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

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    Supernatural Ties: Religious Beliefs and Practices and Commitment and Cohesion in Politics
    (2024) Rao, Sean Christopher; Cunningham, Kathleen G; Government and Politics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    I propose a general mechanism of religion in politics which is not limited to the use of violent tactics or a particular religious background: religious belief and practice generate strong mutual commitment among individuals in a group and this commitment can, in turn, create political cohesion. This process gives a strong organizational resource to political actors who can successfully link political goals to religious commitment and illuminates three puzzles: first, why do some organizations persist in demanding autonomy or independence for decades while others cease after only a short time? Little is known about the persistence of contentious actors, violent and nonviolent, who may eventually become rebels in a civil war. Linking research on civil war duration, nonviolent contention, and the club model of religion with novel cross-national time series data from a sample of self-determination organizations in Pakistan, India, Ethiopia, and Canada, I find some evidence that organizations based on religion or religion-like ideologies in the sample are more likely to persist. I find stronger evidence that organizations persist when they encourage membership practices (such as religious study or dress codes) through which individual members demonstrate public commitment to the group. Second, why do some politicians offer an overt religious basis for their policies? Overt religious rhetoric can harm a politician’s standing with less religious voters in the United States, and positive stereotypes of religious people are diminishing. Still, even politicians who depend on less religious voters sometimes use overt rhetoric instead of subtler religious cues. In two survey experiments, I find that religious rhetoric does not increase the level of a voter’s confidence that a politician is committed to a noncontroversial policy in an undergraduate sample nor to a controversial policy in a national sample in the United States, but it does increase the probability that a voter becomes completely convinced of a politician’s commitment to a controversial policy, though not among Democrats, nor does visible participation in a congregation affect this signal. Third, what keeps some civil wars from resuming after violence has stopped? Previous research has shown religious civil wars are likely to recur due to time-invariant factors of issue indivisibility and information uncertainty. Using existing data on secessionist rebels from 1975 to 2009, I find evidence that recruitment from religious networks drives recurrence. Giving religious constituencies equal access to political power and reaching formal ceasefires or agreements with territorial rebels discourages rebels from mobilizing that network for a return to fighting and makes them no more likely to return than nonreligious territorial rebels. These results identify a general process of religion applicable across different religious backgrounds and political contexts: cohesion from practices, often related to religion, which allow individuals to signal their commitment to a group. Identifying this process makes the study of religion in politics less context limited giving a starting point for future research.
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    THE ROLE OF SELF-DETERMINATION ON QUALITY OF LIFE, STUDENT ENGAGEMENT, AND ENVISIONING A CAREER/LIFE GOAL OR FUTURE FOR STUDENTS PARTICIPATING IN A BEST PRACTICES TRANSITION INTERVENTION
    (2012) Ferguson, Terri Kay; Fabian, Ellen; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Self-determination has been identified as a major predictive factor for positive postsecondary outcomes for students with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to determine the role of self-determination in productive student engagement, perceived quality of life, and the ability to envision a career/life goal or future for students with multiple disabilities participating in a promising practices transition intervention. Results indicated significant results in the areas of student engagement and quality of life indicating the importance of self-determination on these factors. The results indicated a negative correlation between two of the self-determination subscales and envisioning a career/life goal which was an interesting and contradictory finding to the existing literature. Implications and recommendations are discussed.
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    The Effects of a Systematic Training Package on Secondary Special Education Teachers to Teach Self-Determination Skills to Students with High Incidence Disabilites
    (2011) Bond, Marcy Beth; Kohl, Frances L.; Special Education; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    There has been increased interest in and concern about the level of self-determination with which secondary students with disabilities leave high school. While educators acknowledge the importance of teaching such skills, researchers have documented a lack of self-determination instruction occurring in the secondary school setting. When teaching self-determination skills to students with disabilities, two barriers most frequently cited by educators are they feel unprepared to teach self-determination skills and they are unsure how to prepare students to be active participants in the Individualized Education Program (IEP) process which determines a student's future. The purpose of this study was to determine whether secondary special education teachers could provide self-determination instruction to students with high incidence disabilities having been given systematic training opportunities. A multiple probe single subject design across three special education teachers was used. Teachers were systemically trained on the ChoiceMaker's Self-Directed IEP Curriculum™. Direct observation of self-determination instructional procedures were conducted across baseline, intervention, and maintenance conditions for three teachers during self-contained secondary special education classroom settings. The results of the study confirmed the author's hypothesis that secondary special education teachers can effectively use the ChoiceMaker's Self-Direct IEP Curriculum™ to teach self-determination skills to students of high incidence disabilities after receiving systematic training. Furthermore, IEP committee members, including the students, parents, general educators, special educators, and administrators noted an increase in active student involvement and self-determined behavior at IEP meetings. The results contribute to the self-determination knowledge base addressing teachers' preparation and confidence in teaching self-determination skills to students with high incidence disabilities.
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    Starting Our Day the Room 119 Way: A Qualitative Study of an Elementary Classroom Community and its Alternative to Traditional Morning Work
    (2009) Domire, Aimee; Selden, Steven; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This study explores the experiences of multicultural, Title I second-grade students as they experience a daily "Soft Landing," the time and space set aside for the first thirty minutes each morning for students to make choices about what activities to engage in. The portraiture methodology as outlined by Lawrence-Lightfoot and Davis (1997) establishes the framework for this narrative inquiry. I address four questions: What is "Soft Landing;" How do students choose to use their "Soft Landing" time and how do these choices change over time; What does "Soft Landing" mean to students; What have I learned about myself as a teacher during "Soft Landing?" By observing and interviewing nine second-grade students over three months, I learn that when children are in charge of their own learning and thinking, they actually know how to structure their academic lives without waiting for someone else to do it for them.
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    Middle School Students' Learning and Motivation: A Self-determination Perspective
    (2007-08-28) sun, haichun; Chen, Ang; Kinesiology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Self-determination theory (SDT) explains human motivation by focusing on the importance of motivational regulation based on three basic needs: the needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness. SDT, when applied in education, emphasizes helping learners internalize extrinsic motivation so as to regulate their learning behavior from an amotivation state to intrinsic motivation. Guided by self-determination theory, the dissertation study was designed for two major purposes: (a) examining the inter-relationships of the components in the self-regulation model to verify its tenability in motivating middle school learners in physical education, and (b) identifying the contribution of the self-regulated motivations to knowledge and skill learning in physical education. Two separate studies were conducted to answer the research questions. In Study 1, 297 sixth grade students from 15 randomly selected middle schools provided need satisfaction and self-regulated motivation data for a two-step structural equation modeling analysis. The results indicated that students' satisfaction of autonomy and competence accounted for a large portion of variability in intrinsic motivation and in identified regulation. Satisfaction of autonomy also contributed to introjected regulation. Satisfaction of any of the needs did not contribute to the external regulation. It was also found that individuals who exhibited satisfaction in competence need lessened amotivation. Unexpectedly, it was found that satisfying the need for relatedness is likely to lead students to becoming amotivated in physical education. In Study 2, 242 participants provided data on SDT components and their learning on health related fitness knowledge and two motor skills determined using a pre- and post-assessment research design. Descriptive statistics showed that students were motivated but learned little. Subsequent structural equation modeling analyses revealed that extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation did not contribute to knowledge and skill achievement and amotivation impeded knowledge learning. The findings imply that when competence-based learning achievement is absent, learners can be motivated but do not achieve what they are expected to achieve. The findings provide theoretical insights to developing a constructivist learning environment to direct students' motivation toward learning in physical education and strongly suggest that a curriculum reform in physical education is needed to strengthen competence-based learning (knowledge and skill growth).