Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Political Styles And Strategies Used By Exemplary Suburban Unified District Superintendents With Board Members: A Mixed Methods Study, Tammy Blakely

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this thematic, explanatory sequential mixed methods study was to understand the political styles of superintendents and school board members as perceived by superintendents. In addition, it was the purpose of this study to identify and explain the political strategies superintendents use to work with the different political styles of board members.

Methodology: This explanatory sequential mixed methods study research design used data collected from a quantitative survey followed by qualitative data collected using semistructured face-to-face interviews. The data in this study were obtained from 5 exemplary suburban unified superintendents using the 9 political styles framework from …

Social Media In Baptist Churches, Robin Amankwah

Dissertations

The integration of social media into Chicago Baptist Churches congregants recently increased over the last few years. This research study allowed church leaders to determine if social media was an effective media outlet in Baptist churches on the Southside of Chicago. The evaluation research approach was to assess the effectiveness of social media, in particular Facebook and Instagram. Within this conceptual framework, the researcher was able to produced flexible, fixed, and multi-design strategies to abstract a full spectrum of evaluation. The subsequent methodology focused on the dual use of social media and themes that coincide, specifically, marketing, politics, communication awareness, …

Social Media, Journalism And Crisis: Twitter Representation Of #Syrianrefugees In Western News Media, Ahmad Khaled Alshallal

Dissertations

Generally, there have been conflicts in the world regarding media coverage especially on #SyrianRefugees in Western media. It is undebatable that the Western states have political stability and peace; thus, they remain better hosts for asylum seekers and other refugees who come in search of greener pastures. However, current trends have hindered such countries from being ideal hubs because citizens have basic fears including those related to national security. Refugee situations have attracted lots of controversies over the years to the point that the concern is evident in the media. This dissertation explores the crisis of Syrian refugees and the …

Relationship Between Self-Development, Mentorship, And Senior Military Officer Moral Judgment, Garry Thompson

Dissertations

Despite a renewed emphasis on ethics programs across the Department of Defense (DOD) since 2007, the number of senior officer ethical failures increased by 13% from 2015 to 2017 (Copp, 2017). If the trend of ethical failures and misconduct continue, the military faces a further decline in public confidence (DoDOIG, 2017). The 2017 DOD Inspector General report noted the trend of senior leader ethical failures might foster negative public perceptions regarding military leader’s overall dedication, sacrifice, ethics, and character (DoDOIG, 2017).

A review of military literature revealed the importance of mentorship and self-development in professional development; however, gaps between …

Narcan Can Save Your Loved One: Designing Messages For The Opioid Crisis Using The Extended Parallel Process Model, Braden Bagley

Dissertations

In 2017, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency. The opioid epidemic has become widespread because of over prescription and extreme addiction. In recent years, the crisis has become dire because of the staggering annual death toll from overdoses. Although the number of opioid-related deaths has risen, so too have the innovations designed to combat opioid abuse and overdoses. The use of naloxone is a safe and reliable option for treating overdose victims. In fact, many first responders are primarily relying on the medication in such emergencies. This study …

Sexual Coercion: The Role Of Communication And Heteronormative Beliefs, Brianna Lindley Forbis

Dissertations

Sexual assault is a pervasive issue on college campuses, with large numbers of students experiencing sexual assault during their college careers (Fisher, Cullen, & Turner, 2000). Sexual assault is often perpetrated by a known offender, which has brought increased attention to forms of sexual assault that do not necessarily include violence or the direct threat of violence. Sexual coercion is one such construct that has received increased attention in the literature, with several studies finding associations between heteronormative beliefs and sexual coercion (Eaton & Matamala 2014; Haworth- Hoeppner, 1998; Vanwesenbeek, 1998). Aims of the current study included further exploring the …

Seeking Mirrors: Representation And Identity At Asian Pacific Islander Film Festivals, Yang Jiang

Dissertations

Media representation plays an important role in shaping how we perceive ourselves. For ethnic and racial minorities, studies have confirmed that exposure to stereotypical and negative representations can harm the development of ethnic and racial identity. Currently, however, there is little understanding of how representation can support the development of ethnic and racial identity. Essentially, what might visibility, rather than invisibility, in media representation look like, and what is the relationship between visibility and ethnic and racial identity?

This dissertation sought to address these questions by looking at the experience of Asian Pacific Islander (API) attendees at API film festivals. …

Discursive Leadership: Exploring The "Black Box" Challenge In Transcultural Leadership Studies, Christopher Patrick Brown

Dissertations

The increasingly globalized U.S. workforce includes significant numbers of adult immigrants integrating into the North American professional sphere. As such, it is important to have concrete ways to study and interpret different cultures’ thinking about teamwork, and their models of enacting shared leadership and communication in a multicultural context. Since 2006, hundreds of millions in federal grant funding has been invested in university-based language and culture programs focused on training government personnel and heritage populations in the languages and cultures of the Middle East and Central and Southeast Asia. Little is known about the performative strengths and challenges of the …

The Development Of Newspaper Restaurant Criticism In Ireland, 1988–2008, Claire O'Mahony

Dissertations

This dissertation examines the development of newspaper restaurant criticism in Ireland from 1988 to 2008. This era was a time of considerable economic change in Ireland. It was also a period that saw changing attitudes to food and dining out, as well as a more varied restaurant landscape. This study aimed to determine how the format and focus of newspaper restaurant reviews changed over this time frame. It also explored the role of the restaurant critic, and how reviews reflected developments in Irish food culture and the economy. Using a mixed methods research design, a sample of reviews from the …

Supervisor-Subordinate Conflict Negotiation: Examining The Core Concerns In Light Of Communication Accommodation And Gender Roles, Piyawan Charoensap-Kelly

Dissertations

This quasi-experimental study examined a supervisor-subordinate negotiation of an emotion-laden conflict from the lens of the core concerns framework, communication accommodation theory, and gender roles research. Results empirically support CCF that, by accommodating or attending to the employees’ core concerns, managers can stimulate employees’ positive emotion and integrative intention. However, under- and overaccommodating the core concerns can lead to distributive intention. Additionally, the employees’ perception of manager goodwill can strengthen or attenuate the positive effect of core concerns accommodativeness on outcome variables especially for male managers. Thus, moderate accommodation is recommended for male managers. For female managers, the results show …

The Importance Of Responsiveness: Improving Health-Related Outcomes Among Ostomates, Carrie Reif

Dissertations

More than 750,000 individuals in the United States live with an ostomy appliance, and additional 130,000 patients undergo ostomy surgery each year (United Ostomy Association of America, 2018). Although a life-saving procedure, patients confront significant physical (e.g., bowel routine and activity levels) and emotional (e.g., poor body image and depression) challenges that impede the adjustment process. When faced with health-related threats, the transactional action model of stress and coping argues that patients use strategies, such as seeking support, to effectively cope. However, because of perceptions of felt and enacted stigma and health-related uncertainty, some patients conceal ostomy-related issues and limit …

Exploring A University System Through Organizational Communication Routines Involving Risk, Sean Fourney

Dissertations

Given the nature of differing risks that can damage higher education institutions, perception from leaders’ perspectives is crucial in viewing organizational behavior regarding potential damage to the system. This case study investigated how a university staff perceives, communicates, and organizes about risk. Thirty interviews (27 one-on-one, 2 via email, and 1 over the phone) with campus leaders sought to identify how those in a higher education institution collectively communicates elements of risk within and beyond its environment while potentially forming relationships in attempts to mitigate it. An applied thematic analysis revealed that informants perceived risk as a system issue to …

The Influence Of Media Consumption On Trust, Political Efficacy And Social Media Activism Among Young Adults, Kerra Mccorkle- Akanbi

Dissertations

For many years, trust in government and political efficacy has increasingly been an area of interest for political scientist. Recently, social media activism has become just as intriguing. With social media playing such a dominant role in society, individuals are consuming news through their social media timelines, without having to seek it out themselves. This is especially true for young adults. Through the advancement of non-traditional media outlets, this generation is submerged in endless Facebook statuses, tweets, and television coverage of civil unrest and political polarization that has certainly had both social and political implications. While past studies conducted by …

Exploring The Perceptions Of Citizens Of The Impact Of Community Policing In Two Ethnically Diverse, Low-Income Communities That Have National Safety Ratings Between 0% And 25% In San Diego County: A Phenomenological Study, Eric O'Neal

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to describe citizen perceptions of the impact of community policing in 2 selected, ethnically diverse, low-income communities that have national safety ratings between 0% and 25%. The study explored the 8 pillars of community policing: partnerships, problem solving, procedural fairness, proscribed scope, protection, professionalism, purpose, and principles and their impact on citizens’ perception of their local law enforcement agencies.

Methodology: The study was qualitative with a phenomenological approach to research.

Findings: Findings from this study revealed that examination of study participant interviews, observations, and artifacts resulted in 22 themes and 689 …

Dual-Battery Empowered Green Cellular Networks, Xilong Liu

Dissertations

With awareness of the potential harmful effects to the environment and climate change, on-grid brown energy consumption of information and communications technology (ICT) has drawn much attention. Cellular base stations (BSs) are among the major energy guzzlers in ICT, and their contributions to the global carbon emissions increase sustainedly. It is essential to leverage green energy to power BSs to reduce their on-grid brown energy consumption. However, in order to furthest save on-grid brown energy and decrease the on-grid brown energy electricity expenses, most existing green energy related works only pursue to maximize the green energy utilization while compromising the …

Social-Emotional Intelligence (Ei), Graduates And The Workplace – A Study Of A Tailored Approach To Ei Competency Development For Final Year Engineering Students, Ailish Jameson

Dissertations

Previous research has demonstrated that higher social and emotional competence (EI) results in increased life and career success. To date, EI coaching programmes have been delivered in higher education and in the workplace and have demonstrated success in terms of increased EI competence, post intervention. However, to date no attempt has been made in an Irish context to design and deliver a tailored EI coaching programme, based on the stated needs of employers. This study aimed to address this gap in EI research. It was exploratory in nature with a mixed method design being employed. In Phase One, a survey …

Technology, Professional Development, And Student Achievement: Using The Tell Survey In A Study Of Low Socioeconomic Schools In Kentucky, Holly Mcleod Ross

Dissertations

In order to compare the accessibility, need, and extent of professional development, technology, and its relationship to low socioeconomic (SES) schools and achievement, data were accessed from the Kentucky Department of Education, Division of School and Community Nutrition Qualifying Data Report to identify schools with a greater than 50% free and reduced lunch rate. Data also came from the TELL Kentucky survey instrument results specific to questions related to professional development and technology. Kentucky Performance Rating for Educational Progress (KPREP) school rankings were also utilized to determine the highest and lowest ranked schools among those with greater than 50% free …

Crisis Leadership And Management Of Superintendents During The 2017-18 California Wildfires, Dianna Kitamura

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this mixed methods heuristic research study was to discover how school superintendents described their crisis leadership and management experiences during the 2017-2018 wildfires in California through the lens of the Five Critical Tasks of Strategic Crisis Leadership framework of sense making, meaning making, decision-making and coordination, learning, accounting (Boin, 't Hart, Stern, & Sundelius, 2017). Additionally, this study determined the extent to which school superintendents identify their use of the Five Critical Tasks of Strateby Dianna W. Kitamuragic Crisis Leadership framework.

Methodology: This explanatory, sequential mixed methods heuristic research study investigated a quantitative survey and qualitative …