Investigating infant expectation on object search tasks
subject: Chi-squared, Correlation, Factor analysis, Linear mixed effects modelling
description: The current study aims to distinguish between Piaget’s (1954) theory of object understanding, highlighting the role of object permanence on A not B task performance, and Diamond’s (1985) theory highlighting the role of motor demands and lack of ability to inhibit habitual behaviours during the task. These two theories differ in their predictions for the expectations of the infants taking part, with Piaget (1954) predicting that infants’ lack of object permanence causes poor performance on the task and Diamond (1985) predicting that infants understand the movement of objects and a lack of inhibition of habitual behaviours cause error in performance. We tested 15 nine-month-old infants on a looking version of the A not B task. The use of impossible and possible outcomes was also incorporated on B trials, with the object being revealed from either the correct or incorrect location (e.g., see Ahmed & Ruffman, 1998). Infant first look direction, accumulated looking time during trials and the number of social looks initiated post-outcome, were used as measures. We found significant evidence of the ‘AB’ error during trials, with a significantly increased number of incorrect first looks on B trials. There was also a descriptive pattern showing surprise at object location reveals with increased number of social looks during B compared to A trials, though this was not significant. Accumulated looking analysis showed that infants looked longer on A than B trials, suggesting that infants expected the object to be in location B on B trials, demonstrating infants’ ability to understand objects and supporting Diamond’s (1985) theory. However, implications for a small sample size and presence of individual differences on interpretation of looking time data are discussed. Implications in theory and future research are suggested and overall, results provide support for the application of Piaget’s (1954) theory and suggest that infants have limited object understanding based on their …
creator: Leah Murphy
source: 3.1. Participants In this study, 15 participants took part, aged 8 months and 12 days to 9 months and 27 days old (M = 9 months and 3 days, SD= 11.3 days). Six further infants were excluded from data analysis as they became too fussy to complete the study. Participants were recruited from the Lancaster Baby lab database, along with the Lancaster Baby lab Facebook page and were also recruited via word of mouth from guardians taking part in the study. 3.2. Materials The video stimuli were created using Canva software (Canva.com, 2023) and was uploaded onto ‘Habit 2’ software (see Oakes et al., 2019) to display the stimuli during testing and to measure the accumulated looking time of the infant participants. The stimuli involved a novel object obtained from the NOUN database (Horst & Hout, 2016). A camera was used to record the social looks exchanged between the infant and guardian, as well as the direction of the infants’ first looks during testing. 3.3. Design This study had a within-subjects design, with all participants being exposed to the same experimental conditions and the same stimuli. To counterbalance for location effects, half of the participants witnessed A trials being hidden in the box on the left, whilst the other half witnessed the object being hidden in the box on the right during A trials. The presentation of the accurate and inaccurate B trials was further counterbalanced across participants, as half of the participants viewed the inaccurate B trials first, and the other half viewed the accurate B trials first. 3.4. Ethical approval Ethical approval for this study was granted by the departmental ethics committee (DEC) at Lancaster University. Guardians were recruited via their preferred contact method and were sent the participant information sheet to read before agreeing to take part in the study. A date and time of testing was arranged at the Babylab building at Lancaster University, via telephone or email. Upon arrival, guardians were presented w…
date: 2023
contributor: Shiyu Pang Yuewen Qin
rights: open
relation: none
format: .xslx
language: English
type: dataset

N1 Adaptation: Exploring the Neuronal Basis of the Interaction Between Auditory Sensory Memory and Attention
subject: neuropsychology, attention, auditory sensory memory, N1 adaptation, sensory processing, neural responses
description: The aim was to explore whether voluntarily focusing on repetitive auditory stimuli influences the lifetime of N1 adaptation, which indexes the lifetime of auditory sensory memory. Twenty-six neurotypical participants with self-reported normal hearing were recruited from Lancaster University. Electroencephalogram (EEG) recording took place in a sound-attenuated laboratory. A two-by-two factorial design was employed, where one factor manipulated the presence or absence of attention, whereas the other factor manipulated the stimulus-onset interval (SOI), which primarily served to calculate the lifetime of adaptation. Three different amplitude measurement methods were used to calculate the N1 amplitude, therefore three sets of statistical analyses were performed for each investigation. For the preliminary investigation, two-way ANOVAs were conducted to evaluate the impact of attentional focus (presence or absence) and SOI (short or long) on the amplitude of N1. For the primary investigation, paired-samples t-tests were conducted to evaluate whether the presence or absence of attention influences the N1 adaptation lifetime. The preliminary results indicated no significant difference in N1 amplitude between the presence and absence of attentional focus. There was also no significant difference in the SOI, except for one of the amplitude measurement methods, which showed greater N1 amplitudes in the Long SOI condition. The primary results indicated that whether attention was present or not showed no significant effect on the adaptation lifetime across all three amplitude measurement methods. However, the study suffered from low statistical power and possible issues with the methodological design due to the combined use of visual and auditory modalities to manipulate attentional focus. Therefore, it is inappropriate to draw conclusions from the findings of this study. Methodological improvements and theoretical implications were discussed.
creator: Gengjie Jack Ho
source: Methods Section: Participants Twenty-six neurotypical participants with self-reported normal hearing (9 males, 16 females, 1 prefer not to say), all of whom were students from Lancaster University, were recruited using opportunity sampling via advertising on social media platforms and SONA. The age range of the participants spanned from 18 to 34 years (M = 22.85, SD = 2.55). Sixteen participants were excluded due to excessive electric noise, resulting in a remaining pool of 10 participants. All participants provided written consent and volunteered to participate in the experiment. The study received ethical approval from Lancaster University’s Department of Psychology. Stimuli The experiment employed the oddball paradigm to elicit auditory responses. The standards were presented at a constant rate of 210 repetitions per condition, while the deviants appeared unpredictably at a 5% probability (10 deviants per condition). The sequence of standards and deviants remained consistent across all conditions. The standards were presented as a 500-Hz pure tone, while the deviants were a 503-Hz pure tone. The duration of each tone was 100 milliseconds, with 10 milliseconds of linear onset and offset ramps. All tones were presented at a consistent and comfortable volume level (28% volume on Windows 10). The auditory stimuli were programmed and delivered using MATLAB. Design The study followed a two-by-two factorial design (see Figure 1). It included two attention conditions: Active and Passive. In the Active condition, participants were presented with a stream of standards and deviants while focusing on a fixation cross. Their objective was to count the occurrences of deviants. In the Passive condition, participants viewed a nature documentary displayed on a smartphone screen. Their objective was to count the number of animal species featured in the documentary while ignoring the stream of auditory stimuli playing simultaneously in the background. Both the fixation cross and th…
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 2023
contributor: Sharon Boyd
rights: Open
relation: None
format: Data/SPSS.sav
language: English
type: Data
coverage: LA1 4YF

The Effects of Posture on Body Part Width Representations
subject: Body perception, affordances, somatosensation, visual perception
description: Despite the ubiquity of our bodily experiences, our representations of our body’s size are not geometrically accurate. For example, when estimating the length of body parts using the hand as a metric, consistent patterns of distortions across body parts are observed. Given the presence of these distortions, some have proposed that representations of length and width emerge directly, or indirectly, from the organisation of somatotopic maps in somatosensory cortex, rather than from their actual relative dimensions. However, whilst length representations are well researched with respect to this notion, less is known about representations of body part width across the body. Moreover, it is unclear from previous research whether body part width representations may be confounded by participants’ posture. Specifically, individuals have shown an enhanced tendency to overestimate body part width when seated upon a chair, suggesting that the chair may become incorporated into the body representation. Consequently, the aim of the current investigation was to further elucidate how width is represented across body parts and whether posture moderates these representations. Participants estimated how many hands widths made up the width of the back, shoulders, hips, torso, thigh, and head in one of three conditions: standing (n = 37), seated upon a chair (n = 33), or seated upon a backless stool (n = 39). Whilst estimates did differ across body parts, no effect of posture was observed. Moreover, the patterns of distortions observed differed from those seen in previous investigations. Results therefore indicate that body part width representations are neither accurate nor fixed, rather, they show distortions which vary across individuals and contexts. It is proposed that inter-individual heterogeneity in width representations may result from humans possessing alternative perceptual mechanisms for judging aperture passability. Therefore, maintaining fixed width representations is unn…
creator: Lettie Wareing
source: Method Participants Ethical approval for this study was obtained from Lancaster University Psychology Department on 31st May 2023. As this study aimed to investigate body part width representations in healthy populations, only participants aged 18-55 years without any physical, or mental impairment were included in the study. However, as previous research (Readman et al., 2021) using the same paradigm for length estimates has shown no influence of anxiety or depression on body part estimates, participants with diagnoses of these conditions were not excluded. Participants were excluded if they had any current or historic diagnosis of cognitive impairment, as this can affect instruction comprehension (Han et al., 2011), or visual impairment, to ensure difficulties in seeing the body parts did not confound findings. Furthermore, given the associations between other psychiatric impairments (e.g., Priebe & Röhricht, 2001), neurological impairments (e.g., Blanke et al., 2004), or eating disorders (Mölbert et al., 2017) with distorted body perceptions, individuals with a current or historic diagnosis of a condition falling within any of these categories were excluded. A total of 123 (61 females) participants ranging from 18 to 68 years (M = 28.80 years, SD = 10.79) were recruited via opportunity sampling for this study. Participant recruitment was ended before the required N = 150 due to time constraints. All participants were entered into a draw to win one of two £25 vouchers as an expression of goodwill. A total of 15 participants were excluded for failing to meet the inclusion criteria, leaving a final sample of N = 108 (50 females). Participants were aged 18 to 55 years (M = 27.98 years, SD = 9.56); the majority of participants were right-handed (n = 99) and over half the participants had normal vision (52.78%), with the remaining participants having corrected-to-normal vision. Reasons for exclusion included a current or historic psychiatric impairment (n = 2) or eatin…
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 2023
contributor: Leanna Keeble
rights: Open
relation: None
format: Data/Excel.csv
language: English
type: Data
coverage: LA1 4YF

Inner Speech and Its Role in Purchasing Decision-Making Process: Analysis of Within-Subjects Experiment and Questionnaires
subject: inner speech, purchasing behaviour, memory, decision-making.
description: Inner speech is a cognitive function related to language processes. Based on its functions reflecting information processing and memorising, it may link to the purchasing process, which includes searching and evaluating product information. Inner speech may also help people think and imagine using the product in the future during their purchasing process. This study discussed and investigated the role of inner speech in the purchasing process and how it might affect the decision-making time. This study also mentioned how inner speech may be identified and suppressed. Participants’ data was collected through experiments and several questionnaires. The findings indicated that inner speech might help people in Information Search and Alternative evaluation and affect decision time. The findings also suggested what people may consider and how they use inner speech. By uncovering the potential relationship between the purchasing process and inner speech, this research provided valuable information for marketing and psychology research fields. It gave companies some suggestions for practical use, reflecting how people may use inner speech during the purchasing process.
creator: Han-Yi Wang
source: Methods Section: This study was approved by ethics committees at Lancaster University. There were no ethical issues for researchers managing the personal information. The participants’ information remained anonymous and were assigned subject ID (P01, P02, P03…, P30 in Experiment 1 and PCT01, PCT02, PCT03…, PCT30 in Experiment 2). All data were stored anonymously with no identifiable information. Participants were given the Participant Information Sheet (PIS) before participating in the experiments. On the day of testing, they asked any questions they might have, then consented to attend the experiment in person or via online platforms like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or Google Meet to ensure that the suppression was active when needed. The experiment took approximately 30 minutes, including answering all questionnaires. The experiment was held in the participant’s home or a place where no one spoke so that the participant would not be disturbed by any chance. Experiment 1 Participants G*power suggested 52 participants within groups using t-tests and multiple mixed linear regression models, with a .4 effect size and .05 (5%) a-error probability in 80% power (1-b error of probability) (Brysbaert, 2019). Thirty participants were recruited in this experiment with no record or history of neurophysiological disorders, such as dyslexia or aphasia, to ensure that no conditions influence the result and affect the participant to complete the tasks in the experiment. The recruitment process included in-person invitations around campus and social media messages to reach diverse participants. Although only 30 participants were recruited in this experiment, the results of the t-tests suggest that the effect size (see Experiment 1 result section) may be enough for testing the hypothesis. Design This study was an experimental within-subjects design. Participants simulated purchase experience in the suppression task and the control task without interference assigned to them. The independ…
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 2022-23
contributor: Melanie Thomas Vickie Huang
rights: Open
relation: None
format: The data set is in csv format.
language: English
type: Data
coverage: LA1 4YF

Does Noise Affect How Children Learn Grammar in the Classroom?
subject: Developmental, regression
description: In a classroom environment noise can be a significant impediment, obstructing and distorting essential information being taught. Extensive prior research consistently indicates that noise has a detrimental impact on learning, those who learn in noise retain and comprehend far less information than their counterparts who learn in quiet. To date there are no studies that investigate the effect of noise on learning grammar specifically -the primary aim of the current study is the address this research gap. This paper details our recruitment of 16 children aged 7– 12 through the Babylab database at Lancaster university. This study employed a between participants design, where children completed a three-part audio evaluation, engaged in an artificial grammar paradigm, and a undertook a working memory task. The artificial grammar paradigm was employed as our primary assessment tool, participants were exposed to the grammar either in noise or in quiet. Results were analysed using a multiple regression with total grammar score as the dependent variable and age, gender, condition, and working memory as the independent variables. In contrast the prior research, our results revealed that the effect of the independent variables on the dependent variable was statistically nonsignificant, proving our null hypotheses to be true. These findings suggest that background noise does not affect how children learn grammar in the classroom challenging the existing understanding that noise negatively impacts learning.
creator: Ashlynn Mayo
source: Participants 16 children aged 7-12 years old participated in this study, unfortunately due to technical issues 5 participants’ data were excluded leaving 11 children’s data to be included in the analysis (M=8.64, SD=1.63, female=7, male=4). Children were recruited through the Lancaster University Babylab database and by flyers posted on social media and local community. A requirement of the current study was that children be English speaking monolinguals, this is because an abundance of research has indicated that those who can speak two or more languages are at a far greater advantage when it comes to new language acquisition (Antoniou et al., 2015). Therefore, in order to control the likelihood of extraneous variables such as this we ensured all participants were English speaking monolinguals only. Furthermore, children were also required to have normal vision or corrected to normal vision. To rule out hearing loss all children had to pass an otoscope inspection, a tympanometry test, and a pure tone hearing screening at 20dB in the standard frequencies (250Hz-8kHZ). The current study employed a between participant design whereby subjects were allocated to a condition based on their age and gender -age was categorised into 7-9 and 10-12- in order to ensure that there were as equal an amount of males and females in each condition over all ages. It is crucial for the validity of the study that children are only exposed to the artificial grammar paradigm once or data will be rendered unreliable as they will have an unfair advantage over the other participants. Ethics for the current study have been obtained from the Departmental Ethics Committee (DEC), Psychology Department at Lancaster University. Materials This study was conducted within a double walled soundproof chamber at Lancaster University’s PELiCAN lab where the participant sat at a desk with a monitor placed in front of them. A secondary researcher was present in the lab for health and safety purposes. Conse…
publisher: Lancaster University
date: Academic year: 22-23
contributor: Chloe Massey, Molly Pugh, Chloe Kitis
rights: Open
relation: None
format: Data/Excel.xls
language: English
type: Data
coverage: LA1 4YF

Prospect theory and intermediate audience: the effects of context on behavioural intention
subject: Prospect theory, gain/loss framing, intermediate audience, communication research, health communication, vaccination
description: Prospect theory predicts how people react to gain or loss-framed outcomes in dilemma situations, where the potential consequence of the choice is framed as a gain (e.g., lives saved) or as a loss (lives lost). This gain-loss framing communication strategy, derived from the theory, has been applied in many contexts, from promoting the use of reusable coffee mugs to vaccination compliance, with loss-framed appeals being found generally to be more persuasive than gain-framed appeals in the context of promoting vaccination. The current study focused on exploring whether these well-established effects persist when an intermediate audience is exposed to gain/loss-framed messaging, using influenza (flu) vaccination intentionality as an outcome. Intermediate audiences refer to those who are evaluating the gains and losses from the message on behalf of someone else (the ultimate audience), while normal audiences are those making decisions on their own behalf. Two hundred participants were recruited for an online, between-subject study, in which participants were split into two audience conditions and within which they were further split to view a gain-framed or a loss-framed message. Their subsequent behavioural intentions were measured as the outcome, with age as a potential moderating factor (and emotional attachment as a potential mediator exclusively for the intermediate audience condition). Results indicate that neither age nor emotional attachment are significant moderators or mediators. Loss-framed appeal enjoyed a persuasive advantage over the gain-framed appeal only in the intermediate audience condition. Possible interpretations of results, along with potential further directions of research, are discussed.
creator: Wai Man Ko
source: To test the outlined hypotheses, our current study took the form of an online Qualtrics questionnaire (see appendix B for questions) where the questionnaire would introduce participants to one of the audience conditions and view the appropriate version of the manipulated message before moving on to answering some items measuring their behavioural intention and emotional attachment. The study has a 2 (intermediate/normal audience condition) X 2 (gain/loss-framed appeal) design with emotional attachment as a potential mediating variable for the intermediate audience condition and behavioural intention as the outcome variable for all audience conditions. Participants We recruited 200 healthy adults based in the UK on Prolific, an online research participant recruitment platform. Participants have provided consent and completed the study remotely with their personal devices. Their unique Prolific ID was used in this study as the only identifier, which cannot be traced back to them personally. Participants were compensated monetarily for their participation. We randomly assigned our participants to one of the four audience conditions with 50 participants each: the normal gain-framed condition, the normal loss-framed condition, the intermediate gain-framed condition, and the intermediate loss-framed condition. Questionnaire design Consent The participant gave consent to participate in the study with the Qualtrics consent element so that participants can check a box for each item. There were seven items that the participants had to check one by one before commencing the study. Responses which failed to provide a full response in the consent item would be removed from the study. Demographics For demographics, we have recorded the participants' age and gender for the records. As mentioned, age was also analysed as a moderator as part of our analysis. We have also recorded their Prolific IDs to ensure completion and arrange payment. Settings of the study After giving demograp…
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 01/09/2023
contributor: Eleanor Little, Alicia Turner, Laurie Dixon
rights: Open
relation: None
format: Data/Excel.csv Analysis/r_file.R Text/Word.doc
language: English
type: Data
coverage: LA1 4YF

The Effect of Repetitive Headers on Acute Vestibular, Neural, Cognitive and Auditory Function in Football Players
subject: Repetitive Sub-concussion, Football Heading, Neurocognitive Performance
description: The potential long-term consequences of repetitive sub-concussive head impacts, particularly from heading in football, have raised concerns about their association with neurodegenerative diseases in ex-professional football players. Recent research suggests that the accumulative nature of heading in football may lead to subtle brain changes, ultimately contributing to Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. This study aimed to investigate the immediate short-term effects of repeated headers in football on brain function. Seventeen football players completed a total of five high-force linear headers, one header every 2-minutes, imitating corner clearance headers, positioned 32 meters away from a ball launching machine. Four neurophysiological assessments were reported pre- and post-heading exercise: 1) vestibular evaluation for balance and sway changes, 2) neural assessment for resting brain activity changes, 3) cognitive tests measuring memory, attention and reaction time, 4) auditory assessment to assess any auditory processing changes. Paired-samples t-tests and Wilcoxon’s signed rank tests found no significant changes in pre-to-post heading exercise scores in any measurements. These findings warrant further investigation to determine whether the measures used were sensitive enough to detect subtle sub-concussive changes. Or, whether findings indicate a safe maximum number, specific to this type of header, has been established and this frequency does not pose any additional risks to footballers’ brain function. This study contributes to the ongoing research surrounding player safety in football and the immediate short-term effects of repetitive sub-concussive head impacts.
creator: Jessica Andrew
source: Method Participants A power analysis for Analysis of Variance was conducted to determine the sample size needed for this study with an 80% power level, which identified a minimum of 40 participants to achieve a medium effect size of f=0.25, α=.001. This study did not collect a full sample and therefore is underpowered, as there are only a total of 17 participants (mean age=20.35). Participants were either academy players from Burnley Football Club or Lancaster University’s football team and were required to be male aged between 18 and 30- years with no history of concussion within the last month. This ensured variability between participants was minimal and excluding individuals with a recent history of concussion will mitigate potential confounding effects and isolate acute sub-concussive effects of heading, meaning this study will better attribute any observed effects to the specific act of heading rather than to prior injuries. Prior to volunteering, participants gave full consent and completed a modified version of the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q), which is designed to measure participants readiness to participate in exercise or physical activity. See Appendix A for questionnaire. The purpose of the PAR-Q was to identify any potential underlying health concerns that may become an issue when participating. Additionally, participants completed a demographic questionnaire which was used to collect information about characteristics of the sample and highlighted whether participants had recently been concussed. See Appendix B for questionnaire. If any health concerns emerged during the completion of either questionnaire, participants were unable to continue with participation. Materials Participants were tested using a test battery comprised from four elements detailed below. PROTXX. Vestibular sway was measured using a wearable inertial measurement unit (IMU), called PROTXX. IMU is an electronic device designed to measures and report an individu…
publisher: Lancaster University
date: September 5th,2023
contributor: Niko Liu ,Anusha Sandeep, David Racovita
rights: 'Open'
relation: N/A
format: Excel.csv("Linear Heading Study Data.xlsx") r_file.R("Dissertation_Masters.R")
language: English
type: Data
coverage: LA20PF

Cerebral Lateralisation for Emotion Processing of Chimeric Faces in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder
subject: autism spectrum disorder, cerebral lateralisation, emotion processing, adults, children, chimeric faces task
description: Many studies have suggested that typical lateralisation for emotion processing tasks, such as facial emotion recognition, is lateralised to the right-hemisphere, with different emotions eliciting differing strengths of lateralisation (Bourne, 2010). However, there has been much debate as to the lateralisation of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (Ashwin et al., 2005; Shamay-Tsoory et al., 2010). This study assessed the cerebral lateralisation of 30 adults with ASD, five children with ASD, 435 neurotypical adults and ten neurotypical children in a chimeric faces task, and aimed to identify whether the atypical lateralisation seen in children with ASD persists into adulthood (Taylor et al., 2012). Furthermore, the study aimed to identify whether lateralisation strength is affected by the emotion of the facial stimuli. No emotion- or age-related change in lateralisation was found, however, participants with ASD demonstrated a weaker right-hemispheric lateralisation compared to neurotypical participants. Therefore, this study supported the concept that individuals with ASD show atypical lateralisation which persists into adulthood, however, no evidence was found to support the concept that different emotions elicit different strengths of lateralisation.
creator: Alexandra Crossley
source: Method Participants Data from a total of 481 participants with native level English proficiency (or age expected language development in children), normal or corrected-to-normal vision and no history of neurological disease or hearing loss were analysed for the current study (Table 1). Participants in the group ‘adults with ASD’ (N = 30; age: M = 30.17, SD = 9.85) were recruited through adverts on social media, through Prolific Academic (www.prolific.co), and through word of mouth. Participants in the groups ‘children with ASD’ (N = 5; age: M = 6.8, SD = 1.48) and ‘neurotypical children’ (N = 11; age: M = 7.0, SD = 1.90) were recruited through primary schools and word of mouth (Brooks, 2023), and parents of potential child participants were required to email a researcher to express their interest in participation. Participants in the group ‘neurotypical adults’ (N = 435; age: M = 29.44, SD = 8.03) were recruited through Prolific Academic (www.prolific.co) as part of a larger online behavioural laterality battery (Parker et al., 2021). Of the 481 participants who took part in the study, 32 were excluded during the data cleaning process (see Table 1 and Data Analysis for further information). Measures As part of the study, a series of questionnaires were administered to collect information about the participants to ensure that individual differences could be accounted for. Participants were asked to complete the study and its associated questionnaires and tasks prior to beginning the main chimeric faces task, and were requested to use a desktop or laptop computer for the entirety of the study. For the ‘neurotypical children’ and ‘children with ASD’ groups, parents were asked to complete the questionnaires on behalf of the children and were asked to be present for the tasks, which were completed during a Microsoft Teams call with a researcher. The study was completed online using the Gorilla Experiment Builder (www.gorilla.sc), a cloud-based tool for collecting data in…
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 5th September 2023
contributor: Alexandra Haslam Alexis McGuire xue guo
rights: Open
relation: None
format: .csv
language: English
type: Data
coverage: LA1 4YF

Can We Reduce Childhood Obesity in the Community? A qualitative Perspective that Discusses the Barriers and Strategies to Childhood Obesity within Miles Platting and Newton Heath.
subject: Childhood Obesity. Poverty. Education. Barriers. Strategies. Recommendations.
description: Childhood obesity (CO), which can have long-term negative health issues, has increased dramatically over the last thirty years. Given this, NHS Manchester has commissioned this study, with a particular focus on the Manchester boroughs of Miles Platting and Newton Heath, due to the high rates of CO in those areas, to explore the relevant dynamics involved, understand the barriers to healthier eating/lifestyles and derive strategies to combat CO. A semi-structured interview style was utilised, with healthcare professionals. Within these interviews, the healthcare professionals commented on their experiences of CO within their job roles and what they believe to be the barriers for parents to be for CO. Their thoughts based on parents' experience with CO were formed due to working with parents and discussing these barriers with them. It was found that a child's home life massively impacts the likelihood of a child's obesity, with parental education, motivations and poverty playing significant roles, along with a parent’s lack of skills, knowledge, money, and time. Based on these factors, strategies are discussed that have been successful or unsuccessful previously, as well as ideas for future strategies. Based on these findings, it is suggested that collaboration between the different services offered within the Manchester area offers scope for improvement, while strategies to help reduce CO need to focus on a ‘show and tell’ aspect whereby individuals receive immediate support, such as having access to healthy food, while gaining the practical skills to help them create a sustainable change, such as learning how to cook or budget. These strategies are discussed about the general community and specific goals for NHS Manchester to increase the likelihood of healthier lifestyles being adopted.
creator: Charlotte Graham
source: Sample Nine people participated in the current study. Each of these participants were healthcare professionals over the age of 18. The term ‘healthcare professionals’ was a broad term for anyone in a professional capacity who dealt with CO in their job role. The initial participants were recruited from the contacts of the NHS Manchester Local Care Organisation, and then a snowball sample from these initial participants. The job roles presented in this sample included a business manager for a school, a school meal supervisor, a GP nurse, a bursary manager, and an array of service workers for the local community in different services, such as the Healthy Weight Team in Manchester. Each participant worked within Manchester, specifically Miles Platting and Newton Heath. Design and Materials Ethics Data collected in this qualitative study was reviewed and approved by the Faculty of Science and Technology Ethics Committee at Lancaster University (see Appendix A). All the participants were provided with information about this study and knew their ethical rights, such as the right to withdraw, confidentiality, and data protection. Procedure The initial participants were introduced to the researcher via email by a Manchester Local Care Communication member. Once this introduction had taken place, communication about the research and the arrangement of the interviews were discussed between the researcher and the participant through email. After completing their interview, these participants introduced the researcher to their other contacts through email (snowball sample). Email was the primary contact method for each participant and the recruitment process. Each interview was an online semi-structured interview, lasting between 30-60 minutes. The online software used was Microsoft Teams, which facilitated the discussion, recorded it and created a transcript. Due to the limitations of the software, the audio and visual information of the Microsoft Teams Meeting would be record…
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 2023
contributor: Georgie Comerford Katy Nichol
rights: Open
relation: None.
format: Text/Word doc.
language: English
type: Interviews
coverage: LA1 4YF

Third Parties and Police Use of Lethal Force: Evidence from the Mapping Police Violence Database
subject: Lethal force, Third Parties, Police Citizen Interactions, Use of Force
description: Over recent years media coverage has highlighted the use of excessive force by some police officers. The use of lethal force towards black and other ethnic minority citizens has been identified as a cause for significant concern. Research in the bystander literature and in non-fatal force policing contexts has identified that third parties can have positive impacts in reducing the severity of these incidences. The role of third parties in fatal force events, however, has not been investigated. This is something which the current study seeks to address. The Mapping Police Violence database was used to identify a year’s worth of lethal force events in the US. Newspaper articles relating to these incidents have been coded in line with a predefined coding framework to examine the presence of third parties in these incidents, and the nature of any social relationships with third parties in relation to the type of lethal force utilised. The results revealed that third parties were present in just under half of incidences and that the presence of a third-party with a pre-existing social relationship to the citizen was associated with a lower likelihood of officers utilising forms of ‘less lethal’ force to the extent that it results in a citizen fatality. These findings highlight the potential importance of third parties in understanding the nature of lethal police citizen interactions, and also the potential protective role the presence of known others may have in reducing the likelihood of officers excessively utilising forms of less lethal force.
creator: Sian Reid
source: A secondary data analysis was utilised to examine the presence of third parties in incidences of police use of lethal force. The Mapping Police Violence database (Mapping Police Violence, 2020) was the primary dataset utilised for the study. This is a freely available and open public database compiled by researchers in the US which aims to provide a record of all police involved deaths in the US. This database has been recording police involved deaths in the US since 2013, primarily gathering information through news articles published by various American news outlets. The type of force engaged in by officers that resulted in death was utilised as the outcome variable. The predictor variables were the presence of third parties, the presence of any known third parties, or unknown third parties, the number of officers present, the presence of other emergency services, the location of the incident, the race of the citizen, the gender of the citizen, the alleged presence of a weapon, the initial reason for the encounter, the presence of any digital technology capturing the event and the level of threat posed to the officer. The Mapping Police Violence database records multiple variables in relation to these incidences, including individual and situational factors. Several of the predictor variables included in the current study have been gathered from this dataset; specifically, the type of lethal force used, the alleged presence of a weapon, the race of the citizen, the gender of the citizen, the level of threat posed to the officer, the initial encounter reason and the presence of a body worn camera. Within the current study, most of these variables have been used as recorded in the dataset, however, the level of threat posed to the officer has been recategorized. The multiple different levels of threat recorded in the dataset have been regrouped into three categories: attack (indicating the greatest level of threat to the officer), other (referring to any other level…
publisher: Lancaster University
date: 6th September 2023
contributor: John Oyewole Michelle Kan
rights: Open
relation: None
format: Data/Excel.csv
language: English
type: Data
coverage: LA1 4YF