This qualitative meta-synthesis studied what makes first-generation college students stronger for success in the United States. The study adopted Tinto (1975) as the theoretical framework in the synthesis of research findings from seventeen peer-reviewed empirical qualitative studies. The research is centered around three research questions: (1)…

The purpose of this research study was to describe and develop an understanding of how female leaders lead in the current and transitional landscape of higher education, how they perceive and have utilized an entrepreneurial mindset and leadership characteristics, and how they have worked to achieve a delicate balance between feminine and…

Having a job immediately after graduation is the dream of every IT graduate. However, not everyone can achieve this outcome. The study's primary goal is to develop predictive models to forecast IT graduates' chances of finding a job based on factors such as academic performance, socioeconomic status, academic habits, and demographic data.…

Evidence-based early interventions for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been shown to improve child outcomes and quality of life (Lord et al., 2018; Reichow et al., 2018; Smith & Iadarola, 2015). However, response to intervention is variable across both children and implementation contexts. Understanding factors that influence this…

The dual-factor model of mental health proposes that symptoms of mental illness and markers of mental wellness can occur simultaneously, while functioning as discrete factors that contribute to mental health and adaptive functioning (Keyes, 2005). The current study investigated the utility of the dual-factor model of mental health (cf. Greenspoon…

Psychologists have become increasingly interested in the intra-individual variability of psychological measures as a meaningful distinguishing characteristic of persons. Assessments of intra-individual variability are frequently based on the repeated administration of self-report rating scale instruments, and extreme response style (ERS) has the…

Precision medicine refers to the delivering of customized treatment to patients based on their individual characteristics, and aims to reduce adverse events, improve diagnostic methods, and enhance the efficacy of therapies. Among efforts to achieve the goals of precision medicine, researchers have used observational data for developing predictive…

This dissertation is concerned with investigating topics surrounding the phenomenon of social media usage. Essay One draws from the technology acceptance literature by utilizing concepts from the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), and the model of hedonic technology acceptance. The…

This work aims to understand real-world factors shaping behaviors and attitudes towards location-sharing social networks (LSSN), especially as to why people avoid or abandon this technology, or limit their usage. Based on interview-based qualitative research and survey-based exploratory quantitative research, I hypothesize conceptual models…

The position of an urban high school principal, now takes on greater personal, emotional, and professional commitment beyond the traditional faculty management role. This research provided depicts detailed analysis of the independent and dependent variables associated with this newfound commitment urban principal's now embody. [The dissertation…

This research illuminated how five first-year teachers described the intercultural development that occurred while student teaching in a non-Western culture, and the value that those experiences abroad brought to their classrooms during their first year of teaching. The focus was to capture the essence of the experiences abroad as perceived and…

American Sign Language (ASL)-English interpreting education, which began as a community apprenticeship and vetting process, has within the last several decades moved into higher education. Most recently, the number of baccalaureate-granting ASL-English interpreting programs have continued to increase while the number of associate's degree…

This phenomenological study examined the experiences of twelve female African Americans enrolled as fulltime undergraduate engineering students at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, an historically Black university, and seven female African Americans enrolled as undergraduate engineering students at Purdue University in…

This study examined the perceived value of leadership development programs (LDPs) provided by continuing education for administrators in colleges and universities. Included in this study were questions about the perceived value of non-credit, credit, and blended (credit and non-credit) programs at the individual, institutional, and higher…

Organizational tolerance of sexual harassment has been repeatedly touted as an important antecedent of sexual harassment. Yet, not much is known about the antecedents of perceptions of organizational tolerance. Based on theories from the sexual harassment, organizational justice, and psychological climate literatures, individuals were hypothesized…