Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Training Of Initial Behavioral Assessment Interview Skills, Mark J. Hirsch

Dissertations

Two manuals were used to train behavioral assessment interview skills. The first manual outlined eleven initial responses the therapist must make to determine the controlling variables related to a client’s problem. The second manual outlined strategies for dealing with evasive or nonappropriate responses made by a client. Subjects were graduate students from the psychology department of Western Michigan University who had no experience in conducting assessment interviews. Six subjects participated. Simulated therapy sessions between subjects acting as therapists and confederates acting as clients were conducted. Scripts were utilized to standardize confederate responses. Each session dealt with a clinical concern amenable …

Effects Of Training Method On Inspector Accuracy In A Simulated Quality Control Task, Cathy L. Thorne

Dissertations

This study compared the effects of three training programs on inspector accuracy. The inspection task required 38 subjects to detect errors in geometric figures. All three training programs provided the same written descriptions of correct and incorrect figures, and all three training programs provided examples of correct figures. What differed among the programs was the type of incorrect figures. Individuals assigned to the Correct Sample Only Group were not shown any incorrect figures. Individuals assigned to the Critical Differences Group were shown incorrect figures which contained only one error at a time. Individuals assigned to the Multiple Differences Group were …

A Comparative Study Of Employment Outcomes Of The Projects With Industry And The State/Federal Vocational Rehabilitation Programs, Robert J. Leneway

Dissertations

Persons with disabilities represent the largest group of unemployed workers in the United States. The purpose of this research is to compare employer perceptions and competitive employment outcomes of the Rehabilitation Services Administration's employment programs known as Projects With Industry and the state/federal basic Vocational Rehabilitation program. These programs represent the two major vocational rehabilitation delivery systems in the United States. Competitive employment outcomes were compared on the national level using data supplied by the Rehabilitation Services Administration. Employer perceptions were compared using data obtained from surveys of 446 Michigan employers. The employers' marketing expectations and perceptions of performance were …

Contrived Versus Natural Reinforcers In The Acquisition Of A Verbal Repertoire By Adult Learners, Lisa Ann Leblanc

Dissertations

Previous research suggests that by making classroom contingencies for verbal responding more like those in the natural environment, i.e., by using motivative variables to evoke verbal responses which are followed by specific actions on the part of listeners, verbal repertoires can be taught more effectively to children and language impaired individuals. The present study examines the role of specific versus generalized conditioned reinforcement following adult students' question-asking on the acquisition of a verbal repertoire in a classroom setting and on the generalization of this repertoire to a more natural verbal environment.

Subjects were 32 university students in two American Sign …

A Study Of Leadership: A Qualitative Case Study Of Intended Changes Within The County Government Of San Diego, Shelia Quinlan Williams Edd

Dissertations

This research addresses the nature of leadership. Reflecting a sound theoretical base, the researcher studied the people involved in a complex change process, and listened to their perceptions about change and leadership. The study goes beyond the idea of the individual leader into the notion of a leadership relationship. It is a study of the persons who were active in the relationship, a study of their behaviors and language as they changed how the county government served the public. One of the primary purposes of the study is to demonstrate how these insights regarding change and the nature of leadership …

Crime And Development: A Comparative Analysis, Dick Taver'shima Andzenge

Dissertations

The study examines the extent to which social and economic development might be related to crime. Modernization theory of crime posits that the process of social and economic development involves changes in the society which are criminogenic. These changes include: urbanization, industrialization, longevity or increased life expectancy, increased manufacturing and gross domestic products. According to this theory these characteristics alter social tendencies to stability and conformity, and therefore result in increased deviance and crime.

This study tests the theory by using longitudinal data collected over a 25-year period from 54 countries. A sample of these data representing 34 countries from …

Choice By Rats For Enriched Versus Standard Home Cages Plastic Pipes, Wood Platforms, Wood Chips, And Paper Towels As Enrichment Items, Anita Lynn Bradshaw

Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether simple additions to the home cages of rats made those cages preferable to standard housing arrangements. Results indicated that the majority of rats preferred cages with wood platforms, wood chips, and paper towels to otherwise identical cages without these items. Wood chips were not, however, practical with the cages used in the present study. Plastic pipes caused no problems but were not preferred by the majority of individual animals. Both wood platforms and paper towels created no problems and appeared to be useful as enrichment items. The latter were preferred …

Private Versus Public Operation: A Comparison Of Two Juvenile Restitution Programs, Sudipta Roy

Dissertations

The present research focuses on the effectiveness of two restitution programs for juvenile offenders, one in Elkhart County, Indiana, and the other in Kalamazoo County, Michigan. Effectiveness refers to the impact of the two restitution programs on offender restitution to their victims and on offender recidivism. The two programs are a Victim Offender Reconciliation Project (VORP) in Elkhart County and a non-VORP restitution program administered by the Juvenile Probate Court in Kalamazoo County. The VORP is operated by a private agency--the Center for Community Justice, while the Kalamazoo program is publicly operated. This study focuses on the impact of the …

A Comparative Study Of Intrinsic And Extrinsic Work Values And Career Maturity For Minority College Students, Marvin Hall

Dissertations

This study was conducted to investigate comparisons of intrinsic and extrinsic work values and career maturity for minority college students. Results of this study may enhance efforts to provide more effective career development programs for minority college students. The investigation compared participants in a personal and academic support services program (PASSP) by sex, and PASSP and non-PASSP participants by groups. The PASSP which consisted of business majors was based upon expectations and self-efficacy of the success of program participants.

The study consisted of forty participants, 20 females and 20 males. The volunteers included 10 males and 10 females who were …

A Study Of Dual Relationships In Small College Counseling Centers, Terry W. Darling

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to address the following questions; What are the attitudes and practices of counselors in small college counseling centers regarding dual relationships? What are the counselor characteristics that appear to affect counselors' attitudes and practices? How do the attitudes and practices of counselors in small colleges compare to other professionals' attitudes and practices?

A nationwide, random sample of 300 small college counselors was surveyed. Half of the sample received a Counseling Practices Survey: Ethics, which sought information about the respondents' attitudes regarding 17 nonsexual and sexual dual relationship behaviors. The other half of the sample …

A Comparison Of Three Procedures For The Establishment Of A Novel Response With Delayed Reinforcement, Jayson W. Wilkenfield

Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to compare three procedures for examining the degree to which delayed response-dependent presentations of food would result in the acquisition of lever-pressing in rats. Although there is an abundance of research examining the maintenance of behavior with delayed reinforcement, few studies have investigated reinforcement delays in the acquisition of new discrete behaviors. Historically two different procedures have been employed in the study of delayed reinforcement. In a nonresetting delay procedure a response sets up the delivery of a reinforcer to occur after t seconds, and responses that may occur during the delay interval …

The "Logic" Of Postmodernism: Theory, Criticism, Literature, Institution, Jeffrey T. Nealon

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Kierkegaard On Citizenship And Character: A Philosophy Of Political Consciousness, Elsebet Jegstrup

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Aggressive Characteristics Of Sexually Abused Girls, Adelaide Molaro Lang

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Selection Bias Against The Employment Of Obese Adults, Regina. Pingitore

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Political Thought Of Carl F.H. Henry, David L. Weeks

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Diagnostic And Onset Of Symptomatology Predictors Of Adolescent Hospitalization Patterns, Mary Gonzalez Jaworski

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Myers Briggs Type Indicator Styles And Cognitive Performance, Gary Mitchell Jaworski

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Cognitive Distortions And Loneliness: Does Changing Negative Thoughts Affect Loneliness?, James Anthony Keyes

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Myth Of Performance Appraisals, Michael Bochenek

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Study Of Issues And Problems Women Face In Attempting To Pursue Careers In Educational Administration In Kenya, Bertha Kirigo Mutai

Dissertations

Problem

In Kenya, the majority of women in education occupy classroom teaching positions. Educational officers, in their hiring practices, appear to overlook women as resources, thereby depriving the schools of the skills and talents of potentially capable leaders. Students are also denied the role models of female leaders. This study investigates how difficult it is for women to secure professional careers in educational administration in Kenya.

Method

The population consisted of all the female teachers employed by the Ministry of Education in Kenya, and female Kenyan students in North American universities. A questionnaire was used to collect data from the …

A Comparative Study Of The Perceived Job Satisfaction Of Site Administrators In San Diego City Schools, Roderick Reid Matheson Edd

Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to identify the characteristics of the administrator's job that were the sources of satisfaction and hence motivation and those characteristics of the administrator's job that were the sources of dissatisfaction for the 277 school-site administrators in the San Diego Unified School District. The intent of the research was to identify the wants and needs of the site administrators as they pertained to job satisfaction. One hundred fifty-eight administrators (57%) returned surveys. Of those returned, 144 were used in the study. A revised version of the Job Characteristics Model developed by Hackman and Oldham in …

Nueropsychological Motor Functioning In Children With Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus During Euglycemia And After A Mild Hypoglycemic Episode, Kim M. Dell'angela

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Behavioral Measures Of Auditory Processing In The Chinchilla: A Comparison Of Frequency Selectivity Derived From Critical Masking Ratios And Rippled Noise Masking, Andrew J. Niemiec

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

An Exploration Of The Determinants Of Attitude Toward Computers In Middle School Students, Earl Wayne Connell Edd

Dissertations

The educational world is belatedly rushing into the world of technology with relatively limited factual information concerning students' attitude toward computers. While most students have a positive attitude, research has indicated that the male is more positive than the female for various reasons. The purpose of this study was to investigate a diverse set of possible determinants of attitude toward computers including sex, ethnic background, learning style, and computer literacy. The subjects were 284 coeducational students from four ethnic backgrounds that attended three middle schools in San Diego. A requirement that subjects have two years of experience with computer assisted …

An Investigation Of The Preferential Learning Strategies, Modality Preferences, And Academic Performance Among Eighth-Grade Students, Sally J. Bottroff-Hawes Edd

Dissertations

This study investigated differences among students' preferential learning styles and their academic achievement. The hypothesis was tested for the total sample population and the subgroups of: gender and ethnicity (Anglo, Hispanic, Asian). Two self-reporting assessment instruments were administered to 200 eighth graders to determine learning style and modality preferences: abstract-sequential (AS); concrete-sequential (CS); abstract-random (AR); concrete-random (CR); auditory (A); visual (V); kinesthetic-tactual (KT). Using GPA categories, the sample population was selected through by stratified-random and systematic sampling. Gifted, special education and ESL students were excluded. Academic performance was measured by GPA and CTBS standardized scores. One way ANOVA with Tukey-Kramer, …

The Effect Of Sexual Harassment On Female Naval Officers: A Phenomenological Study, Kathleen Anne Krohne Edd

Dissertations

Sexual harassment has grown to epidemic proportions since being documented as a workplace problem. Court cases are rising along with costs to organizations from litigation, turnover, absenteeism and stress-related medical claims. Courts are continually refining the legal definition of sexual harassment, resulting in a steady expansion of employers' liability. Perceptions of men and women regarding what constitutes sexual harassment differ markedly as do their responses to sexually oriented behaviors at work. Development of a formula for effectively preventing sexual harassment is, therefore, a complex and perplexing exercise. Two of three women serving in the military report that they have been …

An Evaluation Of The Program Of Theological Education By Extension At The Center For Christian Studies In Northwest Mexico, Joseph E. Mattox Edd

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the program of theological education by extension (TEE) at the Center for Christian Studies of the Church of God in Northwest Mexico. This evaluation looked at the original sixteen courses in the basic curriculum and considered the impact which this program has had. This evaluation identified strengths and weaknesses in the Center's TEE curriculum and revealed the attitudes of participants toward the TEE program. It also provided information regarding how the TEE program was perceived as an agent of change, impacting or contributing to the work of the Church of God in …

Political Participation Of Registered Nurses: A Correlational Study, Ophelia B. Mcdaniels Edd

Dissertations

This study analyzes and provides a base line description of the political participation of nurses practicing in hospitals. The study explores the relationships between political participation and the variables: self-esteem, personal control, political efficacy and critical thinking. The theoretical framework for designing the questionnaire was based on the Political Participation Model (Verba and Nie, 1972) and the Political Process Participation Questionnaire (Archer, 1983). Design of the Political Efficacy Scale was based on the Subjective Political Competence Scale (Almond and Verba, 1963) and the Political Efficacy Scale (Campbell, Gurin and Miller, 1954). Self-esteem was measured by the Self-Esteem Inventory (Coopersmith, 1967). …

An Analysis Of Selected California Community College Faculty Members' Perceptions Of Challenges Experienced During The First Year Of Hire, Kristen M. Stonebreaker Edd, Ma, Ba

Dissertations

This study examined the challenges and sources of support encountered by new faculty the first year of hire. Nineteen participants were interviewed from three community colleges. Interview sites were chosen to include three institutions of different sizes. Site 1 was an urban-centered college and a part of a multi-college district. Sites 2 and 3 were both single-college districts. All participants were hired in the Fall of 1989, and were full-time, tenure-track, teaching faculty. Interviews were audiotaped and analyzed by the researcher. From participant comments, themes were generated and summarized in frequency response tables. Some of the major findings of the …