Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Declining Total Fertility Rates In Bangladesh And Indonesia From 1970 To 1996 : Causes, Implications, And Analysis, William Bruce Aronson

Dissertations and Theses

Many Asian countries have recently undergone dramatic fertility rate reductions, in what has been labeled the "Asian Fertility Revolution." The purpose of this study was to discover what factors led to declining total fertility rates from 1970 to 1996 in Bangladesh and Indonesia, two Asian countries with relatively low total development levels. Because of these low levels, it was hypothesized that factors outside of economic development have contributed to these countries' successes with fertility reduction. This is especially true for Bangladesh, which remains an undeveloped country; Indonesia is partially industrialized, and has made economic gains during this 26-year period. Theoretical …

Public Interest Group Politics And American Political Culture, Patrick Henry Brennan

Dissertations and Theses

Recent theories of interest group behavior have attempted to gain an understanding of how these groups mobilize for political action. However, these theories have led to account for a crucial aspect of public interest groups, a particularly important segment of the interest group universe. The purpose of this essay is to shed light on the ways that interest group theories must adapt if they are to better reflect this unique aspect of public interest group behavior. Specifically, it is necessary to acknowledge the role that a group"s ideas regarding shared American values play within the behavior of groups that seek …

Urban Sprawl, Media Monopoly, And Citizen Participation : A Longitudinal Case Study Of Daily Newspapers In Portland, Oregon, Andrew David Butz

Dissertations and Theses

The process and consequences of global economic expansion are the subject of increasing scholarly and popular attention. Emerging patterns of globalization are of particular interest from a sociological standpoint. This study establishes a theoretical and methodological approach for examining, within a framework of competing values, locally observable effects of the widely recognized global trend -- of increasingly concentrated news media ownership. Recent patterns of development in Portland, Oregon provide the specific context for this study. As in most American cities within the past generation, Portland experienced a shift from having independent, competing daily newspapers to having one conglomerate-owned monopolistic daily. …

Drug Testing And Oregon Workers : Is Perceived Fairness Of Corporate Drug Testing Moderated By Drug Use?, Leslie James Normandy

Dissertations and Theses

This study proposed that two predictors of perceived fairness of organizational drug testing would be moderated by drug use. These two predictors, outcome of a positive drug test and whether respondents were ever previously tested for drug use, had been found to be predictors of perceived fairness of drug testing. It was expected that the theories of organizational justice and cognitive dissonance would explain these relationships. Additionally, it was proposed that drug users would perceive drug testing as less fair than would non-drug users.

Participants were 191 adults randomly selected throughout the state of Oregon. The survey items measuring the …

"Blame It On Intake” : A Critical Ethnography Of The Negotiation Of Access To Shelter Services In A Shelter For Homeless And Battered Women, Kathleen Marie Drew

Dissertations and Theses

Even though the number of homeless women has increased among a population viewed as typically male (Merves 1992), there is still little research focused on women. This study investigated the communicative practices in and through which gendered identity was constructed, negotiated and performed at a point of rupture when the norms for judging a "good woman:"--that is woman as wife, as mother, and as homemaker appear to have been violated. The negotiation of access into an urban shelter for homeless and/or battered women provided a rich site for the study. The research was grounded in the assumptions of symbolic interaction …

The Summit Vegetation Of Saddle Mountain, Oregon Coast Range, Charles Thomas Carlson

Dissertations and Theses

Saddle Mountain (1000 m) is the highest peak in the Northern Oregon Coast Range. Meadows are found to occur at and near the summit of the mountain which contain abundant wildflowers. Although the majority of these meadow species have been collected and identified in the past no formal study has been done to classify them into communities. The purpose of this study is to examine the character and origin of the plant communities located at or near the summit of Saddle Mountain. Data were collected on 4 study sites during the Summer of 1996 and analysis of the data lead …

Faith, Hope, And Leverage: Attributes Of Effective Faith-Based Community Organizations, Richard White

Dissertations and Theses

In 1835, Alexis deTocqueville acknowledged in Democracy in America that the "intellectual and moral associations" of the United States were vital to its social, economic, and political health. Citizen voluntarism in the United States begins with the neighborliness of its early history and branches out through a bewildering variety of nonprofit organizations and voluntary associations. Throughout the history of the United States churches have played a vital role in civic volunteerism and politics. In the inner-urban core of America's largest cities, churches are frequently the last institution to leave, long after other social and economic institutions have fled. The call …

Undergraduate Student Satisfaction With The Sociology Program At Portland State University, Katherine Sullivan

Dissertations and Theses

An examination of sociology student satisfaction levels is performed and an attempt is made to explain variations in degree program satisfaction. A comparison is made between current student and alumni regarding the coursework and experiences they feel should be offered in the undergraduate degree program in sociology at Portland State University (PSU). The study population consists of all PSU students who have obtained an undergraduate degree in sociology since the program's inception and all students currently attending PSU and majoring in sociology. The typical respondent is female (the ratio of females to males being higher for current students than for …

A Comparison Of Speech Intelligibility Measures Between Unsophisticated Listener Judgements And Orthographic Transcription, Carla J. Dukart

Dissertations and Theses

Intelligible speech is a primary component for successful communication. However, the speech of children with disordered phonologies is often unintelligible. Therefore, when assessing the speech intelligibility of children in order to determine whether they qualify for intervention services, speech-language pathologists need reliable evaluation tools.

The focus of this investigation was the measurement of speech intelligibility. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between two methods for measuring speech intelligibility. The first, identification method, involves the listener transcribing a speech sample from which the percentage of words understood is calculated. The second, scaling procedure, involves the listener estimating …

A Pilot Study: Normative Data On The Intelligibility Of 3 1/2 Year Old Children, Karen Mary Ware

Dissertations and Theses

Most of the previous published research involving intelligibility has focused on persons with various disabilities or delays. Minimal research has been conducted on intelligibility in young children with no diagnosed speech and/ or language disorders. The result is a gap in normative data by which to set a standard to judge speech as being at an acceptable level of intelligibility for a particular age group. The focus of this pilot study was to collect normative data on the intelligibility of young children, ages 3:6 ±2 months, with no diagnosed speech and/or language disorder. ~ Thirteen subjects, ages 3:6 ±2 months, …

The Effects Of Feedback To Raters On Subsequent Performance Ratings, A. Cybelle Lyon

Dissertations and Theses

Performance evaluations are often of critical. importance in an organization's decisions concerning compensation, training, promotion, and termination. Although the area of performance appraisal has been researched extensively, a gap in the literature appears to remain. No published research has explored how the favorability of feedback individuals receive on their own performance will affect the favorability of subsequent ratings they give to others. This gap is critical considering that this type of feedback chain is common in the work place. The purpose of the present study was to assess the effects of feedback (positive, average, or negative) on the mean rating …

Positive Illusions And Winter Depression: Do Illusions Go The Way Of The Summer Sun?, Shannon M. Carey

Dissertations and Theses

Traditional psychology has held the view that mentally healthy people have a good grasp of reality. However, studies on self-concept, perceived control and optimism have shown that mentally healthy people have a tendency to distort reality in these areas in a positive, self-serving direction. These studies led Shelley Taylor to coin the term "positive illusions" to describe overly positive self-evaluations, exaggerated perceptions of control, and unrealistic optimism. Taylor also theorized that those who were depressed had fewer positive illusions than those who were not depressed. The current study attempted to extend the foundation of basic research on the concept of …

Humor Recognition: A Comparative Analysis, William T. Argent

Dissertations and Theses

There are various approaches to the explanation of humor in the field of humor research. Some of these theories, while providing interesting insight into the phenomenon known as humor, remain limited in their ability to account for how humor is recognized. Others do not even address the issue. This thesis compares five different theories in humor research by analyzing the humorous short story "My Watch" by Mark Twain. These theories are: 1. a typological approach to humor, 2. a social- functional model, 3. incongruity theory, 4. Grice's Cooperative Principle taken from linguistic pragmatics, and 5. the General Theory of Verbal …

Temporal Characteristics Of Words Surrounding A Moment Of Stuttering In Preschool-Age Children, Gregory Keith Lilly

Dissertations and Theses

Until this time, few studies have examined differences in durational characteristics in words surrounding a moment of stuttering for untreated preschool children. It is important to determine whether or not untreated preschoolers' who stutter alter the duration of their speech when they stutter versus when they are fluent to determine what factors influence stuttering behaviors. The purpose of the present study was to examine the duration of words immediately before and after a stuttered word and the duration of the matched target word in the identical fluent utterance. The following questions were to be addressed: 1) Is there a significant …

The Relationships Among Coping, Control, And Adjustment To Cancer, Sharon Ann Johnson

Dissertations and Theses

This study proposed that a major function of coping is to regain perceptions of control that are threatened by the cancer experience and that perceived control mediates the relationship between coping and adjustment. Participants were 258 cancer patients, 61 % women and 39% men, aged 29 to 93 years. A variety of cancer sites were represented with breast and prostate cancer the most prevalent. Patterns of coping, perceived control in four areas (symptom-emotion, relationship, medical care, and disease control), and emotional adjustment were measured. It was expected that a sixth pattern of coping, problem-focused, would emerge when additional problem-focused items …

A Study Of The Narrative Skills Of 7-Year Olds With Normal, Impaired, And Late Developing Language, Rita F. Hernandez

Dissertations and Theses

The narrative, just like any lectured or monologue information which is shared, does not depend to any great extent on context. Therefore, ability to encode and decode the information to be presented verbally is required, that is, in order for the speaker to be able to verbalize what he or she wants to say while taking into consideration the listener's needs. This indicates that production of strong narratives depends on higher level language skills, and so children's narratives provide a sensitive means of assessing children's language development. The purpose of this study was to compare the narrative ability of children …

An Exploratory Inquiry Into Community Policing Using Focus Groups: Perspectives From Social Service Providers, Tanya Leigh Ostrogorsky

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to evaluate Portland, Oregon's community policing policy by using focus groups to discuss the development and effectiveness over one year, Spring 1994 to Spring 1995. The group discussed included management level social service providers and was one piece of a large scale program evaluation. The collected data developed into six major categories: 1) personnel policies and institutional memory; 2) training; 3) consistency; 4) community involvement and responsibility; 5) partnerships or relationships, and 6) change over time. The most highly discussed issue was the discrepancy between the philosophy of the Bureau, community policing, and the …

Liang Qichao, Hu Shi, And Democracy In China, Leslie Ann Burgoine

Dissertations and Theses

Democracy was one of the many Western ideas that began to be discussed among the Chinese intellectual elite in the last decades of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Liang Qichao (1873-1929), a leader of the 1895-98 Reform Movement, and Hu Shi (1891-1962), a central figure of the 1915-27 New Culture Movement, were two of the most influential proponents of democracy in modern Chinese history. Liang and Hu linked their meanings of democracy with the highest goals for China, national strength and modernity.

Liang Qichao was a revolutionary in advocating the opening of participation in politics to people outside the official government …

The Effectiveness Of A Self-Directed Inservice Program To Educate Teachers About The Classroom Needs Of Students With Hearing Impairment, Teresa Michelle Whiteley

Dissertations and Theses

Students with mild to moderate hearing losses, and some with severe hearing losses, are mainstreamed in a regular classroom for all or part of the day (Martin, Berstein, Daly & Cody, 1988). While these students may require special education services, the classroom teacher plays a vital role in the overall education and daily management of a child with a hearing impairment (Hass, 1987). Villa (1989) reported that many school employees have not received adequate training to educate these students. Therefore, it becomes the school's responsibility to educate teachers through a comprehensive inservice training program.

One format for providing such a …

Neorealism And Environmental Cooperation: Towards A Structural Explanation Of International Environmental Matters, Anthony David Lott

Dissertations and Theses

The realist tradition in world politics has long been heralded by statesmen and scholars alike as offering an authentic account of the relations between states. Realists consider self-interest, anarchy, and power politics to guide the behavior of states in the international system. The perception that cooperation and amity are now the norm in the international system has raised the possibility of a theoretical shift of focus in the study of international politics. At present, scholars within the discipline of international politics are debating the relevance of realist thought. In particular, neorealism, or the structural variation of traditional realism, is under …

The Dangers Of Nuclear Proliferation: Five Reasons More May Not Be Better, Matthew Macarthur

Dissertations and Theses

Though many international relations theorists have speculated that the spread of nuclear weapons may diminish the frequency -- if not the severity -- of military conflict among states, there are five reasons to expect that increased proliferation will increase the likelihood that nuclear weapons will be employed for coercive or destructive purposes. These dangers are independent of one another; that is, they are not interconnected as causes and effects. First, as nuclear weapons spread, the notion that these weapons are useful for purposes other than deterrence will spread concomitantly. Those who argue that the spread of nuclear weapons will diminish …

Speech Understanding In Noise As A Function Of Microphone Placement In Hearing Aids, Erin Marlene Flowers Hand

Dissertations and Theses

Hearing aid users often complain of poor speech understanding in the presence of background noise. There have been many attempts to overcome this problem by hearing aid manufactures and dispensers. The purpose of the present study was to determine if differences existed between three different styles of hearing aids (i.e. in the ear (ITE), in the canal (ITC), and completely in the canal (CIC)) in the presence of a multi-talker babble. Five sensori-neural hearing impaired subjects were selected from the Portland State University audiology clinic. The subjects were required to listen to a recording of the California Consonant Test (CCT) …

Speech Recognition With Linear And Non-Linear Amplification In The Presence Of Industrial Noise, Marcia Ann Olson

Dissertations and Theses

In order to help reduce hearing loss, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulates noise levels in work environments. However, hearing aids are the primary rehabilitative service provided for individuals with an occupational hearing loss. Very little is being done to monitor hearing aid use in the work environment. Noise which may be safe to an unaided ear can amplified to levels that are damaging to the ear when a hearing aid is being worn. However, it is necessary for some individuals to wear amplification in these noisy environments for safety reasons. As a consequence it is important that these …

Comparison Of Two Phonological Treatment Procedures For A Child With Phonological Deviations, Katherine Vaughan Kemper

Dissertations and Theses

Choosing an effective and efficient phonological treatment approach is an important decision for clinicians when treating children with phonological deviations. Current research supports the effectiveness of phonological treatment, but few studies have compared two approaches. More comparative studies are essential to support clinical intervention for children who are highly unintelligible.

This single-subject study was designed to compare the effectiveness of two phonologically-based treatment approaches in facilitating an intelligible speech production system for one highly unintelligible preschool female. Multiple baselines across behaviors with an alternating treatment design were used in this descriptive study. This study sought to answer the following questions: …

Adolescents And Sex On The Soaps: A Content Analysis, Jenelle Gay Winter

Dissertations and Theses

This study updates prior examinations of sexual content on daytime soap operas by investigating verbal references, implied sexual acts and mentions of sexually transmitted diseases. In addition, it extends earlier work by analyzing the commitment level and age of those involved in the sexual content. Finally, this study will attempt to obtain a clear picture of what adolescents perceive while viewing these shows. This was investigated by conducting adolescent and adult focus groups to see how they talk about soap operas. Also, comparisons were made of adult and adolescent coding of the sexual content on soap operas. All daytime soap …

Examining The Relationship Between Three Speech Features And Intelligibility Ratings Of Black English Preschoolers As Judged By Standard English Listeners, Britteny Sue Asher

Dissertations and Theses

Linguistic diversification within our public schools has demanded professional responsibility from speech-language pathologists (SLPs) serving nonstandard English speaking students. Understanding and recognizing normal cultural linguistic differences is the responsibility of the SLP. This study focused on the relationship of three speech features to intelligibility ratings of 10 preschool aged Black English speakers as assigned by 4 licensed standard English speaking SLPs with varying experience. The SLPs also rated the perceived effect of these speech features (i.e., articulation, speaking rate, and resonance) on intelligibility.

Using the Pearson product-moment correlation, ratings were correlated and found to demonstrate an association between intelligibility ratings …

A Study Of The Correlation Between The Articulation Competence Index (Aci) And The Percentage Of Words Understood In The Continuous Speech Of 4- And 5-Year-Olds Of Varying Phonological Competence, Susan Coll Mitchell

Dissertations and Theses

Intelligibility refers to how recognizable a speaker's words are to the listener. Severity, a broader but closely related concept, incorporates intelligibility, disability, and handicap. Many factors influence intelligibility, including speech sound production, voice, and prosody, as well as a number of linguistic and contextual factors. Clinicians and researchers in the field of speechlanguage pathology require accurate measures of intelligibility and severity to assess and describe communicative functioning and to measure change over time. Determining the most accurate and efficient measurement approaches has been the focus of recent attention in the field. This study was a preliminary investigation of the relationship …

Gender Differences In The Language Development Of Late-Talking Toddlers At Age 3, Nancy Ann Johnson

Dissertations and Theses

Language is a major part of a child's early developmental growth. Research examining early language shows a wide variation in the rate of language acquisition and its pattern of development. These variations also exist when language development is delayed.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility of a relationship between gender and language delay by looking for significant differences in the language skills of 3-year-old boys and girls who were identified as late-talkers (LTs) at the age of 2.

Data used for analysis in this study were retrieved from data collected earlier as part of the Portland …

An Organizational Profile: Members' Understanding Of Discrimination, Debra Cay Hornibrook

Dissertations and Theses

Cultural diversity in the United States is an issue of concern and organizations must now learn to function effectively with an increasingly diverse workforce. Since the history of U.S. organizations is a history of institutional discrimination against most ethnic and racial groups of people and the privileging of a dominant group, managing workforce diversity now constitutes one of the most difficult and important issues human resource professionals address. This study is concerned with the issues of workforce diversity, most specifically with how organizational members understand and respond to discrimination, and the utilization of this understanding to discuss implications for diversity …

Parental Perceptions Of The Efficacy Of Clinical Intervention For Speech-Language Disorders At Portland State University's Speech And Language Clinic, Deborah Ellen Anderson

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the survey as a method of assessing client satisfaction with clinical services and to then assess parental satisfaction of clinical services at Portland State University's language clinic using the survey method. The survey asked questions regarding the parents' perceived benefits from the clinic, their perception of the skills of the clinicians who served their children, and the parents' perception of the clinical atmosphere. Eighty-five Consumer Satisfaction Surveys were mailed to 81 parents of children receiving services at Portland State University Speech-Language Clinic between the years 1987 and 1994. Eleven surveys were returned, …