UMD Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3
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.
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
Browse
11 results
Search Results
Item Queering our conclusions: Understanding measurement's influence on queer criminological research(2024) Raskauskas, Jessica; Stewart, Robert; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)To effectively understand how people end up in prison, criminologists need to understand who is in prison; especially given the novelty of the concept, queer criminology has yet to standardize a definition of “queer," “LGBT,” etc. In leaving these definitions up to researchers, there is no consensus on how much of the prison population is queer and, consequently, to what degree, if at all, queer individuals are differently represented in the prison system. Based on a review of the literature, and simple quantitative models, this study attempts to understand the definitions and conclusions in existing literature, to standardize how criminologists measure “queer,” and to understand to what extent, if any, this population is differently represented in prison.Item THE MEDIATING EFFECTS OF THEORY OF MIND ON RELATIONS BETWEEN TEMPERAMENT AND SOCIAL COMPETENCE(2021) Caputo, Maryke Haasbroek; Teglasi, Hedwig; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)To better understand one mechanism by which social cognition affects social outcomes, the current study proposed that young children’s differences in temperament and Theory of Mind (ToM) contribute to teachers’ perceptions of their social competence (SC). Temperament refers to biologically based differences in behavioral regulation and reactivity, whereas ToM describes the process of inferring others’ mental states and making predictions about related behavior. This study examined the effects of ToM on relations between temperament and SC. Moreover, it expanded ToM measurement beyond traditional methods that explicitly provide the information required to correctly ascertain social cognitions (termed truth-based ToM) by introducing a novel approach to defining and measuring ToM that captures the individualistic process of inferring mental states without direct access to all relevant information (termed interpretation-based ToM). Two mediation models were proposed. The first hypothesized that both types of ToM would mediate relations between temperamental effortful control and SC. Results revealed a significant positive indirect effect for truth-based ToM, suggesting that effortful control positively influences truth-based ToM, which in turn positively influences SC. Results did not yield a significant indirect effect for interpretation-based ToM, suggesting that these may be multiply influenced. This was confirmed by the second model which illustrated connections between temperamental negative reactivity, ToM, and SC. It was hypothesized that interpretation-based ToM would mediate relations between negative affectivity and SC, with a moderating effect by effortful control. Results revealed a significant positive moderated indirect effect, suggesting that negative affectivity positively influences interpretation-based ToM, which in turn positively influences SC, specifically when effortful control is high. This study showcased a novel way to define and measure a subtype of ToM that captures the construct more broadly and may be more relevant when interpreting incomplete information than when all situational cues are explicitly provided. Moreover, results of the moderated mediation model illustrated the positive role of negative affectivity when paired with high effortful control in facilitating this more complex form of interpretation-based ToM and eventual SC. Implications of the findings for literature on ToM, temperament, and SC in young children are discussed.Item Understanding Teacher Stress: Relations of Implicit and Explicit Coping Processes with Teaching Outcomes(2017) Kim, Margaret Jordan; Teglasi, Hedwig; Special Education; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Teacher attrition within the first three years is a growing problem in the US. The current study focuses on teacher stress from a novel perspective by assessing how teachers cope with stresses of the profession at the earliest point in their careers – during their training. Coping is defined as a transaction between a person and their environment, influenced by conscious choices and automatic processes. Research relies on explicit measures (self-report on Likert scales) to assess coping, but critics note this approach is limited and does not assess the whole process. In addition to Likert scales, this study incorporates implicit measures (narratives, the Thematic Apperception Test), to examine the implicit processes of coping. As predicted, significant correlations were identified within, but not across methods of measurement. Implicit but not explicit measures were significantly correlated with external evaluations of teacher effectiveness. Implications for coping theory and measurement are discussed.Item The Distribution of Gender Differences in the Temperament and Social Competence of Preschoolers(2014) Schussler, Laura Elizabeth; Teglasi, Hedwig; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The literature has shown gender differences on many temperament and social competence (SC) measures, though there are gaps in understanding where differences lie and whether it varies by informant. This study investigated how temperament relates to SC and whether gender is a moderator. Rater source and the use of standardized versus raw scores and how they influence gender as a moderator was a main focus. Temperament was measured by the CBQ (Putnam & Rothbart, 2006) and the newly-developed CBQ, Teacher Form (CBQ-T; Teglasi, Schussler, & Gifford, under review). SC was measured by the SCBE (LaFreniere & Dumas, 1992), and all measures were administered to the parents and teachers of preschoolers (N = 113; M age = 57 months). For temperament, findings supported the fact that rater agreement is low and holds true for both genders. On the temperament scales on which parents significantly differed from teachers, parents tended to rate boys more favorably than teachers. The hypothesis that teacher ratings would yield more gender differences than parents was supported. There were also more differences in variability between genders for teacher ratings, revealing that teachers tended to provide more extreme ratings. Scales with distributional differences were ones that have consistently yielded gender differences. For SC, girls had significantly higher means on several scales with raw scores, and raw scores produced more temperament x gender interactions for parent ratings. Activity Level and Anger had opposite effects for gender with higher activity predicting higher SC for girls and lower SC for boys, and higher anger predicting higher SC for boys and lower SC for girls. On Sadness, there were opposite rater effects with Sadness positively associated with SC for parents and negatively associated for teachers. There were fewer gender differences for teachers when considering correlations of temperament and SC. Overall, findings support the importance of obtaining information from parents and teachers about children's temperament and SC. Moreover, these results suggest that raw SC scores are more useful than standard scores for studying relations between SC and temperament, particularly with parent raters. Shortcomings included a limited sample precluding full examination of distributional differences.Item Measuring Predicates(2014) Wellwood, Alexis; Hacquard, Valentine; Linguistics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Determining the semantic content of sentences, and uncovering regularities between linguistic form and meaning, requires attending to both morphological and syntactic properties of a language with an eye to the notional categories that the various pieces of form express. In this dissertation, I investigate the morphosyntactic devices that English speakers (and speakers of other languages) can use to talk about comparisons between things: comparative sentences with, in English, "more... than", "as... as", "too", "enough", and others. I argue that a core component of all of these constructions is a unitary element expressing the concept of measurement. The theory that I develop departs from the standard degree-theoretic analysis of the semantics of comparatives in three crucial respects: first, gradable adjectives do not (partially or wholly) denote measure functions; second, degrees are introduced compositionally; and three, the introduction of degrees arises uniformly from the semantics of the expression "much". These ideas mark a return to the classic morphosyntactic analysis of comparatives found in Bresnan (1973), while incorporating and extending semantic insights of Schwarzschild (2002, 2006). Of major interest is how the dimensions for comparison observed across the panoply of comparative constructions vary, and these are analyzed as a consequence of what is measured (individuals, events, states, etc.), rather than which expressions invoke the measurement. This shift in perspective leads to the observation of a number of regularities in the mapping between form and meaning that could not otherwise have been seen. First, the notion of measurement expressed across comparative constructions is familiar from some explications of that concept in measurement theory (e.g. Berka 1983). Second, the distinction between gradable and non-gradable adjectives is formally on a par with that between mass and count nouns, and between atelic and telic verb phrases. Third, comparatives are perceived to be acceptable if the domain for measurement is structured, and to be anamolous otherwise. Finally, elaborations of grammatical form reflexively affect which dimensions for comparison are available to interpretation.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 Measuring the Impact of Training in the Implementation of Project Management Information Systems(2012) McCarty, Andrew; Skibniewski, Miroslaw; Civil Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Organizations can use training to maximize the benefits realized through the implementation of project, program, and portfolio management software. However, the relationship between Project Management Information System (PMIS) training and the creation of organizational value is not well understood. The goal of the research is to create a better understanding of current industry project management software training practices and outcomes. This research investigates training utilization and outcomes in the PMIS industry, the prevalence, relative effectiveness and efficiency of several commonly used training delivery methods at increasing PMIS outcomes, and the relationships of individual and organizational characteristics on outcomes. An expansive multi-disciplinary review of existing scholarly literature was undertaken to develop a framework for the measurement of project management software training outcomes. Expert input from a panel of 9 practitioners averaging 16.7 years of professional experience related to PM, and 15.1 years of years of professional experience related to PM software usage was used to objectively select a small number of the best-scoring elements of the proposed framework for inclusion in a survey to be administered to practitioners. In total, 1,021 completed surveys were collected and analyzed using statistical methods. Research findings suggest statistically significant differences in consumption rates, effectiveness and efficiency among the examined training delivery methods. This research may contribute to training that is more effective and more efficient, based on the unique requirements of each individual and organization, at a reasonable cost. The methodologies and findings of this research have immediate implications in improving the planning, delivery, and measurement of PMIS training.Item Elementary Teachers' Grading Practices: Does the Reality Reflect the Rubric?(2011) Shanahan, Katherine Bruckman; Gottfredson, Gary D; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Report cards are the primary way that teachers, students, and parents communicate about student achievement in the classroom. Although many school districts develop rubrics to guide teacher grading practices, most research finds that in reality, grades represent a hodgepodge of factors that vary across teachers and across school systems. The current study investigates student factors that explain variance in elementary report card grades in a suburban school district. The sample includes 4th and 5th grade students (N = 8,555) and their classroom teachers (N = 374) from 45 schools. Multilevel structural equation models, with students nested within classrooms, tested two models describing variance in report card grades. One model included the factors listed on the school system grading rubric along with additional factors thought to be related to grades (non-rubric model). An alternative, nested, model included only the factors from the grading rubric (rubric model). Results suggested that the non-rubric model provided a better fit for the data, but effects for the additional non-rubric factors were uniformly small.Item THE MEASUREMENT OF SCHOOL CLIMATE USING SURVEYS: EXPLORING UNIT OF ANALYSIS(2009) Burkhouse, Katie Lynn Sutton; Gottfredson, Gary D; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)School climate researchers have used different units of analysis when assessing school climate features. Overall, there is little research available to understand how different levels of analysis, individual or aggregated, influence the psychometric properties of a survey instrument. The purpose of the current research was to explore the use of different unit of analysis choices in instrument development. Further, the present study sought to replicate findings that the wording of survey instruments may influence the conceptualization of school climate by survey informants. Results indicate that unit of analysis affects on the factor structure, but that there is some overlap in the factors that emerge. Further, the present research confirmed past findings that the wording of climate items appears to affect the perception of items by respondents. Limitations and future directions are discussed. Unit of analysis remains an important theoretical and methodological concept in school climate research.Item Performance Measurement, Simulation, and Analysis of the Cox Tee Dee 0.010, the World's Smallest Production Internal Combustion Engine(2006-12-15) Sookdeo, Troy; Cadou, Christopher; Aerospace Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The Cox Tee Dee 0.010 is a two-stroke 0.010 cubic inch model engine designed to power small propeller-based hobby aircraft. First manufactured in 1961, it remains the smallest working piston engine ever mass-produced, but no scientific measurements of its performance are available in the open literature. These measurements are important because they could facilitate the development of small unmanned air vehicles. This thesis reports measurements of power output and efficiency using a specialized dynamometer. An unsuccessful attempt is made to correlate the measurements with simulations based on Stanford University's Engine Simulation Program (ESP). Instead, the results are compared to the predictions of a simple zero-dimensional thermodynamic MATLAB simulation of an engine cycle developed at the University of Maryland. Differences and correlations are discussed and the engine performance is analyzed in the context of propulsion systems for small UAVs and for compact power generation.