Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains iv, 61 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 25-29).

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains v, 83 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 53-56).

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains iv, 50 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 45-48).

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2001. Graduate Programme in Sociology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-134). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pMQ67741.

Scientific literacy has been recognized internationally for its importance as a goal of science education. Lying at the core of scientific literacy is understandings of nature of science (NOS). A desired outcome from a scientifically literate populace is – critical evaluation of reports and discussions about science in the media. It is generally assumed that an informed conception of NOS will lead to this desired outcome of scientific literacy. Yet this assumption remains untested. The purpose of this research study was to examine the relationship, if any, between NOS understandings and the quality of evaluating science in the media. Sixty-four non-science majors from a local community college participated in the study. Participants were asked to evaluate on three health-related news articles reporting scientific claims by completing the Health News Evaluation Questionnaire. Their NOS understandings were assessed by the Views about Science Questionnaire. Participants were invited for a follow-up interview to further probe their NOS conceptions and quality of evaluating science news articles. The quality of evaluation, and the application and prioritization of criteria by each participant were analyzed. These were compared with the level of NOS understandings. Reasons for applying or not applying and for prioritizing or not prioritizing the NOS-related criteria were also examined in the follow-up interview. No correlation was identified between the non-science majors’ understanding on the targeted aspects of NOS and their frequency of application of these concepts in evaluating the science news except the followings where significant correlations, though weak, were identified. These include understanding of the peer view process and its frequency of application in evaluating (i) Article 2 on the effect of calorie on body weight and memory (r=0.325, p<0.05), (ii) Article 3 on cell phone controversies (r=0.326, p<0.05) and (iii) all the 3 news articles as a whole (r=0.381, p<0.05). Correlations are also identified between understanding of the peer review process and the level of sophistication with its application in the evaluation of Article 2 (r=0.345, p<0.05) and all the three articles as a whole (r=0.39, p<0.05). Another intriguing finding was that understanding of the tentative NOS was found to be correlated with the stance adopted in the evaluation of Article 3 (r=0.434, p<0.05). The poor performance of the participants in evaluating science in the media was attributed to the lack of awareness for the important role of NOS understandings, unfamiliarity with the application of NOS understandings, and compartmentalization among various NOS aspects. These were possible culprits for successful transformation of NOS understandings to critical evaluation of science in the media. Based on the findings, it is argued that NOS understandings are a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for critical evaluation of science in the media. Three additional conditions are suggested: (1) awareness towards the importance and the need in making reference to NOS understandings, (2) ability to apply NOS understandings, and (3) understanding the interconnectedness among various NOS aspects would aid successful transformation of NOS understandings to critical evaluation of science in the media. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

Although Hong Kong ranked 15th globally in the United Nations Gender–related Development Index 2013 (UNDP, 2014), a discrepancy was identified between female images portrayed in print media and the actual gender equality progresses achieved (Equal Opportunities Commission, 2009). Media portrayals of female, particularly body beauty advertisements, disseminate female stereotypes and unequal gender ideologies. According to Wolf (1992, p.12), evaluating females with reference to a “culturally imposed physical standard” is the “last, best belief system that keeps male dominance intact”. The research investigated the current female identities textually and visually constructed in beauty culture magazine advertisements from an issue of the popular local female magazine, the (More) Oriental Sunday. It also explored how local consumers are approached with the female portrayals visually. It differs from the existing studies on local female portrayals in the media in terms of its approach and focus. As opposed to adopting content analysis, survey or focus group discussion, the research is based on a systematic linguistic analysis of beauty culture advertisements. It adopted a Dialectical-Relational Approach to Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough, 2009) and utilized Systemic Functional Linguistics (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004), Visual Social Semiotics (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006) as well as Goffman‘s gender display categories (1987). The findings show that discourses of objectification and self-objectification were concurrently represented in the female identities constructed textually and visually. The study implies that, in general, beauty culture magazine advertisements perpetuate the ideologies of beauty myth, emphasized femininity and patriarchy to enforce the social dominance of male and maximize profit simultaneously. / published_or_final_version / Applied English Studies / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

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This dissertation applied mass communication theory and the interdisciplinary theory of social network analysis to the networked political blogosphere and its relationship to mass media. Utilizing such mass communication theories as agenda setting, the two-step flow, and gatekeeping, this study examined eighteen political blogs across the political spectrum (left-leaning, right-leaning, and moderate blogs), two elite mass media outlets (the New York Times and the Washington Post), and two elite mass media blogs (political blogs from the New York Times and the Washington Post), using both hyperlink analysis as well as textual content analysis. Hyperlinking provided information on gatekeeping and the social network connections between blogs and mass media and among the different ideological political blog networks. Content analysis conducted at the issue and the issue attribute level provided a second layer of evidence to analyze how agendas are formed, framed, and transferred in the emerging new media environment. All the both levels of textual content analysis and hyperlink analysis, this dissertation found solid support for the operation of both mass media agenda setting and social network influence at both the issue and the attribute level. Though the agenda setting function of the press is still a tenable assumption, blogs from all ideological spectrums were able to set the mass media's agenda. The issue agendas of blogs of shared partisan perspective, particularly the agenda of the left-leaning blogosphere, provided strong evidence of homogenous issue adoption by blogs of the same partisan network neighborhood or social network. At the attribute level, strong correlations between the agendas of blogs and media, and among the agendas of blogs that share ideological perspectives, highlight the need for deeper analysis at causation to determine whether the media or blogs set each other's agenda. This dissertation contributes to mass communication studies and political communication through its identification of political social networks as a complementary and competitive agenda setting force in the context of the US political blogosphere. These findings call for a revision of the relationship between agenda setting and the twostep flow theory towards an acknowledgement of how they work in both complementary and competitive ways to redefine the role of the press and social influence in networked political environments. These findings also highlight the significance of social network analysis as a methodology to explain how agendas are formed and framed in the emerging new media environment.

The thesis contributes towards a better understanding of political communication in multi-level settings. For the most part scholars of political communication focus their enquiries on the level of the nation-state. Moreover, they often assume that effective political campaigning and media management are predicated on a high level of centralisation. As a result researchers have by and large failed to theoretically and empirically address the implications of multi-level politics on the study of political communication. Constitutional change in the UK presents an ideal opportunity to consider the relationship between the transfer of power from central government to institutions at the sub-state level on the one side and modern political communication processes on the other (Fawcett 2002). The thesis looks at the case of devolution in Scotland to answer three sets of research questions. Firstly, it enquires how legislative devolution has affected the professionalization of political communication in Scotland. In other words, to what degree have political actors north of the border participated in the trend towards greater use of and reliance on professional communicators in public life before and after the creation of the Scottish Parliament? Secondly, it asks what adjustments political parties, central government and the devolved administration have made to their communication strategies in order to deal with the requirements of message control in multi-level settings? How do political actors organise their agenda building efforts across different localities and which coordination problems arise in this context? Thirdly, the thesis asks who sets the news agenda in Scotland, politicians attached to the UK-wide institutions or their counterparts from the devolved sphere of government?