Communication Commons^™

To Buy Or Not To Buy: Consumer Purchase Behavior Based On Lifestyle Brand Logo Colors, Chelsi Crockett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research aims to examine the logos of lifestyle brands and explore whether certain logo colors elicit a purchase response in consumers. Color Theory and Impression Management Theory are examined alongside the idea of this study. Two-hundred-nine United States residents 18 years of age and older who are not color blind or color deficient participated in a voluntary online survey where they were presented with several differently colored lifestyle brand logos and then prompted to choose which color of lifestyle brand logo would prompt them to purchase a product from the brand in question. The variables of gender, age and, …

‘I Want It, I Got It’: Cultural Appropriation, White Privilege, And Power In Ariana Grande’S “7, Alyssa T. Bass

Honors Theses

Black women often suffer from not receiving recognition for their work. Still, nonblack people continue to use black women’s contributions to pop culture to rebrand themselves. This is especially relevant in the music industry. Cultural appropriation is the act of a dominant group taking cultural elements from a minority group without acknowledging the cultural significance of those elements. The counterpublic Black Twitter gives black Twitter users the space to hold appropriators accountable. I used Grounded Theory to analyze tweets about Ariana Grande’s “7 Rings” to explore how Black Twitter responded to Grande allegedly appropriating black women for financial gain. Critical …

Crime Television Viewership And Perceived Vulnerability To Crime Among College Students, Madison S. Seymour

Honors Theses

This study focused on college students’ viewership of the crime drama television shows NCIS, Law and Order, Criminal Minds, and CSI as well as students’ perceived vulnerability to crime. The aim of the study was to determine if there is a relationship between the viewing of crime dramas and perceived vulnerability, based on the theories of mean world syndrome and cultivation. The study also examined the platform viewers used to watch crime dramas, whether that was streaming services or other options such as cable or satellite television. The chosen platform was also compared with perceived vulnerability to crime.

To collect …

Comm-Entary, Spring 2020 - Full Issue

Comm-entary

In this issue:

Changing Dynamics in Digital Culture & Society: The Phenomenon of “Blackfishing” by Estefania De La Torre

A Royal Pain: Tensions of Womanhood in Padmaavat by Hannah Baum

A Narrative of Antiquity: An Analysis of the Shift in Ecclesiastical-Secular Power in Late Medieval and Early Renaissance Italy by Kyra Nelson

The Conflict over Cliché by David Hadley

Nano-Influencers as a Commodity by Caila Kilson-Kuchtic

Instagram On Paper: Journaling, Photography and Mindfulness by Emma Barresi

A Rhetorical Analysis of Twitter: ISTE Educational Technology Conference Exhibitors by Hannah Baum

DNA Databases: Problematic on Grounds of Constitutionality, Fallibility, and Discriminatory Practice …

Martin Luther King Day Keynote Address (January 20, 2020, The Kent School In Ct), Nelson Thomas

Comm-entary

On January 20th 2020, I had the opportunity to go back to my alma mater and address the school during their celebration of Martin Luther King Day as the Keynote Speaker! It was a wonderful experience to be able to able to address the school for this celebration! I hope that this message resonates with you as a viewer and serves as a reminder that no matter how small our platform we have the power to create an impact in our communities.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bignel_21/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BigNel_21

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ecotextnelsonthomas

About The Authors

Comm-entary

No abstract provided.

Representations Of Women: A Media Intentions And Effects Analysis Of The Popular Music Industry, Emily A. Bourne

Comm-entary

This thesis features a critical media effects analysis of the present United States music industry. Popular music and its associated production and promotion industry is overwhelmingly dominated by men and is correspondingly subject to the influence of dominant cultural ideologies. These ideologies include the oppression and marginalization of women and the furthering of their subordinate status within American culture. The projection of these inherently unjust principles not only reinscribes pre-established societal status quos, but also influences the general public to further internalize, develop, and reproduce them. These prompted understandings contribute to the lacking power and equality of women in society …

Social Studies Teacher Perceptions Of News Source Credibility, Christopher H. Clark, Mardi Schmeichel, H. James Garrett

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Politically tumultuous times have created a problematic space for teachers who include the news in their classrooms. Few studies have explored perceptions of news credibility among secondary social studies teachers, the educators most likely to regularly incorporate news media into their classrooms. We investigated teachers’ operational definitions of credibility and the relationships between political ideology and assessments of news source credibility. Most teachers in this study used either static or dynamic definitions to describe news media sources’ credibility. Further, teachers’ conceptualizations of credibility and perceived ideological differences with news sources were associated with how credible teachers found each source. These …

A Feasibility Study On The Implementation Of A Web-Based Intuitive Eating Program In A University Setting, Jaime Gnau

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This research reports on the feasibility of implementing a web-based intuitive eating (IE) program to employees through a university employee wellness department at Missouri State University (MSU). Barriers and facilitators to program participation were also identified and discussed.

Background: Ten IE principles present an evidence-based strategy for reducing incidence of weight cycling and improving one’s relationship with food and self, and reducing health risks associated with chronic dieting and weight regain. Offering web-based programming reduces barriers to program enrollment but is also associated with high rates of attrition.

Methods: The program was developed utilizing the PRECEED-PROCEDE model with application of …

Allyship As An Act: The Performative, Power-Laden, And Contradictory Co-Cultural Strategies Of Straight Allies, David Dooling

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

While the study of queer communities underscores the importance of responses to heteronormativity, this dual-method study challenges positionality by examining the co-cultural strategies of straight allies in predominantly queer conversations and spaces. Using Orbe’s Co-Cultural Theory as a lens, this study examines the co-cultural strategies and factors that influence straight allies’ communication when entrenched in queer ontology and dialogue (Study 1). Additionally, co-cultural strategies are measured among straight allies in hypothetical workplaces that are either predominantly queer or predominantly straight (Study 2) using Lapinski and Orbe’s (2007) Co-Cultural Theory Scales. Together, the results of these studies contribute to the ideas …

The Question Of Pronouns: Recommendations For How Higher Education Institutions Should Implement Pronouns, Kaitlin Hahn

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Historically, higher education has supported the binary genders of man and woman by championing the binary in terms of receiving higher education, such as those who go on to pursue college degrees and further. As colleges and universities are driven to become more and more accessible, so do their policies. The research to follow highlights the need for higher education institutions to recognize and implement common use of pronouns, meaning the use of They/Them or other pronouns that do not align with how someone is assigned upon birth. By looking into the scholarship on pronoun use in colleges and universities …

#Dreamcrazy And #Boycottnike: A Content Analysis Of The Twitter Debate, Grace Voll

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

In 2016, NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick knelt for the national anthem in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. A less than two-minute action galvanized a brand-new movement in the United States. Two years after losing his NFL contract, Nike endorsed Kaepernick and produced the controversial “Dream Crazy” advertising campaign. The initial advertisement launched on Twitter, shared first by Kaepernick with the #DreamCrazy hashtag. There was a substantial amount of discussion about this campaign through the hashtags #DreamCrazy and the counter-campaign #BoycottNike on Twitter. This paper presents a content analysis that examines the tone and support of the initial campaign …

The Portrayal Of The Effects Of The Open-Door Policy (Al Infitah) On Society As Shown By The Egyptian Cinema, Yara Hassan Shokr

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Lobbying On The German Federal Level: The Unknown Shift Through Digital Transformation, Kathrin Stürmer, Gearóid Ó' Súilleabháin, Pio Fenton, Lars Rademacher

Dept. of Marketing & International Business Publications

Against the background of technological change, increasing information flow, and a rising number of communication channels, new opportunities and challenges are arising for communication between interest groups and federal policymakers in Germany. To keep up with further technological developments and the increasingly fast-paced political communication system, it is crucial to analyze lobbying in the context of digital transformation in greater detail. Lobbying as a traditionally non-public part of political communication has been a challenging setting for research. Understanding the general contours of this activity is an important public need - especially for digital lobbying, where a lack of academic research …

Biographical Availability In The Climate Movement, Nicole Cortes

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The focus of this study was to understand how social movements against climate change include or engage with the age demographics. This study is a qualitative analysis by observing Monterey and Santa Cruz climate events and interviewing activists from local organizations. The individuals who participated in this study have shared their experience being involved in the climate organizations as well as their perception of the climate movement’s impact. This research has been conducted to theorize and understand how youth climate movement frames the presentation of age and how that compares to the actual capacity of age in the movement. As …

“So, Literally,…Basically,...It’S Like…”: A Study Into The Generational And Sociological Impact Of American Language Culture, Richard Moreno

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Language is unique to the human species. It serves to communicate thoughts, feelings, emotions, etc. Within the context of this capstone I outline the theory that language is much more than this. Words can also serve to bond or reject, based on the level of acceptance within social groups towards the speaker. In seeking to discover what effects specific language utterances have on social interaction and the processes involved in developing cohesiveness collective identity in these groups, I found that they do have a definite impact and this is based mainly within generational parameters. Using a mixed method approach of …

Does The Press Have A Right To Be Wrong?: Fake News, Press Freedom, And Defamation Law In 2021, Nathan T. Danielson

Journalism

The following study analyzes defamation lawsuits filed against Fox News and its on-air personalities by companies that manufactured and maintained voting machines used in the 2020 US presidential election. Smartmatic and Dominion accused Fox in court of broadcasting debunked allegations that the companies had rigged the election against incumbent president (and longtime Fox viewer) Donald Trump. The size of the sought-after damages, and the size of Fox itself, make this the largest “fake news suit” in history. This study explores the merits of the suits, defenses to defamation (particularly opinion, political speech, and retraction) and the potential ramifications of a …

New Perspectives On Promoting Efl Teaching And Learning In Oman, Jihan Sulaiman Al Naabi

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio is an accumulation of work that the author accomplished during her study in the program of Master of Second Language Teaching at Utah State University. It is an outcome of the author’s personal teaching experiences, insights gained from her master’s study, and several class observations as well.

The portfolio comprises three primary portions: (1) teaching perspectives, (2) research perspectives, and (3) an annotated bibliography. The teaching perspectives revolve around the author’s beliefs on the role of both teachers and students in L2 classrooms, the communicative teaching of grammar, and the value of a positive learning environment. The research …

Student-Centered, Interaction-Based, Community-Driven Language Teaching, Sharon Lyman

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio is a compilation that highlights some of the author’s accomplished work while in the Master of Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program at Utah State University (USU). Organized into sections that reflect the author’s teaching and research perspectives as a MSLT graduate student and instructor, who taught intensive English reading, writing, and conversation courses for the Intensive English Language Institute (IELI).

In the first section, teaching perspectives, the author describes her desired professional environment, shares her personal teaching philosophy statement, and accounts for her professional development through classroom observations. In the second section, research perspectives, two research papers and …

A Content Analysis Of Olivia Pope: How Scandal Reconfirms The Negative Stereotypes Of Black Women., Chelsy Leann Golder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to answer how Scandal reconfirms the negative stereotypes of black women. Scandal’s leading character, Olivia Pope, embodies the Mammy, the Jezebel, and the Sapphire. These stereotypes were invented during slavery and still used today to justify the current racial and gendered oppression of Black women. A linkage between the stereotypes and Olivia Pope’s character will be made based on an analysis of the television show. A random sampling approach was used to select a total of 14 episodes. Each of the 14 episodes were carefully examined for examples of Mammy-like, Jezebel-like, and Sapphire-like …

An Analysis Of The Role Of Reality Television In The Representation Of Immigrants On Tlc's Show, 90 Day Fiancé., Morohunfolu Jimade Seton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A larger number of people reside outside their country of birth today than in any other time in history, and these levels are expected to continue to rise in the future (International Organization for Migration, 2011). The United States is currently the most popular immigrant destination in the world, with more immigrants than any other country. Immigrants statistics indicate that the immigrant population in the United States reached a record of 44.4 million in 2017 (Pew Research Centre, 2019). Correspondingly, the percentage of immigrants who were admitted into the U.S. as spouses of citizens has increased over of the last …

A Major Motion Picture Or Just A Picture? An Analysis In Movie Tie-Ins Vs. Original Cover Art, Vivian Nguyen

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

It has been believed that the needs of consumers who are primarily readers versus moviegoers greatly differ; those who are readers are more likely to purchase a book that features the original cover art, while those who are mostly moviegoers gravitate toward movie tie-in covers. This paper examines the accuracy behind that belief by calculating the number of book sales from NPD BookScan, as well as collecting survey data from participants across all reading activity levels.

Analysis revealed that though there is a slight difference in amount of preference based on reading group, overall participants overwhelmingly preferred the original cover …

The Effects Of Nursing School Peer Tutoring On Tutors, Yelyzaveta Soboleva

Undergraduate Honors Theses

An integrative review was used to examine the effects of being a tutor versus not being a tutor. The matrix method was used to guide the research process, to identify articles that met the inclusion criteria, and to reduce data into common topics of peer tutoring. The results of the integrative review yielded 20 articles and suggested that students in the position to assist others are more confident in communicating in groups and have higher knowledge in the subject they help with than their fellow peers. The literature showed that students in the position to assist others have defined personal …

Menstruation Regulation: A Feminist Critique Of Menstrual Product Brands On Instagram, Max Faust

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Much research about advertisements for menstrual products reveals the ways in which such advertising perpetuates shame and reinforces unrealistic ideals of femininity and womanhood. This study aims to examine the content of Instagram posts by four different menstrual product brands in hopes of understanding how these functions may or may not be carried out by social media posts by these brands as well. Building on the body of research about menstrual shame and advertising, I specifically ask: How do the Instagram pages for four menstrual product brands dissuade individuality; how do they prescribe femininity; and how do these functions differ …

Leaving The Good Place: Examining Organizational Exit In Nonprofits, Michaela Lauren Sees Plummer

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This thesis examined the prescribed culture and prescribed network of a national nonprofit organization to better understand organizational exit and retention. This nonprofit organization has teams of long-term volunteers that serve in various schools throughout the country, but one Midwest location served as the site of this study. Because this organization has a clearly defined prescribed culture and organizational network, it is an interesting site for data collection. Through two rounds of interviews with ten members from various school teams, I was able to identify key issues that affected members’ decisions to stay with or leave the organization. The data …

Crna To Cvicu Rn: Implementation Of A Standardized Patient Handoff Checklist For Post-Surgical Heart Patients, Ashley Mcgrath

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Patient handoffs occur when the information and responsibility of the patient is transferred from one health professional to another. Ineffective communication during the critical postoperative phase of the transfer of care (TOC) has been associated with extended hospital stays, increased healthcare costs and patient dissatisfaction. In 2007, the Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goals proclaimed the importance of a standardized handoff process for effective handoffs. The purpose of this quality improvement doctoral project was to assess if the utilization of a standardized TOC checklist from the operating room to the cardiac intensive care unit (CVICU) for post-heart patients improved communication …

The Recognition Preferences Of Ontario County 4-H Volunteers, Sarah Bagley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The 4-H program relies on volunteers to deliver quality youth programing to the local community. Therefore, volunteer management is an important job of a 4-H educator. The Ontario County 4-H program utilizes 94 volunteers who serve a variety of roles within the program, and the retention of these volunteers is important to the program’s continued success. Older volunteer studies have found that volunteer recognition is an important aspect of volunteer satisfaction and retention. Therefore, this study aimed to describe the characteristics of current Ontario county 4-H volunteers, understand the underlying motivations and recognition preferences of these volunteers, determine if correlations …

The Impact Of Social Media On The Social Lives Of People With Visual Impairment (Facebook Groups As A Case Study), Itto Outini

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This present research seeks to provide a more comprehensive understanding of why people with visual impairment use social media. I investigate this question using uses and gratification (U&G) Theory, which was developed by Katz, Blumler, & Gurevitch (1974). The theory explains what people do with media and why. The purpose of this study is twofold: it seeks to document reasons people with visual impairment use Facebook and it endeavors to reveal which variables can influence users’ decisions to use one social media platform instead of another. In particular, I am interested in determining factors motivating users with visual impairment to …

Journalism Vs. Activism: How The Social Impact Of Journalism Has Evolved, Kathryn Serrano

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this study was to question the objectivity norm that arose in journalism in the 20th century, and analyze what objectivity means today in the context of investigative journalism. This study examined the mission statements and objectives of the investigative nonprofits The Marshall Project and Injustice Watch, which are two publications with specific mission statements that cover the United States criminal justice system. The examination of these nonprofits helps explore a question of where the line is drawn between journalism and activism. The researcher interviewed 25 journalists from mainstream media outlets, the nonprofits discussed above, and other investigative …

Calling Out The Trolls: Responses To Witnessing Use Of The “Troll” Label As A Defense In An Online Group Context, Dene E. M. Wamsley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although the term “troll” has existed since the 1980s, its meaning has shifted in recent years as social media use has increased. People provide contrasting and imprecise definitions for what constitutes “trolling,” and often apply the term subjectively to describe online discussants who are uncivil, who are deviant, and who and present counter-attitudinal opinions. Exposure to deviance, counter-attitudinal information, and incivility often leads to unwanted psychological effects. In theory, labeling an uncivil, counter-attitudinal deviant as a “troll” proposes that their intention is to disrupt the conversation and upset other discussants, which provides a reason for why incivility is used, and …