Digital Commons Network^™

The Smart Shopping Construct: Scale Development And Validation, Kelly Green Atkins

Doctoral Dissertations

This study was designed to gain a better understanding and conceptualization of the term smart shopping. The specific research objectives were to: (a) investigate consumers‟ perceptions of the term smart shopping; (b) develop a measure of smart shopping; and (c) validate the measure of smart shopping.

A comprehensive literature review was used to identify existing smart shopping theories and to identify opportunities for expanding on the existing meanings of the term. To obtain consumers‟ perceptions of the term smart shopping, two focus group interviews and fifteen face-to-face in-depth interviews were employed for initial item generation and instrument development. Scale development …

A Comparative Philosophical Feminist Identity Study Of Chinese Women Intellectuals And The Educational Implications, Yan Cao

Doctoral Dissertations

As a female cross-cultural educator and scholar in the third space, I am deeply concerned about issues related to Asian Americans and especially Chinese women intellectuals. Problematic misinterpretations of Chinese women from Euro-western perspective center on Orentalism and newly arising problems during the post-Mao era in China such as problems with rising gender consciousness, invisibility issues of homosexuality, ethnic minorities, rethinking of class, and added social contexts in Chinese indigenous works. These problems demonstrate the need to pay attention to Chinese feminist scholarship and Chinese women’s academic contributions. A better way to theoretically understand Chinese women and their scholarship from …

The Association Between The Rate Of Child Fatalities In Tennessee And Selected Neighborhood Demographic And Housing Characteristics, Elizabeth Brown

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if an association exists between housing characteristics and demographic characteristics of Tennessee neighborhoods (census tracts) and the rate of child fatalities (violent, accidental, and natural) in the neighborhoods reporting child fatalities for the years 1996-2003. The child fatalities, for the eight years, reported to each Tennessee Judicial District Child Fatality Review Team required by the Tennessee Department of Health’s Maternal and Child Health Division were selected for use in the study. Data was selected from the Bureau of the Census’ 2000 United States Census to obtain the housing characteristics and demographic characteristics …

L’Impératif Passé: La Mémoire Comme Protagoniste Du Théâtre De Michel Tremblay, Fátima Elizabeth Costa Buchert

Doctoral Dissertations

Michel Tremblay, the most important contemporary playwright (and novelist) in Quebec, has written for the theatre for over forty years. The study of his plays, beginning with the very first ones, reveals the capital importance that he attributes to the problem of the past and of memory.

This dissertation examines how memory plays the role of protagonist in Tremblay’s drama: the study of Les Belles-Soeurs, (the writer’s first famous play, where memory is a tool for building gender identity), of Le Vrai Monde? (one of his most complex plays, where memory is concretely represented on the stage) and of …

Value Similarity And Its Relationship To Interpersonal Relationship Quality And Identity: Perceptions Of Self, Partner, And Ideal Partner, Jennifer G. Clement

Doctoral Dissertations

The exploration of interpersonal relationships has led to the recognition that similarity has played a large role in the relationship quality, e.g. satisfaction, of dyads, specifically romantic dyads. Three categories of similarity have been shown to best predict satisfaction: communication, attitudes, and values. This study examined the actual, perceived, and ideal value similarity of heterosexual romantic dyads at the University of Tennessee and assessed relationship quality which included satisfaction, intimacy, trust, and social provisions. Using stepwise regressions and Pearson Product correlations this study determined that actual, perceived, and ideal value similarity significantly predicted the relationship quality of the individual and …

Art Therapy With An Adolescent: A Case Study, Cynthia S. Crawford

Doctoral Dissertations

Due to the paucity of formal research in the use of art therapy with adolescent populations, the purported effectiveness of art as an assessment instrument in screening for emotional disturbance, and the widespread application of art and other expressive modalities with children, the purpose of this single subject qualitative case study was to describe the experience of an adolescent, diagnosed with a mood disorder, either singly or in combination with other psychiatric disorders, and enrolled full-time in a residential treatment center, while participating in weekly person-centered art therapy sessions. The participant for this study was a 16-year old adolescent female, …

Linguistic And Cultural Competence In The Global Business Arena: A Study Of A Japanese Company In Tennessee, Asami Segi

Doctoral Dissertations

According to a survey by the State of Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development Division of Research and Planning, the number one country in terms of investment in Tennessee is Japan, which currently has 160 companies in Tennessee that employ 40,450 people (Tennessee Total Foreign Direct Investment and Employment by Country Current Through April 2008, p.1).

Whereby there are a number of research studies examining the importance of Japanese language competence in American companies, there is a paucity of research that addresses Americans with Japanese language competency who work in Japanese companies located in the U.S. This study therefore …

Development Of A Computational Model To Predict The In Vivo Contact Mechanics Of Modern Total Knee Arthroplasty, Adrija Sharma

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the development of a computationally efficient and fast method that incorporates the kinematics obtained from fluoroscopy and extends it to the prediction of the in-vivo contact mechanics at the femoro-tibial articulation in modern knee implants for the deep knee bend activity. In this endeavor, this dissertation deals with the use of an inverse dynamic rigid body model characterizing the slip and roll behavior observed in the femoro-polyethylene articulation and a coupled deformation model where the polyethylene in knee implants are modeled as hexahedral discrete element networks. The performance of this method is tested by comparing force …

Does The Grade Level At Which Algebra I Is Completed Affect Future Mathematics Performance, Jamie Kay Fugitt

Doctoral Dissertations

According to analysis of 2003 NAEP data, the percentage of students enrolling in Algebra I prior to ninth grade continues to increase, up to 42% in 2003. This current study is designed to examine the benefits of acceleration into algebra by exploring four major questions regarding timing of algebra. The first question examines relationships between student characteristics and timing of algebra. Relationships between school characteristics and timing of algebra are examined by the second question. Questions three and four explore relationships between timing of algebra and mathematics achievement and course taking, respectively.

Information was gathered on 449 students matriculating at …

Backpack Journalism In Television Newsgathering: Audience Perceptions Of Quality, Charles Wesley Gee

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore preferences by younger news audiences of backpack journalism in local television news. Local television news has to compete with Internet and other media to attract viewers. The theoretical foundation for this study, uses and gratifications, proposes audience members will actively seek news information using television as a primary source.

The focus of the study centered around technology’s influence on television newsgathering techniques and if the techniques delineated the quality of journalistic presentation. Four hundred and ninety three college students were surveyed about their media use, news gratification, and preferences of production quality …

Relationships Between High School Students’ Perception Of Teacher Effectiveness, Attitudes Towards Hospitality And Intent To Select Hospitality As A Career, Eva Marie Smith

Doctoral Dissertations

The aspects of the learning environment have the potential to be an important influence in the career decision-making process of students. Teacher effectiveness was also a revealed as a component of student success. However, the connection between teachers’ effectiveness and student’s career development exhibited a gap in the literature. The idea that a teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom can have a direct impact on a students’ decision to choose a vocation, particularly hospitality, as a post secondary career path has not been thoroughly examined. The purpose of this study was to explore possible relationships between student perception of teacher effectiveness …

How Mexican-American Women Define Health: Cultural Beliefs And Practices In A Non-Native Environment, Emma Kathleen Wright

Doctoral Dissertations

Culture impacts the ways people evaluate and respond to health and illness. As a result, Mexican-American culture plays a part in how women take care of their heath and react toward the threat of breast cancer. Using previously identified dominant cultural factors that may influence the health of Mexican-American women as a foundation, this qualitative study describes how Mexican-American women define and maintain health, particularly breast health.

Hispanics are the fastest growing minority group in the United States. As a result, it is important to better understand how Mexican-American women define health and take care of themselves. Doing so will …

Relationship Of Broad Versus Narrow Personality Traits To Psychological Sense Of Community In College Students, Katherine Higgins

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of the present study is to further examine the relationship between personality traits and Psychological Sense of Community (PSC). It attempts to confirm previous research findings that indicate a significant relationship between the Big Five traits and PSC. In addition, it seeks to determine whether selected narrow personality traits are significantly related to PSC and whether those traits add incremental validity to the Big Five personality traits in predicting PSC. This study is a secondary analysis of data collected by Resource Associates, Inc between 2003-2005. Participants (N=1468) were students at a large, southeastern university. Results confirmed a positive …

Testing The Spousal Model Of Stress In Healthy Controls, Persons With Multiple Sclerosis And Their Spousal Caregivers, Donna L. Kennedy

Doctoral Dissertations

The current study examined the Spousal Model of Stress in a sample of healthy, married controls (n=52) and a sample of persons with multiple sclerosis and their spousal caregivers (n=51). The Spousal Model of Stress was created by joining together Ruben Hill’s (1958) ABCX Model of Stress and Karney & Bradbury’s (1995) Vulnerability- Stress-Adaptation Model of Marriage. Factors in the Spousal Model include stress, resources/vulnerabilities, perceptions/adaptive processes, and outcomes (marital satisfaction, marital quality, life satisfaction, and depression). The new model revealed that spousal attributions were an important factor in predicting marital quality and marital satisfaction in a group of healthy …

Forestry Extension In Tennessee: Comparing Traditional And Web-Based Program Delivery Methods, Samuel Wayne Jackson

Doctoral Dissertations

As the traditional forestry Extension clientele in Tennessee changes, Extension professionals need to adapt and deliver programs in such a way as to reach the maximum audience while ensuring the educational benefit of the program and remaining within budget. The development of the Internet and associated web-based programs presents a new tool by which Extension professionals can develop and deliver educational programs to clientele.

This study compared two Extension program delivery methods, web-based and traditional field-based. A series of field workshops were held and participants were surveyed. From these field workshops, a web-based program was developed and was marketed to …

No Sickness, No Need: A Qualitative Exploration Of Female Undergraduates‘ Health Message Perspectives, Cheryl A. Lambert

Doctoral Dissertations

College student health scholarship indicates a stark contrast between health impediments college students identify and the health information their respective campuses provide; campus health promotions often lacking personal relevance for college students, and health programs that utilize control-based strategies to compel behavior change. College student health scholarship also indicates a heavily positivistic research slant with little consideration given to humanistic, student-centric approaches. The purpose of this dissertation was to explore college student perspectives about health messages to enhance college student health communications, thus bridging the disciplines of public relations and college student health. Findings revealed that female undergraduates are proactive …

Faculty Perspectives On The Importance And Place Of Nontechnical Competencies In Veterinary Medical Education At Five North American Colleges Of Veterinary Medicine, India F. Lane

Doctoral Dissertations

Successful veterinary practice requires a unique combination of medical competence and other professional skills that include empathy, communication skills, business and management skills. Results of two recent national studies have indicated that many veterinarians possess the medical knowledge, but not the ancillary skills, that can determine their economic success. Furthermore, growth in non-practice veterinary careers and changes in food animal production medicine have accentuated the need for veterinarians with exceptional teamwork, management and leadership skills. These nontechnical competencies pose a challenge to veterinary educators, who have traditionally focused on transfer of biomedical knowledge and have had limited involvement in these …

Multivariate Mixed Data Mining With Gifi System Using Genetic Algorithm And Information Complexity, Suman Katragadda

Doctoral Dissertations

Statistical analysis is very much dependent on the quality and type of a data set. There are three types of data - continuous, categorical and mixed. Of these three types, statistical modeling on a mixed data had been a challenging job for a long time. This is due to the fact that most of the traditional statistical techniques are defined either for purely continuous data or for purely categorical data but not mixed data. In reality, most of the data sets are neither continuous nor categorical in a pure sense but are in mixed form which makes the statistical analysis …

The Manifestation Of Depressed Mood In Student-Athletes And Their Attitudes Toward, Barriers To, And Preferences For Seeking Professional Psychological Help, Renée L. López

Doctoral Dissertations

Student-athletes are thought to be at greater risk for some psychopathologies while underutilizing mental health services. Few studies have explored depression in student-athletes or the reasons behind the resistance to seeking psychological help. The goals of this study were to examine in a nationwide sample of NCAA D-IA and D-IAA student-athletes the (a) manifestation of depressed mood as it relates to gender, injury, injury characteristics (i.e., perceived impact, time in treatment, chronicity), and student-athlete role behaviors (e.g., frequency of skipping events, role strain, self-destructive behaviors) and (b) examine their treatment resistance, perceived barriers to seeking help, and counselor preference should …

“Successful Communication In A Social Movement: A Case Study Of The Montgomery Bus Boycott, Felicia Mcghee-Hilt

Doctoral Dissertations

The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a social movement. It is often referred to as the first defining movement within the broader context of the Civil Rights Movement. Planned communication can be critical to the success of a social movement. This historical case study analyzed the communication that occurred during the 1955-1956 Montgomery Bus Boycott, a 381-day protest of the segregated bus system in Montgomery. The overall research questions addressed were: How was communication used during the boycott to inform and mobilize the participants? How did news organizations mediate and frame communication? How was the information about the boycott communicated among …

Teacher Attitudes Toward English Language Learners, Rich W. Mckinney

Doctoral Dissertations

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has created a situation in which teachers are required to educate English Language Learners (ELLs) at the same level of proficiency as native speakers. However, there is a paucity of research concerning teacher attitudes regarding ELLs, and thus, little is known about how these attitudes will impact instruction. The purpose of this study was to examine regular education teachers’ attitudes toward the inclusion of ELLs in the regular education classroom. More specifically this study sought to understand whether teacher attitudes were influenced by the specific instructional factors of support, expertise, and time.

The study was …

A Study Of Object Relations Among Self-Injuring And Non-Injuring College Students, Lorrie A. Ness

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to investigate object relational and interpersonal functioning among self-injuring and non-injuring college students. It was hypothesized that self-injury would be associated with more pathological object relational functioning as measured by the Mutuality of Autonomy (MOA) and Social Cognition and Object Relation Scale (SCORS). Additionally, it was hypothesized that self-injurers would evidence significantly more global interpersonal distress on the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems-32 (IIP-32), as well as show elevations in four of the subscales of the IIP-32; self-sacrifice, non-assertiveness, over-accommodation, and interpersonal neediness. Lastly, a number of publications suggest that childhood abuse is a significant …

Development Of A Standardized Nursing Curriculum For The Alabama Community College System: A Critical Case Study, Alice G. Raymond

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this case study was to describe how the Alabama Community College System (ACCS) standardized their nursing curriculum. A single research question was the focus of the study: “How did the ACCS develop its standardized nursing curriculum?” The sub questions were, “who were the key players in the process?”, “Who had the positions of power and dominance, and who did not?”, “Who were included and who were excluded in the process?”, “What were the reasons for inclusion and exclusion?”, and “What were the contextual elements that influenced the development of the curriculum?”

Data from multiple sources were gathered. …

The Experience Of Teachers Who Have Moved From Childhood Poverty To Middle Class, John Steven Dunkin

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to research the phenomenon of an individual who has moved from long term poverty into middle class. Phenomenological interviews were conducted with six participants who had experienced poverty in their childhood, attended and graduated college and obtained professional licenses to teach public school; these licenses gave them access to a teaching position with its commensurate middle class status and salary. Interviews began with the question, "Tell me about your childhood and how you became a teacher." Data analysis revealed four themes (and subthemes) in the narratives of these six participants: (1) durable family relationships …

New Teacher Identity And The Edublogosphere: A Multi-Case Study Of First Year Teacher Bloggers, Rebecca L. Payne

Doctoral Dissertations

New Internet and communication technologies (ICTs) facilitate collaboration and interaction among teachers. The increased presence of web-based tools in education settings prompted this qualitative inquiry. Widely available and inexpensive, these webbased tools (e.g., blogs, wikis, podcasts) provide opportunities for publishing content online. This multiple case study explores the sociocultural construct of identity formation (Holland & Lachicotte, 2007) of four first-year teachers who voluntarily blogged about their experiences. Data sources include the blog posts written by participants during the 2006-07 school year and responses to an electronic questionnaire emailed to participants at the end of the year. A qualitative content analysis …

The Effects Of Exercise Enjoyment And Personality On Mood And Salivary Cortisol With Exercise Activity, Pamela Mary Schweighart

Doctoral Dissertations

The benefits of exercise are extensive; however, the majority of people do not participate in regular exercise. The problems with adherence may be due to personality factors and/or the of enjoyment of exercise. A pilot study was performed with the purpose of examining the relationship between exercise enjoyment and activity and to provide data for the validation of an enjoyment scale.

The purpose of the main study was to examine the relationships between exercise enjoyment, exercise activity, personality, mood, and salivary cortisol as well as the differences between the variables mentioned. Fifty-three students participated (22 male, 31 female; 11 sedentary, …

Migrating Money: Remittances In A Global Setting, Robert Randall Adams

Doctoral Dissertations

In recent years, the term globalization and the global economy have caught the attention of scholars and popular media. Many of the aspects of globalization serve to create push and pull factors that encourage labor migration about the globe as individuals seek to establish some form of economic stability. The sending of money back to country of origin or remittances is often a result of this movement. This study uses data from the New Immigrant Survey to examine the characteristics of United States immigrants who have received “green cards” (granted legal permanent resident status) and who engage in remittance behavior. …

A Forgiving Workplace: An Investigation Of Forgiveness Climate, Individual Differences And Workplace Outcomes, Susie Cox

Doctoral Dissertations

Although forgiveness has been studied for centuries, it is a relatively new area of study in organizational behavior. Organizational climate has a history of influencing individual behaviors. This dissertation considers how a climate of forgiveness may foster a willingness to forgive in individuals. A measure of forgiveness climate is developed and empirically examined. The results of this study support the hypothesis that a cohesive/supportive climate and a trustworthy/integrity climate relate to a climate of forgiveness. Furthermore, this study examines the effects of climate on willingness to forgive. A scenario-based scale to measure willingness to forgive workplace offenses is developed. Willingness …

Investigating Critical Talk Between Preservice English Teachers And Middle School Students In Online Literature Discussions, Joellen Maples

Doctoral Dissertations

In this current political climate of No Child Left Behind, pressure to perform affects teachers and the choices they make in their classrooms. As Rothman, Slattery, Vranek, and Resnick (2002) contend, "As test-based accountability becomes more stringent, schools and teachers will match their curriculum to what is on the tests rather than to what the standards say ought to occur" (p. 29). Since high-stakes testing is the only tangible measurement of accountability, teachers have resorted to teaching to the test and employing direct instruction methods. As a result, few opportunities exist for preservice teachers to practice the facilitation of open-ended …

Concurrent And Predictive Validity Of The Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test-Group Ability Test, Stacy L. Bliss

Doctoral Dissertations

In order to determine the concurrent and predictive validity of the Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test- Group Ability Test (UNIT-GAT; McCallum & Bracken, in press), the UNIT-GAT and the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT; Naglieri, 1997a) were administered in counter-balanced order to 93 students. In addition, 40 students were rated on the Universal Nonverbal Intelligence – Gifted Screening Scales (UNIT-GSS; McCallum & Bracken, in press). The correlation coefficient of r = .36 between the UNITGAT total raw score and the NNAT was statistically significant at the p < .01 level. The UNIT-GAT scale score correlations with the NNAT total ranged from r = .18 for the Symbolic Scale to r= .53 (p< .01) for the Nonsymbolic Scale. The UNIT-GAT total raw score correlations with the UNIT-GSS composite and scales ranged from r = -.06 between both the Emotional and Science scales to r = .19 on the Creative Scale. None of the correlations were statistically significant. The correlations between the scales of the UNIT-GAT and composites of the UNIT-GSS ranged between r= -.05 (UNIT-GAT Memory Scale and UNIT-GSS General Aptitudes Composite) to r = .20 (UNIT-GAT Reasoning Scale and UNIT-GSS General Aptitudes Composite). Correlations between the scales of the UNIT-GAT and the scales of the UNIT-GSS ranged from r = -.30 between the UNIT-GAT Memory Scale and UNIT-GSS Emotional Scale to r = .25 between the UNIT-GAT Nonsymbolic Scale and UNIT-GSS Creative Scale.

Stepwise multiple regression analysis did not reveal any significant utility by the UNIT-GAT total …