Retention of adult second language learners: Hispanic learners in Washington State community and technical colleges

Jones, Gary E Oregon State University 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

This study was designed to investigate a phenomenon, retention of Hispanic adult second language learners in Washington State's community colleges, from a qualitative paradigm and phenomenological approach. The focus of this study was to capture eight foreign-born Hispanic ESL non-continuators' voices and experiences, in their native language of Spanish, who dropped out of Washington State's community colleges and unveil the phenomenon behind the factors leading to their retention barriers. The following questions guided the research: (1) What are the retention barriers of Hispanic English as a Second Language population in Washington State Community Colleges? (2) What is the profile of the foreign-born Hispanic ESL learner in Washington State's Community Colleges? (3) Why do Hispanic ESL participants drop out? (4) What services are needed and provided to increase retention patterns of Hispanic ESL learners? (5) What services could make a difference in retention of Hispanic's English as a Second Language participants?. A qualitative methodology and phenomenological approach of in-depth interviews was the research paradigm utilized for data collection. Participants were recruited from a survey implemented at various community colleges' and community based organizations' ESL programs in Washington State. Criteria for inclusion as a potential participant in this research required adult participants to be: (1) foreign-born Hispanic, (2) a resident of Washington state, (3) in the age range of eighteen to thirty years of age, (4) a prior drop out student from one of Washington State's community colleges adult basic education ESL programs, and (5) a volunteer to participate in the study. This study unveiled factors that caused retention barriers for eight foreign-born Hispanic ESL adult learners that dropped out of Washington State's community colleges Adult Basic Education ESL programs. In many Adult Basic Education ESL programs in Washington State, foreign-born Hispanic adults are largely voluntary candidates, and the role of student is just one of the countless roles competing for their time and attention. From the eight foreign-born Hispanic non-continuators' voices and experiences, the findings indicate that retention is a complex phenomenon involving various institutional, situational, and dispositional factors. This study's findings also unveiled structural issues for the eight foreign-born Hispanic participants, creating systemic structural barriers to their socioeconomic and education development in the United States. This means no one factor could provide an explanation for the retention phenomenon. The eight foreign-born Hispanic adult non-continuators' situational and dispositional factors overwhelmed their zeal for ESL instruction, ESL level completion, and/or ESL program completion. The interview question guide unveiled reasons often voiced as the causes for non-continuation: (1) family struggles and hardships, (2) lack of childcare, healthcare, and transportation, and (3) long work hours. At the same time, the eight foreign-born Hispanics adult non-continuators had pragmatic reasons for engaging in ESL, and felt that the programs would provide meaningful contextual learning for immediate or long-term goals for the home, workplace, or community.

Recruiting physicians in Oregon: Recruitment theory and practical strategies

Seifert, Nancy L Oregon State University 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

This research sought to identify the reasons physicians attributed for practicing in Oregon, the reasons for relocating out of Oregon, and the reasons for failures in recruiting physicians to Oregon. A random sample survey of 494 Oregon physicians identified the presence of economic and non-economic factors related to the recruitment and retention of physicians in Oregon. The research indicated that non-economic factors are overwhelmingly selected by physicians as reasons for locating their practices in Oregon, while economic factors are strongly selected as reasons for relocating out of Oregon, and as reasons for candidates not accepting positions. The data and research design do not provide the information needed to explain these divergent findings. The non-economic factor of Oregon lifestyle would appear to be a substantial recruitment asset as 93% of respondents selected "Oregon lifestyle" as an influential reason for locating their practice in Oregon. 86% of influential reasons to locate a practice in Oregon were non-economic factors. Economic factors were identified in 16% of respondents who reported planning to relocate out of Oregon within five years. The OHSU (2002) Workforce Assessment obtained a figure of 4% for this variable. This suggests future recruitment needs may be larger than anticipated. Physicians commonly contend with recruitment activities as 80% of respondents reported attempting to recruit physicians in the last five years. Of respondents reporting recruitment attempts, 69% reported at least one recruitment failure. Most of these failures were due to economic factors. While non-economic factors dominated the findings for reasons to locate in Oregon, economic factors dominated the findings for reasons to relocate and for recruitment failures. A full range of economic factors such as salary, reimbursement, liability premium costs, Oregon's economy were considered influential. Non-economic factors including lifestyle, collegiality, and family living in Oregon were influential factors identified in this survey. Much of recruitment theory is 'low-level', which appears as the ordinary organizing constructs for recruitment practices. As recruitment is largely an applied endeavor, recruitment theory is little developed and examined and is fertile ground for development and testing.

Community college and university faculty: A comparison of perceptions about professional role

Hovekamp, Nathan R Oregon State University 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions that community college and university faculty have about similarities and differences in their professional roles. The research design included a qualitative ethnographic case study methodology with faculty participants purposively selected from two public colleges in the Pacific Northwest: a community college and a co-located university branch campus. Face-to-face interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed then subjected to analytic induction to provide for the emergence of themes. The community college faculty perceived their own professional role as focused on teaching, whereas they perceived university faculty as more focused on research. The community college faculty also described a perceived academic hierarchy with themselves lower than university faculty. The university faculty perceived their own professional role as combining teaching and research in a complementary way, whereas they perceived community college faculty as burdened by heavy teaching loads. The university faculty also contended that the demands of research and publication placed upon them are not fully understood by others. Faculty from both institutions made comments about the utility of a broader, more comprehensive concept of scholarship as well as the notion of institutional pluralism including a place for both community colleges and universities. Finally, both faculties described the benefits from and barriers to community college and university faculty collaboration and inter-institutional cooperation as well as mechanisms to improve them.

Integrated health systems and the impact on rural hospitals and communities

King, Mark T Oregon State University 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

Purpose. Rural hospitals began to make significant changes in the 1990s by becoming integrated with larger health systems. The literature has correlated several key measures that determine the success of integrated health systems. These measures were quality, financial strength, community benefit, physician outcomes, and service changes. The purpose of this study is to determine if these same factors are applicable to rural hospitals that integrated in Oregon. Methods. Introductory letters and surveys were sent to all rural hospital CEOs in the state (N = 38). Twenty hospital CEOs responded, nine rural integrated hospitals and eleven non-integrated hospitals. Financial data was gathered from the rural hospitals and from the State of Oregon. Qualitative data was gathered from individual telephone interviews with fifteen of the twenty CEOs. Two sample t-tests were conducted to compare integrated verses nonintegrated hospitals. The following data were reviewed: financial data (net income), community benefit data (charity care, Medicare and Medicaid write-offs), physician data (income changes, number of physicians), and service data (services added, types of services). Paired t-tests were used to compare pre- and post-integration hospitals. Findings. The study found that there was greater percentage of charity care provided by integrated rural hospitals than non-integrated rural hospitals. It also found that there was a greater likelihood that integrated hospitals will add urgent care to its service mix after integration. The study found that emergency care physicians in non-integrated rural hospitals had greater income increases than in integrated hospitals. The study did not find there to be any difference in the net income, the Medicare/Medicaid write-offs, the services added, or the number of physicians added, between integrated and non-integrated hospitals. Data an quality measures were not available for comparative analysis. Conclusions. There were not conclusive findings to say that integration has improved the financial performance, the community benefit, the physician access, or the services provided by rural hospitals in Oregon. Additional studies should concentrate on expanding the research to a regional or national level. Also, continuing to work with State and Federal agencies to develop consistent quality measures will benefit this research.

Cross-cultural comparison of college students' physical activity behaviors in the United States and Republic of China using transtheoretical model constructs

Flath, Sharon Chai Oregon State University 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

This was a cross-cultural comparative study that examined college students' physical activity behavior in both the United States and the Republic of China on the basis of the full Transtheoretical Model (TTM) of behavior change. Although current investigations do support TTM as a powerful model of physical activity behavior change, there remains a need for examining other variables and constructs relative to those proposed in TTM. From a health promotion planning or intervention perspective, the integration of some of the PRECEDE and PROCEED (PRE) constructs might provide unique insight into physical activity behavior. A total of 1,132 participants were recruited into this study, with 531 coming from Taiwan and 601 coming from the U.S. In spite of similar recruitment techniques, demographical data indicated that the participants from Taiwan were older and had lower BMIs than those in the United States. They also spent more time sitting in comparison to their American counterparts. The scales and subscales used in this study were completed in the participants' native language (i.e., Chinese or English). Prior to their use in this study, all of the questionnaires were translated into Chinese using a multiple-step methodology, including back translation, and they were found to have reasonable internal consistency. Results showed that the best predictive model for the stages of physical activity behavior change was based on concomitants coming from both TTM and PRE together. Specifically, the variables that contributed the most to the participants' stage of change for physical activity classification in a stepwise analysis, in order of entry, were the behavioral processes of change, predisposing, nationality, cognitive processes of change, and gender. The overall classification accuracy was 49%. Other than the maintenance stage (66%--68% classification accuracy), this study found that the preparation stage (65.5%--70.4% classification accuracy) was especially reliably predicted, which suggests that preparation stage might be less transitory than previous thought. Furthermore, the concurrent validity of the stage of change measure used in this study was significantly related to the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). This is the first application of IPAQ in Taiwan and the results of the present study support its continued use as a physical activity measure within a new country. As nationality was a key concomitant of stage of change classification, the present study suggests there may be a need for more non-Eurocentric research with TTM before concluding that behavior change strategies and techniques hypothesized in the model (e.g., behavioral and cognitive processes of change, decisional balance, and self-efficacy) are fully generalizable in physical activity behavior change interventions using mixed culture samples. Likewise, there may be some unique contributions to such interventions by incorporating constructs from a broader health promotion planning or intervention model.

Phylogenetics, population genetics, molecular epidemiology, and pathogenicity of the Douglas-fir Swiss needle cast pathogen Phaeocryptopus gaeumannii

Winton, Loretta Mae Oregon State University 2001 해외박사(DDOD)

A hierarchical series of studies, based mainly on molecular data, was conducted to elucidate the life history of the Douglas-fir Swiss needle cast pathogen <italic>Phaeocryptopus gaeumannii</italic> at macro- and micro-evolutionary scales. This information was then utilized to design and evaluate molecular diagnostic tools for use in studies on the epidemiology of a Swiss needle cast outbreak near Tillamook, Oregon. Phylogenetic analyses of partial nuclear ribosomal gene sequences indicated that <italic>P. gaeumannii</italic>, currently classified in the Venturiaceae, is closely related to neither <italic>Phaeocryptopus nudus</italic>, type of the genus, nor <italic>Venturia inaequalis</italic>, type of the Venturiaceae. Instead, it is closely related to members of the “sooty molds” (Capnodiales), particularly the common and morphologically similar Douglas-fir epiphyte <italic>Rasutoria pseudotsugae</italic> (Euantennariaceae). Single-strand conformation polymorphisms, revealing DNA sequence variation in five loci, were used to investigate population biology of <italic>P. gaeumannii </italic> from a worldwide collection of isolates. In western Oregon, <italic> P. gaeumannii</italic> population structure suggests a predominantly selfing reproductive mode within two reproductively isolated sympatric lineages. One lineage was widely distributed both locally and abroad. The second lineage was restricted to western Oregon and suggested a correlation with symptoms of Swiss needle cast. A novel application of real-time PCR allowed species-specific detection and quantification of <italic>P. gaeumannii</italic> and proved a good measure of its biomass in Douglas-fir needles. Compared to other techniques (ergosterol and a DNA probe), real-time PCR correlated best with visual estimates of needle colonization and additionally proved useful early in the first year of the colonization process before visible development of fruiting structures. While all four methods provided evidence that sites expressing a range of disease severity differed in the degree of fungal colonization, only real-time PCR consistently separated both moderately and severely diseased sites from relatively healthy sites. Seedling inoculation experiments, fulfilling Koch's postulates, demonstrated that <italic>P. gaeumannii</italic> is the causal agent of Swiss needle cast, as observed in the Tillamook epidemic. Furthermore, the incorporation of virulence tests provided independent, non-molecular evidence that Oregon's pathogen population is not homogeneous. One strain, isolated from a severely diseased site, caused significantly greater symptom severity than strains derived from less damaged sites.

Forest industry restructuring and emerging forest tenures in Deschutes and Klamath Counties, Oregon

Kelly, Erin Clover Oregon State University 2010 해외박사(DDOD)

Since the 1980s, industrial forest restructuring has resulted in the divestment of industrial timberlands across the U.S. Emerging tenures have benefited from the divestment, including conservation-based tenures that manage for multiple objectives such as restoration, recreation access, and forest and habitat contiguity. Deschutes and Klamath Counties, Oregon, have three proposed conservation tenures: a community forest, a state forest, and a tribal forest. The community forest would be the first of its kind in the state, a large, land trust-owned forest at the edge of a rapidly-growing city. The state forest, geographically more isolated, would be the first state-owned forest in Oregon in 60 years. The tribal forest, also geographically isolated, would return former reservation land to the Klamath Tribes, which were terminated in 1954. All three forest ownership opportunities were created through opportunistic risk-taking, the leverage of political and human capitals, social networks, strong leadership, and land availability as a result of industrial forest restructuring. This case study research used multiple methods, including interviews and document analysis, to explore the forests' unique histories, and draws lessons about changing community capacities, forest management, and forest governance and under these emerging tenures.

The impacts of social change in natural resource management: A central Oregon regional study

Sharp, Shayla B Oregon State University 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

The sentiments expressed by Wells capture the fundamental nature of natural resource and land management in Deschutes, Jefferson, and Crook County, Oregon. Driven by the attraction and abundance of natural and scenic amenities in central Oregon, increases in recreation, tourism, population, development and conflict, have contributed to the complexities of managing the landscape. A conceptual model was designed that describes the impacts of social change on the ability to manage recreation and land resources. Seventeen hypotheses are derived from this model, and they are explored using interview and secondary data. Findings show that population growth in Jefferson, Deschutes, and Crook County has increased during the last thirty years, but more substantially in the last decade. The communities within the study region are popular for tourism and recreation activity, resulting in amenity-related in-migration and development. Findings show how societal needs, demands, preferences and social changes often produce conflicting goals, creating substantial challenges for recreation and land managers. The results presented in this study suggest a holistic approach toward understanding the consequences of recreation, tourism, and quality of life promotion in communities that are often unprepared to handle rapid social change. Examining these issues from a multi-disciplinary context allows a comprehensive understanding of resource concerns that may help reduce environmental and social impacts.

Examination of imputation methods to estimate status and change of forest attributes from paneled inventory data

Eskelson, Bianca N. I Oregon State University 2008 해외박사(DDOD)

The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program conducts an annual inventory throughout the United States. In the western United States, 10% of all plots (one panel) are measured annually, and a moving average is used for estimating current condition and change of forest attributes while alternative methods are sought in all regions of the United States. This dissertation explored alternatives to the moving average in the Pacific Northwest using Current Vegetation Survey data collected in Oregon and Washington. Several nearest neighbor imputation methods were examined for their suitability to update plot-level forest attributes (basal area/ha, stems/ha, volume/ha, biomass/ha) to the current point in time. The results were compared to estimates obtained using a moving average and a weighted moving average. In terms of bias and accuracy, the weighted moving average performed better than the moving average. When the most recent measurements of the variables of interest were used as ancillary data, random-Forest imputation outperformed both the moving average and the weighted moving average. For estimating current basal area/ha, stems/ha, volume/ha, and biomass/ha, tree-level imputation outperformed plot-level imputation. The difference in bias and accuracy between tree- and plot-level imputation was more pronounced when the variables of interest were summarized by species groups. Nearest neighbor imputation methods were also investigated for estimating mean annual change in selected forest attributes. The imputed mean annual change was used to update unmeasured panels to the current point in time. In terms of bias and accuracy, the resulting estimates of current basal area/ha, stems/ha, volume/ha, and biomass/ha outperformed the results obtained using plot-level imputation. Information on hard to estimate forest attributes such as cavity tree and snag abundance are important for wildlife management plans. Using FIA data collected in Washington, Oregon, and California, nearest neighbor imputation approaches and negative binomial regression models were examined for their suitability in estimating cavity tree and snag abundance. The negative binomial models were preferred to the nearest neighbor imputation approaches.

Organizational climate and innovativeness in the forest products industry

Crespell, Pablo Javier Oregon State University 2007 해외박사(DDOD)

There has been an increasing realization of the value of innovativeness, the orientation toward innovation, for firms thriving to gain competitive edge. The US forest products industry is no different in this respect and many companies have active initiatives to bring about creativity from their own employees. At the same time, academicians have devoted important resources to understand the dynamics of the innovation phenomenon. This research effort has also happened outside the domain of the forest products industry. However, most initiatives have taken a rather limited approach, failing to integrate a comprehensive theoretical model of innovation. Consequently, this study seeks to fill that gap in literature by proposing and testing a theoretical model linking organizational climate, innovativeness, and firm performance. In the first article, using an in-depth study of three Oregon-based forest product companies, I focus on the refinement of the scales to be used in the next stages of the project. The administration of a questionnaire to a sample of floor employees and management allowed the refinement of scales for the following constructs: Climate for Innovation, Organizational Commitment, and Interest in Innovation. The second article presents an in-depth case study of the most innovative company selected from the previous three. A questionnaire was administered to 70% of the employees and management, followed by qualitative interviews to a sample of them. The aim was to acquire a better understanding of the dynamics involved in the model. Findings validated the measurement properties of the scales and the structure of the model, showing significant positive correlations among Climate for Innovation, Job Satisfaction, and Organizational Commitment, measured as identification and involvement. Having a capable and committed management was found to be crucial in developing innovativeness within the firm. In the third article, the domain of interest is expanded to a nationwide study, including the complete US forest products industry, with 219 responding firms representing both primary and secondary manufacturers. General Managers and executives answered the questionnaire allowing for the assessment of the full theoretical model, including firm performance and Innovation Strategy. Results supported the model, finding a positive and significant relationship among all factors. Innovativeness is found to be affected by the organizational climate, with five dimensions of climate fostering it. Similarly, Innovation Strategy acts is found to act as an antecedent to Innovativeness. Innovativeness acts as a positive mediator between Climate for Innovation and Firm Performance. This is especially true for secondary manufacturers, who seem to be in a better position to capitalize on having a pro-innovation orientation. Climate for Innovation is also found to have a positive, direct effect on Firm Performance. This study contributes to the literature on innovation by offering an integrative theoretical framework, tested and analyzed with powerful techniques (structural equation modeling). Results place Innovativeness as a cultural phenomenon that can be directly affected by organizational dynamics of the work environment. This has clear managerial implications, and it is shown how management can foster Innovativeness by implementing an organic Innovation Strategy and by facilitating a Climate for Innovation. This climate is characterized by high levels of autonomy, supervisor encouragement, team cohesion, and openness to ideas and change.