Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Brutal Reality Of Bringing Kids Up To Level: Are Critical Thinking And Creativity Lost In The World Of Standardized Testing?, Jamie M. Carroll

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Since the passage of No Child Left Behind, the output of education has been measured through student achievement on standardized tests. School ratings, student graduation, teacher jobs and school charters are all tied to these tests. This study analyzes the extent to which math and science public high school teachers in New Orleans focus on critical thinking and creativity, skills needed to be successful in the future. Through a framework of Richard Paul’s model of critical thinking and Theresa Amabile’s social psychology of creativity, this study evaluates support for critical thinking and creativity through classroom observations, analysis of instructional materials …

Uses And Perceptions Of The Neighborhood Open Space, Romain Cheynet

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This research investigates the uses and perceptions of the population of the East Carrollton Area in New Orleans so as to evaluate the possible outcomes of urban design intervention and policy changes. Using GIS, field notes, structured interviews and a population survey, this research evaluates how much the built environment influences the uses of the neighborhood open space. Subsequently, it evaluates how the neighborhood open space is perceived as a place as opposed to a transportation infrastructure.

Overall, the built environment affects the experience of the residents when they perform leisure activities in the neighborhood open space. Major deterrents to …

The Corporatization Of America's Healthcare System: Implications For Compassion Fatigue Among Nurses, Erika L. Gathron

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to expand on the existing framework for the analysis of compassion fatigue by exploring contributing factors not traditionally examined such as increases in the number of patients assigned to each nurse, more hours of work per shift, the use of non-licensed clinical personnel instead of licensed clinical personnel, and changes in work flow management. This thesis explores one main research question: How does the corporatization of America’s healthcare system contribute to nurse’s lived experience of compassion fatigue? Michael Burawoy’s extended case method is deployed in order to gain a broader understanding of compassion fatigue. …

Factors Associated With School Counselors' Use Of A Family Systems Perspective, Dorothy M. Martin

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Six hundred fifty-seven (657) members of the American School Counseling Association responded to the researcher-developed survey, the School Counselors Perceptions of Family Systems Perspectives Questionnaire (SCP-FSPQ). The instrument assessed school counselors’ perceptions of preparedness, competency, importance and frequency of use of family systems perspectives when working with youth in the school setting. The purposes of this quantitative study were to understand school counselors’ perceptions of their educational preparation in family systems perspectives; whether school counselors are using family systems strategies and, if so, how often; and how important school counselors believe those strategies are when implemented. This study also explores …

Commodified Risk: Masculinity And Male Sex Work In New Orleans, Eduardo Piqueiras

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In this research I examine the complexity of male sexuality and masculinity among male sex workers in New Orleans. Despite danger to their health and social standing, men engage in risky sexual behavior with other men for both business and pleasure. These behaviors may stem from the thrill of risk itself, or from other causes such as unexplored sexual inhibitions on the part of the male sex workers or their clients. Focusing on male sex workers, this ethnographic study explores why male sex workers engage in work that is high risk and potentially very dangerous. It examines the world of …

Southern States’ Lower Legislative Districts And The Perverse Effects Thesis, Shannon R. Sinegal

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In the post-1990 round of redistricting a number of majority-African American legislative districts were created, especially in the South. The new majority-African American districts were created by “pulling” many of the African Americans from surrounding districts into a single district, leaving the adjacent districts with a higher percentage of whites. These adjacent districts are often referred to as “bleached” districts. As the number of African Americans elected in the new majority-African American districts increased, so did the number of Republicans. This is referred to as the “perverse effect thesis.” This thesis has been widely acclaimed, but scholars have found minimal …

"Listen To The Wild Discord": Jazz In The Chicago Defender And The Louisiana Weekly, 1925-1929, Sarah A. Waits

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This essay will use the views of two African American newspaper columnists, E. Belfield Spriggins of the Louisiana Weekly and Dave Peyton of the Chicago Defender, to argue that though New Orleans and Chicago both occupied a primary place in the history of jazz, in many ways jazz was initially met with ambivalence and suspicion. The struggle between the desire to highlight black achievement in music and the effort to adhere to tenets of middle class respectability play out in their columns. Despite historiographical writings to the contrary, these issues of the influence of jazz music on society were …

School Choice, Opportunity And Access: A Geographic Analysis Of Public School Enrollment In New Orleans, Jill Zimmerman

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The primary objective of the study is to identify the extent to which the current school choice policy in New Orleans has afforded students in underserved neighborhoods or city planning districts the opportunity to attend quality schools elsewhere in the city. Though all students in New Orleans have access to schools outside their neighborhood, more than two-thirds (68%) of public school students attended a school within their planning district or in the adjacent planning district in the 2011-12 school year. In staying close to home, just one-fifth (22 percent) of students attended a quality school. A clear relationship existed between …

Geospatial Services In Special Libraries: A Needs Assessment Perspective, Ilana R. Barnes

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

No abstract provided.

A New Way Of Thinking And Working, Mary M. Somerville

University Libraries Librarian and Staff Articles and Papers

No abstract provided.

Distinctiveness, Challenges And Opportunities: The Research Lifecycle At The University Of Central Florida, Sai Deng

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Risks Factors And Resiliency In Secondary School Students After The Bp Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Walt W. Hammerli Dr.

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill on students of two coastal Louisiana secondary schools. Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological systems theory was used as a framework to understand how exposure, gender, socioeconomic status, and resilience interact to influence the impact of the spill on students. Cross-sectional questionnaires were administered to 155 high school students in May 2012 and 225 middle school students in January 2013 out of 1247 possible for a return rate of about 30%.

Results showed that exposure groups differed significantly on students’ Impact of Event Scale (IES; …

The Diffusion Of Geospatial Technologies Among Louisiana Assessors, Craig A. Johnson

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The diffusion of geospatial technologies, including Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Computer Aided Mass Appraisal Systems (CAMA), among Louisiana Assessors has been slowed by limited resources, a lack of communication and slow innovation decision processes. This research considers analysis of the speed of adoption, identifies the key players in decision making and the issues that influence the process based upon the theory of the diffusion of innovation developed by Dr. Everett M. Rogers (1995). The research data collected from online surveys, field visits and interviews of Louisiana Assessors between 2007 and 2013 was compared to identify factors that spurred or …

Decision-Making, Impulsivity And Self-Control: Between-Person And Within-Person Predictors Of Risk-Taking Behavior, Emily S. Kuhn

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This study tested dual-process decision-making models as predictors of between-person and within-person variation in risk-taking behavior. Additionally, the study integrated trait perspectives on self-control and impulsivity with decision-making processes to explain risk-taking. Participants were 580 college students ages 18 and older (M age = 20.45, range = 18 to 52 years). This study involved three parts. First, participants completed a survey assessing decision-making processes, self-control, impulsivity and risk-taking behavior. Second, a sub-set of participants completed laboratory-based measures of self-control and impulsivity. Third, participants completed a longitudinal online assessment of their risk-taking behavior. Dual-process models explained concurrent risk-taking, but only the …

Cash-In-Hand, Wives-In-Power: An Exploratory Analysis Of Microfinance In Jordan, Lauren Pugh

Master's Theses

Microfinance is an economic policy complimentary to advancing female empowerment. Empowerment is particularly relevant in patriarchic Islamic contexts in the Middle East, however little research exists. Due to counterfactual creation and inconsistent empowerment measurement, the true impact is debated. This research proposes intra-spousal decision-making outcomes as the appropriate proxy to empowerment and uses a nuanced approach of counterfactual creation by utilizing responses from previous microfinance borrowers. Survey data from a Jordanian MFI is used to examine the endogeneity story and cash-in-hand effects on intra-spousal decision-making outcomes. An instrumental variable estimation technique finds a weak link between microfinance and empowerment.

Risk, Religion, And Islamic Microfinance, Dunia Aburish

Master's Theses

This research design creates a framework in which the risk preferences and Islamic religiosity of Jordanian borrowers can be estimated. Specifically, this study highlights the different characteristics of conventional and Islamic microfinance borrowers. Although there is extensive literature on the topics of conventional microfinance and Islamic finance individually, few studies characterize borrowers who choose between these financial products. For this study, field research was conducted in conjunction with the National Microfinance Bank (NMB) and the Development and Employment Fund (DEF) in Jordan. Overall, 143 conventional and 78 Islamic borrowers were surveyed for a total sample of 221 borrowers. To estimate …

The Fii Model As An Investment In Patience: Exploring Time Preferences In Medellin, Colombia, Jennifer Graham

Master's Theses

The motivation for this research is to explore the success behind the Oakland based Family Independence Initiative (FII) as a model for poverty alleviation. During the period of June-December 2012, nearly 200 small business owners in Medellin, Colombia participated in a field experiment intended to replicate the FII model by randomizing the treatments of setting goals, receiving conditional payments, and participating in self-help groups, as well as the combinations thereof. The data shows that the subjects in the full FII treatment group achieve more goals and have significantly higher monthly sales than those subjects in any other treatment or control …

Research Brief: "Evaluation Of A Family-Centered Prevention Intervention For Military Children And Families Facing Wartime Deployment", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

The purpose of this study was to explore the benefits of the Families Over Coming Under Stress (FOCUS) project for families experiencing deployment. These benefits included education and skills training, with an emphasis on minimizing psychological and emotional distress for the service-people, their spouses, and their children. While this study analyzed families who were a part of the FOCUS group, future research would best serve to include an additional control group, which would allow for comparison between families in FOCUS and families not currently enrolled.

New Adventures In Screencasting, Stephen X. Flynn

All Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

The Santa Clara, 2013-05-16, Santa Clara University

The Santa Clara

No abstract provided.

Scholarworks At Wmu: Western's Scholarly Repository For Faculty Senate, Maira Bundza

ScholarWorks Repository Information

This was a presentation given at the May 16, 2013 Faculty Senate meeting to a representative from each department and administrators on the progress of the scholarly institutional repository at Western Michigan University. The focus was on ways the faculty could take advantage of the repository.

Teaching Information Literacy Using A Train-The-Trainer Model With Biology Lab Instructors, Valerie E. Perry, Patricia J. Hartman, Jason Keinsley, Meghan Moran, Renae Newhouse

Library Presentations

In Spring 2013, we collaborated with the Biology Department course coordinator at University of Kentucky to create, teach, and assess course-integrated information literacy sessions for 17 Biology Lab sections, reaching 462 students once a week for two weeks (thus 34 sessions reaching 934 attendees). We also experimented with the “train-the-trainer” model by providing an introductory session to TAs, then alternating one librarian-led section with one TA-led section. We taught in a Macbook lab, using Powerpoint presentations mixed with active instruction and tools such as PollEverywhere and Course Guides. We assessed the information literacy concepts learned using a simple Google Docs …

Library As Open Access Publisher: An Overview For Technical Service Librarians, Adrian K. Ho, Mary Beth Thomson

Library Presentations

There is a growing trend within libraries to provide publishing services in direct support of open access to scholarly communication. Technical service librarians have a long and rich history of acquiring, providing access to and preserving a variety of resources from publishers, societies, governments and individuals. This session will provide an overview of the activities, processes, rights issues, and systems involved in a library published or hosted open access journal. Adrian Ho, Director of Digital Scholarship, and Mary Beth Thomson, Associate Dean for Collections, Digital Scholarship, and Technical Services for the University of Kentucky Libraries will share their experiences with …

Changing Landscape Of Technical Services, Kate Seago, Marsha Seamans

Library Presentations

No abstract provided.

High Impact And Open Access: Proven Strategies For Encouraging Faculty To Deposit In Your Institutional Repository, Alexandra Sarkozy, Joshua Neds-Fox

Library Scholarly Publications

Presentation given at the Michigan Library Association Academic Libraries 2013 Conference, detailing the strategy used by the Wayne State University Libraries to make the case for Green Open Access participation by faculty. Outlines the authors' approach to crafting the case for Open Access and deposit using studies supporting OA citation advantage, ISI's JCR and SHERPA/RoMEO, and a library-centered service model for citation review and deposit.

Anarchy And Hope, Patrick K. Morgan

Faculty Presentations

Among the tensions inherent in teaching information literacy within the context of another instructor's classroom is that of balance. Teaching librarians are frequently forced to choose between focusing on practical, contextually-dependent skills of limited value to students (such as database navigation) and on more conceptual, portable themes. This paper presents an argument for granting pride of place to the latter, and provides one experiment as an initial foray into how this might be accomplished.

Assessing History Student Research Activity And Learning Outcomes Through The Understanding Library Impacts Project, Jessica Hronchek

Faculty Presentations

In an era when academic libraries increasingly need to justify their budgets and impact to campus administrators, there is a growing necessity for helpful assessment tools. Engaging in this current trend of “demonstrating value,” this liberal arts college sought to explore areas of impact through a focused study on one particular department with known high library activity. For the past two years the library and the history department have partnered with an outside project called Understanding Library Impacts. Beginning with a beta-test of a quantitative and qualitative survey tool in upper-level courses and later expanding to history courses at all …

Positive Psychology And Attachment: Positive Affect As A Mediator Of Developmental Outcomes, Holly H. Schiffrin

Psychological Science Articles

Fredrickson’s (1998) broaden-and-build model and Bowlby’s (1969) attachment theory provide alternate explanations for positive cognitive, social, physical, and psychological outcomes, positive affect and secure attachments, respectively. This study examined whether affect mediates the relationship between attachment and positive outcomes. The sample consisted of 99 undergraduate students from a small, public liberal arts college in the mid-Atlantic region. For people high in attachment anxiety, but not those high in attachment avoidance, affect partially mediated social and psychological outcomes and fully mediated health outcomes. People who scored high in attachment anxiety reported less positive affect and more negative affect, which results in …

From Womb To Tomb: A Deconstructionist And Psychoanalytic Perspective Of Death In James Joyce's Dubliners, Bailey Gunn

Senior Capstone Theses

Intentionally absent.

Central Asia: Water War Or Water Cooperation?, Lucy Jenkins-Young

Senior Capstone Theses

Intentionally absent.