Selecting a college or university: A study of students and their parents

This case study investigated the decision-making process of high-achieving high school students and their parents in selecting a college or university. The conceptual framework that guided this study included theoretical and empirical research framed around a three-phase model of college choice. Parental influence dominated the first phase of this model. The search phase, which was the second and the most crucial one, included financial considerations related to this decision, admissions considerations during the search phase, the psychology of decision making, and advertising strategies for teenagers. Once students completed the search phase they developed expectations of the institutions they considered prior to making the final decision. The study employed qualitative methods using individual interviews with students and their parents. ^ Six high-achieving high school seniors from a South Florida high school and their parents were selected to participate in this study. Of these students, four were female and two were male. Participants were individually interviewed on two separate occasions over a three-month period. Students and their parents were interviewed separately, with one exception, during the first set of interviews and together during the second. The data obtained from these interviews were transcribed and these transcripts were coded, categorized, analyzed, and sorted into major themes and submitted to interpretive analysis. ^ In-depth descriptions of participants' experiences during the decision-making process are described in the study. Financial factors—which included the cost of college, the socio-economic status of the family, and scholarship possibilities—drove the selection process for these students and their parents, most of whom reported their family incomes between the lower-middle to upper-middle class range. All of these students took advantage of the Bright Futures Scholarship Program, other scholarship opportunities, and the lower tuition costs of in-state public institutions. The effectiveness of recruitment techniques, such as brochures, campus visits, the development of college Web sites, and the overall impact of Internet resources, was assessed by the researcher. ^ As these students had progressed through the search phase, they developed perceptions of potential institutions as they were assisted by those around them. The value of familiarity with institutions and the use of heuristics were quite evident in the final analysis of this study, based on what the students communicated about how their knowledge of and comfort in these institutions affected their decisions. Parental influence played an important role in the selection process for the students in this study as the parents clearly directed the process, by the constant advice they gave their children and by the financial limitations they communicated to them. ^

A quantitative application of symbolic interactionism to advance directive completion by older adults

This study examined contextual and situational influences on older adults' decision to complete advance directives by means of a conceptual framework derived from symbolic interactionist theory and a cross-sectional, correlational research design. It was hypothesized that completion of advance directives among older adults would be associated with visiting or participating in the care of a terminally ill or permanently incompetent individual sustained by technology. Using a 53-item questionnaire, computer assisted telephone interviews (CATI) were conducted with 398 community dwelling adults between September and October 2003. Respondents were contacted using random-select dialing from a listed sample of 99% of household telephone numbers in one South Florida census tract. Over 90% of households in this tract include an individual age 65 or older. ^ The results revealed that contrary to most reports in the literature a substantial proportion of older adults (82%) had completed advance directives and that the link between older adults and document completion was mainly through attorneys and not mandated agents, health care professionals. Further, more than one third of older adults reported that religion/spirituality was not an important part of their life, suggesting that the recommended practice of offering religious/spiritual counseling to all those approaching death be reexamined. The hypothesis was not supported (p > .05) and is explained by the situational emphasis on the variables rather than on structural influences. In logistic regression analysis, only increasing age (p = .001) and higher education (p = < .001) were significant but explained only 10% of the variance in document completion. ^ Based on the findings, increased interdisciplinary collaboration is suggested with regard to the advance directive agenda. Since attorneys play a key role in document completion, other professions should seek their expertise and collaboration. In addition, the inclusion of a religious/spiritual preference section in all living wills should be considered as an essential part of a holistic and individually appropriate document. Implications for social work education, practice, and advocacy are discussed as well as suggestions for further research. ^

Team Primacy Concept-based employee evaluation and job performance

This qualitative case study explored how employees learn from Team Primacy Concept (TPC)-based employee evaluation and how they apply the knowledge in their job performance. Kolb's experiential learning model (1974) served as a conceptual framework for the study to reveal the process of how employees learn from TPC evaluation, namely, how they experience, reflect, conceptualize and act on performance feedback. TPC based evaluation is a form of multirater evaluation that consists of three components: self-feedback, supervisor's feedback, and peer feedback. The distinctive characteristic of TPC based evaluation is the team evaluation component during which the employee's professional performance is discussed by one's peers in a face-to-face team setting, while other forms of multirater evaluation are usually conducted in a confidential and anonymous manner.^ Case study formed the methodological framework. The case was the Southeastern Virginia (SEVA) region of the Institute for Family Centered Services, and the participants were eight employees of the SEVA region. Findings showed that the evaluation process was anxiety producing for employees, especially the process of peer evaluation in a team setting. Preparation was found to be an important phase of TPC evaluation. Overall, the positive feedback delivered in a team setting made team members feel acknowledged. The study participants felt that honesty in providing feedback and openness to hearing challenges were significant prerequisites to the TPC evaluation process. Further, in the planning phase, employees strove to develop goals for themselves that were meaningful. Also, the catalyst for feedback implementation appeared to stem from one's accountability to self and to the client or community. Generally, the participants identified a number of performance improvement goals that they attained during their employment with IFCS, which were supported by their developmental plans.^ In conclusion, the study identified the process by which employees learned from TPC-based employee evaluation and the ways in which they used the knowledge to improve their job performance. Specifically, the study examined how participants felt and what they thought about TPC-based feedback, in what ways they reflected and made meaning of the feedback, and how they used the feedback to improve their job performance.^

The role of the health care organization in supporting nurses in the delivery of culturally competent care

This study was designed to explore ways in which health care organizations (HCOs) can support nurses in their delivery of culturally competent care. While cultural competence has become a priority for the federal government as well as the major health professional organizations, its integration into care delivery has not yet been realized. Health professionals cite a lack of educational preparation, time, and organizational resources as barriers. Most experts in the field agree that the cultural and linguistic needs of ethnic minorities pose challenges that individual care providers are unable to manage without the support of the health care organizations within which they practice. While several studies have identified implications for HCOs, there is a paucity of research on their role in this aspect of care delivery. Using a qualitative design with a case study approach, data collection included face-to-face interviews with 23 registered nurses, document analysis, and reports of critical incidents. The site chosen was a large health care system in South Florida that serves a culturally diverse population. Major findings from the study included language barriers, lack of training, difficulty with cultural differences, lack of organizational support, and reliance on culturally diverse staff members. Most nurses thought the ethnic mix was adequate, but rated other supports such as language services, training, and patient education materials as inadequate. Some of the recommendations for organizational performance were to provide the expectations and support for culturally competent care. Implications and recommendations for practice include nurses using trained interpreters instead of relying on coworkers or trying to "wing it", pursuing training, and advocating for organizational supports for culturally competent care. Implications and recommendations for theory included a blended model that combines both models in the conceptual framework. Recommendations for future research were for studies on the impact of language bathers on care delivery, develop and test a quantitative instrument, and to incorporate Gilbert's model into nursing research.

Women of African descent: Persistence in completing doctorates

This study examines the educational persistence of women of African descent (WOAD) in pursuit of a doctorate degree at universities in the southeastern United States. WOAD are women of African ancestry born outside the African continent. These women are heirs to an inner dogged determination and spirit to survive despite all odds (Pulliam, 2003, p. 337).This study used Ellis’s (1997) Three Stages for Graduate Student Development as the conceptual framework to examine the persistent strategies used by these women to persist to the completion of their studies. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, transcribed, and analyzed for the 10 study participants. The study examined their beliefs, roles, and support systems utilized during their studies to help propel them to succeed. Interview data were analyzed using cross-case analysis to discover emerging themes and patterns. A comparative analysis was used to analyze the participants’ experiences and discover themes and patterns to review against the historical data. The findings showed that WOAD experienced feelings of isolation, neglect and racial prejudice as doctoral students. Their ability to formulate supportive relationships among each other and in their communities outside the university was key to their persistence to graduation. There still remains a need to create a more engaging and inclusive environment for nontraditional students, particularly those who are WOAD. The study concludes with six strategies of success used by these WOAD to persist to completion. Those six strategies include 1. Keeping the goal of earning a doctorate and graduating foremost on your mind. 2. Set a class and study schedule that allows you to balance family, work and study. 3. Take care of yourself, physically, mentally and emotionally. 4. Keep a goal chart to track your strides toward completion/graduation. 5. Establish a strong support system among your family, friends, colleagues and community; and 6. Do not let the “isms” (racism, sexism, and ageism) deter you.

The role of community college faculty in teaching and learning for sustainable development

The purpose of this study was to explore the attitudes, beliefs, and practices of community college professors regarding education for sustainable development (ESD). In-depth interviews with 14 professors from different disciplines were conducted. The participants taught at Miami Dade College, Florida, a Talloires Declaration signatory since 2006, and all had attended Green Studies professional development workshops. Written documents such as assignments and samples of student work were used for triangulation. The annual report of the college’s Earth Ethics Institute and its Web site served as additional sources. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for common themes. The Talloires Declaration’s 10-point action plan and the key characteristics of ESD (UN DESD, 2006) served as the conceptual framework. The study found that the professors considered ESD an essential issue. The majority discussed the economic and social aspects of ESD; however, the environmental aspect was mentioned most frequently. The professors’ conceptualizations of ESD were influenced by their experiences and evidenced by the metaphors they used. Although their engagement with ESD differed, the professors expressed optimism toward ESD related teaching and learning. They regarded ESD as compatible with their subjects, and most had already been infusing sustainability into their courses or planned to do so. Additionally, the participants’ teaching practices reflected many of the characteristics of ESD. Even though the professors considered ESD challenging, they believed that they could make contributions to the college’s effort. The metaphor of “Planting a Seed” was frequently used to describe this holistic approach. The study also found that many professors regarded interpersonal relationships and communication significant factors for the advancement of ESD. The participants described several challenges to integrating ESD at their college. These related to time constraints, density of curriculum, institutional size and fragmentation, dearth of administrative support and incentives, students’ lack of academic preparation and sustainability awareness, students’ inability to focus on ESD because of personal, social, or economic circumstances, and professors’ frustration about a divisive atmosphere as a result of their engagement with sustainability. Despite these obstacles, the professors believed that ESD could be successfully woven into the community college experience.

The representation of motherhood in contemporary Catalan fiction

This dissertation analyzes four twenty-first-century Catalan novels which present the complex positions occupied by mothers in the last seven decades. Its conceptual framework posits motherhood as both a changing social construction and a political institution in a constant state of flux. In Inma Monsó´s Todo un carácter (2001), Eva Piquer´s Una victoria diferente (2002), Carme Riera´s La mitad del alma (2004), and Najat El Hachmi´s El último patriarca (2008) motherhood is explored as a metaphorical act, a gender-constructing experience, as well as the locus of expression with regard to gender and power relations. During the dictatorship of Francisco Franco (1939–1975), the majority of women were excluded from public spaces, and forced to stay home to care for their husbands and children. Furthermore, the state criminalized abortion, made contraception and divorce illegal, and promoted an ideal of femininity based on silence, sacrifice, and self-denial. The political changes of the late 1970s allowed women greater personal autonomy, and many women writers began to challenge stereotypical views of women’s social roles. Yet in the 70s and 80s, the narratives of Esther Tusquets, Ana María Moix, and Montserrat Roig represent the mother as a repressive figure whom the daughter must reject in order to liberate herself and regain her voice. It is not until the 90s when the novelists Mercedes Abad, Maruja Torres, Carme Riera, Imma Monsó, Eva Piquer, and María Barbal rehumanize the mother figure, recovering their matrilineal heritage. However, far from suggesting a unified trend in representations of motherhood in Catalan fiction, the diverse points of view of the novels under discussion here reveal that differences in attitudes among women authors about mother-daughter conflict are far from resolved. The theoretical background for this dissertation draws mainly on the work of Adrienne Rich, Nancy Chodorow, and Julia Kristeva. It includes psychoanalytic studies as well as sociologically based essays by Anna López Puig, Amparo Acereda, Jacqueline Cruz, Barbara Zecchi, Ángeles de la Concha, and Raquel Osborne, among others.

Across-scale patterning of plant-soil-water interactions surrounding tree islands in Southern Everglades landscapes

The freshwater Everglades is a complex system containing thousands of tree islands embedded within a marsh-grassland matrix. The tree island-marsh mosaic is shaped and maintained by hydrologic, edaphic and biological mechanisms that interact across multiple scales. Preserving tree islands requires a more integrated understanding of how scale-dependent phenomena interact in the larger freshwater system. The hierarchical patch dynamics paradigm provides a conceptual framework for exploring multi-scale interactions within complex systems. We used a three-tiered approach to examine the spatial variability and patterning of nutrients in relation to site parameters within and between two hydrologically defined Everglades landscapes: the freshwater Marl Prairie and the Ridge and Slough. Results were scale-dependent and complexly interrelated. Total carbon and nitrogen patterning were correlated with organic matter accumulation, driven by hydrologic conditions at the system scale. Total and bioavailable phosphorus were most strongly related to woody plant patterning within landscapes, and were found to be 3 to 11 times more concentrated in tree island soils compared to surrounding marshes. Below canopy resource islands in the slough were elongated in a downstream direction, indicating soil resource directional drift. Combined multi-scale results suggest that hydrology plays a significant role in landscape patterning and also the development and maintenance of tree islands. Once developed, tree islands appear to exert influence over the spatial distribution of nutrients, which can reciprocally affect other ecological processes.

Essays of strategic alliance portfolio configuration—Its performance properties, strategic antecedents and consequential effects on multinational firms' continuing foreign expansion

This dissertation focused on an increasingly prevalent phenomenon in today's global business environment—strategic alliance portfolio. Building on resource-based view, resource dependency theory and real options theory, this dissertation adopted a multi-dimensional perspective to examine the performance implications, strategic antecedents of alliance portfolio configuration, and its strategic effects on firms' decision-making on their continuing foreign expansion. The dissertation consisted of three interrelated essays, each of which dealt with a specific research question. In the first essay I applied a two-dimensional construct that embraces both alliance relations' and alliance partners' attributes to illustrate alliance portfolio configuration. Based on this framework, a longitudinal study was conducted attempting to explore the performance properties of alliance portfolio configuration. The results revealed that alliance diversity and partner diversity have different relative contributions to firms' economic performance. The relationship between alliance portfolio configuration and firm performance was shaped by degree of multinationality in a curvilinear pattern. The second essay attempted to identify the firm level driving forces of alliance portfolio configuration and how these forces interacting with firms' internationalization influence firms' strategic choices on alliance portfolio configuration. The empirical results indicated that past alliance experience, slack resource and firms' brand images are three critical determinants shaping alliance portfolios, but those shaping relationships are conditioned by firms' multinationality. The third essay primarily employed real options theory to build a conceptual framework, revealing how country-, alliance portfolio-, firm-, and industry level factors and their interactions influence firms' strategic decision-making on post-entry continuing expansion in foreign markets. The two empirical studies were resided in global hospitality and travel industries and use panel data to test the relevant theoretical models. Overall, the dissertation advanced and enriched the theoretical domain of alliance portfolio. It particularly shed valuable insights on three fundamental questions in the domain of alliance portfolio research, namely "if and how alliance portfolios contribute to firms' economic performance"; "what determines the appearance of alliance portfolios”; and "how alliance portfolios affect firms' strategic decision-making". This dissertation also extended the international business and strategic management research on service multinationals' foreign expansion and performance.

The Complacent Acceptance of Diversity: Human Resource Development in a Culturally Diverse Environment

This paper examines the inability of work organizations to achieve racial balance and use training and development, organization development, and multicultural organizational development principles to manage and enable diversity initiatives. The paper proposes a conceptual framework for a micro and macro model as an approach to diversity initiatives.

Caring for the Caregiver: Emotional Challenges of Pediatric Palliative Care Nurses

Pediatric Palliative Care (PPC) nurses provide quality-of-life for critically ill children. This paper looks at how PPC nurses cope with caregiver emotions within the conceptual framework of emotional labor and emotional intelligence.

Third Space Theory: Reconceptualizing Content Literacy Learning

This paper develops, through a literature review, a conceptual framework for a study in process of the literacy views and practices of youth offenders. The framework offers a reconceptualized view of literacy to increase opportunities for content literacy learning with marginalized youth.

Service Management Concepts: Implications for Hospitality Management

In - Service Management Concepts: Implications for Hospitality Management – a study by K. Michael Haywood, Associate Professor, School of Hotel and Food Administration, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, Associate Professor Haywood initially proffers: “The study and application of hospitality management has progressed on its own for many years; however, managers are not immune to the knowledge gained from study of other service industries. The author synthesizes what is happening in the area of service management, looks at its relevance to hospitality management, and identifies a few important implications of service management for hospitality managers.” The author draws a distinction between non-denominated service management, and service management as it applies to the hospitality industry. This is done to make an apparent comparison, as many people would assume the two are one in the same. They are not, and the contrast works well here. “While much of what we already know about effective management applies to service industries, some of the traditional concepts of management are inadequate in solving the problems faced by service businesses,” Haywood points out. “If a body of knowledge to be known as service management already exists, or is being developed, where does it fit relative to hospitality management,” Haywood asks. According to John Bateson, Testing a Conceptual Framework for Consumer Service Marketing, there are four criteria used to judge service management. Haywood details these for you, the reader, by way of citation. Haywood points to the difficulty in pin-pointing the intangibles that underpin the service industry. Since service is a concept rather than a touchable good, such as inventory, problems arise for both the organization and the client. Haywood points to a classic study of four service industries in France to illustrate the problems, although no realistic suggestions address the issues. “Over the past few years a variety of system models have been developed to explain the service process, that is, how the service is designed, produced, delivered, and consumed,” Haywood offers. These models are depicted in Appendices A-E. In offering perspectives on how the hospitality industry can gain from the experiences of service management, Haywood observes: “Service management places particular emphasis on a strategic outlook. Hospitality firms would be wise to carefully examine how they are perceived in the marketplace vis-a-vis their service concept, position, competitive situation, and management’s leadership abilities.” “Learning from the experiences of other service firms can help keep a company on track, that is, providing needed and valued services,” he closes the thought.

The relationship between faculty perceptions and implementation of elements of transactional distance theory and online web-based course completion rates

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between faculty perceptions, selected demographics, implementation of elements of transactional distance theory and online web-based course completion rates. This theory posits that the high transactional distance of online courses makes it difficult for students to complete these courses successfully; too often this is associated with low completion rates. Faculty members play an indispensable role in course design, whether online or face-to-face. They also influence course delivery format from design through implementation and ultimately to how students will experience the course. This study used transactional distance theory as the conceptual framework to examine the relationship between teaching and learning strategies used by faculty members to help students complete online courses. Faculty members' sex, number of years teaching online at the college, and their online course completion rates were considered. A researcher-developed survey was used to collect data from 348 faculty members who teach online at two prominent colleges in the southeastern part of United States. An exploratory factor analysis resulted in six factors related to transactional distance theory. The factors accounted for slightly over 65% of the variance of transactional distance scores as measured by the survey instrument. Results provided support for Moore's (1993) theory of transactional distance. Female faculty members scored higher in all the factors of transactional distance theory when compared to men. Faculty number of years teaching online at the college level correlated significantly with all the elements of transactional distance theory. Regression analysis was used to determine that two of the factors, instructor interface and instructor-learner interaction, accounted for 12% of the variance in student online course completion rates. In conclusion, of the six factors found, the two with the highest percentage scores were instructor interface and instructor-learner interaction. This finding, while in alignment with the literature concerning the dialogue element of transactional distance theory, brings a special interest to the importance of instructor interface as a factor. Surprisingly, based on the reviewed literature on transactional distance theory, faculty perceptions concerning learner-learner interaction was not an important factor and there was no learner-content interaction factor.

Effect of child care subsidies on price and quality of care for low -income families

This dissertation examines the effect of regulations, resource and referral agencies, and subsidies on price and quality of care in child care centers. This research is based on a carefully developed conceptual framework that incorporates the factors affecting the demand and supply of child care. The first step in developing this framework is sketching out the structural equations. The structural equations help us understand the underlying behavior of individuals and firms making a decision. The exogenous variables are vector of attributes relating to family characteristics, child characteristics, regulations, subsidy, community characteristics and prices of inputs. Based on the structural equations, reduced form equations are estimated to find the effect of each of the exogenous variables on each of the endogenous variables. Reduced form equations help us answer public policy questions. The sample for this study is from the 1990 Profile of Child Care Settings (PCCS) data in which 2,089 center based programs were interviewed.^ Child/Staff Ratio (Group Level). Results indicate that among subsidies, only the state subsidy per child in poverty has a significant effect on the child/staff ratio at the group level. Presence of resource and referral agencies also increase the child/staff ratio at the group level. Also when the maximum center group size regulation for 25-36 months becomes more stringent, the child/staff ratio at the group level decreases.^ Child/Staff Ratio (Center Level). When the regulations for the maximum child/staff ratio for age groups 13-24 months and 37-60 months become lax, the child/staff ratio for the center increases. As the regulation for maximum group size for infants becomes stringent, the child/staff ratio decreases. An interesting finding is that as the regulations for maximum group size for age groups 13-24 months and 25-36 months become stringent, the child/staff ratio for the center increases. Another significant finding is that when a center is located in a rural area the child/staff ratio is significantly lower.^ Center Weighted Average Hourly Fees. Maximum group size regulations for age groups 25-36 months and 37-60 months have a negative effect on center hourly fee. Maximum child staff regulations for age groups 13-24 months and 37-60 months have a negative effect on center hourly fee. Maximum child staff regulations for age groups 0-12 months and 25-36 months have a positive effect on center hourly fee. Findings also indicate that the center average hourly price is lower when there is a resource and referral agency present. Cost adjusted prekindergarten funds and JOBS child care subsidies have a negative effect on average hourly fee. Cost adjusted social services block grant and state subsidy per child in poverty have a positive effect on the average hourly price. A major finding of this dissertation is the interaction of subsidy and regulatory variables.^ Another major finding is that child/staff ratio at the group level is lower when there is an interaction between geographic location and nature of center sponsorship. ^