Theses and Dissertations from UMD

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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 give thesis/dissertation in DRUM

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    A COMPARISON OF EX-ANTE, LABORATORY, AND FIELD METHODS FOR EVALUATING SURVEY QUESTIONS
    (2014) Maitland, Aaron; Presser, Stanley; Survey Methodology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    A diverse range of evaluation methods is available for detecting measurement error in survey questions. Ex-ante question evaluation methods are relatively inexpensive, because they do not require data collection from survey respondents. Other methods require data collection from respondents either in the laboratory or in the field setting. Research has explored how effective some of these methods are at identifying problems with respect to one another. However, a weakness of most of these studies is that they do not compare the range of question evaluation methods that are currently available to researchers. The purpose of this dissertation is to understand how the methods researchers use to evaluate survey questions influence the conclusions they draw about the questions. In addition, the dissertation seeks to identify more effective ways to use the methods together. It consists of three studies. The first study examines the extent of agreement between ex-ante and laboratory methods in identifying problems and compares the methods in how well they predict differences between questions whose validity has been estimated in record-check studies. The second study evaluates the extent to which ex-ante and laboratory methods predict the performance of questions in the field as measured by indirect assessments of data quality such as behavior coding, response latency and item nonresponse. The third study evaluates the extent to which ex-ante, laboratory, and field methods predict the reliability of answers to survey questions as measured by stability over time. The findings suggest (1) that a multiple method approach to question evaluation is the best strategy given differences in the ability to detect different types of problems between the methods and (2) how to combine methods more effectively in the future.
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    Beyond the Beauty Salon: Sport, Women of Color and Their Hair
    (2011) Collins, Jennifer Elizabeth; Schultz, Jaime; Kinesiology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Research concerning women of color in sport tends to center around several topics: barriers to participation, racial stereotyping, symbolic annihilation, and the intersecting axes of power that influence their involvement and representation. Furthermore, while there exists a rich body of literature that hair has inspired in black feminist scholarship, these works have overlooked the experiences of black female athletes. In this project I seek to bridge these two bodies of knowledge through focus groups and personal interviews with black female collegiate athletes. Specifically, I examine three issues related to hair in the context of black women's athletic experiences: 1) as a particular racialized, gendered, and sexualized expression of self; 2) as a signifier of "other" in sport and society; and 3) as a possible cultural barrier to specific athletic endeavors. By bridging the disconnect between the two fields, I will address the ways that hair is an embodied cultural form influencing the physical culture of women of color.
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    Pattern Process: An Exploration of Non-Architectonic Seams
    (2008) Healey, Jonathan; Wortham-Galvin, BD; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The re-purposing of a two-hundred year-old river-side factory site involves a complex set of extant, historical, and hypothetical considerations, and requires a system of strategies and tactics beyond the conventional scope of historic preservation or formal architectural analysis. The discovery of cultural patterns, both physical and social, becomes the alibi for an even broader exploration of design methodology. By reviving the etymology of "pattern" as the co-joining of autonomous pieces to create form and volume, a conceptual study of pattern and seams seeks to develop an implicit methodology that first reveals non-architectonic structural relationships, then engages these structures as determinants in the re-design of the existing built environment. The proposed framework is tested against an architectural agenda that seams historic patterns of human activity and site conditions with speculative patterns of event, process, and technology for the creation of a place expressing contemporary ideology among the continuity of living history.
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    Critical Asset and Portfolio Risk Analysis for Homeland Security
    (2008-07-21) McGill, William L; Ayyub, Bilal M; Reliability Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Providing a defensible basis for allocating resources for critical infrastructure and key resource protection is an important and challenging problem. Investments can be made in countermeasures that improve the security and hardness of a potential target exposed to a security hazard, deterrence measures to decrease the likeliness of a security event, and capabilities to mitigate human, economic, and other types of losses following an incident. Multiple threat types must be considered, spanning everything from natural hazards, industrial accidents, and human-caused security threats. In addition, investment decisions can be made at multiple levels of abstraction and leadership, from tactical decisions for real-time protection of assets to operational and strategic decisions affecting individual assets and assets comprising a regions or sector. The objective of this research is to develop a probabilistic risk analysis methodology for critical asset protection, called Critical Asset and Portfolio Risk Analysis, or CAPRA, that supports operational and strategic resource allocation decisions at any level of leadership or system abstraction. The CAPRA methodology consists of six analysis phases: scenario identification, consequence and severity assessment, overall vulnerability assessment, threat probability assessment, actionable risk assessment, and benefit-cost analysis. The results from the first four phases of CAPRA combine in the fifth phase to produce actionable risk information that informs decision makers on where to focus attention for cost-effective risk reduction. If the risk is determined to be unacceptable and potentially mitigable, the sixth phase offers methods for conducting a probabilistic benefit-cost analysis of alternative risk mitigation strategies. Several case studies are provided to demonstrate the methodology, including an asset-level analysis that leverages systems reliability analysis techniques and a regional-level portfolio analysis that leverages techniques from approximate reasoning. The main achievements of this research are three-fold. First, this research develops methods for security risk analysis that specifically accommodates the dynamic behavior of intelligent adversaries, to include their tendency to shift attention toward attractive targets and to seek opportunities to exploit defender ignorance of plausible targets and attack modes to achieve surprise. Second, this research develops and employs an expanded definition of vulnerability that takes into account all system weaknesses from initiating event to consequence. That is, this research formally extends the meaning of vulnerability beyond security weaknesses to include target fragility, the intrinsic resistance to loss of the systems comprising the asset, and weaknesses in response and recovery capabilities. Third, this research demonstrates that useful actionable risk information can be produced even with limited information supporting precise estimates of model parameters.
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    School-Related Apathy in 8th- and 10th- Grade Students: A Mixed-Method Exploration of Definitions, Construct Independence, Correlates, and Grade-Level Differences
    (2007-04-26) Riconscente, Michelle Maria; Alexander, Patricia A; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Research-based and folk conceptualizations of school-related apathy were explored in 309 8th- and 10th- grade Catholic school students and their teachers. Definitions, construct independence, and relation to select individual and group differences including grade level were examined. Findings indicated that while some independence exists among the set of five constructs assessed--adolescent apathy, amotivation, apathy syndrome, disengagement, and work avoidance--substantial overlap is present that can inform development of a more parsimonious conceptualization of students' lack of school motivation centered on perceived relevance and a general attitude of interest. Results also demonstrated only moderate levels of agreement between research-based and teacher identification of students low on school-related motivation; however, both approaches indicate that approximately 1 in 4 students manifests markedly low school-related motivation. Relations of several individual and group differences to conceptualizations of school-related apathy were documented in expected directions. Implications of the findings for educational research and practice are discussed.