This study investigated the 'immediate aesthetic impression' method of quantifying the perception of attractiveness of several website designs. This study replicates and expands an existing line of research that investigates a method of measuring end-user's "first impression" evaluations of web page attractiveness. Emphasis is placed on evaluating the potential influence of website domain on end-user perception of website visual aesthetics. A snowball technique was used to contact and enroll 184 participants. The participants were asked to evaluate 24 website screen images that represented four website domain categories (commerce, entertainment, government, and religious/non-profit). The results suggest that web domain can be, but is not always, a factor in the perception of website aesthetics. Comparing the average attractiveness rating between an experimental and a control group, websites in the Government domain showed a higher average attractiveness rating from the participants who were aware of the web domain they were viewing. The results also confirm prior findings and show that aesthetic perceptions are formed very quickly and held largely consistent upon repeated exposure to the same website screen image. Response latency continues to show promise as an inherent, objective confirmatory variable, with some limitations on proper experimental design when gathering latency data. This study provides further evidence supporting the repeatability and generalizability of the 'immediate aesthetic perception' measurement method and new findings about the relationship between web domain and perceived website aesthetics. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Communication in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2009. / Date of Defense: December 17, 2008. / Domain, Web Page, Website, Aesthetics, Usability, Beauty, Perception, Evaluation, Measure / Includes bibliographical references. / Jonathan Adams, Professor Directing Thesis; Juliann Cortese, Committee Member; Gary Heald, Committee Member.

National Research Council statistics indicate that 40% to 75% of preschoolers with early language impairment develop later reading difficulties (RD). Children exhibiting decreased language abilities need ample opportunities to acquire the early foundations of literacy before entrance into formal education. This study explored the feasibility and effectiveness of an explicit phonological and print awareness intervention embedded within repeated (i.e., three times per week) shared book reading with preschool children from low income backgrounds with and without language impairments. A multiple baseline design across behaviors demonstrate that embedded phonological awareness practice was related to changes in emergent literacy skills in preschool children at risk for RD. Specifically, rhyme intervention resulted in improvements in weekly rhyme production and rhyme identification tasks. Initial sound intervention resulted in improvements in alliteration and initial sound fluency tasks. Replications were demonstrated within and across all 23 participants (10 considered at risk and 13 considered high risk). Additionally, this study examined novel word-learning abilities in the same cohort of preschool children at risk for RD. Children with and without language impairments demonstrated the ability to learn novel words after incidental exposure. Words exposure was carefully controlled to contrast one vs four exposures during repeated shared book reading without adult highlighting or discussion. An alternating treatments design indicated there were no differences in the amount of words learned when exposed one-time vs. four-times per reading. In addition, an examination of the levels and degrees of word learning based on book-specific receptive, expressive, and decontextualized vocabulary assessments revealed significant pre-post differences in word learning on all measures. Children with language impairments demonstrated the ability to learn novel words incidentally after three repeated shared book readings, but children with higher language abilities learned more words. Gains on standardized measures of receptive and expressive vocabulary were also demonstrated. Findings confirm that embedding an explicit phonological and print awareness intervention into the context of repeated storybook reading results in gains in emergent literacy skills for children at risk for RD. Further, children with and without language impairments can increase their level of vocabulary knowledge by simply listening to stories containing novel words even with relatively few exposures. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Communication Disorders in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2004. / Date of Defense: November 5, 2004. / Literacy Intervention Children with Language Impai, Emergent Literacy Intervention Children At-Risk, Emergent Literacy Intervention / Includes bibliographical references. / Howard Goldstein, Professor Directing Dissertation; Stephanie Dent Al Otaiba, Outside Committee Member; Joseph Torgesen, Committee Member; Lisa Scott-Trautman, Committee Member.

Historically the preventable risks affecting morbidity and mortality among adolescents and young adults have largely been thought of as independent behaviors. However, a growing body of evidence has shown that many of these adolescent risk behaviors are often interrelated. Traditionally public health communication campaigns and audience segmentation strategies have been designed to address "individual" unhealthy lifestyles and behaviors among youth in the United States. In recent years, public health researchers have recommended that campaigns should be identifying clusters of behaviors for intervention. This shift requires health campaign professionals to alter communication audience segmentation strategies in order to identify the characteristics of individuals who exhibit combinations of unhealthy lifestyle and risky behaviors. This study is a secondary analysis examining the co-occurrence of health risk behaviors among adolescents with the objective of developing profiles that can be used in segmentation strategies to help target youth audiences in communication campaigns. Building on previous research, this study focused on seven adolescent health-compromising behaviors simultaneously. This study identified four meaningful clusters of risky behaviors and health- compromising lifestyles. Three of these clusters contain adolescents reporting above average co-occurring risks. Furthermore, this study used demographic, BMI scores, self-perceptions, and leisure activity measures to profile and predict membership in the four cluster groups. The results of this study identified a few common re-occurring patterns. Similar to previous research, the findings show that the majority of adolescents in grades 9-12 have low-risk profiles while the highest risk group had the lowest number of adolescents. Gender was found to be an inconsistent measure of membership in the risk profiles. Age predicted group membership in one of the clusters. Race/ethnicity variously predicted membership in the three risk profiles. Number of days missed due to perceived threats predicted membership in two profiles. Health perception predicted membership in all three profiles. The results of this study support the stance that prevention/intervention efforts can justifiably and meaningfully focus on multiple risk behaviors simultaneously. Differences among the risk profiles are important to note and should be highlighted in prevention/intervention efforts. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Communication in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts.. / Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2008. / Date of Defense: December 5, 2007. / Health Communication Campaigns, Audience Segmentation, Clusters Of Behaviors, Adolescents Risk Behaviors / Includes bibliographical references. / Gary R. Heald, Professor Directing Thesis; Stephen D. McDowell, Committee Member; John K. Mayo, Committee Member.

Most of the existing studies on female athletes' representation fall under the premise of longitudinal research and focus on how the representation of female athletes has evolved throughout the years. Further on, they explore how this development fits in the broader arena of societal political and cultural developments in the Western World. These studies tend to portray female athletes as occupying one of three roles: objects of male gaze, children or companions. While looking at the evolution of the representation of female athletes is a valuable research tool, analyzing the representation of female athletes from a multicultural perspective rather than a historical one can help place the representation of female athletes in an international context. This multicultural perspective can then offer a deeper understanding to the representation of female athletes around the world. In this study I performed a narrative analysis of the representation of female athletes in the Romanian newspaper Gazeta Sporturilor. I identified two prevalent character roles that female athletes come to play in Romanian sports narratives: sports heroines and marionettes. The existence of these two character types can be understood as representative for Romania's transitional state from a communist to a democratic country. When compared to the roles played by female athletes in Western media, these roles come to symbolize Romania's unique political and cultural existence: one where communist reminisces are mixed with capitalistic ideals and where consumerism fights a close battle with traditional values of family and companionship. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Communication in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2006. / Date of Defense: March 11, 2005. / Romanian Media, Gender Roles, Female Athletes, Narrative, Representation, Western Media, Ideology / Includes bibliographical references. / Danielle Wiese, Professor Directing Thesis; Stephen Mc. Dowell, Committee Member; Arthur Raney, Committee Member.

The present study is an ethnographic analysis of the communication of organizational identity in an outlaw motorcycle club. Two goals direct the present study. The first is to present a brief history of outlaw motorcycle clubs that extends current research back nearly 50 years prior to the current published record. In so doing, the study clarifies the origins of the term "outlaw" as it relates to motorcycle clubs. The second and major goal of the study is to explore how an outlaw motorcycle club establishes and communicates an organizational identity. To this end, the study offers an emic (insider) understanding from the perspective of 28 members of a Tallahassee, Florida-based chapter of an international outlaw motorcycle club. A dearth of scholarly research exists addressing outlaw motorcycle clubs. The current historical record can be seen as incomplete due to the lack of understanding of how the motorcycle first diffused as a mode of transportation and then as a locus of organization. Likewise, current cultural research is limited to etic (outsider) understandings, perhaps due to the difficulty in gaining entrée to closed or secret societies. Participant observations were conducted from May through June 2004 across the United States, with the majority of data originating from the Southeast United States in general, and the northern Florida Panhandle in particular. Historical research involved examining archives of the American Motorcyclist Association; print media dating back to 1901; life histories of long-time outlaw motorcycle club members; and organizational records of the outlaw motorcycle club observed during the study. Using primarily Turnerian (1967) analysis of organizational symbols and rituals, the study examines the various acculturation processes involved in a novice becoming a member of an outlaw motorcycle club. Systems thinking frames the interpretation of how these symbols are then used by motorcycle clubs to create a system. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Communication in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2006. / Date of Defense: October 17, 2006. / Symbols, Organizational Identity, History, Outlaw Motorcycle Club, Communication, Ethnography / Includes bibliographical references. / Marilyn J. Young, Professor Directing Dissertation; Bruce Grindal, Outside Committee Member; Gary R. Heald, Committee Member; Philip J. Grise, Committee Member.

There is a growing trend toward the use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) in addressing the communicative deficits of preschool children. Of particular interest is the use of pictures to teach children to request desired items. However, discrimination among pictures can be a challenge for children with developmental disabilities. The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of video self-modeling to teach young children with developmental delays to request by choosing a picture related to a desired item or activity specific to different play contexts. Four children participated in a multiple baseline design across participants to evaluate an intervention that taught picture discrimination through video self-modeling. Child measures focused on the frequency of accurate requests using pictures, gestures, and/or spoken words. Three of the four children learned to give following the initiation of video self-modeling. One of the four children learned to make accurate requests using video self-modeling. The other three children required a branch step, direct teaching, to learn to discriminate among the pictures. The videos appeared to provide adequate contextual cues for learning to request but not necessarily for discrimination. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Communication Disorders in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2006. / Date of Defense: March 21, 2006. / Pictures, Preschool Children, Video Self-Modeling, Language Delay, Alternative Communication, Augmentative Communication, AAC, Picture Requesting, Picture Discrimination / Includes bibliographical references. / Howard Goldstein, Professor Directing Dissertation; Christine Readdick, Outside Committee Member; Juliann Woods, Committee Member; Joanne Lasker, Committee Member.

In the United States, laws have been passed in most states protecting individuals from harassment, sexual harassment, assault, stalking and discrimination. However, employees are still recipients of unprofessional communication in which they are abused verbally, intimidated, and, in general, made to feel inadequate. As a result, some employees quit their jobs or develop major health problems. In some instances, they commit suicide or homicide at work. Psychologists in America who examined these workplace behaviors concluded that the deliberate and repeated verbal aggression coupled with ridicule or harassing and intimidating strategies caused mental and physical harm. They called the phenomenon workplace bullying, a term that was already in use in England and other countries. Focusing on supervisor-employee communication, this study explored elements/symbols that would lead to a definition of workplace bullying from a communication perspective. The theory of symbolic interactionism laid a foundation for the study. Qualitative methods were used: a focus group interview, individual interviews, and textual research. The focus group, consisting mainly of HR experts who worked in or were associated with Florida state government, proposed several themes, including lack of dignity and lack of respect, themes that were aggregated as unprofessional communication. Other themes that emerged were verbal abuse, power, subtle communication, and lack of recourse. Lack of recourse was viewed as powerlessness, or lack of support. Interviews with employees who had resigned or retired as well as interviews with current employees revealed the powerlessness employees felt when faced with unprofessional communication, verbal abuse, power, and subtle communication. A search through newspapers, academic journals, and professional journals provided interpretations from national and international organizations which supported the themes that emerged from the interviews. Overall, the study showed that workplace bullying occurred when employees lacked recourse. A link between workplace bullying and workplace violence was noted. Vignettes used in the study pointed to some situations that ended in workplace violence when employees lacked recourse. The study proposed a definition of workplace bullying and recommended that management provide employees with recourse to stem occurrences of workplace bullying, an action that would also result in a decrease in workplace violence. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Communication in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2004. / Date of Defense: April 14, 2004. / Workplace Violence, Workplace Bullying, Unprofessional Communication, Symbolic Interactionism, Focus Group Interview, Lack of Recourse / Includes bibliographical references. / Stephen McDowell, Professor Directing Dissertation; Mary E. Guy, Outside Committee Member; Marilyn Young, Committee Member; Felecia Jordan-Jackson, Committee Member.

As the Internet has grown dramatically every year since the beginning of the 1990s, the diffusion of the Internet has involved many aspects. Its influence has reached not only the technical fields but also throughout the general society as we have moved toward increasing the effectiveness of online tools. The global and convenient nature of the Internet makes the medium a well-suited marketplace for shopping, and brought a closer relationship between consumers and marketers. As interactive technology has allowed people to use the Web for many different purposes and made it possible to increase online businesses and activities, marketers also have found advantages in communicating with customers directly through the Web and in gathering information of consumers to use in the creating of individual consumer profiles for more defined targeting. However, marketers' data gathering practices have undermined consumers' privacy and security. Users are not only fully informed of the nature or extent that online companies can collect information about users, but also not aware that spying software is being used without their consent or knowledge. Since no previous research investigated the issues surrounding spy software, this study gave new insight into the fast-growing world of electronic commerce. Besides, our knowledge of why consumers systematically differ in their tendency to seek out new products is still sparse. In order to have a better explanation, this study approached this matter from the diffusion of innovations perspective. Consumer innovativeness is not only relevant for marketing theory, but also for marketing practice because companies rely increasingly on the success of new product introductions for future growth and profitability. Consumers' different tendency regarding their different purchasing behavior also can be explained by marketing actions, personal characteristics, personal values, level of concerns regarding privacy and security and innovation characteristics as well (Gatignon & Robertson, 1985; Korgaonkar & Wolin, 1999; Udo, 2001;Goldsmith, 2002). By building the user-side perceptions of spy software, and investigating users' awareness of spy software, the study examined: the relationships between (a) awareness of spy software and privacy and security concerns, (b) awareness of spy software and behavioral characteristics. Also, with innovativeness characteristics, this study examined: the relationships between (c)innovativeness characteristics and the level of awareness of spy software, (d) innovativeness characteristics and privacy and security concerns. Lastly, using Kahle's (1983) value scale – the List of Value (LOV), this study postulated important effects of personal values regarding their privacy and security concerns, awareness of spy software, and innovativeness characteristics. The overall findings regarding the awareness of spy software indicated that the respondents have some level of awareness of Internet spy software, but are not well aware of what spy software is and what it is capable of. Respondents with higher level of awareness of spy software are likely to have lower level of security concerns, and it was confirmed that respondents with lower level of innovativeness characteristics are more likely concern about their security. Of innovativeness characteristics, only domain-specific innovativeness was positively related to the level of awareness of spy software in the current study. It was also found that more time they spent online per week and the longer they have been online shopping adopters have a significant influence on their level of awareness of spy software. Lastly, in terms of innovativeness characteristics and personal values, each of different personal values displayed unique predictive power on different innovativeness characteristics. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Communication in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Degree Awareded: Summer Semester, 2005. / Date of Defense: August 5, 2005. / Spy Software, Privacy Concerns, Security Concerns, Online Consumers, Innovativeness / Includes bibliographical references. / Steven McClung, Professor Directing Thesis; Gary R. Heald, Committee Member; Felipe Korzenny, Committee Member.

The purpose of this study is to examine the reform of broadcasting media in Thailand during the period 2000-2006. The Constitution of 1997 initiated reform of the political and media structure. It led to the enactment of the 2000 Act on Organization for Frequency Allocation and Supervision of Telecommunication and Broadcasting Businesses. These legal frameworks advanced institutional restructuring by establishing independent regulatory bodies to regulate the telecommunications and broadcasting industries. They aimed to move regulatory authority from the hands of state bureaucrats and the military to a new independent regulator. Applying an institutional approach and a stakeholder analysis, the processes of media democratization and media activism are the central concerns of the study. Through the examination of newspaper archives, government documents, and personal interviews, the findings indicate that even though the government entities and their business liaisons are interested in the reform of broadcasting industry, they still want to retain their control of broadcasting media. The goals of diversity and public accessibility gain little attention from the people in power, and the opening of markets to competition is not evidenced. However, three case studies of media reform advocacy demonstrate that civil society movements have made efforts to move the reform of the Thai broadcasting media to enhance media democratization, including independence, diversity, and accessibility. Intellectuals, journalism professionals, and a non-governmental organization—Campaign for Popular Media Reform—have contributed to the reform of the broadcasting media. Although the proposed new independent regulator (National Broadcasting Commissions) was not established, the intention to democratize the broadcasting media is still alive, and the participation of the civil sectors in the policy decision process is ongoing. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Communication in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2008. / Date of Defense: March 27, 2008. / Civil Society, Media Democratization, Broadcasting Reform, Media Activism, Thailand / Includes bibliographical references. / Stephen D. McDowell, Professor Directing Dissertation; John C. Bertot, Outside Committee Member; John K. Mayo, Committee Member; Jennifer M. Proffitt, Committee Member.

Relationship marketing practices have become ubiquitous in the consumer domain and their effects on various consumer behaviors are well documented. At the same time, branding strategies are widely utilized as well and their effect on consumer behavior is also well documented. What is not known is how relationship marketing strategies impact brand building activities or brand equity. This study addresses this gap in the literature by examining the brand equity scores of 46 brands collected from a convenience sample of 356 undergraduates at a Southeastern university. The effects of relationship marketing strategies on brand equity components are analyzed using a MANOVA technique. Findings provide mixed support for the hypothesized effects. Specifically, as a firm's use of social bonding strategies increases, there is a significant and positive effect on the brand equity components of brand awareness and perceived quality. Price incentive strategies and structural bonding strategies had no significant effect, positive or negative, on any of the brand equity components. / A Thesis submitted to the College of Communication and Information in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2009. / Date of Defense: September 18, 2009. / Brand Equity, Relationship Marketing, Branding / Includes bibliographical references. / Steven McClung, Professor Directing Thesis; Gary Heald, Committee Member; Michael Hartline, Committee Member.