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Examination Of The Reliability And Validity Of A New Observation Measure For Autism Spectrum Disorders: The Autism Spectrum Disorder Observation For Children, Daniene Neal

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

With increasing attention being drawn to autism spectrum disorders (ASD), specifically with regard to early and accurate diagnosis and treatment, researchers and clinicians alike have placed emphasis on finding assessment tools that can aid in this goal. The purpose of this study is to examine the psychometric properties of a new observation measure for ASD, the Autism Spectrum Disorders-Observation for Children (ASD-OC). The ASD-OC was found to have good to excellent interrater reliability, and excellent internal consistency (ƒÑ = .96). As a result of these initial reliability analyses, nine items were removed from the scale. The resulting 45 item ASD-OC …

Impact Of A Rural Elementary School Closing On Parents’ Satisfaction Level, Crycynthia F. Gardner

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation study sought to determine what impact the closing of a small elementary school whose students were predominately Black had on parents’ levels of satisfaction with their children’s education now that they attended an integrated school and what cultural differences, if any, existed among and between different ethnic groups of parents. The Parent Opinion Inventory and an open-ended, structured interview were used to gather data in this mixed-method study.

A random select technique was used to generate a pool of 226 participants from 1 rural elementary school in the southern part of the United States. Eighty of these …

Exploring The Effects Of Implementation Intentions And Goal Formation On Anxiety And Communication Effectiveness When Discussing Difficult Interpersonal Topics, Colleen C. Malachowski

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study addressed the effects of two specific types of planning (i.e., goal intention and implementation intention formation) on interpersonal discussions of difficult topics (e.g., discussing the future of a relationship, discussing past romantic partners, discussing the current status of a relationship). Goal intentions specify a certain end point (e.g., "I intend to reach x"), and implementation intentions (Gollwitzer, 1999) specify when, where, and how a goal will be achieved (e.g., "If x, then y"). In addition, four personality traits (i.e., need for cognition, cognitive flexibility, self-efficacy, and trait dyadic communication apprehension) were examined in order to further understand the …

Exploring The Relationship Between Facebook, Face-To-Face And Intercultural Communication, Rebecca Schaefer

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

My Capstone Experience/Thesis project seeks to explore and examine the effects of Facebook on communication between American and international students. The use of social media as a means to communicate with others is increasing at an amazing rate. Facebook has become my generation’s favorite way to communicate with friends and family and “to Facebook” has unofficially become a verb that many college students will use. While social media, such as Facebook and Linked-In, may encourage American college students to communicate with international students beyond the classroom and campus, it seems that Facebook is on the way to becoming a substitute …

Reputation Management: A Qualitative Analysis Of The Effective Use Of Reputation Management Techniques Applied To Personal Reputations During A Crisis, Joseph A. Saulen

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Understanding the concept of image has been a cornerstone of public relations since its professional beginnings in the early 20th century. However, practitioners and scholars have introduced crisis management and reputation management techniques into the repertoire of public relations relatively recently. This research study analyzes the concepts of reputation management and image and their applications in respect to people during a crisis. It uses content analysis to examine John Edwards and Eliot Spitzer; and the resultant tone of media coverage to ascertain the effectiveness of their reputation management strategies.

Happiness And Time Preference: The Effect Of Positive Affect In A Random-Assignment Experiment, John Ifcher, Homa Zarghamee

Economics

We conduct a random-assignment experiment to investigate whether positive affect impacts time preference, where time preference denotes a preference for present over future utility. Our result indicates that, compared to neutral affect, mild positive affect significantly reduces time preference over money. This result is robust to various specification checks, and alternative interpretations of the result are considered. Our result has implications for the effect of happiness on time preference and the role of emotions in economic decision making, in general. Finally, we reconfirm the ubiquity of time preference and start to explore its determinants. (JEL D12, D83, I31)

The Effect Of Pre-Collaborative Activity Instruction On Self-Efficacy, Robert Ray Mattson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Collaborative learning is increasing in popularity in education. This collaborative pedagogy is based on a significant body of research that shows positive learning gains. Additionally, given the nature of much of the information-age work, it is thought that such collaborative activity in school helps develop knowledge, skills and attitudes that will be beneficial to students in their post-college lives.

In spite of collaborative learning's increasing use and popularity, there is only limited research on how students feel about such methods and their level of confidence in their collaborative knowledge, skills and attitudes. Based on the current theories about self-efficacy, delineated …

The Cowl - V. 76 - N. 11 - Dec 1, 2011

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 76 - Number 11 - December 1, 2011. 40 pages.

Cracking The Case: Uncovering Key Communication Practices Of Successful Financial Professionals, Heidi Struve Currey

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

The economic events of recent years have unquestionably had an impact on the financial services industry; however the challenge to retain quality financial services professionals has been a struggle for decades. A review of the literature found that Cognitive Bias Theory, Social Judgment Theory, Cognitive Dissonance Theory and the Narrative Paradigm Theory uncovered two potentially valuable communication techniques that could be used by financial professionals: asking questions and sharing stories. The philosophical and ethical underpinning of this study assumed that all financial professionals view every client relationship as if it were personal; so that when a financial professional experiences success …

Cultivating Culturally Empathic Environments In The Academic Setting, Sharon-Rose Lau

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Teachers, as leaders and facilitators in the classroom, not only disseminate information, but ultimately propagate and perpetuate ideologies that shape their students' cognitive world. However, with the enrollment of minority students increasing in the United States, greater challenges are encountered as teachers struggle to promote advocacy, respect, and understanding in the classroom. Navigating the relationally ambiguous or uncertain requires certain cognitive tools. The Uncertainty Management Theory which encompasses relational mindfulness and empathy assists individuals in developing the communicative skills necessary to fortify relational contingencies. This thesis explores the communicative methods teachers use to create culturally empathic environments within the academic …

Review Of Package Warning Labels And Their Effect On Consumer Behaviour With Insights To Future Anticounterfeit Strategy Of Label And Communication Systems, John Spink, Jay Singh, S. Paul Singh

Industrial Technology and Packaging

This paper investigates and reviews literature regarding a range of topics important to the research question – the themes apply across all the topics. The topics include label and package warnings, including tamperevident features, to review their effect on the consumer behaviour of changing usage or purchase decisions. This information was then applied to gain insight into anticounterfeit product/package efforts. Based on this research, it appears that there is value for brand marketers to enhance their anticounterfeit efforts and consumer confidence by utilizing warning labels and information labels on their labels or packages. Currently, consumer perception of a domestic counterfeit …

Communicating Through Thick Boundaries: The Case Of Informing National Policy Making, Adrian Wolfberg

Student Scholarship

Organizations increasingly face competitive and security threats that require better intelligence to guide action. National policy makers face an especially pressing need for intelligence\, and rely on complex\, diverse information from many sources in monitoring their environment. The primary formal information system for conveying knowledge to government leaders is the system of national intelligence briefings\, which collects data from a global network of analysts that is presented by a briefer to individual government leaders\, in a short daily session. The quantity of information created by intelligence analysts far exceeds the capacity of a policy maker to assimilate\, and the briefer …

Sexuality Education, Eva Goldfarb, Norman A. Constantine

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Sexuality education comprises the lifelong intentional processes by which people learn about themselves and others as sexual, gendered beings from biological, psychological, and sociocultural perspectives. It takes place through a potentially wide range of programs and activities in schools, community settings, religious centers, as well as informally within families, among peers, and through electronic and other media. Sexuality education for adolescents occurs in the context of the biological, cognitive, and social-emotional developmental progressions and issues of adolescence. Formal sexuality education falls into two main categories: behavior change approaches, which are represented by abstinence-only and abstinence-plus models, and healthy sexual development …

Communication And Cultural Competence: The Acquisition Of Cultural Knowledge And Behavior, Jianglong Wang

Online Readings in Psychology and Culture

This essay expounds on individuals’ acquisition and development of cultural competence via the process of communication. It highlights both the importance of culture and communication in our lives and the close associations between culture, communication, cultural literacy, and cultural competence. The author explicates the commonly experienced difficulty in “knowing the true face” of one’s culture, and illuminates the communication process by which individuals acquire their cultural knowledge and behavior.

Family Communication Patterns And African-American Adolescent Females’ Self-Reported Use Of Condoms, Natasha Hibbert

Theses

African-American females are the fastest growing HIV/AIDS population in the U.S. The best preventative measure after abstinence is condom usage. Although the importance of condom usage is widely publicized, it is not always adopted. In trying to identify ways to increase adolescents' condom usage, past research has shown that positive communication between parents/guardians and adolescents has increased their condom usage and caused condom usage to be more consistent. This pilot study explores the relationship between African-American adolescent females and parents/guardians and if open communication about sexual intercourse and contraceptive usage increases adolescent condom usage. Data have been collected from self-administered …

The Cowl - V. 76 - N. 6 - Oct 20, 2011

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 76 - Number 6 - October 20, 2011. 40 pages.

Communicative Differences Between Domestic And Foreign Instructors, Narissra Punyanunt-Carter, Jason Wrench, Stacy L Carter, Daniel Linden

Higher Learning Research Communications

The objective of this study was to investigate college students’ perceptions of their foreign and domestic classroom instructors. Two hundred and eleven college students participated in the study. The potential participants were approached and offered extra credit to participate, and all needed to have at least one domestic instructor and one international instructor during the semester of the research study. Participants filled out a series of measures first examining their personal levels of individualism/collectivism and ethnocentrism, followed by a set of questions related to the participants’ perceptions of their international instructor and then about their domestic instructor. To ensure that …

Father-Son Family Communication Patterns And Gender Ideologies: A Modeling And Compensation Analysis, Kelly G. Odenweller

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this study was to advance father-son research by investigating family communication and gender ideologies. Specifically, the study assessed the specific messages fathers transmit to sons regarding gender ideologies, relationships between family communication patterns and gender ideologies, and the utility of modeling and compensation hypotheses in intergenerational transmission of these behaviors and ideologies. Finally, this study addressed the association between gender ideologies and global life satisfaction. Fathers (N = 125) completed an online questionnaire to report their living fathers' and their own communication patterns and gender ideologies, as well as their transmission of gender ideologies to their sons. …

Utilizing Focus Groups To Determine Clinical Perceptions Of Assessment Needs, Emily Ruth Smith Putnam

Theses and Dissertations

There has been a recent trend towards increasing accountability of mental health care providers through the use of treatment outcome measures, in order to reduce spending and improve patient care. This qualitative study utilized focus groups to elicit input regarding the need and possible content involved in creating an improved outcome measure specifically designed for severe emotionally disturbed (SED) children and adolescents. We conducted 60-90 minute focus groups with each of the following three separate constituent groups who are regularly involved in the care of SED youth at the Utah State Hospital (USH), including a) hospital clinical staff, b) affiliated …

Communicating Quantitative Literacy: An Examination Of Open-Ended Assessment Items In Timss, Nals, Ials, And Pisa, Karl W. Kosko, Jesse L. M. Wilkins

Numeracy

Quantitative Literacy (QL) has been described as the skill set an individual uses when interacting with the world in a quantitative manner. A necessary component of this interaction is communication. To this end, assessments of QL have included open-ended items as a means of including communicative aspects of QL. The present study sought to examine whether such open-ended items typically measured aspects of quantitative communication, as compared to mathematical communication, or mathematical skills. We focused on public-released items and rubrics from four of the most widely referenced assessments: the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS-95): the National Adult Literacy …

The Complexities Of Wolf Spider Communication: Exploring Courtship Signal Function In Rabidosa Rabida, Dustin J. Wilgers

School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Evidence of signal complexity is seemingly pervasive across animal communication systems. Exploring signal function may provide insight into how these displays evolved and are maintained. This dissertation examines the courtship signal function in a grassland wolf spider. Rabidosa rabida lives in an extremely complex environment, and males use complex displays incorporating both visual and seismic modalities. Using several approaches I provide insight into the content and efficacy of the various signal components, as well as how variation in these displays influence female mating decisions in isolation and combined.

First, I manipulated male and female body condition using diet quantity manipulations …

The Effects Of Message Framing And Denotative Specificity On Students' Opinions Of The Hpv Vaccination, Arielle Tenaya Marie Gout, Katherine Marie Kays

Communication Studies

The purpose of our project is to use various persuasive techniques in order to determine the most effective method to persuade students about the HPV vaccination and the negative effects of the HPV virus. An important component of public health message design is determining the most effective types of messages for a particular audience. The results of this study are intended to be an aid to the creators of health messages regarding HPV and the HPV vaccination, with the ultimate goal of increasing the effectiveness of public health messages to adolescents in regards to these issues.

Teaching Communication In Sex Education: Facilitating Communication Skills Knowledge And Ease Of Use, Sarah Butler

College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations

For the most part, sex education programs have sought to reduce the negative consequences of sexual behavior, such as pregnancy and sexuality transmitted infections (STIs). However, sex education programs also have the potential to encourage sexual behaviors that enhance relationships, such as communication with sexual partners. Higher levels of positive communication are related to higher relationship satisfaction and better decisions in regards to safe sex. However, communicating about sex can be uniquely challenging so specific instruction and practice may be necessary for this particular topic. One goal of this study was to experimentally examine the impact of teaching communication skills …

Texting Versus Talking: Age Sex And Extroversion As Predictors Of Frequency And Preference Among An Undergraduate Cohort., Chris J. Labowe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines text messaging behavior of ETSU undergraduates. Data come from a survey of 485 students enrolled during the 2010 fall semester. The current study explores the effects of sex, age, and extroversion on (1) the volume of texts a person sends and (2) preferences for texting or calling. The study also explores the use of cell phones as a means of avoiding others during co-present interaction. Findings reveal that age is the strongest predictor of text messaging, with younger respondents being more likely to text. The study also finds that women prefer texting, while men prefer voice calls. …

The Necessary Blend Of Narrative And Technology In Composition: Identity Crisis Embraced, Jessica A. Lewis

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Wendy Bishop’s work, “Suddenly Sexy: Creative Writing Rear-ends Composition,” is focused on the necessity of flexible relationships between first-year composition professors and creative nonfiction writers for the improvement of composition pedagogy. This emphasis on collaboration and merging is even more important now due to the personal relationships and self-awareness established in online writing environments. In addition to the exploration of confused definitions in expressivist theory and the negotiation that Bishop puts forth in her work, this thesis focuses on the new influences of online writing environments on writing culture. Through the process of research and narrative, Bishop’s ideals and goals …

How Communication And Leadership Affect Collaboration In A Partnership: An Exploratory Study, Joseph Carrasco

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Homelessness is a persistent and pervasive issue in the United States. The complexity of the problem has produced federal policies that make collaboration a requirement for homeless advocacy organizations to receive federal funding. In turn, cities, towns, and other entities have created partnerships in order to receive funding as well as combine resources and share information to help reduce if not remedy the homeless problem in their areas. This thesis explores how communication and leadership affect collaboration in a partnership. The study is grounded in the theories of dialogical ethics and transformational leadership to examine two collaborative partnerships serving the …

An Iphone In A Haystack: The Uses And Gratifications Behind Farmers Using Twitter, Sarah Van Dalsem

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

The fast-growing social media site, Twitter, is growing in popularity among Americans from all walks of life, including farmers who are using it to share information with other farmers and consumers. This thesis expands on Uses and Gratifications Theory by looking at how farmers are using the social media site to promote agriculture and reach out to others. Based on a qualitative analysis completed on 22 interviews with farmers, four major purposes for using Twitter came to light: (1) Farmers are using Twitter to seek information; (2) they are using it as a tool to lead others within the agricultural …

Using Mentoring Enactment Theory To Explore The Doctoral Student-Faculty Member Mentoring Relationship, Daniel H. Mansson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this dissertation was threefold. The first purpose was to examine the advisor-advisee mentoring relationship using Mentoring Enactment Theory (Kalbfleisch, 2002). The second purpose was to examine the relationship between advisees' use of relational maintenance behaviors and their own and their advisors' reports of relational characteristics (i.e., liking, communication satisfaction, relational satisfaction, trust, work commitment, and control mutuality). The third purpose was to examine the extent to which advisees' relational uncertainty with their advisors was related to their use of relational maintenance behaviors and their advisors' provision of career support and psychosocial support. The results of Principal Component …

수급사업자의 기업가정신이 관계몰입을 유도하는 경로, Nak Hwan Choi, Cheol Seob Byeon, Yong Gyun Lee

Asia Marketing Journal

It seems essential to examine the factors that may affect relationship commitment of subcontractors to parent companies in the industrial market in Korea in an effort to construct a win-win-type cooperative network among them. Lots of studies have been focusing on the consumer goods market. Relatively few studies have been focused on industrial market. In the industrial goods market subcontractors used to sell their parts or services only to a small number of parent companies in a large quantity, resulting in decisive control of subcontractors over the quality of parent companies` finished goods. This is why relationship between subcontractors and …

The Cowl - V. 75 - N. N/A - Apr 28, 2011 - Commencement Issue

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 75 - Number n/a - April 28, 2011 - Commencement Issue. 8 pages.