Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Implications Of Viral Media & Advocacy: Kony 2012, Cassandra Bopp

Honors Projects in Communication

This research paper analyzes the video “Kony 2012” as an example of advocacy film making and viral media. By analyzing critical sources, I draw conclusions as to why this video became the most viral video of all time and how other advocacy groups can use this phenomenon to learn about viral advocacy media. Using data from LexisNexis Academic, I track the popularity of “Kony 2012” via different forms of media (blogs, news articles, etc.) and compare my data to prior research conducted on social media sites. Ultimately, I will find that several key characteristics can be pinpointed as the primary …

Black Students' Classroom Silence In Predominantly White Institutions Of Higher Education, Mahajoy A. Laufer

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This qualitative study explored Black students' silence in classrooms at predominantly white institutions (PWIs) of higher education in the northeast United States. Fifteen student interviews revealed that teaching material centered on European-American culture and history influenced their silence. Participants perceived devaluing of people of color in course material and perceived that professors used and allowed racist language and opinions to pervade the classroom. Students negotiated the tension of having discordant views from the mainstream and at times, between other students of the same racial and cultural group. They often elected to speak out against perceived discrimination and remained silent in …

Breaking The Silence : Uncovering The Gendered Communication Patterns Before, During, And After Instances Of Sexual Assault At Nescac Colleges, Carolyn A. Curtis

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

Sexual assault is a pervasive problem that many college women face. This study explores the gendered communication patterns employed by men and women prior to, during, and after instances of heterosexual sexual assault on New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) college campuses. It was hypothesized that gender plays a role in instances of sexual assault in that norms of masculinity and femininity influence the communication employed by men and women, with women's voices being silenced, muted, and ignored and men's voices being assertive and dominant. Nine mental health and sexual assault professionals, from eight different colleges, were interviewed to …

Is The Daily Show Bad For Democracy? An Analysis Of Cynicism And Its Significance, Evan Bartlett

Honors Projects in History and Social Sciences

In recent years, satirical news programs like The Daily Show with Jon Stewart have emerged as an important development in contemporary American society, culture, and politics. Critics have argued that The Daily Show has a negative impact on the political attitudes of American citizens by making them cynical about government and the political process as a whole. As a result of these attitudes, they argue, citizens are less apt to participate in politics and, in turn, this behavior is detrimental to American democracy. The purpose of this research project is to explore the debate over whether or not The Daily …

The Cowl - V.77 - N.12 - Dec 6, 2012

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol 77 - No. 12 - December 6, 2012. 32 pages.

Moving Toward Leadership: A Case Study Of Latina Adolescents And Effective Communication, Isela Estrada

Creative Arts Therapies Theses

The problem addressed in this study is the need for Latina adolescents to develop effective communication and leadership skills that will support their success in U.S. culture and society. This thesis is a case study of two Mexican-American adolescents who participated in a twelve-session leadership program at a dance studio. The goal of the study was to test the effectiveness of Rena Kornblum’s (2002) Disarming the Playground curriculum as a social skills program to improve leadership, effective communication skills, and group cohesion. This study included video footage of the adolescents engaging in movement-based role-play scenarios, which was examined using qualitative …

California High Speed Rail - The Broken Tracks Of Communication, Nathalie Nguyen

Master's Projects and Capstones

Proposition 1A, “Safe, Reliable, High –Speed Passenger Train Bond Act” was passed on November 8, 2008. Fifty-two percent of Californians voted to issue $10 billion in bonds to fund the clean, efficient, and safe high-speed train service, which is known today as the California High Speed Rail system (CHSR). The rail system will provide a mass transit system up and down the state of California if constructed, planned, and funded successfully.

This paper analyzes the City and County of Merced’s approach to planning for this highspeed rail while engaging in public discussion with the California High Speed Rail Authorities (CHSRA) …

The Cowl - V.77 - N.11 - Nov 29, 2012

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol 77 - No. 11 - November 29, 2012. 28 pages.

The Cowl -V.77 - N.10 - Nov 15, 2012

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol 77 - No. 10 - November 15, 2012. 28 pages.

The Cowl - V.77 - N.9 - Nov 8, 2012

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol 77 - No. 9 - November 8, 2012. 24 pages.

A Value-Added Study Of A Federal Grant Program In Mathematics For Military Dependent Students, Jay C. Marquand Phd

Dissertations

Closing the achievement gap in public education means all students are expected to be learning at grade level. In response to federal mandates requiring schools to attain specific student achievement benchmarks, many schools are placing greater resources into support programs designed to increase student achievement. Military dependent students experience unique challenges including, ongoing parent absences, extended parental deployments, and frequent moving and relocation. In California Unified School District (CUSD) where 37% of the student population is military connected, these challenges can place military dependent students at risk of failing socially, emotionally and academically. As a result, CUSD implemented an individualized, …

The Cowl - V.77 - N.8 - Nov 1, 2012

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol 77 - No. 8 - November 1, 2012. 24 pages.

Yes, But What Is It That You Do?, Amanda Rinehart

Faculty and Staff Publications – Milner Library

Despite carefully crafted job descriptions, e-science or data librarians find that there is little consensus on position responsibilities and required competencies. Consequently, these librarians tend to customize their positions around what their clientele require. Indeed, data “Curation Service Models [are] driven by user requirements”. Therefore, it’s not just about the data – it’s about the people. Specifically, it’s about the different cultures of user groups and librarians and how to communicate effectively across these groups. The “elevator speech” for a scientist might be quite different from the one for your librarian colleague. It’s no wonder that a recent survey of …

The Cowl - V.77 - N.7 - Oct 25, 2012

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol 77 - No. 7 - October 25, 2012. 32 pages.

The Cowl - V.77 - N.6 - Oct 18, 2012

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol 77 - No. 6 - October 18, 2012. 28 pages.

Connecting Research With Communities Through Performative Social Science, Kip Jones

The Qualitative Report

A pioneer in Performative Social Science, Kip Jones makes a case for the potential of arts-based social science to reach audiences and engage communities. Jones contextualises both the use of the arts in Social Science, as well as the utility of Social Science in the Arts and Humanities. The discussion turns next to examples from his own work and what happens when Art talks to Social Science and Social Science responds to Art. The benefits of such interaction and interdisciplinarity are outlined in relation to a recently completed project using multi-methods, which resulted in the production of a professional short …

The Cowl - V.77 - N.5 - Oct 4, 2012

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol 77 - No. 5 - October 4, 2012. 28 pages.

The Cowl - V.77 - N.4 - Sep 27, 2012

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol 77 - No. 4 - September 27, 2012. 28 pages.

The Cowl - V.77 - N.3 - Sep 20, 2012

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol 77 - No. 3 - September 20, 2012. 29 pages.

Slides: Multi-Dimensional Energy Poverty Index (Mepi), Morgan Bazilian

2012 Energy Justice Conference and Technology Exposition (September 17-18)

Presenter: Dr. Morgan Bazilian, Deputy Director, Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis (JISEA), National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

8 slides

The Effects Of Structure, Communication And Trust Between Marketing And R&D During New Product Development, Elias Kyriazis, Graham Massey

Elias Kyriazis

The ability to effectively manage cross-functional working relationships (CFRs) during innovation is a key success factor in developing successful new products. However, empirical evidence suggests that CFRs during new product development are often problematic, resulting in extremely poor relations between managers, and the development of unsuccessful new products. This paper adds to our existing knowledge on the Marketing/R&D CFR by examining the effects of structural factors, communication behaviours, and interpersonal trust on the dependent variable perceived relationship effectiveness. Our findings reveal that trust has potent positive, direct effects on this CFR. Further, bidirectional communication and quality of communication also have …

The Cowl - V.77 - N.2 - Sep 13, 2012

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol 77 - No. 2 - September 13, 2012. 24 pages.

Through A Feminist Lens: Language, Power And Identity In Catalan Nationalism, Christine Gallagher Kearney

College of Communication Master of Arts Theses

The goal for my master’s thesis is to understand how the working class women of Catalunya (specifically women that lived in the small farming villages in the region of Les Garrigues),contributed to the survival of Catalan. Catalunya is an autonomous region of Spain that endured more than three decades of the Francisco Franco dictatorship (1934-1975) that attempted to eradicate the Catalan language and culture. As stated by Everly (2003): “[…] the regional exile of Catalunya from the rest of Spain acts as a backdrop provoking women to go a step further and experiment with their own sense of gender separation …

The Cowl - V.77 - N.1 - Sep 6, 2012

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol 77 - No. 1 - September 6, 2012. 28 pages.

Cultural Differences And Switching Of In-Group Sharing Behavior Between An American (Facebook) And A Chinese (Renren) Social Networking Site, Lin Qiu, Han Lin, Angela K. Y. Leung

Ka Yee Angela LEUNG

Prior research has documented cultural dimensions that broadly characterize between-culture variations in Western and East Asian societies and that bicultural individuals can flexibly change their behaviors in response to different cultural contexts. In this article, we studied cultural differences and behavioral switching in the context of the fast emerging, naturally occurring online social networking, using both self-report measures and content analyses of online activities on two highly popular platforms, Facebook and Renren (the “Facebook of China”). Results showed that while Renren and Facebook are two technically similar platforms, the Renren culture is perceived as more collectivistic than the Facebook culture. …

A Theory Of Happiness-Wealth Relationship With Status-Sensitive Communication, Amnon Levy

Amnon Livermore

Personal happiness might not solely depend on the individual's level of wealth but also on the individual's level of sincere social capital. This paper argues that if sincere interpersonal communication is sensitive to economic status disparities, the accumulation of personal wealth beyond the community's average erodes the individual's sincere social capital. A measure of sincere social capital that is based on such sensitivity is constructed. Its consideration leads to the depiction of the individual's happiness-wealth relationship as an inverted U-shaped curve that peaks at personal wealth that is greater than the community mean.

A Comparison Of Lmx, Communication, And Demographic Differences In Remote And Co-Located Supervisor-Subordinate Dyads, Larisa Niedle

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

The objectives of this research were to examine the growing organizational trends of distributed work, reliance on various media for communication, and increased diversity in the workforce. Napier and Ferris' (1993) theory of distance, which includes structural, functional, and psychological distance, served as a framework for much of this research. Leader-Member Exchange theory (LMX), which Napier and Ferris (1993) translated into the functional distance component of their theory, was used to inform hypotheses on supervisor-subordinate relationships and performance ratings. Communication theories of media richness and social presence were used as a basis for the hypotheses involving communication. Finally, the similarity-attraction …

Contextual Influences On Small Group Decision-Making: A Field Investigation, Sarah Kathryn Chorley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines small group decision-making among groups of educators in an elementary school through the Bona Fide Group Perspective, which focuses on a group and its relationships to elements in its context. Twenty-six faculty members were interviewed and 26 meetings were recorded; these were analyzed using thematic analysis. The results indicated contextual, relational, and discursive factors influenced the decision-making process. Most critically, power, status, overlapping group memberships, and competing Discourses shaped the group decision-making process.

Daniel Hannan, Thomas Paine, And The Rhetoric Of Outrage, Danae Brack

Masters Theses

The purpose of this rhetorical study is to examine the textual charisma of Thomas Paine's Common Sense and Daniel Hannan's speech "The Devalued Prime Minister of a Devalued Government" and how that charisma made these artifacts successful in spreading outrage surrounding the historical and political events of their respective eras. The author uses Weber's theory of charisma filtered through Rosenberg and Hirschberg's expanded theory identifying lexical charisma, or the charisma of messages. The author analyzes Paine's and Hannan's use of persuasiveness, believability, and powerfulness, translating each of these characteristics into specific cues that can be identified in the individual texts. …

Does The Type Of Communication Media Affect Relationship Quality?, Kristin B. Dennis

Graduate Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine if the amount of time spent using three types of communication (electronic, voice, and face-to-face) had an effect on the perceived quality of a romantic relationship. Seventy-eight heterosexual females who self-identified as being in a romantic relationship completed a set of demographic questions, the Perceived Relationship Quality Components Inventory (Fletcher, Simpson, & Thomas, 2000), as well as questions pertaining to the average amount of time spent per day using each of the communication methods. It was hypothesized that the more time spent communicating face-to- face would have a positive effect on the …