Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

S.T.A.R.T. Exchange Vol. 03, No. 02, Center For Public Affairs Research (Cpar)

Publications

Cambridge Packs History In Run For Future

Unmc Economic Impact Study, Jerry Deichert

Publications

The University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) has a major impact upon the economy of the state of Nebraska. More than a learning and research center, UNMC is a major employer and business enterprise.

Geography And Mutual Understanding: "Harvest Of Hope", Marianne Kenney

Curriculum

The "Harvest of Hope" was an interdisciplinary science/geography project that provided students from two different schools and very diverse backgrounds the opportunity to work in a cooperative community service effort. With teacher coordination from both districts involved in the project, students from an inner-city school and a suburban school planted, tended, and harvested crops on unused school prope11y and donated the food to organizations providing resources to the needy. "Harvest of Hope" was designed to aid the needy of Denver and teach high school students about real-world geography issues. Students also gained knowledge of issues inherent in world agriculture and …

Stability Of Wisc-R Scores Between Triennial Evaluations Of Learning Disabled Students, Norman J. Wozny

Student Work

Recent studies of intelligence test score stability among learning disabled children have reported adequate stability when correlational and analysis of variance (ANOVA) techniques were used. However, less than adequate score stability has been found when individual scores were examined. The present study explores the test-retest stability of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-R) using three statistical methods: Pearson product-moment correlation, analysis of variance, and an examination of individual scores. Regression to the mean is also examined. While reasonably high levels of stability are concluded by the Pearson product-moment correlations, significant drops in Verbal and Full Scale IQ scores between …

Draft Instructional Framework In Service-Learning For Elementary School, Maryland Student Service Alliance

Curriculum

MSSA wants to ensure that all Maryland students can make a difference in their schools and communities by learning to be responsible citizens. We published the draft instructional framework to help teachers develop a broad range of service-learning experiences.

The Relationship Between Pain Locus Of Control And Treatment Adherence At Long-Term Follow-Up From An Interdisciplinary Pain Center, Lisa J. Wall

Student Work

Locus of control is a cognitive construct that can be quantified and used in conjunction with other social learning theory variables to predict human social behavior. Previous research suggests that when a person perceives rewards and punishments as being contingent upon personal actions, (i.e. they possess an internal locus of control) behavior is quite different compared to when such reinforcements are perceived to occur independently of personal efforts and characteristics.

Pain is one of many areas in which there has been a significant amount of interest in relating locus of control health beliefs to a variety of relevant behaviors. Whether …

A Proposal For The Michigan K-12 Service-Learning Center, The Michigan Partnership For New Education

Special Topics, General

The Michigan Partnership for New Education, in collaboration with Michigan State University's College of Education and with several partner universities, proposes to establish a K-12 Service Learning Center, headquartered at Michigan State. The Center would:

1. promote the principles and practices of service-learning in the schools in Michigan generally, through a series of activities ranging from building networks and holding conferences to training teachers, shaping policy and coordinating existing efforts. Such activities would, where possible, be collaborative efforts with other service-learning initiatives in the state. In e this regard, the Center would be a catalyst, switchboard, cheerleader and organizer, tying …

The State Of Black Omaha: 1992 - Housing Conditions, Center For Public Affairs Research (Cpar)

Publications

In 1931, five years after its founding, the Urban League of Nebraska co-sponsored a study of the social conditions of African Americans in North Omaha. Co-authored by T. Earl Sullenger, Professor of Sociology at what was then the Municipal University of Omaha, and J. Harvey Kerns, Executive Director of the Omaha Urban League, the study observed that, "In Omaha, as other cities North and South, the Negro is striving for status .... In spite of obstacles and handicaps he has established social and religious structures which have enriched the city. In this development, the credit belongs to both races- to …

The State Of Black Omaha: 1992 - Housing Conditions: Executive Summary, Center For Public Affairs Research (Cpar)

Publications

The African American community in Omaha has undergone many changes since 1931. Although there is considerable evidence of progress and some cause for optimism, there also are reasons to be concerned. The State of Black Omaha: 1992 Housing Conditions has not attempted to construct an index of parity in housing, but if the housing data in the preceding section is any indication, it would appear that inequality between African Americans and Caucasian Americans in Omaha may be narrowing for some and widening for many others.

Occasional Paper No. 092-1: Health Care Perceptions Of Nebraska's Urban & Rural Aged, James A. Thorson, F. C. Powell

Publications

Random samples were drawn in Douglas County, Nebraska (N = 196, mean age = 73.8 years), in the counties surrounding Douglas County also served by the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging (N = 104, mean age = 72.4 years), and in eleven of the rural Sandhills counties of Nebraska (N = 200, mean age = 76.6). Participants responded to structured interviews of 169 questions that included self-assessed health status, availability of health care and physician services, costs, attitudes toward health care services, health experiences and beliefs. While the Sandhills respondents were significantly older and had less access to health services, …

Recession Hits Local Television, Michael L. Hilt

Communication Faculty Publications

During the past four years, commercial television stations in Omaha Nebraska have faced the budget axe. Whether it was called "economizing" or "budget cutting," the fact remains local news and production department personnel were usually the first to be laid-off. Newsroom and production staffs at WOWT, KETV, and KMTV are smaller now than in 1988, either as a result of layoffs or failure to replace a departing or retiring employee. In addition, a year-long labor dispute at WOWT has resulted in a l0 percent wage cut and a loss of one week of vacation. Wages at the other two stations …

Framing Effects In Riskless Decisions: Discounting Of Temporally Delayed Outcomes, Adam B. Butler

Student Work

Studies of riskless choice in both cognitive (Stevenson, 1986) and behavioral paradigms (Chung & Herrnstein, 1967) have found that subjects prefer temporally delayed losses and temporally advanced gains. Analogously, studies of risky choice have found that subjects prefer risky losses and certain gains (Tversky & Kahneman, 1981). Because probability is conceptually identical to the inverse of delay, it was recently suggested that these findings were descriptions of the same choice process (Rachlin, Logue, Gibbon, & Frankel, 1986). There were two goals of the present investigation. The first was to replicate and extend, through the use of a withinsubjects design, the …

Mandated Service And Moral Learning, Robert K. Fullinwider

Special Topics, General

Recently the Maryland State Board of Education added a new condition for getting a high school diploma: students must perform 75 hours of "service." The activities that count as "service" will be determined by individual districts, and may include everything from tutoring younger students and visiting nursing home residents to working with nonprofit community organizations. The new requirement builds on an already existing voluntary student service program supported by the Maryland Student Service Alliance, a public-private partnership. Although some municipal school systems in the U.S. impose similar requirements, the Maryland school board is the first to adopt a statewide policy.

Journal Of The Community Development Society Vol. 23, No. 01, Center For Public Affairs Research (Cpar)

Publications

The Journal of the Community Development Society (ISSN 001 0-3829) is devoted to improving knowledge and practice in the field of purposive community change. The purpose of the Journal is to disseminate information on theory, research, and practice. The Editor welcomes manuscripts that report research; evaluate theory, techniques, and methods; examine community problems; or analyze, critically, the profession itself. The Journal is published twice each year.

National And Community Service: Challenges And Opportunities For People With Disabilities To Volunteer In America, Glen W. White

Special Topics, General

The recently implemented National and Community Service Act of 1990 calls for Americans of all race, age, ability, and economic status to return to service in their community. To help facilitate this call to service, the National Commission on Community Service has allocated approximately 70 million dollars in grants. The Act focuses on the involvement of youth, including those who are economically disadvantaged and with disabilities. This paper discusses the challenges and opportunities faced by community service program planners and disability organizations, in their efforts to integrate volunteers with disabilities in service to the community. The paper concludes with a …

Designing Computer-Based Writing Tools For Community Action, David Fleming

Special Topics, General

Most word and information processing systems arc designed for either large institutions or individual users. Institutions, of course, have benefitted greatly from emerging technologies. These users cover the spectrum of our economic, political, social, and cultural life: large corporations, banks, insurance companies, government agencies, schools, universities, armed services, hospitals, the media. Individual users have been more recent beneficiaries of technological advances, and the computer has begun to make inroads into the way people interact with one another, manage their affairs, and entertain themselves.

Support For An Outdoor Pool In Papillion, Center For Public Affairs Research (Cpar)

Publications

This report summarizes findings from a December 1991 telephone survey that was conducted by the Center for Public Affairs Research for the city of Papillion. The survey was designed to determine voter support for the construction of an out-of-doors swimming pool.

Regional News In Local Newscasts: What Is The Role Of The Network Regional News Feed Coordinator In The Gatekeeping Process For Local Newscasts?, Michael L. Hilt

Communication Faculty Publications

This study examined the role of the CBS Midwest Regional feed coordinator as one of the primary gatekeepers of regional news in the local news process. One purpose of this study was to determine how often local stations use the Midwest Regional feed, either by contributing stories to it or by taking stories from it A second purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the regional coordinator as a gatekeeper.

Administering Maturity: The Emergence Of Youth Service As A Rite Of Passage To Adult Citizenship, Timothy Dolan

School K-12

Over the course of the 1980s, a literature describing a new lost generation in America has caught the popular imagination, fueled to no small extent by the anxiety of aging baby-boomers over their offspring's fate. One manifestation of particular interest at the policy level has been a growing sentiment by opinion leaders in favor of establishing youth service as both a pragmatic remedy for meeting social needs, and as a rite of passage to bona-fide citizenship status.

National And Community Service: Challenges And Opportunities For People With Disabilities To Volunteer In America, Glen F. White

Disabilities

The recently implemented National and Community Service Act of 1990 calls for Americans of all race, age, ability, and economic status to return to service in their community. To help facilitate this call to service, the National Commission on Community Service has allocated approximately 70 million dollars in grants. The Act focuses on the involvement of youth, including those who are economically disadvantaged and with disabilities. This paper discusses the challenges and opportunities faced by community service program planners and disability organizations, in their efforts to integrate volunteers with disabilities in service to the community. The paper concludes with a …

The Case For Participatory Evaluation, J. Bradley Cousins, Lorna M. Earl

Evaluation/Reflection

Participatory evaluation is presented as an extension of the stakeholder-based model with a focus on enhancing evaluation utilization through primary users’ increased depth and range of participation in the applied research process. The approach is briefly described and then justified from theoretical and empirical bases. The literature on organizational learning provides theoretical support for participatory evaluation stemming primarily from the view that knowledge is socially constructed and cognitive systems and memories are developed and shared by organization members. Twenty-six recent empirical studies were found to support an organizational learning justification of the model. Studies were classified into one of six …

S.T.A.R.T. Exchange Vol. 03, No. 01, Uno Center For Public Affairs Research

Publications

Willa Cather's Red Cloud Writes A New Chapter

Voluntary Action On The College Campus - From Theory To Practice, Debra Floerchinger

Higher Education

President and Mrs. Bush committed his administration to the promotion of volunteer service in the President's Inaugural Address in January l989. The "Points of Light Initiative" was announced in June 1989 to advance volunteerism and community service on the national level. This initiative created a foundation to promote these ideals.

Eureka! A Yurt! Integrating Mathematics, Cooperative Learning, And Community Service, Jo Anna Allen

Project Summaries

The significance of "Eureka!" in the title derives from the exhilaration of discovery that took place through a project in which a class of sixth graders built a Yurt.¹ There was a "Wow!" sense of awe and achievement akin to completing one's first rockclimb or a thousand-piece puzzle. In the words of many of the sixth graders who participated-" I can't believe we did it!" They built a scaled-down Yurt (see photo], a circular building having walls that slant upward and outward from a round base, with an overhanging, cone-like roof. The roof has a skylight in the middle, …

Differences Among Community Service Volunteers, Extracurricular Volunteers, And Nonvolunteers On The College Campus, R. Thomas Fitch

Higher Education

Students involved in volunteer community service activities display different demographic characteristics and inte1personal values than do other students.

S.T.A.R.T. Exchange Vol. 01, No. 03, Uno Center For Public Affairs Research

Publications

Stuart Targets Community Appearance

The Omaha Jewish Community Survey Report, Center For Public Affairs Research (Cpar)

Publications

In an effort to better serve the needs of the Jewish community in Omaha, The Jewish Federation of Omaha initiated a study of service needs in the Spring of 1991. The University of Nebraska at Omaha's Center for Public Affairs Research (CPAR) was retained to conduct the study.

Cpar Review Vol. 02, No. 06, Uno Center For Public Affairs Research

Publications

A $100,000 commitment from the Omaha World-Herald Foundation will enable Nebraska communities to con­ tinue utilizing a successful strategic planning project. The Strategic Training and Resource Targeting (S.TA.R.T.) program directed by CPAR has helped more than 50 Nebraska communities in the past two years. The World-Herald grant will enable 40 additional communities to begin the community-based economic development program over the next two years.

Omaha Effort, The: Findings From A Survey, Center For Public Affairs Research (Cpar)

Publications

This report summarizes findings from a July 1991 telephone survey. The survey was conducted for the City of Omaha Department of Public Works and focused on Omaha's current recycling program, The Omaha Effort, as well as citizen attitudes toward recycling in general.

Personnel Staff Attitudes Toward The Employment Of Persons With Physical Disability, Mental Retardation, Or Mental Illness, Karol Ruth Oldenburg

Student Work

This thesis describes a measurement of personnel staff attitudes and perceptions toward the employability of disabled job applicants. More specifically, direct comparisons among three types of disability categories were made using Osgood's Semantic Scaling Method.

Sixty employment professionals of the Lincoln Human Resources Management Association rated a job applicant with physical disability, with mental retardation, and one with mental illness on the basis of 15 paired opposite adjectives. These adjectives described a variety of attributes which could be grouped into evaluative, potency, and activity dimensions of semantic space.

Respondents completed a four-page questionnaire which rated physically disabled, mentally retarded, and …