Digital Commons Network^™

A Qualitative Study Of A Stepfather’S Perceptions Of Their Role In A Successful Second Marriage In A Blended Family, Kathy Barbee Thornton

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This phenomenological study aimed to comprehensively understand the unique perspective of remarried men as stepfathers within the context of second marriages in blended families. The research delved into the lived experiences of these individuals to shed light on their roles, challenges, and contributions to the dynamic of blended households. By applying Bowen’s family systems theory (FST) to the constructs relevant to blended families, this study offers a resource to the professional counseling community and support for blended families facing various issues. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews focused on the stepfather’s role and responsibilities within the blended family structure. The narratives …

Thematic Analysis Of Medium And New Medium Theories On Popular Netflix Series’ Facebook Audience Engagement, Priyadarshini G. Roy

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative study aimed to find the recurring themes amidst Facebook audience engagement of the Netflix drama series. The series sampling size was collected from Nielsen Ratings (2023) and Netflix’s (2022) top ten charts for three consecutive months from 11/4/2022-1/29/2023. Netflix was the most-watched streaming platform, with 80% of viewership, with drama being the most prevalent genre. The theoretical frameworks were medium and new medium theories. The Craig’s traditions were sociopsychological and sociocultural. The literature review expanded on the impact of the medium of streaming media, the binge-watching phenomenon, and genre studies. Five hundred ninety-one comments were manually scraped and …

Impact Of Parental Involvement On The Academic Performance Of African American Elementary School Students: A Multiple Regression Analysis, Olayinka Oluwole Falayi

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This quantitative, predictive correlational study investigated the influence of parental involvement on the academic performance of African American students in elementary school. This study is important in determining why African American academic scores and performance are low when compared to their White counterparts. The findings of this study will also be helpful to educational stakeholders, teachers, and the enrichment of existing literature; this is because the study provides more insight into how parental involvement in student learning can influence students' academic achievement. Participants for this study were sampled from elementary school parents/students via convenience sampling. The grade levels utilized include …

Exploring Educator Experiences Of Instructing Students With Disabilities During A Crisis: A Phenomenological Study, Laqueta Marie Wilson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe teacher experiences in educating students with disabilities during a pandemic for K-5 teachers at John James K-8 school in the southeastern United States. The theory guiding this study was Bandura’s (1986) social cognitive learning theory, as it related to the importance of social learning on learners' cognition. Also, Universal Design for Learning was highlighted to suggest that all students should be taught in an inclusive setting. The central research question driving this study was, what are the lived post-pandemic experiences of general K-5 educators who instruct students with disabilities who return …

Grow Through What You Go Through: A Qualitative Case Study On Trauma-Informed Education, Allison Teicher Fahrbach

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this multiple case study was to describe how employees in a large school district in the northeastern United States implement trauma-informed education practices. The insights illustrated how trauma-informed practices are utilized in the district. The theory guiding this study was Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which explains the process of reaching self-actualization. The methodology used in this research was the embedded multiple case study. Through the qualitative research displayed, twelve Northeastern school district employees discussed trauma-informed education practices. Individual interviews, focus groups, and journal prompts provided insight into trauma-informed education practices, which were analyzed by determining patterns and …

Qualitative Case Study Regarding Experiences Of Freedom Of Speech On College And University Campuses In The United States, Jeffrey Dana Ward

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to examine how suppression of free speech on college and university campuses in Southtown, USA affects student self-efficacy. The theory guiding my study is Bandura’s social cognitive theory as it will evaluate the interplay between the system and environment sources of influence at Secular university Christian university in Southtown, USA. How has freedom of speech on college and university campuses affected the self-efficacy of college students in faith-based organizations? Interviews and focus groups were utilized to collect data for this central research question. Thematic analysis and coding was utilized to analyze the data collected. …

The Public Montessori Journey: A Phenomenological Study Of The Transition Experiences Of Public Montessori Teacher Interns, Krystal Michelle Perkins

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe novice Montessori teachers' practicum experiences in public Montessori schools in the United States. Through the lens of Schlossberg’s transition theory, this study sought to answer the central research question: How do novice Montessori teachers describe their experience in public Montessori teaching practicums? Sub-questions sought to identify the expectations of novice Montessori teachers as they moved into the experience, as well as the supports available or unavailable and coping strategies employed as they moved through the experience. This qualitative transcendental phenomenological research explored the central phenomenon of 10 novice Montessori teachers’ practicum …

Assessment Revision Of ‘Perceptions Of Disabled Veterans In The Civilian Workforce’, Rebecca L. Reed

Pacific Journal of Health

As there continues to be limited research related to perceptions of disability status in the workforce, specific to the veteran population, the importance of employer understanding as well as willingness to provide accommodations is necessary to help promote change. This study carefully reviewed the assessment tool used by Reed (2016) to measure perceptions towards hiring disabled veterans as they enter the civilian workforce. To help support validity and/or reliability of the tool previously used, two professional experts were interviewed to provide feedback on the data tool in support of revisions. The vignettes, job attainment questionnaire, and demographics questionnaire were revised …

“Everybody Better Care”: A Qualitative Exploration Of Environmental Documentaries And Psychological Distance, Cassandra Lc Troy

Kaleidoscope: A Graduate Journal of Qualitative Communication Research

Severe problems like climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss demand urgent action. Unfortunately, people can tend to view such problems as distant, failing to feel that they are relevant to their lives. Psychological distance may play a role in such perceptions. In order to understand how environmental documentaries, which are often used to educate the public about the environment, may influence perceptions of psychological distance, environmental film festival attendees and organizers were interviewed. Qualitative analysis revealed complex reactions to depictions of environmental issues in films, with perceived severity playing a key role in conceptions of spatial, social, and temporal distance. …

A Qualitative Inquiry Into The Role Of Communication In Reputation Management During Compounding Health Crises, Shawna Dias, Romy Rw

Kaleidoscope: A Graduate Journal of Qualitative Communication Research

This research aims to evaluate how organizations manage their reputations with publics through compounding crises. The research applies concepts of public relations and crisis management, including situational crisis communication theory and organization-public relationship management. The research investigates a case of compounding health crises at a prominent American University, and assesses how communication managers prioritized publics and issue response, coordinated their communication strategies, and revised their communication practices in the wake of the compounding crises. Interviews were conducted with the three public relations managers who managed the events, and analysis was conducted on the University’s published social media content and artifacts …

Inauthenticity, Delusion, And Victimization: Interrogating Affective Rhetoric Targeting Trans* Youth, Ben Bishop

Kaleidoscope: A Graduate Journal of Qualitative Communication Research

In this essay, I interrogate Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s KP-0401, a 2022 legal opinion letter that frames gender affirming healthcare as dangerous, sterilizing, and therefore, child abuse. Within this framing, trans* youth are presented as both delusional and deviant, written off as victims of abuse and social contagion. In analyzing KP-0401 through a critical perspective of affect and performativity, I demonstrate how particular affects have gained power through their circulation to reify feelings and performances of cisheteronormativity, often through establishing the trans* body as a source of negative affect, like fear or repulsion, and trans* youth as infantile and …

Trans-Centered Acceptance Within A University: Offering A Model Of Acceptance Created By And Centered Around Trans Student Experiences, Sean Te Maulding

Kaleidoscope: A Graduate Journal of Qualitative Communication Research

Despite attending the same universities and working toward the same degrees, trans students and cisgender students do not always have the same perceptions of acceptance at their university. The transmale, gender nonconforming, and gender nonbinary students who participated in this study continue to experience a layer of rejection due to their gender identities and expressions. Using queer theory and feminist standpoint theory, this study sought to answer the question of what acceptance looks like from the standpoint of trans students at the University. Through these theoretical lenses and thematic analysis, it was determined that there were four general levels of …

Additional Front Matter, Kaleidoscope Editor

Kaleidoscope: A Graduate Journal of Qualitative Communication Research

No abstract provided.

Investigating The Effects Of Message Framing On College Students' Risk Perceptions And Protective Responses To Adenovirus, Shawna Dias, Romy Rw

Kaleidoscope: A Graduate Journal of Qualitative Communication Research

The purpose of this study is to investigate how message framing influences people’s risk perceptions, protective action decision making, and behavioral response. We make a case for both revising and extending the use of the protective action decision model (PADM) and message framing theory to examine the message characteristics of the adenovirus warnings during this crisis event, as well as participants’ impressions and behavioral responses to health risk communication messages. The data were collected from three focus group sessions, held at the University of Maryland. We found evidence to suggest that fear appeals and efficacy focused messaging may increase the …

My Anger Is Still A Small Boy: (Dis)Embodied Anger As Survival, Damon Darling

Kaleidoscope: A Graduate Journal of Qualitative Communication Research

The stories found within these pages disclose graphic and intimate details regarding numerous accounts of physical, sexual, and drug-based assaults. These stories are raw, they are bloody, and they are mine. There are parts of me that I wish I could continue to remain silent about. However, I hold on to hope that these pages may offer some form of healing for myself and for (potentially) you. Given the nature of these pages, reader, I implore you to approach the essay carefully and cautiously. In this paper, I performatively engage with an internal family system of various personae that have …

Front Matter, Kaleidoscope Editor

Kaleidoscope: A Graduate Journal of Qualitative Communication Research

No abstract provided.

Refereed Research - Breaking The Shackles Of Poverty: How Bridging Ties Enable Subsistence Entrepreneurs To Upgrade Their Businesses To A Prosperous Level, Asifa Ilyas, Ralf Wagner

Subsistence Marketplaces

Subsistence entrepreneurs establish and run their business ventures under harsh economic and social conditions. These survival-driven businesses are impoverished and generate insufficient income for entrepreneurs and their families. Subsistence entrepreneurs can break this vicious poverty cycle by upscaling their ventures into more sustainable and profitable businesses. However, it is not clear what prevents these entrepreneurs from developing more prosperous and sustainable business ventures.

This study fills the gap by investigating the effect of bridging social ties on subsistence businesses' performance. Further, the study examines the impact of group identity, jealousy, gender, and power on subsistence entrepreneurs' efforts to build bridging …

Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Publications Review Board Now Operative

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The instituting of a formalized system of reviewing articles considered for possible F.A.R.M.S. publication was mentioned in the Fall 1987 Newsletter. The procedure operates under the aegis of the Evaluation Committee, whose members are Wilford Hess (BYU, microbiology), Douglas Phillips (BYU, classics), Harold Miller (BYU psychology), and Jay Todd (The Ensign). Committee chairman John Sorenson, the acting Evaluation Editor, is assisted by members of a new Publications Review Board, including Gerald Bradford (UC-Irvine, religious studies), John Clark (BYU-NWAF, anthropology), James Faulconer (BYU, philosophy), Stanley Kimball (So. Illin., history), Dan Peterson (BYU, Near Eastern languages), John Robertson (BYU, linguistics), Kent Robson …

Two More Audio Tapes Available

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

All year, Russell Peek has been organizing the F.A.R.M.S. Hugh Nibley tape archive. Several hundred recordings of firesides, Sunday School lessons, and talks have been gathered. Many of these recordings have been transferred to archive quality master, thanks especially to Gordon H. Peck in Las Vegas and Michael K. Jensen in Provo. The tapes are now being cataloged.

Audio Tapes Of Nibley Book Of Mormon Class Available, Russell Peek

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Those interested in an additional resource for study of the Book of Mormon in 1988 will be rewarded by the audio tapes of Dr. Hugh Nibley's upper division Book of Mormon class at BYU. Russell Peek and a team of recording technicians have captured on cassette tape more than 50 hours of lectures from fall semester 1987 and winter semester 1988, one hour of lecture per cassette.

The Book Of Mormon As Literature

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Three interpretive essays on the Book of Mormon from a literary point of view are now available.

Massive Bibliography On Pre-Columbian Transoceanic Contacts Now Available

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

A working edition of John Sorenson and Martin Raish's 900-page bibliography, Transoceanic Culture Contacts Between the Old and New Worlds in Pre-Columbian Times: A Comprehensive Annotated Bibliography, is now available. Funded by a F.A.R.M.S. grant, the work ultimately will include accurate bibliographical information on all serious published works on transoceanic cultural transmissions before 1492, each with an abstract of relevant contents.

Physical Characteristics, Movement Pattern And Heart Rate Response Of Indian Cricketers During Batting In Twenty20 (T20) Matches, Subhashis Biswas, Rupayan Bhattacharya, Arnab Das

International Journal of Exercise Science

International Journal of Exercise Science 16(6): 1413-1425, 2023. The study aims to provide a morphological profile of Indian cricketers and find physiological demands and positional differences of the batsmen in T20 matches according to their batting order. Eighty-three male cricketers (age: 17.93 ± 2.23 years) participated in this study and categorized into upper-order (n = 36), middle-order (n = 35) and lower-order (n = 12) batsmen. Height, weight, body fat%, and somatotype were measured. Movement analysis and heart rate (HR) responses were recorded during batting in T20 matches using PolarV800 smart-watch and H7 HR sensor. Descriptive statistics, …

War And Peace. The Film Iconeme Of The Urban Square As Image Of Europe In Transition (1944-1948), Paolo Villa

Artl@s Bulletin

A central feature of European urban landscapes, the square represents the public space par excellence. At the end of WW2 and in the immediate postwar time, the role of cinema in representing and reimagining urban squares was crucial. Through film images, they became the stage and the mirror of a Europe in transition. This contribution, examining Italian, French, German, and Czechoslovak cases, posits the square as an essential iconeme in postwar nonfiction cinema and visual culture, acting as a fil rouge to visually retrace the path of Europe from war to peace, and into new forms of political tension.

Orca Annual Report 2022-23, Msu Orca

Steeplechase: An ORCA Student Journal

Quick Facts about ORCA, AY 22-23

• 12 of 12 slots filled for Posters-at-the-Capitol with projects from the College of Business, the College of Humanities and Fine Arts, the School of Agriculture, and the College of Science, Engineering & Technology
• 350 students presented in both Scholars Weeks with support from 88 individual faculty members
• 20 grants awarded totaling over $15,000
• 17 items published in Steeplechase: An ORCA Student Journal

Students’ Motivation To Attend Synchronous Online Lectures, Kefah Barham, Abedulkarim Ayyoub, Zuheir Khlaif, Abdelrahim Barham

An-Najah University Journal for Research - B (Humanities)

This study aims to sightsee students' perceptions of how online lectures should be through exploring factors that increase students' motivation to attend live zoom classes. A quantitative approach was used to achieve the purpose of the study. The data was collected through an electronic questionnaire using Google forms to explore students' attitudes and perspectives on influencing their attendance to online learning sessions. Five hundred eighty-five participants (154 males and 431 females) in the study made the decision to answer the questionnaire electronically via Google Drive. The study participants were undergraduate students from two universities located north of the West Bank-Palestine. …

Constructing And Validating Of The Covid-19 Fear Scale: Psychometric Evidence And Optimal Cut-Off Score From Palestine, Fakher Khalili

An-Najah University Journal for Research - B (Humanities)

Background: Various corona-phobia scales have been constructed to measure the levels of fear related to COVID-19. However, probably these scales were established based on the individualistic perspective, without pay attention to fear for others’ destiny. Objective: The current study is addressing the fear of COVID-19 in light of collectivistic values. Method: The present study constructed and validated a new scale measuring fear of COVID-19 among Palestinians (C-19FSP) based on a sample size of (885) respondents. Further, this study was designed to provide an optimal cut-off score for diagnosing corona-phobia. The study was carried out through two phases using a convenient …

A Critical And Enrichment Study Of The New Palestinian Science Curricula In Light Of Media Education For The 21st Century: Grade Nine Curriculum As A Model, Ala' Awad, Mousa Khaldi

An-Najah University Journal for Research - B (Humanities)

This study aims to examine how far media education for the 21^st century skills are included in the new Palestinian science curriculum, to investigate the extent to which these curricula are able to create inhabitants who are skilled to live in this new knowledge era, information explosion, and handle with various media content. The study, also, offers appropriate mechanisms that contribute to enriching the curriculum in light of these skills, including restructuring and formulation of some units and activities of the curriculum in light of the media education for the 21^st century. A qualitative approach with an analytical …

The Role Of The Islamic Culture In Facing The Pandemic Crises In The Jordanian Society, Atallah Almaiaytah

An-Najah University Journal for Research - B (Humanities)

This study explored the effects of the epidemiological crisis (Covid-19) on societies in general, and on the Jordanian society in particular from the psychological perspective. It pinpointed the preventive and curative psychological roles for the Islamic culture to reach solutions for the problems resulting from the epidemiological crisis. The study also explained the relationship of culture and the psychological aspect of the individual and society, and showed the importance of such aspect during the pandemic since it is the basis upon which all facets of human life are constructed. One of the most significant results of the study was highlighting …