Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Assimilation And Integration Processes: A Study Of The Commitment Patterns During Students' Entry Into College, Suzanne M. Pastori

Dissertations and Theses

This study examined the heuristic value of applying the organizational model of Jablin, Putnam, Roberts, and Porter (1987), who studied newcoming employees assimilating into an organization, to the study of newcoming students integrating into an educational institution.

Three hundred and fifty-five college students were surveyed. I used an adapted version of Mowday, Porter, and Steer's (1982) Organizational Commitment Questionnaire.

Two hypotheses were tested. Hypothesis One states: The higher the level of expressed commitment the more likely it is that the student will express the intention to remain. Hypothesis Two states: Within Terms One, Two, and Three, the higher the level …

Portland As A Divided City: Geographical Voting Patterns On Ballot Measures In The November 1990 Elections, Dmitry Sharkov

Dissertations and Theses

A significant and challenging topic for contemporary geography is an understanding of how the social construction of space both reflects social forces and at the same time structures those forces. This thesis is a case study of how political and social attitudes, measured as an outcome of votes for different issues, reflect the social organization of space in Multnomah County, Oregon. It employs an arealstructural (ecological) approach. Using eleven different issues voted upon in the general elections of November, 1990, it analyzes relationships between ballot items and socioeconomic characteristics of the electorate for small geographic areas in the county. The …

Cultural Bias In The Assessment Of Phonological Processes In Conjunction With The App-R, Sharon Elise Soliday

Dissertations and Theses

Normal phonological development is characterized by phonological processes in preschool children. These processes are sound error patterns, in relation to the adult target, that are expected within the speech of normally developing children. As children grow older, they "outgrow" these developmental errors.

Within the black English dialect, speakers may use a combination of these processes and not be considered phonologically impaired within their linguistic community.

The purpose of this study was to assess and compare phonological process usage in the speech of lower socioeconomic black and white preschoolers.

The APP-R in conjunction with the CAPP was administered to two groups …

A Location Analysis Of Vandalism To The Rock Art Of The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, Julia J. Wilt

Dissertations and Theses

Archaeological sites in the New World are the fragile and non-renewable remains of cultures which flourished for thousands of years prior to European contact and displacement. Sites which escape the effects of erosion and development often fall victim to vandalism. Cultural resources, including rock art and other archaeological sites, are protected by state and federal laws which prohibit the removal or disturbance of the sites, whether from development or from vandalism. Vandalism is frequently seen as a problem for law enforcement rather than a problem for cultural resource management. Management plans which include cultural resource protection provisions and guidelines often …

The Concepts Of Capitalism And Democracy In Implied Power Relations: Fractionation Philosophy And Theory, Randy Baker

Dissertations and Theses

This research proposes that it is possible to meaningfully examine the differences between subjects' perceptions of concepts at two different levels of analysis. The central theory, called "fractionation", is derived from structuration theory. The theory suggests that there is an important and particular difference between subjects' perceptions of key concepts at the value (abstract) level, as differentiated from the policy (action) level. The key concepts provided here are capitalism and democracy. Three major stages of data gathering and analysis were conducted. The first stage, carried out in several phases, surveyed 337 college students to gather words commonly associated with two …

A Model To Predict Recycling Behaviors: Reusing Ajzen's Model One More Time, Kathleen L. Kiwala

Dissertations and Theses

The prediction of self-reported recycling behaviors was examined using variations and expansions of Ajzen's theory of planned behavior. Three hundred and forty-eight residents from the Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties in Oregon completed a questionnaire that assessed attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, intentions, self-reports of recycling behavior, moral obligation and past behavior. Recycling behaviors and intentions were grouped into three categories of difficulty by a factor analysis. Structural equation analysis did not support Ajzen's model. It was found that although attitudes was correlated with the antecedent variables, it did not directly influence intentions or behaviors. Perceived behavioral control had …

Satisfaction With Social Support Among Recent Widows, Rachael Ann Silverman

Dissertations and Theses

One of the important issues in research on social support has been the relationship between received support and perceptions of support. While most research has been unable to discover a strong link between these two constructs, three theories have emerged in the literature to explain how such a link might be discovered. One theory states that it is important to study support in the context of a stressful life event. Another suggests that when studying social support it is important to make distinctions between positive and negative interactions. A third approach focuses on specificity issues, predicting that it is important …

Assessing The Impact Of An Esl/Bilingual Program By Means Of Instrumental Variable Estimation, John Akanbi Babatunde

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of the Portland (Oregon) public school district's ESL/bilingual program on the academic performance of limited English proficiency (IEP) students. The study attempted to correct a statistical bias that might lead to underestimating the effectiveness of ESL/bilingual programs. This statistical bias is caused by a negative correlation between student achievement and the characteristics which result in a student being placed in the ESL/bilingual program. Several variables and proxies representing characteristics of the school, the neighborhood, and the student's personal background were examined for their contribution to explaining the academic progress of …

Sentence Discrimination In Noise And Self-Assessed Hearing Difficulty, Dianna W. Brainerd

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the sensitivity of the CID Everyday sentences, with competing cafeteria noise, as a measure of the real life receptive communication difficulty experienced by subjects with hearing loss limited to frequencies above 2000 Hz. In order to establish normative data the speech discrimination test w~s given to 38 normal hearing subjects (aged 19-46). Second, the discrimination test was given to 12 hearing impaired subjects (29-64), who also completed a self-assessment questionnaire, the Hearing Handicap Inventory for Adults (HHIA). The results were analyzed to determine: (a) if there was a significant difference between the …

A Survey Of Aural Rehabilitation Services Provided To Hearing Impaired Clients In The Private Sector, Alison Metcalf

Dissertations and Theses

While the approaches for providing aural rehabilitation to the hearing impaired are well documented, no research and only a few articles addressed the comprehensive application of these approaches in the private sector. Therefore, a survey of audiologists was conducted to determine how extensively the approaches are being utilized in this setting and what, if any, unmet client needs may exist. Sixty certified, dispensing audiologists who work in the private sector and reside in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming participated in the study. Participants were identified from membership lists provided by the five states' Speech-Language and Hearing Associations. A questionnaire …

An Intercultural Analysis Of Differences In Appropriateness Ratings Of Facial Expressions Between Japanese And American Subjects, Patricia Jean Peschka-Daskalos

Dissertations and Theses

In 1971 Paul Ekman posited his Neuro-Cultural Theory of Emotion which stated that expressions of emotion are universal but controlled by cultural display rules. This thesis tests the Neuro-Cultural Theory by having subjects from two cultures, Japan and the United States, judge the perceived appropriateness facial expressions in social situations. Preliminary procedures resulted in a set of scenarios in which socially appropriate responses were deemed to be either "Happy", "Angry" or "Surprised". Data in the experimental phase of the study were collected using a questionnaire format. Through the use of a 5-point Likert scale, each subject rated the appropriateness of …

Residential Options For The Institutionalized Chronically Mentally Ill: The Impact Of Psychosis On Choice, Richard James Stanek

Dissertations and Theses

Discharge planning for hospitalized chronically mentally ill usually involves only verbal descriptions of community residential options. Psychosis often impairs ability to conceptualize abstract information, and quality of the choice process may be poor without describing options in concrete form, i.e., using written descriptions and photographs. A random sample (N= 90) of Dammasch State Hospital (Wilsonville, Oregon) patient population, comprising persons diagnosed schizophrenic, schizoaffective, organic mental disorder, and bipolar, were assigned to three treatment groups, asked to rank six community residential options suited for them when they were ready to leave the hospital. The three treatment groups were presented the same …

Cross-Cultural Training Of Chinese Managers And Workers By U.S. Companies: A Comparative Cultural Analysis Of The Problems Reported By U.S. Trainers, Linda Vick

Dissertations and Theses

As Western business increases in China and China acquires more technology from the West, the need to effectively train the Chinese workforce becomes more important. Identifying and understanding the perceived problems that Western corporate trainers encounter when they train Chinese may lead to more effective and efficient training programs. This study examines the experiences of trainers, working for American companies, who have designed and implemented training programs for Chinese from the People's Republic of China. The purpose of the study is to identify perceived problems the trainers encounter and to determine whether differences between Chinese and American cultures may account …

Communication And Gender: Interviews With Blue-Collar Women, Jeri Lynn Sofka

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis explores the interactions between women and men who work in highly-skilled blue-collar trades. The aim of this research is to describe women's perceptions and responses to their on-the-job communicative interactions with male co-workers, supervisors and union officials.

Small focus groups were conducted to produce rich narrative data that was audio recorded for later use by the researcher. The researcher met with the four subjects for three sessions. The interviews lasted three hours each. The researcher also conducted follow-up interviews by phone to clarify subjects' responses. The subjects were provided with an interview schedule of questions prior to the …

The Effect Of Color On Character Recognition: A Study Of The Oregon License Plate, Frank R. Dennis

Dissertations and Theses

This study investigated character color changes on the current Oregon license plate in an attempt to rectify character recognition problems currently experienced with personalized license plates. Red-violet, brown, and purple were tested against the blue color currently used on the Oregon license plate's characters. Aesthetic-preference analyses were conducted to ensure that the potential character color changes maintained the appeal of the current plate. A standard recognition paradigm was used to test errors in letter recognition for the 4 colors.

Fifty-four subjects with normal or corrected normal visual acuity and normal color vision were solicited from undergraduate psychology courses. All 54 …

From The Middle East To The United States: Stressors And Coping Strategies Of Members Of A Sacred Culture Living In A Secular Culture, Angela Taha

Dissertations and Theses

The values and beliefs involved in Islam maintain that religion is embedded in everyday life. Students from countries which subscribe to the tenets of Islam may have a difficult time adjusting to the secular society of the U.S. This study is concerned with the interrelationships among events perceived as stressful, the ways of coping with stress that are reported as most often used, and the reported level of satisfaction with living in the U.S. for the Muslim Arab international students in this study.

A four page survey questionnaire was used as the instrument. The questionnaire was filled out by 102 …

Occurrence Of Phonological Processes Within Two Pragmatic Categories In Normal And Speech-Delayed Children, Betsy Ann Bergman

Dissertations and Theses

Research into the eventual suppression of phonological processes among children has centered on the influence of phonetic context and semantic-syntactic factors. Researchers have described various factors that would account for the variability found in normal and speech-delayed children's use of phonological processes. Researchers have found associations between phonological process use and language form and content, although there is a paucity of information pertaining the effect of language use on phonological performances. This study examined the phonological process use within two pragmatic functions-assertiveand responsive utterances-used by 15 normally developing and 15 speech-delayed 3-year-olds. These groups were matched for age, sex, and …

The Liberal-Communitarian Debate And The Development Of A Political Conception Of The Person, Kenneth Howard Biggs

Dissertations and Theses

Without doubt, John Rawls's A Theory of Justice is one of the most important statements of Anglo-American political philosophy in the twentieth century. Through a revival of the social contract device, Rawls formulates a set of principles of correct political association ("the right") that he argues must be considered as prior to any conception of the good. These principles apply to all persons as free and equal beings in society, but more importantly they assume some things about the nature of persons in that society. On the institutional aspect of his theory, Rawls conceives of the state as a neutral …

An Analysis Of Conceptual Metaphor In Marital Conflict, Anne Elizabeth Burgermeister-Seger

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis investigates metaphoric structure revealed during discussions about conflict, and poses the general question: What conceptual metaphors do married individuals use to structure their marital conflict? Theoretical issues of metaphor analysis and general issues of conflict management are reviewed, providing a background for the study's approach to data collection and analysis. Eight married individuals were interviewed. Interviews were tape recorded. The interview schedule was structured around issues of topic, setting, process, response, and communication of typical, as well as a most recent, marital conflict. More specific probing followed respondents' comments. Using techniques of interpretive analysis, transcripts from the interviews …

Certain Phonological Skills In Late Talkers, Catherine Marie Ryan-Laszlo

Dissertations and Theses

While there is general agreement among researchers in the field of language and learning disabilities upon the language hypothesis for reading failure, little research has been explored concerning the relationship between the phonological production skills of preschool children and the same children's prereading abilities in kindergarten.

This study examined two aspects of phonological skill (a) the relationship of early phonological production errors and later success on phonological awareness and general prereading skill, and (b) determining if prereading deficits in a group of children with a history of language delay reside specifically in the phonological awareness items or the prereading score …

Language And Memory Development In The Three And Four Year Old, Caroline Prater Moffatt

Dissertations and Theses

Although there is agreement in the literature that memory is required for language, there is disagreement as to whether certain memory abilities are prerequisite for language. There has been a significant amount of research in the field of memory development as it relates to language; however, little research has been done in the area of memory and language development in the preschool aged child. This study examined two aspects of auditory memory and language development in the preschool child: (a) the auditory memory abilities of delayed language children versus normal language children, and (b) determining if there is a relationship …

Friendship Patterns Of Chinese Students And Their Adjustment In The United States, Changhua Wang

Dissertations and Theses

International students who experience difficulties in a new culture are often considered to have suffered a breakdown in their normal healthy psychological functioning, and therefore need therapy and counselling (Pedersen et al, 1976). This study views failure and problems experienced by the sojourner as a result of lack of the necessary new social skills and knowledge. Social networks, particularly friendships, are thus extremely important in that such networks are not only source of social support [sic], but also major channels through which such skills and knowledge are acquired [sic].

1. Guided by social support theories and social skills theories, this study …

Attitudes, Motivations And Expectations Of Students And Instructors In An Intensive University Esl Summer Session, Ronald Andrew Ragsdale

Dissertations and Theses

All international students have specific motivations and expectations when learning English as a Second Language (ESL) in the United States, and recognizing the diversity of those motivations and expectations is the first step toward providing successful second language instruction. This study was designed to elicit the attitudes, expectations and motivations of two unique groups of students studying in the same classes in an ESL summer session at Portland State University (PSU), the preconception of the instructors, and the impressions and evaluations of the program upon its completion by the students, instructors, coordinators and administrators.

A successful curriculum can only be …

Rapists And Their Parental Relationships, Yaeko Steidel

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation attempts to find out what associations exist between dysfunctional parental relationships in the childhood of rapists and the rapists' violent acts. It also briefly examines the sociocultural effects which nurture such relationships.

Rape, a crime very prevalent in our society today, is now perceived as an acute expression of men's contempt for and anger against women. The former interpretation of rape as primarily a sexually motivated crime is no longer popular. This dissertation attempts to trace the origin of the rapist's psyche from his dysfunctional parental relationships.

Rare data on rapist's family relations from a recent FBI survey …

An Implementation Analysis Of The Water Resources Development Act Of 1986, James Joseph Rich

Dissertations and Theses

Implementation research, an area once largely ignored in favor of policy design and impact assessment, now constitutes a significant portion of the policy analysis literature. One of the key issues addressed by the theory building portion of that literature is the necessity of precisely identifying implementation variables, conditions, or actions that measurably contribute to the success or failure of implementation efforts over a broad range of policies and programs, and to then suggest some order of significance. In order to test the validity of a variable set proposed by the literature, a multivariate implementation model was employed as the basis …

Speaker Preferences Of Listening Behaviors That Lead To Perceived Listening : A Pre-Condition Of Perceived Understanding, Christine M. Carpenter

Dissertations and Theses

When attempting to communicate with another person, the success or failure that a communicator perceives, he or she interprets as understanding or misunderstanding. Research has shown that "perceived understanding" or the "feeling of being understood" is important in self-concept development. However, for some time researchers have focused on the listener's needs and the speaker's needs have been given less attention. Yet, the listener's role in meeting the speaker's needs, particularly in providing feedback to the speaker, is of utmost importance if the speaker is to have the "feeling of being understood." This research examined the concept of the "feeling of …

A Comparison Of Developmental Sentence Score Patterns In Three Groups Of Preschool Children, Michelle Lynn Riback

Dissertations and Theses

Researchers have successfully labeled specific patterns of expressive language development as it appears in children developing language normally. Little research has identified particular patterns of expressive language in children who display expressive language disorders or delays. Longitudinal studies of expressively language impaired children indicate that linguistic, educational and social impairments exist long after the language impairment was first identified (Aram, Eckelman and Nation, 1984; Aram and Nation, 1980; Fundudis, Kolvin and Garside, 1979; Stark, Berstein, Condino, Bender, Tallal and Catts, 1984). If patterns of delayed or disordered language development are researched and possibly labeled in the early stages of language …

A Comparative Media Study Of How Aids-Related News Is Reported In Mainstream And Alternative Presses, Robert Eugene Schlick

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examines the reporting of AIDS-related news in both mainstream and alternative newspapers. This research suggests that mainstream newspapers, such as the New York Times, frame news stories in certain ways. Specifically, this study suggests that news about AIDS will be framed in ways which trivialize and/or marginalize those most affected by AIDS. The thesis also posits that the mainstream press will frame AIDS-related news in ways which support their own interests. Additionally, this research suggests that alternative presses, such as the Advocate, will frame their reporting of AIDS-related news in ways which support their interests.

The mainstream newspaper …

Communication Issues In The Management Of A Multicultural Workforce, Deborah Margaret Sipe

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to examine communication issues which are most frequently identified as the concerns of U.S. managers who work with culturally and ethnically diverse workforces, and skills which are identified as useful in dealing with those issues. This thesis used a qualitative method of data collection. Information was generated through a review of literature in the fields of communication, management, and organizational behavior to determine frequently occurring themes concerning intercultural communication issues in the workplace. Following the review, three case study interviews were conducted with managers in the Portland metropolitan area to determine what they perceive …

Hawthorne Boulevard: Commercial Gentrification And The Creation Of An Image, Rachel Ann Hardyman

Dissertations and Theses

Portland's Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard illustrates commercial gentrification in progress. Once a declining service district, "Hawthorne" is now one of the city's most popular shopping streets. Tracing and classifying businesses, using address listings from city directories, gives an accurate picture of changes since 1980. Three parallel trends can be distinguished in the makeup of the business mix: a shift from services to retailing; a move towards a regional, rather than a neighborhood, market area; and a cultural upgrading associated with the influx of increasingly expensive stores. Classification also aids in the definition of a tipping point at which revitalization became gentrification. …