Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons^™

Identifying And Mitigating Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking In An Urban Community, Anne Ellen Gresham

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Human trafficking, domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST), and commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) are complex and multifaceted occurrences in the United States. As the numbers of youth ensnared in sexually exploitive situations increase, organizations and communities are called upon to address the ramifications of this abuse; little research was located, however, that examined collaborative networks and partnerships that address victim identification and mitigation of DMST and CSEC. The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to determine whether strategic partnerships existed within the community under investigation. The theoretical framework was environmental theory, as first described by Florence Nightingale; …

Methods Used In Public Policy Decision Making By County Managers In North Carolina, Jeffrey Bryan Gowen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have examined ways in which policy makers develop their decisions. The literature has not explored, however, the methodologies used by county managers to arrive at decisions, or whether they consider the medium- and long-term policy implications, or second and third order effects, of those decisions. The purpose of this study was to identify the methodologies and decision-making processes used by county managers in North Carolina. The theoretical framework was Lindblom's theory of incrementalism in decision making. Data for this phenomenological study were collected through semi-structured interviews with 10 purposefully selected county managers, and were coded and categorized to identify …

The Correlation Between A Pastor's Job Experience And Church Servant Leadership Practices, Beth Ann Fylstra

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Churches contribute both indirectly and directly to community economic development and social transformation. Some researchers cite lack of leadership as a factor in Christian churches in the United States experiencing declining attendance, with many churches closing. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which a senior pastor's past and current church leadership experience affects servant leadership practices in the pastor's current church. Servant leadership theory was this quantitative, correlational study's theoretical framework. Five research questions focused on a pastor's past and present church leadership experience and how it affects the servant leadership practices within the organization's …

Exploring Potential Associations With The Presidential Discretionary Power Of Fema Funds Dispensation, Matthew Thomas Eagles

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

US presidential approval of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding has been the subject of much research that largely has been inconclusive or contradictor as it relates to whether funds may have been distributed in a biased way through the use of presidential discretionary power. The purpose of this study was to explore if or to what degree US presidents acted in a potentially biased manner with the approval of FEMA approvals during election years in election battleground states. This study was an exploration of whether there was presidential political favoritism in approving FEMA funding from 1996-2012. The theoretical constructs …

Racism Vs. Social Capital: A Case Study Of Two Majority Black Communities, Bruce W. Strouble

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Several researchers have identified social capital as a means to improve the social sustainability of communities. While there have been many studies investigating the benefits of social capital in homogeneous White communities, few have examined it in Black homogeneous communities. Also, there has been limited research on the influence of racism on social capital in African American communities. In this dissertation a comparative case study was used within a critical race theory framework. The purpose was to explore the role of racial oppression in shaping social capital in majority African American communities. Data were collected from 2 majority Black communities …

An Evaluation Of Math Assessment Policy Process In A Southwestern School District, Alicia O'Brien

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

An Evaluation of Math Assessment Policy Process in a Southwestern School District

by

Alicia Taber O'Brien

EdS, Walden University, 2011

MA, Western Governors University, 2004

BS, New Mexico State University, 1994

Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree of

Doctor of Education

Teacher Leadership

Walden University

September 2015

This project study addressed the lack of evaluation of a math assessment policy in a rural elementary school district in the southwestern United States. This district implemented a math assessment policy in the spring of 2005, yet no evaluation had been conducted to determine whether the policy …

Agencification As A Strategy For Implementing Public Policy In Trinidad And Tobago, Sandra Juanita Wall Agarrat

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Trinidad and Tobago is one of 15 small developing states that comprise the regional integration grouping known as the Caribbean Community. Several agencies were recently created outside of the government using a strategy known as agencification to support the implementation of public policy in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. However, there is little available information explaining the rationale for the choice of the strategy, no evidence-based scholarly evaluation found on the effectiveness of these types of agencies, and therefore limited information on whether this strategy results in effective public policy. The purpose of this case study was to gain …

Causes Of Low Voter Turnout Of The Hispanic Population In Southwest Texas, Shawn Steven Morrow

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Hispanic population in central Texas tends to have low levels of civic engagement as compared to other groups in the same area, which leads to disproportionate political marginalization. Prior research has focused on characteristics of voters and nonvoters, but has failed to explore the lack of political mobilization among Hispanic voters. The purpose of this study was twofold; first to better understand the nature of Hispanic voters' political marginalization, and second, explore why participation levels are so low among this group. This general qualitative study applied critical race theory to explore the barriers perceived by Hispanic voters related to …

The Effects Of Frequent Exposure To Violence And Trauma On Police Officers, Ternarian A. Warren

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Police officers who maintain negative or traumatic information in long-term memory are vulnerable to mental illness, unstable emotional and behavioral responses, interpersonal problems, and impaired social relationships. The cognitive theory suggests that police officers externalize various negative or maladaptive behaviors as a result of frequent exposure to traumatic events. Researchers have found that police officers tend to either not seek mental health treatment, try to fix their own mental health problem, or if in treatment will not be forthcoming with internalized thoughts of psychological distress. The intention of this research was to examine the relationship between police officers' frequent exposure …

Public Corruption In Liberian Government, Stephen H. Gobewole

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is a widespread public perception of corruption in Liberia's election process, yet there is little documentation on the characteristics of voters and their perceptions of electoral corruption. The purpose of this correlational study was to explore the relationship between gender, ethnicity, physical location, and perceptions about political activity during the 2005 national election. Roderick Chisolm's conceptualization of the internalist view of justification served as the theoretical construct. Data were acquired from the Afrobarometer survey (n = 1,200), which used a representative cross-sectional sample design, and were subjected to cross-tabulation analysis, a chi-square test, and a correlation analysis. The results …

Religiosity And Support For The Use Of Enhanced Interrogation, Stuart Hitchcock

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Young adults in the United States are less interested in organized religion and consider the use of enhanced interrogation techniques on terrorists and captured U.S. military personnel by enemy forces as justifiable. The relationship between religion, political ideology, and enhanced interrogation support are well known, yet it is not known if young adults with current or prior military service also consider these applications justifiable. The purpose of this study was to determine if religion influenced the opinions of young adults with current or former military service on the use of enhanced interrogations. The theoretical framework for this study included Milgram's …

The Design, Implementation, And Evaluation Of A Professional Development Program, Ellen Riina Hirsch

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Ineffective professional development is a longstanding problem in education. Locally, the school district in the study lacked a comprehensive system for evaluating their secondary level professional development programs. The purpose of this case study was to investigate the district's professional development program, specifically examining its perceived strengths and weaknesses. The conceptual framework of the study was systems theory and the adaptive schools reform model. The research questions examined the perceptions of various school personnel on their experiences with the current professional development program at the study district's high school. Individual interviews were conducted with a purposeful sample of 3 teachers, …

Exploring Incivility Toward Employee Absenteeism, Productivity, And Effective Communication: Veterans Health Administration, Sharron Miller

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Uncivil behavior in the workplace can cause absenteeism or low job performance among employees, yet little academic literature addresses this relationship, particularly in the public sector. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to use the transactional analysis of communication (TAC) model to explore the ramifications of incivility in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). The central research questions focused on employee perceptions of incivility and effective communication within the VHA. Twelve VHA employees were recruited for participation through a snowball sampling technique. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with the participants along with some VHA archived video training. Data were …

The Center For Total Health: Healthcare Reform In Cook County, Illinois, James Leon Miles

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) of 2010 requires hospital systems in the United States to shift the culture of patient care from a focus on sick-care to a focus on prevention and wellness care. Little is known about how hospital systems will make this culture shift while retaining quality patient care. The purpose of this case study of a pioneering hospital-based PPACA-compliant initiative was to answer the research question of how Wallace's revitalization movement theory (RMT) "a rapid culture change model"could serve as a transferable evaluation framework for PPACA prevention and wellness care compliance in hospital-based programs. …

Parents' Perceptions Of Academic Progress Information Access And Dual Enrollment Student Success, Terrill L. Nickerson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

To comply with The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) regulations, parents of high school students taking college classes as part of a dual enrollment program have to employ alternative monitoring practices to remain informed about their students' academic progress. This quantitative research study explored how parents' perceptions of access to student academic progress information correlated with their students' academic performance based on cumulative grade point average (GPA) in college classes. Credit-based transition programs (CBTP) and parent monitoring theory provided the framework. All 867 parents of students under age 18 enrolled in the dual enrollment program at an urban …

The Deterrent Effect Of Disciplinary Segregation On Prison Inmate Misconduct, Joseph William Lucas

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Although a widely used practice, it was previously unknown whether disciplinary segregation is actually effective at modifying prison behavior. This quantitative, retrospective observational study tested deterrence theory and explored the effectiveness of disciplinary segregation in deterring subsequent prison inmate misconduct among those subjected to it (N = 228). It compared a cohort of male inmates incarcerated by the Oregon Department of Corrections who had spent time in disciplinary segregation in 2011 and/or 2012 with a comparison cohort who had not spent any time in disciplinary segregation. Three models were tested, each with the outcome variable operationalized in a different way: …

The Role Of Uae Health Professionals In Maternal And Child Health Policy, Immanuel Azaad Moonesar

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Maternal and child health (MCH) mortality is a formidable challenge for health systems around the world according to the World Health Organization. Health professionals and practitioners within the United Arab Emirates were studied to determine the extent they were involved in the policy-making process, and the potential impact that analysis may have on new or revised MCH policies. Research on MCH policy-making and development processes are limited. The Andersen model of healthcare services utilization provides an appropriate framework for this research, enabling the analysis that influences the policy-making process in the area of MCH. Independent variables included nationality, education, work …

The Effect Of Pay Banding On Generational Cohort Perceptions Of Job Satisfaction, Charles Terence Polk

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

For over 3 decades, the federal government has attempted to introduce pay-for-performance into the federal workforce. It is important for federal agencies to understand the impact of pay-for-performance, specifically pay banding, on job satisfaction and retention of frontline managers as agencies face the exodus of the retiring Baby Boomer generation. The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of pay banding on job satisfaction and intention of frontline managers to leave the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The theoretical foundation for this study was Adams's equity theory as viewed through the lens of Mannheim's generational theory. The overarching research …

Relief Aid Dependency Syndromes: A Case For Disaster-Prone Moroto District In Uganda, Richard Acaye

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Humanitarian aid, while useful in the short run, sometimes has the effect of contributing to poverty and poor economic conditions in the long run. This occurs when recipients of relief aid lose their initiative to fend for themselves and become reliant on external aid. The purpose of this mixed method study was to evaluate the degree to which dependency on long term aid has contributed to chronic poverty in the Moroto district of Uganda. This study was grounded on Harvey & Lind's conceptualization of the dependency syndrome. The research questions addressed the relationship between household production and investment pattern with …

The Role Of Teacher Perceptions In Parental Involvement, Crecenra Boyd

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the changing field of education, there is awareness of the benefits of parental involvement on student achievement and the impact teachers have on the success of parental involvement programs. However, teachers may rely significantly on their personal experiences as a source of reference for parental involvement and subsequently impact student achievement. There is a gap in the research about the lived experiences of teachers regarding their perspectives and support of parental involvement in the classroom. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore teachers' lived experiences and attitudes concerning parental involvement and student achievement. The conceptual framework for …

Abstract Uneducated Injustice: A Social Cognitive Approach To Understanding Juror Misconduct And Verdict Errors, Melinee Melissa Marie Calhoun

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A continual problem in the adjudication of crime in the United States is the continued occurrence of erroneous convictions and acquittals. This problem impacts the victims of crimes as they endure emotional and mental distress of additional investigations and new trials. Defendants are impacted by errors in verdicts because of the loss of freedom while being factually innocent. These errors may occur because jurors may not be knowledgeable of their role, right and responsibilities. Without regard to the judge's minimum instruction, the jury is not provided direction on the purpose and limitations of their roles. Guided by the social cognitive …

European Airport Concessions: Retail Strategies To Improve Commercial Revenue From Leisure Travelers, René W. B. Puls

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Aeronautical revenue from landing and handling charges to carriers is falling significantly below 60% of total revenue and will not persist as the main source of income for airports. Airports in Europe cannot continue to rely on profits from airlines; operating companies need to improve the competitiveness through commercial income from different traveler types. The purpose of this multiple case study was to understand the elements of successful sales strategies by concessionaires (retailers) at the metropolitan airport system of Zurich and Basel in hopes of improving the nonaeronautical revenue from leisure travelers, a price-sensitive customer segment. The conceptual framework was …

Forced Truancy And Its Impact On Youth Delinquency In Southeastern Nigeria, Bouyant Eleazer Enyiorji

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Forced truancy is a risk factor that influences juvenile behavior, requiring the joint efforts of school authorities, parents, and courts to address. It is a phenomenon where students desire attending school, but for reasons beyond their control, they are prohibited from attending classes. Some of these reasons are teachers' strike action, students' poverty, lack of educational infrastructures, and unsafe educational environment. Teachers' strike is a frequent occurrence in southeastern Nigeria caused by irregular payment of teachers' wages, benefits, and other remunerations. This case study of 3 secondary schools in southeastern Nigeria sought to understand the impact of forced truancy by …

Influences Of Csi Effect, Daubert Ruling, And Nas Report On Forensic Science Practices, Timothy Patrick Scanlan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The media exaggerates the capabilities of crime laboratories while it publicizes the wrongdoings of individual forensic scientists. Such portrayals skew the perspectives of jurors and hinder expert witness testimony. Complicating the problem are separate, but related, phenomena that influence how forensic laboratories conduct casework. These phenomena are Cole and Dioso-Villa's conceptualization of the unrealistic expectations of forensic science created by fictional television, known as the CSI Effect; the Daubert ruling on the admissibility of expert testimony; and some federal policy changes as a result of a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report that impacted requirements for the daily operation of …

School-Wide Factors In New York State High School Counseling Program Readiness, Dianah Cantres

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

While current accountability regimes in U.S. public education focus on the job performance of individual school professionals, research in industrial/organizational psychology has established the importance of system-wide factors for organizational outcomes. The purpose of this study was to identify school-wide factors that predict guidance program readiness in New York State high schools. This nonexperimental, quantitative study was based on a survey sample of 97 guidance counselors in New York State. Multivariariate analyses of variance showed that two school-wide independent variables-urbanization of school location and counselor-student ratio-predict scores on guidance program readiness, measured using the American School Counselor Association Readiness Survey. …

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act And High School Obesity, Derek Grills

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

United States high school student obesity rates have doubled in the past 30 years to 13%, threatening the health of millions of adolescents. To mitigate the epidemic, Congress passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA) in 2010, which mandated significant changes to school nutrition and physical education. From a public policy perspective, the HHFKA changed school nutrition and exercise policy to affect obesity rates by changing intake and energy expenditure at school, though no study using national-level data examined this relationship. As such, the purpose of the study was to examine whether HHFKA policy compliance had a statistically significant effect …

Lived Experiences Of Military Personnel Reintegrating With Their Preschool Aged Children, Rob Atchison

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have indicated that school-aged children with a caregiver who had been deployed were more likely to exhibit emotional and behavioral problems. These problems were impacted by the ability of the parent at home to manage emotions so as to utilize appropriate parenting skills with the child. However, there remained an important gap in the literature regarding the experiences of the military personnel reintegrating with their preschool aged child. Therefore, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to address the experiences of military caregivers with their preschool-aged children through semistructured interviews to better understand the variables that impacted the ability …

County Demographic Influence On Toxic Chemical Activities Of Chemical-Related Industry In Michigan, Lisa Helen Perricane

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There are a large number of chemical facilities that emit toxic chemicals in Michigan, and there is a concern regarding toxic chemical exposure to the residents of Michigan counties. However, it is uncertain whether chemical companies that emit toxic chemicals in Michigan are influenced by county demographic factors in deciding whether to engage in voluntary pollution prevention (P2) activities and whether this decision influences U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (U.S. EPA) Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI) scores. Using Bullard's theory of environmental justice, the purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if there was a correlation between chemical-related industry's voluntary P2 …

Successful Informal Partnerships Between Nonprofit Organizations And Local Governments In A Metropolitan Area, Scott Pozil

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Informal or non-contractual partnerships between nonprofit organizations (NPOs) and government entities are becoming more common in America, opening up new possibilities for NPOs to function as equal partners in the decision-making process and implementation of community services. The problem concerns the challenges that NPOs face in achieving equal partner status with their local government counterpart, a problem which has received limited attention in research. The purpose of this study was to explore the dynamics behind successful informal partnerships between NPOs and local governments, translating into effective and efficient service delivery. The theoretical framework was based on Davis's stewardship theory and …

An Examination Of Tribal Nation Integration In Homeland Security National Preparedness, Donald J. Reed

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research has established that national homeland security policy requires a whole community or all-of-nation approach to national security preparedness. What is less clear is whether all stakeholders are integrated into or benefit from this collective effort. This narrative policy analysis examined the relationship between a federally-recognized group of Native American tribal nations and homeland security national preparedness to explore whether tribal nations are effectively integrated with the collective effort for national preparedness. The theoretical framework stemmed from a convergence of social contract theory and conflict theory. Interviews (n = 21) were conducted with preparedness authorities from government agencies, and from …