Digital Commons Network^™

Reliability And Validity Practices In Randomized Controlled Trials: Current Trends And Recommendations, Jennifer A. Z. Romano

Theses and Dissertations

The verity of conclusions drawn from psychological research hinges on the reliability and validity of the measures used to collect the data. Any research conducted using measures with low reliability or validity is rendered essentially useless; thus, reporting reliability and validity evidence for measures employed in research is an essential component in creating rigorous, replicable research. Multiple reporting standards have been implemented and revised over the years with the intent to improve measurement and reporting practices within clinical psychology, though few guidelines have been suggested regarding adequate reporting practices for studies' measures. We reviewed a representative sample of randomized clinical …

Do Shape And Volume Of Subcortical Neural Structures Involved In Reward Processing Correlate With Body Mass And Food Reward In Adolescent Females?, Kelsey K. Zaugg

Theses and Dissertations

Background: The prevalence of adolescent obesity has increased drastically in the last few decades, spurring research examining causes and consequences of this chronic health condition. Neuroimaging techniques are being used to determine possible neural correlates of obesity that could help inform research in this field. However, the research among adolescents is not as abundant and findings so far are contradictory. This study sought to examine the association of the shape and volume of subcortical brain structures involved in reward processing with weight status in adolescent females. Additionally, this study sought to determine if the shape and volume of these structures …

Development Of A 3d Computational Vocal Fold Model Optimization Tool, Austin C. Vaterlaus

Theses and Dissertations

One of the primary objectives of voice research is to better understand the biomechanics of voice production and how changes in properties of the vocal folds (VFs) affect voice ability and quality. Synthetic VF models provide a way to observe how changes in geometry and material property affect voice biomechanics. This thesis seeks to evaluate an approach of using a genetic algorithm to design synthetic VF models in three ways: first, through the development of a computationally cost-effective 3D vocal fold model; second, by creating and optimizing a variation of this model; and third, by validating the approach. To reduce …

Gender Vs. Sex: Defining Meaning In A Modern World Through Use Of Corpora And Semantic Surveys, Mary Elizabeth Garceau

Theses and Dissertations

Considerable resources in U.S. legal studies are devoted to determining the precise meaning of contested terms specifically in statutory interpretation. Traditional judicial approaches have defined meaning using dictionaries. This reliance has led to Mouritsen’s (2010) observation that "the judicial conception of lexical meaning—i.e., what judges think about what words mean … is often [subjectively] outcome determinative." Beginning with Mouritsen’s (2010) article, a movement in U.S. legal scholarship offers corpus linguistics as a more objective method to resolving contested meaning (Lee and Mouritsen, 2018). However, I assert that weaknesses still exist in contemporary applications of corpus linguistics to legal interpretation. I …

Adolescent Depressive Symptomology: Do Siblings Hurt Or Help?, Jared D. Thorpe

Theses and Dissertations

Adolescents in the United States are currently experiencing a mental health crisis. While evidence shows that parents play an important role in shaping the mental health of youth, little has been done to understand how siblings may contribute to the psychological well-being of adolescents. I examine this association through the lenses of social capital and resource dilution perspectives. Social capital theory suggests that siblings may act as an additional source of resources, such as social support, which promote positive mental health. In contrast, resource dilution theory posits that the presence of siblings decreases the availability of parental resource in a …

Understanding The Administrative Role Fo School Psychology District Leaders, Alivia Nicole Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Very few articles in the published research literature have considered the clinical supervision of school psychology and even fewer articles explore the administrative supervision of school psychologists. The purpose of this study is to describe the roles, and responsibilities, and challenges faced by district leaders who supervise school psychologists. Using a purposeful sample, participants met criteria for this study if they worked at the district level, supervised at least three school psychologists, and were responsible for hiring and firing school psychologists. Nineteen participants qualified for this study and completed a phone interview that included eight open-ended questions. Participants shared that …

Considerations Of Implementing Student-Directed Teacher-Supported Strategies In A Public Middle School Setting, Kaleb Joseph Ostraff

Theses and Dissertations

In an attempt to help middle school art students to be more engaged and have more ownership over their learning experience, the researcher, who is also the classroom teacher, created and implemented student-directed and teacher-supported strategies. Using a design-based research methodology, the author conducted a qualitative study over a twelve-week period investigating the affordances or limitations of implementing more student-directed strategies. The results showed three categories of student responses. The students that were ready and capable to direct their own learning excelled, guiding their own learning, and were able to generate personally relevant and disciplinary connected art. The second category …

Retaining School Psychologists: The Role Of District Level Administrative Supervisors, Rachel Ruth Butler

Theses and Dissertations

The school psychologist shortage has been a persistent problem in education, and there is a lack of research on what current administrative supervisors are doing to address shortages. This study examined the perceptions of district leaders regarding the recruitment and retention of school psychologists. Participants included 19 administrative supervisors in public school districts in Colorado (CO), Utah (UT), Nevada (NV), and Wyoming (WY). Data for this qualitative study were collected by conducting semi-structured interviews with administrative supervisors of school psychologists. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed for common themes. A total of 10 themes were identified, and the first theme reflected …

Evidentiality, Epistemic Modality And Mirativity: The Case Of Cantonese Utterance Particles Ge3, Laak3, And Lo1, Ka Fai Law

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines a set of three utterance particles—ge3, laak3, and lo1—in Hong Kong Cantonese in terms of evidentiality, epistemic modality, and mirativity. Cantonese utterance particles have long been studied; however, close investigation of evidentiality and mirativity on a small set of particles is relatively rare. Previous accounts claim that ge3 and laak3 convey certainty. On the other hand, linguists also claim that the use of the utterance particle lo1 assumes a high level of knowledge from a hearer. This thesis has two main purposes: to untangle the differences between the utterance particles ge3 and laak3 in terms of epistemic …

Creating A Long-Term Relationship Between A Museum And Its Patrons: Examining Social Media As Opr Tool, Kylie M. Brooks

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative research study comprised of six case studies explores museums’ practical usage of social media as an organization public relations tool. Analyzing six different museums using both surveys and interviews, this research provides a strategic, theory-based framework for any organization to utilize social media effectively by increasing public trust and engagement. Understanding the role that social media plays within organizational public relations is crucial for both for-profit and non-profit organizations. Because nonprofit organizations are often operating under time, personnel, and financial constraints, the accessibility and zero-cost of social media are hugely advantageous tools for non-profits organizations. However, without a …

"The World Without A Self": Non-Being And Ontological Leveling In Virginia Woolf's The Waves, Morgan Ashley Lewis

Theses and Dissertations

Virginia Woolf is perhaps best known for her explorations and depictions of human consciousness. However, more contemporary science reveals that consciousness is only a small part of what constitutes our brain function. Rather, there are a dual functions within the human brain: consciousness and cognition. This nonconscious cognition is what allows us to see patterns, to make judgements, and to act reflexively, while consciousness is the function that shapes our individual identity and the story we tell about ourselves. Though previous studies have focused primarily on Woolf's representations of consciousness in her short stories and novels, there is much left …

Psychometric Properties Of The Spanish Version Of The Treatment Support Measure (Tsm-Sp), Corinne Elizabeth Ruth

Theses and Dissertations

Hispanic youth and families, although they comprise a sizeable portion of the population, are underrepresented in mental health settings within the United States and face significant barriers to receiving adequate treatment. Specifically, the lack of availability of Spanish assessment tools for application in treatment prohibits Hispanic clients from accessing the full extent of available therapeutic resources. The Treatment Support Measure (TSM) is a valid and reliable instrument that allows clinicians and researchers to collect information to better understand change processes and relevant client characteristics in therapy. The present study created a Spanish-translated version of the parent and youth TSM (TSM-SP) …

Therapist Effects On Dropout In Couple Therapy, Kwin L. Willis

Theses and Dissertations

Despite the strong efficacy of couple therapy, many couples still do not benefit from treatment. Marriage and family therapy scholars have argued that therapists play a crucial role in the delivery of successful couple therapy, yet little research has documented that the therapist in couple therapy has a significant impact on outcomes. Known as the study of therapist effects, this study sought to assess the amount of variance attributed to the therapist in couple therapy outcomes. Using dropout as the outcome variable, this study analyzed data from 1192 couples treated by 90 therapists at a university-based training clinic. Results from …

Dyslexia Beyond The Word: An Ecological Study Of Specific Reading Disorder, Benjamin T. Carter

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation discusses the effects of dyslexia on reading behavior and cognition. It does so by first outlining the overall incidence of dyslexia, providing current definitions, giving a history of scientific inquiry and discussing relevant contemporary research. Thirteen different analyses are then discussed (ten a priori and three post-hoc). Individuals with dyslexia were found to have increased fixation duration, first run dwell time, total dwell time, and refixation probability. The dyslexia group was also highly sensitive to lexical predictability. Within the reading network, the BOLD response was depressed in dyslexia during reading in the following regions: the left medial and …

Creating Identity In The Face Of The Other: A Levinian Reading Of Luis Vélez De Guevara's La Serrana De La Vera, Elizabeth Anne Jensen

Theses and Dissertations

Among the works of theater of the Spanish Golden Age which feature a mujer varonil, Luis Vélez de Guevara's play, La serrana de la Vera (1613), is particularly provocative. The intensity and ambiguity of the dual nature of its female protagonist, Gila, has been the subject of much recent scholarly investigation. The staging of the play lends itself to a Levinian reading, a new approach to this particular text and theater of the Golden Age in general. Emmanuel Levinas moves beyond metaphysics, phenomenology and intentionality to posit ethics as first philosophy. Levinas explains that the face of the Other is …

A Pedagogy Of Constraints: How Self-Imposed Limitations Influence Art-Making And Teaching, Emmalee Glauser Powell

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores how self-imposed limitations affect anxieties about art-making and the art-making process. As a teacher, I was interested in how limitations affected student art-making. I used arts-based research methodology to explore spiritual and personal quandaries in my own life through the process of art-making. A consistent thread throughout this investigation was using the process of making art as a way to gain understanding about my own life and teaching. I was also able to create a culture of vulnerability and honesty in my classroom and help my students embrace themselves and their physical, emotional, and situational limitations through …

Targeted Awareness: Promoting Niche Resources Using Confirmation Emails, Brian Rennick, Leticia Camacho, Andy Spackman

Faculty Publications

Purpose – This paper examines the effectiveness of a targeted email advertising method that informs university students about library resources relevant to their major.

Design/methodology/approach – Over the course of one semester, students with business and communications majors who reserved group study rooms received customized confirmation emails that included targeted advertisements for library databases. These advertisements invited students to click a link that led to a database related to a student's major. Near the end of the semester, students were invited to complete a short survey about the advertisements. Survey questions were designed to discover whether the advertisements were seen …

Connections In High School Writers: Affective Connections As A Writing Self-Efficacy Dimension, Sarah Kate Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

While scholars of writing self-efficacy (WSE) have long explored self-efficacy as multidimensional, not every crucial dimension of self-efficacy has been explored (Walker; Zumbrunn et al.; Bruning and Kauffman). Recently, scholars have called for new WSE dimensions so that scholars can better examine the contextual and relational factors of self-efficacy (Usher and Pajares 786). My thesis is one answer to this call. Using ideas from contemporary affect theory and data from an IRB-approved study on thirteen high school seniors in a language arts class, I theorize and explore a new dimension of WSE that I call affective connections. Affective connections are …

Jumping From Journalism -- Why Broadcast Journalists Leave The Field, Daniel Mark Woodruff

Theses and Dissertations

Journalism plays an important role in our society. But what happens when a journalist decides to pursue a new profession? The loss of a journalist from a newsroom can have a significant impact, particularly when that journalist takes with them institutional knowledge and a history of the market. This study uses qualitative interviews with 12 former broadcast journalists to investigate what factors cause them to leave the field and what the implications are for the industry. Relying on burnout theory as a framework, this study reveals three key reasons broadcast journalists decided to walk away. First, they faced increasing demands …

Microtransactions: Redefining Revenue In The Videogame Industry, Peter Christensen

Marriott Student Review

Microtransactions. Hated. Loved. Adored. The fundamental base of the video game industry, microtransactions have been the eye of the storm for video game controversy. In this article, author Peter Christensen analyzes the conflicting views, and proposes a solution forward.

What Are Stakeholders' Perceptions Of Rural School District Needs To Effectively Educate Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Kari Lyn Pugh

Theses and Dissertations

The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has continued to rise each year. This fact has significance in the area of education. The rise in prevalence of autism means an increase of students with autism in schools. Educators have the need to be prepared to provide an appropriate education for these students but may not have training or resources to be effective. Rural communities may have even more concerns about education for students with ASD due to geographic isolation and the lack of available educators in their area trained to support the specific needs of these students. To determine the …

Let The Men Go Home, Gwyn Yukon

Marriott Student Review

Americans have a growing concern for work-family balance, and for gender equity issues in the workplace. Today, gender roles are being challenged and men are encouraged to take more active role as fathers. However, many men refuse to take paternity leave or are stigmatized if they take time off. This article synthesizes current literature and findings on the benefits of paternity leave.

Do Workplace Characteristics Moderate The Effects Of Attitudes On Father Warmth And Engagement?, Erin Kramer Holmes, Richard J. Petts, Clare R. Thomas, Nathan L. Robbins, Tom Henry

Faculty Publications

Though many fathers want to be warmer, more nurturing, and more actively involved than prior generations (i.e., the new fatherhood ideal), they also embrace a father's traditional role as financial earner. Thus, we hypothesized that fathers' attitudes about their roles would likely interact with workplace characteristics to produce variations in father warmth and engagement. Using a national sample of 1,020 employed U.S. fathers with children ages 2–8 years old, results suggest that adherence to the new fatherhood idea was associated with less father warmth. Also consistent with prior research showing that family friendly work cultures may enable fathers to be …

Uniting And Dividing Influences Of Religion On Parent–Child Relationships In Highly Religious Families, Heather Howell Kelley, Loren D. Marks, David C. Dollahite

Faculty Publications

Religion can have both helpful and harmful influences on relationships. The purpose of this study is to better understand how religion can have both a unifying and a dividing influence on parent–child relationships. Through the use of interviews with 198 highly religious families (N = 476 individuals), we address some of the complexity inherent in religion and examine the influence of three dimensions of religious experience (religious practices, religious beliefs, and religious community). Findings are supported with primary qualitative data. For the highly religious parents and children in this study, 8 times as many unifying accounts of religion than …

Job Hunting 101 : Finding The Light Beyond Graduation, Michaela M. Tanne

Marriott Student Review

Graduation is an exciting time. What's the next step in life though after years of tests, papers, and the student life? This article contains tips and valuable advice for finding a job and moving on after graduation.

Make More, Work Less, Michael Sutton

Marriott Student Review

Although the status quo in the business world is to work long hours and supposedly produce more each workweek, studies show that working less and taking appropriately regulated breaks actually lead to more productivity in individuals and businesses as a whole. Specifically companies would be wise to implement a limit of 50 work hours per week, encourage frequent breaks (about 15 minute every hour), and encourage patterns of sufficient sleep. By reducing mental fatigue in your employees, their productivity will increase.

"Defensive Flippancy": Play, Disorientation, And Moral Action In Brian Friel's The Freedom Of The City, Hannah Brooke Azar

Theses and Dissertations

When Brian Friel’s play The Freedom of the City premiered in 1973, just a year after the events of Bloody Sunday, it was met with harsh criticism and called a work of propaganda. In the play, three peaceful protestors flee a civil rights demonstration turned violent and end up trapped inside the Guildhall in Derry, Northern Ireland. By the end of the play, they are shot dead. These three protestors, disoriented by violence as well as the aftereffects of life-long poverty, on the surface are not emblems of morality. However, this thesis employs Ami Harbin’s theorization of disorientation and moral …

Us Versus Them: A Study Of The Basis Of Varying Perceptions Of Immigrants In Border Towns, Michelle Clifford

Student Works

94% of the United States population within ten miles of the US/Mexico border identifies as Hispanic. Even among these Latino-Americans, opinions of immigrants vary from extremely supportive to extremely opposing. What is the basis of these varying perceptions among Americans? This paper analyzes interviews conducted among residents of border towns in south Texas for opinions on how these perceptions have changed under the Trump administration, for any "us versus them" feelings, and for any other factors that may contribute to the construction of perceptions of immigrants.

Teaching Cognitive Distortions To Byu Students, James Ballard

Instructional Psychology and Technology Graduate Student Projects

This article will cover the design and development of a learning module created to teach cognitive distortions to students at Brigham Young University. It will cover how I used user testing to informed design decisions, how the design cycle can be implemented, and how distorted thinking can and should be corrected.

Full Issue Winter 2019

Intuition: The BYU Undergraduate Journal of Psychology

No abstract provided.