Thesis
A multivariate approach to social categorization research
Southern Cross University
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Southern Cross University
1998
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Abstract
It is argued that categorization is inherently comparative among entities, inherently
multivariate among attributes and variable with perceiver perspectives and the
conditions of judgment: that entities are structured into categories and attributes into
constructs simultaneously in accordance with knowledge (including knowledge of
categories and categorical structures) and nai:ve theory in ways that vary systematically
with the entities under comparison and the contextual purposes and perspectives of
perceivers. The outcome of this process - a structured set of ideas and relations among
them - is referred to as a categorical scheme.
The core tenets of self-categorization theory (SCT) are elaborated in terms of the multicategory,
multi-attribute nature of categorization processes. The links between
categorization processes and social psychological phenomena forged within SCT, and
their influence on the functioning of individuals and groups in social systems, indicate
the potential for models of social-categorical schemes to be applied to social or
organisational management initiatives with psychologically and socially important
consequences.
A number of methods of data collection and analysis with the potential to model
categorical schemes are described and illustrated. A sequential data-collection and
modelling process is employed to build a model of the ways Australian registered
nurses describe and distinguish among the main health-occupational groups with whom
they share their occupational environment. Models employed include the two-way
forms of multidimensional scaling (MDS), multidimensional unfolding (MDU),
principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA), and the three-way
extensions of MDS (WMDS), MDU (WMDU) and PCA (3PCA). The modelling
exercise itself offers insight into the nature of categorization processes, and multivariate
models of categorical schemes are potentially useful in applied contexts and a means of
conducting research into categorization as an inherently multivariate process.
Details
- Title
- A multivariate approach to social categorization research
- Creators
- Lyndon Brooks
- Contributors
- Paul Gannon (Supervisor) - Southern Cross UniversityJohn Geake (Supervisor) - Southern Cross University
- Awarding Institution
- Southern Cross University; Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Theses
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Southern Cross University
- Publisher
- Southern Cross University
- Number of pages
- xii, 410
- Identifiers
- 991012948000502368
- Copyright
- © Lyndon Brooks 1998
- Academic Unit
- School of Education
- Resource Type
- Thesis