Browsing by Author "Most, David, committee member"
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Item Open Access A multiple case study of instructors utilizing classroom response systems (CRS) to achieve pedagogical goals(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) Milholland, Eric Stanley, author; Kaminski, Karen, advisor; Timpson, William, committee member; Most, David, committee member; Miller, Jeffrey, committee memberThis study examined five instructors who have employed Classroom Response Systems (CRS) for a minimum of five years. Instructors were asked their initial pedagogical goals when adopting CRS, and also to describe any changes in those goals or use of the technology since that time. Emerging themes were identified using a multiple case study methodology. All instructors said their use of CRS evolved and changed from initial adoption to their current use of the technology today. Student engagement was the single ubiquitous reason provided for choosing to employ CRS. Other potential reason for using CRS include: peer instruction via group and cooperative learning, increasing student responsibility, reducing lecture while increasing interaction, employing deep learning pedagogy, redistributing classroom power back to students, increasing student achievement, and making classroom learning more enjoyable. No single technique appeared to be required to benefit from the use of CRS. Instructors described an assortment of practices they found personally successful in a variety of classroom sizes. Some even chose to utilize the same pedagogical techniques as if they were using CRS, but purposefully eschewed the devices because they found them too constraining for the desired learning outcome. This indicates that the teaching methodology was more important that the technology. CRS seems to be suitable for performing a variety of pedagogical tasks, even if it is not the ideal way to achieve any single one. Based on this research, it appears the greatest strength of CRS is that it can proficiently accomplish a multitude of learning goals in a relatively easy manner.Item Open Access A theoretical model of organizational ambidexterity in hospitals(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2011) Bodwell, Wendy, author; Makela, Carole J., advisor; Most, David, committee member; Gloeckner, Gene, committee member; Markman, Gideon, committee memberThis study defined organizational ambidexterity (OA) and offered a theoretical framework for its application in hospitals and human resource development (HRD) theory and practice. Lynham's (2000) general method of theory building research for applied disciplines was used to construct the model. A survey instrument was developed and pretested on a small sample, then mailed nationally to 6,000 directors working in 2,000 randomly selected hospitals. Forty-nine of 50 states participated in the survey. Wyoming was the only state from which responses were not received. Data were collected from 1,490 hospital directors and 893 hospitals and analyzed using principal components factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, analysis of variance, and multilevel modeling (MLM). Findings showed exploration and exploitation are two latent factors of one second-order construct; OA specifically. Findings revealed high levels of OA in hospitals generally and higher levels of OA in large hospitals than small ones. Investor-owned and not-for-profit hospitals reported similar levels of OA. Statistical evidence supported the notion OA is positively related to perceived quality and financial performance in hospitals. In the era of healthcare reform, theories and methods with potential for improving perceived quality and financial performance are relevant to meeting customer demand and sustaining hospital operations and strategy.Item Open Access Advancing equity in middle school science: the role of classroom cultures and curricular structures(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Singleton, Corinne, author; Birmingham, Daniel, advisor; Jennings, Louise, committee member; Koslovsky, Matthew, committee member; Most, David, committee member; Penuel, William R., committee memberThis dissertation explores the role of classroom culture in shaping equitable student experiences and outcomes in science education, and examines how curricular structures might further reinforce equity. Here, equity in science education means supporting student identification, belonging, and learning in science, with particular attention to disrupting historical patterns of inequity that have created barriers to participation for students from historically marginalized populations. Classroom culture is a critical component of equity because it shapes student experiences and opportunities within science and determines whose voices, experiences, epistemologies, and cultural connections have credence within science learning. For their part, curricula shape how students interact with science content and serve to expand or constrain the breadth, depth, and rigor of the content that students experience. The outcomes of study are student interest and belonging, both critical for broadening participation in science because they are associated not only with improved learning, but also with meaningful participation in classroom science communities, course-taking patterns, and career decisions. The first two papers in this dissertation draw on large-scale survey data from 847 middle-school students in more than 30 OpenSciEd classrooms across the country. We use hierarchical linear modeling with students nested within classrooms to examine the extent of classroom-level variation in classroom culture, and how key features of equitable science classroom cultures relate to student interest and belonging in science. In both cases, we find significant classroom-level variation in culture, suggesting that classroom culture can be an important lever for equitable transformation. The first paper explores the relationship between classrooms reflecting collective enterprise and care with student interest in science. We find a strong and consistent relationship between collective enterprise and care, respectively, with student interest. We propose that these attributes of classroom culture may bolster student interest in science by supporting relationships and by connecting with the cognitive, emotional, and values-related components of interest. The second paper examines how classroom epistemologies of science relate to students' sense of belonging in science. Again we find a strong and consistent relationship between classrooms reflecting broader and more flexible epistemologies of science, with belonging in science. We consider the tensions between the science-as-practice vision of science education and the pervasive cultures of school science to contextualize the observed variation in classroom epistemologies of science. We argue that a concerted "epistemic boost" in science education may be necessary to fully realize the science-as-practice vision of science education. Finally, the third paper uses data from 38 teacher interviews to understand aspects of the science curriculum that teachers found supported their efforts to build equitable science classrooms. While many curricula address equity through increased representation of minority scientists or through guidance for teachers around equitable instruction, I argue that the design of curricular structures has been underappreciated as a potential venue for bolstering equitable science participation opportunities for students. I propose that curricular structures designed to support deep and authentic content learning can serve double duty by structuring student learning tasks and participation in ways that reinforce equitable classroom cultures. Collectively, these three papers contribute to the goal of expanding opportunities for students to connect with and succeed in science. They focus on valuable potential levers for equity, namely classroom culture and curricular structures. They help us to understand how relational and epistemic aspects of the classroom culture, and intentionally designed curricular structures, have the potential to expand how students understand science as a discipline, its value and relevance for their lives, and their own place within the world of science.Item Open Access An evaluation of hemp fiber for furnishing applications(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2011) De Miranda, DeeDee, author; Sarkar, Ajoy, advisor; Sparks, Diane, committee member; Most, David, committee memberBy all accounts, petroleum resources currently used as raw material for manufacturing synthetic fibers are rapidly depleting. It is urgent that professionals in the textile industry begin to consider alternative resources for raw material used for fiber. While contemplating replacement resources it is important that sustainable, renewable and less polluting natural fibers be considered for uses hitherto dominated by synthetic fibers. Among natural fibers, the bast fiber hemp is a potential substitute due to its excellent fiber properties. In addition to its desirable textile characteristics, hemp is often praised as an excellent rotational crop requiring little use of pesticides. Historically, hemp has been used for industrial purposes including ropes, nets, paper, cloth, sails, and oil. According to recent published reports, use of hemp fiber in the furnishings market is on the rise. However, no published research has evaluated the suitability of hemp for furnishing products. Therefore, the goal of this investigation was to shed light on the viability of hemp fiber for furnishing applications via studies designed to evaluate the performance of hemp fiber towards meeting ASTM specifications for woven upholstery fabrics. The primary objective of the study was to compare and contrast the performance characteristics of 100% woven cotton and 100% woven hemp fabrics of three different weave structures with regard to colorfastness to crocking, colorfastness to light, soil release, colorfastness to water, flammability, abrasion resistance, tearing strength, breaking strength and elongation. It was found that there was no difference between cotton and hemp fabrics in terms of colorfastness to crocking; oily stain release; flammability; tearing strength; breaking strength and elongation. For colorfastness to light, the hemp fabrics in this study exhibited noticeable color change. It is suggested that an ultraviolet absorber treatment may provide enhanced resistance to color change caused by exposure to light. With regard to colorfastness to water, hemp fabrics performed satisfactorily indicating that steam cleaning of hemp furnishing fabrics in this study is not a concern. For abrasion resistance, the performance of hemp fabrics was slightly less than the cotton fabrics in the study. In conclusion, based on test results and benchmark comparisons, this study indicates that hemp is a viable fiber for use in furnishing applications. However, due to the small sample size of the study, the results cannot be extrapolated to the population of all commercially available hemp and cotton fabrics.Item Open Access An examination of the value of community in natural resources education(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014) Archie, Tim, author; Newman, Peter, advisor; Vaske, Jerry, committee member; Bruyere, Brett, committee member; Most, David, committee memberThe Warner College of Natural Resources (WCNR) at Colorado State University has purposefully implemented a range of programs which emphasize social factors, such as sense of community, and are designed to increase the likelihood of student success. Typical measures of student success in WCNR (and higher education in general) have included student outcomes such as: retention, engagement, learning, and enhancing the overall student experience. However, little is known to what extent social factors such as sense of community have value in influencing student outcomes such as retention, learning, and students' overall experience. Therefore, the overall purpose of this dissertation was to examine the value of community in influencing student outcomes. This dissertation studied the role of community in influencing student outcomes in two types of academic programs (learning communities & fieldwork courses) and examined how students' level of social engagement within the WCNR community was related to their overall experience within the college. Chapter one outlines theories of student retention, experiential learning, and student engagement. Chapters two and three examined academic programs that have been shown to promote a sense of community: a residential first year learning community (chapter two) and fieldwork course (chapter three). In chapter four, the investigation of community was expanded beyond single programs and explored the extent to which students' social experience and participation in the WCNR community is related to their satisfaction with their overall experience within the college. Chapter five provides summaries of these studies and implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research. The first study examined sense of community in residential learning communities. Learning communities have been shown to effectively retain students and promote a sense of community, but it is unclear to what extent learning communities' effectiveness in retaining students can be attributed to sense of community. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study was to determine the value of the sense of community created by learning communities in influencing student persistence. The results of this study indicated that learning communities were effective in promoting a sense of community and students were generally not planning to leave the institution because their sense of community needs were not met. The second study examined the value of experiential learning in a fieldwork course at Pingree Park. Prior work has shown that fieldwork courses are effective in producing knowledge and skills that are transferable beyond the course, and a sense of community, but it is unclear to what extent the effectiveness of fieldwork courses in producing these outcomes can be attributed to a sense of community. The findings of this study indicated that sense of community had value in influencing knowledge and subsequently confidence in knowledge and skills gained in a residentially based field course. Additionally, sense of community had a significantly weaker effect on these outcomes, likely due to the less immersive social interactions with peers and the quality of sense of community they experienced compared to residential field course participants. The third and final study explored social engagement in the WCNR and the value of social engagement in influences student satisfaction. Social engagement was reflective of students' perceptions and level of participation of social components of the WCNR community. The findings of this study indicated that the more socially engaged a student is, the more satisfied they were with their WCNR experience. Additionally, active and collaborative learning, which is incorporated in many WCNR programs, was shown to positively influence social engagement. These findings suggest that the programs designed which incorporate active and collaborative learning have value in influencing students' perceptions and level of participation in the WCNR community and subsequently their overall satisfaction with WCNR.Item Open Access Developing a valid scale of past tornado experiences(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) Demuth, Julie L., author; Trumbo, Craig, advisor; Long, Marilee, committee member; Morss, Rebecca, committee member; Most, David, committee member; Peek, Lori, committee member; Zimmerman, Donald, committee memberPeople's past experience with a hazard theoretically is a key factor in how they perceive a future risk because experience is a mechanism through which one acquires knowledge about a risk. Despite this, past hazard experience has been conceptualized and measured in wide-ranging and often simplistic ways by researchers, resulting in mixed findings about the relationship between experience and risk perception. Thus, dimensions of past hazard experiences are not validly known, nor is it known how one's experiences relate to their assessment of future risks. Past hazard experience is particularly relevant in the context of weather risks, which are common enough for people to acquire many experiences. This dissertation presents the results of a study to develop a valid scale of past experiences in the context of tornado risks. The scale is developed by, first, conceptualizing and identifying dimensions of past tornado experience, and subsequently by examining the relationship between the different experience dimensions and people's tornado risk perception. Data were collected through two mixed-mode (Web+mail) surveys of the public who reside in tornado-prone areas. An initial set of items to measure people's most memorable tornado experience as well as their experiences with multiple tornado threats were developed and evaluated with the first survey. Additional aspects of people's past tornado experiences were elicited in their own words to identify potentially important ideas that were not captured in the original item set. The item set then was revised and evaluated with the second survey. The second survey also included a scale to measure people's cognitive-affective tornado risk perceptions. Six latent dimensions of people's past tornado experiences emerged from this study: most-memorable experience-related risk awareness, risk personalization, personal intrusive impacts, and vicarious troubling impacts, as well as multiple experiences with common personal threats and impacts and negative emotional responses. Risk awareness captures the event-specific awareness by the respondent and from social cues about the possibility of the hazard occurring and concern about it causing harm. Risk personalization captures one's protective and emotional responses as well as direct visual, auditory, and tactile sensory inputs of the hazard. Personal intrusive impacts capture unwelcome thoughts, feelings, and disruption caused by the hazard. Vicarious troubling impacts capture the tangible property damage and loss incurred by others, disruption to others, and others' verbal accounts of their experiences. Common personal threats and impacts capture the amount of experiences one has with official tornado warnings and sirens and with news coverage about tornado events and their impacts. Finally, negative emotional responses capture the amount of experience one has fearing and worrying due to tornadoes. Subsequently, these different dimensions were shown to have varying influences on cognitive, affective, and overall tornado risk perception. Personal intrusive impacts had a pervasive effect, enhancing each of the risk perception dimensions with especially strong influences on affective and overall risk perception. Risk awareness and risk personalization influenced cognitive and overall risk perception, but only when combined with the other experience dimensions, suggesting that these experiences may be made more salient when joint with others. Overall, this research theoretically advances how past experience is conceptualized and how it relates to risk perception, and it serves as a foundation for future theoretical and applied research that could leverage and extend this work.Item Open Access Dyadic flexibility and positive affect in mother-child interaction and child effortful control as independent and interacting predictors of child internalizing behaviors(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Albrecht, Erin C., author; Lunkenheimer, Erika S., advisor; Fidler, Deborah J., committee member; Most, David, committee memberThe current study examined both the structure (i.e., in terms of dynamic systems based indicators of flexibility) and the affective content of mother-child interaction, as these relate to children's internalizing behaviors. Child effortful control (EC) was also examined. Together, child EC, dyadic flexibility and dyadic positive affect were tested as independent and interactive predictors of children's internalizing behaviors. In a sample of 100 mother-child dyads when children were approximately 3 years of age, dyads participated in a free play interaction task, and children's EC was observed in a gift delay, snack, and tower task at T1. At T2, mothers and partners reported on children's internalizing behaviors. Child EC significantly predicted internalizing behaviors at T2; there were significant within-time relations between dynamic measures of mother-child interaction and internalizing, and the relation between dynamic measures of mother-child affect at T1 showed a trend towards significantly predicting internalizing at T2. This short-term longitudinal assessment of mother-child interaction and child EC illustrates the complex processes involved in the prediction of children's internalizing behaviors.Item Open Access Effects of music on joint attention between individuals with autism and neurotypical siblings(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) Montgomery, Jaley A., author; LaGasse, A. Blythe, advisor; Knight, Andrew, committee member; Most, David, committee memberGiven that a common social skills deficit for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is joint attention, and that development in joint attention can cause improvement in other social skill deficit areas such as affect, imitation, initiation of socialization, and expressive language (Ferraioli & Harris, 2011), it is necessary to examine treatment options that promote joint attention. This study measured the effects of music versus non-music interventions on joint attention between individuals with ASD and neurotypical siblings. One sibling pair (dyad) participated in this study. To be eligible for the study, one sibling must have an ASD diagnosis, be between the ages of 6 to 10 years old, have a sibling up to three years older with no ASD or related diagnosis, speak English as a primary language, and both siblings free of significant visual or hearing impairments. The sibling dyad received two fifteen-minute sessions a week for two weeks. The first session of each week was a music session designed to elicit joint attention in siblings. In the second session of each week, the group participated in a fifteen-minute non-music session designed to elicit joint attention between siblings. The neurotypical sibling primarily led these sessions, with video instruction shown to the participants before each task in the sessions.Item Open Access Exploding heads, doing school and intangible work: an ethnographic case study of first year education doctoral students becoming education researchers(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2011) Meyer-Parsons, Beatrice, author; Banning, James, advisor; MacPhee, David, advisor; Kees, Nathalie, committee member; Most, David, committee memberThere is limited research concerned with how education doctoral students become education researchers, what Labaree (2003) described as "the peculiar problems of preparing education researchers." This is an ethnographic case study of a cohort of first year education doctoral students in a qualitative research classroom for the purpose of better understanding how they are becoming education researchers and "scholars of the discipline," able to guide both practice and policy. In this study, students described feeling met by the instructor with respect and developing new perspectives and actions by taking on the role of qualitative researcher. However, students also described experiencing "exploding heads" as they attempted to meet time constraints, competing demands within the program and in connection with commitments to family, work and other, personal projects. Within this culture of contradictions students engaged in strategies to manage their "exploding heads": they were "doing school" and "doing the intangible work" of becoming education researchers by strategies of self. "Getting the work done" and meeting instructor requirements were ways of "doing school". Negotiating commitments and resources (e.g., time away from family); making schoolwork "personal"; identifying as "certain kinds of people" (e.g., teacher); and/or identifying/dis-identifying with other students, faculty or valued persons were strategies of the self. Based on these students' descriptions, an ecological typology of students was developed: "savvy" students (who were "doing school"); "working from the self" students (who were actively fashioning selves); and "disconnecting students." For (future) education doctoral students the study suggests possible challenges, such as the ability to value contradictions as opportunities for expanding perspectives and taking new actions, as well as the need to actively engage in the intangible work of finding means for continuity and confirmation of self. In terms of classroom teaching, an action, paradoxical pedagogy is suggested to provide a "becoming space," an ecology that can create opportunities out of contradictions. From an organizational perspective the study suggests that schools of education consider curriculum, program requirements and faculty talk as areas to provide messages and niches for students who are actively looking to identify and connect their selves while becoming education researchers.Item Open Access Exploring women of color's expressions of mathematical identity: the role of institutional resources and mathematical values(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Street, Ciera, author; Ellis Hagman, Jessica, advisor; Soto, Hortensia, committee member; Arnold, Elizabeth, committee member; Most, David, committee memberThere is a persistent and growing global call to examine, challenge, and transform exclusionary structures and systems within mathematics education (Laursen & Austin, 2020; Reinholz et al., 2019; Thomas & Drake, 2016; Wagner et al., 2020). An important component of this call examines students' mathematical identity. While a growing body of work considers how students' social identities interplay with their mathematical identity (e.g., Akin et al., 2022; English-Clarke et al., 2012), few studies consider mathematical identity at the intersection of gender and race (Ibourk et al., 2022; Leyva, 2016; 2021). This dissertation study explores undergraduate women of color's expressions of mathematical identity and the institutional structures and ideologies that influence these expressions. Following a three-paper model, each paper utilizes critical theories and an intersectional lens to recognize the gendered and racialized context of higher education mathematical spaces and the ways these discourses influence women of color's mathematical identity. The first paper employs large-scale quantitative and qualitative data from a national survey on students' undergraduate calculus experiences to explore women of color's expressions of mathematical identity. Informed by Data Feminism, I use a cluster analysis to group women of color survey respondents based on four subdomains of mathematical identity and contextualize each group using qualitative survey responses. The second paper draws from Nasir's (2011) material and relational identity resources to examine the institutional resources available and accessible to undergraduate women of color to support their mathematical identity. Results from participant interviews indicate various supportive identity resources, such as peer relationships and student support programs. The results also describe unavailable, inaccessible, or detrimental identity resources, such as the lack of representation within the mathematics faculty and an exclusionary mathematics community. Using a sociopolitical lens, the third paper discusses the sociohistorical background of white, patriarchal mathematical values and the ways these values create inequities in undergraduate mathematical spaces. Interviews with participants suggest a clear misalignment between these sociohistorical mathematical values and women of color's mathematical and mathematics education values. Together, these three papers emphasize within-group differences among women of color's mathematical identity and the different ways material, relational, and ideological resources can support or hinder women of color's mathematical identities. I conclude this dissertation study by illustrating connections across the three papers. I also provide implications for teaching, policy, and research to challenge exclusionary mathematical systems and support women of color's mathematical identity.Item Open Access Federal sexual misconduct policy impact on intersectional identities: a critical quantitative study(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Gardner, John S., author; Carlson, Laurie, advisor; Most, David, committee member; Munoz, Susana, committee member; Tungate, Susan, committee memberSexual misconduct is an epidemic on college campuses. Studies show consistently that one in five women on college campuses experience sexual assault during their academic career. When a broader range of types of sexual misconduct are included, the percentage of women and other gendered students who experienced sexual misconduct increases greatly, to at times above 50%, in the literature. Additionally, racial and ethnic minorities, trans* and gender non-binary persons, lesbian, and gay, and bisexual persons all experience sexual victimization at higher rates than their dominant group peers according to research studies. Research has neglected to address how intersectional identities experience sexual misconduct. In 2013, the federal government passed the Violence Against Women Reauthorization of 2013 in order, in part, to address sexual misconduct on college campuses. The bill specifically focused on prevention efforts and reporting requirements for institutions of higher education. This study utilized a critical quantitative methodology to explore the question of how students have experienced the federal policy change at 21 Missouri institutions of higher education from 2012-2016 using an intersectionality framework. Within this issue, it is important to understand how marginalized populations were or were not served by policy and if the policy change impacted the rates of sexual misconduct. The study found that the Violence Against Women's Act of 2013 impacted different intersectional social locations differently. The data indicated the potential for effective educational efforts and increased assistance when examining the whole study population. In examining all participants over the five years of the study, there was a general indication of increased experience of sexual misconduct across several categories of sexual misconduct. The data also suggested more participants sought assistance after experiencing sexual misconduct over the time period of the study for the entire population of the study. However, the participants did not indicate that the effectiveness of the assistance received after experiencing sexual misconduct increased. A general theme across many social locations was the benefit of privileged aspects of social locations such as heterosexual or White, European-American, or Caucasian participants often had a better response in the data to the VAWA 2013 policy change compared to their less privileged peers. Inequity regarding the impact of the VAWA 2013 policy change was also evident with gender and ethnicity regarding transgender participants, gender and race regarding Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander participants, and race and sexuality regarding lesbian, queer, and questioning participants amongst other social locations throughout the time period of the study. The complexity of the 62 different social locations provides pathways for both praxis and future research.Item Open Access Shades of risk: a mixed-methods approach to designing and testing a new hurricane map graphic(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Rosen, Zoey, author; Long, Marilee, advisor; Abrams, Katie, committee member; Sivakumar, Gayathri, committee member; Magzamen, Sheryl, committee member; Most, David, committee memberMap graphics are a popular tool for hazard risk communication, layered with numerical, verbal, and visual information to describe an uncertain threat. In the hurricane context, graphics are used to communicate the probability of different threats over a forecasting period. While hurricane graphics have been studied in the past, they have not been analyzed from the design phase through to the intended audience. Additionally, hurricane graphics have not been designed with colorblind-friendly accessibility in mind. This dissertation presents the results of a three-phase, mixed methods study: (a) graphic development, (b) testing with expert user groups, and (c) testing with a public sample. In the development phase (a), I used the best practices for using probability language, color schemes, and localization into map graphics from literature in forecasting, communication, universal design, and emergency management. Additionally, I held informal interviews with professionals from the National Hurricane Center to develop the prototype with their recommendations for the design. In the first testing phase b, I interviewed 19 expert users (emergency managers and meteorologists) from Florida and Louisiana about their preferences for and feedback on the design elements of a new hurricane graphic, as well as if there were individual characteristics that influenced how accurate they were in interpreting wind exceedance data, such as risk perception, confidence, experience, spatial cognition, and numeracy levels. In phase c, I tested the wind exceedance graphic prototypes using a public sample (n = 624) from Louisiana and Florida to gather data on the accuracy of their interpretations for the graphic, again measuring confidence, experience, spatial cognition, and numeracy levels, as well as their design preferences and risk perceptions. The results of the two testing phases (b and c) center around how accurate experts and the public were with interpreting the graphic, as well as if there were other factors that influenced this accuracy, such as spatial cognition or numeracy. Additionally, the results describe both groups' design preferences, risk perceptions of the color schemes and overlays, and how experts think about vulnerability when using the graphic. In both groups, numeracy and spatial cognition were found to predict accuracy of interpretation for a wind exceedance graphic prototype. Likewise, both confidence and experience were found to have a positive relationship with accuracy. Regarding the design choices, both experts and the public preferred a yellow-to-red scheme, though experts thought the yellow-to-red scheme presented the hazard as riskier and the public thought the reds-only was riskier. Adding overlays to the graphic, such as interstates or city landmarks, helped the participants to orient themselves on the map. Experts and the public preferred that there were overlays added to the graphic and scored this version of the graphic as risker than a version without any overlays. The addition of the overlays prompted expert users to think more about the risk and vulnerability of the people in those areas on the map. Vulnerability was conceptualized from both a physical and social standpoint by the experts and applied to how they would use the wind exceedance graphic in a briefing to communicate to their community partners. Overall, this research provides a model for how hazard risk map graphics can be studied from design through implementation. Additionally, I captured how experts think about vulnerability in their communities when shown a forecast map graphic. The conclusion of this dissertation also provides practical recommendations for experts who want to apply the universal design aspects into new hurricane graphics.Item Open Access Social determinants of college completion and wealth mobility: a life course approach to educational completion among young baby boomers(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) Aronson, Matt, author; Lacy, Michael, advisor; Cross, Jennifer, committee member; Stretesky, Paul, committee member; Most, David, committee memberThis dissertation fits within both the sociology of education subfield and the mainstream discipline's longstanding concern over stratification, which is generally understood as the systematic persistence of unequal social statuses and socioeconomic positions in society. Educational status, especially the condition of having completed a four-year undergraduate degree, represents a key feature of socioeconomic position and an important predictor of various life chances in the United States. One limitation of previous sociological research on education is that most studies have asked about the whether of educational attainment without giving much attention to the when of degree completion. A main goal of this dissertation, then, is to remedy that inattention by asking how family-level and individual-level conditions during people's childhoods may influence the timing of their four-year college completions. Another goal is to examine wealth mobility, and to ask whether timely college completion influences wealth mobility from early- to mid-adulthood. I offer three essays, each of which addresses these goals in different ways. The first study compares results from an event history model of high school completion and argues for treating educational completion as an event in time rather than as a binary or categorical outcome. That section offers a methodological contribution to current scholarship as sociologists of education are increasingly taking advantage of longitudinal data sets. The next essay asks how some characteristics and conditions early in individuals' lives may influence the timing of their college completions. I consider teenage childbearing, family poverty, maternal education and other factors in an attempt to provide an alternative to the conventional understanding of race-ethnicity as a predictor of individuals' conditional odds of college completion. The fourth essay departs from the emphasis on "timing of college completion" as an outcome and instead focuses on several under-examined questions about wealth mobility (movement within the wealth distribution over the life course) and whether timely college completion and adolescent employment are associated with upward wealth mobility over the adult life course. The final section also makes a basic contribution to social scientists’ understanding of wealth dynamics among the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth's late baby boomer cohorts.Item Open Access Sweet persuasion: decoding CGM apps' strategies on Instagram in the age of health and wellness(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Gopalakrishna Anuradha, Vybhavi Krishna, author; Sivakumar, Gayathri, advisor; Tham, Samuel, committee member; Most, David, committee memberThe study investigates how Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) companies are now expanding beyond diabetes management. They are expanding their horizons to include non-diabetes individuals who are struggling with weight management, and this new development is reflected in their Instagram messaging strategies. Psychological phenomena derived from social cognitive theory, such as observational learning, forethought, self-efficacy, and other content strategies suggested from Hubspot reports, like the format of the post, caption length, and the time of the post, are used to engage the audience on the platform. Nutrisensio, Levels, and January AI's Instagram posts and their engagement rates are used to conduct a quantitative content analysis. The findings prove the presence of these strategies and suggest techniques that can be used in health tech Instagram accounts to make better connections with the audience.Item Open Access Teachers working with social emotional competence: students' perspectives on the positive effects(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) McCuin, Deborah, author; Timpson, William, advisor; Banning, Jim, committee member; Most, David, committee member; Doe, Sue, committee memberResearch has shown that social emotional learning (SEL) skills help reduce violence, enhance cooperation and problem solving, and foster academic achievement. Teachers with social emotional competence (SEC) develop supportive relationships with students, build on student strengths and abilities, establish behavioral guidelines, coach students through conflicts, encourage cooperation, and model respect and appropriate communication. This qualitative document analysis describes the perceived experience of students positively impacted by a teacher coded as using SEC. Analysis of the traits or qualities of the persons and classrooms they described may impact teacher training and hiring of qualified individuals in the educational setting. Using abductive coding processes, education autobiographies written by 28 undergraduate students at a university in the Midwest were coded for the presence of SEL constructs and traits and attributes of teachers they admired in order to give voice to the perceived experience of students regarding the people and practices that positively impacted them. All of the core constructs of SEL were found to be in evidence and 75% of students cited three or more of the constructs in their documents. Known SEC traits were confirmed by the students' perceived experiences as being impactful as well as opportunities to grapple with issues of social awareness and diversity and teacher investment in the daily activities. Implications on teacher training and hiring of individuals that are capable in creating environments inclusive of safety and belonging, as well as those who are adept at developing relationships both with and among students emerged.Item Open Access Trajectories of acculturation, enculturation, and depressive symptoms: findings from a longitudinal study of Latinx adolescents in Los Angeles(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Ramirez, Carla M., author; Riggs, Nathaniel, advisor; Aichele, Stephen, committee member; Most, David, committee member; Rieker, Julie, committee memberAcculturation is conceptualized as a dynamic process of change over time within individuals, yet the bulk of the research on acculturation is conducted using cross-sectional, as opposed to longitudinal approaches. Although there is an emerging body of longitudinal work in this area, there are several factors that contribute to within and between-person variation in acculturation that have yet to be explored. Furthermore, research examining the extent to which change over time in acculturation is related to the rate of change in depressive symptoms is scant. This dissertation utilized a longitudinal data set examining acculturation and substance use among a sample of Latinx youth in Los Angeles, California. Survey data assessing cultural processes, stressors, and depressive symptoms was collected in-person and electronically between 2005 and 2018. Study 1 used growth curve modeling to examine the extent to which there was developmental change in acculturation during the period of adolescence and into early adulthood. The results revealed that there was significant change over time in acculturation and that to some extent change over time varied by the generational group. Study 2 examined how change over time in cultural processes (e.g., acculturation, enculturation, and ethnic identity) was related to changes in depressive symptoms and the extent to which these cultural processes moderated the relationship between stressors and depressive symptoms. The results of study 2 elucidated the moderating effects of the rate of change in acculturation on the association between the rate of change in perceived discrimination and the rate of change in depressive symptoms. This study provides new insights for acculturation research regarding change over time in this construct and the importance of considering context when examining the effect of acculturation on depressive symptoms. Furthermore, the combined results of these studies have important implications for the interpretation of previous studies using proxy measures of acculturation that are discussed further in text. Recommendations for improving the mental health and well-being of Latinx youth are also discussed.Item Open Access Understanding the decision to enroll in graduate business programs: influence of sociological and economic factors and gender(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Douglas, Stephanie, author; Kaminski, Karen, advisor; Cannon, Joseph, committee member; Kuk, Linda, committee member; Most, David, committee memberThis ex post facto study describes the associations of economic factors as well as social and cultural capital variables on enrollment in business master's degree programs and differences of associations by gender and race/ethnicity. Data from the 2008/2012 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B: 08/12) of those who completed a bachelor's degree in 2007-2008 and enrolled in post-baccalaureate programs were accessed and analyzed through PowerStats, a web-based data analysis tool available from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Results from the logistic regression indicated relationships between undergraduate majors with the lowest average starting salary and likelihood of enrollment in master's degrees in business. It was also found first generation female students were more likely to enroll in master's degrees in business than a first generation male student who was less likely to enroll. Findings suggested differences in influence of variables by gender and race/ethnicity. Differences in enrollment influences was also found to vary by the type of institution (public, private non-profit, and private for-profit) enrolled at. However, since a major limitation of the study was omitted variable bias and use of secondary data, caution is warranted in terms of the extent to which the findings can be generalized to the population of students in business master's degree programs. This study expands on what we know about graduate college choice models and specifically focuses on enrollment in graduate business programs. It also contributes to the body of research on gender differences in higher education enrollment and policies and practices in graduate student recruitment, admission and enrollment.