Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Partnership With A Graduate Nursing Program: Voices Of The Community, Deborah Essex Forbes Lindell

Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship

Academic-community partnerships (ACPs) are a means by which community-based organizations can implement their missions and programs of higher education can facilitate student educational objectives through real world learning experiences. Many ACPs are framed in the educational methodology, service-learning. Theoretical definitions of ACPs (as a type of inter-organizational relationship) describe them as relationships that are on-going, reciprocal and characterized by mutual trust and respect.

During the past 15 years, ACPs and service-learning have experienced a rapid growth in nursing education. Literature pertaining to ACPs in nursing education is largely anecdotal and concerns undergraduate nursing programs. There are few reports of research …

A Preliminary Investigation Of Sense Of Humor And Purpose In Life, Sandra Batten

Student Work

It was hypothesized that sense o f humor is related to purpose in life. A convenience sample o f 136 undergraduates completed the Modified Purpose in Life test (Chang & Dodder, 1983-84) and the Multidimensional Sense o f Humor Scale (Thorson & Powell, 1993). The overall correlation between the two scales in this sample was .30 ( p < .001). The sub-scales o f the MSHS that related most robustly to purpose in life were Coping ( r = . 3 1 , p < .001) and Attitude Toward Humor and Humorous People ( r = .45, p < .001).

Associations Of Civic Attitudes In Service Learning, Christina M. Roemer

Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship

Civic responsibility is comprised of actions and attitudes associated with democratic governance and social participation. Students enrolled at institutions of higher education have the opportunity to transform their social interests into advocacy through personal connections with the community. Service learning is an effective method of increasing citizenship participation and civic responsibility by incorporating community service activities with academic coursework.

This study used survey research to examine the civic attitude scores of service learning students at a large, public, mid-Atlantic state university. The research questions attained information on the associations among students who perform written and discussion reflection activities (outside of …

Student Development Outcomes In Service Learning For Teacher Education, Hilda A. Sramek

Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship

Students in the Liberal Studies Track I program for teacher preparation at California State University, Long Beach, are required to participate in service learning. The SERVE (Service Experiences to ReVitaIize Education) Program provides training for the students. The purpose of this study was to develop a mechanism for infusing Chickering's psychosocial development model into the training. Two questions were asked: (a) given instruction in the model and support, are students able to apply the model to further their personal and professional development? and (b) what is the best way to implement the model in service learning training? Qualitative methodology was …

Self Service: Self-Concept Enhancement In High School Students In A Service Learning Program, Sarah Foster

Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship

This study attempted to answer the question of whether participation in a high school service learning program can be linked to increases in measures of self-esteem in students. Proponents of service learning claim that it is a valuable means of engaging students, increasing comprehension, and fostering citizenship, but the positive psychological effects are often overlooked.

The Rosenberg (1965) Self-Esteem Scale was used to measure self-esteem levels. Personal interviews were also conducted and coded categorically into scales for self-values of competence, self-determination, personal unity, and moral worth. This coding was done according to a framework created by Gordon (1982). The results …

Service Learning: A Vision For Change And Youth Empowerment, Martha J. R. Johnson

Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship

Service Learning: A Vision for Change and Youth Empowerment examines the theoretical and practical framework of service-learning in a curricular setting. Service-learning is both a method and a philosophy of education. This position paper provides teachers and students with the conceptual framework and practical knowledge to implement successful school based service-learning programs that emphasize youth empowerment, democratic process, consensus building, critical reflection, and community collaboration. Key topics included are: definition, philosophy, essential elements, and practical strategies to apply service-learning methodology.

The Effects Of Service Learning On Middle And High School Students With Emotional Disturbance, Arthur E. Brandt

Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship

A qualitative investigation into the efficacy of the integration of service-learning into the curriculum for emotionally disturbed students as a means of fostering social/emotional well-being was considered in this thesis. Two separate service-learning approaches were used to observe the effects of service-learning on (a) school related behaviors, (b) academic performance, (c) positive shifts in empathic feelings, (d) improved self-esteem, and (e) individual locus-of-control.

Two case studies, one group and one individual, were completed over an 11 month period in two different service-learning environments. Participants were 12-15 year old boys with emotional disturbance. Data were collected using formalized pre and post-test …

The Impact Of Service-Learning On Participants In Community-Based Organizations, Kay S. Bailey

Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship

Research questions examined variables addressing the impact of service-learning on participants in community-based organizations during the 1997 summer session. The researcher set out to determine whether young people engaged in service-learning programs were likely to be involved in other service organizations, whether they are likely to continue to enroll in service-learning programs, likely to be committed to participation in voluntary service as adults, whether they value their service-learning experience, see value to themselves and to the community, and if differences exist by ethnicity and gender.

A survey instrument was mailed to the six program coordinators in the study for administration …

A Test Of The Self-Regulatory Model Of Prejudice Reduction, Sonja Williams

Student Work

Two assumptions derived from Devine and Monteith’s (1993) self-regulatory model of prejudice reduction were tested utilizing a stereotype-activating stimulus believed to be similar to one which is more likely to occur in everyday-life than those used in previous research. Black and white actors making ambiguously hostile statements were evaluated by 92 low and high-prejudiced participants. Rating-scale data provided partial support for the assumption that low-prejudiced participants inhibit stereotype-consistent responses and replace them with personal, more egalitarian beliefs. Specifically, low-prejudiced participants provided significantly more favorable ratings than their high-prejudiced counterparts (p = .030). Reaction-time data provided support for the model’s assumption …

An Investigation Of The Relationship Between Communication Competence And Interactive Strategies For Coping With Romantic Jealousy, Amy J. Bull

Student Work

This thesis investigated the relationship between communication competence and interactive jealousy coping strategies. Two hypotheses were proposed and tested utilizing the Interactive Reactions to Jealousy Scale and a subscale of Wiemann’s Communication Competence Scale. Results indicated a significant positive relationship exists between the level of communication competence and the use of integrative communication, which is considered a positive and helpful coping strategy. However, no significant relationships were found between the level of communication competence and the use of potentially destructive coping strategies. Discussion and interpretation of results and general future areas for research on jealousy and communication competence are proposed.

Does Protestant Fundamentalism Produce Traditional Views?: The Impact Of Religious Commitment Affiliation On Gender Role Beliefs And Political Ideology, Melissa Myers

Student Work

This research looks at the relationship between religious commitment/affiliation and traditional beliefs. Data from the 1993 General Social Survey is used to test hypotheses linking religious commitment and religious affiliation to traditional gender role beliefs and conservative political views. Findings show statistical significance but weak substantive support for the idea that fundamentalists hold more traditional gender role beliefs and political ideology. Future research linking these attitudes to the actual behaviors of men and women in fundamentalist religions is proposed.

Journalism In The Community Classroom A Curriculum Model For Cultural Journalism In Oklahoma, Linda C. Howard

Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship

This paper introduces the medium of cultural journalism as an effective means of intensified basic communication training and community involvement. Part one contains a report of a needs assessment and a subsequent pilot project on cultural journalism that was conducted at an Oklahoma high school. The needs assessment also reports on similar projects conducted in and around the Oklahoma region, the attitudes of community members toward such a project, the problems and possibilities associated with such curriculum development, and advice from other proponents of experience based education. The report on the pilot project that resulted from the needs assessment--a 36-page …

The Effect Of Social Factors On Skin Color Preference Of Black Preschool Age Children, Charles J. Alexander

Student Work

The primary purpose of this thesis is to determine if different shades of Black skin color have an effect on skin color preference among Black preschool age children. More specifically, it is an investigation of the relation skin color preference has to playmate choice among preschool age Black children and how this relation is affected by age, sex and social setting.

In The World But Not Of The World: A Church's Relation To Its Environment, James Earl Floyd

Student Work

Research in general and inductive research in particular often begins from an unfocused curiosity. From this perplexity, emerges the problem of research, the collecting of relevant data, and the drawing of theoretical inferences from said data. The current research enterprise includes these major problems but is, in many respects, different. That is to say, the execution is different from that which is found in "traditional patterns of investigation."

The Wedding Complex: The Social And Occupational Organization Of A Rite Of Passage, Trudy Knicely Henson

Student Work

The wedding as a rite of passage plays an important part in contemporary American society. The planning, staging, and recording phases of a formal wedding directly involve a number of people. The research for this thesis focuses on four of the occupational groups— bridal consultants, formal wear consultants, florists, and photographers— normally involved in the three phases of a formal wedding. Utilizing participant observation and interview techniques I gathered data relating to the duties, training, and regulation of each occupational group as well as the attitudes of representative members of each group toward their work, other members of their own …

A Study Of The Relationship Between Religious Belief Patterns And Measures Of Social Activism, Janet Baumbert

Student Work

The radical changes in American theology, in religious attitudes and mode of religious expression, and in the nature of the relationship between religious commitment and particular social issues have shaped the present decade in such a way that the thrust of religious belief is being seriously questioned. Among sociologists involved in the study of religion this is a pervading topic (Berger, 1970; Bouma, 1970; Demarath, 1969; Glock, et al. 1967; Hadden, 1969; Stark & Glock, 1970; Tinger, 1969).

An Experimental Examination Of Racial Distance Attitude Change In Young Delinquent Girls, Jane Anne Beem

Student Work

This research project was designed and expedited as the result of several long standing interests and concerns. These interests, theoretical in nature, focus upon: (a) the individual consequences of positive and/or negative interracial attitudes, and (b) the social consequences of existing interracial Interaction patterns manifested throughout the United States, particularly within the past two decades. The concerns, pragmatic in nature, are with "social reform."

Forced Resettlement And Attitude Change: A Study Of Cognitive Dissonance, Vincent Joel Webb

Student Work

The United States during the 20th century has been characterized by an ever increasing amount of Federal responsibility and intervention in effecting change in the lives of the local citizenery. This Federal intervention and responsibility takes many varied forms; it is the aim of this research to deal with only one of these forms - the Civil Works Program of the United States Army Corps of Engineers as it relates to water resources development.

Middle And Working-Class Fathers' Occupational Expectations And Aspirations For Their Daughters, William H. Bieck

Student Work

Sociological research in the areas of occupational preference and mobility, together with related work in the sociology of education has been concerned almost entirely with males. An all but exclusive preoccupation with the male worker is somewhat surprising considering the fact that census data reveal, an increasing proportion of women in paid employment during the last sixty years.¹ An examination of labor statistics by Bossi,² disclosed that between 1950 and I960, women accounted for 65 per cent of the increase in the labor force. By 1965, according to Davis³, approximately one paid worker in three was …

A Sociological Consideration Of Pretense, John F. Else

Student Work

Few, if any, persons pass through a day without observing and engaging in some form of pretense. Pretense is a basic aspect of interpersonal relations. In an office or factory the supervisor tells the worker to ’’look busy" even when he does not have work to do. The salesman tries to make the customer feel as if the item being presented is the best buy ever placed on the market. Two people meet and exchange “PIeased to meet you!" when neither actually cares at all about the presence of the other; in fact, each may have negative feelings about meeting …

Socialization To The Parental Role: A Study Of Reactive Norms, Don Stanley Ecklund

Student Work

The interplay of social theory and social research is the most important attribute of the present day scientific study of human behavior. On the one hand, the scientist as theorist is interested in generalizations, and on the other hand, as a researcher he is interested in testing his hypothesis so that he is assured that what he reports is empirically valid. The effective social scientist does not aim to be strictly a theorist or an empiricist, but seeks to meaningfully combine both theory and research in a way that enhances scientific knowledge. In the following pages of this thesis, such …

Religious Preference And Worldly Success: A Comparison Of Protestants And Catholics, James W. Crowley

Student Work

The problem, of theory construction toward a sociological understanding of the religious-economic relationship has relied to a great extent upon the work of a German social scientist, Max Weber.¹ Historical observations made by Weber, which described a meaningful relationship between Protestantism and modern industrial capitalism,² stimulated scholars from a number of fields to continue investigation of this relationship. The Weberian thesis advanced the position that religious and economic phenomena within a society were mutually interdependent. More specifically, Weber was concerned with the 'economic ethics of a religion'³ in relation to the economic institution. This relationship was considered …

An Investigation Of The Attitudes Held By A Randomly Selected Group Of Members Toward Their Young Women's Christian Association A Socio-Psychological Analysis, Robert Lee Geisel

Student Work

Curing the last few years the study of voluntary membership in clubs and other social organisations has become a matter of increased importance in the area of social research. Sociological literature contains several significant studies which have focused attention on this particular area of human behavior. Notwithstanding this development, an attempt will be made in this research project to demonstrate that there is still a definite lack of information with respect to several,important aspects of voluntary membership, it is hoped that the findings of this study will be fruitful in supplying some date deemed necessary to increase our understanding of …

Professional Performance Of Y.M.C.A. Senior Secretaries, Related To Factors Of Their Intelligence, Personal Values, And Interests, Cecil Fayette Mcgee

Student Work

The problem of selecting social service executives by government organizations and social service agencies has long been an important one. Other organizations directing the efforts of people need to know what qualities characterize successful social service executives. Social service executives administer and supervise many activities which involve the time and effort of other people. They should, therefore, be carefully selected so that the objectives of their employing organizations may be effectively and economically achieved.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether any relationship exists between performance ratings of Young Men’s Christian Association Senior Secretaries and their intelligence, personal …

A Study Of Religious Drama As A Resource Of The Church, Illustrated By An Original Biblical Drama, Marien E. Griffith

Student Work

The main purpose of this study is to determine the place of religious drama in the church. Data of information were secured from personal letters and interviews with pastors and lay-people in Omaha, Nebraska; Council Bluffs, Sioux City and Des Moines, Iowa; St. Louis, Missouri; Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota; Idaho Falls, Iowa; and Monrovia, California. A questionnaire was used as a guiding basis for the interviews. The case method and survey method were used. An original Biblical drama is presented to illustrate what the possibilities are in this field of activity.

Drama is one of the most interesting of …