Graduate Theses
Permanent URI for this collection
Browse
Recent Submissions
Now showing 71 - 75 of 599
- Item“I know something you don’t know”: Analysis of perceptions of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Reporting in the Canadian Oil and Gas Industry through signaling, dramaturgy, and reception theories(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2021-12-06) Rino, AntonioEnvironmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Reporting in the Canadian Oil and Gas Industry is a relatively new way of reporting Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), with a key focus on appealing to investors. While there is a great deal of scholarly research on CSR and environmental and issues, there is very little qualitative data on public and industry perceptions of ESG reporting, particularly in the Canadian Oil and Gas Industry. The purpose of this research is to address this lack of qualitative data through interviews with industry personnel and non-industry publics about their perceptions of ESG reporting and to understand how these actors perceive ESG communications. Interviews took place in early 2021, during COVID-19 lockdowns and depressed market conditions for Canada’s Oil and Gas Industry. Data was collected using grounded theory and is analyzed using my “I know something you don’t know” (IKSYDK) framework that is based on signaling theory (Spence, 2002), dramaturgical theory (Goffman, 1956), and reception theory (Hall, 1973). Although these interviews represent a snapshot in time, the data revealed conflicting views on the Oil and Gas Industry’s perception of public opinion, insights on how social media can be used to communicate ESG effectively, and unilateral agreement that ESG reporting is incomplete for picking and choosing only the good data and not sharing the bad. Interviewees also concurred that – due to the undeniable threat of climate change caused by fossil fuels – the Oil and Gas Industry is in sunset, and that ESG reporting can provide valued accountability if created more inclusively for investor and non-investor audiences.
- ItemThe Entanglement of Deep Learning — A Meta-Reflexive’s Learning Journey out of the Establishment Pedagogy of Evangelical Christianity(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2021) Canning, VirginiaThis study is an auto-ethnography of my personal learning journey that led to the dissolution of my Biblical worldview. My story explores the power of indoctrination by examining the complexity of deep learning present in establishment pedagogy of fundamentalist Evangelical Christianity. In a polarized political climate driven by absolutist beliefs, many of which that have religious underpinnings, such as: nationalism, racism, gender and climate change, evidenced-based knowledge, reasoning and/or debate have little efficacy towards transformative learning. In this work, I look at resistance to new knowledge through the lens of the church’s establishment pedagogy and the way in which it fractures the identities of their followers. Consequently, new and contradictory knowledge not only creates cognitive dissonance, but it threatens one’s sense of self in the world. Through sharing my story, I examine how the church’s doctrine on atonement theology; specifically, the creation narrative as related to the limiting beliefs about gender, not only contributed to Othering, but also negatively impacted upon my crucial identity components and interfered with my learning. Fundamentalist Evangelical Christian teachings are historically embedded in Western culture and therefore strengthened, which reinforces identity fragmentation and Othering. This study explores two important questions: first, how are identity-bearing beliefs formed? Second, how is learning engaged through a generative pedagogy to safely unravel beliefs and support one’s sense of self in the world?
- ItemGirls and Women Exploring Intergenerational Learning Through Storytelling(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2021-04) McDonald, CassandraThe purpose of this study was to explore through storytelling intergenerational learning between grandmothers, mothers and daughters from four different families, an Indigenous family, an African Nova Scotian family, a White/Asian family and my own family, which is white. A feminist lens is used to understand the ideological positions that constrain women’s and girls’ choices and visions for future possibilities (Zaidi, 2013). Through semi-structured face to face interviews with the three women (a grandmother, a mother and a daughter) together from each of the four families, I examined the impact these relationships have on informal learning between generations of women to gain a better understanding of women’s advancement. My research question explored, what is it to be a girl. Under the larger overarching theme of intergenerational learning among women, the main themes that emerged from the participants’ stories are oppression, fear, resistance, social injustice and empowerment. This study highlights the importance of looking closer at intergenerational learning among women to gain a greater insight into lived realities women face now and throughout history. The narratives of the four families from three different generational perspectives using a storytelling approach, provided first-hand accounts of girls’ and women’s life stories. These stories expose the power of informal learning and help us to better understand the dynamics of women’s experiences and gender equality.
- ItemThe Effect of Total Milk Protein, Casein and Whey Protein Ingestion on Blood Glucose and Insulin in Rats(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2021-01) Olowookere, Temilola RachaelDairy product consumption is highly associated with reduced postprandial glycaemia. Dairy proteins, including caseins, and whey protein, have been found to reduce postprandial glucose response and increase insulin response. However, the effect of milk protein fractions on short-term blood glucose control is unclear. The objective of this study was to investigate the acute effect of total milk protein (TMP), micellar casein (CN), and whey protein (WP) on blood glucose and insulin in rats. The rationale for this study is based on the fact that dairy products have a different protein composition determined by their natural and added content of milk proteins and therefore the glycaemic control provided by dairy products is particularly determined by their protein composition. The hypothesis of this study was that TMP, CN and WP may have a distinct effect on short-term blood glucose and insulin response.
- ItemA Content Analysis: Investigating Adolescents’ Wellbeing under the COVID-19 Pandemic on the YouTube Platform(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2021) Bu, ZihangThis study focused on adolescents, to investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic influences their wellbeing by analyzing the content on the YouTube platform. The study also investigated if YouTube provides a helpful way to help the public to provide protocol for young people dealing with public health emergencies such as COVID-19. This study tries to answer three questions by investigating YouTube video content: 1) How is the COVID-19 pandemic influencing the life of adolescents? 2)What are adolescents' feelings when they are in "quarantine," "self-isolation," or on "stay-at-home" orders, and, 3) What kind of coping strategies did they have for dealing with the negative influence of the COVID-19 pandemic? This study applied a content analysis as the research method. This involved collecting data from the public social media platform YouTube and analyzing it by using an inductive approach that facilitated the emergence of codes and categories from the data. This study demonstrated that the COVID-19 pandemic influenced adolescents' lives in different ways, including the change of education methods, the discussion of friendship, the loss of significant life events, and increased time of using technology. The COVID-19 pandemic negatively affects the adolescents' emotions and feelings, including promoting a sense of fear, loneliness, and loss of motivation. However, most adolescents have found creative ways to cope with the limitations caused by the pandemic.