Thesis supervisor: Padmini Srinivasan. Includes bibliographic references (p. 130-140).

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, August, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.) in Human Development--University of Maine, 2008. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 47-48).

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2010. / Directed by Jeffrey Patton; submitted to the Dept. of Geography. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Jul. 19, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 177-180).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, March, 2010. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, June, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 183-192)

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, August, 2004. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 100-113)

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This study explored the guidelines advocated by selected media content analysis with the aim of identifying effective approaches to evaluate audience responses to promotional messages. Drawing from literature and documented deliberations by industry professionals, content-specific analysis protocols were applied and tested using a case study representing topic-specific responses to the Two Oceans Quay 5 product launch. In doing so, a logical observation of the communication in unpaid media placements and relevant discussions distributed in public media channels was completed. It is in this sense that this research enriches the study of public relations with a particular focus on output-driven evaluation. It provides insights into qualitative and quantitative publicity measurement and suggests how these methods can be useful to explicate the impact of media coverage as a public relations element. While it largely focused on discovering improved media content analysis solutions, this study revealed that content-driven analysis can only be useful when its protocols are aligned with the context of the data and if communication practitioners remain aware and transparent of its subjectivity. In this regard, this study helps to generate an understanding of the subjective dynamic of public relations and the importance of in-depth and adaptable publicity assessments to help distinguish public relations as a purposeful branding function next to advertising and marketing.

Considering the unique cultural and political contexts through which spirituality emerges, this study investigates the lived-experience of spiritual life in USA, India, and China. In this study, culture was defined as geographic (primarily) and ethnically clustered groups of individuals with broad relative commonality in socio-cultural histories. Religion was considered an aspect of spirituality and spiritual life. A qualitative coding frame was formulated based on participants’ responses to open-ended questions regarding spirituality. The aim of this study was to clarify the qualitative content of spiritual life with the help of Dedoose, a mixed methods qualitative software. The exploratory approach of this study takes on a cross-culturally comparative lens, and has two primary questions: (1) What are the universal aspects of lived spirituality across cultures, and (2) How does culture shape spiritual experience (e.g., typology, and prevalence). A total of 6112 participants (41% women, mean age of 29 years, range 18–75 years) were recruited from crowdsourcing platforms. The primary thematic categories were religion (religious traditions, religious conversion, religious professionals, religious figures “theophany,” and religious forces “heirophany”), contemplative practice (meditation, mindful movement, prayer, and rituals), ancestors (ancestral worship, dreams about ancestors, and ancestors discussed), natural world (animals, and nature), and metaphysical phenomenon. Metaphysical categories were further parsed apart to include extrasensory perception (telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, realistic dreams, and intuitive impressions), psychokinesis, survival hypothesis (near death experiences, out of body experiences, and apparitional experiences), and faith and energy healing (recovery/remission of illness, and spiritual practitioners).