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An Analysis Of Student Math Scores Based Upon Teacher Training In The Instructional Theory Into Practice Model, Martha O'Kray

Dissertations

The main purpose of this study was to determine if teacher participation in Instructional Theory Into Practice (ITIP , Hunter, 1978) training resulted in any difference in student achievement. Student outcomes were measured by scores received on the district's Exit Level Mathematics Test (Roseville Community Schools, 1986).

The study took place in Roseville Community Schools. Six hundred forty-nine students and 32 teachers in Grades 3, 4, and 5 participated.

Fourteen teacher observations were included to confirm the appropriateness and frequency of ITIP strategies in classroom instruction. Observers using the Instructional S kills Observation Instrument (ISOI, Wolfe, 1984) scored non-ITIP-trained teachers …

University Students' Personal Histories And Alcohol Programs: A Naturalistic Study, Alexandra E. Michaels

Dissertations

Using a naturalistic inquiry approach, this study sought to generate (a) new insights into the troubling problem of student alcohol abuse as well as (b) a new theoretical basis for alcohol programs. The purpose of the study was to provide a comprehensive understanding of the experiences and characteristics of college students who have discontinued abusive drinking. Using an interview methodology, three main issues were examined: (1) the environmental and personal factors that influenced the participants' drinking behavior and related problems, (2) the factors which hindered or assisted participants in setting and achieving a goal of sobriety or establishing a nonabusive …

The Naturalistic Study Of Performance Feedback In A Higher Education Administrative Setting, Karen M. Reese

Dissertations

Examined in this study is the performance feedback provided to administrative staff at the research location and the relationship of that feedback to performance. Data were collected through semistructured interviews from 27 subjects at a small midwestern coeducational public university. Six research questions were investigated: the conditions under which feedback occurs, the sources of feedback and their relative usefulness, barriers to feedback giving and seeking, and the relationship of feedback to performance.

The desire to correct a deficiency was the primary catalyst to informal feedback being given to staff. Supervisors became aware of staffs' deficiencies through observation and complaints from …

Factors Influencing Persistence Of Adult Students In High School Completion Programs, Joan E. Garbarino

Dissertations

This research was conducted to contrast adult persisters' and dropouts' perceptions of the importance of institutional, situational, and dispositional barriers to high school completion.

Institutional factors included staff support, curriculum , student services, and logistical considerations. Situational factors were family and friend support, time, employment, and health. Dispositional factors included attitudes toward education, academic preparedness plus expectations, and satisfaction.

Completers who graduated and noncompleters who dropped out before graduation were surveyed. Statistical analysis allowed the researcher to test differences between the perceptions of persisters and dropouts in regard to eleven factors found in the three major barriers. It also revealed …

A Measure Of State-Trait Anger With Adolescent Sex Offenders, Adolescent Delinquents, And A Normal Adolescent Population, Brett D. Lincoln

Dissertations

Research indicates that sexual offending juveniles are angry. Furthermore, sexual offending is seen as a primary means to reduce anger by these youth. However there is little empirical support of these positions. Few comparative studies of sexual offenders with other experimental or control groups exist.

The purpose of this study was to assess differences of anger among three adolescent groups: juvenile delinquent, sexual offender and a control. Assessment of anger was across six subscales of Spielberger's (1988) State Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI). The subscales of interest were: State, Trait, Trait Anger Temperament, Trait Anger Repressed, Anger Expression/In and Anger …

Juvenile Justice: An Examination Of Disparities In Dispositions, Michael P. Brown

Dissertations

The present study tests the utility of status characteristics and expectation states theory in the context of the juvenile court. The theory contends that there is dispositional certainty when case related factors are consistently rated serious or nonserious; the severity of the sanction will reflect the seriousness of the case. However, the likelihood of sentencing disparities based on individual characteristics (e.g., race and SES) increases as case related factors become increasingly inconsistent, with some rated serious and others rated nonserious.

Data to test this theory were collected from the Kalamazoo County Juvenile Court, Kalamazoo, Michigan in June and July, 1990. …

Applied Relaxation Training In The Treatment Of Genital Herpes, Kent A. Koehn

Dissertations

Four individuals with frequent recurrences of genital herpes simplex virus (HSV) were trained in Applied Relaxation (AR). Participants included in the research were all women, had been diagnosed with herpes at least one year prior to the study, experienced 6 or more outbreaks annually, and were not taking antiviral medications.

The experiment employed a multiple baseline across subjects design with individual baselines of 11, 13, 17, and 21 weeks. Participants maintained daily diary recordings of the frequency, duration, and severity of their herpes activity from baseline until a minimum of three months post-treatment.

Treatment consisted of 10 individual AR sessions. …

Foster Parents’ Experience Of Loss And Their Coping Response Style, Kathleen M. Kirby

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the subjective experience of emotional and physical stress reported by foster parents that may be caused by serial placements of foster children. It also addressed the coping response mechanisms and style of foster parents that may promote successful endurance of serial losses. In addition, the relationship between specific coping responses of foster parents was investigated to determine if the circumstances of placement or characteristics of foster parents interact to exacerbate or remediate emotional/physical stress.

Demographics were tabulated for Michigan foster parents including age, family income, religious affiliation, racial/cultural identification, marital status, educational …

The Rise And Decline Of Mental Health Hospitals In The State Of Michigan, Gerald H. Smith

Dissertations

The State of Michigan has been partially responsible for the treatment of the mentally ill population since 1832, when Wayne County General Hospital opened its doors. The state government made a commitment to care for the afflicted, and at the same time provide an opportunity for other individuals to participate in their treatment. Eventually this commitment led to the establishment of employment for many citizens, and gradually, over the decades, a mental health bureaucracy emerged. It was necessary to hire not only professional staff, but also support staff such as food services, housekeeping, maintenance, and the like. Mental health facilities …

A Comparative Study Of The Marital Relationships Of Parents Of Chronically Ill And Non Chronically Ill Children, Molly Smith Allen

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Western Education On Employees' Participation And Job Satisfaction In Saudi Arabian Industries, Abdulrahman Y. Al-Selaim

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate to what degree Western education and Saudi Arabian employees' degree of participation in quality circle programs influences their job satisfaction. These variables were investigated using a survey administered to 150 Saudi Arabian employees working in the production department of a Saudi Arabian company. The Questionnaire of Participation and Satisfaction (QPS) instrument that was used in this investigation is a 20-item questionnaire; items 1-13 were developed by the researcher, and items 14-20 were developed by Abbas (1985). The questionnaire consisted of three components designed to determine: where employees were educated, as well as …

Improving Service Quality Through Self-Monitoring, John Patrick Mcdonough Iii

Dissertations

A multiple-baseline across-restaurants design was used to assess the effectiveness of a quality guarantee (performance checklist) on the quality of food served at two carryout pizza restaurants in a Midwestern city of approximately 100,000 people. The research consisted of having the quality of food monitored by research assistants who served as mystery shoppers trained in the quality standards of the restaurants. Quality was monitored during baseline, when normal operating procedures were in effect at the restaurant, and during intervention, when employees who delivered food to customers were required to sign a quality guarantee. In one intervention phase, employees checked off …

Motivational Effects On A Psychometric Measure Of Prefrontal Brain Functioning In Patients With Chronic Schizophrenia And Related Disorders, Paul C. Smith

Dissertations

This study compared multiple sequential performances on a computerized version of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (Grant & Berg, 1948; Harris, 1986) by adult men receiving institutional inpatient treatment for chronic schizophrenia and related disorders. Participants were exposed to differential test conditions of minimal post-session non-contingent token reinforcement (baseline phases) and enhanced intra-session performance-contingent token reinforcement (experimental phase). Each major participant resided at the same continuing treatment unit at Kalamazoo Regional Psychiatric Hospital receiving similar social therapies but idiosyncratic psychotropic medication regimens, changes in which were tracked in relation to test performances. A simple single-subject reversal design was employed with …

The Effectiveness Of A Job Search Skills Training Program On The Job Readiness Of Undergraduate Malaysian Students Enrolled At Western Michigan University, Ibrahim Bin Hashim

Dissertations

The relevant body of research and literature applicable to this area emphasized the importance of job readiness among college students. Job seeking skills program can be rendered more effective and efficient by using a combination of several behavioral procedures.

The primary purpose of the study was to examine the effectiveness of a job search skills training program on the job readiness of the undergraduate sponsored Malaysian students enrolled at Western Michigan University. Specifically the problem centered on the ability of the treatment program to help Malaysian students to become clearer and to increase their understanding about the importance of self-awareness, …

The Effect Of Associative Distance On The Formation Of Transitive Relations, Robert G. Brown Jr.

Dissertations

Three children, aged eight to eleven years, were taught a series of conditional discriminations using two classes of 26 abstract visual stimuli. The conditional relations were ordered such that the correct comparison stimuli of one relation served as the sample stimuli for the next relation. This allowed for the formation of a series of derived relations (both transitive and equivalence) that differed in terms of the number of intervening nodes. At regular intervals, the subjects' performances on the different transitive relations were tested using unreinforced probe trials.

All three subjects made virtually no errors on transitive relations containing up to …

Career Dynamics Of Counselor Trainee Stereotyping: Bias Toward Physical Ability, Social Class, Gender, And Race Of Clients, J. Stephen Neynaber

Dissertations

Three different attitude surveys, developed by the researcher, were administered to counselor trainees (N =200) at Western Michigan University: The Attitudes of Counselor Trainees (A.C.T.) Survey, Multicultural Beliefs Inhibiting Appropriate Support (M-B.I.A.S.) Survey, and Career Beliefs Inhibiting Appropriate Support (CB. LA.S.) Survey. A 24-item demographics questionnaire was administered to trainees (n =124) who completed the A.C.T. Survey. A six-items Likert scale produced significant effect (p < .05) on counselor trainees' ratings of clients' potential for career success: (1) Awareness of Personal Strengths and Weaknesses, (2) Goal Orientation, (3) Self-esteem, (4) Energy Level, (5) Participation in Extracurricular Activities, and (6) Level of Honesty.

Five client demographic oppression variables, which the review of literature documented to evince negative bias from counselors, were included in 16 hypothetical client scenarios: physical handicaps (viz., hearing impairment and paraplegia), female sex, African-Americans, low …

Perceived Parental Care And Protection As Correlates Of Chronic Pain In Adults, Daniel L. Walberer

Dissertations

This research was undertaken to explore the significance of care and protection as correlates related to the experience of chronic pain in adults. Chronic pain may affect as many as ten percent of the American population and cost up to a billion dollars a year in treatment costs. It was hypothesized that certain parenting styles are related to the experience of chronic pain in adults.

Thirty male and female patients referred to The Center for Health Psychology and Medicine in Kalamazoo, Michigan who were diagnosed as experiencing chronic pain by a referring physician participated in this study. Each participant underwent …

A Comparison Of Blood Volume Pulse And False Biofeedback In The Treatment Of Migraine, Paul Greilick

Dissertations

The efficacy of temporal artery blood volume pulse (BVP) biofeedback in the treatment of migraine was investigated. After four pre-treatment baseline psycho-physiological monitoring sessions, 8 migrainuers were randomly assigned to undergo 12 sessions of either BVP biofeedback or a placebo procedure (false feedback). Both treatments resulted in clinically significant and statistically equivalent reductions in headache activity and medication intake. Subjects exhibited substantial within-session decreases in BVP amplitude during pre-treatment baseline sessions and during false feedback, and the introduction of BVP biofeedback failed to increase the magnitude or the rate of BVP amplitude reductions. All subjects failed to show evidence of …

A Comparison Of Four Methods To Teach Complex Verbal Concepts Using A Computer-Assisted Instruction Program, John Byron Connors

Dissertations

This study compared four instructional programs which taught terminology in behavioral psychology using computer-assisted instruction (CAD with college students. The independent variable was the type of instruction presented by one of four CAI programs: (a) Rules Only, (b) Rules Plus Positive Examples, (c) Rules Plus Negative Examples, and (d) Rules Plus Positive and Negative Examples. The dependent variables were the: (a) pretest scores, (b) posttest scores, (c) 1-week delayed posttest scores, and (d) preference questionnaire scores. Using the pretest as a covariate, results approached significance (p=.07) on posttest scores only for the Rules Only and Rules Plus Positive Examples over …

Appeal And Vulnerability Patterns In Girl Victims Of Incest, Ruth Mausert-Mooney

Dissertations

This study compared certain personal characteristics and behaviors of sexually abused girls with those of matched controls. Experimental subjects were 49 girls, aged 6 to 16 years, who had been sexually abused by an older male family member. Fifty girls who had not experienced sexual abuse served as the comparison group, matched on the basis of age, race and socioeconomic status.

Demographic and psychological measures were completed by each research participant and her mother. Videotapes were made of an initial session in which each child met an unknown male tester.

This study hypothesized and affirmed that sexually abused girls appeared …

Effects Of Feedback Type And Signal Probability On Quality Inspection Accuracy, Matthew A. Mason

Dissertations

A computer simulation was developed to examine the effects of feedback type (immediate, delayed, or none) and signal probability (p = 0.05 or 0.12) on the accuracy of identifying signals (missing components), inspection response rate, and response sensitivity (d'). Subjects were randomly assigned to one of six experimental groups: (1) immediate feedback with a signal probability of 0.05 (1/0.05), (2) delayed feedback with a signal probability of 0.05 (D/0.05), (3) no feedback with a signal probability of 0.05 (N/0.05), (4) immediate feedback with a signal probability of 0.12 (1/0.12), (5) delayed feedback with a signal probability of …

The Impact Of A Stress Management Training Program On Symptoms Of Fibromyalgia, Robert J. Sheppard

Dissertations

Fibromyalgia is a noninflammatory rheumatic disorder characterized by musculoskeletal pain, nonrestorative sleep, and mood disturbance. Emotional stress is frequently reported as a factor that exacerbates symptoms. This study was designed to assess the impact of stress management training on perceived stress and fibromyalgia symptoms. Four female subjects with fibromyalgia participated on an individual basis in a 10 week stress management training program, which was administered in the fixed sequence of training in self-monitoring, relaxation, cognitive behavioral skills, and assertion. The effects of the training on self-report measures of perceived stress, pain, functional disability, sleep disruption, daytime fatigue, and depression were …

Job Aids, Feedback, And The Teaching Of Verbal-Reasoning, Angela Williams Campbell

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to test the effects of a job aid and feedback on learning to solve directional verbal-reasoning problems, and (2) to examine whether students’ skills transferred to similar problems following the removal of both the job aid and feedback. Some previous researchers who studied problem solving utilized the think-aloud technique and used solutions generated by expert problem solvers. The think-aloud technique, although perhaps a good one, is not practical in the classroom. In the main study, a job aid was incorporated within the problem so students would be able to use guidance toward …

Interpersonal Issues Of Dependency In Adult Children From Dysfunctional Relationships, Dennis Michael Beaufait

Dissertations

This study was designed to examine issues of interpersonal behavior among adult children of alcoholics when compared to adult children of non-alcoholics by assessing the functioning level of family of origin relationships. Undergraduate students from a midwestern university were divided into four groups based on their scores on the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test (CAST) by Jones (1981) and the Index of Family Relations (IFR) by Hudson (1982). The sample consisted of 302 subjects between the ages of 18 and 50 who volunteered to participate in a study which examined interpersonal behavior as measured by the Interpersonal Dependency Inventory (IDI). …

Exploring The Self-In-Relation Theory: Women's Idealized Relationships-Of-Choice And Psychological Health, K. Heidi Fishman

Dissertations

The self-in-relation theory (e.g., Kaplan, 1984; Kaplan 6 Klein, 1985; Miller, 1984, 1986, 1988; Surrey, 1985, 198?) asserts that women's development is based on relationships. According to the Stone Center theorists (Kaplan, 1984; Miller, 1988; Stiver, 1986-1989, 1986- 1990; Surrey, 1984), psychopathology in women can stem out of non-growth-fostering relationships which leave women feeling a profound sense of disconnection and loss. Similarly, psychological health develops out of growth fostering relationships. This study investigates the connections between women's relational experiences, their idealized relationships-of-choice, the health of their families-of-origin, and current psychological health.

Thirty-eight women were interviewed and given psychological measurements in …

A Comparison Of Junior High Schools To Middle Schools With Respect To Achievement And Attendance, Darrell Clay

Dissertations

During the past 30 years, the middle school movement has been a comprehensive effort to restructure middle level education. Literally thousands of school districts have chosen to change from junior high schools to middle schools for a variety of reasons. Research to support this massive reorganization of American schools has not been evident. The early research did not provide consistent evidence of improvement for middle school students. Most of this early research was based solely on the grade configuration of the schools being compared rather than the conceptual framework of the school.

The purpose of this study was to compare …

A Comparative Study Of High And Low Achieving Inner-City African-American Sophomore Males’ Expectations Of Self, In-School And Out-Of-School Support, John L. Jackson Sr.

Dissertations

Academic and personal successes and failures of young inner-city African- American males are invariably linked to the dynamics of family life, societal acceptance, economic and political opportunities and participation, and cultural expressions and peculiarities. Additionally, there may be other important factors, such as personal meanings, present and projected insecurities, differing values, hopes, and so forth, which may be highly contributive to determining the extent to which these youngsters perceive their chances of succeeding in the larger society. The implication here is that academic and other life successes are not only depended on individual responsibility and commitment, but also the supportive …

Spatial Visualization And Leadership In Teaching Multiview Orthographic Projection: An Alternative To The Glass Box, Mark A. Curtis

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of using one instructional method versus another in teaching multi view orthographic projection to college students possessing varied spatial visualization abilities. Two instructional methods were used: (1) the traditional hinged glass box method and (2) an unconventional method in which an object is placed in the middle of a bowl/ hemispheric shape where the front view of the object is seen by looking directly into the bowl. Other views are developed by sliding the object along the surface of the bowl until they are at right angle to the viewer's …

Being Pregnant And Using Drugs: A Retrospective Phenomenological Inquiry, Merry A. Armstrong Dnsc, Msn

Dissertations

Qualitative methodology was employed to conduct a phenomenological inquiry describing the structure of the experience of being pregnant and using drugs. The purpose of the study was to explore the nature of women's experience and perception of the interaction, relationship, and intersection of contextual phenomena of lifestyle, pregnancy, and substance abuse. Data gathering and analysis was accomplished using guidelines provided by Spiegelberg and Van Manen. Eleven mothers voluntarily participating in a recovery program described their prior experience of being addicted and pregnant during 2 conversations with the researcher. Through transcript analysis of the first audio-taped interview, major and minor themes …

The Psychological Typologies And Leadership Behaviors Of First-Line Supervisors In A Large Automotive Company, James Joseph Conlen

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the psychological typologies and leadership behaviors related to participative management of first-line supervisors in a plant of a large automotive company. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI, Myers & McCaulley, 1985) was used as a measure of psychological typologies. The Group Environment Scale (GES, Moos, 1974) was used as a measure of leadership behaviors. The population was 113 first-line supervisors; complete data were obtained for 76 supervisors (67%).

Hypotheses were formulated upon the expectation that GES mean scores would differ depending upon MBTI personality type. Twelve directional hypotheses were investigated using four MBTI …