I examined what brand new Ph.D.s in Communication experience when they start their first, entry-level, tenure-track assistant professor position at a new university. Through the lens of scocial construction, I review vocational and organizational socialization, individual agency by newcomers, academic socialization processes, and the concept of the academic career in the current climate of university change and transformation. Then, I present the method of research, including the population and sampling method, and rationales for utilizing a narrative approach, interactive interviewing, and autoethnographic writing. After presenting the participants' narratives, I revisit both within- and between-case issues, beginning with socialization from the "bottom-up" lived experiences of the new faculty. The universities socialized these new professors through individual socialization processes. To lessen their uncertainty in their new place of work, the faculty members utilized seven individualized tactics to lessen ambiguity. Collectively, the new assistant professors saw the organizationally provided orientations and mentoring processes as inadequate. The loss of graduate school cohort necessitates the development of a new cohort with peers for new faculty development, despite the modern isolationist definition of the academic "subject." The new communication faculty generally found teaching to be an activity of stabilization within the new equivocal university environment, despite the supposed unpreparedness of new faculty. I discuss the interrelated use of strategically ambiguous communication, power, and the disciplining of the self and how they relate to the tenure process. I examine how the discourses of academic capitalism impact the daily lives and decision-making of new faculty, including compromised research agendas and publication production. I interrogate the pursuit of prestige by higher educational institutions and the manner in which this pursuit adds additional pressure and stressors on new professors. Finally, I consider how the short-term narrative of "getting tenure" truncates the canonical narrative of the academic career, and legitimizes the outsider-within category of the new faculty members.

Even though there are many views on consciousness theory in the pertinent literature, there remains a need for a unifying framework for specifying the features of specific states of consciousness. In order to know what kinds of experiences conscious states have in common, researchers need to elicit testimony that is more direct and finer-grained than has been previously available. This dissertation endeavors to fill a gap in current research by addressing concepts and methods for making requisite distinctions. This research illuminates the question of whether specific states of consciousness can be reliably and validly distinguished from each other. In order to do this, 41 individuals, who had experienced significant peak or ecstatic states from a variety of induction methods (most prominently by ingestion of psychedelic substances), were invited to be interviewed. The interview was designed as a conversational-type synthesis of 5 well-known questionnaires pertinent to states of consciousness, but without their explicit and implicit assumptions; that is, the volunteers' responses would not conform to predetermined questions. Encoding their responses allowed me to develop a model that helped to answer the research question ("Are there identifiable features that can reliably and validly distinguish among states of consciousness thought to be distinct from each other?") by formulating a model in which any given conscious state can be catalogued in terms of its component factors (background, resistances, setting, induction, tradition, energies, and breakthrough events). The results of this study provide much-needed insights into people's internal experiences of their various states, thus forming a basis for improved treatments and analyses. Better understanding of these states can be an impetus for social change by allowing for more incisive analyses and treatments, and also enabling more understanding of other people's inner perspectives.

This finding aid of interviews is drawn from the Arnold R. Hirsch Collection at the Amistad Research Center. Between 1987 and 1994, historian Arnold Hirsch interviewed New Orleans’ first black mayor, Ernest Morial, and others related to that crucial era in New Orleans political history. This collection consists of 37 audiocassettes tapes that contain oral history interviews conducted by Arnold Hirsch with various New Orleanians who were active in city government and political activism. This project-based thesis covers the research and construction of the finding aid completed for this collection during an internship at the Amistad Research Center, as well as the metadata collected and created for the collection. This collection and finding aid are being housed at the Amistad Research Center.

The diploma thesis is focusing on the contemporary movement called "early start" in the education of the English language. Almost all nursery schools offer today the extra lessons for children. The diploma thesis presents not only the actual negative and positive arguments for the early start lessons but also the theoretical resource for the development of language and communicative competences of children. Also the topic of learning a foreign language and its influences as well as the politics of educating foreign languages in the world and in the Czech Republic are included. The practical part of the thesis will try to enrich the debate about the early start by individual experience and findings of six children who were interviewed. Their information was completed by the acquaintances of their parents that filled the questionnaire.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to fill an existing gap in research on bereavement and graduate students. The study explored how bereavement and grief affect a person physically, mentally, and cognitively. Prior studies have addressed bereavement in undergraduate college students, but little research has focused on online graduate students and bereavement. This study fills that gap in the literature allowing university personnel and the public access to an understanding as to how online graduate students' bereavement affects their academic performance and how they perceive their university supports them during their time of bereavement. This exploration used a case study design and Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory as its theoretical foundation. Open-ended interview data were collected from 10 formerly bereaved graduate students in face to face structured interviews. Interviews were transcribed and categorized using a 7-step process to organize all relevant statements. The results revealed that bereaving graduate students felt isolated, experienced difficulty focusing, and required extensions for completing their coursework. Participants concluded it was important for bereaving students to ask for help during bereavement. This study provides an understanding of the experience of being a bereaved online graduate student, and further provides information to assist university personnel in how to serve bereaved graduate students. This information may lead to enhanced programs or services meeting the needs of graduate students, including promotion of staff training related to the unique needs of bereaved graduate students.

The Cognitive Interview (CI) has been shown in over one hundred studies to enhance eyewitness recall. However, no study has explored whether the CI improves police job performance. The current study was the first to test the practical value of the CI in a criminal investigation, testing participants’ performance on key police tasks using either a perpetrator description elicited from a CI or from a standard police interview (SI). In an earlier study, student witnesses were exposed to a simulated robbery and were then interviewed using either a CI or an SI to elicit a description of the robber (comprised of individual descriptors). In Experiment 1, a sample of student participants (N=320) completed two investigative tasks using the descriptors: (a) identifying the perpetrator from a group of ten potential suspect photographs; and (b) allocating hours among the top three potential suspects dictated by who should be the focus of the police’s time (i.e., investigative resources). Participants also subjectively assessed each descriptor’s value in terms of completing the tasks. Presentation methods to enhance the utility of the CI were also tested. Relative to the SI, the CI resulted in a near-30% increase in accurately identifying the perpetrator. Also, significantly more hours were allocated toward investigating the perpetrator using the CI as compared with the SI. Participants did not, however, subjectively value CI descriptors more than SI descriptors; and, the CI’s utility was not enhanced by the presentation methods tested. Experiment 2 sought to reproduce and generalize the CI’s effect on investigative utility by using police officers (N=71) and student participants (N=67). As in Experiment 1, the CI significantly improved investigative performance in accurately identifying the perpetrator, and in allocating resources toward investigating the perpetrator. Police and students did not significantly differ in their performance of investigative tasks or in their utility ratings of the CI descriptors. The current study was the first to find that the CI can be properly used by police in a criminal investigation. Investigating the actual perpetrator as opposed to an innocent suspect is likely to have a domino effect on subsequent phases of an investigation.

Requirements determination is a critical driver in a successful software development process. Despite decades of research prescribing various software development methodologies, intended to aid in achieving an eventual convergence between the user’s mental models and an informationally equivalent representation that is codified within an information system, we can still attribute many of the deficiencies in software development projects to the improper or ineffective execution of the requirements determination process. This study draws on the user resistance, software development, and psychology literature to discuss how perceived threats by potential users and key respondents can result in sub-optimization of a proposed information system via reduction in the quality of their responses during the requirements gathering phase. A laboratory experiment was carried out to explore the sources and effects of various threat perceptions and the effectiveness of techniques intended to detect and mitigate such perceptions of threat. The results confirm that perception of threat does lead to a degradation in response quality, with perceived adaptability fully mediating the relationship. The findings on whether interviewer reassurance has a moderating effect on the relationship between threat and perceived adaptability had interesting results, which are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to determine the physiological responses of subjects to an initial psychological interview, and to study the effect of physical proximity and touch on these responses. Heart rate and total skin conductance variability were the responses monitored. To assess the subjects' like or dislike of the psychologist interviewer, a measure of interpersonal attraction, the Interpersonal Judgment Scale, was employed. The California Psychological Inventory was utilized to investigate possible personality correlates with the physiological responses. Sixty females, between the ages of 18 and 28, responded to the California Psychological Inventory and were then connected to the physiological monitoring devices. The subjects' physiological responses were recorded for a 10-minute period in an empty office and then they randomly received one of the following treatments: In treatment I the psychologist entered the counseling office, introduced himself, and sat one foot from the subject while orally administering the Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank--Adult Form. When the psychologist reached item 15 he stated, "Very good, now let's go on to page 2." After the test, the psychologist said, "That's all for today, thank you for your help. If you will wait here, the experimenter will be right in." The psychologist then left the office, and the subject responded to the Interpersonal Judgment Scale. Treatment II was identical to treatment I, except the subject was touched three times during the interview, once on the shoulder and twice on the arm. In treatment III the psychologist entered the office, sat behind a desk and followed the procedure outlined in treatment I. The results indicated that a subject's reaction to an initial psychological interview is a mild to moderate defensive response manifested by an increase in physiological stress levels. Total skin conductance variability increased significantly during the period when the psychologist was in the office. Heart rate increased in 54 out of 60 cases, but did not increase sufficiently enough in magnitude to justify significance. There were no significant differences between the three treatment groups on heart rate, skin conductance, or interpersonal attraction, and there were no personality correlates which were great enough to be of practical value. The data collected in the experiment supported the conclusion that a subject's reaction to an initial psychological interview is a mild to moderate stress response manifested by increments in physiological stress levels. Touch and physical proximity do not appear to alter the stress response or the subject's like--dislike attitude toward the psychologist.

This thesis presents results of research I conducted during Spring 2003 through an internship with a private economic development organization (called here the TBEDO) that markets the strategically branded, seven-county region know as Tampa Bay domestically and internationally. This internship provided me with the means to conduct research about Tampa Bay's international economy and explore the elusive topic of globalization. It provided me with networking opportunities needed to "study up" on business elites and to understand what their international development agendas are, how they accomplish these objectives, whether they subscribe to the belief that the world has undergone a qualitative change called globalization, and how their global agendas are expected to impact Tampa Bay residents. My work at the TBEDO revealed that this high-profile organization has only recently begun to formulate a strategy for marketing the Bay Area internationally. Its internationally oriented activities are few in number and reflect no long-term goals, and its connections with internationally affiliated organizations are uneven. My key informant interviews with professionals working in international development and marketing allowed the exploration of issues including the consistency of my respondents' international agendas with those of the TBEDO, the relevancy of the globalization concept to the Bay Area, and my respondents' understanding of this concept. I also explore the difference between globalization as a perceived set of pressures determining how business must be done and globalization as a marketing strategy employed by business elites. More important in terms of the applied implications of this research is the impact that the international business agendas of the TBEDO and my key informants have had on the lives of Tampa Bay residents. This last component of my research provides the most important contribution to policy and the debate concerning the costs and benefits of globalization. Both the officers at the TBEDO and my interview respondents do not concern themselves with the impacts that their activities could have on Bay area residents because their jobs are in the service of a specific population: Bay area business people.

Untersuchung der Inanspruchnahme von psychosozialen Unterstützungsangeboten bei Krebspatienten. In einer multizentrischen Studie wurde untersucht, welche Unterstützungsangebote bevorzugt in Anspruch genommen werden und ob es hinsichtlich der Inanspruchnahme einen Geschlechterunterschied gibt. Außerdem wurden diverse andere Prädiktoren untersucht, die einen Einfluss auf die Inanspruchnahme haben können (z.B. Depressivität, psychische Störung, Alter, Bildungsstand). Zur Datenerhebung dienten Selbstbeurteilungsinstrumente in Form von Fragebögen und ein standardisiertes klinisches Interview (CIDI). / Analysis of cancer patients´desire for psychosocial support and identification of patients´sociodemographic and disease related factors (such as gender, age, depression, education) with the utilization of psychosocial interventions.