Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Hands-On Versus Verbal Occupation: Effects On Free Recall In Brain-Injured Adults, Aaron M. Eakman

Masters Theses

This study compared the effects of hands-on occupation versus verbal occupation in terms of free recall performance in brain-injured adults. Thirty males who had sustained a closed head injury with Rancho Los Amigos (Malkmus & Stenderup, 1974) cognitive levels of either VI, VII, or VIII were selected from nine midwestern brain injury rehabilitation facilities and randomly assigned to either the hands-on or verbal condition. After all subjects received preliminary verbal instructions for a food preparation occupation, verbal subjects again received the verbal information while the hands-on subjects prepared the food item. Subjects were then asked to recall the occupation's steps …

Job Aids, Feedback, And The Teaching Of Verbal-Reasoning, Angela Williams Campbell

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to test the effects of a job aid and feedback on learning to solve directional verbal-reasoning problems, and (2) to examine whether students’ skills transferred to similar problems following the removal of both the job aid and feedback. Some previous researchers who studied problem solving utilized the think-aloud technique and used solutions generated by expert problem solvers. The think-aloud technique, although perhaps a good one, is not practical in the classroom. In the main study, a job aid was incorporated within the problem so students would be able to use guidance toward …

Preventive Dental Care- Instruction And Contingency Management In The Acquisition And Maintenance Of Oral Hygiene Skills, Sandra K. Kallstrom

Masters Theses

Inadequate oral hygiene is one of the largest problems facing the dental profession to date. It is estimated that 98% of individuals suffer from dental problems associated with neglect. The objective of this study was to develop effective techniques which aided in the acquisition and maintenance of oral hygiene skills. This study compared the effects of instruction and demonstration with contingency management on plaque percentage scores. A between-subjects design was used with one control and three experimental groups. The results indicated that, oral hygiene instruction and demonstration appear to be ineffective in reducing plaque scores. Significant plaque reductions where found …

A Comparison Of Blood Volume Pulse And False Biofeedback In The Treatment Of Migraine, Paul Greilick

Dissertations

The efficacy of temporal artery blood volume pulse (BVP) biofeedback in the treatment of migraine was investigated. After four pre-treatment baseline psycho-physiological monitoring sessions, 8 migrainuers were randomly assigned to undergo 12 sessions of either BVP biofeedback or a placebo procedure (false feedback). Both treatments resulted in clinically significant and statistically equivalent reductions in headache activity and medication intake. Subjects exhibited substantial within-session decreases in BVP amplitude during pre-treatment baseline sessions and during false feedback, and the introduction of BVP biofeedback failed to increase the magnitude or the rate of BVP amplitude reductions. All subjects failed to show evidence of …

A Comparison Of Four Methods To Teach Complex Verbal Concepts Using A Computer-Assisted Instruction Program, John Byron Connors

Dissertations

This study compared four instructional programs which taught terminology in behavioral psychology using computer-assisted instruction (CAD with college students. The independent variable was the type of instruction presented by one of four CAI programs: (a) Rules Only, (b) Rules Plus Positive Examples, (c) Rules Plus Negative Examples, and (d) Rules Plus Positive and Negative Examples. The dependent variables were the: (a) pretest scores, (b) posttest scores, (c) 1-week delayed posttest scores, and (d) preference questionnaire scores. Using the pretest as a covariate, results approached significance (p=.07) on posttest scores only for the Rules Only and Rules Plus Positive Examples over …

The Fall Of The Industrial City: The Reagan Legacy For Urban Policy, David Stoesz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The Reagan presidency reversed a half-century of federal aid to cities. Poor minority comnnunities were particularly hard-hit, since this was accompanied by a white flight to the suburbs and the replacement of better paying industrial jobs requiring little education with poorer paying service jobs requiring iore education. Meanwhile wealthy communities prospered. To address urgent social problems, urban politicians are advocating strategies such as industrial policy, public entrepreneurship, and guerrilla welfare.

Income Maintenance Programs And The Reagan Domestic Agenda, Howard Jacob Karger

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Income maintenance programs are a key feature of the American welfare state. The impact of the Reagan administration’s social welfare policies are examined in this article, which also speculates about the long-term effects of his successes on the future of income maintenance programs. Specifically, this article provides a brief historical background of income maintanence programs, examines Reagan’s ideological and strategic approach to deconstructing the welfare state, evaluates the domestic successes of the Reagan administration, and explores the long-term impact of Reagan’s policies on the future of income maintenance programs.

America's Health Care System: The Reagan Legacy, Terri Combs-Orme, Bernard Guyer

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Because of the dominance of the private sector in health care in the United States, health conditions are not as susceptible to changes in public policy as they are in other Western countries. however, the elderly and young children are directly affected by the federal government's health care policies and while both groups were the focus of major changes introduced by the Reagan administration, these changes were opposed buy Congress. Nevertheless, changes in health care funding and administrative arrangements have had a negative impact on the needy and, in addition, they have been exacerbated by the Reagan administration's wider social …

Changes In Poverty, Income Inequality And The Standard Of Living During The Reagan Years, Robert D. Plotnick

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The record of economic well-being in the 1980s belied Reagan's claim that Americans would be better off if they scaled back the welfare state and cut tax rates. Though the standard of living rose, its growth was no faster than during 1950-1980. Income inequality increased. The rate of poverty at the end qf Reagan's term was the same as in 1980. Cutbacks in income transfers during the Reagan years helped increase both poverty and inequality. Changes in tax policy helped increase inequality but reduced poverty. These policy shifts are not the only reasons for the lack of progress against poverty …

The Reagan Legacy: Undoing Class, Race And Gender Accords, Mimi Abramovitz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The impact of Reaganomics on women, workers, and person of color is explored by looking at structural forces in the political economy that encourage business and government at one time to support and another time to undermine the welfare state. The expansion of the welfare state from 1935 to the mid-1970s meshed well with the needs of profitable production, political legitimacy and patriarchal control. With the economic crisis of the 1970s, the welfare state became too competitive with capital accumulation and too supportive of empowered popular movements and had to go. Women, persons of color, and the poor ranked high …

Social Work And The Reagan Era: Challenges To The Profession, Karen S. Haynes, James S. Mickelson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A priority item on the Reagan administration’s social policy agenda was the creation of a charity model of welfare, in which well-meaning volunteers provide services to the deserving poor and for-profit enterprises cater to the middle and upper class. This model was implemented because human service budgets of public agencies were slashed and subsidies for the not-for-profit sector. This reduction resulted in substantial unmet needs for social services, which have not been adequately addressed.

The authors contend that the profession of social work was not as directly affected by these changes as may be surmised since professional social workers did …

Introduction: American Social Policy And The Reagan Legacy, James Midgley

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

With the retirement of Ronald Reagan from active political life; the long term effects of his policies and programs need to be addressed. This introduction to fire special issue on The Reagan Legacy and the. American Welfare State draws on the findings of the various contributors t"' provide an overview of the impact of Reagan administration's policies on various facets of the welfare stale, and an assessment of their likely longer term effects.

Society, Social Policy And The Ideology Of Reaganism, James Midgley

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The complex historical and ideological themes which formed the basis for Reaganism in the 1980s are based on economic individualism, traditionalism and authoritarian populism. By creating an ideological formation which appealed to a wide constituency, right-wing activists sought to reverse the centrist consensus liberalism of the New Deal. These ideas also informed the Reagan administration’s social policies and, although not implemented as intended, have had a major impact on the American welfare state.

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 19, No. 1 (March 1992)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• INTRODUCTION: AMERICAN SOCIAL POICY AND TIE REAGAN LEGACY - James Midgley
• SOCIETY, SOCIAL POLICY AND THE IDEOLOGY OF REAGANISM - James Midgley
• CHANGES IN PROPERTY, INCOME INEQUAIITY AND THE STANDARD OF LIVING DURING THE REAGAN ERA - Robert Plotnick
• INCOME MAINTENANCE PROGRAMS AND THE
• REAGAN DOMESTIC AGENDA - Howuard Jacob Karger
• AMERICA'S HEALTH CARE SYSTEM: THE REAGAN LEGACY - Terri Combs-Orme and Bernard Guyer
• THE REAGAN LEGACY: UNDOING CLASS, RACE, AND GENDER ACCORDS - Mimi Abramovitz
• UNHOUSING THE URBAN POOR: THE REAGAN LEGACY - Beth Rubin, James D. Wright, and Joel A. Devine
• THE FALL OF THE …

Unhousing The Urban Poor: The Reagan Legacy, Beth A. Rubin, James D. Wright, Joel A. Devine

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The Reagan era was characterized by the popularity of individual level explanations and market based solutions for a range of social problems, including homelessness. We argue that such an approach was inadequate and may, in fact, have toorsened the housing situation. We claim that homelessness is fundamentally a housing problem linked to two key trends of the 1980s: the increasing rate of poverty and the declining supply'f low-income housing. Market approaches to housing policy have resulted in housing policies by default: gentrification, condo conversion and displacement as well as tax policies that explicitly favor the nonpoor. Those policies gehred towards …

Human Capital And Economic Development 1992-93, Department Of Economics

Werner Sichel Lecture Series

"Human Capital and Economic Development" is the twenty-ninth Annual Public Lecture Series organized by the Department of Economics at Western Michigan University. This year's series, which aims to explore the role of Human Capital in Economic Development from the national and international dimensions, is co-directed by Professors Sisay Asefa and Wei-Chiao Huang of the WMU Economics Department, and is co-sponsored by the W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. All lectures are open to the public and no admission is charged. A question and answer session will follow each lecture.

101-Phase I Archaeological Assessment Of Two Parcels Totaling 375 Acres In The Gourdneck State Game Area, Sections 19 And 20, Portage Township, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, William M. Cremin, Timothy D. Knapp, Daniel B. Goatley

Reports of Investigations

Pursuant to the establishment of a cooperative agreement between the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Western Michigan University (with the project period beginning 24 Jan 92 and extending through 30 Apr 92) authorizing a Phase I archaeological study of two parcels aggregating 375 acres of the Gourdneck State Game Area, Portage Township, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, archaeologists in the Department of Anthropology initiated a literature, documents, and site file search and between 2 Mar- 10 Apr conducted on-site evaluation of the project area in order to determine whether any potentially significant resources were present. There follows a report of our …

Qualitative Research And Social Work Practice: Partners In Discovery, Howard Goldstein

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The methods, outcomes and distinct characteristics of qualitative research are presented to establish the relevance of this mode of inquiry for research in social work practice. The phenomenological foundations are outlined and the various methods including ethnograpy, participant-observation and life history are illustrated by the use of an array of qualitative research projects. The same studies also disclose the forms of knowledge generated by qualitative research relative to the importance of values, ethics, culture, spirituality and aesthetics.

Technological Fix: Altering The Consciousness Of The Social Work Profession, Dennis Saleebey

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Social work, like other professions, seeks a jolt of technology and technical sophistication into its theoretical and practical repertories. Such efforts have, thus far, ignored the considerable ethical and axiological freight that "Techne" brings with it. Ironically, many of the implicit values of techniques subvert the unique and defining values of the social work profession. This paper offers a cautionary note and a prescription for avoiding the "technological fix."

Democracy And Capitalism: The Issue Joined From Within, Christopher E. Bischoff

Masters Theses

This study utilizes contemporary and classical literature to illuminate the complexities of Western democracy. Of specific focus is American democracy and the effects that capitalism has had upon democracy in America. The achievement of democracy on the scale of the modern nation-state appears problematic even without the adversarial burdens posed by a capitalist economic consort. It emerges that American democracy is particularly compromised by its roots in liberal tradition. Forced by nature to depend upon the allocative abilities of its economic consort, democracy must endure a relationship that dramatically undermines its ideological orientation. Although American democracy is not yet in …

A Comparison Of The Effects Of Two Individual Monetary Incentive Systems On Work Productivity: Piece-Work Pay Versus Base Pay Plus Incentives, Kirk L. Gillette

Masters Theses

This study compared the effectiveness of a piece-rate pay system in which 100% of the subject's pay was incentive-based with a base pay plus incentive system in which approximately 30% of the subject's pay was incentive-based. Two experiments were conducted. In each experiment, six subjects were exposed to both pay systems using a within-subject reversal design. Subjects participated in 6 to 9 three-hour sessions (Experiment 1) or 9 to 14 four-hour sessions (Experiment 2). Simulated bank checks with differing cash values were presented on a computer screen, and subjects entered the cash values using the computer keyboard. The dependent variable …

Effects Of Music As A Conditioned Stimulus And Progressive Muscle Relaxation In Reducing Anxiety, Marie Elaine Clarkson

Masters Theses

The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether music could become a conditioned stimulus for lowered muscle tension and/or reduced anxiety.

There were three groups: (1) the PMR group receiving PMR alone, (2) the MUS group receiving music alone, and (3) the PMRM group receiving PMR followed by music. After four training sessions, a posttest was conducted in which all of the groups were given five minutes to relax. The PMR group had silence, the MUS group had music and the PMRM group had music which had previously been heard after relaxation training. Tension and anxiety reduction were …

Spatial Distribution Of Hispanic Households In Holland, Michigan: 1960-1990, Cynthia J. Longstreet

Masters Theses

This paper examines patterns of Hispanic household concentration and segregation from non-Hispanic households in Holland, Michigan for the decades from 1960 to 1990 with some analysis of 1950 patterns. Household data were obtained from United States census reports and Polk directories, from which location quotients and indices of dissimilarity were calculated for census tracts and census blocks within the study area.

Data showed that most of Holland’s Hispanic households have been found in the three census tracts closest to the central city, but that deconcentration is occurring as more Hispanic families setde in peripheral areas of Holland. Data also indicated …

A Study Of The Correlation Between Alcoholism And Fingerprint Patterns, Miyo Yokota

Masters Theses

The study of 51 white male alcoholics and 50 white male nonalcoholics between the ages of 15 and 40 was undertaken to learn whether there are differences in the fingerprint patterns between the two groups. Previous research demonstrated that fingerprint patterns are genetically determined and influenced by the intrauterine environment. Fingerprint patterns, ridge counts, pattern intensity index, pattern type symmetry and ridge counts on whorls were studied. Both groups were compared by means of the Z statistics and chi-square tests. It was hoped that the differences observed in the fingerprint patterns of the two groups could be used as a …

Ethical Implications Of Politics In English Speaking West African Countries: The Need For A Greater Ethical Concern, Adeyinka Christopher Thompson

Masters Theses

This thesis evaluates the ethical implications of policies adopted by politicians in three West African countries: Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. The evaluation focuses on the policies African politicians adopt in their bid to solve two problems facing Africa: corruption, and achieving a democracy.

The evaluation relates selected policies of some African politicians to certain ethical theories propounded by various philosophers. Such questions as the respect politicians show for human life or dignity; the way they manipulate people, using them solely as a means to an end; secrecy in government; and whether their policies are meant for the general good …

Sequences Of Fixed-Ratio Schedules Of Reinforcement: The Effect Of Ratio Size In The Second And Third Fixed-Ratio On Pigeons' Choice, Susan Goeters

Dissertations

The present study used a discrete-trials procedure to examine choice in pigeons presented with various three-component sequences of fixed-ratio schedules of reinforcement. An experimenter-controlled stimulus was correlated with each sequence and pigeons were presented with a specified number of forced-exposure and choice trials. Three phases were implemented in an effort to investigate the conditions under which fixed-ratios other than the first in a sequence of three affect choice. In Phase 1, pigeons were given a choice between a fixed-ratio X fixed-ratio 1 fixed-ratio 25 and a fixed-ratio X fixed-ratio 25 fixed-ratio 1 sequence of food delivery. Across conditions, X was …

The Effects Of Individual Feedback And Group Feedback On The Nominal Group Technique, Monica Porter

Dissertations

The nominal group technique (NGT) was modified and implemented in an educational setting. Procedures included (a) targeting and voting on the most important issue, (b) generating a list of possible solutions and providing rationales, and (c) completing a final report as a group consensus.

The effects of individual feedback and group feedback on the NGT were examined. Group 1 received individual feedback followed by group feedback, and Group 2 received group feedback followed by individual feedback.

Twenty undergraduates served as subjects and participated in problem solving tasks in which individual feedback and group feedback were provided on the subjects' written …

An Evaluation Of A Method Of Suicide Assessment Training, Gerald A. Juhnke

Dissertations

This quasi-experimental study used a Randomized Groups, Posttest-only Design, to determine if significant differences between three groups existed in their: (a) ability to accurately assess high- and low-risk clients, (b) ability to accurately assign clinical actions, and (c) self-reported confidence to accurately assess suicide risk and assign clinical actions. The 59 volunteer subjects who participated in the study were master’s level counselors-in-training enrolled in a counseling prepractica training course within a Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) accredited counselor education and counseling psychology department of a large Midwestern university. Two of the three groups were experimental …

Organizational Development Through The Implementation Of Strategic Plans, Susan M. Eickhoff

Dissertations

Organizations today need effective and efficient total organizational change strategies in order to ensure both short- and long-term organizational health. As a result of an organization being a multi-dimensional entity, the ingredients for its change strategy must necessarily be representative of all its dimensions such as business management, information system, behavior analysis, behavioral systems analysis, total quality management and statistical process control techniques. Those ingredients of a comprehensive change strategy exist but have not been put together into a totally integrated package so far. In the present study, a fully-integrated organizational change strategy was systematically employed with the goal of …

“The Mirror Crack'd": Women As Mothers And Wives In Paternally Incestuous Families, Mary Deyoung

Dissertations

Women often are blamed for paternal incest. Although the notion of women's culpability is repeated so often in the literature that it has all the tranquility of an axiom, few studies have even used these women as subjects. This study sought to remedy that flaw by using as its subjects 20 women from paternally incestuous families. Each participated in an in-depth interview comprised of life history questions, and in a shorter follow-up interview.

The women reported a moderate degree of conflict between their roles as mother and wife. Their strategies for coping with that conflict were categorized according to the …