Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Information Literacy In The First Year Of Higher Education: Faculty Expectations And Student Practices, Meredith Esther Michaud

Dissertations and Theses

Information literacy is widely acknowledged as important for student success in higher education. Information literacy is the ability to sort through a large amount of available information, decide what is useful and believable, and apply it in an effective and ethical way. Faculty members have expectations regarding information literacy for students in the first year of college, while students have information literacy practices that may or may not match those expectations. In my study, I examined the alignment of faculty member information literacy expectations and student information literacy practices, focusing on freshman students and faculty members who teach freshman students …

Hybrid Agile Approach: Efficiently Blending Traditional And Agile Methodologies, Rashmi Wankhede

Dissertations and Theses

Agile development, in its simplest form, offers a lightweight framework for helping teams, given a constantly evolving functional and technical landscape, maintain a focus on the rapid delivery of business value. Traditional project management focuses more on distinct and predefined sequential phases. It assumes that once requirements are fixed there won’t be any changes or additions in future. In today’s world however this is not true and development teams have to incorporate changes at later stages to be competitive. This is where agile methodologies have an edge over traditional methods. Agile can handle more complex and highly adaptable projects. However, …

Perceptions Of Hmong Parents In A Hmong American Charter School: A Qualitative Descriptive Case Study On Hmong Parent Involvement, Kirk T. Lee

Dissertations and Theses

Parental involvement plays an essential role in the United States (U.S.) educational system. However, parental involvement poses many challenges for Hmong parents in American schools. Many assumptions are made on the parts of teachers, staff, and Hmong parents about parents' roles pertaining to their involvement in their children's education. Hmong parents struggle to reconcile beliefs, attitudes, and values that they bring with them from Laos with the expectations found in the U.S. due to their unfamiliarity with the U.S. educational system.

This study employed the used a qualitative, descriptive case study approach to examine the perceptions of Hmong parents involvement …

Teacher Mindfulness In The Middle School Classroom: Reliability And Validity Of A New Scale, Nicolette Paige Rickert

Dissertations and Theses

Despite significant growth in research examining the effects of mindfulness interventions on teachers (Roeser, 2014), studies have mainly relied on self-reports of teacher mindfulness and have not examined observable behavioral manifestations of teacher mindfulness in the classroom. Due to possible biases in self-report measures (Dotterer & Lowe, 2011), as well as the need for a greater range of assessments of the effects of mindfulness trainings on teachers, the current study sought to create a new measure of teacher mindfulness in the classroom from three sources of information: teacher self-reports of their own behavior in the classroom, student perceptions of their …

Japanese Dialect Ideology From Meiji To The Present, Nao Okumura

Dissertations and Theses

The intent of this study is to examine the trajectory of ideology regarding standard Japanese and dialects from the historical perspective, and also to discuss the cause of the post-war shift of the ideology. Before the war, the government attempted to disseminate hyojun-go aiming at creating a unified Japan in the time when many countries were developing to be nation states after industrial revolution. After the Pacific war, the less strict-sounding term kyotsu-go was more often used, conveying an ideology of democratization. Yet despite the difference in the terms, speaking a common language continues to play a role of unifying …

Bridging The Worlds Of Home And School: A Study Of The Relational Worlds Of First-Generation Students In A School Of Social Work, Miranda Cunningham

Dissertations and Theses

Much scholarship on first-generation students has focused on their academic and social integration in college (Collier & Morgan, 2008; Lowery-Hart & Pacheco, 2011; Stuber, 2011). Little is known about the experiences of first-generation students in schools of social work. In this research I've expanded the focus beyond students' experiences of academic integration to explore how first-generation students in a school of social work describe their relational worlds and the implications for professional socialization.

Informed by Standpoint Feminism and Postmodern/Post structural Feminism, I conducted focus groups with 19 students in two undergraduate programs and one graduate program in a school of …

The Mediating Effects Of Lmx On The Relationship Between Supervisor And Employee Age Differences, Satisfaction, And Retirement Intentions, Amy Christine Pytlovany

Dissertations and Theses

Increasing age heterogeneity within organizations is pressing researchers to better understand the effects of a multigenerational workforce, teams, and dyads. In response to this, the present research aimed to investigate the effect of employee and supervisor age (in)congruence in relation to job and life satisfaction, as well as retirement intentions, all mediated by leader-member exchange (LMX), using a time-lagged design. Two different theoretical foundations were investigated. Based on the relational demography literature, better outcomes were expected to be associated with age similarity. Theories about implicit expectations relating age and social role guided hypotheses suggesting that beyond just similarity or difference, …

Demography And The Evolution Of Logistic Organization On The Northern Northwest Coast Between 11,000 And 5,000 Cal Bp, Thomas Jay Brown

Dissertations and Theses

Focusing on the relationship between demography and sedentary behavior, this thesis explores changes to mobility strategies on the Northern Northwest Coast of North America between 11,000 and 5,000 cal BP. Drawing on a regional database of radiocarbon dates, it uses summed probability distributions (SPDs) of calibrated dates as a proxy for population change, in combination with syntheses of previously published technological, paleo environmental and settlement pattern data to test three hypotheses derived from the literature about the development of logistic mobility among maritime hunter-gatherers on the Northern Coast.

In all, each of the hypotheses proposes that early peoples on the …

Household Water Filter Use Characterization In Rural Rwanda: Signal Interpretation, Development And Validation, Sarita Lucia Tellez Sanchez

Dissertations and Theses

Access to safe drinking water is an important health factor in many developing countries. Studies have shown that unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation practices leads to diarrheal disease, which is one of the leading causes of death of children under five in developing countries. Provision and proper use of household water filters have been shown to effectively improve health.

This thesis is focused on the refinement and validation of algorithms for data collected from pressure transducer sensors that are used in household water filters (the Vestergaard Frandsen LifeStraw Family 2.0) deployed in Rwanda by the social enterprise DelAgua Health. …

Social Support And Depression Symptomatology Post Injury In Division 1 Athletes, Alyssa Catherine Tiedens

Dissertations and Theses

The way in which an athlete responds to the injury--emotionally, behaviorally, and cognitively--can significantly affect the athlete's mental health in a negative way if not handled appropriately. There are different forms of social support that are known to be helpful with coping during specific stages of injury. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between perceived levels of social support and depression symptomatology post injury in Division 1 collegiate athletes at Portland State University (PSU).

Participants were PSU student athletes (n=115). Variables: social support amount (SSQN), social support satisfaction (SSQS), and depression symptomatology (CESD-R) score. Selected injured …

Inequality, Position, And Perception: Understanding And Addressing Workplace Harassment In Oregon's Construction Trades, Sasha Mae Bassett

Dissertations and Theses

Does our status impact the way we interpret change? This study proposes that one's level of power within their workplace, as granted by their role within the organization, shapes the way in which people interpret adjustments to the norms of that organization. Drawing on qualitative focus groups with forty-four members of Oregon's construction trades, this study examines the relationship between participants' position within the industry's structure and their opinions about the changing job site norms brought on by recent waves of diversification in the workforce. Findings suggest that within Oregon's construction trades, hierarchical distribution of power via industry position serves …

Bee Cause: Is Legislative Action Protecting Bees From Neonicotinoids Justified?, Ursula A. Squire

Dissertations and Theses

The potential harm caused to bees and other pollinators by the widespread use of neonicotinoids has the capacity to pose a real and immediate threat to both the environment and humans. The benefits that bees and other pollinators provide, combined with the potential of harm they may face, are important enough to warrant a more comprehensive testing apparatus by which to evaluate threats to their population. Environmentally, bees and other pollinators are an important piece of ecosystemic balance--from pest management to pollination of plants that are a part of many species' diet. Anthropologically speaking, the way of life humans have …

An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis Of Long-Term Mentoring Relationships From The Youth Perspective, Kevin Richard Jones

Dissertations and Theses

When mentoring programs are well-designed and well-implemented, young people can experience positive gains in a number of social, emotional, behavioral, and educational areas. While some of the processes underlying mentoring relationships have been explored, the voices and perspectives of participants themselves have thus far been largely excluded from the mentoring literature. The lack of participant voice in mentoring research suggests that an important source of empirical and interpretive information is unavailable to the field in the process of designing, implementing, and researching mentoring programs. This study used interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) to explore how youth participants in the Friends of …

Watershed Management And Private Lands: Moving Beyond Financial Incentives To Encourage Land Stewardship, Matthew Thomas Deangelo

Dissertations and Theses

Public water utilities are tasked with providing high quality, inexpensive water often sourced from watersheds representing a diverse mix of public and private land ownership. There is increasing recognition amongst water resource managers of the role that private landowners play in determining downstream water quality, but bringing together landowners with a wide variety of land management objectives under the umbrella of watershed stewardship has proven difficult. Recently, a large number of "Payment for Watershed Services" programs have aimed to engage private landowners in watershed stewardship initiatives by offering financial incentives for adopting watershed best management practices. However, a growing field …

Assessment Of A Mycorrhizal Fungi Application To Treat Stormwater In An Urban Bioswale, Alaina Diane Melville

Dissertations and Theses

This study assessed the effect of an application of mycorrhizal fungi to stormwater filter media on urban bioswale soil and stormwater in an infiltration-based bioswale aged 20 years with established vegetation. The study tested the use of commercially available general purpose biotic soil blend PermaMatrix^® BSP Foundation as a treatment to enhance Earthlite^™ stormwater filter media amelioration of zinc, copper, and phosphorus in an ecologically engineered structure designed to collect and infiltrate urban stormwater runoff before it entered the nearby Willamette River.

These results show that the application of PermaMatrix^® BSP Foundation biotic soil amendment to Earthlite …

(Re)Presenting Peoples And Storied Lands: Public Presentation Of Archaeology And Representation Of Native Americans In Selected Western U.S. Protected Areas, Cerinda Survant

Dissertations and Theses

Every year, hundreds of thousands of people visit the Native American ancestral lands in the western United States developed for tourism and recreation. The stewards of these lands seek to engage visitors and enrich their experience, and simultaneously to protect the lands' natural and cultural resources. To achieve their mission, protected areas regularly use interpretation -- materials and experiences that aim to educate visitors about resources and see them as personally meaningful. However, there is little literature on interpretive content in protected areas, few qualitative studies of interpretation as constructed by visitors and interpreters, and little literature on the representation …

Transgender Patients' Experiences Of Discrimination At Mental Health Clinics, Corrine Ann Stocking

Dissertations and Theses

The transgender population is makes up about 0.3% of the U.S. population (Gates 2011). The term transgender is both an identity and an umbrella term used to describe people who do not adhere to traditional gender norms (Institute of Medicine 2011). Transgender people experience many barriers to services, negative health outcomes, and discrimination (Fredrikson-Goldsen et al. 2013; Institute of Medicine 2011; Eliason et al. 2009; Hendricks & Testa 2012). Mental health clinics are an important site for understanding transgender peoples' experiences due to being a gatekeeper for other medical services and their role in helping transpeople with issues surrounding coming …

Examining Generational And Gender Differences In Parent-Young Adult Child Relationships During Co-Residence, Lauren Elizabeth Ferguson

Dissertations and Theses

Young adults of the twenty-first century face a long path to adulthood marked by uncertainty and lack of stability. In response, young adults are heading back to or failing to leave their family homes in higher numbers than generations before (Jacobsen and Mather 2011; Qian 2012). These macro-level trends bring about questions about their impact on family relationships as well as how these relationships have evolved over time. My thesis investigates parent-child relationships during co-residence with a specific focus on generation and gender differences. Through secondary data analysis of the National Survey of Families and Households, I explore how parent-child …

Does The School Day Matter? The Association Between Adolescent School Attachment And Involvement And Adult Criminal Behavior, Madeline O'Neil

Dissertations and Theses

Research with adolescence demonstrates school involvement and attachment greatly influences students' outcomes and choices outside of their school environment. Many studies have addressed whether delinquent behavior while in adolescence is associated with various aspects of schooling, but there is limited research looking at the long-term effects schooling has on criminal behavior in adulthood. The purpose of this study was to assess whether students' attachment to their school or involvement in extracurricular activities at school shapes students' outcomes in adulthood--specifically their criminality and likelihood of being arrested. In addition, this study took on a gendered relationship, examining how gender moderates the …

Identity Construction And Language Use By Immigrant Women In A Microenterprise Development Program, Linda Eve Bonder

Dissertations and Theses

Researchers have explored immigrant identity in various contexts, but few studies have examined identity in low-income immigrant women entrepreneurs. To address this research gap, I conducted in-depth interviews with eight low-income Latino immigrants who were starting their own businesses and receiving support through a local microenterprise development program (MDP). The study explored how participants' microenterprise efforts affected their identities and their investments in learning English.

The research found that entrepreneurship promoted positive identity construction by providing opportunities for participants to develop personal and cultural pride, strengthened parental roles, and interdependence with the community. These benefits helped participants decrease family stress …

On Both Sides Of The Tracks: Light Rail And Gentrification In Portland, Oregon, Nathan Eric Rochester

Dissertations and Theses

This study draws on census data and geographic information systems (GIS) to investigate the relationship between light rail transit (LRT) infrastructure development and gentrification in Portland, Oregon. While recent research using comprehensive measures of neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) supports a potentially causal link between transit development and gentrification, research into the effects of transit on property values alone tends to dominate the discourse. This study therefore seeks to build on previous research to develop an index measure of neighborhood SES and SES change based on measures of education, occupation, and income, using census data from 1980-2010. This multifaceted measure of …

Factors Driving The Concentration Of Ephemeral Flow, Gretchen Anne Guyer

Dissertations and Theses

In spite of decades of related research, stream channel initiation is still not well understood. Current theories of channel initiation are grounded in research conducted by Montgomery and Dietrich, largely in the transport limited, temperate, humid climate of the Pacific Northwest, USA. This field data driven work concluded that the drainage area required for channel initiation is directly correlated to the slope of the contributing area. However, there are a host of related variables that have yet to be examined in the field. This study revisits the slope-area relationship focusing on ephemeral overland flow in headwaters of both the Pacific …

The Importance Of Online Peer Relationships During The Transition To Motherhood: Do They Decrease Stress, Alleviate Depression And Increase Parenting Competence?, Bobbie Sue Arias

Dissertations and Theses

This research addressed the challenges faced by women in today's society during the transition to motherhood, and explored the possible benefits of an online natural helping network of blogging peers. Given the content of the literature describing the transition to motherhood and the many hardships that pose possible obstacles for an ideal transition, this research attempted to uncover the reasons why mothers blog and what benefit, if any, they experience as a result of blogging. This study explored the following questions: Why do women blog during the transition to motherhood? What is the relationship among the seven identified variables: blogging …

Social Capital And Cultural Identity For U.S. Korean Immigrant Families: Mothers' And Children's Perceptions Of Korean Language Retention, Su-Jin Sue Jung

Dissertations and Theses

Through increasing immigration, the U.S. society is becoming more linguistically and culturally diverse. Yet, as many U.S. language minority groups seek to assimilate, they face many challenges. One challenge is that their home language does not match the dominant language, English, that their children are learning at school. For Korean communities, maintaining Korean language presents a problem for families, especially for the mothers and children. The purpose of this study was to explore the U.S. Korean immigrant mothers' and children's perceptions of and experience with maintaining the Korean language and the effect that has on the development of social capital …

The "Adam Cube" : Categorizing Portland, Oregon's Urbanization Using Gis And Spatial Statistics, Jeremy Grotbo

Dissertations and Theses

Transportation availability and land use intensity demonstrate a strong relationship, with intense development concentrated near significant transportation investment. Transportation networks evolved in response to emergent transportation technologies and changing urban land uses. The irregular distribution of transportation systems reinforced patterns of land use development, shaping urban form. Understanding the relationships between transportation and the intensity of land uses allows urban geographers and city planners to explain the urbanization processes, as well as to identify areas historically susceptible to future development. The goal of this research is to develop a quantitative framework for the analysis of the development of urban form …

The Development And Validation Of The Social Recovery Measure, Casadi "Khaki" Marino

Dissertations and Theses

Mental health recovery is a complex phenomenon involving clinical, functional, physical, and social dimensions. The social dimension is understood to involve meaningful relationships and integration with supportive individuals and a wider community. While the recovery model developed from a movement led by consumers and survivors of the mental health system to promote hope, self-determination, and social inclusion, the clinical aspects of recovery have dominated mental health research and practice. The under-investigated area of social recovery calls for psychometrically sound measurement instruments. The purpose of the current study was to develop and validate the Social Recovery Measure (SRM). The study was …

The Use Of Anti-Bullying Policies To Protect Lgbt Youth: Teacher And Administrator Perspectives On Policy Implementation, Michelle Lauren Holliday

Dissertations and Theses

Although in recent years there has been increased attention on bullying prevention and bullying legislation in the United States, there is limited research on the implementation of anti-bullying policies. Moreover, few studies have addressed the use of anti-bullying policies to protect LGBT youth from bullying. The present study seeks to examine the role of anti-bullying policies as a means to protect against bullying based on perceived sexual orientation and gender identity. Qualitative interviews with high school teachers, administrators, and staff members within an urban school district in the United States were conducted to gain insight into how those charged with …

Sablefish (Anoplopoma Fimbria) Scarcity And Zooarchaeological Data Quality In Northwest Coast Archaeological Sites, Reno Nims

Dissertations and Theses

Sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria) is a scarcely represented species in Northwest Coast archaeology, but its remains are abundant at Tse-whit-zen, a large, Lower Elwha Klallam village in modern Port Angeles, WA that was occupied over the past 2,800 years. Because sablefish flesh has high nutritional value and it can be easily captured from nearshore waters in its juvenile form, sablefish should have been pursued where it was available. Therefore, the scarcity of sablefish in many Northwest Coast archaeological sites could indicate this species was not abundant in past fisheries. However, current zooarchaeological reports do not contain sufficient information on …

A Relevance Rule Organizing Responsive Behavior During Projectably Multi-Unit Tellings, Anri Zama

Dissertations and Theses

Research on projectably multi-unit tellings (e.g., stories) has largely focused on their contexts of emergence, beginnings, endings, and uptakes (or lack thereof), rather than on their ‘middles.’ The relatively small literature on such ‘middles’ has focused on different types of responsive behaviors when they do occur (e.g., continuers). However, there is virtually no research on relevance rules that might systematically organize these ‘middles,’ including the production of responsive behaviors (or lack thereof) and the management of intersubjectivity. This thesis describes and defends one such relevance rule: Advisors are strongly accountable for responding – either vocally and/or nonvocally – at each …

Intrastate Armed Conflict And Peacebuilding In Nepal: An Assessment Of The Political And Economic Agency Of Women, Gyanu Gautam Luintel

Dissertations and Theses

The proliferation of intrastate armed conflicts has been one of the significant threats to global peace, security, and governance. Such conflicts may trigger resource exploitation, environmental degradation, human rights violations, human and drug trafficking, and terrorism. Women may suffer disproportionately from armed conflicts due to their unequal social status. While they endure the same effects of the conflict as the rest of the population, they also become targets of gender-based violence. However, women can also be active agents of armed conflict and perpetrate violence. Therefore, political and scientific communities at the national and international levels are now increasingly interested in …