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Personality Characteristics, Work Practices, And Error Rates Among Welfare Assistance Workers At East Multnomah County Public Welfare Branch, Roy Dale Beams, Mike David Gotesmen, Howard Wayne Knytych

Dissertations and Theses

The research project herein contained was an outgrowth of concern associated with performance levels placed upon Welfare Assistance Workers (WAW’s). The Oregon State Public Welfare Division has become increasingly concerned with accuracy rates among branch offices throughout the system. It was the impression of the research group that WAW’s see this increased concern as combined pressure to reduce error rates and demand for a broader diversity of skills.

The primary purpose of this study was to explore ways of clarifying individual characteristics and work habits and their relationship to error rates in the WAW’s in the East Multnomah County Branch …

Re-Evaluation Co-Counseling And The Treatment Of Peptic Ulcers, Jack Justin Heims

Dissertations and Theses

The thesis investigates the role of psycotherapy in treating peptic ulcers, offering a new approach, "Re-evaluation Co-counseling," a peer cathartic therapy.

Police Discretion With Respect To The Juvenile Offender, Department Of Public Safety, Multnomah County, Oregon, Muriel Bridges, Monty Merritt

Dissertations and Theses

This is an exploratory study which focuses on the types of information that deputies assigned to the Department of Public Safety, Multnomah County, Oregon, consider important when making a decision regarding the disposition of a juvenile offender.

This empirical study developed as a result of participant observation. The authors spent one year working with deputies as part of police-social worker teams. During the course of the year it became apparent that police use a considerable amount of discretion when determining the disposition of a juvenile offender.

The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate systematically:

1. the types of information …

An Evaluation Of Direct Services Of Delaunay Institute For Mental Health, Jeanette Anderson Finley, Gary W. Smith

Dissertations and Theses

Today taxpayers (those who pay for services) and clients (those who receive services) wish the best use for the money that they invest. The public is not as accepting of generalities, observations or intuitive success measures of social agencies' performance. Emotional problems are costly. Often they can lead to loss of employment, inefficiency, break-up of marriages, retarding the emotional development of children and use of monies invested by other agencies, i.e., welfare, juvenile courts, etc. Social agencies, in response to the general public, are raising issues around what are appropriate measures tor evaluating treatment outcome. The instant study is one …

Hiring Practices: A Study Of The Port Of Portland, Portland, Oregon, Carol Williams Bryant

Dissertations and Theses

The hypothesis for studying the hiring practices at the Port of Portland was simply that hiring practices have historically discriminated against non-whites through negative racial attitudes that are destructive and inappropriate if equal employment is to be practiced. The objective of this study was to provide the Port with information which could lead to the adjustment of hiring procedures which would be geared toward effective recruitment and hiring of minority individuals.

The Urban Indian Program In Portland, Oregon, Lyndon Earl Bohanan

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this paper is to discuss and compare the original Urban Indian Program which operated from April, 1972 to January, 1974 to the most recent program which began operating in January, 1974. The two programs are of the same name, but the organizational structure as well as some of the operating concepts are different.

The Children's Schedule Of Recent Experiences As A Predictive Test Of Behavior Problems Of Children Entering First Grade, Alcie Anne Griffith

Dissertations and Theses

The thesis provides a survey inquiring about recent life events in children to determine predictive behavior for first grade. It is based on the Social Readjustment Rating Scale.

An Exploratory Study To Assess Client Expectancy Of Counseling Gain, William W. Hanselman

Dissertations and Theses

This exploratory study is designed to investigate the role of pre-counseling client expectancy as it affects the outcome of initial-interview counseling. To facilitate investigation into this area it was necessary to develop a measuring instrument whereby an individual's expectation of the success of counseling could be assessed. This instrument was then administered to beginning clients at two counseling facilities.

Sharing Information About The Child With Adoptive Parents, Barbara Ashmun, Beverly Mckinney Erickson, Bente Roberts Parker

Dissertations and Theses

The study examined differences in the adoption process between successful and unsuccessful adoptions. The focus of the study was on how much information the parents received about the child prior to placement and on related aspects of the process by which a child is placed in an adoptive home. All information for this study was gathered from the records kept on each child who is placed.

The procedure used was to examine the records of successful and unsuccessful adoptions in three stages. First, an assessment was made of amount and type of information available in the records. It was found …

A Reexamination Of The Effects Of Prismatic Displacement On Pointing Straight Ahead, Anastasia Houndoumadi

Dissertations and Theses

A fully counterbalanced extension of the Bauer and Efstathiou (1965) study involved exposing 11 Ss to lateral prismatic displacement for five minutes and measuring their adaptation to it. The difference between pointings at a target taken before and after prismatic exposure constitutes an adaptive shift.

Diaries And Reminiscences Of Women On The Oregon Trail: A Study In Consciousness, Amy Kesselman

Dissertations and Theses

This study is an attempt to discover how women participating in the mid-nineteenth century migration to Oregon viewed the westward journey and themselves in relationship to it. It is not a survey of the responses of all women in the westward movement, but, rather, an exploration of the perspective of those women who left a written record of their perceptions or recollections. The thesis focuses on the diaries and reminiscences of women travelling, primarily but not exclusively, in the years 1851-1853.

The introductory material consists of a review of the existing historical literature on women and the West, and a …

Black Content In Schools: A Model Of Black Content In A School Of Social Work's Curriculum, Dorothy L. Baker, Alexander Richberg, Isaac White

Dissertations and Theses

The primary purpose of this study is, in general, to inform schools of social work of a method to include Black content within their curricula, and in particular to sensitize the faculty at Portland State University to the importance of including Black content into the school's curriculum.

In this research design, a select population was used as well as a specific body of knowledge from the Human Behavior and Social Environment sequence to develop a model to introduce Black content in the social work curriculum.

Effects Of Semantic Associational Strength And Verbal Sequence Length On The Auditory Comprehension Of Aphasic Adults, Laurel J. Brown

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of semantic associational strength (SAS) upon adult aphasics' auditory comprehension abilities. Twenty-eight adult aphasics (25 males and 3 females) and 12 normal control subjects were presented three experimental tasks, each containing 45 items. Experimental task 1 contained single word picture sets of high SAS, moderate SAS, and low SAS words. Experimental task 2 contained two word picture sets of high, moderate, and low SAS words, and experimental task 3 contained three word picture sets of high, moderate, and low SAS words. Subjects heard one, two, and three word verbal sequences …

Differences Between Supervisor And High And Low-Rated Employees' Perceptions Of Job Performance Ratings And Importance Of Job Factors, Harvey Edward Mcgowan

Dissertations and Theses

This study was an attempt to gain insight into differing conceptions of job performance and job performance factors held by supervisors, employees in general, and of employees rated high and low on overall job performance by their supervisors. The discrepancy in the perceptions of job performance is an element in a general pattern of a well-documented discrepancy in the perception of subordinates' wants, needs and desires by superiors.

To assess employees' perceptions about their own job performance, self-ratings were taken, along with estimate ratings of how employees thought their supervisors would rate them. A graphic rating scale was used, Format …

Portland State Perspective; November 1973, Portland State University

Portland State Perspective

A quarterly alumni newsletter. In this issue: Chancellor Roy Lieuallen shares his views on the search for a replacement for outgoing President Wolfe; report on 'Generation III', television programming for the elderly; a look at sabbaticals.

Ecology And The Economy, A Concept For Balancing Long-Range Goals, The Pacific Northwest Example, Pacific Northwest River Basins Commission. Urban And Rural Lands Committee

Portland Regional Planning History

This report, "Ecology and the Economy, A Concept for Balancing Long-Range Goals, The Pacific Northwest Example, " is a product of three years work by the Urban and Rural Lands Committee of the Pacific Northwest River Basins Commission.

The Sasswood Ordeal Of The West Atlantic Tribes Of Sierra Leone And Liberia: An Ethnohistoriographic Survey, Sarah Louise Davies

Dissertations and Theses

The sasswood ordeal of poison presents a divinatory ritual which has been used in criminal cases by the traditional African of Sierra Leone and Liberia. For at least six hundred years, the peoples of these present countries have imposed this strictest of ordeals on their moral transgressors; and the practice has survived, despite the protestations of nineteenth-century missionaries and the encroachment of the western world.

The investigation of the historical evidence of the sasswood ordeal among the West Atlantic tribes of Africa has three basic purposes. First, because of the paucity of interpretive data on the sasswood ordeal, the primary …

A Test Of The Simple Recessive Hypothesis For The Inability To Taste Phenyl-Thio-Urea: A Family Study, Susan I. Wolf

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis is a report on the analysis of family data gathered to test the simple recessive hypothesis for the inability to taste phenyl-thio-urea (P.T.C.). The simple recessive hypothesis states that the inability of a minority of persons to taste high concentrations of P.T.C. is due to the action of an autosomal recessive gene in the homozygous condition.

The World Of Women: Portland, Oregon, 1860-1880, Mary C. Wright

Dissertations and Theses

The primary objective of this study is to find, statistically, how the women of Portland lived out their lives. By exploring the role of ethnicity, work and family, and the inter-relationships of these variables, upon their life choices, it is hoped a picture of women will result that can be used as a base for further interpretations on the community of women and the role they play in society.

The study is based on data gathered from the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Federal Manuscript Census Schedules for the city of Portland and East Portland and utilizes a sample of 8,012 …

Two Delivery System Contexts For The Elderly:The "Institutional" Approach And The "Community" Approach., Mary Sarita Freer

Dissertations and Theses

Theoretically every society has some institutional means which seeks to prevent and alleviate personal misfortune and illness "Institutions are standardized solutions to collective problems." The increasing population rate of older persons, many of whom suffer from chronic diseases and disabilities, does pose a collective problem for society. Formerly, the "institutional" approach developed to address the needs of chronic aging patients and society. Today the "community" approach, by which community service agencies whose goal is to help older adults remain independent of total institutional care by supplying supportive services, is achieving recognition .

This thesis is an exploratory study to assess …

Ernst Cassirer And The Synthesis Of The Past: A Paradigm In The History Of Ideas, Mart Stewart

Dissertations and Theses

The problem of a method of historical analysis played an integral part in the scholarship of Ernst Cassirer, German philosopher and historian. An Essay on Man, the work for which he is best known in the United State, includes his most lucid discussion of the tasks and aims of the historian. The historian must reconstruct the past, infusing it with the immediacy of a living expression. "Rebirth of the past" gives man a better view of his potentialities, a freedom to see beyond the demands, characteristics, and contingencies of the moment.

This view of history and the historian's task …

A Comparison Of Two Methods Of Instruction In Office Skills: Classroom-Laboratory And Classroom-Laboratory With Cooperative Work Experience, Barbara Swanson Anderson

Dissertations and Theses

This research study is designed to take an initial step in the direction of determining whether cooperative office education programs are more effective in teaching clerical skills, in preparing students for office employment, and in helping them to achieve employment and job success than classroom-laboratory training in office skills alone.

A Theory Of The Creativity-Intelligence Interaction: An Environmental Suppressor Variable, Lynda L. Mcdonald

Dissertations and Theses

In a commonly held view, creativity and intelligence interact in a mutually enhancing way. Their interaction, however is assumed to be slight and relatively unimportant, and to find its ceiling at a certain IQ level. Beyond this IQ ceiling, no interaction is believed to occur, and the two variables are assumed to be independent. It is suggested that this view and those theorists who hold it do little to explain the reason for the ceiling effect.

An attempt is made to devise a theoretical system which accounts for a explains the ceiling effect, as well as providing new ground for …

The Doctrine Of Experience In The Philosophy Of Jonathan Edwards, Puritan Divine, Joseph S. Trachtenberg

Dissertations and Theses

A number of basic themes suggest themselves as focal points for a study of the thought of Jonathan Edwards. The dissertation is an attempt to argue that experience is one of them, and that an attentive eye to the doctrine of experience will reveal it as the unifying theme of his philosophy. Specifically, at the center of Edwards' aesthetic and religious vision there lies a rich and profound sense of experience, and of the relation of all things to some form of perception.

The evidence is to be found in Edwards' extensive published and unpublished writings. Among the several editions …

1973 Commencement Program, Commencement

Commencement Archives 1970-79

The program for the Portland State University Spring commencement ceremony held June 9, 1973 at 3:00 p.m. at Memorial Coliseum, Portland, Oregon.

Between Words And Actions: The Problem Of Motivation In Symbolic Interactionism, Robert Scott Broadhead

Dissertations and Theses

The development of a theory of motivation in symbolic interactionism is traced, with particular reference to the work of G.H. Mead, Kenneth Burke, C.W. Mills, Nelson Foote, and Ernest Becker. Specific attention is focused on comparing the original theoretical assumptions of particularly Mead and Burke to the varying formulations of the problems of motivation that were later developed by symbolic interactionists. Specifically, it is argued that, primarily due to Burke's analysis, the traditional practice of deterministically explaining human action as being the result of variously imagined motives "in" people is, in fact, no explanation at all but simply a variety …

A Study Of The Problems Of Translation, Rhetorical Analysis, And Translation Of A Speech Of Mohammed Mossedeq, Gholamhosain Janati-Ataie

Dissertations and Theses

Through the translation and analysis of a major speech, the political thought and rhetorical devices of Mohammed Mossedeq, former Prime Minister of Iran (1951-1953), are examined. Just as cultural and philosophical differences account for many problems in such a translation, so have they led to Mossedeq's being largely misunderstood in the West. The study therefore presents a more positive view of Mossedeq, emphasizing his nationalism, which has inspired countless movements toward independence among the Third World nations. Chapters deal with the background of the study, problems of translation (including the semantic and lexical nonequivalences between languages, as well as cultural …

Group Experience With Parents Of Preschool Children With Seizure Disorders, George R. Jacobsen, Grant R. Kane, Joan Sacia

Dissertations and Theses

A project using parent seminars in aiding parents of children with seizure disorders was designed at the request of Dr. James R. Schimschock, pediatric neurologist and director of the Clinic for Neurologically Impaired Children, Good Samaritan Hospital and Medical Center. The clinic provides a diagnostic and educational therapy for neurologically impaired children. In addition to providing multidiscipline diagnostic evaluation, clinic services include operating classrooms for preschool and school-age children. The classrooms function for children with any type of neurologic impairment who are either excluded from school due to their delayed academic performance, their physical or developmental delay, emotional or behavior …

A Study Of The Effect Of Drug Use On The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, Mary Ellen Hammons

Dissertations and Theses

The Drug Treatment and Training Project of the State of Oregon Mental Health Division, Alcohol and Drug section in Portland, Oregon is engaged in the treatment of young people between the ages of 15 and 27 who have indicated that they have a problem with drugs, and have asked help in overcoming this problem. As part of the treatment program, the clients are given the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and a questionnaire developed by the drug project. The thesis analyses the Drug Treatment’s MMPI results and compares them to other studies.

Effects Of Speaker-Sex-Difference On Listeners' Perception Of Vocal Roughness In Normal Vowel Productions, Patsy J. Phillips

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of speaker-sex-difference on listeners' perception of vocal roughness in the vowel [ӕ] produced by normal male and female speakers. In a previous investigation by Wendahl (1963) it was found that when listening to two synthesized vowels, of equal aperiodicity, judges tended to rate the lower pitched vowel as being more vocally rough. If this is true for listeners' perception of human vowel productions as well then it might be advantageous for voice clinicians, when making vocal roughness assessments, to regard male and female speakers as two separate populations in view …