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The purpose of the study was to determine whether a three-category (3C) system for classifying profiles on online dating sites provides advantages over a two-category (2C) system as decision makers evaluate a long list of profiles. Two groups of single heterosexual or bisexual women ages 20 to 30 reviewed a list of 60 male profiles on simulated online dating sites to choose which profiled man they would most like to learn more about. One group (n = 53) evaluated the profiles using a 2C system; the other group (n = 56) used a 3C system. After making their choice, women in each group took a researcher-developed survey to measure the degree to which they were preference constructors, their cognitive difficulty in making their choice, and their satisfaction with the decision process and with their final choice. It was hypothesized that women in the 3C compared to the 2C condition would have (a) less cognitive difficulty making their decision and (b) greater satisfaction with the decision process and with their final choice, and that (c) being more of a preference constructor would increase any relationship found between the 3C condition and decreasing cognitive difficulty. Survey data were analyzed by t-test, ANOVA, and MANOVA procedures. These tests revealed none of the statistically significant differences between groups that were hypothesized. In particular, the decision task’s cognitive difficulty did not differ between groups even when a variable for preference construction was taken into account. Also, there were no significant differences in satisfaction with the decision process or satisfaction with final choice between the two groups using different categorization systems. The study’s three hypotheses were therefore rejected. Reasons for these results and implications of the study are discussed, and recommendations are made.

Purposes/Aims: The aim of this study was to create a web-based brokerage of patient decision-making aids, titled Split Decision™, and to evaluate student nurse and student nurse practitioners' intent to use and recommend the prototype website based on their perceived usability, usefulness and satisfaction. Rationale/Background: Adult patients frequently report confusion about treatment options, hindering their ability to fully participate in healthcare decision-making. Over 500 patient decision-aids exist on the internet, but are scattered across dozens of websites. Creation of a web-based decision-aid platform would utilize the existing information-seeking habits of patients, but provide them with evidence-based information when evaluating treatment options. Methods: Exemplar decision-aids were chosen from the 563 decision-aids published in the Ottawa Research Institute database and posted on a decision-aid brokerage website. Online access to the website was offered to study participants (n=29) from May to June 2016. Demographic information, quantitative and qualitative responses were collected from each website user and analyzed to evaluate perceived usability, satisfaction, and intention to use the pilot website. Results: Usability of the Split Decision™ website was found to be above average on Systems Usability Scale ratings. Participants rated the website highest on visual appeal and clear terminology on quantitative measures. Qualitative responses cited confusion with the navigation of pages and hyperlinks as areas of future improvement. Conclusion: Study participants expressed a hope for future expansion of the website to other topics and patient populations. Further study of the Split Decision™ website will be planned to test revisions suggested during by participants during this doctoral project.

Master of Science / Department of Computing and Information Sciences / Daniel Andresen / FNPRS program offers nutrition education all over the counties in Kansas. It is necessary to keep track of the budget expenses for the program, resources used and many other parameters involved in the program. There exist number of commodities and products in the process of educating people. Research is needed to determine which value-added products or processes are economically possible and what percentage of it is accepted by people. For these issues, it is very important to maintain this information in a database and generate reports accordingly. The aim of the project is to create a web interface for users to enter the program information regarding the various programs conducted by Family Nutrition Program. The various kinds of data include information about the budget for the program, information about the various collaborating agencies, various kinds of resources used, services provided, proposed equipment and travel funds etc. Users for this application are county agents who take the responsibility of conducting the program and managing their data. Creating a web interface provides a solution to facilitate the agents to manage their data more efficiently and to monitor their records on a day to day basis. It also aims for generating reports for Family Nutrition Program in order to keep a check over their advancements in the program. This project involves handling of various kinds of information such as FNP Proposals, Agent information, FNP Funds, Collaborating Agencies. Database maintenance is made simple thereby allowing the administrators to add as much as data possible and manage accordingly.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychological Sciences / Laura A. Brannon / Two common types of advertisement avoidance behaviors in digital domains are skipping and zipping. Skipping involves pressing a “skip ad” button when viewing television content online, and zipping involves pressing a fast-forward button when viewing the same content through some type of recording device (e.g. Digital Video Recording device). The purpose of these studies was to examine if specific factors regarding the content of the advertisement, the persuasion context, and characteristics of the viewer reduce occurrences of skipping and zipping behavior. Participants in these two studies saw a combination of television shows and advertisements. One target advertisement marketed a fictional MP3 player while another discussed the dangers of binge drinking. One version each of the MP3 and binge drinking advertisements contained average-looking (i.e. normal) actors, and the other half contained above-average-looking (i.e. attractive) actors. Half of the viewers were allowed to choose which type of advertisements they would watch while the other half were forced to watch a particular type. The results of one study showed that participants were more likely to skip the MP3 advertisement than the binge drinking advertisement after making an advertisement choice when both contained normally attractive actors. These findings demonstrate that the effect of advertisement choice may be more complicated than previously found. Instead of acting as a means to improve avoidance rates, advertisement choice may make the content more salient to participants. Thus, viewers’ perceptions of the advertisement after making an advertisement choice may determine whether avoidance occurs.

abstract: This dissertation theorizes Bad Faith Rhetorics, or, rhetorical gestures that work to derail, block, or otherwise stymy knowledge-building efforts. This work explores the ways that interventions against existing social hierarchies (i.e., feminist and antiracist interventions) build knowledge (that is, are epistemologically active), and the ways that bad faith rhetorics derail such interventions. This dissertation demonstrates how bad faith rhetorics function to defend the status quo, with its social stratification by race, gender, class, and other intersectional axes of identity. Bad faith argumentative maneuvers are abundant in online environments. Consequently, this dissertation offers two case studies of the comment sections of two TED Talks: Mellody Hobson’s “Color Blind or Color Brave?” and Juno Mac’s “The Laws that Sex Workers Really Want.” The central analyses deploy online ethnographic field methods and close reading to characterize bad faith rhetorical responses and to identify 1.) trends in such responses, 2.) the net effects on other conversational participants, and 3.) bad faith rhetoric mitigation strategies. This work engages Sartre’s work on Bad Faith, rhetoric scholarship on the knowledge-building affordances of argument, public sphere theory, critical race studies, and feminist scholarship. This dissertation’s theorization and case studies illustrate the pitfalls of specific counterproductive argumentative tactics that block progress toward more equitable ways of being (bad faith rhetorics), and makes several preliminary recommendations for mitigating such moves. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation English 2019

<p> Immigrant communities in Massachusetts Gateway Cities face a number of economic and social challenges that can be difficult to understand or quantify through traditional research methods. This thesis explores the use of sentiment analysis of microblogging data as an alternative method for assessing well-being of immigrant communities, with a focus on Portuguese speaking immigrants. I collected Tweets from four key cities in Massachusetts and analyzed them using two sentiment lexicons, one in Portuguese and one in English. I compared results between languages as well as correlated with a number of traditional indicators of well-being gathered from U.S. Census data. I found that the results from the English analysis were overall more positive than those from the Portuguese analysis, but most differences were not statistically significant. I also found some correlations between the demographic data and the sentiment analysis results with promising implications for further research. </p>

<p> The Internet has long been utilized by gay men and men who have sex with men (MSM) as a space for the seeking-out of deviant behaviors such as condomless sex and the use of popular "party drugs." Within criminal justice, however, there is a tendency to separate such deviant sex- and drug-related behaviors from culture; thus, these behaviors often become criminalized without recognizing the meaning they may have for the "offenders"; meaning that, in addition to being borne out of oppression and marginalization, is also borne out of stigmatizing experiences.</p><p> Through an exploration of gay culture, this thesis explores the underlying meanings of a subset of drug-seeking gay men who "party and play" (PnP). Such an analysis is important not only for criminal justice, but also for the field of cultural criminology, which seeks to inform both the criminal justice system and law enforcement professionals of the need for cultural sensitivity.</p>

<p>In September of 2011 protestors filled the streets of New York City&rsquo;s Wall Street Financial District as part of the social movement known as Occupy Wall Street. Prior to their protests in the streets, Occupy Wall Street was a movement that originated and spread online through various social media such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and interactive webpages. The strategy of using Internet communication as a tool for activism is not new. Social movements since the 1990s have utilized the Internet. </p><p> The growing use of Web 2.0 technologies in our everyday lives is a topic that is not yet fully understood or researched by anthropologists, nor is its potential for ethnographic research fully realized. This thesis addresses both of these points by presenting a case study of how, as anthropologists, we can collect data from both the online and in-person presences of a group. </p><p> This thesis focuses on the social movement, Occupy Wall Street, because of its beginnings and continuing activity online. In-person data of the Occupy Wall Street movement were collected at Occupy movements in Flint, Michigan and New York City, New York using traditional ethnographic methods such as interviews and participant observation. Online data were collected using computer scripts (programs that automate computer tasks), that recursively downloaded websites onto my personal, locally owned hard drive. Once the online data was collected, I also used computer scripts to filter through data and locate phenomena on the websites that I had chosen to focus. By analyzing both online and in-person data I am able to gain a more holistic view and new ways of understanding social movements. </p>