Teachers’ beliefs about improving transfer of algebraic skills from mathematics into physics in senior pre-university education

Students in senior pre-university education encounter difficulties in the application of mathematics into physics. This paper presents the outcome of an explorative qualitative study of teachers’ beliefs about improving the transfer of algebraic skills from mathematics into physics. We interviewed 10 mathematics and 10 physics teachers using...

Exploration of Deaf People’s Health Information Sources and Techniques for Information Delivery in Cape Town: A Qualitative Study for the Design and Development of a Mobile Health App

Background: Many cultural and linguistic Deaf people in South Africa face disparity when accessing health information because of social and language barriers. The number of certified South African Sign Language interpreters (SASLIs) is also insufficient to meet the demand of the Deaf population in the country. Our research team, in collaboration...

Teaching principles of qualitative analysis to industrial design engineers

Doing qualitative field research has become a standard part of academic human-centered design education. Part of the challenge is to bring design students a thorough understanding of research methods, and practical skills in performing small scale user research as part of design projects. This involves understanding and ability at interpreting...

PLU+ a learning democracy: Strategic-Design Vision of Philips Lighting University

To begin with, I would like to ask you a question; do the following statements ring a bell? “Changing technology”, “evolution of the market”? I assume your answer is yes. If not, in any case I would like to share my experience with you, also something you could try. Type “changing technology evolution of markets”, these exact words, in a search...

Blending Agile Scrum & Offshore Outsourcing Software Development

In today’s highly competitive environment, it becomes increasingly common for many companies to face internal and external pressure for delivering their products and services with the lowest cost and/or fastest time possible. Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO) has helped to release part of such pressure by enabling companies to gain cost...

User Focused Designing of Improvements towards Comfort on board Tugs and Workboats for Captain and Crew

This master thesis describes the project performed at Damen Shipyards Gorinchem. Several qualitative research methodologies were applied to draw conclusions towards the comfort for captain and crew on board tugs and workboats. By means of generative sessions, design proposals were made and discussed to get to the final concept of mess room...

Smart grids: Changing consumer interaction

Today, the supply of energy is based on fossil fuels, which is often considered as an important cause of climate change. Moreover, the supply of energy is increasingly dependent of a few, sometimes political instable regions. An energy transition is needed for the maintenance of our welfare and environment. The needed energy transition will...

Emotion toolkit to improve the quality of life of cancer patients

A breast cancer diagnosis and undergoing cancer treatment is often obtrusive into someone’s life. Breast cancer patients are facing an uncertain future and are dealing with side-effects of treatment. Over the years, many studies have been executed to map the emotional responses and the assessment of their ‘Quality of Life’ (QoL) over time....

Understanding and Exploring Safety Culture

The match between safety and culture was made around 1986, when the INSAG delivered its initial report on the Chernobyl accident. Whether the marriage is a happy one is still a matter of debate, but it is most definitely a fruitful one. In the past twenty years, many researchers have devoted much effort to both the theoretical development of the...

Measurement of housing preferences: A comparison of research activity in the Netherlands and Finland

Increased affluence and individual lifestyles have widely spread across western countries in recent decades. We expect this development to coincide with the use of more qualitative and more disaggregated research methods (the so called Mode 2 research methods) because these tools enable coping with a growing diversity of housing preferences....