Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2023, Educational Administration

The lived experiences of Black/African American male students at a suburban community college in North Carolina were explored in this qualitative narrative study. Institutional data from the North Carolina Community College System revealed these students had the lowest percentages of persistence toward degree completion and of graduation. In an attempt to understand the factors affecting these students' daily experiences on campus that may contribute to these education gaps, five students and former students were interviewed during semi-structured narrative interviews. The stories shared by these students during their interviews, in combination with the literature review, led to the suggestion of the creation of a mentorship program as a potential strategy in alleviating the education gaps.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, EDU Teaching and Learning

Argumentative writing is a crucial skill in the school years and beyond, and there is an emphasis in various local, state, and national standards on argumentative writing. However, such writing is known to be a challenging and complex genre for English Learners (ELs) with limited English proficiency as well as cultural differences in terms of how argumentative thought and writing are conceptualized (Hirvela, 2013). It can be equally challenging and complex for many English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers, who are often ill-equipped for writing instruction (Larsen, 2013, 2016). From a research perspective, there have been few studies exploring the abilities and needs of ESL teachers as relates to instruction in argumentation, especially in high school settings, where various learning and achievement standards are increasingly requiring a focus on argumentation despite the difficulty of teaching and learning argumentative writing regarding ELs. To address the gaps in the scholarship discussed above, this dissertation explores how a ESL teacher, Ms. Patrick, sought to develop her expertise in teaching argumentative writing in a suburban high-school ESL class for ELs over a two-year period using a classroom-based research methodology that involved ongoing observations of her class sessions, interviews with her and her students, and examination of her teaching activities and materials as well as her students' responses to her instruction. This study employed as an analytical tool the notion of expertise, particularly a distinction between what is known as routine and adaptive expertise, to examine how Ms. Patrick initiated and engaged in change as a teacher over time with respect to her understanding of argumentative writing, her curricular planning, and her instructional activities. The study's findings revealed that Ms. Patrick acquired at least a degree of Hedgcock and Lee's (2017) three types of knowledge essential for ESL teachers: (1) subject matter knowled (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2018, Management

Popularity of open source software (OSS) development projects has spiked an interest in requirements engineering (RE) practices of such communities that are starkly different from those of traditional software development projects. Past work has focused on characterizing this difference while this work centers on the variations in the propagation of RE knowledge among different OSS project development endeavors. The OSS RE activity in OSS projects is conceptualized as a socio-technical distributed cognitive activity where heterogeneous actors interact with one another and structural artifacts to `compute' requirements. These coordinated sequences of action are continuously interrupted and shaped by the demands of an ever-changing environment resulting in various social networks visible in the communicative pathways deployed in the projects. We explore how the social network configurations in OSS projects manifesting the flow of RE knowledge respond to the attributes of the environment housing the projects and their effects on the attributes of software requirements produced by such project development endeavors. To understand the reciprocal relationship between the varying attributes of requirements that are addressed by different social network configurations for `computing' requirements, the following questions need to be addressed: 1. How can the social network configuration of OSS projects be explained by the attributes of requirements it faces that emanates from the environment? 2. Are the qualities of internal requirements produced by the OSS projects explained by its particular social network configuration and if so, how? The requirement attributes are measured using a 6-V requirements model centered on the volume, veracity, volatility, velocity, vagueness and variance of software requirements while the social network configurations of RE knowledge flow is measured using social network analysis of the requirement activities in OSS projects. It is hypoth (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2017, EDU Teaching and Learning

Lecture note-taking skills have been studied in the context of academic listening for a long time; however, these studies have not clarified the relationship between the learners' listening comprehension and their note-taking skills in different lecture contexts. Nowadays, many lectures are filled with various multimedia that support teaching and engage students in large class settings. What is not known is whether and how the nature of the input from these varying multimodal instructional sources may impact, positively or negatively, on second language (L2) students' listening and note-taking experiences and efficacy. Students now have to distribute their attentional resources skillfully to account for the new combinations of visual and aural input from lecturers, and this situation could pose listening and note-taking challenges for first-year international students, who are learning how to learn in a new educational context while still developing their L2 proficiency in the language of instruction. Given these circumstances, the objectives of this dissertation were: (1) to present multiple portraits of international students' development of lecture listening and note-taking skills, (2) to examine how different course settings affected their listening and note-taking approaches, (3) to identify the similarities and differences in their listening and note-taking methods, and (4) to provide insights into the realm of academic listening by scrutinizing the interplay between various factors that can shape students' listening and note-taking experiences. In this multiple-case study, I observed six Chinese-speaking international students in their first semester studying at a Midwestern university in the United States. To record their development of listening and note-taking skills as well as the difficulties they encountered, I collected various types of data, including classroom observations, recall protocols, students' notes, individual interviews, and online checkl (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Education, Ashland University, 2014, College of Education

Through this qualitative study, the story of the African American male as a learner in the public school system was investigated. There were 12 adult Black male participants, six of whom dropped out of school before completion, and six of whom graduated with a high school diploma. From their earliest memories, they shared their lived experiences in the public school setting. The findings from this study indicated that a supportive network, such as that provided in a two-parent household or by an adult mentor, was the critical factor in the success or failure of the African American male relative to graduating from high school.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2006, Educational Policy and Leadership

This dissertation explored the ways in which White, African American and Biracial American undergraduate and graduate students made meaning of race and other aspects of identity. Using a constructivist grounded methodology this study revealed a new way to conceptualize the processes by which students' perceptions of self and other were shaped through a course on the culture and society of Southern Africa and by studying abroad on a short-term program to that region: the dynamics of integrating lenses. In the U.S. classroom, students moved from ignorance about the continent of Africa and the region of Southern Africa to an initial understanding. Through the combined course and study abroad program, the White undergraduate students' unexamined White privilege was surfaced and examined. At the same time, Black students' pride in being Black and their connection to their histories was deepened. Their assumptions about race and identification with Africa were also broadened. The result of the group cohesiveness and support was that White and Black students who had never had friends of the “other” race expanded their relationships to incorporate new people who they may never have interacted with otherwise. Through personal stories students were exposed to new perspectives and experiences, first, in the U.S. classroom, later in Southern Africa, and also in the comfort and security of the group itself. Through personal relationships with the instructor, the tour guides and fellow students, participants became engaged. Through learning about Southern Africa: its history, the society, and its many cultures, students became invested in the stories and the people who told them. As a result, they felt compelled to confront the reality they were facing. Through reflecting on those experiences in the support of the group, students were able to grapple with the dissonance between their earlier assumptions, perceptions, and beliefs and the new experiences they were having. This led (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts (MA), Wright State University, 2012, International and Comparative Politics

The literature on anti-Americanism in the Middle East suggests that there is a strong relationship between US foreign policy and public attitudes of the United States in the region. This study analyzes Middle Eastern public opinion of the United States from 2002 until 2011, while using quantitative and qualitative analysis to determine whether US foreign policy in the Middle East correlates with approval levels of the United States. The purpose of this study was to determine if US foreign policy measures such as US support for oppressive regimes, US support for Israel, and US intervention in domestic affairs affects the way in which the average Middle Eastern publics view the United States. This study finds that there were quantitative and qualitative correlations between the three independent variables and anti-Americanism levels in the Middle East with the largest drop in approval of the US coming in 2003 after the US invasion of Iraq. The case of Lebanon's Cedar Revolution also shows an effective policy that can be applied to the regime changes caused by the “Arab Spring”.

PHD, Kent State University, 2013, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Teaching, Learning and Curriculum Studies

Intercultural competence through study abroad is widely recognized as a preferred teaching approach for the development of globally competent health care practitioners. Colleges and universities are looking for multiple ways to encourage students to study abroad because of the noteworthy effects that these experiential opportunities have on students. Sparse research has been conducted to determine if short-term study abroad trips of less than two weeks are achieving these same outcomes. The purpose of this basic interpretative qualitative study was to describe the nature and meanings of a short-term international cultural experience for nursing students, and whether or how their understanding of the role of the professional nurse was changed. A group of baccalaureate nursing students traveled to Tanzania and took part in professional and social opportunities over an 8-day period. All participants were required to complete a nursing course with global objectives prior to the trip and pre-immersion seminars. Data were collected from reflective journals during the study abroad experience, focus group discussions one month after returning home, and personal interviews 6 months later. The results indicated that the participants experienced culture shock, but they also gained in self-awareness, cultural empathy, leadership skills, a desire to learn more, and a new perspective of the role of the professional nurse. Langer's theory of Mindfulness, Bennett's Developmental Model of Sensitivity and Campinha-Bacote's Process of Cultural Competence provided the theoretical framework for this study.

Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Education, Cleveland State University, 2025, Levin College of Public Affairs and Education

Teachers have been challenged to move beyond traditional ways of delivering mathematics instruction and re-image their classroom practice to include student voices engaging in rich mathematical discourse (NCTM 1991, 2000). With the release of the eight Standards for Mathematical Practice, which define the habits of mind teachers should seek to cultivate in their students, the third: “construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others,” is devoted to mathematical talk (Common Core Standards Initiative, 2010, p. 6). In Principles to Actions, “facilitate meaningful mathematical discourse” is among the “eight Mathematics Teaching Practices, which represent a core set of high–leverage practices and essential teaching skills necessary to promote deep learning of mathematics” (NCTM, 2014, p. 9). However, if teachers are to orchestrate mathematical discourse effectively in their own classrooms—no easy task—more guidance is needed on how to navigate this transition away from more traditional teaching methods (Hufferd-Ackles et al., 2004). Spillane and Zeuli (1999) advocate for policy implementation research that focuses on “exploring patterns of practice as teachers adapt and enact instructional policy” (p. 20). This basic interpretative qualitative study sought to give voice to 16 experienced and emerging teachers via in-depth interviews as they reflected upon their time spent cultivating mathematical discourse communities. Fraivillig, Murphy and Fuson's (1999) Advancing Children's Thinking framework, used as a starting conceptual framework for this study, was complicated to include two additional components: (C) building the classroom culture, and (T) the importance of task selection. The resulting CTESE discourse cycle maintains the three instructional components of eliciting, supporting, and extending student thinking from the original ACT framework, but argues that they are mutually exclusive and iterative instead of overlapping and static. Finally, the int (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2024, Counselor Education (Education)

Society and researchers acknowledge that substance use disorders impact the entire family, not just the user. Most research focuses on alcoholism within families and rarely deviates specifically to other substances such as opioids, cocaine, meth, or marijuana. At times, parents with substance use disorders, such as opioids, are not present, whether physically or emotionally, for their children. The parents' absences can impact their children's experiences, such as how they create and maintain interpersonal relationships during childhood and adulthood. Despite this acknowledgment, little research exists on the experiences of children living with parental opioid use disorders from their perspective, instead utilizing the user's perspective of how they believe their substance use disorder impacts their children. To better understand the resulting impact of parental opioid use disorders, the researcher used a phenomenological research design to explore the first-hand experiences of adults who lived with parental opioid use disorders and the different interpersonal relationships experienced during childhood and adolescence. This study identified patterns of shared experiences and encouraged more research related to the long-term effects of parental opioid use disorders in adults, its impact on their interpersonal relationships, and identifying and understanding the counseling needs of clients affected by their parent's opioid use disorder.

Psy. D., Antioch University, 2024, Antioch Seattle: Clinical Psychology

Although there have been some studies that explore the lived experiences of adults with non-epileptic seizures, there have been limited studies that examine the lived experiences of adolescents and emerging adults with non-epileptic seizures. This qualitative study explored the experiences of emerging adults who had been diagnosed with non-epileptic seizures during adolescence. The study focused on specific interventions utilized in therapy that they found helpful, highlighted what their experiences were throughout their daily lives, and what treatment recommendations were provided. The research will also help guide parents, clinicians, and individuals with NES towards treatment recommendations. Eight participants completed an in-depth, semi-structured qualitative interview. The seven major themes that emerged included the following: Insights into Effective Interventions Learned in Therapy, Mixed Emotions, Complexities of the Family Relationship, Support and Strain in Peer Relationships, Stigma, Experiences in the School Settings, and Therapeutic Experiences and Recommendations.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2024, Curriculum and Instruction (Education)

The impact of oral anxiety (OA) in the context of a second language learning (SLL) environment cannot be overemphasised. Understanding the experiences of teachers from diverse cultural and geographic contexts can help in shedding light on this especially important phenomenon. This researcher seeks to gain a better understanding of teachers' experiences with OA, and their perceptions about effective ways to reduce OA in second language (SL) classrooms. Through a qualitative comparative methodology and case study design, data was gathered utilising semi-structured interview instruments, and teachers' journals. A purposeful sample of participants was obtained from secondary school SL teachers, in Guyana and the US, through a snowball sampling method. Subsequently, the data was analysed first through open coding, then closed coding, and finally, through cross themes analysis. Cross-case analysis was used to examine the data gathered. Implications for SL teaching and culturally responsive teaching may be garnered and promoted through this research. In the context of this dissertation, second language learning and foreign language learning are used interchangeably.

Doctor of Healthcare Administration (D.H.A.), Franklin University, 2024, Health Programs

As of the end of the twentieth century, biological drug therapies were at the forefront of health research for treating life-threatening diseases. Despite their therapeutical benefits stemming from providing great treatment hope against lethal diseases, biological drugs end up placing a financial burden on the American healthcare system. In the last decade, biological drug skyrocketing prices have significantly impacted net drug expenditures. The biological drug market needs more competitors. This impacted the passage of the Biological Price Competition and Innovation Act in 2010, introducing biosimilars, the highly safe and effective but less expensive biological copycat alternative drugs. However, a decade after biosimilars introduction, healthcare administration barriers limit American pharmacists and physicians from adopting biosimilars. Hence, the current low American health care provider biosimilar adoption rate must be improved to realize significant healthcare savings. Although many literature studies have examined biosimilar clinical adoption hurdles among American pharmacists and physicians in their siloed medical care settings, they have yet to focus on creating a comprehensive un-siloed biosimilar adoption plan based on their inputs. Therefore, to determine the essential elements to boost biosimilar adoption, this qualitative exploratory study thoroughly examined the literature. It then gathered the viewpoints of pharmacists and physicians who were acquainted with biosimilars by conducting semi-structured question interviews with 13 pharmacists and 8 physicians for a total of 21 participants. The findings of this study suggest that to create a dynamic and competitive biosimilar comprehensive clinical adoption plan, increasing HCPP education, having sufficient healthcare reimbursement, improving the roles of essential stakeholders, and increasing communication among key stakeholders are all necessary to increase biosimilars' trust and adoption, facilitati (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2024, Sociology

The aim of this dissertation is to examine caregiving experiences that middle-aged Russian daughters (raised in a single-mother household) currently provide for their aging mothers and their expectations for their own future care needs. While there is burgeoning literature on caregiving in the United States, the issue remains largely unexplored in Russia. Most existing empirical work examines Russia in comparison with other low-income countries. This study centers the voices of the women from the Russian periphery. Unaffordable home care services, low pensions, bifurcation of the used-to-be free healthcare into state and private, the invisibility of the people with disabilities, and the absence of quality nursing homes, left adult daughters in Ufa no choice but to bear the full burden of caregiving for their mothers completely alone. For this qualitative exploratory study, 40 women from Ufa were recruited to participate in a two-hour semi-structured interview via Zoom or Skype. The age of the women ranged from 35 to 50 years with the average age being 41 years (SD=4.3). All participants completed their undergraduate education and earned a bachelor's degree. A reflective thematic analysis (Braun et al., 2022; Braun & Clarke, 2023) of the qualitative data was conducted; codes and themes were identified inductively, as they emerged from the interviews. The study found that the stress associated with caring for aging mothers was exacerbated by the incongruence of physical environment (Khrushchev-era apartments, inaccessible public transportation and buildings, poorly-maintained sidewalks) with the needs of older adults. Adult daughters were trapped in the caregiving role with no social support and long-term care facilities. This study captured a strong drive of adult Ufa daughters to give assistance to their mothers.

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, 2024, Health Education

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic was a very stressful time for people all around the world. However, university and college students faced extra challenges such as having their education moved online whereas some students who lived on campus were forced to move away. Furthermore, international students faced even more challenges such as the possibility of leaving the country due to the shift to online education, maintaining their student status, traveling to and from their home countries, as well as financial concerns. Asian international students, in particular, also faced additional challenges pertaining to discrimination and safety due to the rumors of the origins of the COVID-19 virus. All college students also had to face challenges pertaining to loneliness as social distancing measures and the closure of college campuses affected the socialization of college students. As such, the presence of these stressors would have necessitated more coping skills. According to the transactional model of stress and coping, when individuals are unable to change the problem using problem-focused coping strategies, they may utilize emotion-focused coping strategies to help them feel better about the stressors. The use of alcohol has been reported to have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there have been inconsistent findings regarding alcohol use among college students. Undoubtedly, these stressors would have also affected the mental health of college students. Similarly, there are mixed findings on mental health outcomes between domestic and international students. Furthermore, there have been no qualitative studies, to date, of the experiences of Asian international students in navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, two studies were conducted to better understand all of the above-mentioned concerns. Study one was conducted to compare domestic and international students and to examine (i) the prevalence of loneliness, alcohol use, anxiety, depression, and (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Education (Educational Leadership), Youngstown State University, 2024, Department of Teacher Education and Leadership Studies

School reform has long been a challenge in public education, with limited focus on the leadership qualities essential for successful reform implementation. This dissertation examined the role and impact of transformational leadership in navigating educational reform efforts within Ohio's school districts. Utilizing a qualitative descriptive study, it focused on the experiences and strategies of long-standing school district leaders. Participants included a diverse group of school leaders who have been instrumental in implementing reform initiatives. Through in-depth interviews and thematic analysis, the study uncovered how these leaders describe and implement mandated reform efforts, highlighting the challenges and successes encountered. Results reveal key strategies for effective change management, emphasizing the importance of visionary leadership and community engagement. The conclusions drawn from this research offer valuable insights for policymakers, educators, and future leaders in education reform.

Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2024, Educational Administration

Many school districts in the United States struggle to retain assistant principals (APs), thus losing the opportunity to prepare and promote quality internal candidates for the principalship. The purpose of the critical participatory action research study was to add to the limited research on AP experiences and how to support their professional development in a way that successfully leads APs to the principalship. The research aimed to add qualitative data from APs employed in public school districts in Ohio to provide much-needed insight into how to better retain school administrators and create an internal candidate pool of highly qualified school principals. The research questions centered around providing insights into AP on-the-job socialization and experiences that impacted their career path decisions and gathered their recommendations for school districts when creating a principal pipeline program or other intentional supportive professional development opportunities for APs. Purposive, stratified/cell sampling was used to collect data from homogeneous participants who share a geographic location (state) and the same biographical background of making lateral career moves as APs of one school district to another, but are considered representative of various demographic groups. The APs shared their experiences through semi-structured interviews and made recommendations for how school districts could better support APs and prepare them for a future principalship. The questions encouraged interviewees to employ a systems thinking approach and DSRP metacognitive process to reflect. I used a critical constructivist grounded theory methodology to analyze the data collected through an iterative inductive process of initial and focused coding and memoing combined with input from participants to uncover, compare, and synthesize common themes. Four APs were interviewed, which provided insights into their on-the-job socialization and experiences. Two (open full item for complete abstract)

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2023, Arts and Sciences: Communication

This qualitative study seeks to gain insight into the lived experiences of urban Appalachian women, shedding light on the intricate web of their intersectional identities and the strategies they employ to navigate the identity gaps they encounter. Through a series of 12 in-depth interviews, this research uncovers three important strategies that urban Appalachian women employ in communicating their multifaceted identities and responding to the challenges associated with them. The results found that urban Appalachian women utilize the following strategies when communicating their intersectional identities and responding to identity gaps they experience: (1) calibration of Appalachian Identity through standpoints, (2) (re)framing meaning through identity and (3) seeking connections and shaping relationships.

Doctor of Education, Miami University, 2023, Educational Leadership

This qualitative study seeks to amplify the stories and voices of recently graduated African American students who completed at least one Advance Placement (AP) course to learn from their experiences and to understand how these students explain the underrepresentation of African American students in AP courses. Through semi-structured interviews with five recently graduated African American students from an affluent, predominantly White, suburban public-school district in Ohio, issues relating to how race played a role in their educational experience, specifically, in AP courses were explored. Approaching this study through the lens of critical race theory (CRT) allowed the voices and experiences of African American students to be central and to serve as reliable data upon which to assess and analyze their lived experiences. Five major common themes emerged from this study: the presence of bias and prejudice, self-negotiation of response, the paradox of isolation and illumination, the weight of racism, and lingering stereotypes and the will to defy them. The results of this study expand the conversation about the experience in AP courses via the voices of marginalized students as well as provide their insights as to why African American students continue to be underrepresented in AP courses. The study provides evidence that a different approach is needed to not only eliminate bias and prejudice in educational spaces for African American students who participate in AP but also increase equity and access for those considering participating in AP classes.

Doctor of Professional Studies (D.P.S.) in Instructional Design Leadership, Franklin University, 2023, International Institute for Innovative Instruction

The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is the largest healthcare system in the nation and faces management challenges in caring for veterans' needs. This qualitative exploratory case study evaluated the VA's Technical Career Field (TCF) internship. This internship was vital to ensure the VA closed the gap between mission-critical leadership and workforce challenges by training qualified candidates to fully staff the hospitals and address our veterans' needs (VHA, 2021a). The Healthcare Leadership Technical Institute (HLTI) training program was designed to fulfill the VA strategic business objective performance goal of monitoring recruitment, retention, and evaluation (VHA, 2021a). The sample for this study was from two cohorts, Cohort A, 2018-2020, and Cohort B, 2019-2021, from three of the 19 TCF mission-critical career disciplines: Human Resources (HR), Office of Information and Technology (OIT), and Supply Chain Management (SCM). The archival secondary data from the Kirkpatrick Model Level III Behavior instrumental survey of this case study evaluated the results using Braun and Clark's (2006) six phases of thematic analysis. Utilizing this approach in a systematic process ensured replication and, by definition, effectively saturated the prevalent themes and subthemes from the surveys (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The ATLAS.ti software program, manual hand coding, and the independent coder identified seven subthemes grouped into three major themes. Although the findings from the participant's perceptions of the TCF internship were beneficial, the program has room to improve.