Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Social-Emotional Learning And Its Relationship To High School Student Academic Achievement In Stem Courses, Maurice Lavelle Mcdougald

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to determine the correlation of high school student social-emotional learning and its relationship to academic achievement in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) courses as moderated by gender and racial groups and within a rural school in the Sandhills area of North Carolina. Using a quasi-experimental variable-centered design, 202 Junior Reserve Officer Corps students participated in this research. The researcher sought to answer: (1) Do individual high school students' self-perceptions of social-emotional learning skills influence academic achievement in traditional STEM courses? (2) Are there significant variations of individual high school students' self-perception of social-emotional learning …

Aidez Moi: Cleaning Up Non_English Language Cataloging, Sarah H. Theimer

Faculty Publications

From a Presentation given at ELUNA Learns, September 8, 2021. This presentation discusses the importance of using quality data in describing non_English Language material, as often errors negatively impact searching and public displays. By correcting the language codes, add 800 paired MARC fields, and correcting Diacritics the library can improve the quality of these records.

Memorial: Yvonne Jeannette Chandler (1957–2020): Mentor, Michele A.L. Villagran

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

The Basic Rules Of Doing A Good Search And Search Tips - Revised, Roy E. Brown

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

This is a handout that is used as a reference for those who are learning to more effectively search databases for assignments and evidence-based practice projects. The revised handout contains information related to the databases that may be searched as well as about Google Scholar.

Please contact the author for a version that can be reused and rebranded.

The Evidence Based Practice Question Development & Search Tips Checklist (Revised), Roy E. Brown

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

The Evidence Based Practice Question Development and Search Tips Checklist is a tool that is used in instructional sessions with nurses in reference to evidence-based practice and literature searching. It is intended as a reference handout. The revised handout contains information related to the databases that may be searched as well as about Google Scholar.

It is under a creative commons license. If you would like a version that can be rebranded for your organization to use, please contact the author for an editable version.

Certain Effects Of Random Taxes, James R. Hines Jr., Michael J. Keen

Articles

This paper explores the implications of tax rate randomness, identifying circumstances in which revenue-neutral rate variability increases profitability, economic activity, and the efficiency of resource allocation. Furthermore, with heterogeneous taxpayers, tax rate variability is shown to perform an efficiency-enhancing screening function, imposing heavier expected tax burdens on less responsive taxpayers. And while efficient tax randomness enables governments to reduce average costs of taxation, it necessarily increases the marginal cost of taxation over some ranges of expected revenue, so may reduce efficient levels of government spending.

Respecting Autonomy And Enabling Diversity: The Effect Of Eligibility And Enrollment On Research Data Demographics, Kayte Spector-Bagdady, Shengpu Tang, Sarah Jabbour, Nicholson Price, Ana Bracic, Melissa S. Creary, Sachin Kheterpal, Chad M. Brummett, Jenna Wiens

Articles

Many promising advances in precision health and other Big Data research rely on large data sets to analyze correlations among genetic variants, behavior, environment, and outcomes to improve population health. But these data sets are generally populated with demographically homogeneous cohorts. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients at a major academic medical center during 2012–19 to explore how recruitment and enrollment approaches affected the demographic diversity of participants in its research biospecimen and data bank. We found that compared with the overall clinical population, patients who consented to enroll in the research data bank were significantly less diverse …

Three Essays In Applied Urban Economics, Alexander Cardazzi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The first chapter examines the effect of policing strategies on housing prices. Crime has been shown to negatively affect housing values. However, there is not much empirical evidence documenting the amenity value of how people are policed. Stop & Frisk was a particularly salient policing tactic employed in New York City until a judge ruled it to be unconstitutional. This chapter uses exogenous variation in Stop & Frisk behavior resulting from landmark events in a federal class action lawsuit as well as exposure to Operation Impact, a high intensity policing strategy, to explain variation in property sales. Results indicate a …

Covid-19 Vaccine Rollout: Examining Covid-19 Vaccination Perceptions And Intention Among Nurses, Emilee T. Austin

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Nurses’ COVID-19 vaccination rates have been reportedly low for being among the first prioritized for vaccination. To understand and potentially explain uptake barriers, this thesis utilized the 5c Model, the Integrative Model, the Extended Parallel Process Model, Uncertainty Management Theory, and the Theory of Motivated Information Management. This project used an online survey with a convenience sample recruited through the WV Nurses Association. Specifically, there were 328 nurses recruited, then screened for fully vaccinated participants leaving an analytic sample of 174 West Virginia nurses who had not yet been vaccinated. Participants were asked about their nursing role, threat perceptions, susceptibility …

Women, Water, And Well-Being: Gendered Experiences Of Household Water Contamination In Parkersburg, West Virginia, Emily Brooke Tingler

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

DuPont Washington Works chemical plant knowingly pumped hundreds of thousands of pounds of toxic C8 waste into local waterways, water tables, and landfills for over 40 years, contaminating the drinking water for more than 100,000 residents in and around Parkersburg, West Virginia. Drawing on feminist political ecology and the political ecology of water with literature on perceptions of risk in contaminated communities, environmental reproductive justice, modern water, and hydrosocial waterscapes, I examine, through a qualitative case study, the lived experiences of women who have an intimate understanding of C8 water contamination from the DuPont Washington Works chemical plant. Specifically, I …

“Geeks And She-Eks”: The Relationship Between Younger Women’S Experiences In Popular Geek Culture And Their Interest In Stem Fields, Madeleine D. Butcher

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

There is conflicting evidence about whether women’s participation in recreational, popular geek culture (e.g., gaming, fandom, science fiction consumption) can help close the gender gap in STEM fields. On one hand, these leisure activities can give women skills and experience that they can employ in STEM activities and culture. However, research also suggests that experiencing sexism while participating in geek culture activities can lower women’s motivation to participate in STEM. This thesis proposed that womens’ engagement in geek culture correlated with STEM efficacy and an interest in the STEM field. However, the type of experiences women have in geek culture …

Energy Policy Dynamics In The European Parliament And In The Lithuanian Seimas, Vaida Lilionyte Manthos

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this study is to apply punctuated equilibrium theory to better understand the development of energy policies in the European Parliament and in the Lithuanian Parliament – Seimas. In the first empirical chapter I analyze written questions that members of the European Parliament submitted to the EU Commission to study whether members of the European Parliament respond to punctuating events such as the Fukushima nuclear accident. I also study party groupings in the European Parliament to evaluate how punctuating events alter the policy behavior and priorities of these party groupings. In the second empirical chapter I analyze whether …

Language Choice On Psychological Reactance In Instructor/Student Email Exchanges, Christiana Robey

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This thesis investigated undergraduate students’ perceptions and interpretations of language cues used within instructor email requests. Guided by Psychological Reactance Theory (PRT; Brehm, 1966; Brehm & Brehm, 1981), this thesis examined whether instructor email requests, containing different levels of powerful language and verbal immediacy cues, would impact students’ willingness to follow through with instructor requests. Two hundred thirty-four undergraduate students participated in the four-condition experiment which consisted of the email manipulation conditions containing varying levels of an instructors’ powerful language (e.g. “must;” Miller et al., 2007) and verbal immediacy (e.g., “our class;” Witt & Wheeless, 2001) cues. After reading an …

Comparing Depression And Anxiety Among Athletes And Nonathletes In A College Counseling Center Population., Alexandria Kinder

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study focused on self-reported rates of anxiety and depression when first presenting to a college counseling center at a state university in the mid-Atlantic region. The self-reported measures are the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms-62 (CCAPS-62) and Standardized Data Set (SDS), data forms that are supported through the electronic medical record system, Titanium. The data compared clinical populations of non-student-athletes and student-athletes to understand how the additional athlete identity may contribute to mental health. This study employed a between-subjects, quantitative-descriptive, cross-sectional, design to define and describe the nature of the relationships between one continuous dependent (anxiety or depression) …

The Effects Of Dementia Knowledge On Dementia Worry, Attitudes, Social Comfort, Empathic Concern, And Personal Distress, Alexandria Rose Ebert

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The present study examined the effects of different types of dementia knowledge on attitudes and affective reactions towards persons with dementia. Work has demonstrated that individuals with higher levels of personhood-based knowledge have lower levels of personal dementia fear and higher levels of social comfort. However, to our knowledge, work has not examined dementia attitudes more broadly or differentiated causal relations among different forms of dementia knowledge and attitude outcomes. Participants (N = 334) aged 19-78 (M = 44.53, SD = 16.57) were randomized into one of five experimental conditions: (1) biomedical-knowledge (BK; read biological and medical facts about …

Decision-Making Involvement, Social Support For Healthy Behaviors, And Nutritional Adherence In Adolescents With Cystic Fibrosis, Jennifer Kelleher

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Background: Adolescents with cystic fibrosis (awCF) exhibit suboptimal adherence to dietary and enzyme recommendations despite the fact that eating a high calorie diet with enzymes significantly improves lung functioning. Furthermore, during adolescence teens and their caregivers begin to negotiate treatment responsibility, shifting treatment tasks to the youth. As such, it is important to understand which aspects of the complex decision-making process (e.g., expressing an opinion, asking for information from parents/adults, making joint decisions with parents) relate to better dietary adherence in adolescents with CF and how parents can best support these healthy behaviors. Thus, this study aimed to identify how …

Wild And Wonderful: How Both A Local And National Newspaper Framed West Virginia Leading Up To The 2016 Election, Emily Grace Martin

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

During the 2016 Presidential election, journalists from all over the country flocked to West Virginia to try to understand the draw to then-candidate Donald Trump. There is a well-documented history of outsiders flooding the state and its surrounding Appalachian states to attempt to make sense of the current political situation, all while operating off of stereotypes and preconceived notions about the people of the Mountain State. This study aims to determine how stereotyping and the concept of framing or othering — when in-groups create out-groups — were used by a local West Virginia paper, as well as a national newspaper …

Is Care In The Air?: A Crisis Ethics Case Study Of American Airlines’ Communication During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Lily V. Hicks

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This research proposes a qualitative case study of American Airlines’ communication during the first month of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Data from the airline’s press releases along with its tweets and a sample of organizational responses to those tweets are offered for proposed analysis using the lenses of Situational Crisis Communication Theory, the Applied Model of Care Considerations, and the body of crisis literature on audience coping and emotions during crises. This in-depth look at a unique communication phenomenon will be a fundamental step in examining how airline communication exhibits ethics or lack thereof and is related to people’s emotions …

A Serious Game For Social Engineering Awareness Creation, Fabian Muhly, Philipp Leo, Stefano Caneppele

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

Social engineering is a method used by offenders to deceive their targets utilizing rationales of human psychology. Offenders aim to exploit information and use them for intelligence purposes or financial gains. Generating resilience against these malicious methods is still challenging. Literature shows that serious gaming learning approaches are used more frequently to instill lasting retention effects. Serious games are interactive, experiential learning approaches that impart knowledge about rationales and concepts in a way that fosters retention. In three samples and totally 97 participants the study at hand evaluated a social engineering serious game for participants’ involvement and instruction compliance during …

A Qualitative Study Of College Athletes’ Experiences Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Carra Johnson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic took a toll on collegiate athletics, as all in-person sport activity was shut down temporarily, and competition schedules were heavily altered. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to develop an understanding of how Division I collegiate athletes experienced the pause in college sports that resulted from the COVID-19 crisis, during the first seven to nine months of the pandemic (depending on the time of interview). Between October and December 2020, eleven participants (six females, five males) engaged in individual, semi-structured interviews in which they were asked to describe how the COVID-19 pandemic affected their …

Examining Social Vulnerability And The Association With Covid-19 Incidence In Harris County, Texas, Guillermo A Tortolero, Marcia De Oliveira Otto, Ryan Ramphul, Jose-Miguel Yamal, Alison Rector, Michael Brown, Melissa F Peskin, Dania Mofleh, Eric Boerwinkle

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Studies have investigated the association between social vulnerability and SARS-CoV-2 incidence. However, few studies have examined small geographic units such as census tracts, examined geographic regions with large numbers of Hispanic and Black populations, controlled for testing rates, and incorporated stay-at-home measures into their analyses. Understanding the relationship between social vulnerability and SARS-CoV-2 incidence is critical to understanding the interplay between social determinants and implementing risk mitigation guidelines to curtail the spread of infectious diseases. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between CDC's Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) and SARS-CoV-2 incidence while controlling for testing rates and …

Gender Differences In Fear And Risk Perception During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Abdelaziz Alsharawy, Ross Spoon, Alec Smith, Sheryl Ball

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic has led many people to suffer from emotional distress. Previous studies suggest that women process and express affective experiences, such as fear, with a greater intensity compared to men. We administered an online survey to a sample of participants in the United States that measures fear of COVID-19, perceptions about health and financial risks, and preventative measures taken. Despite the empirical fact that men are more likely to experience adverse health consequences from COVID-19, women report greater fear and more negative expectations about health-related consequences of COVID-19 than men. However, women are more optimistic than men regarding …

After The Protests: A Campus Racial Climate Case Study Of The Perception And Curricular Responses For Institutional Reforms, Following The Black Students’ Demands For Interventions At The University Of Missouri-Columbia, Bruce E. Mitchell Ii

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This qualitative method single case study explores the phenomenon of a racially tense campus climate at the University of Missouri Columbia, a Predominantly White Midwestern Institution. At the forefront of the media regarding student and athlete protests, leading to the resignation of senior level administrators, African American students put forth eight demands to their administrators. Included, was the creation and implementation of a required racial awareness and inclusion curriculum. The study explores the perceptions of the institutional response to an exceptional campus racial climate issue and the process of formulating and participating in a diversity training course and a semester …

Brock On Open Borders, Javier S. Hidalgo

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Justice for People on the Move includes rich and insightful discussions of many areas of immigration policy. But, in this paper, I’ll focus on evaluating Brock’s arguments against open borders. Justice for People on the Move includes rich and insightful discussions of many areas of immigration policy. But, in this paper, I’ll focus on evaluating Brock’s arguments against open borders.

Online Learning Librarianship In A Fully Online World: Findings (And Advice) From A National Study During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Amber Willenborg, Tessa Withorn

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Listening To Their Voices: A Narrative On Campus Climate For Trans* Students, Cloe Bourdages

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact that campus climate has on trans* student academic and personal success. This qualitative study was explored through individual interviews by four participants. Participants discussed practices which enabled and inhibited their success; which lead to the finding of four themes: identity and validation, academic climate, climate outside of the classroom, and resources and services. Overall, a positive correlation in trans* student success was found when institutions use inclusive practices within their work. Lastly, the study provided implications for higher education recommended by both the participants and the researcher.

Debt, Death, And Deregulation: Neoliberalism, Human Rights, And American-Argentine Relations, 1976-1983, Billy Davis

Masters Theses

Between 1976 and 1983, Argentina was governed by a military government that oversaw both a brutal campaign against communism and a process of neoliberalization. During this period, the United States provided substantial economic support to Argentina through its approval of loans that enabled Argentina’s economic transformation. Early on, the United States was largely apathetic and complacent in regard to Argentina’s Dirty War. During the administration of Jimmy Carter, the United States attempted to confront the Argentine military government about its human rights abuses. However, a substantial contingent within the Carter administration pushed back against this initiative and worked to protect …

Five In 20: An Exploratory Study To Develop And Pilot An Observation Tool Used To Assess The Five Features Critical To Effective Classroom Management, Alexandria Cardot

Masters Theses

The present study aimed to develop and pilot a standardized classroom observation tool intended to assess teachers’ current use of the five features critical to effective classroom management. Thirty-nine observers who regularly conducted classroom observations (e.g., school psychologists) were recruited to complete 39, 20-min observations in kindergarten through twelfth grade classrooms. Due to COVID-19, observers could either complete a live observation or think of a previously completed observation. Of the 39 observations, 13 were live and 26 were recalled. To complete the observation, observers indicated whether the teacher was observed to use each of the 21 evidence-based strategies and if …

Teacher Perceptions And Use Of Evidence-Based Discipline Practices, Taylor Robinson

Masters Theses

School discipline has been linked to significant positive and negative outcomes for both students and teachers. The current study examined the predictive power of Illinois, public school teacher variables on the use of specific discipline strategies in the classroom. One hundred eleven teachers completed a survey with vignette developed by the primary researcher which was used to assess teachers’ confidence in implementing discipline strategies, perceived effectiveness of discipline strategies, and perceptions of peer use and peer beliefs about discipline strategies. The study used descriptive statistics to identify patterns of reporting and multiple linear regressions to determine the predictive power of …

Field Management Research In Vietnam: Lessons For Navigating Social, Cultural, And Data Challenges, Phuong Anh Nguyen

School of Economics and Business Administration Faculty Works

No abstract provided.