Dissertations

This mixed methods action research intervention study analyzed the influence of social music improvisation (SMI) on students' behaviors and perceptions of their connectedness to others in a virtual middle school classroom setting. Nine 10-minute SMI sessions allowed for the accumulation of data, with two additional pre-sessions being informative and exploratory to describe the SMI intervention and practice its aspects with participants in the intervention group. This study acquired pretest and posttest data from the Hemingway Measure of Adolescent Connectedness (Karcher, 2005) and observational information through process coding and field notes. Results showed how the presence or absence of SMI influenced 37 virtual middle school music students' perceived connectedness to others. Social music improvisation activities included playing instruments and singing using improvisation cards created by Dr. James Oshinsky (2021, see Appendix F). Qualitative field note data and process coding provided a more personalized snapshot of the results using the teacher-researcher's observations of actions and the nature of communication during sessions (Plano Clark & Ivankova, 2016; Privitera & Ahlgrim-Delzell, 2019). Actions recorded included playing an instrument, singing/speaking, smiling/laughing, and making eye contact. A statistically significant result (p=.035) in the connectedness to school subscale suggests that SMI activities positively influence students’ perceived feelings of connectedness to school, an integral part of this research. Qualitative data through observations and process coding showed that levels of participation during SMI paralleled with increased levels of connectedness to school for participants.

The problem that the researcher will investigate is the conflicting social media messages between the Office of the President and the two preeminent national health organizations (the CDC and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the U.S. National Institutes of Health) regarding the COVID-19 crisis. The purpose of this study is to explore alignment and disconnect in the social media messaging between the Office of the President and the top two health organizations and subsequent state government decisions around the COVID-19 pandemic in the southeast region of the United States. Given the research purpose of exploring the alignment between expert information, social media coverage, and leadership decisions around the COVID-19 pandemic in the southeast region of the United States, the research approach was that of a qualitative analysis employing the method of thematic analysis of social media messaging from the Office of the President and the top two health organizations during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, the southeastern region of the United States chose to disregard the advice of the CDC and the NIAID offered through their respective Twitter accounts during the first six months of 2020, in the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, regarding wearing face coverings, testing, staying at home, and vaccines. According to Chen et al. (2022) and Funk et al. (2022), the political affiliation of the state governors was an overarching contributing factor. Though the Tweets of President Trump initially also supported these initiatives to mitigate the spread of the vaccine, his Tweets and actions in the later part of the study period were not in support of these initiatives, leading Republican followers, specifically, to follow suit. The nation’s two top health agencies and the President were often not in alignment due to a lack of a concerted effort to work together to provide the best possible information to the general public. Because this study primarily focused on the decisions made in the southeastern region of the United States, it would be beneficial to extend this study to other populations to determine experiential differences and similarities.

This qualitative study utilized a phenomenological approach to examine the lived experiences female educational leaders’ face, which may influence their career aspirations. Phenomenology allowed the researcher to explore the commonalities across female educational leaders’ experiences. Female educational leaders from two school districts were invited to participate in the study, provided they had a minimum of one year of experience as school administrators. Participants were purposefully selected. The researcher utilized an electronic invitation inviting female educational leaders to participate in the study. The researcher then scheduled individual, semi-structured interviews with the participants to obtain data pertaining to the participants’ experiences. The data was then analyzed using Colaizzi’s (1978) Seven Step Method, which includes bracketing and member checking. The researcher then developed a clear, concise description that explains the participants' experience. Female educational leaders experience a multitude of experiences that play a part in their career aspirations. Female leaders face barriers that include the need to prove themselves, the need to develop a work-life balance, and gender barriers. However, they also noted supportive factors to assist as they transition into a leadership role, which include a mentor, encouragement, and inspiration, as well as district-level support. As new leaders transition into a leadership role, they develop their self-perception of their leadership. Leaders realize the need for empathy, building relationships, and continual professional growth. Many of the female educational leaders in this study were encouraged and inspired to pursue a leadership role. This left many leaders feeling accomplished and satisfied with their current role because they had already surpassed their initial career goals. Other leaders experienced feeling let down and discouraged when gender bias and stereotypes were encountered, and they were overlooked for a leadership position. While discouraged, these females persevered until they eventually obtained a leadership role.

In the world of customer service, it is commonly believed that the customer is always right, even when they may not be or may be. Roles that carry immediate interaction with the consumer have certain expectations that employees must fulfill, necessitating both surface acting and deep acting; tenets of emotional labor (Diefendorff et al., 2006). Previous research has revealed that relying solely on surface acting can lead to emotional exhaustion and burnout, impacting individuals and even spreading through emotional contagion (Mawritz et al., 2012; Totterdell & Holman, 2003). Leaders turn to emotional intelligence to address these challenges, which can potentially moderate the negative consequences of emotional labor and prevent burnout. This study investigates the role of emotional intelligence as a moderator in reducing burnout resulting from surface acting among summer employees in aerial adventure and zipline parks. Utilizing a quantitative, non-experimental approach our findings contribute to the fields of emotional intelligence and emotional labor.

This dissertation explores the strategies of Southern Baptist churches which contribute to the competence of their lay leadership. It examines the procedures for evaluating lay leaders’ knowledge of church doctrine and goals, as well as their motivation for pursuit of successful ministry. The research assessed Southern Baptist churches in a small county in the Southeastern United States through a qualitative case study with the primary research instrument being one-on-one, semi-structured interviews of church staff. The researcher sought an understanding of these churches’ practices to ensure that lay leaders are equipped for their ministry positions with regard to their leadership approaches, knowledge of church doctrine, and alignment with church goals. The project embraced a constructivist epistemology and a theoretical framework based on the Situational Approach to Leadership. The outcome of the project is an assessment of the local churches’ lay leadership evaluation procedures or lack thereof. Also discussed are avenues for future research. The research found that many churches’ lay leadership training programs were narrowly focused and based on tactical instead of strategic goals. The churches in the study are not utilizing the Situational Leadership model which encourages one-on-one assessment of development levels and mutual goal setting. Further, no church in the study conducts structured classes in doctrine for the laity; rather, they are relying on the congregation to learn dogma from the sermon. The study encourages future research into how the paradigms of pastors and members are being constructed and persisting in the local church’s culture. Plus, the study calls for a mixed methods, longitudinal study to measure the effects of employing Situational Leadership and formal instruction on the Baptist Faith and Message of 2000 in these churches.

Many aspects of a student teacher’s clinical year help determine their success in the future. Understanding the lived experiences of both cooperating teachers and student teachers is essential to understanding the dynamics of that relationship and how district-university partnerships foster an environment of mentoring and support. This study aims to understand and evaluate the lived experiences of cooperating teachers and their student teachers during the clinical year. This study focuses on understanding the cooperating teacher-student-teacher relationship and how mentoring does or does not happen in that relationship. For this study, the problem is selecting cooperating teachers and the lack of mentor training offered to cooperating teachers before hosting a student teacher in their clinical year. This study’s research questions include: 1. What is the expectation of cooperating teachers in clinical year? 2. What is the expectation of student teachers in clinical year? 3. What is the process for selecting and training cooperating teachers for clinical year? The method employed for this study is phenomenology, a rigorous approach that delves into the lived experiences of the participants. Purposive selection, a method that relies on the researcher's sound judgment to choose participants based on a specific criterion, is used for this study. The participants for this study comprise nine cooperating teachers and their student teachers, each representing elementary, middle, and high school. The cooperating teachers are from over five districts in a southeast state, while the student teachers are from a small private university in a southeast state. Key Terms: Cooperating teacher; student teacher; mentor; clinical; district-university partnership; training; phenomenology; lived experiences.

Pauline Echoes in the Preaching and Activism of Francis James Grimké (1850–1937): Confronting Ethnic Prejudice through an Evangelical Emancipatory Homiletic examines how Grimké’s sermons and public discourse, rooted in the proclaimed and embodied gospel of Jesus Christ and resonant with the Apostle Paul’s hermeneutic and pastoral heart, addressed social injustices—particularly ethnic prejudice—through a distinct, socially conscious homiletic. This research defines Grimké’s unique homiletic as an Evangelical Emancipatory Homiletic (EEH), a term coined here to convey the gospel-centered, contextually aware nature of his ministry. Framed within the practical theology of homiletics, this study illustrates how Grimké’s EEH incorporated textual and thematic “echoes” of Paul to foster personal transformation and communal reconciliation. Grimké’s preaching of the gospel and embodiment of its indicatives is posed as the ultimate means for addressing ethnic prejudice, especially within the church. By presenting Grimké’s preaching as a historically informed model, this dissertation emphasizes the EEH as a relevant framework for engaging contemporary issues of justice and reconciliation within the evangelical tradition.

The purpose of this dissertation was to introduce the context and purpose of the research study. The study’s focus was on the perception of the elementary education profession and the prestige ascribed to classroom teachers working in public education by individuals outside the education system. The research questions were as follows: (1) What level of prestige is afforded to the elementary public school classroom teacher from the noneducator perspective? (2) To what extent do noneducators’ perceptions affect the level of job satisfaction among elementary public school classroom teachers? Themes found in literature supporting the research questions included the perceived devaluation of the education profession, professional training teachers receive, and potential impacts on prestige due to advancements in technology. In addition to levels of job satisfaction among teachers, review of literature also revealed potential factors leading to the teacher shortage that is prevalent among schools spanning the United States of America. Based upon the reviews of literature, the United States is currently experiencing a shortage of certified individuals willing to occupy teaching positions in public classrooms across the country (Sutcher et al., 2019). The literature hypothesizes the shortage is caused by potential reasons that include a decline in teacher preparation program enrollment, working conditions, teacher certification reciprocity limitations across states, teacher salaries, class sizes, pupil to teacher ratios, and high teacher attrition rates (Sutcher et al., 2019). Survey questionnaires were distributed to two people groups: noneducators and elementary public school teachers. Both people groups completed quantitative Likert scale surveys measuring participants’ perceptions and opinions regarding prestige afforded to the elementary education profession and job satisfaction among elementary teachers. Quantitative methodology was an appropriate method for this study because it allowed the collected data to be represented in numerical and statistical formats and portray any potential correlations clearly and comprehensively.

Trust is at a low point in American life regarding institutions in general but particularly the church. This study examined the relationship between a Southern Baptist pastor and the congregants that he serves. Specifically, a model was proposed in which perceived consistency between words and actions, perceived warmth, and perceived competence predict trust in the pastor from the congregation. To test this model, a quantitative study with a survey design was performed. A survey was created using a combination of instruments for authentic leadership, behavioral integrity, competence, warmth, and trust. The survey was distributed through digital mediums to Southern Baptist church attendees for completion. There were 347 completed surveys over a span of six weeks. After the data was collected, a stepwise multiple regression was performed to analyze the data. The results showed that both perceived consistency between words and actions and perceived warmth have a positive relationship with trust in the pastor. Perceived competence was statically significant when tested by itself against trust in a simple regression, but it was excluded from the model when controlling for perceived warmth and consistency. Consistency was the best predictor for trust, followed by warmth. Conclusions for this study include the importance for pastor-leaders to focus on consistency between their words and actions and warmth in their interpersonal relationships. Competence may be important for other outcomes, but it did not show to be as important for establishing trust as the other variables. Further research around consistency and warmth are also suggested as a model for consistency should be explored further in the field of leadership.