Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Philosophia Soteria: How Occupational Safety And Health Professionals Influence Decision Makers, Daniel Jay Snyder

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify ideas about how occupational safety and health (OSH) professionals influence decision-makers on matters impacting occupational health and safety management systems. A modified nominal group technique was used that involved 67 participants in ten nominal groups and identified the most important ideas about how OSH professionals can influence workplace safety and health decision making. The research produced themes of communication, scientific, professionalism, leadership, adaptability, and business acumen that resulted in six domains of occupational safety and health professional influence.

Periodicals In Transition: Politics And Style In Victorian Higher Journalism, David Blaine Walker

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Covering a period roughly from the mid-1820s through the early-1880s, this dissertation investigates transformations in the style and substance of political discourse practiced in British organs of “higher journalism.” Animating certain key moments and figures along the way, it explains the shift from a periodical market dominated by the anonymous, lengthy treatises found in quarterly reviews like the Edinburgh Review (f. 1802) and its rivals, to an industry dominated by monthly reviews that generally eschewed both the anonymity of its contributors as well as the prohibitive length of its predecessors. In exploring this transition from the “Age of the Quarterlies” …

Consumer Perceptions Of Labeling Claims On Poultry Products, Sarah Townley

Agricultural Education, Communications and Technology Undergraduate Honors Theses

An increasing number of consumers wants more knowledge of how the food they eat is produced, and specifically, how animals used in the production of their food are raised. One method consumers use to become more aware of production practices behind the food they purchase and consume is simply reading food labels. Labeling claims can be defined as textual, pictorial, graphic, or symbolic representation that either explicitly states or implies that a food product has a specific set of properties supported by a certification process. The purpose of this study is to gather data regarding consumer knowledge and understanding of …

Communicating For Equality: How Inclusive Communication Affects Political Participation Within Local Communities, Kyle Chandler Worley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study will examine the relationship among inclusive communication, sense of community belonging, and political participation within local communities. Communication from organizations such as local advocacy and local, mainstream media that contains content acknowledging relevant topics for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community members. I explore ways that Communication Infrastructure Theory (CIT) can be applied to organizational inclusive communication’s influence on community marginalized members’ sense of community belonging and political participation. CIT has been applied to the study of racial and economic minority communities in past research in the past, but this study applies CIT to the study of …

Deception From Parents To Romantic Partners, Xiaoti Fan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Deception plays an important role in every type of relationship, particularly for the two most intimate relationships: parent-child and romantic. People usually learn behaviors and communication strategies from their parents and enforce or adjust them in other types of relationships based on various personal as well as social influences. The purpose of this study is to examine the strategies and motives young adults use with their parents and romantic partners when they convey deceptive messages, and explore how people apply patterns of deception from their parent-child relationships to their romantic relationships. In this study, two aspects of deceptive behavior are …

“There Goes That Relationship”: Journalistic Aggression And Political Equivocation In Joint Press Conferences, Nichole Anne Russell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study evaluates the relationship between the press and political leaders during joint press conferences. Aggressive journalistic questioning in press conferences has increased over time (Clayman & Heritage, 2002; Clayman, Elliott, Heritage, & McDonald, 2004; Clayman, Elliott, Heritage, & McDonald, 2007), but recent scholarships shows that journalists present less aggressive questions when a foreign head of state is present (Banning & Billingsley, 2007). Joint press conferences hosted in the United States by President Donald Trump between Prime Minister Theresa May of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, and Chancellor Angela Merkel …

Theatrical Genre Prediction Using Social Network Metrics, Manisha Shukla

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With the emergence of digitization, large text corpora are now available online that provide humanities scholars an opportunity to perform literary analysis leveraging the use of computational techniques. This work is focused on applying network theory concepts in the field of literature to explore correlations between the mathematical properties of the social networks of plays and the plays’ dramatic genre, specifically how well social network metrics can identify genre without taking vocabulary into consideration. Almost no work has been done to study the ability of mathematical properties of network graphs to predict literary features. We generated character interaction networks of …

Essays On Performance Implications Of Social Media For Established And Nascent Firms, Alireza Golmohammadi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The possibility of large-scale communication with stakeholders brought about by social media has made these new channels of communication an important arena for spending marketing budgets. Despite the increasing share of social media in firms’ marketing budget, there is significant heterogeneity in firms’ social media communication practices even within the same venue and among firms from the same industry. As such, there is need for more research on how firms can leverage social media to achieve better performance. In order to address this broad question, two essays have been designed and executed.

The first essay utilizes integrated marketing communication as …

In The Groove: A Documentary About Vinyl, Jared Endsley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this thesis project, ‘In the Groove’ is to tell the story of why vinyl records, a music format written off as a casualty to the digital age is experiencing a cultural resurgence. In the last several years vinyl records have been the only musical format to record positive sales growth.

For many musicians today, pressing their music to vinyl records yields the greatest return on investment. However, vinyl remains a niche market, supported by a devoted fan base.

This film focuses on a group of artists and vinyl enthusiasts as they navigate this new marketplace.

Establishing Influence And Authority In Ancient Civilizations And Modern Politics: The Rhetoric Of Oracles And The Oracular Maneuvers Of Political Action Committees, Michel C. Lacrue

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While most animals communicate in order to convey environmental information such as danger or where food is located, humans have evolved and developed an articulated language for a myriad of uses, and our language is the basis for how we shape and maintain reality. Language can be used to teach, express an attitude or affiliation to a group, and give us a sense of our state of being, but it can also be used to manipulate a narrative in order to gain power over others. This project argues that Political Action Committees (PACs), and the language that they use in …

Assessing A Peer Mentor Program In An Honors College Of Agriculture, Isabel Whitehead

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to assess mentees’ experiences in a peer mentor program in an honors college of agriculture and to determine which factors impact mentees’ ability to relate to their peer mentor based on the theory of homophily and interpersonal attraction. Colleges of agriculture are encouraged to examine which determinants impact students’ decisions to enter agri-science programs, what draws students to postsecondary agricultural programs, and to try recruiting underserved individuals into higher education to fulfill open employment opportunities for diverse, skilled, and globally competent individuals (Goeker, et al., 2015; Stripling & Ricketts, 2017). Peer mentoring is often …

Check Six: The Duke Cunningham Story, Ninette Del Rosario Sosa

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This short documentary film is about one man’s ascent, descent and redemption for making an extremely poor personal decision that has impacted his entire adult life. Randall “Duke” Cunningham, 76, is a former U.S. Republican Congressman from California who was sentenced in 2005 to more than eight years in prison for accepting bribes totaling $2.4 million and tax evasion. He was released from an Arizona prison in 2013 and moved to Hot Springs Village, Arkansas because he had a brother and sister-in-law who lived there and they could assist him in getting settled. He said the area was quiet and …

Agricultural Information Needs And Food Access In The Stann Creek District Of Belize, Sam Harris

Agricultural Education, Communications and Technology Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this study was to describe agricultural information sources available to farmers and to describe food access and availability for the people of Dangriga, Stann Creek, Belize. This study used descriptive survey research methods with convenience sampling of the general public (n=22) and of farmers (n = 38) in the summer of 2017. Farmers use a variety of agricultural information sources with the extension service cited most often, followed by friends and fellow farmers. Weather, lack of information, pests, and inadequate access to capital were of primary concern for farmers. Face to face meetings were …

The Myth Of Southern Atonement: Constructed Forgiveness In Public Spaces, Elizabeth Ashley Clayborn

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis provides a rhetorical analysis of public space in Arkansas and examines the ways in which the myth of Southern Atonement is constructed within those spaces. Three formal elements characterize Southern Atonement: absolution from the past, distinctiveness in constructed authenticity, and hope for a post-racial future. The analysis develops over three case studies which I argue contribute to the construction, engagement, and actualization of this cultural myth. The first chapter looks at Fort Smith, Arkansas, and The Unexpected art project as a source of identity construction and place attachment. Then I examine The Billgrimage, or the monuments and museums …

A Focus On The Us Narrative: Does The New York Times Portrayal Of Women Living With Hiv And Aids In Southern Africa Perpetuate Hiv/Aids Stigma?, Boitshepo Monte Balozwi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aim of the study was to determine the dominant and recurring frames influencing the narrative and media portrayal of women living with HIV and AIDS in Southern Africa, a region characterized by a low socio-economic status and the highest HIV and AIDS infection rates globally. The study analyzed 238 stories published in The New York Times from 1985 to 2017. Findings of the study show that news reports frequently associate sex workers and pregnant women to coverage on HIV and AIDS therefore stigmatizing them as vectors of the disease. The newspaper stories provided adequate socioeconomic context resulting in African …

Applause, Laughter, Chants, And Cheers: An Analysis Of The Rhetorical Skill Of The “Great Communicator”, Reagan Gresham Dye

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study takes a content analytic approach to analyze the use of rhetorical devices in televised Republican National Convention (RNC) addresses by former U.S. President Ronald Reagan. By measuring rhetorical strategies and their relationship with the type, strength, synchrony, and duration of audience responses during the 1976, 1980, 1984, and 1992 RNCs, this study finds that Reagan had the ability to control speech factors to his advantage to promote positive audience response. This study finds that Reagan was adept at utilizing humor, external attacks, and advocating for his policy agenda in a way that elicited positive audience responses such as …

A Mental Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words: The Dangers Of International Reporting For Journalists, Lydia Fielder

Journalism Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study assesses the impact of international reporting on journalists’ physical and mental health. Previous research focuses almost exclusively on the quantitative prevalence of mental health issues in professional journalists. This study advances understanding of qualitative effects of international reporting.

The project is motivated by three research questions: (1) What are the impacts on journalists while abroad? (2) How is daily life back home affected after journalistic work abroad? (3) What resources are available to journalists who are suffering from mental health impacts? To examine these questions, the research culminates in a three-part documentary film.

Using in-depth interviews with a …

Seeking Representations Of Afrocentric Beauty: A Comparative Content Analysis Of Advertisements In Essence Magazine, Roy Phillips Jr.

Journalism Undergraduate Honors Theses

This comparative content analysis will investigate how African American women are depicted in Essence magazine advertisements and seeks to answer the research question: Are the characteristics of advertisements in Essence magazines significantly different when under complete corporate ownership compared to being under primarily African American ownership? The specific goal is to examine the extent to which Afrocentric or Eurocentric depictions are being reinforced, if at all, and to observe if depictions of African American women are shifting or are immobile. To do this, the study will compare advertisements in Essence magazines in 2001, when the magazine was 51 percent Black-owned, …

The Challenge Of Anonymous And Ephemeral Social Media: Reflective Research Methodologies & Student-User Composing Practices, Sara Elyse West

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project seeks to provide a framework for navigating anonymous and ephemeral research spaces to theorize student-user composing practices on these social media platforms. This project reflects on and builds from the difficulties that arose during a previous project for which I collected data from a space that was both ephemeral and anonymous. That experience led me to the questions of use and research methods that I consider in this project, wherein I rely on critical reflective research practices to provide an effective methodology for examining the type of data in question. In this work, I consider how past and …

How College Campuses Are Using Social Media During Severe Weather Events, Emmale Davis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explores how college campuses are using social media during severe weather events. This topic surfaced after a tornado devastated Moore, Oklahoma in May 2013 and those displaced flocked to the University of Oklahoma campus after a post made on Twitter went viral prior to an official message being sent out by the university. In order to further explore this topic, a qualitative phenomenological case study was conducted at the following sites: University of Alabama, Missouri Southern State University, University of Oklahoma, and Florida State University. This study included observations of social media posts on Facebook and Twitter on …