Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Richards, Frances, 1893-1991 - Collector (Sc 3252), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3252. Two items collected by Richards, a WKU English instructor and adviser to the campus newspaper, the College Heights Herald: a copy of the College Heights Bulletin of Western Kentucky State College (now WKU), inscribed by Public Relations Director Robert G. Cochran with warm thanks to Richards for her assistance in its preparation; and remarks on libel and freedom of expression given by Bert J. Borrone at the 1968 Herald Awards Dinner, with accompanying letter by Cochran.

Response To Intervention In Early Childhood Education, Kendyl Young Hinson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study was to review literature on Response to Intervention (RTI) at the early childhood level. RTI has become increasingly prevalent within K-12 settings. Less research exists for the expansion within early childhood settings. A systematic review of literature was conducted and all available literature on RTI in early childhood education since 2004 was identified and reviewed. Articles were sorted into three broad categories for review: (a) combined, (b) academics, and (c) social emotional behaviors. The review indicated the different behaviors recommended to be examined within the early childhood setting, types of assessment methods used, and interventions ...

Ua52/1 Out Of The Box, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Records

Newsletter created by and about WKU Archives and the records management program.

Serve-Specific Core Self-Evaluations: A Predictive Validation Study, Brandi Renee Forgione

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Core Self-Evaluations (CSE) is a broad personality trait used by industrial organizational psychologists to predict important organizational outcomes such as job performance and employee satisfaction. CSE comprises four elements: generalized self-efficacy, self-esteem, locus of control, and neuroticism. Task-specific versions of CSE have been proposed to better predict task-specific performance than general CSE. Accordingly, Serve-Specific Core Self- Evaluations (SS-CSE) was adapted specifically to predict serve performance of intercollegiate volleyball players. In this study, I explored the predictive validity of SS-CSE for serve performance by expanding a previous study that used a concurrent validation approach. Results indicated that SS-CSE scores collected pre-season ...

Work-School Conflict, Stress, And Alcohol Use Among Employed College Students, Casandra Faith Rollins

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between work-toschool conflict (WSC), role stress in the school domain, and alcohol use among employed, full-time college students (n = 51). It was also examined whether the relationship between WSC and school stress is influenced by student role salience. A within-person, daily diary design was used in order to measure participants’ daily WSC, school stress, and alcohol use over a 14-day period. Multilevel Random Coefficient Modeling (MRCM) was utilized to investigate the relationships of interest. A small nonsignificant, positive relationship between daily WSC and daily alcohol use was found. Although there ...

Aasp Cmpc® Recertification Survey: Analysis Of Perceived Benefits And Barriers, Ben Sammet

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

A survey of 212 individuals who recertified or certified as a Certified Mental Performance Consultant® (CMPC) provided information on the perceived benefits of and barriers to the credential. Primary reasons for recertification and certification were the perceived credibility and expertise implied by the credential, with some indicating the certification to be central to their practice. Similarly, the primary value of the CMPC® certification cited by respondents was an indication of meeting professional standards; being listed on the CMPC® registry also was valued. In addition to perceived credibility, being perceived as ethical was highly ranked as a benefit of certification. Supporting ...

Ethnography Of Reading Comic Books, Azadeh Najafian

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This thesis explores why adults read comic books. This research used the ethnographic method and interviewing eleven people, four women, seven male, as its primary source. Based on information and common themes gathered from interviews, I built this thesis into one introduction, three body chapters, and a conclusion.

In the first chapter, I argued that comics could function the same as myths and explained this function and related examples under the “mythic effect” name. In the second chapter, I discussed how my informants use reading comics as a means to escape their everyday lives and how sometimes this escapism carries ...

Using Theatre To Teach Social Skills To Students On The Autism Spectrum, Meaghan Nicole Ritchie

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Theatre-based interventions are an emerging field to improve social skills in individuals with autism. This study analyzed 10 different articles using theatre-based interventions, combined with evidence-based practices, to increase social skills deficits in students, ages 8-17, diagnosed with autism. Results indicate improvement in social skills for individuals with autism after participating in theatre-based interventions.

Psychosocial Work Influences On Adaptive Performance, Eli Alvin Dickinson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The present study sought to understand why some employees may be more or less able to adapt to the changing work environment. Adaptive performance can help employees to be resilient to technological advances, economic factors, and/or cultural shifts, making it an important form of extra-role performance. According to conservation of resources (COR) theory, one reason employees may fail to adapt is because they lack resources that are required in order to be adaptive. I proposed that the resources needed for adaptive performance aggregate in a resource caravan. Job embeddedness is a proposed resource caravan that may facilitate more adaptive ...

The Dark Side Of The Ivory Tower: Examining Incivility And Microaggressions Against Ethnic Minorities In Academia, Teresa San Hoang Nguyen

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Discrimination is still prevalent and pervasive in society, though there have been many attempts to mitigate its impact. Though often not as overt, “modern” discrimination is more subtle in nature, often slipping through as passable social interactions because of its ambiguity. However, the negative impact that ethnic and racial minorities experience because of this subtle discrimination cannot be ignored. In academia, as with many other workplaces, ethnic and racial minorities are impacted by subtle discrimination. During the Black Lives Matter movement that has surged in 2020 in the wake of social injustices against Black and Brown people, this issue has ...

Knowledge Is Power: A Study Of Juvenile Justice Facilities And Educational Programs, Molly Anne Latham

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The Juvenile Justice System is established to maintain public safety, as well as rehabilitate youth that have involved themselves in criminal activity. The overall goal is to create a better future for these individuals and transform them into law-abiding citizens for the good of society. In order to understand where the system has failed in doing this, we must first examine what opportunities and programs these individuals have to help them succeed. The current study will employ a secondary analysis of a cross-sectional survey through which the United States Bureau of the Census (1995) collected data on the characteristic of ...

La Llorona, Picante Pero Sabroso: The Mexican Horror Legend As A Story Of Survival And A Reclamation Of The Monster, Camille Maria Acosta

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

For centuries, the relationship between Mexico and its infatuation with scary stories has been profoundly complex, but why? Perhaps it is the easiest way to communicate a Mexican culture, although proud and resilient, riddled with haunting narratives. For myself personally, the Mexican horror narrative La Llorona has served as a lens for conversation and communication that is unique and important.

In this thesis, I explore how Mexicans and Mexican Americans alike use the legend of La Llorona as a unique form of communication through personifying what truly haunts us. From using the narrative as a tool for entertainment, cautionary tales ...

Kentucky Speech Arts Association (Mss 717), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 717. Minutes, 1931-1962, and associated records (correspondence, membership lists, program notices, and financial data) of the Kentucky Speech Arts Association, first organized as The Kentucky Association of Teachers of Speech.

Ua12/2/67 Alpha Kappa Alpha, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records created by and about Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.

Ua1c11/111 Field Mcchesney Photo Collection, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Photographs created by Field McChesney.

Ua102 Alan Francis Sports Collection, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Baseball and basketball score books created by Alan Francis for WKU men's and women's basketball, baseball and the Kentucky girls high school sweet sixteen tournaments.

Ua12/2/68 Sigma Nu, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records created by and about Sigma Nu fraternity.

The Federal Prosecution Of Al Capone And Its Impact On The Evidentiary Evolution Of Forensic Accounting, Rachel Gumbel

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

In the prohibition-era, Alphonse ‘Al’ Capone’s notoriety in Chicago was at its height, and a conglomerate investigation composed of multiple Federal departments launched to take down the impenetrable mobster. Capone’s sound completion of crimes and the threat of retaliation towards key-witnesses inhibited the success of the investigation for the Federal government. Therefore, the Treasury Department’s special investigative unit took charge, seeking to unveil the vast income that Capone failed to report on tax filings. Their efforts led to the successful prosecution of the seemingly untouchable man. An examination of the legal structures in place that allowed for ...

Landscape Analysis And Content Strategy For Covid-19 State Response Websites, Kaitlin Price

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

There is a massive flow of information about the COVID-19 pandemic from news coverage, daily announcements from local and national political leaders and health authorities, as well as social media. Because of this, a focus on providing clear, honest, and valid information is needed. One way to achieve this goal is through impactful state websites that can act as the main resource for COVID-19 related news.

This project will be analyzing three COVID-19 state response websites, kycovid19.ky.gov (Kentucky’s website), oregon.gov (Oregon’s website), and ldh.la.gov (Louisiana’s website) in terms of their use of ...

The Socioeconomics Of Homelessness In Bowling Green, Kentucky, Ben Hanson

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Though the city of Bowling Green, Kentucky has experienced tremendous economic growth in recent years, poverty and homelessness have become a problem for residents and city officials. This project seeks to expand research on homelessness in Bowling Green, Kentucky in order to prescribe policies that could be enacted by local government entities. Construction of low-income housing, rent subsidies, rent ceilings, and tougher eviction laws are all policy measures that have been discussed by previous literature. To analyze the effectiveness of these four policies, this project proposes a regression model that explores the relationship between the homeless population and each of ...

Informing Sustainable Urban Forestry Policy With Carbon Sequestration Analysis, Ellen Danford

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Urban forestry is an environmental solution for an increasingly city-centered world. The ecosystem services that trees provide in natural settings, including carbon sequestration, oxygen production and aesthetic beauty, also apply in urban settings. Every tree in the Western Kentucky University (WKU) urban forest provides these services and each tree was measured to determine how much carbon they sequestered a year on average between 2015 and 2020. With an interactive map of the forest and its carbon sequestration, the condition of the forest and change over the five year period was analyzed. Comparing the welfare of the forest with the plans ...

Investigating Special Education Services For Elementary English Language Learners Within The South-Central U.S.: A Survey Of General Education, Special Education, And Esl Teachers, Kylie Bray

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This paper explores solutions to the issue of overrepresentation in special education among the English Language Learner (ELL) population. Reasons for overrepresentation of this population can be summarized into three main categories: diagnostic problems, TESOL shortages, and improper assessment tools. By educating future and current teachers on proper ways and techniques to teach, academic failure among ELL students is prevented. Assessment forms need to be revised and accountability needs to exist to ensure that poor teaching and learning environments are not being diagnosed as a disability. An attempt to find how effectively these solutions have been implemented into schools, overrepresentation ...

Studying The Relationship Between Financial Risk Aversion And Income With The Jeopardy! Daily Double, Miles Johnson

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

It has long been up for debate as to whether there is a link between financial risk aversion and income. This study’s purpose is to, using data from the game show Jeopardy!, investigate this question through analytical research. This study made use of multiple regression analyses in order to examine the relationship between income and risk aversion in Jeopardy! contestants who appeared on the show between January 2019 and October 2020. Specifically, this study looked to isolate the potential impact a contestant’s estimated annual income had on their willingness to bet on the Jeopardy! Daily Double question. It ...

Democratic Disenfranchisement: Analyzing The Factors That Contribute To Or Hinder The Ability Of Marginalized Groups To Run For Public Office In Kentucky, Isaac Keller

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Much has been written about barriers that lead to unequal representation, focusing largely on situational characteristics of the individual voter (socioeconomic status, efficacy, socialization, etc.) and on structural (institutional) obstacles to voter turnout and participation. However, political participation is inclusive of more than just voting. This research seeks to identify and analyze the factors that contribute to or hinder the ability of marginalized candidates to run for public office. To explore whether or not marginalized candidates face unique obstacles when running for public office, a qualitative approach with one-on-one interviews between a convenience sampling in Kentucky of ten political candidates ...

Solving The Persistence Problem: Application Of Peer Mentorship In The Rotc Community, Thomas Pelkey

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Western Kentucky University, a medium-sized university in Kentucky, currently has a persistence rate of 74% (Helbig et al., 2020). The current public health crisis also poses a risk to university retention. A new method needs to be used to increase the rate in the next ten years. Dr. Brian Kuster, Vice President of WKU suggested a mentoring program for “at-risk” freshmen. Freshmen go through a lot of stress and anxiety in their first year of college. This is known as the “first-year adjustment” reaction. A myriad of factors contributes to the reaction, such as being by themselves for the first ...

The Design, Development, And Implementation Of A Coding System For A "Hot" Self-Regulation Task, Hannah Martin

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Effortful control is one component of self-regulation that consists of the ability to delay a dominant response in favor of a non-dominant response. One way to measure effortful control is through “Hot” self-regulation tasks, which are when a participant is asked to delay a dominant response when there is a reward or punishment associated with the task. There are two types of “Hot” self-regulation tasks: effective decision making and delay of gratification. One way to assess of delay of gratification abilities is through an experimental task known as Snack Delay, where participants (usually children) are shown a snack but are ...

Ua3/1/1 President's Office-Cherry Reports, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Reports made by Henry Cherry to the Board of Regents and departmental reports made to Henry Cherry.

Ua1c11/110 Frank Pittman Photo Collection, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Photographs of guitar building workshop.

Ua1c11/109 Linda Johnson Photo Collection, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Photographs removed from athletic scrapbooks.

• 1987 WKU Athletics Scrapbook, D7003
• 1968-1985 WKU Athletics Scrapbook, D7004
• 1985-1987 WKU Athletics Scrapbook, D7005

I Hear You: The Everyday Struggle Living With Misophonia, Ashton Jones

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The term misophonia is derivated from the Greek words misos, (hate), and phónè, (voice); it translates as hatred of sound. It is the term used to describe people who are irregularly affected by everyday noises. The first scientific observations by Pawel J. Jastreboff regarding misophonia indicate “individuals with misophonia are sensitive to a specific set of trigger sounds, which are usually recognized since childhood.” These types of sounds tend to be trivial noises, such as chewing or crunching, sniffing, breathing, clicking, lip smacking, and tapping. The noises can trigger an onslaught of negative emotions and violent reactions.

This documentary film ...