Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Integrating Implementation Fidelity And Learning Improvement To Enhance Students’ Ethical Reasoning Abilities, Kristen L. Smith

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Examples of demonstrable student learning improvement in higher education are rare (Banta, Jones, & Black, 2009; Banta & Blaich, 2011). Perhaps because outcomes assessment practices are disconnected from pedagogy, curriculum, and learning improvement. Through partnership with the Madison Collaborative, the current study aimed to bridge this disconnect. Specifically, researchers applied implementation fidelity methodologies (O’Donnell, 2008) to an academic program, under the guiding framework of the Simple Model for Learning Improvement (Fulcher, Good, Coleman, & Smith, 2014). In doing so, researchers helped faculty create and elucidate an ethical reasoning educational intervention and accompanying fidelity checklist. Both were well-aligned with a University-level …

Incorporating Visual Communication Desensitization In The Treatment Of Depression In Women With Sexual Trauma Histories, Nino Chkhaidze

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Depression is a complex condition which requires a multi-faceted approach and adjustment of the treatment method depending on the etiology of the disorder. One of the possible causes of depression is trauma experienced by an individual, especially when the traumatic event involves an interpersonal component. An innovative interview/therapeutic technique called Visual-Communication Desensitization (VCD) aims to help individuals process their traumatic experience and cope with negative effects of trauma by means of a line graph, which allows visualization of the event on timeline. In the current study, our goal was to identify VCD’s effects on depression in women with sexual trauma …

Using Multiple Imputation To Mitigate The Effects Of Low Examinee Motivation On Estimates Of Student Learning, Kelly J. Foelber

Dissertations, 2014-2019

In higher education, we often collect data in order to make inferences about student learning, and ultimately, in order to make evidence-based changes to try to improve student learning. The validity of the inferences we make, however, depends on the quality of the data we collect. Low examinee motivation compromises these inferences; research suggests that low examinee motivation can lead to inaccurate estimates of examinees’ ability (e.g., Wise & DeMars, 2005). To obtain data that better represent what students know, think, and can do, practitioners must consider, and attempt to negate the effects of, low examinee motivation. The primary purpose …

You Only Live Up To The Standards You Set: An Evaluation Of Different Approaches To Standard Setting, Scott N. Strickman

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Interpretation of performance in reference to a standard can provide nuanced, finely-tuned information regarding examinee abilities beyond that of just a total score. However, there is a multitude of ways to set performance standards yet little guidance regarding which method operates best and under what circumstances. Traditional methods are the most common approach adopted in practice and heavily involve subject matter experts (SMEs). Two other approaches have been suggested in the literature as alternative ways to set performance standards, although they have yet to be implemented in practice. Data-driven approaches do not involve SMEs but rather rely solely upon statistical …

Clicks, Likes, And Shares: Using The Theory Of Planned Behavior, Self-Efficacy, And Impression Management To Predict Digital Activism Activities, Aaron Noland

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Social media has evolved as a space for connection, advocacy, and commerce in recent years. Nonprofit organizations have been called to engage stakeholders on the Internet generally, and social media specifically as the pervasiveness of online presence has increased. In addition, nonprofit organizations have struggled to sustain engagement with the millennial population over the same time. Millennials have been termed digital natives and use social media proficiently. The convergence of these two mandates for nonprofit organizations – to engage via social media and to engage millennials – represents the importance of this study. To begin to help nonprofit organizations develop …

I Can Thrive!: Fostering Well-Being In Adolescent Girls Via The Unified Approach, Jennifer L. Mills

Dissertations, 2014-2019

With the rise of positive psychology as a subfield of psychology, there has been increased focus and attention on the construct of well-being. Unfortunately, lack of agreement regarding the ultimate goal of positive psychology has contributed to fragmentation within the field of psychology. Thus, literature on well-being has not been integrated into a broad model for understanding psychology and human nature, as is the case with much psychological research. Connecting such research to a deep theoretical and philosophical model is important with a construct like well-being, as it is a complicated and central construct for the field, for both practitioners …

The Effect Of Journey Around The World Curriculum On Prosocial Behavior In Elementary School Children: A Pilot Study, Jae Seung Cha

Dissertations, 2014-2019

This small-scale pilot study explored the effectiveness of proposed research instruments in measuring the outcomes of the prosocial and global education curriculum, Journey Around the World (JAWD), regarding attitudes toward school, affective language, prosocial motivation and behavior of second-grade school students.

Overall, the results of this study support the research methodology. Specifically, the proposed measures demonstrated the capacity to detect the positive changes following the Journey Around the World program in the attitudes toward school, learning motivation, affective vocabulary, and prosocial behavior and motivation. Furthermore, the results demonstrated the sensitivity of the proposed method to reflect the children’s growing appreciation …

Argument Education In Higher Education: A Validation Study, Paul E. Mabrey Iii

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Argument education can play an important role in higher education for leadership development and responding to increasing calls for post-secondary accountability. But to do so, argumentation teachers, scholars, and practitioners need to develop a clearer definition and research agenda for the purposes of teaching and assessing argumentation. The research conducted here contributes to this project by first establishing a definitional construct and observable behaviors associated with learning and practicing argumentation. Second, an argument education assessment instrument was created based off of the literature-supported definition of argumentation. Third, debate and argument education subject matter experts reviewed the definition, behaviors, and assessment …

A Mixed Methods Study Of A Psychoeducational Attachment-Based Intervention For Families Experiencing Separation And Loss, Kelly C. Atwood

Dissertations, 2014-2019

This mixed methods study examined foster and adoptive parents’ experience of an attachment-based psychoeducational parent education course. A semi-structured qualitative interview explored parent perceptions of the course content and the impact of the course on parental stress levels, parent-child interactions, and child behavior in a sample of parent participants, after parents completed the 8-week Attachment Security Course. Prior to and following completion of the course parents completed quantitative measures of parenting stress, parent-child interaction, and child behavior. Due to the small sample size, the quantitative results were not interpretable in aggregate form. Emphasis was placed on the qualitative data to …

Being And Beholding: Comparative Analysis Of Joy And Awe In Four Cultures, Daria B. White

Dissertations, 2014-2019

The emotions of joy and awe have received some attention in the psychological literature with few studies comparing the two phenomena across cultures. A phenomenological study of joy and awe in four countries – Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, and the USA, examined both emotions. The inquiry was conducted through semi-structured interviews. The phenomenological methodology was supplemented with grounded theory procedures to ensure research rigor. Four categories were identified that contribute to the experience of joy and awe: unity of souls, nature, spirituality, and the original self. Freedom, humor, face-to-face communication, innocence, time, and space were facets of the joy and awe …

Mepi, Bevi, And Ei Leadership: Implications And Applications For Global Leadership Assessment And Development, Whitney Giesing

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Across multiple settings, individuals who assume organizational leadership roles may find themselves grappling with unique opportunities to influence meaningful change. The complexities of such processes become especially apparent in a global context where multiple dynamics must be navigated simultaneously and skillfully. What variables are associated with greater or lesser effectiveness in these global leadership roles? Can such processes be measured in an ecologically valid manner? What might we learn about the cultivation of global leadership by an examination of such interacting intricacies? This dissertation sought to answer these questions by reviewing and applying existing global leadership theories and the Equilintegration …

The Achievement Gap And Students Living In Poverty: The Role Of Core Self-Evaluation And Transformational Leadership In Teachers, India Harris

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Research has shown that the combination of locus of control, self-efficacy, self-confidence, and emotional stability is a good predictor of life success. Until now, this second order factor, called core self-evaluations (CSE) has only been studied in adults. Findings from this study, showed levels of CSE were significantly and positively connected with academic achievement for middle and elementary aged students. CSE appears to play to a similar role between students and academic achievement as it plays with adults and job performance. In this study, the dimensions of transformational leadership were applied to teacher behaviors and students were grouped based on …

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy Informed By Applied Behavior Analysis For Developmental Delay: Parent And Sibling Coaching With Setting Generalization, Mariel S. Cannady

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is a well-established, empirically-supported treatment for young children with disruptive behaviors. PCIT was initially designed for treatment of typically-developing children with oppositional and disruptive behaviors. There is emerging support for PCIT as a treatment for behavior challenges seen in children with developmental delays. However, some modifications may be needed to respond to the severity of delay, parent treatment goals, and the function of the challenging behavior. Using a non-concurrent multiple-baseline experimental design, the current study examined the effectiveness of a modified PCIT approach for a preschool child with global developmental delay and co-occurring behavior problems. Modifications …

Applying Solution Behavior Thresholds To A Noncognitive Measure To Identify Rapid Responders: An Empirical Investigation, Mary M. Johnston

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Noncognitive measures are increasingly being used for accountability purposes in higher education (e.g., O. L. Liu, Frankel, & Roohr, 2014). Because these measures are often collected under low-stakes conditions, there is a concern students do not put forth their best effort when responding, which is problematic given previous research has found noneffortful responding can negatively impact the validity of results (e.g., Barry & Finney, 2009; Meade & Craig, 2012; Swerdzewski, Harmes, & Finney, 2011). Subsequently, there is a need to identify students displaying low effort on low-stakes noncognitive measures. One method, which is based on response time and can discreetly …

Leadership, Empowerment, And Social Capital In A Civil Society Mental Health Program Population In El Salvador, Samuel V. Nickels

Dissertations, 2014-2019

ENGLISH

Leadership, empowerment and social capital have been associated with successful outcomes for grassroots and nonprofit organizations, but little experimental research exists to demonstrate this connection. The purpose of this study is to determine whether participants in a civil society program in El Salvador have achieved attributes of leadership, empowerment, and social capital above that observed in a group of non-participants.

This study is a single-measure comparison of all available participants in an intervention program with a matched control group. The target population is persons with mental illness and their family caregivers (n=140). The intervention is a community-based mental health …

Training Future Teachers To Promote Emotion Regulation In The Classroom, Marie E. Johnson

Dissertations, 2014-2019

The classroom is a rich emotional environment where both students and teachers experience a wide range of emotions. Emotions influence all aspects of learning including attention, motivation, interest, memory, creativity, and social interactions. While negative emotions generally impede learning, the experience of positive emotions leads to improved outcomes for both teachers and students. Thus, the ability to regulate emotions is a very critical skill for both teachers and students. Teachers must be equipped with the necessary skills to manage their own emotions as well as emotional incidents in the classroom; however, few teacher preparation programs provide the knowledge and skills …

A Mixed Methods Analysis Of The Relationship Between Attachment, Post-Traumatic Stress, And Post-Traumatic Growth Among United States Service Members, Chauncy T. Brinton

Dissertations, 2014-2019

The impact of secure military relationships on US service members’ response to trauma during military service was examined in this mixed methods study. Veterans with and without combat exposure evidence a high rate of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the military has tried to institute resilience-based programs in anticipation of the psychological challenges experienced by soldiers. At the same time, research has shown that some service members report positive outcomes associated with military service including the phenomena of post-traumatic growth (PTG). The constructs from attachment theory (safe haven and exploration) have begun to be the focus of research with service …

Examining Well-Being Among College Students With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd) And Co-Morbid Diagnoses: An Integrative Approach To Understanding Mental Health, Michael T. Strand

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Deficit and dysfunction in college students with ADHD diagnoses are now well studied and known to be commonplace in clinical psychology research literature (see Green & Rabiner, 2014, for review). However, areas of positive functioning and psychological well-being have not been well examined. This dissertation aims to investigate the extent to aspects of well-being may be more or less developed among college students carrying a diagnosis of ADHD, in comparison to their college peers. This examination utilized a subset of data collected from annual national “Healthy Minds” survey of college student mental health in the United States (Eisenberg, D., Hunt, …

The Development Of A Psychological Check-Up: Assessing Character And Well-Being Via The Unified Approach, Lindsay Michele Anmuth

Dissertations, 2014-2019

This dissertation presents a model of assessing and addressing the growing college student mental health crisis (CSMHC), which pertains to the rise of student pathology over time and difficulty meeting the needs of that growing population. A theory driven conceptual paradigm was developed, based on Henriques’ (2011; Henriques & Stout, 2012) Unified Approach to psychology and psychotherapy and, specifically, the Nested Model of Well-being (Henriques, Kleinman, & Asselin, 2014) and Character Adaptation Systems Theory (CAST). Based on those conceptual models and an understanding of college student mental health concerns, the Psychological Check-Up was designed. The Psychological Check-Up consists of a …

The Impact Of College Leadership Experiences On Long Term Well-Being, Kevin Meaney

Dissertations, 2014-2019

In an era when the debate surrounding the value of a college education seems solely focused on the earning power of graduates, colleges and universities must make a concerted effort to include additional outcomes in the discussion. One area of promise is the examination of the impact of various college experiences on long term well-being. Using a multiple analysis of variance, this study explored the influence of collegiate leadership experiences on long term well-being and meaningful work. Results revealed that students engaged in activities with focused leadership development reported higher levels of positive meaning in their work and higher levels …

The Effects Of A Planned Missingness Design On Examinee Motivation And Psychometric Quality, Matthew S. Swain

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Assessment practitioners in higher education face increasing demands to collect assessment and accountability data to make important inferences about student learning and institutional quality. The validity of these high-stakes decisions is jeopardized, particularly in low-stakes testing contexts, when examinees do not expend sufficient motivation to perform well on the test. This study introduced planned missingness as a potential solution. In planned missingness designs, data on all items are collected but each examinee only completes a subset of items, thus increasing data collection efficiency, reducing examinee burden, and potentially increasing data quality. The current scientific reasoning test served as the Long …

Addressing Serial-Order And Negative-Keying Effects: A Mixed-Methods Study, Jerusha J. Gerstner

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Researchers have studied item serial-order effects on attitudinal instruments by considering how item-total correlations differ based on the item’s placement within a scale (e.g., Hamilton & Shuminsky, 1990). In addition, other researchers have focused on item negative-keying effects on attitudinal instruments (e.g., Marsh, 1996). Researchers consistently have found that negatively-keyed items relate to one another above and beyond their relationship to the construct intended to be measured. However, only one study (i.e., Bandalos & Coleman, 2012) investigated the combined effects of serial-order and negative-keying on attitudinal instruments. Their brief study found some improvements in fit when attitudinal items were presented …

Teachers’ Beliefs And Practices Related To Student Self-Regulation In The Classroom, Marlana L. Webster

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Self-regulation serves as a pivotal skill for children to acquire early in life. Mastery of the skill leads to high academic achievement and increased sense of self-efficacy. Teachers play a major role in developing self-regulation in children. Consequently, the beliefs and practices that teachers hold regarding poor self-regulation (i.e. inattention and impulsivity) are to be understood and taken into account. The Self-Regulation Survey was created to capture teachers’ attributions for inattention and impulsivity along with subsequent chosen interventions in 52 participants. The results indicated that teachers attribute impulsivity to organic factors and family origin to a greater degree than classroom …

The Development Of Character Adaptation System (Cast) Intervention, Lauren Mays

Dissertations, 2014-2019

The primary objective of this dissertation was to explore the feasibility and utility of an individualized intervention derived from a group therapy manual grounded in Henriques’ (2011) Unified Theory of Psychology. This framework serves to translate terminology from different theoretical perspectives and map their overlap and distinctive qualities onto human functioning. This project provides a more directive educational approach to explore whether and how clients can be directed to understand these systems and benefit from them. The second goal was to explore the appropriateness and impact of this manual on a client presentation typically seen in college outpatient treatment. These …

A Detailed Analysis Of Coaching In Teacher-Child Interaction Training (Tcit), Krystal M. Studivant

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Teacher-Child Interaction Training (TCIT) is a school-based prevention program in which teachers are taught to use basic principles of behavior modification in the classroom to prevent and reduce problem behaviors in young children. A key aspect of the effectiveness of TCIT is the in-vivo coaching, which allows for immediate feedback during the natural flow of teaching activities with children. The purpose of the current study is two-fold: a) to support the research on the effectiveness of the DePaul TCIT method in preschool classrooms and b) to analyze the content and quality of coaching statements. The intervention was introduced sequentially within …

A Meta-Analytic Tutorial And A Narrative Review On Motivation Interventions In Education, Rory A. Lazowski

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Abstract (Paper 1)

Dating back to only the early 1970’s, the use of meta-analysis has recently grown steadily in the fields of psychology and education, after initially being used in the physical sciences. Meta-analysis is often lauded as an effective analytic tool to inform practice and policy, disentangle conflicting results among single studies, and identify areas that require additional information for a certain topic. However, because routine use of meta-analysis is relatively recent, there remain methodological issues that require clarity. In addition, as more advanced analytical and statistical techniques emerge, there is a need to examine how these techniques can …

Examining The Performance Of The Metropolis-Hastings Robbins-Monro Algorithm In The Estimation Of Multilevel Multidimensional Irt Models, Bozhidar M. Bashkov

Dissertations, 2014-2019

The purpose of this study was to review the challenges that exist in the estimation of complex (multidimensional) models applied to complex (multilevel) data and to examine the performance of the recently developed Metropolis-Hastings Robbins-Monro (MH-RM) algorithm (Cai, 2010a, 2010b), designed to overcome these challenges and implemented in both commercial and open-source software programs. Unlike other methods, which either rely on high-dimensional numerical integration or approximation of the entire multidimensional response surface, MH-RM makes use of Fisher’s Identity to employ stochastic imputation (i.e., data augmentation) via the Metropolis-Hastings sampler and then apply the stochastic approximation method of Robbins and Monro …

Extending An Irt Mixture Model To Detect Random Responders On Non-Cognitive Polytomously Scored Assessments, Mandalyn R. Swanson

Dissertations, 2014-2019

This study represents an attempt to distinguish two classes of examinees – random responders and valid responders – on non-cognitive assessments in low-stakes testing. The majority of existing literature regarding the detection of random responders in low-stakes settings exists in regard to cognitive tests that are dichotomously scored. However, evidence suggests that random responding occurs on non-cognitive assessments, and as with cognitive measures, the data derived from such measures are used to inform practice. Thus, a threat to test score validity exists if examinees’ response selections do not accurately reflect their underlying level on the construct being assessed. As with …

The Nature And Etiology Of Religious Certitude: Implications Of The Ei Framework And Beliefs, Events, And Values Inventory, Timothy W. Brearly

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Religious certitude is often associated with conflict between individuals and groups, though the nature of this relationship is still not clear. To further clarify these dynamics, the historical psychology of religion is reviewed and contrasted with current perspectives from social psychology and neuroscience, with an eye towards better understanding the variance within religious expressions and their associated relationships with intergroup conflict. It is hypothesized that religious certainty is related to a difficulty in engaging with contradictory religious perspectives, and that the pull towards certainty is tied to an individual’s unique psychological structure, much of which is developed through the interaction …

Nonprofit Leadership: A Study Of Governance Changes Over Time, Daisha M. Merritt

Dissertations, 2014-2019

This is a leadership study understood through board governance in nonprofit organizations. The study sought to discover if there were indicators of coercive institutional isomorphism occurring in human service nonprofit organizations in the United States. IRS 990 tax forms were compiled from 2008- 2012 to determine if there were increasing levels of reported governance practices. Methodology included factor analysis, comparison of means, trend analysis, and regression models. Results indicated that there is an overall trend of increasing reported practices of governance in human service nonprofit organizations. Board size is the most significant indicator associated with changes in reported governance practices. …