Doctoral Theses

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The Doctoral Theses collection contains digital copies of AUT doctoral theses deposited with the Library since 2004 and made available open access. All theses for doctorates awarded from 2007 onwards are required to be deposited in Tuwhera Open Theses unless subject to an embargo.

For theses submitted prior to 2007, open access was not mandatory, so only those theses for which the author has given consent are available in Tuwhera Open Theses. Where consent for open access has not been provided, the thesis is usually recorded in the AUT Library catalogue where the full text, if available, may be accessed with an AUT password. Other people should request an Interlibrary Loan through their library.

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    Samoa Law Reform and Recognition of Fa’atama: A Talanoa Approach
    (Auckland University of Technology, 2023) Fa'amatuainu, Bridget
    The thesis attempts to address significant gaps in current knowledge on law reform, gender responsive law making and gender discriminatory practices in the legally pluralistic nations of the Pacific, more specifically, in Samoa, where the majority of fa’atama reside. This thesis adopts a critical talanoa approach to understanding the gender discriminatory practices embedded in Samoa customs (tu ma aga), traditions and law, from the perspective and lived experience of fa’atama, as they navigate their journeys, to enable the process of their recognition, through the proposed legislative and non-legislative reform of Samoa customs, traditions, and laws. This is a thesis by manuscripts and is based on four research papers (Chapters 2-5) and one empirical research paper (Chapter 6). This thesis is presented as a successive progression of research in a series of seven chapters (Table 1). Each chapter, while related, function as standalone papers. A preface is provided at the start of each chapter, to demonstrate the sequential and cohesive progression of the research, most of which have been submitted to targeted journals and are papers under review. Chapters 1 (Introduction) and 2 (Literature Review) provide the justification for the research, positionality of the researcher, while the reviewed literature provides a critical lens to the laws, customs, traditions, and gender norms impacting the recognition of fa’atama in Samoa. The critical gaps of understanding from the reviewed literature, led to the framing of key research questions exploring the factors, tensions and challenges at the interface between laws, customs, and gender discriminatory practices which cross-cuts across all papers of the thesis. Chapter 3 explores the talanoa methodology adopted in the empirical chapter and three of the four research papers. Paper 1 (Chapter 2), is a comprehensive review of relevant literature, from books, laws, court judgments to research papers, dated 1970-2020, resulting in the emergence of core themes, based on the critical gaps presented in the review: the language of sexuality and gender discourse in Samoa; the sociocultural construction of fa’atama in the context of femininity and masculinity in Samoa’s customary and legal context; the role of gender equity and gender status in Samoa law reform from historical origins to the modern day context; and lastly, an examination of gender discriminatory practices in the context of Samoa fa’atama and SOGIEC recognition in the criminal and family law context of Samoa. This review then proposes ways to reimagine some of the legislative and non-legislative challenges ahead for fa’atama and SOGIE members who do not fit into the cultural gender binary construct embedded in Samoa’s Gender Framework, or the recognized legal and sex categories of Samoa. Building on Paper 1, talanoa methodology, law reform processes at customary and national level and the theory on the customary rule of recognition are explored in Papers 1-4 (Chapters 2-6). Finally, the purpose of the final chapter (Chapter 7) is to bring together all the findings and recommendations, research limitations, the implications for the wider fa’atama and SOGIEC communities. Any supplementary information not provided in each thesis chapter will be included in the Appendix. The thesis used a critical talanoa methodological approach, underpinned by the vā (a Pasifika relational approach) reflected in the multiple, multi-dimensional diversity, dignity, and truths. The focus group talanoa and the face to face (semi structured) interview talanoa were the main methods of enquiry adopted for the study. Participants (respondents) in Auckland, New Zealand and Apia, Samoa were carefully selected by the principal fa’atama advisor engaged for the study. The thematic analysis from the talanoa data found that both international fa’atama (i.e., fa’atama residing outside Samoa) and Samoa, are generally not accepted as fa’atama by family, church and the wider community (village); that fa’atama experience gender discrimination in their families, village and church community more in Samoa compared to fa’atama outside Samoa; that fa’atama are not free to express themselves in how they dress and who they choose to love; that fa’atama marriage and adoption of children is currently illegal in Samoa; that fa’atama are vastly under-represented in matai leadership and thus, are not actively involved in significant decisions impacting their families, churches, village community and more importantly, law reform. Consequently, this infringed upon their access to education, health, and law, impacting their legal status and more significantly, their recognition as a whole, which were far more urgent than is currently recognised by the community and government. This is fundamental to individual empowerment and dignity in Pacific contexts, in the absence of finance, employment opportunities, cultural status, and class power. The urgency for recognition as a way to combat gender discriminatory practices was indeed pressing for both fa’atama respondents in Samoa and New Zealand. Comparatively, fa’afafine, unlike fa’atama, were able to enjoy secure recognition in local laws, not based on need, but because customs and tradition favoured men for leadership roles as a whole. The overarching aim of this research is to critically assess and understand the key challenges to proposed reform of the status quo, which is the lack of collective recognition and acceptance of fa’atama in village governance, local customs, and laws. While identifying the key risks in the context of how they might operate in practice, I examine the feasibility of such proposals being adopted, wholly or in part, by the current government. More importantly, proposals with an emphasis to review and reform the current village governance practices, structures, institutions, and laws of Samoa. In this way, it is intended that an original contribution to the study of customs and gender responsive law making can be made in Samoa and the wider Pacific region.
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    Understanding the Development of Knowledge in Novice Database Modellers
    (Auckland University of Technology, 2023) Imbulpitiya, Asanthika Medawani
    Database modelling is a skill any undergraduate student must master as part of a computer science degree program. For novices, it is a challenging task involving interconnected and abstract concepts. The aim of this research was to gain an in-depth understanding of how novices learn to model by examining their learning processes and barriers to learning. Modelling tasks typically given to novices were classified to understand their type and difficulty. Several difficulty metrics were explored, and a novel adaptation of the cognitive dimension of the revised Bloom’s taxonomy for novice database tasks was established. This work informed the design of tasks that comprised the instrument for this research. In designing the instrument, aspects of cognitive load theory were considered, including segmentation, redirected isolated element tasks, structured presentation of the case study, and sequenced sessions. Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development informed a novel intervention model consisting of redirected tasks to support the learners. The tasks of this research instrument were then attempted by novice modellers through a series of think-aloud interviews. Through the constructivist analysis methods of reflexive thematic analysis and narrative analysis, insights into the learning progressions of novice data modellers of different abilities were explored. This thesis presents an original investigation into the transfer of knowledge and its effect on learning data modelling. The research found challenges related to task-specific knowledge within the problem domain, as well as the taught modelling concepts and knowledge acquired through completing tasks in class. The thematic analysis revealed ‘fragile knowledge’ of concepts, terminology, and modelling syntax as the main challenges for the novices. Other difficulties included case study comprehension, lack of verification of design decisions and inability to recall and transfer on-task knowledge. Common tactics used by novices also emerged through the thematic analysis. The students who demonstrated inconsistent problem-solving processes and tactics tended to have weak or failed transfer. The narrative analysis provided an understanding of how the novices in this study constructed their knowledge. A unique visual representation was developed to explain and aid the interpretation of learning progressions. The findings of this study emphasise how fragile knowledge can affect novices regardless of their performance level. One student showed no progress due to fragile knowledge, while other students showed evidence of progression and learning with the support of a more knowledgeable other and redirected tasks, but not alone. This highlights that in addition to cognitive development, a sociocultural approach plays a pivotal role in progressing the learning of novice database modellers. Moreover, the results show that structure segmentation of the problem and an intervention model that isolates elements and progressively scaffolds the learner can be effective in promoting learning. The insights gained from this doctoral research strongly suggest a need for changes in the pedagogies for teaching database modelling and highlight the need for further empirical research in the area.
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    Tangohia mai te Taura - Take This Rope: Exploring Māori Documentary-Making Approaches to Elevate Whānau Narratives
    (Auckland University of Technology, 2024) Williams, Toiroa
    Tangohia mai te taura (Take This Rope) was a practice-led research project that delved into whānau (family), identity, belonging, whenua (land) and historical injustice. The thesis study involved the conceptual and physical creation of a documentary of installed photographs, waiata (songs), whakatauākī (proverbs), poetry and filmed mōteatea (laments) that artistically considered connections between Mokomoko, whenua and whānau. In so doing, the thesis artistically explored the potentials of documentary making in relation to form, space and Kaupapa Māori (Māori research approaches). The study employed a pūrākau methodology activated through the orienting principles of manuhiri, wero, whaikōrero, and karakia. The significance of the study lay in its potential to rethink documentary inquiry as culturally located practice. As such, the thesis not only contributed to the corpus of research about Mokomoko, it also extended ways in which processes of indigenous documentary making might be approached and constituted in the pursuit of a communicative space that elevates whānau narratives and rhetorical assertion.
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    Exploring the Resilience of Pasifika Peoples Through Their Lived Experiences and Perceived Adaptive Capacity to the Global Disruption of COVID-19: A Comparative Case Study in the Kingdom of Tonga and the Cook Islands.
    (Auckland University of Technology, 2023) de Waegh, Roxane
    The prevailing view in international development discourse is that small island states in the Pacific region are highly vulnerable to exogenous disruptions, including socio-economic shocks and extreme weather events linked to the adverse impacts of climate change. The representation of Pacific Island countries (PICs) as inherently vulnerable to external disruptions is largely based on the following perceived constraints: (1) remoteness and isolation, resulting in high transportation costs to markets and costly tourism, (2) small domestic markets and economies, (3) limited natural resources and narrow production basis, (4) significant trade deficits, (5) limited diversification of local skills, (6) fragile political systems, and (7) vulnerability to extreme physical disasters. However, such disempowering framings of Pacific Island societies are largely shaped by western perceptions of vulnerability, success, and wellbeing, which often do not translate to local cultural constructs. Furthermore, the discourse on vulnerability re-enforces the dominant narrative of PICs as externally dependent and passive in the face of global disruptions, which strips Pasifika peoples of their agency and self-determination efforts to engage in the global economy on their own terms, and to adapt to exogenous disruptions according to approaches they developed, to reach a desired future they determined. This research strived to challenge the reductionist framing of small island nations by exploring the social resilience of Pasifika peoples in the Cook Islands and the Kingdom of Tonga as they responded and adapted to a series of cascading crises during the COVID-19 pandemic. While there is a growing interest in the exploration of resilience in small island societies, no studies to date have investigated how Pacific Island communities adapt to multiple interacting and compounding global systemic risks through the lens of subjective wellbeing and human agency. By applying a subjective measure of resilience through perception indicators on wellbeing and human agency, this research explored the social dimensions of resilience through Pasifika peoples’ perceived sense of agency to support a desired state of wellbeing that they envisioned and determined for their communities and natural environments. In doing so, this research aimed to address a significant gap within the vast and interdisciplinary body of knowledge that seeks to better understand the construct of resilience in small island societies in an increasingly volatile and globalised world. The research used an interpretive research paradigm underpinned by a constructivist grounded theory methodology and comparative case study approach to explore the adaptive responses of Pasifika peoples in the Cook Islands and Tonga. Due to the COVID-19 travel restrictions, semi-structured interviews with 25 participants in the Cook Islands and 24 participants in Tonga were conducted by using online video-conferencing technologies (primarily Zoom). More importantly, all interviews were facilitated by the development of local research partnerships. The findings indicated that the social resilience of Pasifika peoples depends on their capacity to collectively act and forge networks that are simultaneously local and global, enabling the use of traditional and foreign knowledge systems to make decisions that support the multidimensional wellbeing of their island community, which in turn resulted in the revival of community spirit, traditional values, and cultural identities. The insights further revealed that participants used various forms of situated agency and social capital to support local human capacity development, increase the diversification of skills and labour forces, and enhance the collective self-reliance of their island communities. Finally, the data demonstrated that resilience was perceived by participants as a social concept that is rooted in human agency, cultural identity, reciprocal relationships, and collective self-reliance.
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    Hyperlocal Monitoring of Air Pollutants at Street-Level Using a Long-Range Wireless Sensor Network
    (Auckland University of Technology, 2022) Kaur, Amritpal
    Air pollution monitoring is essential for assessing air quality and its impact on health and the environment. It involves collecting data on pollutants like particulate matter, ozone, carbon monoxide, etc. This practice includes protecting public health, ensuring environmental preservation regulatory compliance, and facilitating research and policymaking. With urbanization and industrialization contributing to increased pollution levels, monitoring becomes crucial for creating a cleaner and healthier future. A Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) pollution monitoring system utilizing Long-Range (LoRa) technology offers valuable street-level analysis. The LoRa network was simulated and implemented for real-time monitoring in Auckland, New Zealand, for this research. Sensors for particulate matter, carbon dioxide, temperature, and humidity were placed in a strategic matrix at Auckland University of Technology's North Shore campus. Data collected was transmitted to a server via the LoRa gateway. This research aims to provide localized data for different areas in Auckland, encouraging the Auckland Council and policymakers to make decisions regarding air pollution monitoring systems. The study highlights the health impacts of pollutants, particularly on respiratory and cardiovascular health. Empowering stakeholders with data supports informed decision-making, effective pollution control measures, and the pursuit of healthier and sustainable cities.
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