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Articles 3331 - 3360 of 11266

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Adapting Assessment For The Field Of Communication, Marcus Paroske, Sarah Rosaen Jan 2012

Adapting Assessment For The Field Of Communication, Marcus Paroske, Sarah Rosaen

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

It has now become a universal mandate that communication programs conduct assessment of whether students attain selected learning outcomes. However, approaches to assessment unique to communication beyond the basic public speaking course are rare in the literature. This paper defends a “meta-assessment” approach to communication assessment as a key to negotiating the unique attributes of the field of communication, especially in heterogeneous academic departments and programs. It further argues that this approach can benefit assessment of similar, interdisciplinary academic programs.

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Editor's Note, Don W. Stacks Jan 2012

Editor's Note, Don W. Stacks

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This is the Editor’s Note to Volume 31, Issue 2 of the Journal of the Association for Communication Administration.

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Evaluating Basic Public Speaking Course Student Presentations: Some Assessment Considerations, Mary Mino Jan 2012

Evaluating Basic Public Speaking Course Student Presentations: Some Assessment Considerations, Mary Mino

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

Evaluating basic course students’ presentational speaking skills accurately and effectively has always been a challenging and vitally important instructional task. Considering the communication discipline’s need to clarify and to improve communication course assessment, this essay compares the effectiveness of four valid presentational speaking forms. In order to explain the need for this comparison, first, the essay emphasizes for basic public speaking course instructors the significance of increasing students’ understanding of communication competence both in theory and practice. Second, the essay supports a rationale for examining the effectiveness of presentational evaluation forms using a comparative analysis as the basis of this …

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Best Practices In Faculty Evaluation, Sue Pendell Jan 2012

Best Practices In Faculty Evaluation, Sue Pendell

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

No abstract provided.

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Assessing Organizational Image Through The College Open House: A Tool For Success, Andrea M. Pampaloni, Andrea Vadaro Tucker Jan 2012

Assessing Organizational Image Through The College Open House: A Tool For Success, Andrea M. Pampaloni, Andrea Vadaro Tucker

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This study evaluates how effective colleges and universities are in presenting an accurate and positive organizational image via their open house events. The Open House Assessment for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) © was developed to determine how institutional characteristics identified by potential members as influential to their decision to affiliate with a school were made relevant through the organizational image presented by the school. Open house events at twenty-four colleges and universities were assessed using the tool. Findings indicate that there are overall modifications to open house events that might benefit all schools, suggesting that the tool can be an …

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Helping Junior Faculty Achieve Success In Promotion And Tenure, Jon Hess Jan 2012

Helping Junior Faculty Achieve Success In Promotion And Tenure, Jon Hess

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

No abstract provided.

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Mentoring Faculty Colleagues, Jeff Kerssen-Griep Jan 2012

Mentoring Faculty Colleagues, Jeff Kerssen-Griep

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

No abstract provided.

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Complete Issue, Volume 31, Issue 2 Jan 2012

Complete Issue, Volume 31, Issue 2

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This is the complete issue for Volume 31, Issue 2 of the Journal of the Association for Communication Administration.

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Examining Relationships Among Income, Individual And Relationship Distress, And Outcomes In Marriage And Relationship Education For Low-To-Moderate Income Married Couples, Ryan G. Carlson Jan 2012

Examining Relationships Among Income, Individual And Relationship Distress, And Outcomes In Marriage And Relationship Education For Low-To-Moderate Income Married Couples, Ryan G. Carlson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current study utilized data from a federally-funded healthy marriage grant to examine pre, post, and three-to-six month follow-up changes in relationship satisfaction (as measured by the Dyadic Adjustment Scale total scores) and individual distress (as measured by the Outcomes Questionnaire 45.2). Additionally, the study evaluated income and dosage as predictors of relationship satisfaction and individual distress change at post-assessment and three-to-six month follow-up. Participants included 220 married individuals with children who completed PREP 7.0 (Prevention Relationship Enhancement Program). A repeated measures, split plot, MANOVA indicated statistically significant improvements in relationship satisfaction and individual distress for participants at post-assessment and …

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Estimating The Effects Of Condemned Inmates' Last Statements On Public Opinion About The Death Penalty: A Factorial Survey Approach, Timothy P. Colyer Jan 2012

Estimating The Effects Of Condemned Inmates' Last Statements On Public Opinion About The Death Penalty: A Factorial Survey Approach, Timothy P. Colyer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There has been an increase in writings that address the last statements of condemned offenders. Many of these writings suggest that exposure to the humanity sometimes exhibited in these last statements may steer public opinion against the death penalty. This dissertation tests this suggestion by exposing 400 participants to randomly generated vignettes containing various capital crimes, demographic characteristics, and last statements. The survey data are analyzed utilizing multilevel modeling. Study results include the effects of varying levels of demonstrated humanity in the last statements of condemned offenders on public opinion, and whether specific demographic characteristics appear to influence study participant …

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When Do Comprehensive Peacekeeping Operations Succeed? The Case Of The Un Observer Mission In El Salvador (Onusal) And The Un Verification Mission In Guatemala (Minugua), Sabrina Stein Jan 2012

When Do Comprehensive Peacekeeping Operations Succeed? The Case Of The Un Observer Mission In El Salvador (Onusal) And The Un Verification Mission In Guatemala (Minugua), Sabrina Stein

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

United Nations (UN) Charter Article 42 authorizes the Security Council to take military action by air, sea or land if non-armed solutions fail to restore international peace and Article 43 states that UN members will keep troops and equipment available for the use of the Security Council. However, Article 43 never went into effect, leaving the UN without an alternative to diplomatic solutions. Canada’s UN representative, Lester Pearson Bowles, proposed instituting peacekeeping missions to address this handicap and Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold established a peacekeeping framework, which included: agreement from the Security Council, agreement by parties involved, readiness of UN …

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Issues Of Crime And School Safety: Zero Tolerance Policies And Children With Disabilities, Melissa Henson Jan 2012

Issues Of Crime And School Safety: Zero Tolerance Policies And Children With Disabilities, Melissa Henson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the aftermath of school shootings, safety in educational institutions became a national concern. The Zero Tolerance policy was designed to remove students who posed serious and or imminent threat to the school environment. It was hoped that the institution of this policy would allow schools to better police student behaviors through the use of tough disciplinary actions, and to ensure a safer learning environment for all. However, one of the latent consequences of establishing a broad set of directives was to result in the differential treatment of some minority groups such as special education students. To date, there exists …

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The Rise Of The Smooth Jazz Format: An Exploratory Study Of Kenny G And His Gang Of Smooth Operators, William Arden Mader Jan 2012

The Rise Of The Smooth Jazz Format: An Exploratory Study Of Kenny G And His Gang Of Smooth Operators, William Arden Mader

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to explore the development and rise of the smooth jazz radio format. It is an exploratory study which aims to illustrate the confluence of forces that contributed to the immense success of the smooth jazz genre through the 1980s and well into the 1990s. Artists, such as the saxophonist Kenny G, popularized this style of music that is often described as instrumental-pop music, happy-jazz, or easy listening. Others might draw comparisons to the music we often hear inside of elevators and shopping centers. This is a process that is not unique to the genre …

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A Look At Jail-Based Reentry Programs, Mindy Weller Jan 2012

A Look At Jail-Based Reentry Programs, Mindy Weller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Over the years correctional-based reentry programs have gained the attention of academics and government officials alike. Academic research has focused primarily on programs implemented in prisons and juvenile facilities. Reentry programs operating out of jails have been vastly under represented amongst these studies. This research study works towards closing this gap by examining jail-based reentry programs by observing the influences of age, race, gender, level of offence (misdemeanor/felony), and program completion on recidivism. Findings were measured for both those who participated but did not complete the programs and those who successfully completed the programs. Data from three jail-based reentry programs …

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Understanding Gender And Sexuality In A Gay/Straight Alliance, Megan L. Duesterhaus Jan 2012

Understanding Gender And Sexuality In A Gay/Straight Alliance, Megan L. Duesterhaus

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Gay/Straight Alliances aimed at providing sexual minority youth and their allies with support, social events, and activism and education opportunities have proliferated in high schools in the United States over the past two decades. This study employs a qualitative, grounded theory approach to examine how sexual minority youth and their allies navigate gender, sexuality, and social movement participation. A year and a half of observation and 16 semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with Gay/Straight Alliance members in a high school setting in the southeastern United States. The study reveals that, through the lens of frame analysis, the G/SA is analogous …

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Music And Paleolithic Man The Soundtrack Of Human Cognitive Development, Samantha Angel Jan 2012

Music And Paleolithic Man The Soundtrack Of Human Cognitive Development, Samantha Angel

HIM 1990-2015

Archaeologists have pored over countless texts of the ancient civilizations, attempting to piece together bygone worlds. However, relatively little work has been done to reconstruct the musical history of these societies, and even less on why their musical histories are important. This paper aims at a synthesis between the ancient Egyptian and classical Greek archaeological records to analyze the importance of music in Paleolithic human cognitive development. Countless musical instruments have been discovered globally, ranging from pre-Columbian bone flutes in Oaxaca, Mexico to ancient trumpets in Egyptian burials (Barber et al 2009). Apart from their place in a museum, minimal …

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Does Behavioral Treatment For Children With Social Anxiety Disorder Change Vocal Characteristics?, Anya Kroytor Jan 2012

Does Behavioral Treatment For Children With Social Anxiety Disorder Change Vocal Characteristics?, Anya Kroytor

HIM 1990-2015

Children with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) characterized by persistent shyness and anxiety in social or performance situation, exhibit social skills deficits. These deficits include difficulty initiating conversations, maintaining eye contact, and taking turns when speaking, which in turn leads to impairments in their daily interactions and development of peer relationships (Greco, 2005; Miers, 2010). Although there are many subjective assessments for treatment outcomes for children with SAD, in order to become more thorough and effective when assessing treatment outcomes, more objective measures of actual behaviors are needed. This study uses digital vocal analysis to examine vocal parameters associated with anxiety …

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Atheists, Devils, And Communists Cognitive Mapping Of Attitudes And Stereotypes Of Atheists, Maxine Najle Jan 2012

Atheists, Devils, And Communists Cognitive Mapping Of Attitudes And Stereotypes Of Atheists, Maxine Najle

HIM 1990-2015

Negative attitudes towards atheists are hardly a new trend in our society. However, given the pervasiveness of the prejudices and the lack of foundation for them, it seems warranted to explore the underlying elements of these attitudes. Identifying these constitutive elements may help pick apart the different contributing factors and perhaps mitigate or at least understand them in the future. The present study was designed to identify which myths or stereotypes about atheists are most influential in these attitudes. A Lexical Decision Task was utilized to identify which words related to popular stereotypes are most related to the label atheists. …

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Social Experience, Depression, And Alcohol Abuse In College Age Females, Ann Cooper Jan 2012

Social Experience, Depression, And Alcohol Abuse In College Age Females, Ann Cooper

HIM 1990-2015

Past research has explored social experience in relation to depression among college females. Other studies have investigated the relationship between social experience and alcohol use among college students. However, there is a lack of research on the relationship among all the three variables, social experience, depression, and alcohol use, in female college students. In the present study, 132 traditional age female college students completed a Brief Social Experience Rating Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT). The results did not show a relationship between AUDIT scores and social experience ratings, but individuals who …

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The Cost Of Discrimination Job Age-Type And Legal Outcomes, Nicholas Smith Jan 2012

The Cost Of Discrimination Job Age-Type And Legal Outcomes, Nicholas Smith

HIM 1990-2015

The older population is growing rapidly and businesses must prepare for changes in their workforce. Cases of age discrimination have also become more common. Older workers are being forced out of their jobs at a faster rate than any other age group. As a result, older workers commonly take jobs in different careers, where they compete with younger workers who have similar relevant experience and are valued for their youth. Both prototype matching theory and career timetables theory state that people hold stereotypes of the job in addition to stereotypes of people. In laboratory research, a mismatch between the age …

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On Caricom And The Varying Levels Of And Motives For Integration Among The Member States, Joshua J. A. Scriven Jan 2012

On Caricom And The Varying Levels Of And Motives For Integration Among The Member States, Joshua J. A. Scriven

HIM 1990-2015

In an era of rapid transport and communication, spectators have come to expect a bridging of the classic political, social, and economic divide between states. It is taken for granted that states have more to work together than to strive independently for. CARICOM is the Caribbean's experiment at regional integration and it member states have pledged their ostensible support. This study is aimed at gauging the true levels of enthusiasm of the member states, which have varied among them and over time. By analysing the trade pattern of the Members with each other in comparison with the rest of the …

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Increased Levels Of Anxiety Revealing Characteristics Of Social Phobia Elucidated By Smartphone Use, Mark H. Richardson Jan 2012

Increased Levels Of Anxiety Revealing Characteristics Of Social Phobia Elucidated By Smartphone Use, Mark H. Richardson

HIM 1990-2015

Students at the University of Central Florida completed two self-report inventories: the SPAI-23, (Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory - 23) and MPPUS (Mobile Phone Problem Use Scale) to determine if there is a relationship between social phobia and problematic mobile phone use. Fifty one students (N = 51) completed both surveys and the results indicated that there was a small but positive relationship between problematic cell phone use and social phobia symptoms, r=.28, p=.05. The results are discussed in terms of how social phobia might increase problematic phone use.

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Building Support For The Introductory Oral Communication Course: Strategies For Widespread And Enduring Support On Campus, Jon A. Hess Jan 2012

Building Support For The Introductory Oral Communication Course: Strategies For Widespread And Enduring Support On Campus, Jon A. Hess

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

A strong introductory course is important for many communication departments, for the discipline, and for meeting our obligation to society. This paper utilizes the example of a recent curricular reform that threatened to eliminate a required oral communication course to reflect on strategies departments can use to build widespread and lasting support for the course. The paper reviews the events that led to the challenge and details the department’s response, which offers lessons that may be useful for other institutions. Four lessons include: tailoring the introductory course to the institution’s needs and mission, involvement in university work, making compelling use …

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From The Dean's Perspective, Richard R. Ranta Jan 2012

From The Dean's Perspective, Richard R. Ranta

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

No abstract provided.

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The Effect Of Recruitment Messages On Undergraduate Beliefs About The Communication Major: A Quasi-Experiment, Eric B. Meiners, Karen L. Rudick Jan 2012

The Effect Of Recruitment Messages On Undergraduate Beliefs About The Communication Major: A Quasi-Experiment, Eric B. Meiners, Karen L. Rudick

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

Despite the importance of attracting talented and qualified undergraduates into the major, the subject of recruitment for communication has received little attention. This study examines the effectiveness of a one-shot informative recruitment message on students’ beliefs and attitudes toward the communication major. As part of a quasi-experiment using a Solomon four-group design, two upper-division majors presented recruitment presentations addressing the benefits of, and misconceptions toward, the major to 130 students enrolled in introductory public speaking classes. Post-tests revealed that students exposed to the message reported significantly more favorable attitudes toward communication than those who had not seen a presentation (n …

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A Sense Of Belonging: New Technologies' Effect On Recruitment Practices Of Graduate Programs, Elizabeth Dorrance Hall, Emily C. Simmons Jan 2012

A Sense Of Belonging: New Technologies' Effect On Recruitment Practices Of Graduate Programs, Elizabeth Dorrance Hall, Emily C. Simmons

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

College recruiting has changed drastically as a result of new technology such as interactive Web sites, blogs, social media, and on-line videos. This study surveyed 144 college undergraduates about their attitudes and interests in enrolling in their institution’s graduate program as well as different types of recruitment technology. Video, printed handouts, and Web sites, were explored to assess their effectiveness as recruitment tools and discover how views of effectiveness are constructed. The study found video is perceived as the most interactive and influential recruitment tool and Web sites are the most credible, trustworthy, and user-friendly recruitment tool. This study allowed …

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Affective Response Of African American And European American Students To Portrayals Of Cross-Racial Relationships On Television, Earl S. Mowatt Jan 2012

Affective Response Of African American And European American Students To Portrayals Of Cross-Racial Relationships On Television, Earl S. Mowatt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Race is a potent discourse within the world of pop culture, particularly in television where viewers are witnessing more racial diversity in scripted shows. However, show creators must maintain standards that emphasize distinct social roles among characters in order to appeal to large heterogeneous audiences. These roles tend to be characterizations of racial stereotypes that often lead to biased opinions and inaccurate perceptions of minority groups. Previous studies detail that racial biases in media adversely shape public opinions about African Americans and depress the desire for racial integration. This seems somewhat confounding since the shift in programming towards racial diversity …

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You Have Guns And So Have We...: An Ethnohistoric Analysis Of Creek And Seminole Combat Behaviors, Nathan R. Lawres Jan 2012

You Have Guns And So Have We...: An Ethnohistoric Analysis Of Creek And Seminole Combat Behaviors, Nathan R. Lawres

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Resistance to oppression is a globally recognized cultural phenomenon that displays a remarkable amount of variation in its manifestations over both time and space. This cultural phenomenon is particularly evident among the Native American cultural groups of the Southeastern United States. Throughout the sixteenth through nineteenth centuries the European and American states employed tactics and implemented laws aimed at expanding the geographic boundaries of their respective states into the Tribal Zone of the Southeast. None of these groups, however, sat passively during this process; they employed resistive tactics and strategies aimed at maintaining their freedoms, their lives, and their traditional …

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With The Protection Of The Gods: An Interpretation Of The Protector Figure In Classic Maya Iconography, Tiffany M. Lindley Jan 2012

With The Protection Of The Gods: An Interpretation Of The Protector Figure In Classic Maya Iconography, Tiffany M. Lindley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Iconography encapsulates the cultural knowledge of a civilization. The ancient Maya of Mesoamerica utilized iconography to express ideological beliefs, as well as political events and histories. An ideology heavily based on the presence of an Otherworld is visible in elaborate Maya iconography. Motifs and themes can be manipulated to convey different meanings based on context. An example of this mutability can be witnessed in the depiction of Otherworld gods. Maya gods were not like Old World pantheons; gods were fluid and could function in multiple roles. Protector gods are an example of the fluidity of Maya deities. Scenes of protector …

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The Sustainability Of Overconsumption? A Discursive Analysis Of Walmart's Sustainability Campaign, Kathleen Adams Jan 2012

The Sustainability Of Overconsumption? A Discursive Analysis Of Walmart's Sustainability Campaign, Kathleen Adams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study inquires as to whether Walmart’s sustainability campaign represents a sincere and holistic change throughout the company’s global supply chain or if it is simply a public relations campaign which caters to the growing target market of “next-generation” consumers and justifies further expansion into “emerging markets”. A critical analysis of Walmart’s sustainability discourse is presented, using transcribed texts of various corporate and publicitygeared publications. Frequently utilized terms and themes are identified throughout the big-box retailer’s sustainability campaign which convey a distinctly Neoliberal ethos—a political economy which lies at the heart of current practices of institutional unsustainability—and emphasize the role …

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