Digital Commons Network^™

The Relationship Of Motivation And Psychological Skills Of Senior Game Participants To Performance., Keiba Lynn Shaw

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Involvement in physical activity and sports in the senior population has been shown within the literature to provide these athletes with improved health status and psychological benefits (McPherson, 1984). To date, few studies have examined psychological factors, such as motivation and psychological skills, in relation to senior athletes' participation in competitive sports. The sport psychology literature does include the measurement of the constructs of motivation and psychological skills via the use of the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory - 28 (ACSI-28) (Smith, Schultz, Smoll, & Ptacek, 1995) and the Sport Motivation Scale (SMS) (Pelletier, Fortier, Vallerand, Tuson, Briere, & Blais, 1995) …

Departure: A Novella And Other Stories., William Matthew Carter

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Departure: A Novella and Other Stories is my master’s thesis written during the fall semester of 2000. The novella and two of the stories are original works created during this time. The remaining stories were written during various fiction workshops. The stories and novella all deal with individuals coming to the precipice of a major experience in their lives. My work deals with the psychological or worldly concerns these characters must ponder in deciding whether to withdraw, act, or leap from their precipice. Some themes I explore in this work as a whole include addictions, homelessness, death, and physical, mental, …

The Relationship Of Interviewer's Communication Behaviors And Applicant's Evaluation Of The Interviewer., Seft George Hunter

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The present study sought to explain the nature of the relationship between interviewers’ communication behavior (willingness to communicate, self-perceived communication competence, and socio-communicative style) and applicants’ perception of credibility (competence, trustworthiness, and goodwill), general attitude toward the interviewer and belief that the interviewer should continue interviewing for her/his company. Results indicated that: (1) there was a significant positive relationship between perceived WTC, competence, goodwill, trustworthiness, general attitude toward the interviewer, and belief that the interviewer should continue interviewing for her/his organization; (2) perceived communication competence was positively correlated with competence, goodwill, trustworthiness, general attitude toward the interviewer, and belief that …

The Phenomenological Lived Experience Of Rheumatoid Arthritis., Monica Lena Iaquinta

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Previous qualitative studies about the lived experience of persons with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have yielded common themes, such as becoming aware, seeking help, learning to live with the disease, and uncertainty (Brown & Williams, 1995; Ryan, 1996; Shaul, 1995, 1997; Yoshida, 1996). Gaps identified included lack of personalized guidance and support from health care providers, gender differences, and the active role of the patient in managing the disease (Brown & Williams, 1995; Ryan, 1996; Shaul 1995, 1997). This study addressed two of the three gaps previously mentioned: (a) personalized nursing care, and (b) patient as active manager of the disease. …

Defining Environmental Theology: Content Analysis Of Associated Literature., Robert J. Jacobus

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Environmental theology is a term used often by religious communities describing theological doctrines concerning the relationship of deity and ethical conduct to the environment. After an extensive literature search, an operational or declarative definition for environmental theology was not discovered. The objectives of this study were to establish an explicit and scholarly definition of environmental theology and introduce deoview as a descriptor associated with the term. People have and will continue to act according to their belief systems: this paper has value in understanding beliefs, ethics, and behavior of people and people groups.

An Examination Of The Role Of Cognitive Readiness And Self-Efficacy In Parenting Stress And Coping., Ellen Winifred Leen

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Cognitive readiness and self-efficacy are similar in that they can be thought of as components of the secondary appraisal process of stress and coping, and each construct includes parental knowledge. We examined self-efficacy and cognitive readiness as they relate to processes of stress and coping, expecting that overlap between the constructs would be accounted for by the role of knowledge. Sixty mothers of toddlers completed questionnaire packets. Our data revealed that, while distinct, cognitive readiness and maternal self-efficacy relate in similar manners to problem-focused coping, and that relation was mediated by stress. This finding suggests that cognitive readiness and self-efficacy …

Vocabulary Cards As A Strategy For Vocabulary Acquisition Of English As A Second Language: The Learners' Perspectives., Maria Teresa Barbosa Das Neves

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The use of vocabulary cards has been advocated by various authors (Gairns and Redman, 1986; McCarthy, 1990; Schmitt and Schmitt, 1995; Hopkins and Bean, 1997) as a strategy to enhance vocabulary acquisition in both first language and second language acquisition. However, there has not been much focus on the students’ perspectives of this strategy. The present study examines the learners’ perspectives of the use of vocabulary cards as a vocabulary learning strategy with special emphasis given to the use of drawing as a strategy. Data were collected via a questionnaire, in class observation and interviews with both learners and instructors. …

A Comparison Of The Instructional Effectiveness Of Intensive And Semester-Length Courses., Marc C. Seamon

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A broad research literature base on the instructional effectiveness of intensive-format courses often finds the intensive courses equal or superior to semester-length versions, but many of the studies from which those conclusions are drawn were theoretically or methodologically flawed. This examination of student characteristics and instructional effectiveness in one matched pair of educational psychology classes found that students in the intensive version of the course performed significantly better than students in the semester-length course on posttests of content and questions tapping higher-order learning. Despite indications of better learning in the intensive-course group, the two groups of students did not differ …

Social Exchange Theory, Interpersonal Communication Motives, And Volunteerism: Identifying Motivation To Volunteer And The Rewards And Costs Associated., Michael Wesley Corrigan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The research objective of this study was to identify the motives behind an individual’s reasons for volunteering and discuss the equilibrium of rewards versus costs needed in order to sustain and better manage volunteer staffs. The participants for this study were drawn from a sample population of 177 individuals from three states (Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia) who actively participated as volunteers. The sample participants were active volunteers in six different organizations that assisted hospital patients, underprivileged or at-risk youth, church related concerns, schools, and other miscellaneous services. Answers to the research questions proposed in this study offered a start …

Student Preceptions Of Teacher Violations Of Expected Verbal And Nonverbal Immediate Behaviors., Amy M. Denson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study examined student expectations of teacher behavior and how violations of those expectations are evaluated by students. The purpose of this research was to determine whether or not students hold certain expectations about their teachers and if so, which types of behaviors were expected or not expected of classroom teachers. Students were asked to complete the Immediacy Expectation Scale (IES) to determine if teachers were expected to use immediate behaviors and also to determine if teachers were expected to not misbehave. Students were further asked to read four scenarios that manipulated teachers as high or low in immediacy and …

Object-Oriented Expert System Design: Texpert., Maryam Farmani

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Object-Orientation is a powerful approach to managing complexity, which has received widespread attention in the past few years. Object-Oriented Design is based on a small number of basic concepts: object, classes, operations and relationships. Some important relationships are inheritance, message passing, and encapsulation. Different methods and notations have been proposed within this paradigm, and a Unified Modeling Language has been developed based on several of these methods. Most rule-based expert systems are not flexible enough to handle problems that mix logical deductions, rule-based inferences, and procedure execution, but mixed problems are common in modern society. Management decisions, for example, are …

Agrammatic Verb Errors In Spanish Speakers And Their Normal Discourse Correlates, Jose G. Centeno, Loraine Obler

Publications and Research

Agrammatic verb errors are characterized by a reliance on simple verb forms without elaborated inflectional markings. Yet agrammatism studies on verbs have not addressed the possible correlations that might exist between pre-morbid verb use patterns and agrammatic verb production, especially frequency in oral discourse. Spanish, a language with a highly inflected verb system, is a useful context to explore this interaction. This study investigated agrammatic and normal verb use for those Spanish verb tenses found in daily conversation (Silva-Corval/m, 1983; Bentivoglio and Sedano, 1992). We analyzed agrammatic verb performance in spoken discourse and a sentence repetition task, and compared it …

Prophetic Preaching To Resistant Audiences: A Call For Change, Charles Rayburn Ferguson

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem. Recent trends in homiletics emphasize preaching about the listeners’ felt-needs. Often the nature of prophetic-preaching requires the preacher to address needs that are not felt by the listeners. This present study was to create a homiletical strategy for preaching unpopular truths and about needs that are unperceived by the listeners. This study was also to identify some unpopular truths and unperceived needs of the Spokane Valley Seventh-day Adventist Church that were to be addressed in a series of sermons.

Method. A biblical study was conducted into the role of the preacher as prophet. This study compared the techniques used …

"Just As Good As They Are": Voices Of Contemporary Women Involved In Farming And Ranching In North Dakota, Heidi L. Dyrstad

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the current experiences of women involved in farming and ranching in North Dakota. Specifically, women from across the state of North Dakota were interviewed to further our understanding of their lives as they experienced and reacted to the changing nature of agriculture. Interviewing was employed as the primary method of investigation to allow the women's voices to be conveyed directly to others.

Through analysis based in grounded theory methodology, three descriptive assertions emerged from the interview data, and they are as follows: (1) The women involved in farming and ranching in this …

The Comprehensibility Of Plain Language And Non Plain Language Minnesota Civil Jury Instructions, Kathryn J. Apostal

Theses and Dissertations

A substantial volume of research (e.g., Charrow & Charrow, 1979; Elwork, Sales & Alfini, 1977, 1982) suggests that jurors do not understand the often-convoluted language of standard jury instructions. Some states have recently simplified their instructions, but others continue to debate whether change is beneficial. This study was designed to investigate whether "plain language" jury instructions lead to improved comprehension. College students listened to either new, plain language Minnesota jury instructions or older Minnesota jury instructions addressing the same topics. Participants then took a written comprehension test covering legal rules contained in the instructions. Participants also completed a Nelson-Denny vocabulary …

Embracing The Darkness: Logerquist V. Mcvey And The Doctrine Of Ignorance Of Science Is An Excuse, David L. Faigman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

From Difference To Dominance To Domesticity: Care As Work, Gender As Tradition, Joan C. Williams

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Private Choices And Public Law Richard A. Posner's Contributions To Family Law And Policy, Ben Depoorter, Francesco Parisi

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.