Browsing by Subject "mixed methods"
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Item A Self-regulated Learning Intervention for Developmental Mathematics Students at a Community College: Effects of Study Journals on Achievement and Study Habits(2014-03-04) Travis, Jennifer LynnSelf-regulated learners continually monitor and adjust the learning process through a recursive loop of forethought, learning enactment, and reflection. The literature review for this study used a systematic approach with defined criteria to evaluate the effects of self-regulated learning interventions for college students. The review revealed a shortage of rigorous achievement-based research in authentic settings. This study evaluated a study-journaling intervention for developmental mathematics students at a large urban community college. Two weekly study journal worksheets were designed, based on self-regulated learning theory. In each of nine pairs of intact classes, one class was randomly assigned to the treatment (study journal) condition and the other to control. The mixed methods research design had two strands: a confirmatory strand that evaluated the intervention?s effect, and an exploratory strand that sought information about the students? study habits. The statistical analysis had two phases: propensity score matching to strategically trim the groups so they had similar distributions of starting characteristics, and logistic regression to estimate the intervention?s effect on binary variables representing course success and final exam success. Departing students were counted among the unsuccessful. Due to implementation shortcomings, the original sample (117 treatment, 140 control) was replaced by a modified sample (60 treatment, 77 control). Propensity score matching trimmed this sample further (54 treatment, 54 control). Control students experienced significantly higher course success rates and slightly higher final exam success rates. Treatment students were significantly more likely to leave the class than control students (odds ratio 2.94). However, qualitative data from focus groups and surveys indicated the study journals may have positively affected study habits. Taken together, the qualitative and quantitative results suggest the intervention increased students? awareness of study habit inadequacies and time constraints. This position was supported by qualitative analysis of the study journal entries. This study shows that study journals have potential to improve achievement. However, caution is advised, as the journals may also influence students to leave the class due to increased awareness of problems. Research recommendations include combining study journals with training, feedback or peer support; and collecting subsequent-semester data and data on students? reasons for departure.Item Decision Motivations: Factors Guiding the Choices of Agriculturalists in California(2014-10-16) Robel, PamelaThis study sought to highlight a specific area of California-agriculturalist behavior?decision-making?that may lend additional insight into how to begin bridging the communication gap between farmers and consumers. Communication between farmers in the United States and the general public is the overarching guidance for this mixed methods (QUAL ? quan) study. Formations of organizations like the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance have begun to address the communication gap between agriculturalists and consumers through outreach. The results of this study were limited to the study participants as the total response rate for the quantitative portion of the study was 21% (total response was 65 out of 300; useable responses n = 30). The study began with a series of qualitative interviews. The data from the qualitative interviews with California-based agriculturalists were analyzed to guide the creation of a survey instrument. The subsequent survey instrument was distributed to other California-based farmers requesting they rank a series of decision-making factors as they related to annual crop production. Based upon the data collected, the decision-making factors identified in the qualitative strand of the study?water availability, soil quality, market, regulations, and labor?are more widely considered by farmers in California. Additional study is needed to further explore what other factors may guide annual planting decisions for agriculturalists in the state and country.Item Exploring oral health among pregnant and parenting adolescent women: a mixed methods study(2010-05) Murphey, Christina Leigh; Rew, Lynn; Cappelli, David; Fowles, Eileen; Garcia, Alexandra; Walker, LorraineDespite growing interest in maternal oral health, research aimed at this population is scant. To date, no qualitative studies of adolescent maternal oral health exist. Therefore, the purpose of this descriptive, exploratory, concurrent, mixed-methods study was to explore oral health status, beliefs, and practices, and pregnancy and parenting outcomes in this population by triangulating both quantitative and qualitative data. A non-probability, convenience sample of 46 pregnant and parenting adolescents was recruited. Five questionnaires were administered and visual oral examinations were conducted. Twenty-four of these 46 participants also participated in the qualitative component of the study. Adolescents in this study were both pregnant (n = 20; 43.5%) and parenting (n = 26; 56.5%), and primarily of Hispanic decent (n = 38; 83%). Of the 20 adolescents who were pregnant, four had been told by a nurse or physician that they had a pregnancy complication(s). Among the parenting adolescents, the most common past pregnancy complications were self-reported as prematurity (n = 6; 35%) and high blood pressure (n = 3; 18%). Thirty-three (72%) participants reported ever having dental insurance. While 16 (35%) participants had seen a dentist in the past 6 months, another 15 (33%) did not recall their last dental visit. One adolescent reported never having been to a dentist. Associations among visual oral health status and selected contextual variables were non-significant, which may be attributed to the small sample size. However, moderate significant correlations were found between social connectedness and oral-health-related quality of life, as well as between visual oral health status and measures of self-reported dental health. For the qualitative component, six themes related to oral health value and well-being, oral health knowledge, practices, myths, and barriers to accessing oral health services emerged. Triangulation of the quantitative and qualitative data did not produce statistical significance; however, discrepancies were found between the overall objective, visual oral health status, and the subjective perception of oral health status, which supports the overall findings. Future research should focus on larger studies to further explore associations between social connectedness, oral-health-related quality of life, and objective and subjective measures of oral health status and behaviors.Item Non-Mimetic Simulation Games: Teaching Team Coordination from a Grounding in Practice(2011-10-21) Dugas Toups, Zachary OliverFire emergency responders work in teams where they must communicate and coordinate to save lives and property, yet contemporary emergency response training expends few resources teaching team coordination. The present research investigates re emergency response team coordination practice to develop a zero- delity simulation game to teach team coordination skills. It begins with an ethnographic investigation of re emergency response work practice, develops the concept of nonmimetic simulation with games, iterates game designs, then evaluates game designs with non- re emergency responders and re emergency response students. The present research de nes a new type of simulation, non-mimetic simulation: an operational environment in which participants exercise skills without a re-creation of the concrete environment. In traditional simulation, the goal is to re-create the world as faithfully as possible, as this has clear value for teaching skills. Non-mimetic simulations capture abstract, human-centered aspects of a work environment from a grounding in practice. They provide an alternative, economical, focused environment in which to exercise skills. Constructed as games, they can provide intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to practice and learn. The present work iterates a series of game designs in which players transform and share information with each other while under stress, engaging in processes of team coordination found in re emergency response work practice. We demonstrate how the game successfully teaches participants how to become more e ective at coordinating and communicating through user studies with non- re emergency responders and re emergency response students. Principles for the design of team coordination education, non-mimetic simulation, and cooperative game play are developed.