UMD Theses and Dissertations
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New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.
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Item Comparing the Validity & Fairness of Machine Learning to Regression in Personnel Selection(2022) Epistola, Jordan J; Hanges, Paul J; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In the realm of personnel selection, several researchers have claimed that machine learning (ML) can generate predictions that can out-predict more conventional methods such as regression. However, high-profile misuses of ML in selection contexts have demonstrated that ML can also result in illegal discrimination and/or bias against minority groups when developed improperly. This dissertation examined the utility of ML in personnel selection by examining the validity and fairness of ML methods relative to regression. Studies One and Two predicted counterproductive work behavior in Hanges et al.’s (2021) sample of Military cadets/midshipmen, and Study Three predicted job performance ratings of employees in Patalano & Huebner’s (2021) human resources dataset. Results revealed equivalent validity of ML to regression across all three studies. However, fairness was enhanced when ML was developed in accordance with employment law. Implications for the use of ML in personnel selection, as well as relevant legal considerations, are presented in my dissertation. Further, methods for further enhancing the legal defensibility of ML in the selection are discussed.Item Unmet Need for Nutrition-Related Services in Recently Hospital-Discharged Older Adults(2015) Vaudin, Anna Margaret; Sahyoun, Nadine R; Nutrition; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Older adults returning home from the hospital may have disabilities that prevent them from obtaining or preparing adequate nutritious food. Additionally, they may have difficulty identifying their need for or accessing services that could provide support. We aimed to identify the level of unmet need for services that may affect nutritional health in community-dwelling older adults. We also compared the prevalence of perceived need for services with objectively assessed need. We explored the need for home health care, transportation, mental health, oral health, vision, grocery delivery, and physical therapy services in 566 community-dwelling, recently hospital-discharged older adults. Almost half (45.6%) of the sample reported unmet need for at least one service. For each service, there was discrepancy between perceived need and assessed need. By improving the screening of hospital-discharged older adults' needs for nutrition-related services, the healthcare community can improve targeting of services to those with the most nutritional risk.Item How Students Access, Filter and Evaluate Digital News: Choices That Shape What They Consume and the Implications for News Literacy Education(2014) Powers, Elia Michael; Yaros, Ronald A.; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Being an informed citizen in the digital age requires the ability to sift through an avalanche of news online and identify content that is credible and diverse. News literacy, a topic with a small but increasing presence in high school and college curricula, is concerned with training students to be discerning news consumers. Assessments of news literacy typically gauge the effects of exposure to news literacy curricula measured through student analysis of media messages selected by researchers. This exploratory, mixed-methods study instead examined how students with no formal news literacy instruction searched for news on a computer using their typical routine, their process of filtering and evaluating news about a topic of interest, and their awareness of their choices when accessing news online that shape what they consume. This study contributes to the understanding of what digital media concepts, cognitive strategies and evaluation criteria warrant targeting or greater emphasis in news literacy curricula. Survey results revealed that participants (n=244) typically spend a significant amount of time consuming video and written news, largely through digital platforms and mostly on a computer. They are mostly information scanners and more often stumble upon news online than seek out specific news of interest. Participants have a strong social interest in news, like to share stories with others, and are often trusting of their social networks and technology to filter the news they consume. Concurrent think-aloud protocols and subsequent interviews with a subset of survey respondents (n=37) found that participants often did not pay close attention to the process by which they accessed and filtered news online, doing so in a state of automaticity instead of thinking critically. When asked to explain the thought processes underlying their news searches, a significant percentage of students lacked a conscious awareness or understanding of the strategies and evaluation criteria that potentially affect the credibility and diversity of news consumed. As a result, students' online news habits often placed them at risk for consuming unreliable news and for adopting a hive mindset or being in a news silo.Item Measurement of self-regulatory constructs across a continuum of performance conditions among kindergarten students(2013) Annotti, Lee Ann; Teglasi, Hedwig; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Measurement issues related to the assessment of Executive Functioning (EF) and social competence were examined with Kindergarten students (N = 62) and their teachers. Measures of constructs, such as EF and social competence, exist along a continuum of performance conditions, ranging from highly maximal, well-defined tasks with clear performance expectations to more typical, ill-defined tasks with ambiguous performance expectations. It is hypothesized that measures with maximal or typical performance conditions cannot be used interchangeably because the results gleaned from the measures generalize to different situations and different behaviors. This study employed observed variable path analyses to examine the model fit between measures of EF and social competence that present performance conditions that range from maximal to typical. The results indicate that performance conditions of measures significantly alter the relations between measures and the results gleaned from the opposing performance conditions predict different behaviors in different contexts. The results also suggest that more maximal measures of EF do not translate to the social world.Item Attention, Emotion Understanding, and Social Competence in Preschool Children: Construct Definitions, Measurement, and Relationships(2013) Genova-Latham, Maria de los Angeles; Teglasi, Hedwig; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Available literature regarding the relations between attention, emotion understanding, and social competence is limited in its utility given discrepancies in construct definitions and measurement. The current study examined the relations between attention, as defined from a temperament perspective, emotion understanding, and social competence in preschool children, emphasizing specificity in the conceptualization and assessment of constructs. Attention was measured via the Structured Temperament Interview (STI) and the Childhood Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ), parent-report measures. Emotion understanding was assessed with the Emotion Comprehension Test (ECT), a performance assessment. The ECT differentiated between a child's ability to identify emotions in others based on facial expressions, situational cues, and behavioral cues. Social competence was measured via teacher ratings on the Social Competence Behavior Evaluation questionnaire (SCBE). Exploratory factor analyses of the STI revealed a two factor solution, including factors Low Distraction from Task, High Duration of Attention and Low Distraction from Emotional Investment. The former demonstrated multiple relations with the Effortful Control factor of the CBQ in correlational analyses, whereas the latter demonstrated multiple relations with the Negative Affect factor. Quantitative data, as well as qualitative analyses of themes emerging from parents' narrative STI responses, indicated that the STI encompasses both self-regulatory and reactive dimensions of attention, as well as features of emotionality and interest. Correlational and hierarchical regression analyses indicated that dimensions of attention including distractibility, attention span/persistence, and attentional focusing are related to a child's ability to identify emotions in others based on situational cues. Self-regulatory and reactive dimensions of attention, as assessed via the CBQ, demonstrated relationships with social competence outcomes, though no relations were evident between STI factors and SCBE scales. Ultimately, though dimensions of attention demonstrated relations with facets of both emotion understanding and social competence, in no case were dimensions of both attention and emotion understanding related to the same facet of social competence.Item Reading Comprehension and its Assessment : Aligning Operationalization with Conceptualization of the Construct(2012) Rahman, Taslima; Alexander, Patricia A.; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The current study explored ways to improve reading comprehension assessments. Available assessments appeared misaligned with views of comprehension that are emerging in the reading research literature. Further, the measurement models as currently applied to comprehension assessment do not take into account the cognitive perspective of the construct when estimating proficiency. It has been argued that an assessment, an evidentiary argument, when based on a theory of the construct can offer more informative estimates of proficiency and improve validity of the inferences drawn from those estimates (Mislevy, Steinberg, & Almond, 2003). For this study, the design and the analytic approach for an assessment of comprehension were grounded on a premise that comprehension is influenced by task attributes (e.g., text type or target mental representation) as well as reader attributes (e.g., prior knowledge or interest). Construction of the comprehension measure and the ensuing psychometric analyses were framed following Kintsch's (1998) Construction-Integration model and Alexander's (1997) Model of Domain Learning. The resulting measure was administered to 160 eighth-grade students with no known status of receiving services for special education. In completing the comprehension task, the students read four text passages and answered a set of text passage-related questions, eight per passage. Those passages varied by text type and text topic, and questions varied by the target mental representations of a text and relations among the events of a situation described in the text. In addition, participants answered a set of questions for self-reporting about their familiarity with and interest in the topic of a text passage that they had read. In synthesizing the data, a particular form of the Linear Logistic Test Model introduced by Fischer (1973) was applied within a Bayesian framework. When the attributes were incorporated in the measurement model, the comprehension proficiency estimates changed in a way that reflected positive effects of topic familiarity and topic interest. Further, the task and reader attributes considered in the study contributed to estimates of item difficulties. Thus, the study, based on empirical evidence, suggests that developing a comprehension assessment more aligned with views of the construct offered in the literature is indeed viable.Item AN EXAMINATION OF THE ELIGIBILITY PROCESS OF THIRD, FOURTH, AND FIFTH GRADERS IDENTIFIED UNDER THE SPECIAL EDUCATION CATEGORY OF SPECIFIC LEARNING DISABILITIES(2011) Schwartz, Susan Glembin; McLaughlin, Margaret J; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The category of Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD) accounts for almost 50% of the students identified for special education services in America (U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education, 2010). The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which the participating school system's (PSS) Special Education Procedural Guide was utilized by the Case Study Committee (CSC) to determine eligibility under category D-Learning Impaired-Specific Learning Disability (D-LI-SLD). The design of the study was descriptive utilizing structured record reviews. Eligibility Reports were extracted from the electronic special education database EXCENT ONLINETM for 69 students identified as D-LI-SLD within the PSS. The students were receiving special education services during the school year 2009-2010 though they were not necessarily determined eligible during the 2009-2010 school year. The Eligibility Reports were examined according to the criteria of academic achievement and processing deficit. According to the PSS, the academic achievement criterion in math, reading, or language arts had to be found near or below the 10th percentile. The identified processing deficit criterion was a disorder in (a) processing; (b) production of language; and/or (c) production of information. Both criteria were examined separately and in tandem to determine consistency. Evidence was also gathered for the inclusion of information from other sources (e.g., parents/guardians, the student, therapists) and the identified area of adverse impact. Results indicated variability and vagueness among the Eligibility Reports. Though slightly more than half of the Eligibility Reports (57.97%) contained information that identified D-LI-SLD within the appropriate criteria, the remaining Eligibility Reports only contained one criterion or neither criteria for the determination of eligibility. Recommendations were made to make the eligibility process more comprehensive and consistent.Item AN INVESTIGATION OF ASSESSMENT AND IEP DEVELOPMENT IN THE FUNCTIONING AREAS OF SOCIAL, BEHAVIORAL, AND COMMUNICATION OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS(2011) Sigerseth, Susan Carol; Kohl, Frances L; Special Education; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are life-long disabilities which manifest impairments in social skills, communication skills, and restricted, repetitive behaviors (DSM-IV, 1994). The purpose of this study was to investigate assessment and Individualized Education Program (IEP) development among high school students with an ASD, focusing on the assessment of social, behavioral, and communication skills. The design of this study was descriptive utilizing structured record reviews. Assessment selections and outcomes leading to IEP development were documented for 16 high school students with an ASD during the 2009-2010 school year. The assessment records of each participant were examined to determine what assessment domains had been requested and assessed, extracting information on social, behavioral, and communication skills, and which assessment instruments were used. Additionally, the IEP was examined to determine what instructional goals and objectives were written in the areas of social, behavioral, and communication. Variability among student records made retrieving assessment data difficult. Assessments that had been requested were not always given and assessments were given that had not been requested. Assessment domains did not yield basic information they were intended to provide. Although on average half of the students' IEPs contained goals that were social, behavioral, and/or communication, these goals and objectives were neither rigorous enough for the academic level of the student nor lead to independence to be successful, productive adults.Item Seismic assessment of curved bridges using modal pushover analysis(2010) Ahmed, Mohamed Salah; Fu, Chung C; Civil Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The assessment of existing bridge structures against earthquake threat has become a major issue lately, motivated by the maturity of seismic design of new structures, on one side, and by the recognition of the inadequate level of seismic protection, the aging and the constant need of maintenance of the existing ones, on the other. While nonlinear time history analysis (NL-THA) is the most rigorous procedure to compute seismic demands, many seismic-prone countries, such as United States, New Zealand, Japan and Italy, have recently released standards for the assessment of buildings, all of which include the use of the non-linear static analysis procedure (NSP), the so-called pushover. Recently Chopra and Goel (2002) proposed the modal pushover analysis (MPA) procedure that considers the effect of higher modes on the behavior of buildings. This research investigation is intended to evaluate the accuracy of the modal pushover analysis (MPA) procedure in estimating seismic demands for curved bridges after proposing some modifications that would render the MPA procedure applicable for bridges. For verification purpose, the nonlinear time history analysis (NL-THA) is also performed in order to quantify the accuracy of MPA. Three bridges were analyzed using both the MPA and NL-THA in addition to the standard pushover analysis (SPA). Maximum Demand displacements, total base shear and plastic rotations obtained from SPA and MPA are compared with the corresponding values resulting from the NL-THA. Comparison shows a good agreement between MPA and NL-THA results and MPA is deemed to be accurate enough for practical use. Furthermore, to evaluate the applicability of the MPA method for a wide range of bridges, a parametric study using both the MPA and NL-THA is performed. Results from the MPA for demand displacement and base shear are compared with results from the NL-THA. Also, the influence of different parameters on the behavior of curved bridges is studied. Parameters included the girder cross section (steel I vs. steel BOX), span length, number of spans, radius of curvature, and pier height. Pier height is found to have the most significant effect on bridge behavior as well as span length, while radius of curvature is found to have less influence on the behavior of curved bridges.Item The Emotion Comprehension Test: Selected Psychometric Properties of a New Measure of Emotion Understanding for Preschoolers(2009) Gustafson, Emily Anne; Teglasi, Hedwig; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study examines the psychometric properties, including internal consistency and item difficulty of a new measure of emotion understanding through quantitative analysis. Intercorrelations between the three subtest of the measure, correlations with age and gender, and response patterns were also examined. Emotion understanding is the ability to identify the emotions of others from facial expressions and behaviors and to understand what emotions are likely to be elicited by common social situations. Emotion understanding begins to emerge in the preschool years and serves as the foundation for social competence. The Emotion Comprehension Test (ECT) is a new measure of emotion understanding for preschoolers, which uses photographs of real children to depict natural emotional facial expressions to assess emotion identification. The measure also uses puppets to act out social situations associated with common emotions and behaviors associated with emotions. Internal consistency of the three subtests were found to be r = .699 for the Emotion Identification subtest, r = .805 for the Emotion - Situations subtest, and r = .614 for the Emotion - Behaviors subtest.