College of Liberal and Fine Arts Faculty Research

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12588/143

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Giving Voice to Diversity: An Interactive Approach to Conflict Management and Decision-Making in Culturally Diverse Work Environments
(2002) Broome, Benjamin J.; DeTurk, Sara; Kristjansdottir, Erla S.; Kanata, Tamie; Ganesan, Puvana
While there is much evidence to show that diversity of viewpoints and perspectives allows for more creative problem solving and decision-making, there is also a great deal of research to indicate that cultural diversity presents one of the foremost challenges to organizations. This paper describes a process called "Interactive Management" (IM) and its application with employees of a large multinational technology company. IM was used in a set of workshops to help groups identify and structure barriers to effective communication in culturally diverse work environments. Methodologies were employed that gave voice to the wide variety of perspectives among the participants while simultaneously helping them structure the complexity of the issues they were discussing. Based on results from these workshops, there is evidence that IM can play a valuable role in managing issues associated with diversity in the workplace setting.
The Influence of Professional Self-Interests on the Management of a Nonprofit Organization: A Case Study
(2002) LeBlanc, H. Paul, III
This case study examines how the structural characteristics of management in a state chapter of a national physician's association influence the decision-making processes and efficacy of the administrative procedures associated with meeting the organization's goals. In particular, this study situates the role of professional self-interests in regards to communication between a board of directors, comprised of physicians, and the non-physician manager of a nonprofit organization, and investigates how the relationship between the board and the manager influences the outcomes of the organization. The analysis is based on reference to other organizations in which the professional self-interests of participants influence decision-making in the organization.
The Political Public Relations Battleground: Tactics and Images in the 2000 U.S. Presidential Campaign
(2002) Kanso, Ali; LeBlanc, H. Paul, III
This study examines the public relations tools that Governor George W. Bush and Vice-president Al Gore used during the 2000 U.S. Presidential Campaign. It also draws some lessons from mistakes that both candidates committed.
The Influence of Physicians' Engagement and Openness on Patients' Reports of Health Communication Satisfaction
(2003) LeBlanc, H. Paul, III
This study analyzed patients' perceptions of their physicians' willingness to engage in interaction and be open, and patients' satisfaction in communication about health with their physicians (N=322). Results indicated that a moderate to strong and significant positive correlation exists between patients' perceptions of their physician's interaction involvement and their satisfaction with their relationship with their physician (r=.579). Results also indicate a moderate and significant negative correlation exists between patients' perceptions of their physicians' closedness to the relationship and relational satisfaction with their physician (r= -.507).
The influence of nurses' engagement and openness on patients' reports of health communication satisfaction
(2004) LeBlanc, H. Paul, III
This study analyzed patients’ perceptions of their nurses’ willingness to engage in interaction and patients’ satisfaction in communication about health with their nurses (N = 270). Results indicated that a strong and significant positive correlation exists between patients’ perceptions of their nurse’s interaction engagement and their satisfaction with their relationship with their nurse (r = .70). Results also indicate a strong and significant negative correlation exists between patients’ perceptions of their nurse’s closedness to the relationship and the patient's relational satisfaction with their nurse (r = -.55).
Physician-Patient Communication: The Relationship Between Engagement, Confirmation and Satisfaction
(2004) LeBlanc, H. Paul, III
This study analyzed physicians' self-reported measures of engagement, confirmation and relational satisfaction in their communication with their patients (N= 218). Results indicated that communication engagement and confirmation significantly influence reported satisfaction (R2 = .20, F (1,216)= 55.24, p < .01; R2 = .14, F (1,216)= 35.87, p < .01, respectively). Additional results are reported. Implications for these results and directions for future study are discussed.
Relating college course grades to attendance
(2005) LeBlanc, H. Paul, III
This study compared the attendance records of students against their test score averages for students at four institutions across multiple sections of several difference courses over a fourteen year period (N = 1617). Results indicated that attendance significantly influences test score averages for students across sections and institutions (R2 = .181). Other results indicated that the same relationship holds when controlling for institutional, course subject, and whether an attendance policy was enforced. Implications for these findings in terms of approaches to attendance policy making are discussed.
Teaching approaches and self-efficacy outcomes in an undergraduate research methods course
(2006) LeBlanc, H. Paul, III
This study investigated the outcomes of teaching objectives and techniques in an undergraduate research methods course. In particular, the study examined student perceptions of their relative comfort level with performing specific research tasks during the first and fourteenth weeks of a fifteen week semester. Results indicated that students' comfort level increased significantly. Whether students had conducted or participated in research as a subject prior to the course, in general, played little role in the measured increase in research comfort level. Implications for educators teaching and undergraduate research methods course are discussed.
Attitudes Regarding the Components of Ethical Communication
(2007) LeBlanc, H. Paul, III; Magallanes, Ariadne
This study investigated the relationship between components of ethical communication. Based on survey data (N = 319), Principal Components Analysis revealed four positively loaded factors (honesty, integrity, modesty and patience) and two negatively loaded factors (arrogance and deception). As predicted, components of ethics are correlated. In particular, the ethical virtues of honesty, integrity, modesty and patience are positively interrelated. Additionally, the ethical virtues of honesty, integrity and patience are negatively related to the vices of arrogance and deception. Other relationships between ethical virtues and vices and various demographic variables are discussed.
Spanish-Speaking Physicians: Satisfaction in the Transactional Relationship with Patients
(2008) Losey, Erin Hill; LeBlanc, H. Paul, III
This study examined self-reports of engagement, confirmation, and satisfaction by Spanish-speaking physicians within the context of the relationship with Spanish-speaking patients. Previous research suggests the interaction is transactional and both physician and patient mutually contribute to the relationship. Results demonstrated engagement and confirmation positively influenced relational satisfaction of physicians (R2 = .58, F(1,14) = 19.38, p < .01; R2 = .29, F(1,14) = 5.84, p = .03, respectively). Additional results are reported. Implications and directions of future research are discussed within.
Un estudio comparativo de la cognición docente en profesores de español y de inglés como lengua extranjera
(La Universidad Católica de Córdoba, 2010-04) Liruso, Susana M.; Requena, Pablo E.
El objetivo de este artículo es presentar los resultados parciales de una investigación sobre las creencias y los pensamientos que subyacen en las acciones docentes de profesores de español y de inglés como lengua extranjera (LE). Este estudio se realiza en la Facultad de Lenguas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba con el aval de SeCyT. Se dará cuenta de los resultados parciales que indican que los docentes al señalar los puntos débiles de una clase los circunscriben, principalmente, a las categorías "procedimientos y tareas" y "alumnos". Se compararán resultados obtenidos de profesores de ambos idiomas.
Allies in Action: The Communicative Experiences of People Who Challenge Social Injustice on Behalf of Others
(Taylor & Francis, 2011-10-14) DeTurk, Sara
This study explores the lived experiences of people who act as allies in the interest of social justice. Interviews were conducted to investigate the meaning of the ally identity and the tactics allies use to interrupt stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination against others. Findings suggest that people who speak out on behalf of social justice from positions of relative power do so (a) out of identity concerns that emphasize moral obligations, (b) largely through authoritative and dialogic strategies that draw on their symbolic capital, and (c) in ways that reflect ideologies of culturally dominant groups. The study also describes tensions arising out of the contradictory nature of deploying social power against the system that confers it. Conventional definitions of “allies” that rely on static notions of power, finally, are challenged as too simplistic.
On the use of course evaluations for purposes of faculty personnel decisions
(2012) LeBlanc, H. Paul, III
Many universities utilize student teaching evaluations even though their validity is hotly contested in the research. This study examines publicly available data of all sections of courses evaluated in a program at a large public research university over three successive semesters to determine if claims of validity can be confirmed. Additionally, this study investigates other characteristics of the data such as the relationship between course average grade and per course global indicators of teaching and course effectiveness. Given the findings, the study offers policy recommendations for the use of the student teaching evaluations in faculty personnel decisions.
Incorporating Research in the Studio: A Case Study of Faculty/Librarian Collaboration
(2012-03) Salisbury, Shari; Lawrence, Jane
This poster presents a pedagogical case study involving the collaboration of an art faculty member and a librarian subject specialist to incorporate research in a studio art class in order to accomplish specific information literacy goals. Information literacy instruction in the arts has typically been delivered via single occurrence library instruction sessions. Little has been written on the subject of embedded information literacy instruction in the studio. Using guidelines set forth in Information Competencies for Students in Design Disciplines (Brown et al. [Calgary, Alberta: Art Libraries Society of North America, 2007], 23), Shari Salisbury, research services librarian and Jane Lawrence, senior lecturer at the University of Texas at San Antonio collaborated to create a semester-length research project for upper division studio art students culminating in a 15-source annotated bibliography, a 20-minute PowerPoint presentation and a large-scale artwork. Scholarly research tools and methods were introduced early in the semester through two assignments that allowed students to gradually master the skills necessary to identify appropriate sources and locate and evaluate information in preparation for the annotated bibliography. The project, Journey: The Road to Discovery, provided students with a unique opportunity to identify and explore an abstract idea directly related to their artwork, i.e. romantic love, the grotesque, the scientific body, female beauty, etc.; to locate historic and contemporary artists whose ideas, styles, genres and oeuvres have provided the foundations for art produced today; and finally to collect, correlate, analyze and compare the information in a 20-minute presentation and a large-scale informed drawing.
Ancient Maya Regional Settlement and Inter-Site Analysis: The 2013 West-Central Belize LiDAR Survey
(2014-09-16) Chase, Arlen F.; Chase, Diane Z.; Awe, Jaime J.; Weishampel, John F.; Iannone, Gyles; Moyes, Holley; Yaeger, Jason; Brown, M. Kathryn; Shrestha, Ramesh L.; Carter, William E.; Fernandez Diaz, Juan C.
During April and May 2013, a total of 1057 km2 of LiDAR was flown by NCALM for a consortium of archaeologists working in West-central Belize, making this the largest surveyed area within the Mayan lowlands. Encompassing the Belize Valley and the Vaca Plateau, West-central Belize is one of the most actively researched parts of the Maya lowlands; however, until this effort, no comprehensive survey connecting all settlement had been conducted. Archaeological projects have investigated at least 18 different sites within this region. Thus, a large body of archaeological research provides both the temporal and spatial parameters for the varied ancient Maya centers that once occupied this area; importantly, these data can be used to help interpret the collected LiDAR data. The goal of the 2013 LiDAR campaign was to gain information on the distribution of ancient Maya settlement and sites on the landscape and, particularly, to determine how the landscape was used between known centers. The data that were acquired through the 2013 LiDAR campaign have significance for interpreting both the composition and limits of ancient Maya political units. This paper presents the initial results of these new data and suggests a developmental model for ancient Maya polities.
Qualitative and Quantitative Evidence Regarding the Intrusiveness of Recording Devices in Naturalistic Research
(International Organization of Social Sciences and Behavioral Research, 2016) LeBlanc, H. Paul, III
Critics of naturalistic social science research charge that participant awareness of the existence of a recording device alters the behavior of the research participants, known as the “Hawthorne effect.” This study compares segments of talk in which participants explicitly orient to the recording device against segments of talk without such orientation to determine how and if such orientation alters the behaviors of participants. Conversational data were gathered over a six-year period comprising 64 independent conversations involving 213 subjects. Data were transcribed and coded following the conventions of Conversation Analysis. A total of 18 of the 64 transcribed recordings (28.1%) contained references to the recording device. A total of 284 lines in these eighteen transcribed conversations had references to the recording device and/or the researcher, out of a total of 3,906 lines in the 18 transcriptions (7.3%), or out of a total of 11,675 lines in the entire conversation library (0.02%). Lines from both types of compared segments were coded for turns-at-talk by individual participant. A total of 227 unique turns-at-talk (3.3% of total) in which the recording device was directly addressed were compared to 6,597 unique turns-at-talk in which the recording device was not relevant to the content of the conversation. Results indicate that no statistically significant differences occur between compared segments of talk, thus failing to find evidence to support claims of a “Hawthorne effect” in naturalistic social science research.
Lexical-Semantic Transfer and Strategies for Teaching and Learning Putonghua Vocabulary for Cantonese-speaking Learners
(Office of the Vice President for Research, 2016-04-26) Cheng, Ka Ying; Li, Ying
Language transfer refers to the language that learners apply to the knowledge of one language to the language that they are learning. According to Bransford (2000), �all new learning involves transfer based on previous learning.� Language transfer includes positive and negative transfer. Positive transfer means the previous knowledge that the language learner obtains from the first language----phonetics, grammar, expressions, and so forth to help the learner learn the new language, while negative transfer means the previous knowledge interferes with the learner�s ability to learn the new language. In the United States, the number of Cantonese speakers who choose to study Mandarin has grown increasingly. While a number of past studies have focused on the language transfer of the phonetics system of the two languages, few studies have paid attention to the semantics system. Cantonese and Mandarin belong to Sino-Tibetan languages family and shared similar characters and grammars, however, the meanings of words with similar characters are comparatively different. Generally speaking, Cantonese speakers encounter more difficulties when learning Mandarin because of this difference of semantics system. The present study focuses on the language transfer of the semantics system from Cantonese language to Mandarin Chinese (Putonghua). By adopting Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis method, the current study (1) analyzed the difference of the meaning of the vocabulary (973 words) from the book, �Great Wall Chinese textbooks�; (2) identified the positive and negative language transfer via comparing the meaning of the words in Cantonese and Mandarin; and (3) explored the strategies that Cantonese-speaking leaner and L2 Mandarin Chinese teachers can use in Mandarin teaching and learning.
Variable production and indexical social meaning: On the potential physiological origin of intervocalic /s/ voicing in Costa Rican Spanish
(De Gruyter, 2017-05-02) Chappell, Whitney; Garcia, Christina
In several dialects of Spanish, men tend to exhibit more intervocalic /s/ voicing than women, e. g., oso ‘bear’ as [ozo], and this difference may have a physiological basis. File-Muriel et al. (2015, Disentangling the physiological from the socially-learned in gradient, sociophonetic processes: Evidence from s-realization in Barranquilla, Colombia. Unpublished manuscript) found that vocal tract size conditions /s/ aspiration in Barranquilla, and Nadeu and Hualde (2013, Reinterpretation of biomechanics as gender-conditioned variation in the origin of diachronic intervocalic voicing. Available at http://washo.uchicago.edu/pub/workshop/nadeu.pdf) contend that speakers with larger vocal tracts may have greater difficulty controlling vocal fold cessation. The present work serves as a continuation of these studies, utilizing 18 sociolinguistic interviews to determine (i) what factors are most predictive of intervocalic [z] in Costa Rica and (ii) whether physiology can potentially explain its origin. The results of a statistical analysis using 1,647 tokens of /s/ show that both gender and physiological factors significantly condition voicing (p < 0.001), with more voicing in men’s speech, as F2 decreases, and as f0 decreases. However, one would expect more gradient voicing in men’s speech if physiological factors caused the gender-based voicing difference, but women voice more gradiently while men produce higher rates of 0 % and 100 % voicing. We conclude that while physiological factors may have been its original source, non-physiological factors currently condition /s/-voicing in Costa Rica, with male speakers aiming for categorical targets for social motivations.
Kept in His Care: The Role of Perceived Divine Control in Positive Reappraisal Coping
(2017-07-26) DeAngelis, Reed T.; Ellison, Christopher G.
A formidable body of literature suggests that numerous dimensions of religious involvement can facilitate productive coping. One common assumption in this field is that religious worldviews provide overarching frameworks of meaning by which to positively reinterpret stressors. The current study explicitly tests this assumption by examining whether perceived divine control—i.e., the notion that God controls the course and direction of one’s life—buffers the adverse effects of recent traumatic life events on one’s capacity for positive reappraisal coping. We analyze cross-sectional survey data from Vanderbilt University’s Nashville Stress and Health Study (2011–2014), a probability sample of non-Hispanic black and white adults aged 22 to 69 living in Davidson County, Tennessee (n = 1252). Findings from multivariate regression models confirm: (1) there was an inverse association between past-year traumatic life events and positive reappraisals; but (2) perceived divine control significantly attenuated this inverse association. Substantively, our findings suggest that people who believe God controls their life outcomes are better suited for positively reinterpreting traumatic experiences. Implications, limitations, and avenues for future research are discussed.
Does Religious Involvement Mitigate the Effects of Major Discrimination on the Mental Health of African Americans? Findings from the Nashville Stress and Health Study
(2017-09-17) Ellison, Christopher G.; DeAngelis, Reed T.; Güven, Metin
Several decades of scholarly research have revealed the significant toll of discrimination experiences on the well-being of African Americans. Given these findings, investigators have become increasingly interested in uncovering any potential resources made available to African Americans for mitigating the psychosocial strains of discrimination. The current study contributes to this literature by testing whether various indicators of religious involvement—e.g., church attendance, prayer, and religious social support—buffer the noxious effects of major discrimination experiences on the mental health outcomes (i.e., depression and life satisfaction) of African Americans. We analyze data from the African American subsample (n = 627) of Vanderbilt University’s Nashville Stress and Health Study, a cross-sectional probability sample of adults living in Davidson County, Tennessee between the years 2011 and 2014. Results from multivariate regression models indicated (1) experiences of major discrimination were positively associated with depression and negatively associated with life satisfaction, net of religious and sociodemographic controls; and (2) religious social support offset and buffered the adverse effects of major discrimination on both mental health outcomes, particularly for those respondents who reported seeking support the most often. We discuss the implications and limitations of our study, as well as avenues for future research.

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