Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Andrews University Communication Under The Covid-19 Pandemic: Feedback Analysis Of International Students, Brice B. Eboule

Master's Theses

This research is an informative analysis of international students’ feedback on the Andrews University (AU) crisis communication during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Participants were 21 years or older, on student visas, living on-campus or in student communities and had attended AU for at least 2 years. The theory informing this study is situational crisis communication theory (SCCT). The SCCT argues that the severity of the crisis defines which communicational crisis strategy will be more effective in minimizing attributions and adverse press while both maintaining and enhancing the organization's credibility. The findings of this study indicated that 84 percent of …

Piercing The Veil: Examining Demographic And Political Variables In State Foi Law Administration, A.Jay Wagner

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

State and local governments play an important, and growing, role in everyday lives. The exploratory study positions FOI laws as a central mechanism in providing transparency to these more proximate governments. It is premised on a FOI audit, or field experiment, of 1002 requests across 9 U.S. state laws and 334 jurisdictions. The sample represents a broad cross-section of geographic, demographic and political variables, and the study analyzes these variables predictive and correlative value in determining outcomes, timeliness and communication in FOI requests. The results suggest significance in race and political variables in FOI outcomes and processes. The study's strongest …

Help In The Time Of Covid: Informational, Emotional, And Instrumental Support Among Graduate Students During A Pandemic, Teanna Staser

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This study examined graduate students' experiences with social support in relation to stress and uncertainty during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Graduate students as a population have significant levels of stress and uncertainty which may have negative effects on their lives and academic experiences. Graduate students often utilize social support as a way to cope with or mitigate the effects of stress and uncertainty. This qualitative study consisted of six focus groups, ranging from three to six participants, total of 22 participants, who were found using a purposeful snowball sampling method. The participants were masters and doctoral level students in communication …

2020 Cedarville University Annual Report, Cedarville University

Cedarville University Annual Reports

No abstract provided.

On Healing Hearts: A Saudi Woman Perspective On The Experience Of Baby Loss, Art, And Compassion, Alaa Saeed Alkhalaf

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The dissertation, “On Healing HeARTs: A Saudi Woman’s Perspective on the Experience of Baby Loss,” investigates how Shia Saudi bereaved mothers create meaning and make sense of their experience of baby loss. It explores the importance of art and compassion in the healing process. Using a multi-method design that includes art-based methods and autoethnography, I narrate my own experience of baby loss. The study relies on theories of sense-making and constructivism to interpret my findings. Looking at the experience from a unique cultural lens enables the readers and health providers to comprehend how certain cultural factors contribute to both the …

Out Of Time: Temporal Performativity And Resistance In Popular American Film, Television, And Theater, Meghan Johnston Aelabouni

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation argues that religious world-making in popular culture can reveal and resist hegemonic times. Taking as my primary case study the United States in the 2010s, particularly the shift from the Obama to the Trump era, I analyze cultural constructions of time—as sacred history, destiny, and “the times”—that reflect and shape national identity and belonging in the American imagined community. In this context, such temporal constructions have privileged whiteness and heteronormative masculinity, positioning those who embody or approximate this norm as “of the times,” while also displacing BIPOC, women, and queer people as “out of time.” I posit time …

Building Assets Toolkit: Developing Positive Benchmarks For Adolescent Girls—Asset Cards [Arabic], Judith Bruce, Sarah Engebretsen, Kimberly Glazer

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This document contains the Building Assets Toolkit’s Asset Cards (110), set of Age Cards (age 6 to 20), and Program Planning Worksheet (sample provided). The Age Cards are to be printed out and placed according to the instructions. The Asset Cards are to be printed out and cut in half. Blank Asset Cards are provided to create customized assets. The Building Assets Toolkit is an approach for developing programs for specific segments of girls that will prepare them to better face the challenges of growing up. It will help program managers understand the needs of the girls in their community, …

Translanguaging And Reading Comprehension In A Second Language, Muhammad Asif Qureshi, Ahmad Aljanadbah

All Works

The current study examined the impact of translanguaging on second language reading comprehension. The study involved an experimental and a control group. The participants in the experimental group (n = 38) were offered four opportunities to engage Arabic–their first language–in comprehending a text in English. These occasions for translanguaging included: (a) receiving Arabic glosses (i.e., only meaning) for key terms in the text, (b) employing their first language for summarizing four paragraphs from the passage, (c) using their first language in discussion for comparing summaries with peers, and (d) consulting the Arabic meanings (provided) while attempting the vocabulary items. After …

Overcoming The Downsides Of Personal Internet And Cell Phone Use In The Workplace: An Exploratory Empirical Analysis, Kaustav Misra, Michael D. Stackhouse, Arundhati Bagchi Misra, Gregory Berry

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

The now taken-for-granted introduction of internet usage into the workplace changed the dynamics of work, productivity, and management, and this is now further complicated by the ubiquitous availability of personal cell phones, going beyond company supplied and (partially) controlled computers with internet connections. This paper studies the connection between internet and cell phone usage by employees and firm productivity. Using primary data collected via a self-reported survey, we conduct an empirical analysis utilizing information based on firm and industry characteristics. Results indicate that the level of non-work-related internet and cell phone usage is significantly associated with firm productivity. Some of …

Contents, Discovery Editors

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.

Ua12/2/69 Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records created by and about Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.

Perceptions On Implementing A Comprehensive Athletic Website And Online Streaming Service For Kentucky High Schools, Steve Chen, Adrienne Hall, Anna K. Gdovka, Eric Street

Atlantic Marketing Journal

Student participation in interscholastic athletics reached record levels in 2019-20 for the third consecutive year in Kentucky (KHSAA, 2020). Sport marketers have strongly advocated social media as a powerful and effective tool to promote sporting events at all levels. However, existing studies rarely focus on the trend for promoting interscholastic sports through social media platforms. This study examined the potential of an interactive website and online streaming service focusing on interscholastic sports may provide to high schools in Kentucky. After evaluating more than 102 high school athletic websites, the authors found schools were in need to improve the current website …

The Consent Of Man: An Examination Of Privacy Awareness, Surveillance, And Privacy Policy (Mis)Use, Will Reilley Silberman

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

The problem of privacy is nuanced, pervasive, and requires an elevated approach. Given the lack of consistency with regard to privacy’s conceptualization and operationalization, research is needed that examines variables related to privacy to better understand how privacy operates in the present day. This dissertation aims to better understand nuances of privacy by gauging knowledge of online privacy, technological affordances related to privacy, and knowledge of surveillance. In this study, human subjects from a large southern University were presented with an opportunity to use a privacy-invasive smartphone application. After doing so, they viewed one of three privacy policies. Finally, they …

Meeting Their Expectations: Student Expectations And Perceptions Of Instructor Clarity, Credibility, Rapport, And Climate In Online Courses, Nikki Kowalski

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Continued advancements in technology have steadily increased accessibility to online learning and have provided more tools with which instructors can communicate with their students. As our technology evolves, so too does the students’ expectations for how course content will be communicated. It is important to understand students’ expectations for their online learning experiences so that those expectations can be met. The field of instructional communication has demonstrated the importance of behaviors that establish an instructor’s credibility, clarity, rapport, and climate in the classroom finding these constructs contribute to student cognitive and affective learning. The significance of these constructs has been …

Communication Strategies To Intervene In Intimate Partner Violence Among Young Adult Couples, Kaylee Marie Lukacena

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a social and behavioral health issue of importance among the young adult population (Cupp et al., 2015). IPV includes acts of physical violence, sexual violence, psychological aggression, and stalking enacted by an intimate partner (Smith, Zhang, Basile, Merrick, Wang, Kresnow, & Chen, 2018). In the United States., approximately one in three women and one in ten men experience IPV during their lifetime (Smith et al., 2018). Furthermore, over more than 70% of women who experience indicate that the first act occurred before the age of 25. One approach to preemptively address IPV on college campuses …

How Twitter Exposes Daily Whiteness Practices In Mexico And Argentina, Erika Maribel Heredia

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This dissertation questions: How is the social imaginary about the meaning of being white in Mexico produced, reproduced, and problematized in Twitter Discourse? How is the social imaginary about the meaning of being white in Argentina produced, reproduced, and problematized in Twitter Discourse? How are the social imaginaries in Twitter Discourse in Mexico and Argentina related to the cultural and symbolic power exercised by the United States, and does US power influence the structure of privileges built around Whiteness? For doing that, I collected up to 10K tweets using two keywords to identify discourses surrounding Whiteness in tweets from users …

Social Media Use And Safe Sex Practices Among Chinese Gay Men, Hang Zheng

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

With the number of Chinese gay men affected by HIV rising annually and social media serving as popular information sources, this study aims to examine the information channels used by Chinese gay men to acquire safer sex knowledge and to test the effect of safer sex knowledge, information channel use, safe-sex communication with sexual partners on Chinese gay men's safer sex practices. Due to the sensitive topic and hard-to-reach population, a snowball sampling method was used to recruit eligible participants. Specifically, an online survey was designed and distributed to three LGBT-NGO-related WeChat groups. A total of 191 valid data points …

Twentieth Century Pandemic Narratives And Mental Health Discourse, Kristy R. Barraza

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper utilizes René Girard’s theories concerning plague literature to examine twentieth century pandemic novels’ engagement with mental health discourses surrounding anxiety and melancholia. Girard argues that plague literature consists of four main elements: contamination, dissipation of differences, doubles, and sacrifice; he also argues that the plague represents violence. In 1918, a plague of influenza killed more people in the United States than all the wars from the twentieth century combined. William Maxwell’s They Came Like Swallows and Katherine Anne Porter’s Pale Horse, Pale Rider depict the trauma caused by the 1918 pandemic; Maxwell shows how the 1918 influenza disrupted …

The Ghost Town: An Autoethnographic Study On The Effects Of Loss And Trauma On A Saudi Arabian International Student’S Well-Being, Salman J. Alzowibi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We all have fought on grief’s battleground; some of us started at early ages, while others during their developmental age, teen’s years, or later in their adulthood. All of them are valuable resources and sites of knowledge that need to be explored. Yet, recent studies reduced grief into clinical psychological well-being. However, as I lived these experiences, trauma, loss, and grief impact all well-being dimensions. Grief intersects with large structures (e.g., social, economic, cultural, locations, etc.); all these components impact our way of grief how socially displayed (mourning). This dissertation encapsulates my personal experience elevating it to an academic work …

“It's Like A Phantom Limb. It Feels Like It’S There. It's Supposed To Be There, But It's Not.”: Birthmothers’ Metaphors Of Ambiguous Loss, Melodee Lynn Sova

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Birthmothers are a population with unique experiences and challenges. Among those challenges is the difficulty understanding and managing a loss for which they do not have a readily available coping strategy. As a birthmother, the author of this dissertation was uniquely situated to connecting with, and understanding the ways in which, birthmothers expressed their narratives. The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the ways in which birthmothers make sense of their experiences with ambiguous loss by examining the metaphors they employ when narrating their adoption story. The use of metaphor in the birthmother narrative was especially important because metaphor …

Truth As A Victim: The Challenge Of Anti-Trafficking Education In The Age Of Q, Bond Benton, Daniela Peterka-Benton

School of Communication and Media Scholarship and Creative Works

The QAnon conspiracy threatens anti-trafficking education because of its broad dissemination and focus on a range of myths about trafficking. These myths are rooted in historic and ongoing misinformation about abductions, exploitation, and community threats. This article examines the extent of QAnon’s co-optation of human trafficking discourses and evaluates its connection to trafficking myths, particularly related to gender, race, class, and agency. From this perspective, the article considers how anti-trafficking education can respond to these myths and build a pedagogy in the age of Q.

Handwashing And Beyond: An Autoethnographic Account Of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder And Stigma Management, Nicholas J. Johnson

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a stigmatized condition that affects the communicative process. Using Meisenbach’s theory of stigma management communication (SMC), this project demonstrates coping strategies for stigma related to OCD. Research is self-reported in autoethnographic form, where narratives are analyzed in Rambo’s layered account format. There are two results of note: SMC is a suitable framework for understanding OCD stigma, and SMC’s accepting strategies are more effective at managing OCD stigma when the behavior being stigmatized is readily associated with OCD. Furthermore, this thesis suggests autoethnography is an effective medium for showcasing OCD stigma, and also suggests more research on …

Website Creation As A Means Of Fulfilling Muslim Funeral Information Needs Amid Covid-19 Pandemic, Witanti Prihatiningsih, Ninis Agustini Damayani, Asep Suryana, Susie Perbawasari

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

A website can serve as a means of fulfilling information needs on the internet. The need for websites as a source of information increased during the Covid-19 pandemic along with many people doing their activities at home. The Memorial Advisor sees this situation as an opportunity. They created a website to convey information about Muslim funeral products to the public. The purpose of this research is to examine website creation as a means of fulfilling the information needs of the public regarding Muslim funerals amid the Covid-19 Pandemic. This research uses the descriptive qualitative method. This research concludes that Memorial …

A Qualitative Examination Of The Agency Of Women In Their 30s And 40s Who Use Dating Applications, Tera Buerkle

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

The use of dating applications (apps) to find romantic and sexual partners is widespread across age groups, however, there is a paucity of research on dating apps with those in middle adulthood. Sexual script theory suggests that women’s agency (i.e. the ability to act in one’s own best interest) may be impacted by expectations from an inherently sexualized context, such as dating apps. Feminist theory contends that women’s agency is complicated by gender socialization due to the imbalance of power in society that greatly favors men. In this study seventeen women aged 30 to 49 completed in-depth semi-structured interviews, and …

The Influence Of Defendants' Nonverbal Behaviors On Juror Liking, Sympathy, And Sentencing, Joseph Thomas

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Jurors are highly susceptible to influence, especially in the form of emotional manipulation. Totest this, the present study applies Burgoon’s (1993) expectancy violation theory to affective defendant behaviors (i.e., remorse, immediacy). In an attempt to manipulate the perceived rewardingness of the defendant, these behaviors are coupled with a description of either a major or minor crime. The results indicate that remorse behaviors evoke sympathy, thereby leading to a more lenient sentencing recommendation by mock jurors. Though the likeability of the defendant also impacted juror sentencing recommendations, immediacy behaviors failed to produce such an effect. Implications of these results are discussed.

Covid-19 Effects On Instructor Behavior: Instructor Self-Efficacy And Self-Disclosures Through Communication Privacy Management Theory, Rebekah Melanie Chiasson

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The goal of this investigation was to examine how college and university instructors’ teaching self-efficacy and self-disclosures have been influenced by the switch in teaching modality from face-to-face to online due to the pandemic. This study found that experience designing online courses influences instructors online teaching self-efficacy (i.e., virtual interactions self-efficacy, course content mitigation self-efficacy, and general online teaching self-efficacy). Instructors that were required to teach online during the pandemic reported greater levels of three constructs of online teaching self-efficacy if they had taken professional development prior to the pandemic but taking professional development after the pandemic was not associated …

My Writing Technique (2021-2022), Samantha Spencer

Critical Evaluation

This critical evaluation essay considers Spencer’s writing process, her strengths, and her assessment of her own writing. Throughout, Spencer offers specific examples that she cites from her papers in relation to the point she is making about her writing. She thinks in detail about how prewriting and organization contribute to her writing confidence and her writing strengths. She also spends time presenting comments that she has received on her writing from teachers and what she does with that feedback.

Amjambo Africa! (January 2021), Kathreen Harrison

Amjambo Africa!

In This Issue

COVID and women......................2/3

Reza Jalali..........................................4

Editorial............................................6

Translations

French ............................................7

Swahili............................................8

Somali ............................................9

Kinyarwanda...............................20

Portuguese..................................21

News from Africa..........................10

Scholarship.....................................11

Year in Review..........................12/13

Celebrating Diversity....................16

Finance .............................................9

Insurance........................................22

Roseline Souebele.........................22

Rupal Shah.....................................23

Dora Mills.......................................23

Long Hungry Winter.....................24

Education Academy ................26/27

[Review] Deborah Bird Rose. Shimmer: Flying Fox Exuberance In Worlds Of Peril. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2022. 240 Pp., Tessa Laird

Animal Studies Journal

Animal Studies Journal 2021 10(2): [Review] Deborah Bird Rose. Shimmer: Flying Fox Exuberance in Worlds of Peril. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2022. 240 pp.

Higher Education And The Dei Climate: Exploring And Understanding The Role Of Social Media, Self Esteem, And Intercultural Communication In Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion Initiatives On The College Campus, Christian T. Cardona

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This study seeks to understand the effects and levels of impact that a university student’s intercultural communication competence, social media usage, and self-esteem have on the students’ attitudes towards diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts implemented by institutions of higher education. By studying these three independent variables, this research seeks to improve the understanding of the university students’ attitudes on DEI efforts for leaders and change agents in higher education, providing an inspiration for leaders, administrators, and change agents of higher education to continue collaborating to innovate methods and avenues towards creating a diverse, equitable, and inclusive campus climate, as …