Rural Sociology Commons^™

“I Wonder What You Think Of Me”: A Qualitative Approach To Examining Stereotype Awareness In Appalachian Students, Chelsea G. Adams

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Historically, Appalachia has been stereotyped as being a culture bred in poverty and ignorance. Much research has shown that stereotyping reveals a pattern of behavioral change and an impact on psychological well-being for the stereotyped (e.g., Pinel, 1999; Woodcock, Jernandez, Estrada, & Schultz, 2012), and has largely been centered on race and gender (e.g., Byrnes, 2008; Tuckman & Monetti, 2011). Less is known about the development of culture-specific stereotypes such as those related to Appalachians – a highly stigmatized group (Daniels, 2014; Otto, 2002). The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of how adolescents in rural Appalachia …

Mental Health Treatment Seeking Patterns And Preferences Of Appalachian Women With Depression, Claire Snell-Rood, Emily Hauenstein, Carl G. Leukefeld, Frances Feltner, Amber Marcum, Nancy E. Schoenberg

Behavioral Science Faculty Publications

This qualitative study explored social-cultural factors that shape treatment seeking behaviors among depressed rural, low-income women in Appalachia—a region with high rates of depression and a shortage of mental health services. Recent research shows that increasingly rural women are receiving some form of treatment and identifying their symptoms as depression. Using purposive sampling, investigators recruited 28 depressed low-income women living in Appalachian Kentucky and conducted semistructured interviews on participants’ perceptions of depression and treatment seeking. Even in this sample of women with diverse treatment behaviors (half reported current treatment), participants expressed ambivalence about treatment and its potential to promote recovery. …

Cultivating A Culture Of Food Justice: Impacts Of Community Based Economies On Farmers And Neighborhood Leaders In The Case Of Fresh Stop Markets In Kentucky, Heather Hyden

Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development

In this thesis, I focus on two tensions within the alternative agro-food movement. First is a question of who/what community is allowed to define food systems problems and then implement solutions. For example, food desert metaphors rely discursively on defining communities as being “without”, which perpetuates needs-based narratives, in which only professional “experts” know how to solve problems of food access. These representations ignore the creativity, agency, and resiliency of everyday food justice mobilizations happening at the grassroots level. Second, what form can solutions take within hegemonic constructions of development? I build a theoretical model based on Black geographies (McKittrick, …

Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey (Nasis) 2016-2017 Methodology Report, Bureau Of Sociological Research

Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey (NASIS)

2016-2017 NASIS Methodology Report

Contents

Introduction 3

Mode Selection 3

Design and Item Selection 3

Sampling Design 4

Experimental Design Treatment 4

Data Collection Process 4

Response Rate 5

Data-Entry Training, Supervision, and Quality Control 5

Processing of Completed Surveys 5

Data Cleaning 5

NASIS Sample Weights 6

Design Effects 6

Questions 6

Estimate of Sampling Error 9

Appendices 10

Appendix A: Cover Letters 10

First Mailing – Version 1 (Long version with incentive) 10

First Mailing – Version 2 (Short version with incentive) 11

First Mailing – Version 3 (Long version with no incentive) 12

First Mailing – Version …

Mapping Quality Of Life In Nebraska: The Geographic Distribution Of Poverty, Grant Daily, Rodrigo Cantarero, Maria Rosario De Guzman, Soo-Young Hong, Sarah Taylor, Aileen Garcia, Jeong-Kyun Choi, Yan Ruth Xia

Mapping Quality of Life in Nebraska

Headings:

What is poverty?

Federal definitions of poverty: the poverty line

General poverty and poverty brackets

Poverty and vulnerable populations

Child poverty (under 18 years)

Young child poverty (0 - 5 years)

School age poverty (6 - 17 years)

Elderly poverty (65+)

Comparing child, adult, and elderly poverty

Minority poverty

Key points

Nebraska vs. United States

Geographic distribution

Poverty in children and the elderly

Poverty rates for racial/ethnic minorities

References

An Investigation Into The Obstacles And Barriers Preventing Farmers In Rural Areas Using Information Communication Technologies, David O'Leary

Theses

Technology and in particular, mobile devices can help farmers both from a social and business perspective. This study focuses on the areas preventing farmers using smart phones and the downfalls they might be facing on a regular basis in the adoption of mobile devices. The objectives of this study were to identify what devices are being used and for what purpose, identify who helps the farmer when they are in difficulty with their device, identify if broadband is an obstacle and to develop a set of recommendations based on my research for the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) …

Adolescent Girls Empowerment Program (Agep): Adapting The Safe Spaces Model In Rural Settings, Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The Adolescent Girls Empowerment Program (AGEP) was implemented with over 10,000 vulnerable adolescent girls aged 10–19 between 2013 and 2016 in five rural and five urban sites in Zambia. Safe Spaces was the core program element in AGEP, and was adapted based on prior programs implemented mainly in urban and peri-urban areas in East and Southern Africa. Given the key differences in the living environments and demographic data for adolescent girls in urban as compared to rural areas in Zambia, one key programmatic learning question for AGEP was if the Safe Spaces model could be adapted and successfully implemented in …

Effects Of Post Eviction Resettlement On Land-Use And Cover Change In Uganda’S Oil Exploration Areas, Joseph Ssekandi, John Mburu, Oliver Wasonga, Laban Macopiyo, Charles A. Francis

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Evaluation of the changes in land use and land cover change (LULCC) in respect to oil exploration across the Albertine region in Uganda has been focused around the exploration areas and protected areas, with no attention to the potential impacts of evictees’ activities on resettled areas. This study used LANDSAT images to analyze the land use and land cover changes (LULCC) among the period before eviction (2002 and 2005) at the climax of eviction and resettlements (2005-2011), and during the post-resettlement period (2011-2015) to quantify the impacts of resettlements on the environment. LANDSAT images were processed using ERDAS IMAGINE software …

Fracked Perceptions: Changes In Perception Regarding Hydraulic Fracturing Among Residents Of Dimock, Pennsylvania., Brian Straniti

All Master's Theses

The primary objective of this research is to critically analyze changes in perceptions associated with hydraulic fracturing within Dimock, Pennsylvania. Residents of Dimock initially welcomed fracking in 2006 due to positive corporate rhetoric promoting economic benefits such as mineral rights acquisition, land-leasing, and local business development. However, economic benefits diminished as Dimock advanced through a boom period resulting in a current economic and ecological bust. Two months of data collection occurred in the summer of 2016 using semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and document analysis. Political economy of nature and political ecology theoretical frameworks were used to analyze and conceptualize the …

A "Dying Breed"? Exploring Logger Identity After The Decline In The Timber Industry In Hayfork, Ca, Sheri L. Harrison

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The rapid decline of timber operations in the late twentieth century had an immense impact on rural communities whose economy was dependent on logging and lumber mills. The voices and concerns of timber-dependent communities and timber workers have been marginalized by broader forces that focused on political, economic, and environmental issues throughout the Pacific Northwest timber conflict and the subsequent deindustrialization of the timber industry. This study examines the social impacts on loggers, their families, and the broader community in Hayfork, California, through the framework of identity theory. The formation of logger identity and the broader processes that have impacted …

Tradition And Culture In Africa: Practices That Facilitate Trafficking Of Women And Children, Norah Hashim Msuya

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Many states in Africa have adopted legislative, administrative and institutional measures to combat trafficking in human beings. These measures include, among other things, the formulation and implementation of both national and regional action plans by African states to provide for comprehensive and coordinated interventions. Many African countries have also enacted an anti-trafficking legislation at the country level. Despite these measures, African women and children have been trafficked annually worldwide for purposes of forced labor, sexual exploitation, and domestic servitude. Additionally, women and children are trafficked within their countries from rural to urban areas. Misconception and abuse of African tradition and …

In The Butternut Big Time: Food Hubs, Farmers, And The Development Of Community Agro-Food Economies, Lilian Brislen

Theses and Dissertations--Sociology

Food hubs, a new model of values-based agro-food enterprise, are promoted by their advocates as a means to simultaneously improve the livelihoods of small and mid-sized farmers, increase the social and environmental sustainability of the food system, and supply the ever increasing consumer demand for health, local food. Noting the contradictions embedded in the promise of simultaneously generating both social values and economic value, this study explores how goals of promoting positive social, economic, or environmental change are achieved and/or inhibited when implemented though marketbased activities. Through a series of three in-depth case studies of food hubs in the Southeastern …

Closing Abandoned Livestock Lagoons Effectively To Utilize Nutrients And Avoid Environmental Problems, Leslie J. Johnson, Charles Shapiro, Amy Schmidt

Nebraska Cooperative Extension: Faculty and Staff Publications

In Nebraska alone, nearly 400 earthen manure storage structures are in operation; approximately four dozen requests to cease operation of permitted lagoons were received by the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality in the prior decade with many more non-permitted storage structures being in need of proper closure. Abandoned livestock lagoons, earthen manure storage basins, and other manure storages (e.g. concrete pits) need to be decommissioned in a manner that controls potential environmental risk and makes economical use of accumulated nutrients. Currently, limited guidance is available to support lagoon closure planning and implementation and few professionals who support livestock producers have …

Social Change Through Entrepreneurship: Utilizing Portable Sawmill Based Small Businesses To Promote Community Development, Crystal Lupo

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

Reduced demand for wood and wood products resulting from the economic crisis in the first decade of the 2000s severely impacted the forest industry throughout the world, causing large forest-based organizations to close (CBC News, 2008; Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2009; Pepke, 2009). The result was a dramatic increase in unemployment and worker displacement among forest product workers between 2011 and 2013 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014). Forested rural communities often depended on the large-scale forest industry for their livelihood, and as a result, decreased reliance on large-scale industry became increasingly important (Lupo, 2015). This article …

Political Dynamics In Land Commodification: Commodifying Rural Land Development Rights In Chengdu, China, Qian Forrest Zhang, Jianling Wu

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Commodification of land is at the forefront of the re-casting of rural China by the spread of capitalism. This study examines a market-based program of land development rights trading in Chengdu, China. The program was made possible by a change in the central government’s land-use regulation that shifted the policy goal from ‘no net loss’ of farmland to ‘no net gain’ of construction land. We detail how local governments at multiple levels work together to construct land development rights as a commodity and build market institutions to foster its trading, illustrating land commodification as an inherently political process. A unique …

Bulloch County Sociological Survey, 1949, Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections

Finding Aids

This collection includes interview transcripts and demographic records of Statesboro-Bulloch County residents and their views of social class divisions and current events in Bulloch County. Documents were compiled in 1949 by sociological researcher, Bevode C. McCall. His 1954 dissertation, “Georgia Town and Cracker Culture” is a result of this survey.

Find this collection in the University Libraries' catalog.

The Differential Effects Of Rural Health Care Access On Race-Specific Mortality, Jeralynn Cossman, Wesley James, Julia Kay Wolf

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

We examined the relationship between race-specific rural mortality and the health infrastructure of rural counties in light of America’s recent emergence of a rural mortality penalty. Using the Compressed Mortality File from National Center for Health Statistics (2008–2012) and county-level demographic, socioeconomic, and health care indicators from the Area Health Resource File and the US Census, we created a rural public health infrastructure index which encompasses four types of health care access (public health employees, critical access hospital/rural referral centers, rural health clinics, and emergency departments) within counties. We found that each unit increase in the index is associated with …

Effectiveness Of The Drop-Off/Pick-Up Survey Methodology In Different Neighborhood Types, Douglas Jackson-Smith, Courtney G. Flint, Mallory Dolan, Carla K. Trentelman, Grant Holyoak, Blake Thomas, Guizen Ma

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

With declining survey response rates, the Drop-Off/Pick-Up (DOPU) survey method has been suggested as an alternative to mail, phone, or internet modes. We use a major household DOPU survey to explore the impacts of both implementation method and neighborhood context on survey response rates. The survey was carried out in 23 neighborhoods in northern Utah chosen to represent distinctive configurations of socioeconomic, demographic, land use, and built environments that comprise rural to urban residential communities in the region. Overall, the survey achieved a 63.2 percent response rate, but this varied from 33 to 79 percent across our study neighborhoods. Contact …

Moving Survey Methodology Forward In Our Rapidly Changing World: A Commentary, Don A. Dillman

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

The Case For Personal Interaction: Drop-Off/Pick-Up Methodology For Survey Research, Carla Koons Trentelman, Jessica Irwin, Kyle A. Petersen, Nallely Ruiz, Caitlin S. Szalay

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Researchers have struggled with decreases in response rates in surveys using traditional methods. Dropoff/pick-up (DOPU) surveys are an alternative that performs well in some research situations. For studies in small or compact geographic areas, DOPU has achieved higher response rates than mail surveys, although typically at higher costs due to labor and transportation. Other benefits include increased local awareness of research projects and improved outcomes for complex survey projects. Social exchange theory would explain the success of DOPU as due to the method’s personal interaction. Many researchers are unfamiliar with DOPU and prior instructive works are now dated. In an …

Mixed-Mode Surveys Compared With Single Mode Surveys: Trends In Responses And Methods To Improve Completion, Virginia M. Lesser, Lydia D. Newton, Daniel K. Yang, Jean C. Sifneos

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

This article reviews recent trends in modes of conducting surveys and presents results from a series of experiments comparing different approaches for collecting survey data and improving response rates in general population studies. The modes examined include the telephone, mail, and a mixed-mode method which combines mail with Web data collection. A series of studies were conducted by the Oregon State University Survey Research Center from 2006-2014 using probability samples of Oregon residents. Response rates and the percent of respondents completing the questionnaires by Web were compared. The results showed that response rates were increased by modifying the cover letter …

Assessing The Influence Of Importance Prompt And Box Size On Response To Open-Ended Questions In Mixed Mode Surveys: Evidence On Response Rate And Response Quality, Anil Kumar Chaudhary, Glenn D. Israel

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

To understand the thinking behind respondents’ answers, researchers occasionally use open-ended questions. Getting a quality response to open-ended questions can be challenging but attending to the visual design of the question and using a motivational statement in the question can increase item response and data quality. To understand the use of open-ended questions in surveys further, we designed an experiment testing the effect of an importance statement (present/absent) and box size (large/small) on item response rate and response quality in a mixed-mode (web and mail modes) survey. Data for the study came from a survey of Florida Cooperative Extension Service …

Advances In Survey And Data Analysis Methods For Rural Social Scientists: An Introduction, Glenn D. Israel

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Rural sociologists and other rural social scientists have been and continue to be in the forefront of advances in methods for collecting and analyzing high quality social science data. While much of this work is embedded within substantive studies, the focus of this issue is on highlighting lessons learned so that other researchers can incorporate these ideas into the design and conduct of their studies.

Public Intercept Interviews And Surveys For Gathering Place-Based Perceptions: Observations From Community Water Research In Utah, Courtney G. Flint, Charles Mascher, Zack Oldroyd, Phillip Andre Valle, Elizabeth Wynn, Quinton Cannon, Alexander Brown, Bethany Unger

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Public intercept interviews provide a useful data gathering method for assessing locally salient topics. We describe a recent project to highlight public water perspectives in parks in two Utah cities, and we focus on the methodological considerations to expand applications of the public intercept survey method. Combining demographic survey information with open-ended interview data allows for validating samples against census information. An expanded informed consent process allows participants to make selections regarding data use and identification. New technologies enable a paperless process and data management opportunities as well as challenges. Participants were largely willing to allow use of interview audio …

Another Look At Likert Scales, Fern K. Willits, Gene L. Theodori, A. E. Luloff

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Perhaps the most widely used means for assessing survey respondents’ personal attitudes consists of a series of stem-statements followed by an odd or even number of ordered, bipolar-named categories. Such statements, known as Likert items, are named for Rensis Likert whose classic studies of attitude measurement were first published in 1932. Almost from the beginning, methodologists and psychometric scholars have raised questions concerning the number of items deemed necessary to form an attitude scale, the number and meaning of various answer categories, and the appropriate statistical methods to use in analyzing the resulting data. These deliberations are summarized. We conclude …

Different Names For Bullying, Marco Poggio

Capstones

“There's all different forms of bullying,” says Steven Gray, a Lakota rancher and former law enforcement officer living in South Dakota. In this look into Gray’s life, we learn about two instances of bullying: the psychological and physical harassment that pushed his son, Tanner Thomas Gray, to commit suicide at age 12; And the controversial construction of an oil pipeline in an ancient tribal land that belongs to the Lakota people by rights of a treaty signed in 1851, which Gray sees as an institutional abuse infringing on the sovereignty of his people. Gray is involved in the movement that …

Regulation Of Recreational Marijuana In Small Cities And Counties In Colorado, Katherine Nesse, Colin Victory

SPU Works

In November 2016 the number of states where recreational marijuana sales are legal increased to eight. Thousands of cities and counties are now on the front lines of regulating these new land uses. Local governments in Colorado, the first state to implement recreational marijuana legalization, are models for jurisdictions in other states. We study counties and municipalities in the eight micropolitan statistical areas in Colorado to learn how they regulate recreational marijuana businesses. We reviewed codes, ordinances, and other documents of 43 local governments and interviewed planners in a third of these jurisdictions. These places were purposefully selected and reflect …

2010 And 2015 Population Pyramids Comparisions In South Dakota, Wei Gu, Census Data Center

Center Demographic Datasets

This document shows population comparisons for: the state of South Dakota; urban areas; rural areas; and the metropolitan areas of Rapid City, and Sioux Falls.

Who’S The Fairest Of Them All? The Fractured Landscape Of U.S. Fair Trade Certification, Daniel Jaffee, Philip H. Howard

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

In recent years, consumers in the United States have been confronted by no fewer than four competing fair-trade labels, each grounded in a separate certification system and widely differing standards. This fracturing is partly a response to the recent split by the U.S. certifier Fair Trade USA from the international fair trade system, but also illustrates longstanding divisions within the fair trade movement. This article explores the dynamics of competition among nonstate standards through content analyses of fair trade standards documents from the four U.S. fair-trade certifications for agrifood products (Fair Trade USA, Fairtrade America, Fair for Life, and the …

Providing Rural Public Services Through Land Commodification: Policy Innovations And Rural-Urban Integration In Chengdu, Qian Forrest Zhang, Jianling Wu

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Zhang and Wu offer a detailed account of the innovative local policies in Chengdu, China, where a national land-use policy that has created widespread problems in other trial areas has been turned into a positive, transformative force in rural reconstruction. There are three key innovations in this so-called ‘Chengdu model’: First, leveraging on the most important resource in rural area, land, and through the commodification of land development rights, creating a financial source that can fund rural public services provision; second, transforming traditional rural residential patterns and concentrating the rural population in newly built residential communities; and, finally, using both …