Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Information Content In American Television Advertising : A Replication And Update, Laura Kathleen Sandgren

Dissertations and Theses

Three hundred and seven randomly selected American network television commercials aired between October 18 and November 18, 1997 were analyzed to. determine their informational value using the fourteen criteria established by Resnik and Stem in 1977. The results of this study were compared with Resnik and Stem's 1991 study, revealing that there has not been any significant change in the amount of information in American television commercials since Resnik and Stem's replication sample.

This study also used Resnik and Stem's (1977) criteria to further examine if the amount-of information contained in 1V commercials varied depending on the gender or age …

Speech Intelligibility Of 4-Year-Old Children, M. Jane Firestone

Dissertations and Theses

While speech-language pathologists routinely measure and report speech intelligibility when assessing young children with speech impairments, normative data have not been available for comparison purposes. When assessing children to determine if their communication abilities are at or below that of peers, one must first know what the normative standards are. Knowing the normal distribution for speech intelligibility at several ages would allow for more precise uses of the intelligibility information than is currently possible. Only a few available studies exist to allow tentative normative comparisons of speech intelligibility data (Vihman & Greenlee, 1987; Ware, 1996).

The goals of this pilot …

Impact Of Singing Intervention On Vocal Fatigue Effects : A Single Subject Study, Nancy Devine Ferguson

Dissertations and Theses

This single subject descriptive study investigated the efficacy of singing intervention on the effects of vocal fatigue on the speaking voice of a non-singing individual. Baseline measures were taken on a single subject prior to voice treatment. Data were collected before and after the subject performed a vocally fatiguing task of 1 hour of prolonged reading at 80% of his maximum vocal intensity level. Data collection consisted of the following acoustic and aerodynamic characteristics of the subject's speaking voice: fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, maximum intensity level, and maximum phonation duration, as well as obtainment of the subject's self-perceptions of vocal …

Role Of The Warrant In Presidential Debates : 1960, 1976, & 1996, Aaron Nicole Kaio

Dissertations and Theses

Every four years in America we make a decision about which candidate is best suited to be our next president. Over the past twenty years a standard component of the presidential campaign has been televised debates. These debates are supposed to help the public get a better understanding of the candidates' ideas about government, our future, and to demonstrate analytical skills and their ability to think on their feet.

This study set out to see how the candidates' arguments measured up to some basic argumentation standards. According to several scholars, none of the televised presidential debates qualify as 'true debates', …