Digital Commons Network^™

Fall 2009, Full Issue

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

No abstract provided.

Exploring The First Year Of Teaching Through Focus Group Discussions, Ethno-Mimesis, A/R/Tography, And Performance Ethnography, Marilyn F. Cullen-Reavill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The United States is focusing on the important and worthy goal of no child being left behind and in order to accomplish this goal, we must ensure that no teacher, including the first-year teacher, is left behind. This study explores the experiences of three first-year teachers on a monthly basis and uncovers the successes, challenges, supports, and needs that they encounter.

Five research questions guided this study: 1. What are the experiences of a group of first-year teachers and in what ways were these experiences challenging, supportive, or detrimental? 2. What are the benefits for the first-year teachers in meeting …

The Power Of Dance: How Dance And Emotion Connect, Krista Blankenship, Chastin Oliver

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

The purpose of this study was to test whether or not audiences could experience emotions portrayed by dance performances. The researchers hypothesized that if the audience can identify the emotion being expressed, then they would experience that same emotion. The researchers also predicted that music would cause a greater level of emotional reaction to the performance. The participants watched two dance videos, one portraying a sad emotion and the other a love/passion emotion and rated their emotional reactions. After analyzing the data, the hypothesis was proven only partially correct. The participants who correctly identified the emotion portrayed in the video …

Picture Perfect Job: An Analysis Of The Effects Of Weight On Internship Interviews, John R. Gatermann, Kimberly N. Gould

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

The purpose of this study was to discover if weight perception has an effect on obtaining an internship. It was hypothesized that a less qualified individual with an average weight appearance will be chosen more often than a qualified person who was above average weight when compared for an internship. Furthermore, people’s perception of weight and how they perceive others based on weight was observed. In the study, participants were directed to evaluate two resumes: one being qualified and one being unqualified and each having either an average weight or above average weight candidate’s photo identification attached. Then, the participants …

Coffee Preferences And Personality, Kristin E. Lantzy

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

This study explored the relationship between the personality traits of conscientiousness and openness and coffee habits/preferences. A total of 50 participants were included in the study. All participants took part in a personality survey, and those who were coffee drinkers took part in a secondary survey assessing their coffee drinking habits/preferences. Participants with high openness scores had a weak positive correlation with the average cups of coffee consumed per week. They consumed slightly more cups of coffee/week on average. Participants with high conscientiousness scores had a weak negative correlation with the average cups of coffee consumed per week. These participants …

Prism #42, November 2009, Office Of The Provost

Prism: Western Michigan University's Newsletter for Academic Affairs

No abstract provided.

Aligning Nietzsche's "Genealogical" Philosophy With Democratic Educational Reform, James Magrini

Philosophy Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Scientific Review: Minimum Age For Swim Lessons, Stephen J. Langendorfer, Linda Quan, Francesco A. Pia, Roy Fielding, Peter G. Wernicki, David Markenson

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

No abstract provided.

Acfasp Advisory: Minimum Age For Swim Lessons, American Red Cross Advisory Council On First Aid, Aquatics, Safety, And Prevention (Acfasp)

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Mad Money Stock Recommendations: Merging Financial And Marketing Perspectives, Ekaterina Karniouchina, William L. Moore, Kevin J. Cooney

Business Faculty Articles and Research

This article relies on advertising and persuasive communications theories to uncover persistent variations in investor response to television stock recommendations targeting naive investors. The authors use an event study methodology to determine the size of the next-day abnormal market reaction to recommendations on Mad Money with Jim Cramer. Although viewers are actively looking for recommendations, the results show that any individual recommendation is still subject to many of the same communication challenges as traditional advertisements. A regression analysis finds that traditional advertising variables, such as message length, recency-primacy effects, information clutter, and source credibility, influence the size of the market …

Innovative Public Engagement Practices And Partnerships: Lifting Stakeholder Voices In Education Accountability Policy, Monica Wills, Curtis Brewer, Robert Knoeppel, James Witte, Roy Pargas, Jane Clark Lindle

Publications

In 2008, due to increasing stakeholder dissatisfaction with assessment results and school report cards, South Carolina revised its 1998 Educational Accountability Act and required public engagement with stakeholders including parents/guardians, educators, business and community leaders, and taxpayers. The legislation created partnerships between SC‟s Education Oversight Committee (EOC) and Clemson University. The project also brought together within the university the fields of Applied Sociology, Computer Science, and Educational Leadership. The project involved mixed methods using phone/web surveys with focus groups eliciting perceptions from key stakeholders and under-represented voices in the surveys.

A Phenomenological Study Of Clinicians Treating Traumagenic Compulsions Resulting From Childhood Sexual Abuse, Albert Sarno

Faculty Dissertations

Various types of traumatic compulsive behaviors have been observed by practicing mental health clinicians and yet there is a lack of consensus among such clinicians for treating people in such a problematic state when there is also a history of childhood sexual abuse. Ten seasoned clinicians, each with over 15 years experience in treating patients with traumagenic compulsions and childhood sexual abuse were interviewed to explore their lived experience treating people with traumagenic compulsions due to childhood sexual abuse. A phenomenological design was used to asses the data collected in the study. The data were analyzed to determine the best …

An Examination Of Love And Marital Satisfaction In Long-Term Marriages, Rebeca Isabel Estrada

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There has been little marital research that focuses on contributing factors to successful long-term marriage and even less focus on the role that love plays in long-term marriage. As a means of furthering this research, the purpose of the current study was to examine levels of satisfaction in couples in long-term marriages and to identify contributing factors to an enduring marriage. This study also examined the significance of love and changes in love after 35+ years of marriage. Through the use of qualitative methodology five couples who were self-identified as "happy" in their marriage and who had been married at …

Approach At Marketing, Douglas Meyer

Art and Design

In this senior paper I wanted to work on marketing a chair through different angles of design. These angles include logo design, photography, packaging design and a few advertising works to go along. I felt that the broad parts of this project would help in creating a portfolio piece that I have designed from the ground up. In reading my paper you will see the different approaches that were made and what ones worked. In all the pieces I am going to have to research to find the best way to approach these made up problems.

Reference Universe, Pete Mcdonnell, Kellian Clink

Library Services Publications

This original research described a comparison of 50 composition topics taken from my library instruction sessions with Reference Universe versus simple keyword searching of the online catalog. Pete and I concluded that twenty-three percent of the "good" hits in Reference Universe were also found in OPAC search and that the OPAC search found fewer "good" hits overall; but also found different relevant resources.

Exploring The Motivations Of Base Jumpers: Extreme Sport Enthusiasts, Tara L. Allman, Robin D. Mittelstaedt, Bruce Martin, Marni Goldenberg

Recreation, Parks and Tourism Administration

Little previous research has been conducted exploring the motivational factors that influence a person's desire to participate in extreme sports. The researchers used a means-end approach (e.g. semi-structured interviews) to explore motivations for participation in the extreme sport of BASE jumping. BASE jumping is the activity of parachuting from bridges, buildings, antennas, and cliffs, in which participants have been identified as voluntary-risk takers. The results indicated that BASE jumpers deliberately took risks as a means of becoming positively transformed, which was essential to their quality of life. The study findings hold important implications for researchers interested in further studies of …

An Ecological Perspective On The Role Of Nondisclosure In Urban African American Adolescents Exposed To Community Violence: Using Mediation And Moderated Mediation Approaches, Sonya Jane Mathies Dinizulu

College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations

The present study examines Community Exposure to Violence, Nondisclosure, Parent- Child Attachment, and Social Support, as potential risk and protective factors in a school-based sample of urban African American adolescents. This study also presents an ecological perspective on the role of Nondisclosure in urban African American early adolescents. The Ecological Systems Theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) examines a child’s development within the context of systems of relationships that form his or her environment, such as the microsystem (i.e., a system in which the adolescent has direct contact). Particularly, this study tested conceptual models in which adolescents’ nondisclosure to adults (a microsystem occuring …

Systems Of Care And The Prevention Of Mental Health Problems For Children And Their Families: Integrating Counseling Psychology And Public Health Perspectives, Melissa L. Whitson, Stanley N. Bernard, Joy S. Kaufman

Psychology Faculty Publications

The purpose of this paper is to present systems of care as an example of how counseling psychology and public health overlap with regards to prevention and intervention approaches for children's mental health. A framework for prevention is presented as is the state of children's mental health promotion, with a particular focus on ecological and systemic approaches to children's mental health and how these approaches cut across multiple perspectives. Systems of care are highlighted as an example of the congruence of prevention and ecological or systemic approaches to address the mental health promotion of children and their families, with the …

Meeting The Carnegie Report's Challenge To Make Legal Analysis Explicit - Subsidiary Skills To The Irac Framework, Nelson P. Miller, Bradley J. Charles

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Life Domain Research Report Series: Social Connections And Community Conduct (2010 Update), Lirondel Hazineh, Karen Frensch, Michele Preyde, Gary Cameron

Partnerships for Children and Families Project

Understanding how youth participate in social networks with peers and friends, engage in social or leisure activities, and more generally forge healthy relationships with others are key considerations in assessing overall well being of youth. Among a variety of emotional and behavioural challenges faced by children and youth involved with residential treatment or intensive family services may be their ability to negotiate relationships within social contexts (Cameron, de Boer, Frensch, & Adams, 2003).

Data were collected about youth who had been involved with children’s mental health residential treatment (RT) or intensive family service programs (IFS), designed as an alternative to …

Sports Franchises, Stadiums, And City Livability: An Examination Of Professional Sports And Crime Rates, Robert Baumann, Bryan Engelhardt, Victor Matheson, Taylor Ciavarra

Economics Department Working Papers

We estimate the impact sporting events have on local crime rates using the technique developed in Arellano and Bond (2001). For events, we consider the presence of MLB, NBA, NFL, and NHL franchises as well as whether a city held one of the respective championships, the Olympics, or World Cup matches. We find little to no evidence that sporting events are correlated with either property or violent crime.

Tricky Turnings Of The Screw(Ed): The Poetic, Ethical, And Erotic Mystery Of Self-Reflexive Fakery And Illusion, Brian Nowlin

Trickster's Way

No abstract provided.

Optimal Reserve Prices In Name-Your-Own-Price Auctions With Bidding And Channel Options, Gangshu (George) Cai, Xiuli Chao, Jianbin Li

Information Systems and Analytics

Few papers have explored the optimal reserve prices in the name-your-own-price (NYOP) channel with bidding options in a multiple channel environment. In this paper, we investigate a double-bid business model in which the consumers can bid twice in the NYOP channel, and compare it with the single-bid case. We also study the impact of adding a retailer-own list-price channel on the optimal reserve prices. This paper focuses on achieving some basic understanding on the potential gain of adding a second bid option to a single-bid system and on the potential benefits of adding a list-price channel by the NYOP retailer. …

Prologue, Michiko Nohara-Leclair

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

No abstract provided.

The Sense Of Smell And Its Effect On Attraction, Grant Perkins

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

The effect of cologne/perfume on attractiveness was examined, as well as the differences between the effect of cologne/perfume and sex. Twenty-seven participants ranging from 18-22 years of age were recruited for the experiment. The purpose of this study was to determine if putting cologne/perfume on an individual will make that person more attractive to the opposite sex than if he/she did not put on cologne/perfume. The rationale behind this is that there are a lot of advertisements about cologne and perfume that portray the people in the advertisements as more desirable after he/she sprays cologne on their skin. The hypothesis …

Nuclear Proliferation And Authority In World Politics, Brian Frederking Ph.D., Kaitlyne Motl, Nishant Timilsina

Journal of International and Global Studies

We apply the “security-hierarchy paradox” to nuclear proliferation. Global security requires a certain amount of hierarchy. A world in which no nuclear proliferation rules exist to constrain states, for example, would not be secure. Global security requires legitimate and authoritative rules, which we define as rules that are mutually negotiated, binding to all and which provide a stable social order. Too much hierarchy, however, amounts to coercion and undermines global security. Rules that are not mutually negotiated, binding to all or do not provide a stable social order are not authoritative. We argue that North Korea and Iran have attempted …

Becoming The Boss: Discretion And Postsuccession Success In Family Firms, J. R. Mitchell, Timothy A. Hart, Sorin Valcea, David M. Townsend

Business Faculty Publications

Family firms can enjoy substantial longevity. Ironically, however, they are often imperiled by the very process that is essential to this longevity. Using the concept of managerial discretion as a starting point, we use a human agency lens to introduce the construct of successor discretion as a factor that affects the family business succession process. While important in general, successor discretion is positioned as a particularly relevant factor for productively managing organizational renewal in family businesses. This study represents a foundation for future empirical research investigating the role of agency in entrepreneurial action in the family business context, which consequently …

The Influence Of Affective Ties On Children's Consequential Reasoning About Ambiguous Provocation Situations, Jennifer R. Maulden

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Past models (i.e., Crick and Dodge, 1994) of children’s social information processing (SIP) have neglected to include the role of emotions in children’s reasoning during social situations. A recent reformulation (Lemerise and Arsenio, 2000) updated Crick and Dodge’s model to incorporate emotions and their impact on children’s processing. Since then, studies have examined the influence of emotion in children’s SIP, but few have investigated the impact of children’s affective ties with their peers. This study explores the effect of the participant’s relationship with the provocateur on subsequent consequential reasoning concerning possible hostile, passive, and competent response; in addition, it addresses …

Socialization In Chinese Academic Immigrants' Conversion To Christianity, Zhan Jiang

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The aim of this research is to find social factors in Chinese academic immigrants’ conversion to Christianity using the perspectives of symbolic interactionism and social exchange theory. The research data are drawn from observation and interviews. Fourteen Chinese student converts were interviewed. The analysis focuses on the interaction between recruits and Christians. Results supported the idea that religious conversion happens progressively. Affective bonds are essential for the religious conversion of Chinese academic immigrants. Chinese Christian converts experienced five stages. First, they develop affective commitment to Christians close to them and regard them as their reference group. Second, an emergent generalized …

Relinquished Responsibilities, Penny White

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.