Browsing by Subject "content analysis"

Aim of this master's thesis paper for consumer economics, is to research gambling advertisements in Finland over a period of 35 years, from 1970 to 2006. Veikkaus Oy (later Veikkaus), was founded in 1940, as one of the three licensed gambling organizations in Finland. Material for the current research comprised 1494 advertisements published by Veikkaus in newspapers and magazines at that time. Veikkaus has the exclusive licence to organize lotto games, sport games, instant games and other draw games in Finland. The other two operators, The Finnish Slot Machine Association RAY and Fintoto (on-track horse betting), were not included in the current analysis. This study has been completed according to research contract and grand by the Finnish Foundation for Gaming Research (Pelitoiminnan tutkimussäätiö). In general, advertisements reflect surrounding culture and time, and their message is built on stratified meanings, symbols and codes. Advertising draws the viewer's attention, introduces the advertised subject, and finally, affects the individual's consumption habits. However, advertisements not only work on individual level, but also influence public perception of the advertised product. Firstly, in order to assess gambling as a phenomenon, this paper discusses gambling as consumer behaviour, and also reviews history of gambling in Finland. Winning is a major feature of gambling, and dreaming about positive change of life is a centre of most gambling ads. However, perceived excitement through risk of losing can also be featured in gambling ads. Secondly, this study utilizes Veikkaus’ large advertising archives, were advertising data is analyzed by content analysis and the semiotic analysis. Two methods have been employed to support analyzing outcome in a synergistic way. Content analysis helps to achieve accuracy and comprehensiveness. Semiotic analysis allows deeper and more sensitive analysis to emerged findings and occurrences. It is important to understand the advertised product, as advertising is bound to the culture and time. Hence, to analyze advertising, it is important to understand the environment where the ads appear. Content analysis of Veikkaus data discovered the main gambling and principal advertisement style for each.period. Interestingly, nearly half of Veikkaus’ advertisements promoted topic other than “just winning the bet”. Games of change, like Lotto, typically advertised indirectly represented dreams about winning. In the category of skill gambling, features were represented as investment, and the excitement of sporting expertise was emphasized. In addition, there were a number of gambling ads that emphasize social responsibility of Veikkaus as a government guided organization. Semiotic methods were employed to further elaborate on findings of content analysis. Dreaming in the advertisements was represented by the product of symbols, (e.g. cars and homes) that were found to have significance connection with each other. Thus, advertising represents change of life obtained by the winning. Interestingly, gambling ads promoting jackpots were often representing religious symbolisms. Ads promoting social responsibility were found to be the most common during economical depression of the 90’s. Deeper analysis showed that at that time, advertisements frequently represented depression-related meanings, such as unemployment and bank loans. Skill gaming ads were often represented by sports expertise – late 90’s, their number started sky rocketing, and continued increasing until 2006 (when this study ended). One may conclude that sport betting draws its meanings from the relevant consumer culture, and from the rules and features of the betted sport.

Farmasian ammattilaiset ovat lääkealan asiantuntijoita, joilta vaaditaan uudenlaista osaamista muun muassa teknologiakehityksen myötä. Nykypäivän asiantuntijuus edellyttää alakohtaisen eli sisällöllisen osaamisen lisäksi geneerisiä eli yleisiä taitoja ja ammatti-identiteetin muodostumista. Geneerisillä taidoilla tarkoitetaan yleishyödyllisiä taitoja, kuten ongelmanratkaisu- ja kommunikointitaitoja. Ammatti-identiteetillä tarkoitetaan käsitystä omasta työminästä, jonka avulla omaa roolia ja työnkuvaa järkeistetään. Näiden elementtien muodostamaa osaamisen kokonaisuutta kutsutaan kompetenssiksi. Asiantuntijoilta vaadittavan osaamisen muutos on ohjannut yliopistoja vastaamaan paremmin työelämän tarpeisiin. Helsingin yliopistossa toteutettiin Iso Pyörä -koulutusuudistus, jossa koulutusohjelmia uudistettiin komeptenssilähtöisesti. Kaikkiin koulutusohjelmiin ja opintojaksoihin lisättiin osaamistavoitteet, jotka opiskelijoiden tulisi saavuttaa valmistumiseensa mennessä. Osaamistavoitteiden täyttymistä edistää esimerkiksi portfoliotyöskentely, minkä avulla opiskelijat pääsevät hyödyntämään ja kehittämään reflektiotaitojaan. Opiskelijat voivat tuoda opetuksen kehittämiseen aivan uudenlaista näkökulmaa avatessaan käsityksiään esimerkiksi hyvistä opetusmenetelmistä, mitkä ovat auttaneet heitä saavuttamaan laaditut osaamistavoitteet. Toisaalta opiskelijoiden näkökulmasta saadaan tietoa, mikä osaaminen voidaan kokea puutteelliseksi, jolloin opetuksen kehittäminen on mahdollista. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää opiskelijoiden käsityksiä omasta osaamisestaan ja ammatti-identiteetistään sekä millä tasoilla opiskelijat reflektoivat osaamistaan. Tutkimuksessa analysoitiin vuoden 2017 kolmannen vuosikurssin kandiportfolion loppureflektioesseet käyttäen aineistolähtöistä sisällönanalyysimenetelmää. Esseissä opiskelijat reflektoivat osaamistaan suhteessa farmaseutin tutkinnolle asetettuihin osaamistavoitteisiin ja pohtivat omaa ammatti-identiteettiään. Tulosten mukaan opiskelijat saavuttivat monipuolista osaamista lääkkeiden ja lääkehoitojen näkökulmasta sekä kehittivät geneerisiä taitojaan. Puutteellisesti hallittiin useimmiten kielitaito sekä yrityksen ja yhteiskunnan taloudelliset periaatteet. Opiskelijoiden mukaan farmaseutin ammatti-identiteettiä määrittelevät erityisesti lääkeosaaminen ja terveydenhuolto sekä ammatin arvostaminen. Opiskelijoiden pohtimat valmiudet mukailivat osaamistavoitteita. Opiskelijat osasivat arvioida omaa osaamistaan ja nostaa esille vahvuuksiaan ja heikkouksiaan. Opetussuunnitelmaan on onnistuttu sisällyttämään geneeristen taitojen opetus, sillä opiskelijat kokivat saavuttaneensa näitä taitoja pääasiassa hyvin. Opetusta tulisi kehittää kielitaidon ja liiketalouden kohdalla, sillä nämä koettiin usein puutteellisesti hallituksi. Ammatti-identiteettikäsitykset mukailivat kirjallisuutta, sillä muissa tutkimuksissa on saatu samankaltaisia tuloksia.

Modern China has entered an era of risk society. The emerging public crises are challenging the government's reactions including the openness and speed of information, the reconstruction of credibility and reputation. On the other hand, the media environment has changed enormously. Despite the tight censorship of China's traditional media, social media provide both opportunities and challenges for government crisis communication in terms of its fast speed of transmitting and instantaneous sharing of information, reliance on user-generated content, and openness of public opinions and easiness to access. Since social media are empowered to reshape the public opinion field, media manipulation from the government changes accordingly. Therefore, this study focuses on the way social media was used actively in the crisis communication in the 2013 Ya'an earthquake by the Chinese government and respond from the public. Mixed research methods are used in the study, including content analysis as quantitative method, and frame analysis as qualitative method. This research first identifies how did the state-owned media presented the crisis. Subsequently, it explores what crisis communication strategies the state-owned media applies on social media during the earthquake, and how effective those strategies are based on attitudes of the public. As an authoritarian country, the Chinese government used to cover crisis and suppress discussions to maintain stability of the society, which caused distrust among the public. However, different from the stereotype, the Chinese government tends to guide public opinion to the positive direction rather than hiding the truth nowadays. Based on the analysis, the conclusion can be drawn clearly how the Chinese government managed and responded to the crisis through the state-owned media.

The purpose of this research is to deepen the understanding of the culture of the veil among Somali women in Finland. The research deals with ethnicity, identity, easing the immigrant's readjustment with the help of one's own culture, and the connection between the religion of Islam and the veil. The veil will be studied from both the historical and religious point of view. The research will also familiarize the reader with the dress code for women in the Koran. The empirical part of the research is carried out as a qualitative study with the help of content analysis, with emphasis in phenomenology. The aim of the phenomenological research method is to reach a person's experience world, and to search for common contents from individual experiences. The material for this study has been collected by interviewing ten Somali women. Some of the women wear veils, some do not. It can be said, on the ground of this research, that the decision about taking on the veil is made by the women themselves. The main cause for wearing the veil is to indicate religiousness. As other motives we can see a search for security, enhancing of solidarity, individual interpretation of the instructions of the religion, covering the ethnic dress while outside, protecting men from the beauty of women, and wearing the veil in the mosque or while praying. As a latent motive we can point out the resisting of Western culture. Not wearing the veil can be justified by the women's need for independence, the veil being unpractical, the want of modernity, the alternation of different ways of dressing, the adaptation of the new culture, abandoning one's own culture, and abandoning the external emphasizing of the religion. Also the veil is not part of the Somali culture; it is a habit adapted from elsewhere.

The aim of the study was to look at who was involved in the Helsingin Sanomat's debate on the segregation process in Finnish comprehensive schools and what kind of institutional positions they were talking from. In addition, this study explores the main themes and views of the debate. Previously, there has been limited research in this area, which should be considered as an important topic for Finnish education and needs to be understood. The theoretical basis of this study contains the examination of the development of Finnish school policy and how the Finnish school system has formed during the past decades. The existing research data related to the school segregation has also been taken into account. The data consisted of 52 articles from Helsingin Sanomat newspaper. The articles were published during the period 2005-2014 and all of them were dealing with the School segregation process. The research method was qualitative content analysis, which was supported by calculating essential factors from the research data. The research showed that the debate on the segregation process in Finnish comprehensive schools was divided into eight different themes: reasons for the segregation process of schools, free school choice, where school segregation is reflected, proponents of neighbourhood school principle, perspective of educational equality, what has already been done to prevent the segregation process, what should be done to prevent the segregation process and where schools inequality leads to if nothing is done. The most common theme was what should be done to prevent the school segregation process and it was mainly the researchers and the officials of the school administration that participated in the discussion. Politicians, headmasters and teachers were also involved in the debate, however, ordinary citizens and parents were conspicuous by their absence. Helsingin Sanomat appeared to take a fairly active part in the debate but the primary aim of the newspaper seemed to have been to offer a discussion forum to third parties.

This thesis examines the effects of the legal framework of the indigenous peoples defined in the study on different aspects of the lives of the Kola Sámi living in the Kola Peninsula. In Russia, both the Constitution and Federal laws guarantee the protection of indigenous peoples’ way of life through various rights. Despite this, several scholars and the media have increasingly written about the challenges related to the realization of the rights of indigenous peoples, especially during the last decade. In this thesis, the effects of Sámi rights are examined by using the theory of legal pluralism, which takes into account the colonial nature of laws and their outcome. The data of the study consists of f interviews, 21 news articles and one podcast. Due to the restricting political atmosphere in Russia in 2022 and the research pressure on the Sámi people, the data has been compiled using different, mutually supporting and reinforcing qualitative methods. The research topic is approached with content analysis, which emphasizes the three main themes identified from the background literature, in light of which the effects of Sámi rights are discussed. These three themes are bureaucracy, environment and economy. In addition to the three main themes, the analysis identifies three different fields of influence of Sámi rights: control of rights through self-governance and self-determination; obstacles related to the pursuit of traditional livelihoods; and contradictions in the existence of rights de jure. The results show that the realization of Sámi rights is secondary to the interests of the state and local actors. The colonialist attitude of the Russian Federation towards its Arctic regions manifests itself in the primacy of the capitalist benefit of the Kola Peninsula at the expense of the rights and traditions of the Kola Sámi. The results show that during V. V Putin’s current administration, the nature of the rights of the Kola Sámi has become repressive and further limiting. In order to fulfill Arctic interests, the Sámi are controlled and assimilated through their legal framework. Obstacles and difficulties in the exercise of rights as well as harassments against the Kola Sámi contribute to the alienation of the population from their environment and traditions. Thus, in this thesis, the effects of Sámi rights are seen as intentional, oppressive and suppressing the population instead of their protection.

This thesis examines Japanese castle reconstructions in the Heisei (1989–2019) and Reiwa eras (2019–) and links them to the ideas of cultural heritage and authenticity in traditional architecture. Japanese castles are opportune for examining the development of the role of architecture in cultural heritage throughout history. The role of castles as symbols of authority and later as symbols of local culture and history has changed according to the fluctuations of time and the needs of the contemporary people and thoughts. After majority of the feudal castles were demolished during Japan’s modernization, there have been three distinctive “booms” during which castles have been reconstructed. In the post-war era, dozens of ahistorical concrete replicas of castles were rebuilt concrete as local town symbols, and to many they symbolized the rebuilding of post-war Japan. From the early 1990s, however, a new castle boom has taken place, with the reconstructions emphasizing on using wood and historical evidence. Most notable of these reconstruction projects is the Nagoya Castle reconstruction project, in which the post-war concrete castle tower is to be demolished and rebuilt from wood using original methods and historical plans. This thesis examines these reconstructions in contemporary Japan, aiming to understand how authenticity and cultural heritage are related to this ongoing boom. In this study, a country-wide visitor survey on 10 Japanese castle sites was conducted, supported by two expert interviews from supervisors of two Heisei era castle reconstructions in Ōzu and Kakegawa cities. The findings supported the hypothesis, which suggested that the current appeal of castles is linked not only to their symbolic value to the castle towns, but also their value as objects of cultural heritage. This is why “authentic”, wooden reconstructions are preferred, which was evident from the visitor surveys, as all the respondents favored wooden reconstructions over concrete ones. Furthermore, majority of the respondents wished for more authentic castle reconstructions to be built.

Objectives. The purpose of this study was to examine perceptions of evaluation of learning and feedback among teachers and students of mechanical engineering at the Helsinki University of Technology. The differences and similarities between the perceptions of these two groups were also studied. Course feedback was examined, and a target was set to rationalize the collation and exploitation of the feedback data. The theoretical background for the evaluation of learning was based primarily on the theories of Brown (1997), Karjalainen (2001) and Rowntree (1977, 1988). The Biggs (2003) model on aligned teaching was used as an example of quality university education. Feedback practices were examined through the theory of Ramsden (1992) and many recent research articles. Methods. The qualitative study was executed by examining the evaluation of learning and feedback practices of the courses in mechanical engineering at the Helsinki University of Technology. The data was gathered by interviewing the teachers responsible of basic and postgraduate studies, as well as students taking their basic studies. Four group interviews were arranged for both teachers and students, each with three participants. The data from these themed interviews were analyzed by means of content analysis. Result and conclusions. This study showed that teachers and students have similar perceptions of evaluation of learning and feedback excluding a few significant differences. The most essential difference in evaluation of learning was that students perceived the evaluation of the examinations to be inaccurate. Teachers on the other hand thought that the existing practice for the exam evaluation is working fine. Students also felt that they are not giving enough information on the opportunities to get feedback. Teachers instead expected students to actively ask for feedback. Students perceived the need for exploiting the course feedback for course development purposes more than before. Teachers saw foremost the challenges and problems in the exploitation of the feedback. In the future, more effort must be put on the research of the evaluation of learning and feedback, as the quality assurance and continuous improvement of the teaching calls for new data.

The aim of this thesis is to examine how the unity of the European Union (EU) is constructed in the Finnish media during a crisis, the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and whether there are distinctive changes in the media portrayal during the analysis period. The present research also aims to point out any frequently occurring features in the data and consider how the portrayal of the EU in the Finnish media builds and shapes its audiences’ perceptions of the EU and its unity in a crisis context. The material of the thesis consists of 58 news articles from YLE and Helsingin Sanomat (HS) covering the ongoing 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Utilising keywords in Finnish, the data was collected from the official websites of YLE and HS using search engines provided by the news outlets. As the methodology of this thesis, qualitative content analysis is utilised. By applying qualitative content analysis, the present study is conducted in a material-oriented way, and it includes systematic close reading of the material in which the identification of key themes and patterns, i.e., coding, is of essence. The results show that during the analysis period, the media portrayal of the EU and its unity was predominantly positive in nature. According to the analysis, the EU was depicted as exceptionally and historically united, but also capable of making decisions in complex circumstances. In addition, the unity of the EU was portrayed in the media as surprising in light of previous crises. However, both YLE and HS were found to be mostly following the national and European elite’s interpretations of the crisis, and ultimately refrained from presenting contradicting views to their audiences. All in all, the present study contributes to the deeper understanding of not only the EU but also, the role of the media, specifically in crisis situations.