Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2015, Mass Communication (Communication)

Motorcycle taxi workers are a relatively new phenomenon in the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) informal public transportation sector. However, their ability to conduct work is challenged by a legacy of violence and hazards stemming from the role of motorcyclists in insurgent activities, robberies, as well as road traffic injuries and fatalities. Consequently, the country's growing motorcycle taxi workforce operates in a largely unfavorable socio-political environment as mass mediated messages, public perceptions and governmental policies challenge their identity, legitimacy and ultimately their right to generate income through organized labor. An eleven-week ethnographic inquiry among the Comite de Motard Kisima (CMK) motorcycle taxi club of Lubumbashi, DRC produced data to inform this study. Structuration Theory, Grounded Theory, and Social Identity Theory were consulted as analytical frames to examine the methods employed by the CMK as they negotiate structures to legitimize their work-life. Grounded Theory analysis revealed that the CMK reproduces structures of leadership, cooperation and identity management to construct and relay their legitimacy in the DRC's public transportation environment. Each structure is constituted by modalities and structural properties that impart meaning to the CMK's perceptions and conceptualizations of legitimacy. The leadership structure constitutes legitimacy for the CMK as a means for account giving for citizenship; transformation and growth; active inclusivity, and proven integrity. The cooperation structure embodies legitimacy for the CMK as it facilitates criminal disembodiment and diplomacy. The identity management structure forges legitimacy for the CMK by way of story-making and the possibility of a Manseba movement. This study bears significance for entities tasked with maintaining relations with the DRC's motorcycle taxi workers. It is also relevant to studies concerned with locating meaning in groups' o (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Roger Cooper PhD (Committee Chair); Laura Black PhD (Committee Member); Karen Riggs PhD (Committee Member); Edna Wangui PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: African History; African Studies; Area Planning and Development; Black History; Black Studies; Communication; Cultural Anthropology; Gender Studies; Geography; Mass Communications; Mass Media; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Organizational Behavior; Personal Relationships; Public Policy; Regional Studies; Rhetoric; Social Research; Social Structure; Sub Saharan Africa Studies; Transportation; Transportation Planning; Urban Planning

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2024, Communication Disorders

Aphasia groups are a popular and effective rehabilitation approach to improve people with aphasias' (PWA) communication and psychosocial health. While current evidence supports the efficacy of aphasia groups, we have minimal insight on the factors that lead to the measured benefits. Recent research exploring the proceedings of aphasia groups and the features that lead to success have produced useful insights; however, they have reflected the perspectives of researchers rather than those who are directly involved in aphasia groups. In the current project we centered the experiences and perspectives of community members by interviewing 5 people with severe aphasia who have attended an aphasia group and 13 experienced facilitators. For participants with severe aphasia, we focused on their ideas regarding how aphasia groups should function with a specific focus on aspects that relate to meeting their needs given the severity of their aphasia. We also focused on facilitators' insights on the ideal aphasia group environment, ideal resources, and contributions of facilitators and group members to interaction during groups. We analyzed participant's insights using qualitative content analysis. We presented these findings across three papers, each with a set of primary categories, tertiary categories, and subcategories. Facilitators described ways to create a comfortable and supportive space for communication and group participation with tools and materials that address the varied group member needs. Facilitators' ideas regarding the materials and tools were largely tied into their insights on interaction in aphasia groups where they described how they and members with aphasia worked to prevent or address communication challenges in the group that arose as a result of aphasia. Insights from the participants with severe aphasia captured the importance of the group makeup, the materials and tools for supporting communication, as well as collaborative and supportive featu (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Brent Archer Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Megan Rancier Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jason Whitfield Ph.D. (Committee Member); Siva Santhanam Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Speech Therapy

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2021, Communication Studies (Communication)

This dissertation is interested in affect, or the aspects of social life that make a difference because of the ways we feel them. The happenings of a group working in public health are interpreted using affect theory to trace how disruptions to typical organizing processes happen. Because of its role in shaping social scenes, understanding affect's operation is a potential route towards change, even in situations that seem to be solidly set in one particular form. Instances of the group reworking understandings of their role in addressing health equity and disparities are presented to highlight affect's operations--a force that can lead to positive, negative, or ambiguous change. Feminism informs this research both theoretically and in its commitments to considering the practical implications of learning from this group. Feminist formations of affect are foregrounded by thinking about how bodies are involved in sensing the world as well as the role of love and support in the collectivities of our organizing efforts. The affective movements of the group are traced by sensing the trajectories of the way things are heading, identifying patterns, and accounting for power's role. Implications for communication and organizing in public health theory and practice are offered, calling for public health to engage affective analysis by developing capacities for self, group, and structural reflection on the sociocultural underpinnings of population health.

Committee: Laura Black (Advisor); Myrna Sheldon (Committee Member); Brittany Peterson (Committee Member); Lynn Harter (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Gender Studies; Health; Organization Theory; Public Health; Systems Science; Womens Studies

Doctor of Education, Ashland University, 2020, College of Education

This study examines group processes and leadership of a zoo executive team at a Midwestern zoo while determining what type of animal images are ethically appropriate and ethically conflicted for use in social media (Instagram). Using the four animal and human associations, this study examined how group processes are used to establish a mutually agreed-upon set of standards for what is ethically appropriate for social marketing imagery of zoos. The instrumentation used included one-on-one interviews, survey, a questionnaire and a focus group. The results of this study suggests that effective group processes include: behavior modification, cohesion, feedback, leadership, fostering perception change, and fostering learning. The results also suggest how zoo professionals navigate in reaching decisions for policy development and common goals for the organization more efficiently and effectively.

Committee: Judy Alston Dr. (Committee Chair) Subjects: Animals; Behavioral Psychology; Educational Leadership

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2017, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Vehicular Adhoc Networks (VANETs) promises to empower the future autonomous vehicles with a cooperative awareness facility that will help in avoiding accidents and alleviating traffic congestion. The foreseen collective awareness requires the vehicles to communicate with their neighbors and with the infrastructure; such communication will need the fulfillment of many requirements such as security, privacy, and efficiency. The Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC) standard has been formulated to afford these requisites. On one hand, when focusing on the application layer, DSRC adopts the successful Internet-based Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) framework to safeguard the vehicles. However, PKI alone cannot comprehensively meet all of the security and privacy requirements. On the other hand, the DSRC 's Medium Access Control (MAC) layer adopts the IEEE 802.11p access mode, which also needs augmentation to fulfill the efficiency of communication when collisions arise for safety beacons. Since many issues have not been well addressed in DSRC, academic, industrial, and governmental research has flourished over the last two decades to complement the standard. As being part of such large research community, we also have been incentivized to contribute with our own solutions. Our contributions have been ranging between two limits: either finding solutions to acclimate with the available DSRC shortcomings or disregarding the bias that DSRC has towards using only specific standards by bringing other alternative frameworks into scene. With the first direction in mind, our efforts are a mixture of high-level re-arrangement protocols such as grouping and overhead omissions to minimize the PKI and Carrier Sense Multiple Access - Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) privacy and efficiency shortcomings. For the other direction, we especially address the application layer level. Since some frameworks have small communication overhead while others have high anonymous traits, we have at (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Fusun Ozguner Professor (Advisor); Can Emre Koksal Professor (Committee Member); Xiaorui Wang Professor (Committee Member) Subjects: Computer Engineering; Computer Science; Electrical Engineering; Transportation

Master of Arts (M.A.), University of Dayton, 2016, Communication

This study examines the word “slut” and its impact on the way 638 participants perceived an individual woman. Two test groups were established using a survey that briefly describes a fictional woman named “Stacy”. Test group B received a survey that contained the word “slut/slutty” in reference to “Stacy” whereas Test Group A received a survey that contained the words “flirt/flirty” in reference to Stacy. Using a semantic differential scale that featured 20 word pairings, this study examined the likelihood that participants who were exposed to the word “slut” perceived “Stacy” more negatively than those who were not. Results show that the participants who were exposed to the word “slut” did perceive “Stacy” somewhat more negatively overall and in relation to word pairings that were both specifically related to promiscuity and specifically unrelated to promiscuity. The implications of these findings are discussed within a Symbolic Interactionalist framework and conclusions are made about the impact on society at large.

Committee: Teresa Thompson (Advisor); Jason Combs (Committee Member); James Robinson (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Womens Studies

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2014, Recreation Studies (Education)

The purpose of this study was to determine what roles develop in an adventure programming context, how these roles are negotiated among the group, and what the implications of this process are for group functioning and task performance? Several scholars have identified the need to understand groups from smaller components that make up group development and group dynamics to better understand how educational outcomes are achieved (Beames, 2004; Ewert & McAvoy, 2009; McKenzie, 2000; Sibthrop, Paisley, & Gookin, 2007). A qualitative case study method was used by the researcher to collect data. In reporting the results of this study, two categories of roles emerged, formal and informal roles (Ang & Zaphiris, 2012; Benne & Sheats, 1948; Dexel et al., 2010; Kramer, 2002; Williams, Morgan, & Cameron, 2011). The study provides an interpretation of the data through the bona fide group perspective (Putnam and Stohl, 1990).

Committee: Bruce Martin (Committee Chair); Laura Black (Committee Member); Andy Solozi (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Recreation

PHD, Kent State University, 2013, College of Communication and Information / School of Information

This qualitative study investigated the information culture and beliefs within two United Church of Christ congregations in Northeast Ohio. One congregation was Open and Affirming (ONA), and one congregation was not. ONA refers to a congregation's decision to be listed as a place where LGBT individuals—in particular—are welcomed and accepted. Using a purposive sampling technique, 8 focus groups of 4-8 participants each were asked to discuss content derived from three research question areas: participant beliefs, information that participants used to inform these beliefs, and how this information was used. Analysis found that both congregations espoused the superiority of their beliefs about inclusivity, thus creating a paradox whereby their inclusivity involved excluding beliefs of exclusion. Because the ONA congregation preferred a personal expression of belief, they were more comfortable with the potential divisions caused by this paradox than the non-ONA congregation, which preferred a communal expression of belief. Analysis also found that most participants relied heavily and placed great authority in information from internal sources, e.g., prayer, meditation, and emotion. The ONA congregation reflected the presence of more unique information, indicating that they approached the Bible and other common religious information critically and with more freedom to come to different conclusions than fundamentalists and biblical literalists. Despite these differences in belief expression and information type, the analysis found that both groups showed evidence of Chatman's Small Worlds theory. First, participants showed evidence of unmet information needs. Many lacked confidence in the ability to articulate personal beliefs. Second, participants noted the presence of long-term attendees who determined the relevancy of incoming information. Finally, participants tended to guard against disclosing information about personal problems to other congregants, pre (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Don Wicks PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Danielle Coombs PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Daniel Roland PhD (Committee Member); Lynne Guillot-Miller PhD (Committee Member); George Cheney PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Information Science; Organizational Behavior; Religion; Religious Congregations; Social Research

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2008, Economics

My first essay reexamines experimental results suggesting that pooling of information by decision making groups is often incomplete, leading to a suboptimal decision. In my main experimental treatment, I calibrate decision makers' information load so that discovering the optimal choice is likely, given natural memory constraints. However, I show that errors recalling public information are typically mitigated by within-group correction, while comparable errors with private information cannot be corrected, biasing the pool of information toward the option favored by public information. This "corrective force bias" accounts for the majority of sub-optimal group decisions in my experiment. This bias is unacknowledged in prior experiments, and suggests that the observed information pooling failures have more to do with the structure of the information distribution than any inadequacies in group performance. In my second essay, I provide a theoretical model which illustrates why experts advising a decision maker (DM) with a limited ability to process information might rationally bias their messages toward the policy they believe to be correct when the advisors' and DM's interests are aligned. In the most informative perfect Bayesian equilibrium of a game where advice is given sequentially, the first advisor sends a sincere message if his information is moderate. However, given information sufficiently favorable to a policy, advisor 1 biases his message in an attempt to ensure this policy is chosen even when the DM receives a noisy message. I describe this bias in the transmission of information as "paternalistic bias." My research suggests that the ex-post evaluation of the precision of experts should account for this paternalistic bias. My third essay describes a rational choice model for a behavioral phenomenon known as biased recall, i.e., the fact that information which is consistent with an initial preference, expectation, or belief is more likely to be recalled. T (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: John Kagel PhD (Advisor); Massimo Morelli PhD (Other); James Peck PhD (Committee Member); Paul Healy PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Economics

Master of Technical and Scientific Communication, Miami University, 2002, Technical and Scientific Communication

The purpose of this internship report is to describe my internship experience and to present a case study of a major project in my internship: I worked with Davey Tree, a national tree and lawn care company, to redesign their web site. The report focuses on the use of problem-solving approaches to technical communication from the beginning to the actual completion of the project. The report also serves to inform faculty and students in the program about the practice of technical and scientific communication at the Interactive Media Group (the interactive media organization where I performed my internship) and to help students who have not yet begun their internships to understand what they might expect in a small, informal organization.

Committee: Jean Lutz (Advisor) Subjects:

Master of Applied Communication Theory and Methodology, Cleveland State University, 2012, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

Emerging technologies and the ever-changing climate of the Internet has helped social networking sites to foster relationships between sports fans and professional sports teams. This study focused on identification a Cleveland Browns fan feels with the team as a predicting factor of emotions, actions, self and group identity, and pronominal usage. An online survey was given to Cleveland Browns fans to determine their level of fandom, Cleveland Browns knowledge, overall media habits, feelings toward the city of Cleveland, personality traits, and demographic information. A content analysis was conducted to determine the pronominal usage, used to indicate a specific distance from the team based on its successes or failures, and whether the fan was more likely to distance themselves when speaking of the team's future. The survey found that Cleveland Browns fans were proud of the city of Cleveland based on its sports teams, will wear apparel regardless of a win or loss, and bigger fans with more knowledge and time spent on the Internet were more likely to speak out when in the minority opinion in response to topics related to the team. The content analysis found that bigger Cleveland Browns fans were more likely to use pronouns when speaking about the team, expressed positive feelings towards the future of the team, and reported negative feelings toward Art Modell, former owner of the team.

Committee: George Ray PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Kimberly Neuendorf PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Anup Kumar PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2010, Secondary Education

Teachers want and need students to excel in the classroom. Cooperative learning is one method recognized to address this. Numerous researchers have shown that cooperative learning leads to improved skills in teamwork and communication in other fields (Johnson and Johnson, 2007; Slavin, 1995). Cooperative learning used in this study showed that the secondary math students benefited socially and academically through effective student communication. This case study reported observational evidence concerning the patterns and experiences of student interaction in discussions within cooperative learning groups in several high school geometry classes. Developed from data collected in observations, audiotapes, and student journals/notebooks, a multiple-case study was used to examine the discussions of two groups of students in cooperative learning groups. Each group participated in three activities: Placemat, to build team camaraderie; Numbered Heads, to strengthen positive interdependence; and STAD, to ensure individual accountability. Four patterns emerged when examining the data: change in attitude toward cooperative learning, the development of trust, group regulation, and the facilitation of math learning. Students showed a more positive feeling toward cooperative learning, stated an increased appreciation for cooperative learning, developed trust in their group members, and were able to analyze what they were doing well and what areas needed work. Math learning occurred when the students demonstrated how they solved problems by communicating using mathematical concepts and language.

Committee: Susan Colville-Hall Dr. (Advisor); Lynne Pachnowski PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Antonio Quesada PhD (Committee Member); Harold Foster PhD (Committee Member); Xin Liang PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Education; Mathematics