
    The phenomena of gambling behavior are complex and influenced by a range of socio-economic circumstances, individual predispositions, and society norms. In Finland, the culture of gambling is very strong, with almost 80% of the people engaging in some sort of gaming every year. Thus, the purpose of this thesis is to shed light on gambling behavior in relation to Finnish sociocultural dynamics. This study uses a quantitative research approach and is based on empirical evidence from the "Gambling in Finland 2021" dataset provided by Taloustutkimus on behalf of Veikkaus Oy, the state-owned gambling operator. In order to explain problem gambling behavior, the research looks at the complicated relationship between socioeconomic determinants and psychological indicators using Exploratory Factor Analysis and Binary Logistic Regression. The results show a strong relationship between tendencies for problem gambling and demographic traits. It has been determined that gender, age, income, and education are significant determinants of gambling behaviour. Problem gambling is more common in men and younger people, and it is also more likely to occur in those with lower incomes and educational attainment. The study also emphasizes how psychological factors might affect a person's gambling habits. The main causes of problem gambling include Compulsive Behaviour, Financial Impacts and Deception, and Interpersonal and Occupational Consequences. The study's findings highlight the necessity of specific treatments and legislative frameworks meant to promote responsible gambling and lessen the negative effects of compulsive gambling, especially for the most vulnerable segments of the Finnish population. Policymakers and other stakeholders can endeavour to make gambling safer for all Finnish people by addressing the societal as well as individual causes that lead to problem gambling.
  • Mikkonen, Santeri (2023)
    Tässä tutkielmassa keskitytään vuonna 2003 ensi kertaa ilmestyneen suomalainen rahapelaaminen-tutkimussarjan viimeisimpään, vuonna 2019 ilmestyneeseen osaan Rahapelitutkimus 2019. Rahapelitutkimus 2019 selvittää suomalaisten rahapelien pelaamista, rahapelien pelaamisen useutta, pelaamiseen käytettyjä rahamääriä ja mielipiteitä ongelmapelaamisesta. Tutkittava kyselytutkimus on laaja ja sisältää useita muuttujia. Tutkielmassa on tarkasteltu rahapelaamista lineaaristen regressiomallien kautta ja kiinnitetty erityistä huomiota lineaaristen mallien diagnostiikkaan. Mallien diagnostiikkana toimi erilaiset visuaaliset tarkastelut, kuten kvantiilikuvaajat ja Cookin etäisyys. Selitettäväksi muuttujaksi on valittu vuodessa rahapelattu määrä euroissa. Selittäviksi muuttujiksi on valittu vastaajan sukupuoli, alkoholin käytön määrä ja koulutustaso. Näistä on saatu neljä tilastollista mallia, jossa ensin tarkastellaan muuttujien yhteyttä yksin ja tämän jälkeen muuttujat on yhdistetty yhdeksi malliksi. Tutkielmassa havaittiin, että rahapeleihin käytetty rahamäärä on keskimäärin suurempi miehillä kuin naisilla. Myös havaittiin, että rahapelattu määrä keskimäärin kasvaa kun alkoholiannokset kasvavat käyttökertaa kohden. Tutkielmassa ei havaittu, että vastaajan koulutustason nousu 1. asteelta toiselle asteelle vaikuttaisi keskimääräisesti rahapeleihin käytettyyn rahamäärään, mutta rahapelaaminen väheni keskimäärin, kun vastaaja oli suorittanut alemman tai ylemmän korkeakoulututkinnon.
  • Litova, Maria (2023)
    The self-organizing map (SOM) is a form of unsupervised neural network and a method for data analysis that allows reducing the dimensionality of data, exploring the variation and dependencies between variables and presenting their similarity relations. Being a powerful visualization instrument and having a strong disposition for clustering, the self-organizing map could be implemented to the analysis of survey data, particularly, collected with the questionnaires. This thesis provides a relevant example of dealing with the limited size mixed survey data set. The self-organizing map algorithm is implemented to analyze the data obtained from the faculty well-being project organized at the Faculty of Social Sciences in the University of Helsinki. The set of experiments utilize the self-organizing map algorithm to explore a possible clustering structure of the data and identify the profiles of the survey participants. Each of three experiments illustrates different variable encoding approaches for the sets of closed background and Likert scale questions. The largest number of the profiles was obtained from the final experiment. Four out of seven profiles represent clusters of the individuals with mainly neutral, negative or very negative experiences related to the well-being at the faculty. The data analysis experiments also illustrate the possible challenges of the SOM method implementation to survey data. The existence of categorical variables, the necessity of choosing a set of parameters for the SOM training and dealing with the missing values are discussed as main challenges of the SOM implementation to survey data analysis using the R package “kohonen”.
  • Azzahra, Ghaida Nasria (2024)
    Tolerance is the pillar that ensures the safety and stability of a nation, especially for a populous and multicultural one such as Indonesia. Societal characteristics, such as diversity, may play a significant role in shaping people’s attitudes. Diversity may improve intergroup relations by encouraging positive interaction between members of different groups. On the other hand, it may have a negative influence by aggravating social tension. This thesis aims to examine how intergroup contact and diversity associate with religious tolerance in Indonesia. Due to the hierarchical nature of the problem, multilevel regression analysis was utilized for this study. This thesis also aims to investigate if the application of multilevel regression can provide any additional value to the analysis. Classical single-level linear regression was also employed as a comparison for the multilevel model and to complement the analysis. This thesis utilized a combination of national survey data and official data from government bodies. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) calculated from the model revealed that around 23% of the variation in tolerance score was due to the grouping structure in the data, which can be considered to be quite high. Religious diversity was found to be statistically significant and was able to explain a substantial amount of the variation in province level. Intergroup interaction was also found to be positively and significantly associated with tolerance score. The multilevel model was also found to correct the underestimation of standard error in single-level regression due to treating a group-level predictor as an individual-level predictor. Thus, the application of multilevel analysis provided additional value to the analysis by revealing province-level inequalities in the data and minimizing the risk of spurious significant results.