New Reality Resembles Old: An Examination of the American Public's Social Construction of Reality Following September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks (open access)

New Reality Resembles Old: An Examination of the American Public's Social Construction of Reality Following September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks

This thesis examines whether the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks caused a significant, lasting change in the American public's social construction of reality. A framework of everyday reality was created which focused on beliefs, behaviors, and cultural institutions in the United States. Data regarding specific beliefs and behaviors was collected from numerous survey sources, and content analysis was performed on media literature from September 11, 2001 to September 11, 2003. Findings from this study show that beliefs examined did change, while behaviors on similar topics did not. These finding represents an interesting paradox to be evaluated in future studies. Cultural institutions, as related to the public's knowledge of and relationship with each, also appeared little changed. Therefore, while some aspects displayed adjustment, this study cannot conclusively state that American public's social construction of reality experienced a "new reality" paradigm shift as proclaimed by the media immediately following the attacks.
Date: May 2004
Creator: Stoutmeyer, Stacie L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Multiple-Respondent Anecdotal Assessments for Behavior Disorders: An Analysis of Interrater Agreement and Correspondence With Functional Analysis Outcomes (open access)

Multiple-Respondent Anecdotal Assessments for Behavior Disorders: An Analysis of Interrater Agreement and Correspondence With Functional Analysis Outcomes

An analysis of interrater agreement across multiple respondents on anecdotal assessments and correspondence between functional analysis outcomes was completed. Experiment I evaluated overall agreement among multiple respondents (direct-care staff) on the hypothesized function of each residents (28 adults with mental retardation) problematic behavior using the Motivational Assessment Scale (MAS) and the Functional Analysis Screening Tool (FAST). Results of the questionnaires indicated that respondents agreed on the function of the problematic behavior for 10 of the 28 residents. Experiment II examined whether, for selected cases in which 4 out of 5 respondents agreed on the function of the problematic behavior, correspondence occurred between functional analyses and anecdotal assessments outcomes. Two of the 6 functional analyses did not evoke the problematic behavior. However, 4 functional analyses did produce corresponding outcomes suggesting that, when the functional analyses produced interpretable data, the results of the functional analyses corresponded with those of the anecdotal assessments.
Date: August 2004
Creator: Fahrenholz, Anney Renee
System: The UNT Digital Library