Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

An Intervention To Increase Ioa And Objectivity In Supervisors At Woodsedge Learning Center, Karli Silverman

Honors Theses

The purpose of my research was to increase interobserver agreement (IOA) and objectivity in supervisors at WoodsEdge Learning Center. We questioned whether or not designing and implementing a new grading sheet would lead to this outcome. Our methodology consisted of internet research regarding interventions to increase these measurements, followed by task analyses of the behaviors that should occur when tutors provided discrete trial training (DTT), surveys regarding the quality of feedback received at WoodsEdge, visits to various early intervention centers, and ended with the creation and multiple revisions of a new grading sheet. My involvement with this intervention ended before …

The Implication Of Patient-Based Interventions Leading To A More Effective Treatment Of Anticipatory Nausea & Vomiting In Cancer Patients, Katelyn Delaney

Honors Theses

In the last thirty years, greater attention has been drawn to the aggressive methods of cancer treatment and the aversive conditioned symptoms they come to elicit. Anticipatory nausea and vomiting is one such aversive conditioned side effect and is significantly prevalent in cancer patients who undergo treatments like chemotherapy. In response to the ineffectiveness of pharmacological interventions to control these symptoms, behavioral intervention methods have grown as a topic of research. The implications of these behavioral interventions (including cognitive/attentional distraction, meditation and systematic desensitization) have proven effective in the treatment of the anticipatory nausea and vomiting and reducing patient anxiety. …

Cattle Smuggling From India To Bangladesh, Elyse Malnekoff

Honors Theses

This essay examines the current trend of rustling and transporting cattle from throughout India for trade at the cattle corridors that lie along the border between India’s West Bengal and Bangladesh. An analysis of historical and cultural factors seeks to explain how this trade possibly began and increased. These motivators include the effects of the Mad Cow disease outbreak in the 1980s on international beef trade and the many economic uses for bovines and their by-products in Bangladesh. This research also looks at cattle-specific legislation in India that prohibits many of the practices employed by smugglers and details some possible …

The Importance Of Anger Management Programs In Elementary Schools, Brittany Esterline

Honors Theses

Anger is a universal feeling. Everyone feels angry at some point in their life, and maybe even on the daily basis. Although it is often described as a negative emotion, anger is actually a healthy and natural emotion that should be expressed. It is how one responds to their anger that often disguises anger as an unhealthy emotion. Children who never learn to cope with their anger in a healthy way often struggle physically, mentally, emotionally, and academically.

“According to information obtained by the Learning First Alliance, 15 percent of students are only able to fit into an academic environment …

Behavioral Training Relations: Transferring Behavioral Contingencies From Shelter To Home Settings Through Online Enrichment., Alaina Birchmeier

Honors Theses

Behavioral analysis can be used in our everyday lives to better our environment. Unfortunately, most do not know the behavioral principles, and therefore cannot apply it effectively. Just one area in which behavioral analysis can better our lives is in training our pets. These training techniques are not only useful, they are often sought after. The Kalamazoo area has a few resources which can help train dogs, however all are associated with fees and are still not very informative. In order to fill this void, I have made a website for the general public use, along with psychology students. The …

Overall Nasalance Versus Trimmed Selection Of Stable Syllable Repetition, Jackson Peebles

Honors Theses

Objective: To evaluate the difference between nasalance measured using overall nasalance for the full set of syllable repetitions in a speech sample contrasted with syllable repetitions selected (trimmed) from the overall sample.

Method: Participants included 24 males and 34 females between 18 and 30 years of age who participated in a normative study of nasalance in Michigan’s lower peninsula. Participants produced 14 syllable stimuli. Each syllable sequence was repeated at least 8 times. Three trials of each repetition were recorded together with other speech stimuli. Overall nasalance was calculated for each syllable repetition sequence (whole) and compared with the mean …

The Confessional Model And Sectarian Politics: Lessons From Lebanon And The Future Of Iraq, Scott Preston

Honors Theses

This paper uses education policy as a case study in order to examine the issues affiliated with the Confessional model of government and compares Lebanon’s education sector with Iraq to inspect the universality of those issues. There are many features that make the country of Lebanon unique, but perhaps none more characterizing than its one-of-a-kind Confessional government. According to the tenants of Confessionalism specific government offices are to be reserved for specific ethnic groups. The system was an innovative experiment imposed by the French as a means to guarantee various communal groups representation within the government in an effort to …

The Effects Of Rating Accuracy On Treatment Fidelity, Joshua Labeff

Honors Theses

The current study attempts to evaluate if there is a relationship between treatment fidelity and interobserver agreement. Participant performance on rating the accuracy of a video demonstration of a functional analysis session was analyzed in comparison to their performance in implementing a mock functional analysis session. Video models (some with confederates and some with the actual participant) of functional analysis conditions were shown to and graded by participants and were immediately followed by their participation in a mock functional analysis session with a confederate child. The results of the study tend to show little to no relationship between the two …

The Effectiveness Of The Adult Tutoring Program In Increasing Reading Levels Within The Kalamazoo Literacy Population: A Research Proposal, Sarah Beu

Honors Theses

Purpose: The results of this study will examine the effectiveness of the Adult Tutoring Program in increasing adult reading levels within the population served by the Kalamazoo Literacy Council (KLC). Method: The data in this study will be collected using a quantitative design comparing the reading levels of subjects who participated in the Adult Tutoring Program to those who dropped out of Program. The researcher will collect subjects' reading levels using the Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE), and will compare subjects' previously reading levels (collected between 13 weeks and two years prior to implementation of this study) to their …

Webmail Crisis 2012: A Case Study Analysis Of The Western Michigan University Webmail Plus Failure, Matthew Vargo

Honors Theses

Background Electronic mail, or email, can trace its origin to Arpanet. Arpanet was a network of interlinked computers created by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (Harrison, 2003). The proliferation of email from Arpanet in the 1970's to modern use has been apparent. Today, over 3.4 billion email accounts exist worldwide with expected growth (The Raticati Group, Inc., 2012). Webmail Plus is the email platform used at Western Michigan University. The system is a third-party cloud based service provided by Merit Network Inc. (Merit Network Inc., 2013). On September 2ih, 2012, five hard drives failed at Merit Network in Southfield, Michigan. …

The Effect Of An Exercise Regimen On The Psychological Health Of Parkinson's Disease Patients, Alexander Stephens

Honors Theses

This paper reports a study on the effect of an exercise regimen on the psychological health of Parkinson's disease patients. The 11 participants of the study were Parkinson's disease patients who were participants of a six-week exercise program titled 'Delay the Disease,' which was specifically designed for Parkinson's disease patients. The participants of the study were given the Geriatric Depression Scale twice before the start of the exercise regimen, and once per week for the duration of the six-week exercise regimen. They were also given a quality of life questionnaire at the beginning and end of the regimen. The data …

Warning Signs: A Study In The Proximate Causes Of Genocide, Bradley Ryktarsyk

Honors Theses

This paper analyzes the cases of genocide in Bosnia and Rwanda as well as the humanitarian interventions in Kosovo and Libya to study the proximate causes of genocide. Proximate cause, defined as any event or condition, leading directly, or indirectly, to genocide, or the intervention by foreign powers, occurring within the immediate generation preceding the genocidal acts, or perceived threat thereof, is herein explored through Gregory Stanton’s “Eight Stages of Genocide” (1996). “The Eight Stages of Genocide” allows these cases to be examined through a preexisting, though imperfect, framework which compartmentalizes the process of genocide into stages allowing for analysis …

Female Roles And Fan Fiction In Charmed, Supernatural, And Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Krystalle Double

Honors Theses

The objective of this paper is to investigate the portrayal of female characters in Charmed, Supernatural, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the relation it has to which sexes were represented in romantic relationships within fan fiction for the three shows. This investigation was conducted through content analysis of the scripts and fan fiction to determine number of female roles and their depth in the scripts, and the number of romantic relationships and the sexes involved in the relationships in the fan fiction texts. It found that Charmed and Supernatural had the greatest proportion of individual female characters introduced …

Investigations At The Fort St. Joseph Archeological Project Unit N25 W9, Erika Mammen

Honors Theses

The Western Michigan University Archaeological Field School is a program that allows students with an interest in Anthropology or History an opportunity to participate in a learning community devoted to the practice of archaeology. Since 2002 the field school has been held regularly at the site of historic Fort St. Joseph (20BE23). During the summer field season of 2011 I was a student archaeologist at Fort St. Joseph. For my honor’s thesis I am presenting a summary of my field experience and a discussion of my findings.

The purpose of this thesis is twofold. First, I aim to provide future …

Service Learning And Groundswell, Katherine Baran

Honors Theses

Service learning has become an important part of getting students engaged and excited about learning. Groundswell is a G-rand Valley State University nonprofit organization funded through the Great Lakes Fishery Trust. Groundswell works with teachers and students across Kent County in Southwest Michigan to provide funding and educational support for successful service learning projects that deal mostly with the Great Lakes, the Grand River and watershed. There are 22 partners of Groundswell throughout Michigan. With those partners, Groundswell serves 17 different schools in Kent County. Service learning has a wide variety of definitions. However, at the basic level service learning …

The Reaction Of Small States To The Advancement Of The People's Republic Of China In The South China Sea, Michael Miller

Honors Theses

This paper will outline the internal and external factors that have spurred the People's Republic of China (PRC) to issue strong rhetoric and naval expansion in the defense of their claims to territory in the South China Sea (SCS). An analysis of the PRC's posturing will provide the contextual background necessary for answering the following research question central to this paper. What strategies have relatively less capable states engaged in the region as a reaction to the advancing capacity of the PRC? The escalation of tensions between the PRC and other states in the region, namely , the Republic of …

Choosing The Nominee: How Presidential Primaries Came To Be And Their Future In American Politics, Ryan Rainey

Honors Theses

The presidential primary is an event that is crucial to determining potential presidents. It allows the public to see how these politicians stack up against one another and how they conduct a campaign. While the general public has a basic idea of how presidential primaries work, very few know the history and details of them. That is what this thesis will do. In part one, the early history of presidential primaries and how nominees were first chosen will be covered. Also in this section, the different reforms that the Democratic Party has undertaken in order to reform the primary and …

The Nuclear Triangle: A Case Study In Nuclear Operations Policy, Jordan Lewis

Honors Theses

As nuclear power has evolved from the mid-twentieth century to today, it has experienced phases of rapid growth, regulation, and distrust concerning operations and waste disposal. This study will analyze the policy community active in these changes as they have progressed through the policymaking process and will examine the actors within an "iron triangle" framework to evaluate the community's relationships, power structure, and effectiveness. Specifically, this thesis seeks to answer two research questions: 1) how does interest group behavior influence nuclear policy communities, and 2) does the iron triangle framework explain the nuclear policy community relationships and outcomes. While historical …

Examining The Effects Of A Mirror On Imitation In Children With Autism, Chelsea Vanderwoude

Honors Theses

Those with autism often show deficits in imitation skills (Freitag, Kleser, & Gontardf, 2006; Killen & Uzgiris, 1981; Rogers, Bennetto, McEvoy, & Pennington, 1996; Stone, Ousley, & littleford, 1997). Previous research has suggested that imitation is a prerequisite for major developmental milestones including social communication skills. Past studies have shown Video Modeling to be an effective intervention for teaching imitation skills, especially Video Self Modeling (VSM). However, VSM can cost researchers a great deal of time and resources. The purpose of this study is to find a new intervention that applies the mechanisms of VSM, while expanding on past research. …

Portraying Sense Of Community Through Communication: How To Maximize The Benefit Of Social Media For A Community Agency, Julia Walter

Honors Theses

Perceptions of social media networks are changing rapidly. Their purpose, function, effectiveness, and relevance are being widely debated while their global popularity and societal influence escalate. While individuals used the networks to share, manage, and change their personal lives, organizations jumped at the chance to benefit from low-cost public relations, advertising, and market research. Many organizations speedily adjusted their communication strategies to access these low-cost resources. Due to historical marginalization many nonprofit community agencies were slower to integrate this new media costing them the opportunity to compete for audience attention on level with the private industry. Neglecting to integrate these …

How The Media Covers Lawmaking: The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act, Savannah Priebe

Honors Theses

The mass media holds extreme gatekeeping and framing functions. It is the media's ability to frame stories that tells viewers what to think about during a particular period of time, if not explicitly how to think about a topic. Over the course of health care reform in January of 2009 to April 2010 when the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was passed, key concepts in news coverage were analyzed. The New York Times and The Houston Chronicle's articles at this time were researched in order to provide insight on the use of ideological bias in reporting on policy and …

The Effects Of Preprinted Versus Handwritten Safmeds On Fluency, Samantha Fodrocy

Honors Theses

Precision Teaching is an instructional evaluation technique used by educators to ensure that targeted skills are being achieved by learners (Moran & Malott, 2004). Say all fast a minute each day shuffled (SAFMEDS) is a specific PT influenced instructional strategy intended to develop fluency within timed trials (Eshleman, 2000). However, there is little empirical research related to the proposed effects of SAFMEDS. A recent study by Meindl and colleagues (in press) demonstrated the position of the text on SAFMEDS affected fluency. Results of this study suggest extraneous variables affect responding indicating a possible stimulus control issue. However, there were methodological …