Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Intercultural Communication In The U.S. And Japan, Annelise Wilp

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study was to compare two groups: Japanese students studying or who have studied at American universities, and Americans who are studying or have studied at Japanese universities. The inclusionary criteria were American students who had studied at a Japanese university and Japanese students who had studied at an American university. Exclusionary criteria were those who did not meet the criteria above. Prospective participants were invited to participate through Facebook and email. Interviews were conducted either faceto- face at the Bernhard Center at Western Michigan University, or by telephone. Prospective participants were informed of the purpose of …

Ministry With Community: Analysis Of Public Relations Issues And Proposed Solutions, Sarah Piper

Honors Theses

Although Millennials are not yet in their primacy as nonprofit donors, forward-thinking nonprofits are changing how they conduct business to better engage millennials in anticipation of their future rise to primacy. Accommodating the desires and expectations unique to the members of this generation is challenging for many organizations because effectively engaging with millennials requires a shift in organizational communication and engagement practices. This project seeks to build a body of relevant knowledge that can be used by Ministry with Community, a local nonprofit organization, to evolve its current engagement and communication practices to better appeal to local millennials. To build …

The Role Of Social Media In Small Museums In Michigan, Kaitlin Mcgrath

Honors Theses

Social media is now firmly ingrained in the daily life of many people. In order for museums to remain relevant in society, institutions like museums need to learn how to integrate this new technology into their practices. Small museums especially may have the most to gain from utilizing this technology in their institutions. These museums usually do not have access to as many resources as their larger counterparts. The challenge for museums is knowing how to use social media effectively. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of social media in museums with a focus on small …

The Changing Geopolitical Dynamics Of The Middle East And Their Impact On Israeli-Palestinian Peace Efforts, Daniel Bucksbaum

Honors Theses

In this thesis the status and feasibility of the two-state solution, the primary and most widely-accepted potential resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be analyzed. It considers aspects such as physical challenges (geography and topography of the land), regressive and damaging actions to the peace process by Israelis and Palestinians, and the newly developing changes in regional alliances and interests in the Middle East. The status of the traditional two-state solution, due to its history, obstacles, and current regional developments, has implications for future negotiations and have changed the direction of peace talks. Dramatic shifts in regional interests and the …

American Muslim Women: Feminism, Equality, And Difference, Amber Coniglio

Honors Theses

American Muslim women face constant surveillance, stress, and pressure to change and adapt to mainstream society. In the United States, Muslim women find ways to negotiate their identities, express their concerns, and learn through their faith by means of Islamic scholarship, Islamic feminism, and reinterpretations of the Quran. They are reconciling their multifaceted identities with better understanding of sacred text as well as solidifying their desired gender roles within their communities. They are challenging norms and creating new spaces for themselves within the ummah as well as the United States. American Muslim women find courage, strength, and autonomy through Islamic …

Party Identification At Western Michigan University, Melissa Heinz

Honors Theses

A high self-monitor is an individual who changes his/her political views to improve an impression made to others. This past election contained very controversial candidates making individuals very reluctant to show strong support for either party. My thesis topic examines the link between self-monitoring and party identification after the controversial election. I will be testing to see Western Michigan University students’ willingness to disguise political views based on what others think of them by using three different versions of the same survey. Many students are in positions on campus as well as off campus that require them to present themselves …

Guide To Understanding Catalonian Dissent: From Proclamation To Referendum, Andrew Larkin

Honors Theses

"Guide to Understanding Catalonian Independence Efforts: From referendum proclamation to 1-O" explains and chronicles key events from June 9 to October 1, 2017 that have impacted Catalonia's ploy for independence. The northeastern region in Spain is situated on the Mediterranean coast and plays a strong role in the Spanish economy. Although the region is well situated and prosperous, some push for an independent Catalonia. The guide is written with readers from the United States of America in mind and includes excerpts translated into English so that the struggle between Spain and independence-minded Catalans can be easily understood. Official statements, speeches, …

Increasing Waiting And Turn-Taking Among Preschool Aged Children With A Verbal-Delay Diagnosis, Alexa Hill

Honors Theses

The goal of this thesis was to create and implement an intervention that used errorless teaching and focused on increasing a sharing and waiting response for a student who had a verbal delay diagnosis. The two students involved in the project were both two-year-olds who attended an early childhood special education (ECSE) classroom with other preschool-aged children who had similar diagnoses. A single-subject simple baseline design was used and involved several phases designed with multiple responses to show the effectiveness of icons to facilitate sharing among two non-verbal students. Each response was prompted (when necessary) and they were all reinforced …

An Evaluation Of Physical Activity Methods Of College Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Justin Vagnozzi

Honors Theses

Physical activity has been proven to improve autistic conditions in areas such as motor skills and social skills (Sowa and Muelenbroek, 2011). The purpose of this study is to evaluate the different ways that physical activity affects autistic individuals. To do this, 16 individuals at the WMU Autism Services Center will be surveyed through Qualtrics. The survey will be based off of the study of Stanish and colleagues (2015). Questions will be taken from this survey and a few additional questions that do not appear in any study will be designed by the student investigator. Results will be analyzed both …

The Context For An Undergraduate Research Program At Western Michigan University, Nathan Browning

Honors Theses

This thesis is an investigation into undergraduate research, experiential learning, and creative scholarship as it relates to Western Michigan University (WMU). Data mining was used to analyze the state of undergraduate research activity (URA) nationally. Surveys, interviews, and focus groups were used to examine both faculty and undergraduate opinion of the state of URA specifically at WMU. The goal of this thesis is to help establish a framework for what a successful undergraduate research program would look like at WMU.

Previous literature shows benefits for both institutions and students, including higher retention rates, stronger graduate outcomes, and increased satisfaction levels …

Do Students Feel Safe On Campus? A Policy Evaluation Of The Clery Act, Amanda Sidwell

Honors Theses

The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (the Clery Act) is federal policy aimed at creating safer college campuses. It attempts to provide students with statistics on crimes that occur on campus and inform them of the security policies and various resources available to them. The Clery Act also mandates that institutions of higher education (IHE) send out alerts of emergencies that occur on campus.

So how safe do Western Michigan University (WMU or “Western”) students feel on campus? This study attempted to answer this question by asking students through a survey. The students’ …

Where Are We Losing Them? An Exploration Of Barriers To Buy-In Of Higher Education Responsible Employee Policies, Danielle Snow

Honors Theses

Sexual violence is a pervasive issue on college campuses across the U.S. In order to address this issue, the U.S. federal government has implemented certain acts and guidance to prevent violence and promote campus safety. One of the most controversial pieces of guidance is the responsible employee policy. In theory, this reporting system would allow students to have better access to victim support services and allow campuses to have more accurate data as to the reality of sexual violence happening on their campuses. In practice, however, this has not been the case for many individual institutional policies. Instead, many institutional …

Collective Memory And The Argentine Military Dictatorship: A Discourse Analysis, Caitlin Wiley

Honors Theses

The last Argentine military dictatorship (1976-1983) employed strategies of extreme violence against its own people, including kidnapping and killing an estimated 30,000 people. After the dictatorship ended in 1983, the country began a process of reconstructing the collective societal memory of the dictatorship years, which involved individuals processing their memories of family members and friends who had “disappeared” (now known as los desaparecidos or “the disappeared in Spanish”). This investigation focuses on how former Argentine Presidents Néstor Kirchner (2003-2007) and Cristina Kirchner (2007-2015) reignited the national discourse around the dictatorship years and shaped the collective memories of the public in …

Habitat For Humanity’S Impact On The Homeowner In The Homebuying Process, Carmen Gills

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

School Shootings: A Nexus Of Adolescent Masculinity, Bullying, And Homophobia, Jack Marsden

Honors Theses

Though overall gun violence has plummeted since 1993, multi-victim school shootings have increased in frequency over the last fifty years and the number of adolescent perpetrators has more than doubled since 1996. I borrow from Kimmel and Mahler’s (2001) format to examine seven shootings that have occurred in the fifteen years since their paper’s original publication. I replicate their qualitative methodology and conduct my own analysis of these attacks. My findings suggest that these boys that open fire are mired in a history of routine, merciless bullying and that the content of the bullying is homophobic in nature. I also …

Differences In Retention-Related Risk Factors And Potential Resources Across First-Generation And Non-First-Generation College Students, Taylor Lofdahl

Honors Theses

This study was completed to examine the differences in experience of first-generation and non-first-generation college students both before and during college. The purpose focused on retention-related risk factors as well as potential resources. The study was conducted through an online survey system called Qualtrics. There were 246 participants from the psychology department of the University of Nebraska- Lincoln, and participants received research credits for completing the survey. The study included measures for stress, depression symptoms, anxiety, perceived support as well as questions regarding academic practices and biographical information. The results of the study were analyzed using SPSS software, and they …

"I Never Expected This": Expectancy Violations And Stress In Millennials, Sarah Pogue

Honors Theses

Millennials are said to be the most stressed out age group in the United States (Coccia, & Darling, 2016). Between general life stressors and the new stress that has emerged due to the increase in technology and social communication, millennials are simply overloaded with stress from all angles. In order to communicate and make sense of this stress, most millennials find themselves discussing these stressful events with their close friends. In fact, according to Jody Koenig Kellas, Haley Kranstuber Horstman, Erin K. Willer, and Kirsten Car (2015), 95% of people tell stories about stressful events soon after they occur to …

Does Locus Of Control Influence Parentification And Anxiety In Father-Daughter Relationships?, Cindy Mays

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Serving A Segregated City: Primary Medical Care Access Disparities In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Michael Vingiello

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Prosocial Effects Of Perpective-Taking Through Lego Play, Carlyle Francis C. Tagalog

Honors Theses

This study examined the claims in the LEGO Six Bricks Booklet regarding perspective-taking outcomes related to prosocial behaviors intended to benefit another (The LEGO Foundation, 2015; Dunfield, 2014). In helping situations, trait kindness also predicts prosocial behaviors (Lefevor et al., 2017). Sixty-eight subjects were randomly assigned to one of three conditions that varied perspective-taking. We conducted one-way ANOVAs with Bonferroni-Holm post-hoc tests to compare performances on the prosocial measure in the three conditions. The results showed no significant difference between means of the prosocial behaviors in each condition. Kindness levels also demonstrated no significant difference within each experimental group. It …

Experiences With Diversity: Microaggressions, Religiosity, And Psychological Wellbeing In A Diverse College Sample, Jessica Ann Stelfox

Honors Theses

This study examined students' beliefs about the existence of racial discrimination on Andrews' campus and their experience with behaviors classified as microaggressions. We used a survey composed of the following measures: Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (Hill and Argyle, 2002), Intrinsic/Extrinsic Religious Orientation (Francis, Fawcett, Robbins, & Stairs, 2016), Social Dominance (Pratto, Felicia, Sidanius, Stallworth, & Malle, 1994), and Racial and Ethnic Microaggression (Nadal, 2011). Pearson's R correlations and Qualitative Comparative Analysis (Thiem, 2016) were used to analyze subjects' responses (N-147). We found low overall levels of microaggressions across campus and focused our detailed analyses on three specific microaggressions: microinvalidations, 80% of …

Experiences Of Asexual People In The Lgbtq+ Community, Z Rankin

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

An Examination Of Resilience Over Time Between Men And Women In Psychological First Aid, Leiali'i Ruth Edwards

Honors Theses

Research has shown that Psychological First Aid (PFA) crisis intervention helps to promote resilience in individuals affected by traumatic events (Everly, 2012). This study examined differences in resilience levels between genders over time by comparing PFA with a Social Acknowledgment (control) condition. Using the Response to Stressful Events Scale (Johnson et al., 2011) to measure resilience, subject responses (N=41) were analyzed using a mixed between-within subjects ANOVA. Results indicated that there were no statistically significant main effects or interactions. These findings do not support the study's hypotheses that there would be a significant interaction between time and gender.

Wives’ Perceptions Of Husbands’ Housework And Parenting Contributions, Reilly Kate Kincaid

Honors Theses

Although husbands today may contribute more home and family labor than in previous decades, the type of contributions they make tend to be those of a “helpmate,” leaving the responsibility for organizing and managing housework and childcare to their wives. Gordon and Whelan-Berry (2005) found that husbands generally spent more time “doing” rather than “managing” in the household. The present study sought to examine working wives’ perceptions of how much their husbands “do” and/or “manage” in terms of housework and childcare. Results provide quantitative support for the high incidence of high-doing but low-managing husbands and shed light on the different …

Lending Club’S Note Trading Platform Facade: An Examination Of Peer-To-Peer (P2p) Lending Secondary Market Inefficiency, Stephen Harvey

Honors Theses

The original objective of the study was to monitor and analyze the inefficiencies in Lending Club’s Peer-toPeer (P2P) secondary market, in order to exploit these inefficiencies for a risk-free return. Upon a threemonth examination and analysis of the secondary market, the findings indicate that arbitrage conditions do not exist as a result of the observed volume of the marketplace being vastly lower than initially believed. Only 0.44% of note listing instances on Lending Club’s secondary market over the three-month period resulted in successful trades. As a consequence, investors assume a purported level of liquidity that is never met, thus they …

A Comparative Study Of Tooth Wear In Contemporary Us And Non-Us Populations To Evaluate The Validity Of Use In Estimating Region Of Origin, Amelie Marie Juneau

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Understanding The Political Media Of The Millennial Generation: The Validation Networks Of Liberal Millennials Through Twitter And Late-Night Television, Hannah Lampo

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

The Development And Role Of Diagnostic Imaging And Three-Dimensional Printing Technologies In Anthropology And Medicine, William Long

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

“When One Door Closes: The Evolution Of Journalists’ Gatekeeping Role”, Katherine Mariae Gagliano

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Disappearing Statehouse Bureaus: The Role Of Student Journalists In The Future Of Covering Government, Sarah Gamard

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.