Digital Commons Network^™

The Effect Of Direct Contact On Public Attitudes Towards People Living With Human Immunodeficiency Virus (Hiv) And Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (Aids) In Zimbabweans, Mavis Mashingaidze

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Stigma surrounding HIV and AIDS poses a significant threat to the curtailing of the epidemic by acting as a barrier to HIV testing and disclosure of serostatus. Previous research in the United States found personal knowledge of someone with HIV/AIDS to be a predictor of lower levels of HIV/AIDS-related stigma. However, no study to date has examined this relationship in Zimbabweans. Allport's contact hypothesis was hypothesis was the theoretical frame used to assess the effect of direct contact on public attitudes towards people living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) in Zimbabweans with the …

Interaction Within Individualized Education Program Meetings: Conversation Analysis Of A Collective Case Study, Christopher Charles Plum

Harold L. Hodgkinson Award for Outstanding Dissertation

Current research provides little insight into interaction during Individual Education Program (IEP) meetings. This lack of insight may impede decision-making regarding student placement. This collective case study addressed that problem by analyzing interactions of participants in IEP meetings. Rooted in a conversation analytic (CA) theoretical framework, research questions centered on ways IEP teams interacted, oriented to identities, and ascribed to potential power asymmetries, with analysis focused on talk preceding a child's educational placement. Six hours of IEP meeting footage from 13 meetings distributed across 3 Detroit area charter schools were transcribed in CA Jeffersonian notation and analyzed using CA methodology. …

A Mixed Methods Study Of Secondary Distance-Learning Students: Exploring Learning Styles, Jennifer M. Roberts

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Public education in the United States has experienced an increase in distance-learning (DL) opportunities. Because research has focused on student achievement in post-secondary DL programs, little is known about secondary students' experiences. The purpose of the current study was to explore DL applicability within secondary education. Specific research questions addressed by the concurrent mixed methods nested study included examining students' opinions and experiences in a secondary DL course and determining whether individual learning styles were addressed. Structured interviews, group discussions, and a survey were used to gather data over 2 months from 14 students in grades 9 through 12 participating …

Promoting Breast Cancer Screening Among Chinese American Women Through Young Children's Theatrical Performance, Angela Sun

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research has revealed that underutilization of breast cancer screening by ethnic minorities often is related to language difficulties and cultural values and beliefs about cancer. The problem addressed in this secondary data analysis was the late diagnosis of breast cancer in the Chinese immigrant community. The purpose of the quasi-experimental study was to test the efficacy of a theatrical preschool performance, guided by the diffusion of innovation theory, in educating Chinese American women about breast cancer detection. The research questions sought to determine whether the performance increased the participants' knowledge of breast cancer screening guidelines and whether country of origin, …

Leadership As Role And Relationship In Social Dynamics: An Exploratory Study Seeking A Leadership Archetype, Brian W. Bridgeforth

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Previous research on leadership as archetype considered archetype as metaphor and not as it is understood in other literatures as a collectively accepted and defined role within and across cultures. Archetypical theories are posited as useful because they help us understand universal aspects of human behavior; however, empirical research demonstrating archetypical thinking and behavior remains rare. Accordingly, this phenomenological study investigated whether a leadership archetype exists as a shared cognitive template and if so, what characteristics define it. The theoretical framework used to examine the phenomenon of leadership combined leadership theory, philosophy of the mind, Jungian psychology, social constructionist theory, …

Mandated Differentiated Instruction Effectiveness Examined, Kathlyn Joan Graham

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Educational institutions are implementing curriculum mandates without data to support the benefits of the mandates to students. The purpose of this concurrent, mixed-method study, which utilizes quasi-experimental and case study approaches, was to address the effectiveness of mandated differentiated instruction in a suburban high school. This study investigated the significant differences in achievement before and after the implementation of differentiation as well as differences in achievement between a school that mandated the use of differentiation and one that did not. The study also investigated strategies used to implement differentiation and student and teacher attitudes toward it. For ninth grade literature …

A Survey Of Community College Faculty, Their Teaching Methodologies, And Congruence With Student Learning Needs, Susan J. Campbell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

National movements for greater quality in education have increased concerns about student learning and the effectiveness of teaching for the community college. Faculty are responsible for student learning, yet criticized for using ineffective teaching methods despite limited data on community college teaching practices. The purpose of this study was to gain a descriptive understanding of current teaching practices in three community colleges. This single-phase study used a concurrent mixed-method exploratory research design. A purposeful sample of 185 community college faculty across three colleges in the southwestern United States were surveyed about what methods they use, how they perceive their teaching …

E-Commerce Sourcing Models, Anne Fulcher Nelson

International Journal of Applied Management and Technology

Electronic commerce (EC) involves business transactions, marketing efforts, information gathering, and other functional activities with respect to information technology (IT) both within and without an organization. It provides various opportunities to a firm to adopt different business sourcing models and allows new opportunities to configure organizational structure for both private and public companies within the New Economy. Critical factors for EC success dictate that the firm must re-evaluate its business sourcing model from with complexity theory and the New Economy, thereby emphasizing the need for the firm to effectively coordinate its EC initiatives and consider all sourcing opportunities in this …

A Performance Evaluation Of Introducing Balanced Scorecard To High-Tech Related Industries In Taiwan, Y.T. Jou, C.H. Hwang, Chung Li, S.C. Chen, J.H. Jhang

International Journal of Applied Management and Technology

Balanced Scorecard (BSC) has become the most desirable performance evaluation tool for industries in Taiwan; however, difficulty or bad performance of system introduction has occurred due to an incomplete understanding of the implementation approaches and correct objectives of the BSC system, causing the risk of cost loss. Two domestic high-tech companies in the high-tech related industry were served as the object of study in this research. The contents of four perspectives of the BSC were converted to twenty key performance evaluation indicators in terms of modern business administration as the variables in the research.

Based on the DMAIC model, the …

A Comparative Representation Approach To Modern Heuristic Search Methods In A Job Shop, P.D.D. Dominic, Ahmad Kamil, P. Parthiban, M. Punniyamoorthy

International Journal of Applied Management and Technology

The job shop problem is among the class of NP- hard combinatorial problems. This Research paper addresses the problem of static job shop scheduling on the job-based representation and the rule based representations. The popular search techniques like the genetic algorithm and simulated annealing are used for the determination of the objectives like minimizations of the makespan time and mean flow time. Various rules like the SPT, LPT, MWKR, and LWKR are used for the objective function to attain the results. The summary of results from this paper gives a conclusion that the genetic algorithm gives better results in the …

Strategic Themes For Balanced Scorecard Construction Based On Fuzzy Logic, Adolfo Alberto Vanti, Rafael Espin, Alonso Perez-Soltero, Denise Ciotta

International Journal of Applied Management and Technology

Balanced Scorecard is a methodology for strategic management with emphasis in strategic, tactic, and operational control. If you don’t measure something, you don’t manage it. Last statement is a way to emphasizes one of the most important assumptions of this methodology that is very well implemented by it. However, BSC can’t express strategy in actions, nor translate verbalization of strategic planning, important topics to build an effective Balance Scorecard. This paper defines priorities of topics about strategic planning considering the SWOT analysis - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats – (Andrews, 1971). SWOT analysis is completed considering actions and objectives through Fuzzy …

Bridging The Gap: Home-School Partnerships In Kindergarten, Keenjal Pattni-Shah

Frank Dilley Award for Outstanding Doctoral Study

Although home-school partnerships support Kindergarten children's development of vocabulary, the alphabetic principle, and phonological awareness, the mechanisms through which these partnerships are established and facilitated with immigrant parents from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds are largely unknown. Therefore, the major research questions that guided this qualitative, grounded theory study focused on exploring how successful Kindergarten teachers defined home-school partnerships with parents, the strategies the teachers used to communicate with parents, the ways these teachers reached out to parents to create and sustain partnerships, and how the teachers used these partnerships to support children's learning. Vygotsky's sociocultural theory served as the …

Exploring Fuzzy Set Concept In Priority Theory For Maintenance Strategy Selection Problem, Rajesh S. Prabhu Gaonkar, A. K. Verma, A. Srividya

International Journal of Applied Management and Technology

This paper proposes and presents a different approach of choosing an appropriate maintenance strategy using Saaty’s priority theory and fuzzy sets. As per the priority theory, weights are assigned to the decision criteria via pair wise comparison of criteria. Basic three types of maintenance strategies specifically corrective maintenance, preventive maintenance and predictive maintenance and eight maintenance decision criteria namely low maintenance cost, improved reliability, improved safety, high product quality, minimum inventory, return on investment, acceptance by labor, enhanced competitiveness have been considered to evaluate the most favorable strategy. Instead of usual practice of considering single value for “intensity of importance” …

The Effects Of Prayer And Glossolalia On The Mental Health Status Of Protestants, Recco S. Richardson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The resurgence of prayer and glossolalia (speaking in tongues) within Protestant denominations in the United States of America has stimulated widespread psychological and theological debate. Previous research has indicated that religiosity has both a negative and positive effect on mental health functioning. However, there remains an important gap in the current literature regarding the relationships between specific religious practices and mental health. Therefore the purpose of the proposed study is to report on the growing number of religious persons who pray/glossolate and the conflicting messages in the literature regarding the relationship between religiosity and mental illness. A total of 10 …

The Relationship Between Learning Style Preference And Achievement In The Adult Student In A Multicultural College., Matilde E. Roig

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Minority college students have varied learning styles and process information from distinct background and cultural perspectives, which influences their learning. Accordingly, the way faculty approach teaching affects student achievement. Few minorities are in scientific fields, with a shortage of scientists predicted. A problem exists in understanding the relationship between learning style preferences and achievement of minority college students. The purpose of the study was to investigate this relationship in adult minority students in a South Florida college's biology courses. Research questions pertained to relationships between learning style preferences, race, ethnicity and grades. This quantitative study used the online Felder-Soloman Inventory …

The Impact Of Daily Writing On Kindergarten Students' Phonemic Awareness., C. A. Snell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine whether or not a significant relationship exists among daily writing and student growth in phonemic awareness. The study also considered the impact of writing on the phonemic awareness development of students at different literacy levels. Although studies exist on the importance of phonemic awareness development in reading acquisition, a deficit exists examining the correlation among daily writing and the phonemic awareness development of students representing different literacy levels. Forty students in an experimental group engaged in daily writing opportunities, while 37 students in the control group engaged in less frequent writing …

Public Humiliation As A Mitigator In Criminal Sentencing, Barbara Benoliel

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study examined the relationship between the public humiliation and shaming of offenders in the sentencing portion of a criminal trial and the subsequent severity of the sentence the offender receives. Judicial moral shaming of offenders is returning to popularity in the courts, influencing the final sentence outcome as an under-identified mitigator, that substitutes for judges’ other punitive sanctions. Support for this shaming is found in Heider’s attribution theory and in Homans’ theory of social exchange; however Braithwaite found this form of shaming is overly punitive and ineffective. This four phase study used a sequential, mixed method, exploratory research design. …

A Study Of The Decision To Remove Children From Their Parents By Child Welfare Supervisors, Charles F. Lorbeer

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A STUDY OF THE DECISION TO REMOVE CHILDREN FROM THEIR PARENTS BY CHILD WELFARE SUPERVISORS

by Charles F. Lorbeer

Dissertation Chair: Dr. Aqueil Ahmad

Committee Members: Dr. Aqueil Ahmad, Dr. Robert Butters, and Dr. Ashakant Nimbark,

The goal of this study was to analyze the decision by child welfare supervisors to remove children from their parents. This was accomplished by studying the effect that three specific factors have on that decision. The three factors were 1) physical abuse, 2) domestic violence and substance abuse, and 3) availability of services to help the family.

Decision theory provided the conceptual framework for …

An Analysis Of Physicians' Reluctance To Follow Terminally Ill Patients' Advance Directives, Norma Poirier

Harold L. Hodgkinson Award for Outstanding Dissertation

This explanatory study examined the reasons why physicians have difficulty respecting the wishes of terminally ill patients who refuse treatment. Consistent with the relevant literature, three alternative explanations were hypothesized in answering the question: fear of litigation, religious beliefs, and medical professional values.

Evidence was gathered from three different sources. Semistructured interviews were carried out with 24 emergency physicians from the Moncton Area in the Canadian province of New Brunswick and submitted to both quantitative and qualitative content analysis. Nineteen cases of terminally ill patients whose wishes not to be treated were not respected were collected and submitted to content …

Diversity Deprivation Overcome: A Predominately Caucasian Catholic High School Addresses Societal Racial Prejudice, Michele Ray Campbell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study examines Monsignor Donovan High School, Toms River, Trenton Diocese, New Jersey's situation as a predominately Caucasian environment seeking to prepare students to adapt successfully to an increasingly diverse society. The author identifies the need for the students to gain a broader view of the world than evidenced by their school's population, examines the societal situations that led to the problem of prejudice in American society, explores the role of Catholic education in addressing prejudice and reports on polls of the MDHS Classes of 1994 and 1997 relative to their racial attitudes. Through a qualitative case study, the researcher …

Early Intervention And Parenting Support In The Public Schools: An Inalienable Right For All, Heidi Berlinger

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The present study was designed to document the effects of early intervention and parenting support, and to provide a model program proposal for federal adoption. Specifically, this paper redefines the term "readiness" to recognize the diverse needs of infants and their families.

Research indicates several factors influence school readiness: physical well-being and motor development including proper prenatal, perinatal, and early childhood care and nutrition; social and emotional development; approaches toward learning; language usage; and cognition and general knowledge. Parental understanding of how to facilitate the advancement of young children in these areas is extremely important. Without this knowledge parents are …

A Study Of The Effects On Students In A Community Consolidated School District In Illinois Of Selected Activities Funded Under Title I Of The Elementary And Secondary Education Act Of 1965, James H. Ellis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Purpose

The purpose of the study was to identify objectives and identify and measure the effects of selected activities supported with Title I Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 funds on disadvantaged students with respect to their academic achievement, social and personal development and class attendance. One East-Central Illinois Public School District was selected for the study. The school district included grades kindergarten through twelve with an enrollment approximating 10,000 during the school years under review. Of that total enrollment, approximately 1500 students each year were classified as eligible for funding purposes. The school years included were 1966-67 through …

Programmed Reading Instruction Versus Traditional Reading Instruction And Their Relation To Science Achievement, Harold Eugene Garner

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This doctoral research was conducted to determine if there was a statistical difference in achievement between fourth grade students who were instructed through a programmed reading approach and those fourth grade students who were instructed in the traditional reading methods with a basal text series. Secondly, whether the same fourth grade students who were instructed by the programmed reading method would achieve significantly higher gain scores in fourth grade science than those students who were instructed in the traditional reading method. Analysis of variance was used to analyze the results and the level of significance was set at the 0.05 …