The 18th Annual
NC State University
Undergraduate Research Symposium
Humanities, Social
Sciences, Psychology
Abstracts
Abstracts are listed in alphabetical order by the
last name of the corresponding author.
- Biological Sciences abstracts
Applied Sciences (Crop, Poultry, Animal, and Horticultural Sciences)
Ecology,
Environmental, Conservation, Botanical
Molecular,
Biochemical, Genetics, Cell Biology
Zoology,
Physiology, Behavior, Neurobiology
- Design abstracts
- Engineering and
Technology abstracts
- Physical and
Mathematical Sciences abstracts
|
Bauer-Nilsen, Sarah |
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Department(s):
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Psychology |
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Research |
Sharolyn
Lane/Psychology |
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Title of
Presentation: |
A Study of
Meta-Analysis |
Meta-analysis, a
process of combining findings from studies that explore similar topics or
test-related hypotheses, can provide a more accurate view of a research
hypothesis than a literature review alone. Studies are found through
related-keyword searches on scholarly journal databases and the decision for
inclusion in the meta-analysis is based upon how the study conforms to a coding
scheme designed by the researchers. The coding scheme is designed to create an
inclusion criterion that pinpoints characteristics within the study that may
affect the results of the meta-analysis. Once studies are found that meet this
criterion, relevant statistics are extracted and an effect size (the measure of
strength of the relationship between two variables) is calculated. A
meta-analysis incorporates steps of a traditional literature review, but allows
for a refining of inclusion criteria and the statistical results gathered from
the included studies can be computed into one larger result. Using a
meta-analysis can also be labor intensive and time consuming, especially when
there are many databases and thousands of studies to be searched. In describing
meta-analysis, examples from a pending feedback meta-analysis will be used to
further illustrate the main points of this article. There are many types of
feedback and many factors can influence its utility, which makes creating a
coding scheme for this topic difficult. However, feedback within a task can
either help or harm performance, so the paradoxical nature of feedback makes it
an ideal topic for a meta-analysis. The feedback meta-analysis should help to
identify factors that determine whether feedback is helpful or harmful to
mastery of a specific type of task.
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Buck, Jordan E. |
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Department(s):
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Sport
Management |
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Research |
Jonathan M.
Casper/Sport Management |
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Title of
Presentation: |
Collegiate
Sport Fans: The Impact of Socialization on Sport Consumption |
The purpose of
this study was to analyze and determine the influence of various social factors
on sport participation and sport spectatorship with collegiate sport fans.
Comparatively, current behavior and the perception of adolescent behavior of
respondents were analyzed. The sample included 141 adults, with a mean age of
40 (75% male and 25% female). General findings indicated adolescents to be more
heavily influenced by social factors than adults. Additionally, sport
participation as adolescents does not always lead to adult participation in
those same sports. For adolescent participation, the most influential social
factors were peers and father. For adults, peers and athlete role models were the
highest rated factors. In regards to viewership and attendance, as well as the
number of collegiate sporting events attended annually, the most influential
factors were school affiliation and peers. Results from this study may assist
in marketing of sport based on important influences in adulthood and
adolescence.
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Coggin, John D. |
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Department(s):
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Communication |
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Research |
William J.
Kinsella/Communication |
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Title of
Presentation: |
The Population
Stalemate: Searching for a Solution
after Forty Years of Discourse |
For four decades
a debate has unfolded in the United States between some advocates of world
population control and conservative Christians. The fortieth anniversary of the
publication of Paul Ehrlich’s The
Population Bomb and Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae marks an
opportunity to examine the evolution of the public discourse on this topic.
This study analyzes the current state of the debate over population control and
how it has transformed since 1968. Specifically, the study applies Pearce and
Littlejohn’s theory of moral conflict and transcendent discourse as a means of
identifying possible areas of reconciliation between the opposing groups.
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Daniels, Caitlin R. |
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Department(s):
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Psychology;
Biology |
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Research |
Sharolyn A.
Lane/Psychology |
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Title of
Presentation: |
Effects of
Secondary Tasks on Adaptation Acquisition, Retention, and Transfer |
This research
examines whether allocation of a finite amount of cognitive resources
influences people’s ability to adapt.
This experiment explored the effects of a secondary task on the
acquisition, retention and transfer of sensorimotor skill under novel
circumstances to which participants must adapt. Participants performed two
types of tasks while wearing vision-shifting glasses: a pointing task and a
typing task. In the pointing task,
participants pointed to a small rod mounted to a platform, while in the typing
task participants entered auditorily-presented equations into a computer. Participants were assigned to either a single
or a dual-task condition. Participants in the single-task condition completed
the pointing task before or after the typing task. In the dual-task condition, participants
performed both tasks simultaneously.
Retention was measured by having participants repeat the task condition
they were originally exposed to after completing a spatial abilities test. Finally, the transfer of the adaptation was
evaluated by having the participants switch task conditions. For example, participants previously in the
single task condition performed the dual task.
It is hypothesized that acquisition will occur faster without the
secondary task, and that retention of the adaptation will be affected by the
presence or absence of a secondary task.
It is expected that adaptation transfers more efficiently and more
accurately from a dual task to two separate tasks. Preliminary results reveal that means for the
initial task are similar for the dual and single-task conditions, that
retention is higher for the single-task condition, and that adaptation
transfers better from a dual task to a single task. This suggests that secondary tasks do not
affect adaptation acquisition, but do affect retention and transfer. These findings have implications for
strategies used to teach motor skills and for therapies requiring sensorimotor
adaptation, including stroke rehabilitation and prosthesis therapy.
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Eustache, Brittney |
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Department(s):
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Parks,
Recreation and Tourism Management |
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Research |
Michelle
Harrolle/Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management |
|
Title of
Presentation: |
Sport
Consumption Interest and Behaviors of African-American NASCAR Fans |
The National
Association of Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is the largest body of stock cars
in the United States. Due to a race discrimination lawsuit brought against
NASCAR in July of 2008 by a former technical inspector, NASCAR has sought out
to launch several efforts to change the perception of the industry.
Specifically, NASCAR has sought to recognize the African American population as
a potential market segment. The purpose of my study was to examine how media
promotions, types of corporate sponsorships, and geographic location of events
influences consumer interest and consumption behaviors of potential
African-American NASCAR fans. The participants of this study were attendees of
professional basketball games and one professional football game in the
Southeast and were comprised of African Americans (N = 95). The sample
consisted of 38.1% females and 61.9% males. One Multivariate Analysis of
Variance (MANOVA) test was conducted to compare the Points of Attachment
Indexes and Motivation Scales on the responses between those participants who watched
NASCAR and those participants who did not watch NASCAR. A significant
difference [Wilks’ Λ = .788, F (9, 85)
= 2.535, .013 = .001, η 2 = .212] existed between those participants that
watched NASCAR and those participants that did not watch NASCAR on the factors that
influenced their NASCAR interest and race attendance. From a practical
standpoint, NASCAR marketing departments should be aware that many of the
African American participants of this study had a negative perception of NASCAR
and often times associated the sport with racism and exclusivity. Many of the
participants also saw NASCAR races as boring, too hard to understand, and too
dangerous. These results indicated that in order for NASCAR to attract a more
African-American race fans, they need to make the races easier to understand
and include more minority drivers and sponsors.
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Gaglione, Joseph P. |
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Department(s):
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College of
Management |
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Research |
Al
Chen/Accounting |
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Title of
Presentation: |
Evaluating the
Effectiveness of Different Advising Strategies |
In today’s
college environment moving students to graduation as quickly as possible is
highly advantageous for both the students and the college. By making college
academic advising more efficient the college can use its resources in different
ways to improve the quality of the college. Students gain the benefit of
college costing them less, which is important to the student themselves and the
lending institutions. The lending institutions can make loans to more students
when students graduate more quickly. This is especially important with today’s
economy, as it is necessary for people to have a college degree to get a good
job. Time to graduation is also important as a benchmark among colleges. This
research looks into how many students believe that academic advising is largely
to blame for increased time spent in college. How academic advising departments
can reallocate their time spent on certain activities to improve the ease of
information transfer. By reallocating resources, academic advising departments
can improve the quality of service they deliver to students. Secondly by
reallocating both time spent on certain advising activities and funds academic
advising departments can raise their benchmarks to help them compete with other
colleges. I found that by surveying student’s
opinions after an advising session they can ascertain what activities the
college advising department is doing well and what they can improve upon. This
will allow the college advising department to get rid of activities that are
ineffective to move towards activities the students would value more. Secondly,
I found that by moving information largely online you can reduce costs while
providing a more useful medium for information transfer. Third, by using online
registration you can reduce lost paperwork, reduce confusion about how credits
transfer and cut advising costs.
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Griggs, Rashay M. |
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Department(s):
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Psychology |
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Research |
Eric N.
Wiebe/Math, Science and Technology Education John Bedward/Math,
Science and Technology Education Lauren
Madden/Math, Science and Technology Education |
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Title of
Presentation: |
Professional
Development and the Application of Visual Graphics |
Professional
development in the Graphic-Enhanced Elementary Science project is used to train
teachers how to incorporate and encourage graphics in their teaching plan
across pre, during, and post inquiry stages.
Through the use of graphics, teachers are able to assess students’ conceptual
understanding and development across inquiry stages. This gives the teachers the opportunity to
provide students’ with feedback in order to allow student growth. Graphics vary depending on the inquiry stage
that the students are involved in, reflecting how much they have learned. Visual graphics allow the students to
interact with concepts presented so that learning material is more easily
grasped and retained. The number of
entries before professional development (n=158) are compared to those entries
after professional development (n=202).
Numbers are then neutralized by taking the ratio of number of graphics
over total number of entries. It is
expected that after professional development there should be an increase in
more visual graphics in science notebooks.
|
Hiscock, Samantha L. |
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Department(s):
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Psychology |
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Research |
Pamela Martin/Psychology
Avril Smart/Psychology |
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Title of
Presentation: |
Sustainability,
Energy and Engineering Summer REU: Increasing the Number of Underrepresented Groups
in STEM Fields |
In recent years
many universities across the United States have implemented summer research
programs to enhance undergraduate education in science, technology, engineering
and mathematics fields respectively. For
example, Hirsch et al (2005) highlight the importance of practical application
and research experience, noting “that students can make meaningful, measurable
strides in core competency mastery by participating actively in a community of
practice without taking formal classes” such as a summer research program. Most
existing programs attempt to increase the number of women and people of color
through various recruitment mechanisms (i.e. “geographical, ethnic and gender
diversity” (Norbet, 2004)) however, statistics consistently reflect a gap in
representation of these groups in STEM fields. Lopatto (2004) found that “men
are the majority in the physical sciences, math, computer science, and
engineering” but also 14.9% were Asian
American, 10% African American and 4.9% Hispanic, with Caucasian students still
being the ethnic majority in this undergraduate research program. Despite
growth in the number of summer research programs from year to year; there are
still relatively few programs that successfully funnel underrepresented groups
through the pipeline into graduate school in STEM fields. The Sustainability,
Energy and Engineering (SEE) summer REU takes a unique approach to the REU
experience with its focus on sustainability and green engineering research.
Undergraduates in SEE are involved in many different important aspects of
engineering including ethics education, faculty-student mentorship and various
aspects of conducting research. By incorporating these components into the
program, SEE motivates high achieving students from underrepresented groups to
undertake and successfully complete graduate education and to engage in future
research in sustainable engineering. This presentation provides an overview of
the progress the SEE REU program over three summers and discusses each
component of the program’s contribution to overall success.
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Hughes, Sara S. |
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Department(s):
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Communication |
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Research |
Daniel A.
DeJoy/Communication |
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Title of
Presentation: |
Acoustic
Analysis of Vowel Productions of Individuals in an ESL Pronunciation
Program |
In this study,
spectrographic and formant history analyses were used to assess changes in
vowel productions of two individuals who participated in individual instruction
for learning English as a second language. The analysis demonstrated that
changes in participants’ first (F1) and second (F2) vowel formant frequencies
of /I/, /ӕ/, /e/, /ɛ/, /i/, /a/, /ɔ/, /ʊ/, and /o/ occurred over the course of six-weeks of instruction.
Analyses of native English speakers’ productions of the same vowels were also
completed and then compared to those of the non-native speakers. The analysis
of F1 and F2 frequencies revealed that following individual instruction, some
but not all of the non-native speakers’ vowels had formant patterns that more
closely approximated the native-speakers’ patterns relative to pre-instruction
measurements. Furthermore, the male and female participant differed in the
specific vowels that shifted closer towards native productions. Overall the
study demonstrates that spectrographic and formant history analyses can be
effective tools to measure changes in speech production associated with
clinical instruction.
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Jameson, Nicole A. |
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Department(s):
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Parks
Recreation and Tourism Management |
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Research |
Michelle Gacio
Harrolle/Parks Recreation and Tourism Management |
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Title of
Presentation: |
Consumption
Behavior of Professional Football Fans in Fan Clubs |
Previous sport
management researchers (e.g., Trail,
Anderson, & Fink, 2005) have found that if fans BIRG (Bask in
Reflected Glory) for their favorite sports teams and do not CORF (Cut off
Reflected Failure), they will consume (i.e., watch games on television, attend
games, buy merchandise) more sport products. There is a plethora of research on
sport fandom, but little to no research on those fans in unofficial and
official sport clubs (e.g., Patriot Fan Clubs) who live hundreds of miles away
from their favorite team and the actual sport product (i.e., Patriot football
games). The purpose of our study was to examine fans who are members of
official and “unofficial” fan clubs on how they became fans, the motives that
influence them to watch the Patriots and their BIRGing and CORFing behaviors.
The participants were comprised of Official fan clubs members (n= 16) and
Unofficial fan club members (n=4). Using SPSS, descriptive statistics were
conducted on the data. The average distance to the Patriots’ stadium
was 696 miles. All of the means for the motives for watching football games
were well above the mid-point (ranging from 5.1 to 6.2). These fans wanted to
BIRG (M = 5.4) and did not want to CORF (M = 1.4). Overall, the
participants’ family members (i.e., spouse, mother, brother, etc.)
were also Patriot fans. Moreover, these fans were born in the New England area
thus contributing to their need to be Patriot’s fans. Sport managers need to make sure that fans
are given BIRGing opportunities (i.e., signed autographs by players) in an
effort to increase their identification for the team whether they are in close
proximity to their sport product or not.
|
Jameson, Nicole A. |
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Department(s):
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Sport
Management |
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Research |
Michelle Gacio
Harrolle/Sport Management |
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Title of
Presentation: |
Latino and
Non-Latino Consumption Patterns at a Professional Baseball Game |
Professional sport organizations have recognized the Latino population
as a potential market segment and have been actively marketing to this segment.
However, Harrolle and Trail (2007) have shown that one’s level of ethnic
identity does not necessarily influence sport consumption behaviors. The
purpose of our study was to compare Latino and Non-Latino spectators on the
factors influencing attendance (i.e., family, children, friends, spouse,
television advertisements, newspaper, radio, billboards, promotions, and an
Hispanic Heritage promotion) and sport consumption behaviors (i.e., attending
games, attending away games, watching games on television, and listening to
games on the radio).The participants were attendees of a Major League Baseball
game in Florida and were comprised of Latinos (n = 127) and Non-Latinos (n =
186) and consisted of 54% males and 46% females. Two separate Multivariate
Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) tests were conducted to compare Latinos and
Non-Latinos. There were no significant differences [Wilks’ Λ = .991, F(4,
324) = .725, p = .576, η2 = .009] between Latinos and Non-Latinos on
consumption behaviors. However, a significant difference [Wilks’ Λ= .892,
F(10, 363) = 4.417, p < .001, η2 = .108] existed between Latinos and
Non-Latinos on the factors that influenced professional baseball game
attendance. Differences existed between Latinos and Non-Latinos on the
opportunity to spend time with their children (Latinos, M=6.4; Non-Latinos,
M=5.2) and their family (Latinos, M=6.1; Non-Latinos, M=5.2). Latinos also
indicated that various promotions had more of an influence on the decision to
attend than Non-Latinos. From a practical stand point, marketing departments
should be aware that family promotions and children promotions influenced both
Latinos and Non-Latinos. Moreover, sport managers need to make sure that fans
are given BIRGing opportunities (i.e., signing autographs by players) in an
effort to increase their identification for the team once they enter into the
stadium.
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Largen, Janine |
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Department(s):
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College of
Management |
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Research |
Sangkil
Moon/College of Management |
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Title of
Presentation: |
The Impacts of
Consumers’ Internet Information Search Patterns on Their Purchase Decisions
and Welfare |
Ordinary consumers expect to have better deals from Internet retailers
rather than traditional bricks-and-mortar retailers because they can access more
purchase related information, including price information, without strenuous
efforts. One can search travel websites (e.g., travelocity.com, orbitz.com) to
access a number of alternatives in multiple product categories (i.e., airline
tickets, hotel, rental car, travel activities).
Compared to traditional offline travel agents, this online approach
provides enormous information available to consumers. A number of recent
research studies found that the online approach helps consumers find better
deals in terms of product, price, and quality in most cases. By contrast, some studies (Clemons, Hann and
Hitt 2002, Management Science) reported that too much information can hinder
consumers making the right purchase decisions and lead them to sub-optimal choices. This research identifies consumers’
differences in information search patterns on the Internet. Internet retailers
can provide various types of product information (e.g., price, flight arrival
and departure times, consumers’ hotel reviews) differently, which influences
the way consumers search the information.
Consumers also search such information differently in terms of search
time and amount due to their different search abilities and experiences. Secondly, this research examines what impacts
different search patterns have on consumers’ choices. I found that over 90% of
participants go directly to an online travel service website when they have a
travel need and approximately 72% of participants are extremely price driven
above any other influential factor. The average consumer does not take any time
to read fine print and trusts the corresponding online service to a certain
degree. The average consumer also likes to be able to book an entire trip all
on one web page in order to save time and prevent frustration.
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McDuffie, Maria Mason, Latavia Gray, Curtis Breaux, Gerard |
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Department(s):
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Psychology |
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Research |
Pamela P.
Martin/Psychology in the Public Interest |
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Title of
Presentation: |
Qualitative Analysis
of Religious Symbolism in Hip Hop Album Covers |
Throughout history, music has been an instrumental part of the religious
experience in the lives of African Americans. The Church has been the primary
conduit through which African Americans have received religious instruction,
guidance and affirmation of religious beliefs. Through the use of sacred song,
religious beliefs have been confirmed by inclusion of scriptural references
into the musical composition. Today’s African American youth and young adults
no longer find solace in the sacred song as it was traditionally developed and
delivered. The music genre in the African American community has evolved from
the Negro spiritual to the latest genre of rap. The infusion of rap into the
daily living experiences of African American youth and young adults has created
a distinctly different era of musical variety in which sacred scriptural
references have been included among lyrics that some religious leaders and
scholars would call blasphemy and thereby creating a dichotomy within the
church (Powe & Johnson, 1997; West, 1992). The purpose of this study is to
explore, compare, and distinguish the influence of sacred and secular rap on
mental health outcomes among African Americans. Using qualitative
methodologies, this research examined the possible religious themes conveyed on
the sacred and secular rap CD covers. Current research indicates that sacred
and secular music has been associated with several positive outcomes (e.g.,
achievement and happiness) and encourage positive psycho-development outcomes
such as gender identity development, self-esteem, and feelings of competence
and independence (Hays & Minichiello, 2005; Hays, Bright, &
Minichiello, 2002; Hills & Argyle, 1998; Martin, Adkins, Bowles, Robinson,
& Butler-Barnes, in press). For
example, Martin and colleagues (in press) found that religiously-engaged
adolescents used the messages conveyed in secular rap music to differentiate
between appropriate religious socialization messages and activities which they
described as “worldly” from the content analysis; several themes emerged such
as persecution, resurrection/rebirth, and reformation.
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Nomina, Justine |
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Department(s):
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Psychology;
Business Management-Marketing |
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Research |
Rupert W.
Nacoste/Psychology |
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Title of
Presentation: |
University
Responses to Campus Incidents |
What factors influence how college students evaluate a university’s
response to a campus incident? In this study, an incident that occurred on our
college campus and the university’s response to that incident were described
for participants. Participants read
about an incident connected to flyers indicating there would be a KKK rally,
about and incident connected to the discovery of a paper noose on campus, or an
incident at an Abortion Rally. For each
incident participants also read about the university’s response; no-response, a
letter from the Chancellor, or a letter from the Chancellor and a meeting with
students. The hypothesis was that participants would react more negatively to a
university’s response to a campus disturbance depending on whether the
disturbance is race or gender related, and the level of the university
administrations responses. There were
166 participants; the average age of the participants was 18.94. Participants responded to the Positive and
Negative Affective Schedule (PANAS) and response items designed to assess their
evaluations of the incident and the university’s response. These data have been collected and are
currently being analyzed using Pearson correlations and analysis of variance.
|
Reass, Emily B. |
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Department(s):
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Communication |
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Research |
Christina L. Moss/Communication |
|
Title of
Presentation: |
The Unfair
Lady: Lessons about Identity and Rhetoric in My Fair Lady |
The everlasting popularity of the 1964 musical My Fair Lady is evident from the multiple adaptations created from
the original play Pygmalion by George
Bernard Shaw. Through conversation and
song, the film emphasizes the importance of voice, especially with the main
character Eliza Doolittle, played by Audrey Hepburn. Eliza Doolittle’s struggle with words is
indicative of women’s struggle with traditional rhetoric and voice. As Eliza’s voice changes and evolves, her
identity changes as well. With an
upcoming remake of My Fair Lady rumored
for 2010, it seems appropriate to revisit the celebrated film not only because
of its popularity, but because the film negotiates connections of identity,
gender and rhetoric. In order to discuss
My Fair Lady’s demonstration of
identity and rhetoric, the connection to voice is explained by examining
Eliza’s transformation by giving a view of her original identity and her
training in rhetorical style, the role of class, and the relationship to gender
roles. Eliza’s transformation
progresses through her use of voice, often demonstrating the difference in
men’s and women’s rhetoric. With her
transformation underway, the role of class is examined through Higgins’ social
experiments and the repercussions they have on Eliza’s voice. Gender roles become influential to voice as
well, often causing trouble for Eliza and the reason she seeks Higgins’ help to
begin with. The scholarly works of
Cambell, Di Mare, and Tong showcase the thesis as connections between identity,
rhetoric, and feminism are made.
|
Shah, Rohil V. |
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Department(s):
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Agricultural
& Resource Economics |
|
Research |
Theodore A. Feitshans/Agricultural & Resource
Economics |
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Title of
Presentation: |
The Growing Inconsistencies of Cost-Benefit
Analysis and the Impeding Regulatory Crisis |
Increased interest in evaluating the payback from costs of proposed
environmental improvements has lead to increased use of cost-benefit analysis
(CBA). CBA is the process of estimating
the total benefits versus total costs to determine if a proposed project is
feasible. This research focused on three
federal agencies: the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the United States
Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), and the United States Forest Service
(USFS). The hypothesis of this research
is that these three agencies use differing forms of CBAs producing
contradictory results because there are no universal guidelines for CBAs. Examination of the applicable environmental
statutes revealed that these statutes do not state the procedures for
CBAs. These statutes provide only
general guidance. This research includes an exhaustive list of variables that
agencies use to prepare CBAs. Variables
included in CBAs were compared and contrasted, both between CBAs of a single
agency and across agencies. The most
important cause of inconsistencies is whether or not the agency follows their
own guideline or more general federal guidelines, such as those of the Office
of Management and Budget or Executive Orders.
Other sources of inconsistency include how costs, non-quantifiable and
quantifiable benefits, alternatives, risk, uncertainty, assumptions,
discounting and compliance are all taken into account in each of the CBAs. For example, if the EPA and the Corps conduct
CBAs on a project their results will be different even though the project is
identical. Differing methodologies will
usually result in different results. A
prime example is accounting for risk and uncertainty where one agency
quantifies and another agency excludes that same risk. Therefore, the hypothesis of this research is
valid and correct, both for different CBAs within an agency as well as across
agencies.
|
Tsuen, Ho Yan Craig, Ashley B. |
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Department(s):
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Psychology |
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Research |
Amy
Halberstadt/Psychology Julie
Thompson/School of Nursing(Duke University) |
|
Title of
Presentation: |
Parents' Socialization of Children's Gendered
Language: Does the Presence of People in Conversation Matter? |
Based on the belief that gendered language is a socialized phenomenon
and that parents teach their children about gender through their language, this
study evaluates whether mothers’ use of gendered language with their children
directly influences their children’s use of gendered language. Although
significant correlations do suggest that maternal use predicts child use of
gendered language, an alternative hypothesis is that dyads differentially discuss
topics related to people. Thus, the
relationship between maternal and child use of gendered terms may be the result
of the amount of time talking about people, rather than valid evidence that
children's gendered language is socialized by parents. To test this alternative hypothesis, two
coders have established reliability and are independently coding transcripts
for the presence of people-related conversation. A detailed description of the coding protocol
will be discussed.
|
Williamson, Sarah E. |
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Department(s):
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Communication |
|
Research |
Beth
Barnes/Communication |
|
Title of
Presentation: |
Speech
Perception and Speech Production Accuracy Pre- and Post-Activation of Adult
Cochlear Implant Recipients |
The aim of this study was to analyze speech perception and production
accuracy of post-lingually deaf adult cochlear implant recipients pre- and
post-operatively to determine (1) how long post-operatively different phoneme
classes are acquired and (2) what variables may impact phoneme
acquisition. Speech production accuracy
was measured in 12 post-lingually deaf adults (ages 30-73 years) prior to
activation and at specific time intervals post-activation using the
consonant-nucleus-consonant (CNC) words/phonemes test. From this data, we calculated the mean
percentages at which speech production accuracy increased from pre-activation
to post-activation and the time required for specific phonemes to become
acquired. Before activation, recipients
produced a mean of 1.6% of words correctly and 4.2% of phonemes correctly. Results one year post-activation showed
improvement, with 54% of words correct and 64.33% of phonemes correct. Overall speech perception was significantly
improved one year after activation with most difficulty perceiving phonemes of
higher frequencies such as stops, fricatives, and affricates. Participants with the longest duration of
hearing impairment (>30years) showed the most improvement initially with
50.67% of words correct at one-month post-activation, but by one-year
post-activation each group averaged around 54% of words correct. By one-year post-activation the youngest
group of participants demonstrated the best results on the CNC test.
|
Zuravle, James Z. |
|
|
Department(s):
|
Sport
Management |
|
Research |
Jonathan
Casper/Sport Management |
|
Title of
Presentation: |
The Decisional
Balance, Commitment, and Self-Efficacy of Past and Current Exercise Patterns |
The purpose of this study was to examine current and adolescent exercise
behavior based on perceived benefits and costs, commitment levels, and reported
self-efficacy toward engaging in exercise.
The sample included 265 adults (140 female, 125 male) ranging from 18 to
65 years of age, randomly selected from a health club and a grocery store
located in Wake County, North Carolina.
Participants completed a questionnaire asking how often they currently
exercise, and how frequently they used to exercise as adolescents. The participants also rated their levels of
commitment, self-efficacy, benefits, and costs with respect to exercise
behavior. The results found that as
exercise frequency (days per week, duration of exercise, and years of
exercising consistently) increased both currently and in adolescents, so did
the participant's level of commitment, self-efficacy, and the benefits
associated with exercise. The study also
found a high correlation between current as past exercise behavior. This research displays the positive impact
past participation in exercise has on increasing current participation based on
psychological correlates. Exercise has many health benefits, but a large
percentage of the population is inactive.
These findings support the importance of exercise for adolescents and
may lead to future research related to prior participation.
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Last modified January 2009 by Sharon E. Hunt, WordHunting