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This community contains an online collection of PhD theses and selected undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations written by QMU students and researchers.

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Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
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    A Fragmented Profession within the System of Professions: The Experience of the Audiology Professional in the United Kingdom
    (Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, 2023-06-28) Steenkamp, Lizanne
    The main purpose of this study was to explore the lived experience of audiology professionals in the United Kingdom. For the purposes of this study an audiology professional is defined as someone who completed a United Kingdom or International... course/training pathway in audiology and who is working in the UK. The definition can include audiologists, hear(ing) care assistants, hearing aid dispensers, hearing therapists and clinical scientists. Audiology professionals working in Higher
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    “The impact of social media marketing on consumption of luxury brands in the fashion industry”
    (2020)
    This research paper undertaken has investigated the impact that social media marketing has had on brands in the luxury fashion industry, in terms of the increase in consumption. The luxury fashion market is now predominantly made up of younger generations, those of which are also the highest users of social media, so luxury fashion marketers have began using social media for marketing to these consumers to aid in increase of consumption. The study aims to explore how much of an impact social media marketing has had on luxury brands in the fashion industry and to identify the importance of other factors that have an influence on consumption. Objectives were developed to aid with answering the research aim, these were: - To identify the extent that luxury consumers use social media -To evaluate whether luxury fashion brands marketing strategies on social media influences consumption. - To evaluate other factors that impact consumers purchasing decisions of luxury fashion products. For data collection, primary data collection was selected as the most appropriate method to allow new data to be formed on the subject area. Secondary sources were also used., such as journal articles, to conduct the literature review and to gather already found knowledge surrounding the subject areas. A quantitative approach was selected for the data collection, due to time restrictions and a large amount of data being accumulated. The research concluded that social media is a useful tool for luxury fashion brands but does not play a highly significant role in terms of increasing consumer spending. Marketing on social media makes a slight impact on consumption, but luxury consumers have already perceived values attached to luxury that contribute to their spending choices.
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    “The organisational Impact of Workaholism and Whether it Should be Encouraged or Discouraged in the Modern Working Society”
    (2020)
    The following study will explore the organisational impact of workaholism and whether it should be encouraged or discouraged in the modern working society. It will analyse the ongoing debate of encouragement and discouragement of the behaviour in organisations. This study used a quantitative approach of online questionnaires to address the research question which was to determine w​hat the drivers of workaholism were and whether it should be discouraged or encouraged in the workplace. The specific aims and objectives the study were as follows: he aim: to explore the negative and positive impacts of workaholism in office environments and how those negative impacts might be managed. Aim: ​The aim: to explore the negative and positive impacts of workaholism in office environments and how those negative impacts might be managed. The objectives: 1. To identify whether organisations encourage or discourage workaholism and what particular policies, practices and behaviours encourage or discourage it. 2. To understand managers’ and employees’ view on the term workaholism and to determine whether they differentiate between work engagement and over-working. 3. To discuss potential solutions to address the impact of negative workaholism in the working society
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    Non-segmental correlates of foreign accent: Perception of accentedness in filtered speech.
    (Queen Margaret University, 2017)
    This study investigated foreign accent detection in filtered speech samples of German bilingual speakers of English. The investigation was conducted with a perceptual experiment and acoustic analysis of the production data. A low-pass audio filter was applied to speech samples elicited by an English sentence-reading task from German and Scottish speakers. The filtering process eliminated most of the segmental information from the speech signal, leaving non-segmental cues available to the listeners, such as intonation, pitch variations, word durations and speaking rate. Two groups of native Scottish speakers were recruited so that 12 listeners evaluated the filtered stimuli and 12 the original, unfiltered material. Both groups used a 7-point scale, ranging from 1=definitely spoken by a non-native speaker of English and 7=definitely spoken by a native speaker of English. The results indicate that listeners were able to identify foreign-accented speech at above chance level from the filtered speech signal. The listeners' background in phonetics, or lack thereof, did not affect the ratings, i.e.: both trained and untrained participants were able to make the distinction between native and non-native speech. However, the inexperienced listeners used a wider range of scores in their judgments. The exploratory acoustical analysis of the filtered sentences revealed that the lowest-rated German speaker employed a slower speaking rate and narrower pitch span than the highest-rated German and Scottish speakers. While no firm conclusions were drawn about the properties of the filtered stimuli that cued the listeners to a non-native accent, this study serves as evidence of the significance of non-segmental factors in foreign accent perception, adding to a body of literature aimed at influencing second language teaching.
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    A comparison and evaluation of external noise levels between urban and rural primary schools
    (Queen Margaret University, 2016)
    Environmental noise can have a detrimental effect on the physiology, motivation and cognition of school children (Evans and Lepore 1993) and can cause negative effects on a person's physiological, mental, motivational and cognitive functions (Berglund, Lindvall and Schwela 1999) as well as having a recognisable interference with communication, resulting in significant social consequences (Brammer and Laroche 2012). In 1999, the World Health Organisation (WHO) set guidelines to ensure noise levels do not exceed 35dB LAeq in the classroom and 55dB LAeq on the playground. Shield and Dockrell (2004) investigated whether these guidelines were being adhered to in a study of internal and external noise levels in London primary schools. In order to evaluate external noise levels within primary schools in Scotland, playground noise levels were compared between urban and rural environments during mid-morning break time, as well as the five minute period immediately prior to and after the break time. It was found that primary schools in urban settings were significantly louder than in rural settings although the level of noise produced by school children during play did not reflect noise levels within the environment. Observations during the investigation found that road traffic, weather and birds were the main sources of noise when the children were not on the playground. The average external noise level in urban school playgrounds exceeds the current WHO guideline and the effects of high noise levels on communication should be further investigated.
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    Services for people with communication disabilities in low and middle income countries. A review of the literature.
    (Queen Margaret University, 2015)
    Services for people with communication disabilities (PWCD) include interventions and approaches to enable them to communicate to fulfil their potential in life. These interventions and approaches are often shaped by models of disability applied by those delivering the services. In low and middle income countries (LMICs), services for PWCD are often extremely limited and need further development. This study reviews current literature regarding services for PWCD in LMICs, finding that a bio-psychosocial model of disability is most frequently applied. Worldwide, the disability movement espouses a human rights based model, and this study uses the Human Rights Based Approach to Disability in Development to review how current services for PWCD in LMICs fit within this framework. The study explores how application of a human rights based model could enable SLTs to develop appropriate, equitable and sustainable services for PWCD in LMICs.
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    Experiences of acquiring hearing loss: lessons for rehabilitation.
    (Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, 2016) DePlacido, Christine
    but additionally a comprehensive audiological assessment was carried out with ten of the participants in order to compare their perception of their hearing before and after assessment. The assessment included taking a detailed medical and social history, performing... in order to meet the needs of the individual and their significant others at various stages in their journey. Finally it identifies an unmet need within Audiology provision and suggestions are made for service development and further areas of research.
  • Collection
    MSc in Audiology

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