Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies Commons^™

The Impact Of Colorism On Historically Black Fraternities And Sororities, Patience Denece Bryant

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation study was conducted in order to examine and gain an insight on two topics that are considered to be highly under researched: American historically black fraternities and sororities and colorism within the back American community. The purpose of the study was to examine the impact that colorism has had on black American collegiate Greek letter organizations. Using the qualitative phenomenological approach, 18 graduate or alumni members, two from each of the nine historically black Greek letter organizations that make up the National Pan-Hellanic Council were interviewed using open ended questions to see what impact (if any) colorism has …

Culturally Responsive Methodologies At Work In Education Settings, Mere Berryman, Suzanne Soohoo, Ann Nevin, Te Arani Barrett, Therese Ford, Debora Joy Nodelman, Norma Valenzuela, Anna Wilson

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe culturally responsive methodology as a way to develop researchers. The aim is to illuminate the dimensions of culturally responsive methodology such as cultural and epistemological pluralism, deconstruction of Western colonial traditions of research, and primacy of relationships within culturally responsive dialogic encounters. An overarching question is: “How can we maintain the original integrity of both participants and researchers and their respective cultures and co-construct at the same time something new?”

Design/methodology/approach – Five case study narratives are described in order for readers to understand the range and types of studies …

Visitor Perspectives Of The Authenticity At A Heritage Destination: South Luogu Hutong In Beijing, China, Xiaolin Shi

Open Access Theses

The present study examined visitors' perceptions of authenticity at the South Luogu Alley, a famous Hutong with more than a 700-year history in Beijing. The reconstruction of many historical heritage sites raises the issue about authenticity in tourism. After reconstruction, many Hutongs combined with traditional Chinese style and Western style in terms of architectural design, restaurants, tourism souvenirs, and activities. However, visitors' perceptions toward authenticity at Hutongs continue to be mostly unknown. The study applied a self-administered questionnaire to collect the data from July, 2012 to August, 2012 at the South Luogu Alley. Visitors were asked to rate the authenticity …

The Global Slavery Index, Monti Narayan Datta, Fiona David, Kevin Bales, Nick Grono

Political Science Faculty Publications

The Global Slavery Index report is published by the Walk Free Foundation (“Walk Free”). Walk Free is committed to ending all forms of modern slavery in this generation. Modern slavery includes slavery, slavery-like practices (such as debt bondage, forced marriage and sale or exploitation of children), human trafficking and forced labour, and other practices described in key international treaties, voluntarily ratified by nearly every country in the world.

Walk Free’s strategy includes mobilising a global activist movement, generating the highest quality research, enlisting business, and raising unprecedented levels of capital to drive change in those countries and industries bearing the …

Emotion, Community Development, And The Physical Environment: An Experimental Investigation Of Measurements, George E. Boone

Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development

A wide range of research fields have studied how emotions and behavior are affected by the physical environment. This gestalt theorist approach of experimental research as well seeks to measure emotion (using the valence-arousal scale) and micro-scale community development interactions when weighted physical environment factors are adjusted. Community development (CD) interactions at the micro-scale have received but slight attention from scholars in the CD research field and this study aims partially to investigate developing objective measures from social observations. CD interactions from recordings along with self-reported emotion through surveys in four quasi-experimental groups (where the environments were constructed based on …

Challenges In Impact Evaluation, Anrudh K. Jain

Reproductive Health

These notes are for a presentation given at the Consultation on Social and Behavioral Change Interventions for Enhancing Child Survival in South Asia organized by UNICEF, USAID, and Population Council in New Delhi, India. The slides identify challenges for conducting impact evaluations by describing the anticipated process for behavior change communication using women’s support groups, issues encountered in the process, and evaluation designs. Examples from the Population PAIMAN project are used to illustrate ways to address these challenges.

Demographic Dividend, A Window Of Opportunity For Development: Implications For South-South Cooperation, Selina F. Esantsi

Reproductive Health

At the Inter-Ministerial Conference on “South-South Cooperation in Post ICPD and MDGs” held in Beijing in 2013, this presentation defined the demographic dividend and noted implications and potential benefits of this opportunity. Two case studies were presented—South Korean and Ghana—followed by suggestions for governments on how to harness this dividend. Suggestions include investing in child survival and health programs, building human capital, stabilizing the financial sector, and improving transparency and governance. The presentation concludes with specific ways for south–south collaboration to enhance this opportunity.

Reviewing The Evidence And Identifying Gaps In Family Planning Research: The Unfinished Agenda To Meet Fp2020 Goals, Ian Askew, Martha Brady

Reproductive Health

The Population Council produced this paper to help guide discussions and considerations regarding the key evidence gaps and research investments needed to achieve the FP2020 goal and objectives. The paper focuses primarily on the social science, implementation, and operations research that will be needed to achieve the first three objectives. Research shows that through high-quality voluntary family planning (FP) programs, governments can reduce fertility and generate substantial improvements in health, wealth, human rights, and education. Family planning programs for the 21st century will require thoughtful design—engaging both public and private sectors—to meet the growing need for safe and effective FP …

Using Evidence-Based Recommendations For Guidance, Guidelines And Scale-Up Strategies, Ian Askew

Reproductive Health

No abstract provided.

Reviewing And Interpreting Bodies Of Evidence For Preparing Practice Recommendations, Ian Askew

Reproductive Health

No abstract provided.

Structural Effects Of Network Sampling Coverage I: Nodes Missing At Random, Jeffrey A. Smith, James Moody

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Network measures assume a census of a well-bounded population. This level of coverage is rarely achieved in practice, however, and we have only limited information on the robustness of network measures to incomplete coverage. This paper examines the effect of node-level missingness on 4 classes of network measures: centrality, centralization, topology and homophily across a diverse sample of 12 empirical networks. We use a Monte Carlo simulation process to generate data with known levels of missingness and compare the resulting network scores to their known starting values. As with past studies (Borgatti et al., 2006; Kossinets, 2006), we find that …

A Qualitative Study Of The Experiences Of Gatekeeping Among Phd Counselor Educators, Carol A. Erbes

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the gatekeeping experiences of a group of PhD counselor educators, by utilizing a phenomenological approach. This design was chosen as it could best examine the lived experiences of the participants. Nine PhD counselor educators participated in this study through a series of two interviews. All of the participants had a general definition of gatekeeping and all were able to express clearly how important the process was in ensuring as much as possible that only qualified students enter their programs, graduate from their programs, and enter the field as effective counselors. Each participant …

Low Birth Weight, Prenatal Smoking, Pest Exposure And Breastfeeding Modify The Effect Of Acculturation On Hispanic Children's Asthma, Paola Chavez Payan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Prior research suggests that Hispanic migrants in the U.S. experience better respiratory health than their U.S.-born counterparts; this is reflective of a Hispanic health paradox (HHP). I address the following research questions with a focus on the HHP among children in the urban US border setting of El Paso, Texas: 1) Does acculturation relate to current asthma symptoms and diagnosed asthma? 2) Does the relationship between acculturation and current asthma symptoms and diagnosed asthma persist when controlling for relevant risk factors? 3) How does acculturation modify the relationships between the risk factors and current asthma symptoms and diagnosed asthma? Data …

Does Corporate Social Responsibility Contribute To Human Development In Developing Countries? Evidence From Nigeria, Kevin Lompo, Jean-Francois Trani

Brown School Faculty Publications

Oil companies have been facing criticism linked to their activities in developing countries from various human rights organisations as well as NGOs and the media. To change this negative perception, companies have been increasingly promoting corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, which aim at improving living conditions of local communities in oil exploitation areas. In this paper, we explore the impact on the well-being of communities of two kinds of CSR initiatives implemented in two areas of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Using multidimensional exploratory methods and checking for robustness using binary logistic regression, we investigate the outcome of CSR …

Do Non-Response Follow-Ups Improve Or Reduce Data Quality?: A Review Of The Existing Literature, Kristen Olson

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

The paper systematically reviews existing literature on the relationship between the level of effort to recruit a sampled person and the measurement quality of survey data. Hypotheses proposed for this relationship are reviewed. Empirical findings for the relationship between level of effort as measured by paradata (the number of follow-up attempts, refusal conversion and time in the field) and question-specific item non-response rates, aggregate measures of item non-response rates, response accuracy and various measurement errors on attitudinal questions are examined through a qualitative review.

The Broken Safety Net: A Study Of Earned Income Tax Credit Recipients And A Proposal For Repair, Sara Sternberg Greene

Faculty Scholarship

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is the largest federal antipoverty program in the United States and garners almost universal bipartisan support from politicians, legal scholars, and other commentators. However, assessments of the EITC missed an imperative perspective: that of EITC recipients themselves. Past work relies on largely unconfirmed assumptions about the behaviors and needs of low-income families. This Article provides a novel assessment of the EITC based on original data obtained directly from 194 EITC recipients through in-depth qualitative interviews. The findings are troubling: They show that while the EITC has important advantages over welfare, which it has largely …

Life In Hampton Roads Report: The Fourth Annual Life In Hampton Roads Survey, Sara Resnick, Tarah Gibbs, Charles Bush, Steve Parker, Tandy Vandecar-Burdin, Jesse Richman

Life in Hampton Roads Survey Report

[From the Executive Summary]

This document presents the results from the ODU Social Science Research Center’s fourth annual Life in Hampton Roads survey. The survey was designed to examine social and economic indicators of the quality of life in Hampton roads, particularly with respect to transportation and traffic, local and state government, education, heatlh, emergency preparedness, the economy, and crime. Questions were obtained from University faculty as well as from previous years’ Life in Hampton Roads surveys. The survey was conducted via telephone with 812 residents of the seven cities of Hampton Roads.

Suboptimal Social Science And Judicial Precedent, Ben Grunwald

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Soldiers Of Science--Agents Of Culture: American Archaeologists In The Office Of Strategic Services (Oss), Despina Lalaki

Publications and Research

"Scientificity" and appeals to political independence are invaluable tools when institutions such as the American School of Classical Studies at Athens attempt to maintain professional autonomy. Nonetheless, the cooperation of scientists and scholars with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), among them archaeologists affiliated with the American School, suggests a constitutive affinity between political and cultural leadership. This relationship is here mapped in historical terms, while, at the same time, sociological categorizations of knowledge and its employment are used in order to situate archaeologists in their broader social and political context and to evaluate their work not merely as agents …

Examining Research Issues Of Power And Privilege Within A Gender-Marginalized Community, Stacee L. Reicherzer, Sherece Shavel, Jason Patton

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

This research practice article presents the ethical dilemmas and decision-making of a White transgender researcher (Author A), who conducted a qualitative case study of resiliency among three transsexual women of Mexican origin who worked as entertainers in south and central Texas. The study, conducted within a community in which both the researcher and participants were a part and in which they had all experienced varying degrees of marginalization, presented a number of unique characteristics from the onset that became more embedded as the study developed and concluded. In the absence of a guiding body of literature from her own profession, …