Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Quality Of Life Disparities For The Rural Economically Disadvantaged, April Westerfield-Jackson

Ed.D. Dissertations

Families who reside in rural communities and live in poverty often experience a lack of quality of life supports, which impacts their mental health and exasperates any special needs they may have. Research in regards to these concerns, has historically focused on southern states and or the impacts of poverty in urban settings. This phenomenological qualitative research study reveals quality of life supports that impoverished families living in rural communities in central Illinois often do without. This study further examines the families’ perceived barriers to those supports. The following research questions guided this study: (1) What quality-of-life supports (employment, food …

Student-Athletes’ Religious Beliefs, Religious Behaviors, And Religious Identity At A Christian University, Daniel M. Allen, Sean Strehlow, Audrey M. Chisum, Kevin D. Dougherty, Perry L. Glazner, Sarah A. Schnitker

Faculty Scholarship – Sociology

Athletics occupies an ambiguous place within the greater university mission, particularly at religious institutions. Intercollegiate sports programs may purport to reinforce the university’s aim to develop the whole person, but the nature of athletics can compromise student-athlete religiosity and well-being. Little research has focused on the religiosity of student-athletes and the potential implications for religious institutions. Our analysis features data from 884 senior students at a private, religiously affiliated, NCAA Division I university. Comparing student-athletes to non-athletes, we found that student-athletes scored higher than non-athletes on religious beliefs, religious behaviors, and sense of religious identity.

Social Enterprise: A Social Entrepreneur Leadership Model Used To Enhance Nonprofit Organizational Performance, Darlene Pierre-Louis

Ed.D. Dissertations

Nonprofit leaders are competing for limited resources; Boards of Directors who achieve their financial goals and social missions are standing in the winners’ circle. However, small-to-midsize nonprofits struggle to profit from the social enterprise activity which promises to be a solution for dwindling budgets and program sustainability. Even more important, small-to-midsize nonprofits with annual revenue between $25,000 and $250,000, and that do not have a paid staff dedicated to earned income opportunities must retool to reap financial rewards. The study examined the impact that entrepreneurial behaviors had on operating successful nonprofit social enterprises to attract financial resources. The objective of …

Correlational Study Exploring The Relationship Between The Teaching Of Ethics In Business Schools And The Ethical Behavior Of College Students In Those Schools, Jeffrey P. Horwitz

Ed.D. Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative, correlational study was to discover how colleges and universities impact the moral development of their undergraduate school of business students through the method by which they teach ethics in their curricula. To address the stated problem of understanding the impact of ethics and its effect on the moral development of students, the research question that drove this study involved discovering if there was a relationship between the ethical decisions undergraduate college business students make (like deciding whether to cheat on exams and/or assignments) and the way ethics content was delivered. In answering the research question, …

Witches, Wizards And Potions: The Christian Nature Of The Harry Potter Best Selling Novels, Craighton T. Hippenhammer, Debra Mattingly, Laura Ladwig

Faculty Scholarship – Library Science

The magic in Harry Potter is not “sorcery” or invocational magic; it is incantational magic. Most of the objections of the Harry Potter novels are from people who have not read the books. The author, J. K. Rowling is more interested in alchemy than magic and uses Christian symbols and careful naming throughout the books, thereby delivering difficult truths to a postmodern audience in a way that they accept as givens, ideas they would otherwise laugh at. Harry's devotion to the truth and to what is right leads him to disregard the pain he may encounter in pursuing these great …

The Relationship Between Leadership Behaviors, Trust In Leadership And Teacher Organizational Citizenship Behavior, Tonia Y. Havard-Dew

Ed.D. Dissertations

As greater accountability is placed on school districts, in response to the increased demands of federal and state policies and mandates, teacher workloads and responsibilities have been increased to meet those demands. School districts rely on teachers’ commitment to students’ educational pursuits and their willingness to demonstrate behaviors that exceed their formal role expectations to facilitate student success. These behaviors, known as organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB), cannot be required, but play a critical role in ensuring a district’s success. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between teachers’ trust in their administrator and teachers’ OCB through …

The Effects Of Parent Training And Information Centers On Parent Empowerment, Hayden A. O. Lewis

Ed.D. Dissertations

Parents of children who receive special education services from the public school are considered equal partners in their child’s education with school professionals on the Individual Education Program team. Each state has a Parent Training and Information Center (PTIC) that seeks to empower parents to fulfill their right as an equal partner. The current study compared the advocacy, knowledge, competence, self-efficacy, and empowerment of two groups of parents of children with disabilities who received special education services in Tennessee. The experimental group of parents (n=36) had attended a workshop provided by a PTIC and the control group (n=21) had not …

Impact Of Organizational Fairness On Ethical Policing In The Community, David P. Cepiel

Ed.D. Dissertations

Since 2015, policing has suffered from negative publicity due to unfortunate and often deadly interactions between police officers and people of color. As a result of these sad events, various programs have been incorporated into many police departments to increase professionalism among officers. One such program focuses on increasing legitimacy by teaching procedural justice concepts to officers. This study examined the impacts of organizational fairness on officers from the perspective of procedural justice. Building on previous research, this study focused on the officers and sergeants employed in two small municipal police departments in the Midwestern United States. Ninety-eight participants from …

The Reliability And Validity Of The Open Enneagram Of Personality Scales, Kayleigh Kastelein

Honors Program Projects

The purpose of this study is to assess the reliability and validity of the 36-item Open Enneagram of Personality Scales (OEPS). Our general hypothesis was that the OEPS would show adequate reliability evidence but not validity evidence. Participants were acquired through a small denominationally affiliated Midwest university, Amazon Mechanical Turk, and social media. Test-retest reliability was done with 249 participants while internal consistency reliability, factor analysis, and correlations with the Big Five Inventory (BFI; John, Donahue, & Kentle) were done using 1039 participants. An average Pearson’s correlation of .68 (range: 0.54 - 0.75) showed inadequate test-retest reliability for the OEPS …

Religiosity And Relational Anxiety: A Cross-Denominational Study, Timothy Steininger

Honors Program Projects

Prior research has provided evidence for a correlation between religiosity and anxiety, quantifiable differences between denominations, and a somewhat equivocal link between religiosity and social trust. This present study seeks to extend the existing body of knowledge by assessing the relationship between intrinsic religiosity and both trait and relational anxiety across denominational groups, and by measuring the relationship between relational anxiety and social trust. Participants (N = 1,905) were asked to provide their religious and denominational affiliations. Analysis revealed a modest negative relationship between intrinsic religiosity and trait anxiety. Overall, a weak, positive relationship between intrinsic religiosity and relational …

Assessment Of Strengths-Based Interventions On First-Year Medical Students, Linnette C. G. White

Ed.D. Dissertations

In the quest for a doctoral degree many candidates fail to meet their milestone accomplishment. It is estimated that approximately 30% of individuals who pursue a doctoral degree will not finish. Medical school has been found to be a very intensive program to pursue for many who begin the journey. Despite its difficulty, 81.6% to 84.1% of medical students achieve the status of medical practitioner, within a three-to-four year program. Despite the seemingly high completion rate, the achievement gap has further implications on physician shortages. The researcher conducted a quantitative study to determine the impact training first-year medical students using …

Time To Stop Worrying: A Correlational Study On Individualist Versus Collectivist Time Perspectives And Anxiety, Anna Waldron

Honors Program Projects

Purpose

Research has indicated a significant relationship between anxiety and time perspective (TP), which is the way one views life in terms of the past, present or future. TP is broken down into five facets based on the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI), including past negative (PN), past positive (PP), present fatalistic (PF), present hedonistic (PH), and future (F) time perspectives (Zimbardo & Boyd, 1999). These are seen to be impacted by one’s culture as well, although there is a lack of representation in studies on TP cross-culturally which makes it difficult to generalize. In order to add to the …

Augustine Of Hippo: A Historical Theology Critique, Zachary Monte

Honors Program Projects

This study evaluates how current historical theology survey texts understand and present the theology of Augustine. The texts are examined to assess the following: accuracy of presentation on discussed topics, specific theological topics Augustine addressed excluded in the surveys, and theological bias on the part of the authors. The historical theology surveys include Gregg Allison’s Historical Theology: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine, Justo González’s A History of Christian Thought, and Alister McGrath’s Historical Theology: An Introduction to the History of Christian Thought. The three major topics treated include Augustine’s Trinitarian thought, the Donatist Controversy, and the Pelagian Controversy. The findings …

Time To Stop Worrying: A Correlational Study On Individualist Versus Collectivist Time Perspectives And Anxiety, Anna Waldron

Scholar Week 2016 - present

Presentation Location: Weber Center, Room 101

Abstract

Purpose

Research has indicated a significant relationship between anxiety and time perspective (TP), which is the way one views life in terms of the past, present or future. TP is broken down into five facets based on the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI), including past negative (PN), past positive (PP), present fatalistic (PF), present hedonistic (PH), and future (F) time perspectives (Zimbardo & Boyd, 1999). Time perspective is thought to be impacted by one’s culture, although there is a lack of representation in studies on TP cross-culturally which makes it difficult to generalize. …

Gentrification: An Analysis Of Socio-Economic Disparities And Racial Residential Segregation, Gabrielle Murphy

Scholar Week 2016 - present

In recent years, major metropolitan areas in the United States have experienced waves of gentrification, often referred to as community revitalization. Disguised as infrastructural improvement, minority individuals in urban areas continually face relocation as a result of these “improvements.” This paper is focused primarily on the disparities caused by racial residential segregation in major metropolitan areas across the United States. Socio-economic factors such as race, income level, physical health, and educational opportunities are discussed. The tangible effects of segregated housing on gross domestic product (GDP), crime, and food security are explored. In addition, this study evaluates the historic legislation pertaining …

Embodying Integration: A Sociological Study Of Graduate Student Religiosity In Christian Higher Education, Daniel Allen

Faculty Scholarship – Sociology

Social science research has historically posited an inverse relationship between higher education levels and spirituality, but recent research has nuanced this assumption. Faith formation is a celebrated part of Christian higher education in particular, and graduate programs have grown among Protestant Christian institutions in recent years. However, little research addresses graduate student perceptions of the spiritual quality of their experience. This study asks what program-level features correlate with a high-quality spiritual experience for graduate students studying in a Protestant Christian context. Using data collected between 2014-2020 from 3,274 graduate students at a private, not-for-profit Christian university, we find that students …