Sociology Commons^™

Attitudes And Beliefs That Predict Taiwanese Older Adults' Intentions To Attend Strength And Balance Training Programs, Shih-Fan Lin

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The rate of participation in the strength and balance training (SBT) program, an effective fall prevention intervention, is very low among older adults. To increase older adults' participations in SBT programs, this study involved an observational and cross-sectional study design to understand factors that affect Taiwanese older adults' intention to attend SBT programs utilizing the theory of planned behavior. Questionnaires that measured constructs of the theory of planned behavior (attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and behavioral, normative, and control beliefs) were collected from 221 community-dwelling Taiwanese elderly women between the age of 55 and 94. Simple correlations and multiple …

The Experience Of Gifted Girls Transitioning From Elementary School To Sixth And Seventh Grade: A Grounded Theory, Jennifer L. Pepperell, Deborah J. Rubel

The Qualitative Report

This research explored the experiences of gifted girls transitioning from elementary school to sixth and seventh grade. The current literature indicates that gifted girls often struggle emotionally during this transition. Seven research participants were selected and interviewed over a four-month period. Grounded theory methodology was used to analyze data, generate subsequent interview questions, and build theory. This study indicated that these gifted girls transition was facilitated by their strong identities, which enabled them to balance their social and academic lives. Their strong identities allowed them to choose strategies that helped them build connections with both gifted and nongifted peers. These …

The Effects Of Participation In Portland State University’S Mcnair Scholars Program On Undergraduates, Tyanne R. Conner

Dissertations and Theses

Compared with their multi-generation counterparts, first-generation college students face many challenges in the field of higher education. These students experience relatively lower levels of access to college, demonstrate lower rates of persistence through college, and exhibit lower bachelor's degree completion rates than multi-generation students. The results of these cumulative disadvantages are that, compared to multigeneration students, first-generation students do not complete Ph.D.'s at the same rates, have lower subsequent earnings, and are underrepresented as faculty at colleges and universities.

A review of the literature reveals that most studies on McNair programs focus on the instrumental effects of participation, such as …

Goffman Was Always Ready To Explain, And He Did That Without Condescension, With Patience, And With Grace, Richard Daniels

Bios Sociologicus: The Erving Goffman Archives

This conversation with Richard Daniels, retired hospital administrator, was recorded over the phone on May 31, 2009. Breaks in the conversation flow are indicated by ellipses. Supplementary information and additional materials inserted during the editing process appear in square brackets. Undecipherable words and unclear passages are identified in the text as “[?]”.

Social Action Teaching: Engaging Middle School Students In Knowing And Doing In The Social Studies Classroom, Alyssa Hinkell

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

For the past three years I have had countless opportunities to engage in rich thinking around teaching and learning. As a member of the Critical and Creative Thinking Program (CCT) at the University of Massachusetts, Boston I have been able to reflect on these experiences in the context of my own teaching, applying what I have learned to enrich my own craft. Over the past eight months I have devoted this thinking to a teaching method I call Social Action Teaching. This method has helped to engage and motivate my seventh grade students and I believe, if applied elsewhere, can …

Incorporating Service-Learning Into The Esl Curriculum: What Aspiring Practitioners Need To Know, Andres R. Reyes

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

As an ESL teacher at a community college, my constant goal is to synergize teaching approaches and strategies so that in addition to maximizing students' language learning, their critical thinking skills, cultural competence, and reflectivity - as members of an increasingly growing multicultural society - are heightened. Most recently, I have been pursuing service-learning as a philosophy, pedagogy, and practice that can help students connect their classroom learning to concrete, exciting, and challenging learning situations beyond the classroom. This paper is an attempt to highlight service-learning as a powerful tool that can make a difference in students' lives as they …

Erving Always Behaved Like A Guttersnipe, Teasing And Mocking With His Back Against The Wall, Arlene Daniels

Bios Sociologicus: The Erving Goffman Archives

This interview with Dr. Arlene Daniels, professor emeritus of sociology at the Northwestern University, was recorded over the phone on February 5, 2008. Dmitri Shalin transcribed the interview, after which Dr. Daniels edited the transcript and gave her permission to post the present version in the Goffman Archives. Breaks in the conversation flow are indicated by ellipses. Supplementary information and additional materials inserted during the editing process appear in square brackets. Undecipherable words and unclear passages are identified in the text as “[?]”.

Remembering Chicago Sociologists, Leo Goodman

Bios Sociologicus: The Erving Goffman Archives

This conversation with Leo Goodman, Professor Emeritus of sociology at the University of Chicago, was recorded over the phone on May 28, 2009. Dmitri Shalin transcribed the interview, after which Dr. Goodman approved posting the present version in the Erving Goffman Archives. Breaks in the conversation flow are indicated by ellipses. Supplementary information and additional materials inserted during the editing process appear in square brackets. Undecipherable words and unclear passages are identified in the text as “[?]”.

At The End Of That First Year Or So I Would Say That I Became As Close To Erving As Anyone Else In The Sociology Department, Neil Smelser

Bios Sociologicus: The Erving Goffman Archives

Dr. Neil Smelser, professor emeritus of sociology at the University of California Berkley, wrote these memoirs at the request of Dmitri Shalin and gave his permission to post them in the Erving Goffman Archives.

Had The New President, So I Said, "Ok, Erving, I Am Sending Over A Reporter", Russell Dynes

Bios Sociologicus: The Erving Goffman Archives

This interview with Russell Dynes, professor emeritus at the Universityof Delaware, was recorded over the phone on February 4, 2009. Dmitri Shalin transcribed the interview, after which Dr. Dynes edited the transcript and gave his approval for posting the present version in the Erving Goffman Archives. Breaks in the conversation flow are indicated by ellipses. Supplementary information and additional materials inserted during the editing process appear in square brackets. Undecipherable words and unclear passages are identified in the text as “[?]”.

Aboriginal House Names And Settler Australian Identity, Sam Furphy

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

No abstract provided.

Aboriginal Affairs: Monologue Or Dialogue?, Vanessa Castejon

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

On January 26 2002, the thirtieth anniversary of the creation of the first Aboriginal tent embassy was celebrated. In 1972 the tent embassy emerged from the Black Power movement as a manifestation of the call for recognition of Aboriginal sovereignty and the right to self-determination. These claims have been raised continually by some prominent Aboriginal activists, but the main answer given by the government has been the creation of Aboriginal policies and sections for Aboriginal people within the Australian political system. The government, by different means, has brought Aboriginal activists within the system and has diverted attention from their aspirations. …

Rural Workers Would Benefit From Unemployment Insurance Modernization, Anne M. Shattuck

Carsey Publications

Rural workers stand to benefit from the modernization of unemployment insurance (UI) to cover part-time workers, which is an opportunity for states under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Plan (ARRA). Rural workers are more likely to work part-time, and many states that do not provide UI benefits to part-time workers have higher than average proportions of rural residents.

Estimating The Extent Of Human Trafficking From Ukraine: Final Report, Dwayne Ball, Ronald Hampton

Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking: 1st (2009)

This report summarizes the results of three studies done to estimate the extent of human trafficking from Ukraine. The studies were designed and reported by Dr. Ronald Hampton, principal investigator, Dr. Dwayne Ball, and (for one study) Ms. Julie Pennington, all of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Business Administration Marketing Department.

Our intent in doing multiple survey studies was to attempt to converge on an estimate. Each method used has different and inevitable threats to validity, and there is no perfect method for estimating the extent of such a rare, hidden, and sometimes shameful event. Therefore, by using methods …

Seventy-Eight Percent Of Working Rural Families To Receive Full Making Work Pay Tax Credit, Marybeth J. Mattingly

Carsey Publications

The Making Work Pay Tax Credit provides eligible U.S. workers with additional money in each paycheck throughout the year. The fact sheet shows that 78 percent of rural working families will receive the full amount of the credit, while an additional 10 percent of families will receive a partial credit due to low earnings or high earnings. These tax credits, along with the expansion to the Child Tax Credit, are an important financial boost to families in rural America, particularly low-income working families.

Worker Control And Workplace Learning: Expansion Of The Job Demand-Control Model, Johanna Weststar

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

This paper uses a sub-sample (N= 5,800) of a unique data set on work and life-long learning to develop the learning dimension of the Job Demand-Control model (Administrative Science Quarterly[1979] 24:285). The model is expanded by including three distinct learning behaviors to allow for a complete assessment of workplace learning. Worker control is also expanded to include often con-founded dimensions of Social and Technical Control. The results confirm that different types of learning are related to different determinants and that Social and Technical Control are key factors in learning participation.

Forty-Three Percent Of Eligible Rural Families Can Claim A Larger Credit With Eitc Expansion, Marybeth J. Mattingly

Carsey Publications

This policy brief on the changes to the Earned Income Tax Credit in the ARRA also shows that families with three or more children and married couples will receive an increased refund under these new EITC rules for tax years 2009 and 2010. Many families in urban and suburban communities will also see increased benefits under these new provisions.

A Book Review Of Laura Ellingson’S Engaging Crystallization In Qualitative Research: An Introduction, Ronald J. Cugno, Kathy Thomas

The Qualitative Report

Ellingson (2009) might be the first qualitative researcher to contextualize "crystallization" as a formalized sub-methodology for conducting qualitative research using a nontraditional approach. For Ellingson "crystallization depends upon including, interweaving, blending, or otherwise drawing upon more than one genre of expressing data" (p. 11). Epistemologically, Ellingson’s feminist and social constructivist approach moves her notion of crystallization past positivism on one end and radical interpretivism on the other end of the qualitative research continuum. She looks beyond the established focus of traditional qualitative research to present crystallization as a holistic approach and "radical way of knowing" (Ellis & Ellingson, 2000, p. …

The Right To Die Debate: The Demonization Of Dr. Kevorkian And The Creation Of A Moral Panic Surrounding Physician-Assisted Suicide In The United States, Dana White

Honors Scholar Theses

The Right to Die Debate is a recent but highly controversial moral matter. In particular, physician-assisted suicide (PAS) is an issue that has been evaded by the medical community for years. As of 1990, most states had never encountered the issue before and therefore did not have any laws in place to prohibit PAS (Strate et. al, 2005). Dr. Jack Kevorkian, a retired pathologist from Royal Oak Michigan was the first to publicly address PAS. He brought the issue into the limelight through a bizarre and crude series of assisted deaths that had a lasting impact on not only the …

The Treatment Action Campaign's First Decade: Success Achieved?, Jung Cho

Honors Scholar Theses

South Africa is known to have the largest HIV epidemic in the world with 5.7 million people currently living with HIV, according to UNAIDS. In light of the crisis, South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has led the social movement for increased treatment access for people living with HIV through lobbying the government, multinational pharmaceutical companies, and grassroots campaigning. Since it's founding a decade ago, TAC has been highly acclaimed both regionally and internationally for its success. In order to determine the success of this social movement organization, social movement theories, such as mobilization potential, external political opportunity structure, and …

Gay Parenthood And The Revolution Of The Modern Family: An Examination Of The Unique Barriers Confronting Gay Adoptive Parents, Nicholas Arntsen

Honors Scholar Theses

Abstract: In recent decades, the structure of the American family has been revolutionized to incorporate families of diverse and unconventional compositions. Gay and lesbian couples have undoubtedly played a crucial role in this revolution by establishing families through the tool of adoption. Eleven adoptive parents from the state of Connecticut were interviewed to better conceptualize the unique barriers gay couples encounter in the process adoption. Both the scholarly research and the interview data illustrate that although gay couples face enormous legal barriers, the majority of their hardship comes through social interactions. As a result, the cultural myths and legal restrictions …

Giving Voice To The Results Of Your Study: A Review Of Authoring Your Life: Developing An Internal Voice To Navigate Life’S Challenges By Marcia B. Baxter Magolda, Robin Cooper

The Qualitative Report

In Authoring Your Life: Developing an Internal Voice to Navigate Life’s Challenges, Marcia B. Baxter Magolda offers a theory and model for building self-authorship through the development of an internal voice. Her primary audience is adults in their twenties and thirties, as well as their parents, peers, and employers. Qualitative researchers will also find the book of interest as a unique example of reporting results of a study in an original format.

A Study Of Student Perceptions Regarding Attendance In A Rural East Tennessee High School., Selina Michelle Blevins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the perceptions of high school students' reasons for truancy.

Findings of the study revealed the perceptions of 916 high school students enrolled in an East Tennessee high school.

The review of literature concerning attendance revealed absenteeism as a problem that either directly or indirectly affects all educational stakeholders. Data gathered from the student surveys indicated students are absent from school for a variety of reasons including, but not limited to, peer pressure, poor relationships with teachers and administrators, a disconnectedness from their schools, not being interested in the curriculum, bullying, and low …

A Comparative Study Of High School Academic Paths, Grade Point Averages, And Act Composite Scores As Predictors Of Success At Walters State Community College., Jill C. Reuschel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With an overwhelming number of students attempting to enter college after high school, the competitive nature of college admissions continues to grow. Colleges and universities are attempting to find the appropriate means to adequately predict collegiate success. Common methods of this prediction have come from a variety of sources most of which are the use of high school performance and standardized college admissions testing. Walters State Community College was chosen for this study because of its open door admission policy that allows for variability in high school academic paths as well as grade point averages and ACT scores students earned …

An Exploratory Analysis Of The Psychological Dimensions Of Airline Security And Correlates Of Perceived Terrorism Threats: A Study Of Active American Airlines Pilots., Paul Martin Borowsky

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The September 11, 2001, terrorist attack resulted in a myriad of new policies designed to enhance aviation security. These policies ostensibly considered the origins of the exact threat facing the United States. Missing, however, were the inputs from rank and file pilots of the airlines that policy makers were attempting to protect. This exploratory study distributed a 50-question survey designed to measure pilot perceptions of security risk and threats. Univariate descriptives were used to examine the extent to which sample data approximated the population of interest. Factor and reliability analysis were used to document the multidimensionality of the constructs and …

A Social Control Based Analysis Of The Effect Of Community Context Upon Self Reported Delinquency Rates., Jacqueline Marie Parlier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Social disorganization and social control are two seemingly competing theories attempting to explain crime and delinquency. In this study, social control and social disorganization are measured in a sample of college students via self-report surveys using questions derived from Hirschi's social control questionnaire and a previously employed social disorganization measure. Factor and reliability analyses were examined to validate each of these key constructs. Zero-order correlations, regression analyses, and path analysis were then used to test the key propositions of these theories. These tests provide full and qualified support for these theories. Implications for future research and criminal justice policy are …

Eyewitness Recall Of Noncriminal Events: An Examination Of Demographic Characteristics With A Selected Population., Jessica R. Vaneaton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine differences of recalled events from a selected university student population. Eyewitness testimony is frequently used to convict defendants each year. Many of these convictions are based solely on eyewitness accounts. While much has been written on the reliability of eyewitness testimony, little is known about demographic characteristic differences that may exist. A videotaped event was shown to a sample of college students who were then asked to complete a questionnaire based on what they watched. There were significant differences found in the respondents‟ accuracy in recalling events of the video according to …

Student Perceptions And Expectations Of Library Services Quality And User Satisfaction At Walters State Community College., Jamie Posey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore students' perceptions of library services offered at Walters State Community College. This research involved LibQUAL+^™, a nationally known academic library assessment instrument that measures three dimensions on a scale of approximately 22 aspects of service, divided into 6 groups (Heath, Kyrillidou, & Askew, 2004, p.264). These 3 dimensions are the following: Affect of Service (AS), Information Control (IC), and Library as a Place (LP). Responses of 666 students at Walters State Community College, Morristown, Tennessee, indicated the students' perceptions of acceptable minimum level of service, perceived levels of service, and …

A Quantitative Study Of School Characteristics That Impact Student Achievement On State Assessments And Those Assessments' Associations To Act Scores In Tennessee., Phillip L. Swanson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a significant relationship exists between particular home, student, and school characteristics and ACT scores and the relationship these characteristics subsequently have with the TVAAS grades assigned to each high school's ACT scores. These home, student, and school variables were socioeconomic status, percentage of minority, graduation rate, per-pupil expenditure, Gateway English II scores, and Gateway Algebra I scores. By looking at these variables and the influence they hold on the education of students, I sought to ascertain the fairness that is present when schools and districts are given grades through the TVAAS …

A Study To Explore The Strategy Of Field-Based Teacher Preparation: Professional Development Schools., Connie Wright

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of my study was to determine if there are any differences in performance measures of student teachers with varying levels of participation in professional development schools. The population in my study was the 2002 through the spring of 2006 kindergarten through 6th-grade student teachers from a small, private postsecondary institution. A requirement of the teacher education program was to complete sequential, field-based experiences in kindergarten through 6th-grade schools culminating in student teaching. My study included kindergarten through 6thgrade student teachers who had experienced a number of semesters in a Professional Development School (PDS) classified into 4 levels: (a) …