Digital Commons Network^™

Generating Prevalence Estimates Of Sensitive Behaviors Through List Randomization: Survey Experiment Among Indian Males, Abha Indurkar

Master's Theses

Survey respondents may under-report or misreport sensitive behaviors due to social desirability bias. List randomization is an indirect way of asking questions which allows respondents to answer sensitive questions without the surveyor knowing their actual response. This has emerged as a new technique to ask sensitive questions as it reduces respondent’s discomfort while reporting sensitive behaviors. In this study, we apply list randomization to generate prevalence estimates of sensitive behaviors and perception related to homosexuality, molestation of women and notion of partner purity in the sample of young, college educated Indian males. Our findings are consistent with the literature on …

Income Shocks And The Acceptance Of Intimate Partner Violence In Indonesia, Matthew N. Krupoff

Master's Theses

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pervasive issue affecting 1 in 3 women worldwide. Despite the negative welfare impacts, it is still seen as acceptable in some parts of the world, even amongst women. This paper examines how elastic these accepting attitudes towards IPV are to changing economic conditions. Specifically, this paper focuses on changes in intra-household resources from negative shocks to male-sourced income. The setting and context takes place in coastal communities in Indonesia, where fishing is a main source ofincome generated primarily by men. This paper uses satellite-derived fishing conditions to measure how women's attitudes towards IPV change …

La Madre Competitiva: An Experimental Study Of Women's Competitiveness In Medellin, Colombia, Miranda I. Lambert

Master's Theses

Abstract: This project is a follow up to Cassar, Wordofa, and Zhang (2015), which aimed at testing whether extending incentives beyond cash would alter the estimated competitive tendencies of men and women. Here we extend this work to an urban Colombian setting. In the previous study conducted in China, men have proven more competitive than women; however, once the incentive changes to a child-benefitting voucher, women increased their likeliness to compete. This research uses statistical and regression analysis to test whether or not women become more competitive when competing for a voucher, which directly benefits their child as opposed to …

Goal Effectiveness In Achieving Educational Outcomes: Experimental Evidence From 9th Graders In Medellin, Colombia, Daniel Salicath, Alessandra Cassar

Master's Theses

Does goal setting among low-income ninth graders leads to higher average goal achievements of educational outcomes? This question is explored by a field experiment motivated by the acknowledged California-based Family Independence Initiative (FII), to analyze the effectiveness of individual goal setting, incentives and self-help groups on the achievement of educational goals. By randomizing treatments and control with the cooperation of the Secretary of Education in Medellin, different classrooms were assigned to five different experimental groups that met systematically for five months. The results show that goal setting is a cost-effective method to help low-income students achieve educational outcomes. Setting a …

Competitive Mothers: An Experimental Study Of Female Competitiveness And Polygamy In Togo (West Africa), Aminata Cissokho

Master's Theses

Are women in a patriarchal society like Togo as competitive as men? How does being a parent, in a polygamous vs. monogamous marriage and having high income affect one’s willingness to compete? With an incentivized experiment, we explore whether there are gender differences in selecting into competitive environments, especially when the incentives switch from cash to voucher. This experiment is conducted in Togo, West Africa, with 428 subjects including females-males, parent-non parent. Overall, the findings reveal no significant differences between the females and males’ willingness to compete. Female parents are more competitive than male parents regardless of the incentive. Subjects …

With Language Brings Light: Narratives By Deaf Ethiopians And Their Right To Sign Language, Jackie M. Eugster

Master's Theses

The goal of this case study is to share the narratives of Deaf individuals in Ethiopia and how the Deaf community uses Deaf Community Cultural Wealth in order to explore and flourish in audist and colonized spaces. This study engaged photovoice, in a participatory action research technique that can empower and enhance the community’s sense of identity (Wang & Burris, 1997). This study considers the influence of American missionaries and how colonization of African nations has also influenced the trajectory of Deaf education in Ethiopia. Moving away from deficient thinking, DCCW attempts to reframe the Deaf experience as one that …

The Manufacturing Of High School Football Recruits In The United States (U.S.): An Examination Of The High School Football Landscape As An Economic Sub-Sector, Charles Macaulay

Master's Theses

The role of interscholastic athletics within the educational setting has been questioned by critics including many scholars for the seemingly incongruence between its stated mission and actual institutional practices. There have been numerous studies that have examined high school athletic programs and primarily have focused on the academic and social benefits derived therein. Yet, sports and athletics are becoming increasingly important and popular in U.S. society and globally. The commercialization of sport and athletics is not a novelty in the U.S., but the increasing attention paid to high school athletics is a fairly recent and emerging phenomenon. In 2005, the …

A Comprehensive Program Plan For Providing Therapeutic Recreation Services In A Private Practice Setting 2017, Tracy J. Frenyea

Master's Theses

The purpose of this project was to create a comprehensive program plan and operations manual as an example of a private practice in therapeutic recreation. One goal was to provide a fresh approach to therapeutic recreation, one that embraces a strengths-based paradigm in a holistic environment nurturing the six domains of well-being and the aspirations of individuals served. To operationalize this goal, a thorough review of literature was undertaken and reported on; theoretical foundations and practice models were explored and selected; guiding principles, goals, and objectives were identified; a comprehensive program plan as well as specific intervention plans were created; …

The Effect Of Gender And Veteran Status On The Level Of Perceived Stigma Surrounding Ptsd, Ryan E. Lubock

Master's Theses

This paper explores how gender and veteran status effects the level of stigmatization around Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Participants were randomly assigned to one of four vignette conditions, which were distinguished by gender and veteran status. Participants were then asked to rate how they perceived the individual depicted in the vignette. The researchers analyzed the results by examining how the participants own report of gender, and masculinity, effected how each of the vignettes were judged. This paper addresses the stigma surrounding mental health in general, and more specifically how that stigma affects individuals suffering from PTSD across multiple domains. For …

Grooming As An Agonistic Behavior In Garnett’S Small-Eared Bushbaby (Otolemur Garnettii), Jennie L. Christopher

Master's Theses

Social behaviors are a necessary component of group living and interactions between organisms. To correctly assess social interactions, researchers must be able to observe behaviors and interpret their function based on the behavior or the behavioral context. In primate species, grooming is often used to assess affiliations between group members and the consensus has been to always interpret grooming as an affiliative behavior. However, a number of avian, rodent and feline species have been shown to groom conspecifics aggressively. These instances of aggressive grooming appear most often when individuals are required to maintain close proximity to one another, such as …

The Intersection Of Culture And Activism In The Filipino Community In Soma, Ericka J. Martynovych

Master's Theses

My research analyzes the intersection between culture and activism, through oral histories with participants and organizers of SoMa Pilipinas, the Filipino cultural heritage district in the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco. I analyzed the impact of the establishment of the Filipino cultural heritage district on the Filipino community in the South of Market neighborhood. I examined what motivates members of this community to be politically active by organizing and attending protests and rallies, speaking at Planning Commission hearings at City Hall, attending planning meetings for SoMa Pilipinas, building relationships across organizations and fields, and providing resources for community …

Going With The Flow: Using Menstrual Education As A Tool For Empowering Post Pubescent Nepali Girls, Graceann L. Cadiz

Master's Theses

Global discourse and research evidence on the benefits of girl’s education show that prioritizing girl’s education is the most successful strategy of breaking the cycle of poverty, gender inequality, and overpopulation. Moreover, there is a growing interest in closing the gender gap in education, but there has been insufficient attention to the specific needs of girls experiencing menses or menarche within schooling environments. The beginning of menstruation represents a pivotal event in development of the adolescent girl but is under-recognized and deemed insignificant with a culture of silence present throughout the rest of their lives. While providing access to education …

Overparenting And Emerging Adults' Mental Health: The Mediating Role Of Emotional Distress Tolerance, Christopher Michael Perez

Master's Theses

Overparenting is a type of parental control that features intense parental involvement, which is negatively associated with the development of age-appropriate autonomous behavior in children and emerging adults. To this point, overparenting has been linked to poor mental health in young children (Bayer, Sanson, & Hemphill, 2006; Gar & Hudson, 2008), as well as in emerging adults (LeMoyne & Buchanan, 2011; Segrin, Woszidlo, Givertz, & Montgomery, 2013). The emerging adult population has continued to be one of interest across recent studies concerning mental health, given the unique emotional and behavioral changes that arise during this stage of development. Emotional distress …

A Comparative Analysis Of Access To Reproductive Health Care In Laos And Southeast Asia, Malakhone Sonethavong

Master's Theses

This thesis research aims to unravel main barriers that prevent women from being able to access reproductive health care in Laos in comparison with other two Southeast Asia countries which are Thailand and Vietnam. The comparison of Laos, Thailand and Vietnam will be explored through an analysis of a literature review. This research explores the critical issues and on finding a mutual understanding between the role of the policy makers and the implementers of policies. At the end of the research, some recommendations on health care system improvement and personal perspective towards the rights of women on reproductive health and …

Sin And Its Place In The Experience Of Suffering: Presenting The Basis For A Sound Theodicy, Roman Wiens

Master's Theses

Topic

One of the most significant issues in theism is the obvious existence of evil and suffering. Thus many philosophers (especially Atheists) propose this fact alone negates the existence of an all-loving, omnipotent, and caring God. This attacks both the integrity of God and the coherence of the scriptural accounts. In response, theologians around the world proposed theodicies to show that the existence of a God, as portrayed in the Bible, is coherent with suffering in this world.

Purpose

The different approaches to this problem are categorized in four categories, outlined, and evaluated in one chapter about the most noteworthy …

The Art Of The Resistance: Participation In The Slipstream And Acts Of Resistance In A Culinary Re-Entry Program, Anna R. Wilcoxson

Master's Theses

Social policies since 1996 require that low income people participate in job training programs in order to receive social benefits under the “New Welfare State.” Many scholars have argued that job training programs aim to produce docile workers, who carry out only highly routinized work where little discretion is needed. Through ethnographic observation and interviews, I identify three means by which trainees manage the dual expectations of docility and the creativity demanded in a kitchen setting. First, they operate in a routine fashion, as if in a slipstream; second, they bank confidence by disregarding rules because of skill or favor …

Undergraduates' Understanding Of Sexual Consent, Melissa Ann Kinsella

Master's Theses

In 2014, the White House launched its public awareness campaign, It's On Us, to end sexual assault on college campuses. A large portion of the initiative implemented on college campuses has been dedicated to the issue of sexual consent. However, as past research has illustrated, consent is a complex issue (Beres, Herold, and Maitland 2004; Beres 2007; Humphreys 2007; Jozkowski and Peterson 2013; and Jozkowski, Peterson, Sanders, Dennis, and Reece 2014). It is one that nonetheless can and should be studied. Face-to-face, semi-structured interviews with self-selected sexually active undergraduate students were conducted in an attempt to untangle how students are …

An Investigation Into Discrimination: Racially Identifiable Names And The Effects They Have On The Home Renting Process, Francis Thomas Flynn

Master's Theses

Many urban sociologists do not adequately address ingrained systemic forms of racism

that exist in society today, such as the effects that racially identifiable names representing the larger idea of racial bias have on different social processes. This paper investigates racial housing discrimination in Chicago through analyzing the affect that racially identifiable names have on the home renting process. I conducted a field experiment in which I inquired about the availability of 96 properties throughout various locations in Chicago. Specifically, I created four email addresses linked to four racially identifiable names and sent the exact same fictitious email script from …

The Devil's In The Emails: A Sociological Examination Of Organizational Failure, William Howard Burr

Master's Theses

It is often argued that the market, with its "invisible hand," displays an inherent bent towards maximizing utility and delivering the "greatest good to the greatest number." Faith in the market to act as benevolent overlord is not only misguided but, as revealed during the Great Recession, a fantasy. Analyzing emails made public following the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, this paper considers the organizational culture within Lehman Brothers leading up to history's largest bankruptcy in order to emphasize the role of interaction within an outcome otherwise uncritically categorized as the unavoidable product of market fluctuations. Demonstrating how Lehman employees adopted the …

Filling Pews, Speaking Truth: Pro-Life Ministry In A Liberal Catholic Parish, Jonathan Neidorf

Master's Theses

Scholars of the pro-life movement in the United States have extensively documented how pro-lifers in this country feel that their cause is embattled by society (Williams and Blackburn 1996; Maxwell 2002; Munson 2008). Other research argues that conservative Catholics tend to feel that their Church is swept up in an increasing liberalization in greater society, which serves to compromise core moral tenets of the faith (Leege 1988; Weaver and Appleby 1995; Wedam 1993). No thorough research exists examining how pro-life Catholics see their Church's and their parish's liberalism as directly suppressing their pro-life work. In this ethnographic study of a …

Green Vs. White: An Examination Of Of Media Portrayals Of Radical Environmentalists And White Supremacists, Laurence Pedroni

Master's Theses

The rise of the Trump presidency has highlighted not only the white supremacist history of the U.S., but also reflects danger to the survival of the species in the form of wholesale climate change denial. These ideologies are not unique to Trump or his cabinet, instead reflecting long standing U.S. policy. This research seeks to examine how the U.S. media supports and propagates propaganda to support these hegemonic goals. Relevant literature and research seem to suggest that because radical environmental movements often challenge the hegemony of capital accumulation, they might be portrayed as more violent and a greater terrorist threat …

Using Recycled Water For Potable Reuse In Santa Clara County, Ca: High School Students' Knowledge And Acceptance, Nicholas Ronald Ajluni

Master's Theses

The drought-prone State of California has an ever increasing demand for water. Potable reuse provides a viable alternative water supply, but public attitudes, knowledge, and acceptance have limited implementation. This study investigated the knowledge and acceptance that high school students have towards potable reuse. Previous research has identified four critical factors that influence acceptance of potable reuse: 1) knowledge of the wastewater treatment process, 2) knowledge of local water supplies, 3) trust in local water resource managers, and 4) belief in the need for a new water supply. This study uses both quantitative and qualitative methods through a Likert-style survey …

Illegal Dumping As An Indicator For Community Social Disorganization And Crime, Amory Anne Brandt

Master's Theses

Illegal dumping of household waste in and around city streets results in many negative health, economic, and environmental effects. This goal of this study was to understand the systemic causes of illegal dumping within San José, California. Illegal dump sites were identified, quantified, characterized, and mapped within urban census block groups at a range of median family income levels. Results showed that commonly dumped debris types were furniture, and garbage. The most illegal dumping occurred within census block groups with low median family incomes, high percentages of non-English speaking individuals, and high percentages of renters. Factors such as social disorganization, …

An Analysis Of The Attitudes Of Undergraduate Theology Majors Towards Members Of The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Transgender Community, Jephet Williams

Master's Theses

Problem and Purpose

Research has identified students’ attitudes towards the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community as being determined partly by the students’ understanding of gender identity, and partly by a further mixture of variables that include religiosity, gender, and ethnicity. Most of this previous research has been undertaken in either secular or non-Adventist settings. This present study examines attitudes of undergraduate theology majors at two Adventist universities in North America and the Caribbean.

Method

A Likert Scale was constructed consisting of eight questions geared to elicit attitudes across a number of areas. Sixty-three students completed the questionnaire. Participating students …

Mémoires: The Revolutionary Map Of The Twentieth Century, Megan Merritt

Master's Theses

The artistic collaborations between Guy Debord and Asger Jorn blossomed in 1957, and have typically been explored in terms of their context within the canon of the Situationist International (SI), a notorious group of political thinkers and activists who formed in July, 1957, with a shared repulsion for capitalism and consumerism. Before co-founding the SI with Jorn and several other individuals, Debord was part of the Lettrist International, a splinter group of the Lettrists, which allowed Debord more authority and autonomy to create his first film, Hurlements en Faveur de Sade (Howls for Sade, 1954), and explore other media that …

“A (Blind) Woman's Place Is (Teaching) In The Home”: The Life Of Kate Foley, 1873-1940, Angela Gates

Master's Theses

This thesis examines the life and career of Kate Foley, home teacher of the blind with the California State Library from 1914-1940. The purpose of this investigation is to determine how Foley, who was disabled, built a successful career with the state library despite facing significant discrimination and prejudice. Using a wide variety of primary source material, including letters, library publications, conference proceedings, newspaper articles, and census data, this biography evaluates Foley’s pioneering role as well as the challenges she faced. Home teaching provided a new vocational opportunity for blind women, whose professional choices were extremely limited. Despite her unique …

Assessing The Effectiveness Of Micro-Level Poverty Interventions In The Highlands Of Guatemala, Jacqueline A. Castro

Master's Theses

Despite immense efforts of poverty alleviation in the Western highlands of Guatemala, poverty is intense and widespread. Amidst an abundant array of poverty interventions, existing evidence on those interventions are not sufficient. Highlighting basic knowledge regarding impact evaluations, this paper aims to determine the most effective poverty intervention for the Western highland areas of Guatemala. Focusing on impact evaluations, this paper reviews 17 Latin American interventions, paying close attention to what may be applicable to this region. Using only the highest quality data from Latin America, it is clear that cash transfers and graduation programs are the most impactful interventions …

Sino Ako? (Who Am I?): Exploring Filipino American Identity In Philippine Studies Courses, Omega Loren Letana

Master's Theses

Filipinos make up the third largest immigrant population in the United States and are the largest Asian immigrant group in California (U.S. Census, 2010). Despite this and an American colonial past, the American education system has failed to depict Filipino and Filipino American history accurately in its textbooks and courses. In addition to this, studies have indicated that young Filipino Americans often have difficulties in defining their identities. It is imperative that we recognize how this issue of identity formation is being addressed in postsecondary institutions through Philippine Studies courses, which employ decolonizing pedagogies.

This thesis paper analyzes the role …

Distorting The Life Of Maca (Lepidium Miyenii), Fabiola Tavui

Master's Theses

The supply and demand of maca (Lepidium Miyenii), a native Peruvian vegetable, increased over the past decade; however, it has recently reduced. There are many implications for this outcome. Maca, a product with several health benefits, caught the attention of not just foreign businesses and investors but also of Peruvians. As maca became highly commercialized and exported abroad, the actors involved in the maca “business” at all levels contributed to its market to prospered but also to crumble. Some of the reasons due to the exploitation of maca itself for economic gains; distorting maca’s ecological environment and relation …

Long Working Hours, Happiness, And Quality Of Democracy With The Case Studies Of Japan And Denmark, Yu Namie

Master's Theses

This thesis aims to reveal the hypothesis that long working hour reduce people’s happiness and undermine democracy. For achieving this goal, this study clarifies the relationship between long working hours, happiness, and political engagement. Moreover, in order to seek the way to increase social happiness, it tries to figure out how global free market economy relates the working hours. The research method mainly relies on the fieldwork in Japan and Denmark.

First, this study succeeded to reinforce the argument that long working hour negatively influenced people’s happiness. Also, if we define the quality of democracy as the society constituted with …