1941 research outputs found
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A Social History And Demographic Investigation Of The City Of Waterloo, Iowa, With Recommendations For Improving Interracial Relations Among The Citizenry
298 leavesThe problem. The purpose of this study was to determine
the various possible contributing factors which led to
the social and racial problems confronting the people of
Waterloo, Iowa, and to provide recommendations which may help
to solve these problems.
Procedure. Historical and social investigation was
used to determine the causes and extent of the problems.
Such literature as existed in early histories of the area,
books on minority group relations and its history, current
newspapers and periodicals, interviews and personal experiences
were investigated and the findings correlated.
Findings. It was found that the problems grew from
the development of the city, the background of its population,
and national social changes.
Conclusions. The study indicated that segregation had
been brought about by several factors: the physical development
of the city, an inability to foresee problems which
would be brought about by technological change, a lack of
concern by majority and minority individuals, widely different
levels of education which produced a large unskilled labor
force, and the tendency of like groups to segregate themselves.
It was apparent that little effort was being made on
a city-wide basis to alleviate any of the problems brought
about by segregation; and that, unless individuals were
directly involved, few were deeply concerned with the problem.
Although the schools had made efforts to find a solution,
their efforts were strictly within the school situation; and
other facets of community life such as industry, business,
churches, and civic organizations were not so involved. The
study indicated that the problems could only be solved
through total community effort in the areas of social reeducation,
broad programs aimed at helping people adapt to
technological changes, and cooperation on the part of all the
citizens in working toward industrial and business expansion
on a broad and varied basis.
Recommendations. It was recommended that the first
step in solving the problems dealt with individual reeducation
and that efforts needed to be made in housing, industry,
adult education, city planning, and transportation
The Effect of Family Solidarity on Female Juvenile Delinquency: An Exploratory Study
83 leaves. Advisor: Dr. R. Dean WrightThe Problem. The purpose of this study was to
investigate the effects, if any, and extent of influence of family solidarity on the delinquent acts of female juveniles in Polk County, Iowa.
Procedure. A longitudinal sample, consisting of 100 cases from the records found in the Polk County Juvenile Court, was the basis for compiling data. Basically these consisted
of a family record sheet and a social summary and investigation for each respective individual. For the most recent thirty (30) cases personal interviews were also conducted to obtain a more subjective view of the adolescent's feelings
and opinions. In addition the San Francisco list of offense categories in 1960 and 1964 for Police and Juvenile Court use was also utilized, as was the Two Factor Index of Social Position as created by August B. Hollingshead. In determining
the influence and/or significance of the family on
juvenile delinquency, separate charts were devised based on the following criteria: race, the crime or offense reported, family organization, income of the head of household, and
family solidarity.
Findings. An analysis of the data revealed a significant
trend toward broken or disbanded families and an even more significant emphasis on unstable homes, whether in a one or two parent home.
Conclusions and recommendations. One of the major
conclusions in this study is that the traditional and oft-maligned family group is of primary influence in the frequent patterns of female juvenile delinquency. A further conclusion
is that the unstable family, whether consisting of one or two parents is the most destructive obstacle toward breaking a delinquent pattern. Future studies might be helpful to determine if this trend is continuing and if so, how to counteract it to the best interest of society
Charles Mason and the Civil War : the Story of a Jacksonian in the Mid-Nineteenth Century
145 leaves. Advisor: Charles NelsonThe Civil War period was an era of intense
political emotions when many traditional allegiances were severed or strengthened. Since Jacksonian Democrats had dominated the political stage in America for many of the years preceding the war, their reactions to the growing tensions and war itself become of interest in exploring the development of American political thought.
This thesis examines these reactions as encountered in the personality of Charles Mason, a Jacksonian Democrat born in New York and later a resident of Iowa and Washington, D.C. Mason took a role in the Jacksonian movement in New York early in his life and for the rest of his career
remained conspicuously active both in Iowa and in national Democratic politics. The thesis examines the political activities of Mason as they developed during the Civil War period. Beginning with his earliest pro-Jacksonian political
expressions as contributor, then editor, of the New York Evening Post, the paper traces the process by which Mason was driven during the Civil War to take positions not only inconsistent with Jacksonianism, but anomalous to Mason's prevalent political attitudes. Correspondingly, the sources of these anomalies are discussed and examined
in this thesis. Heavy emphasis is placed on the Mason Papers found in the Iowa State Historical Building in Des Moines, Iowa. Of these papers, especially important are Mason's diaries which give a fairly intimate view of the Democrats
intellectual development and activities during this period
The Image of "Aggiornamento" 1959-1965 : the Coverage of the Second Vatican Council by "Time"," Newsweek", and "U.S. News and World Report"
iii, 117 leaves. Advisor: Walter Houf.The problem: How did three, major, American magazines -- "Time", "Newsweek", and "U.S. News & World Report" -- cover the Second Vatican Council and Roman Catholic renewal between 1959 and 1965? What were the publications' attitudes, emphases, expectations, and qualities regarding their reporting of the council?
Procedure: Pope John XXIII announced Vatican II in January 1959; and Pope Paul VI solemnly closed the council, after four sessions, in December 1965. Consequently the three news magazines' coverage of the Catholic Church during a seven year period was methodically researched. Moreover, relevant primary and secondary sources on the press, the church, and the council provided a needed perspective on the journals' reportage and a basis with which to evaluate it.
Conclusions: The image of "aggiornamento -- the image of the council and Catholic renewal -- fluctuated between January 1959 and December 1965, and varied according to the character of the individual periodicals. Nevertheless the changing Catholic Church was the dominant religious news during the early 1960's. And despite some very critical reporting, the church received a wealth of favorable publicity that transformed its public image
Manual for Analysis and Research in Expressed Values
63 leaves. Advisor: Prudence DyerPROBLEM. The purpose of this study was to design a
manual to serve as a guide to the use of the instrument for measuring expressed values--the Rubric for Expressed Values (REV III). With this manual, educators and other professionals would be able to administer this measurement of values in their own settings.
PROCEDURE. The study was organized into four parts: (1) thirty students from each grade level were chosen from among eighteen-hundred students in the James A. Garfield School District, Garrettsville, Ohio, for representation in
the four samples of a ten-year longitudinal project conducted to study values as expressed in student hand-written compositions on various subjects; (2) the thirty compositions from each grade level were then read and categorized (coded) in terms of values expressed therein, according to the framework of the Rubric for Expressed Values (REV III); (3) literature related to the bases for the project was then reviewed; and (4) the process of establishing the manual's reliability was
completed by asking three graduate students in Education at Drake University to use the manual as a guide to the Rubric for Expressed Values (REV III) without any assistance other than the instructions for the use of the rubric. The same
three hand-written compositions were read by each graduate student, and the level of agreement among the three students, of value expressions found, was used as an indicator of the manual's reliability.
FINDINGS. There was a 79.6 per cent agreement among the three graduate students participating in the codification of the compositions.
RECOMMENDATIONS. The writer would recommend that this manual be used in settings other than schools, such as the community, in the business world, and in government. He would further recommend that samples taken employ more people
The Man Who Knew Mary
155 leaves. Advisor: Hiliary MastersThe novel, The Man Who Knew Mary, is a fancy of
science and art. It is a novel of analogy and simulacrum, of coincidence and synchronicity.
Beginning as an ethnobotanist, John Whitney, the central character through whose consciousness and unconsciousness the relevancies of the work flow, ends as a
simple chaste husband-protector of an orphaned girl whose time for giving birth is imminent.
There is an expedition into southwest Siberia undertaken by a team of eight scientists. From all parts of the world the men come and meet at Khandhad, a city at the rim of Asia.
This surface reality is seen as through old varnish, or as through a haze of the hashish the scientists constantly smoke. What is more clear and more cleanly visualized are the stances taken by the dramatic sets of dialogues into which the character-actors enter. These dialogues build and thicken
and a theme emerges: There is a wondrous correspondence between man and certain organisms in the world of botany. These
also are evidenced by rich mythological, Biblical, and linguistical allusions, and by turns of word plays botanically and humanly sexual. It may be said that the novel is signally a novel of words in the sense that words are seen here as male principles which want lodging in fertile matter to impregnate. This implanting by words is the manner of the Immaculate Conception and the manner, in a mystical poetic sense, of parthenocarpy - reproduction in the plant world without sexual union. Such parthenocarpy is common in fungi. It is through one species of mushroom, the Amanita muscaria, the divine mushroom, that John Whitney comes to his personal annunciation - words of mission into his ear spoken. Following a great storm the expedition is abandoned. One scientist, an Englishman named David Hailender, after an agaric eating ritual, rushes out into the wind and snow.
Whitney attempts a rescue, but because of the ingestlon of the agaric, fails and fails himself unconscious in a forest of birch. Here he receives the vision which signals for him the beginning of his mission. Whitney convalesces at an outpost while the other
scientists return home. A letter comes for Hailender. Whitney takes it and learns that a girl is coming to Khandhad to meet Hailender. She is homeless and pregnant. The pattern which has been building Whitney begins
to realize. He must go to Khandhad and take the girl. This is a fully conscious, fully intentional act, taken to bring the design to full focus.
The girl comes and Whitney takes her to a university somewhere in the western world where he had, before the expedition, scheduled a series of lectures. While working on the fifth and last lecture and in heavy use of hashish and opium, the pressure of the underlying design pushes to the surface and, whether succumbing to the force as something from the outside or falling before the workings of his own imagination and belief, Whitney falters and drifts irrevocably away from this science and enters into a nether-land of a poetic fancy controlled by distant and near memory and by acute visual perception. Whitney comes to his particular set of attitudes by what he had heard and by what he sees in the girl.
He believes in the Immaculate Conception; believes it has happened in the girl. He believes he has discovered the way of the intimacies between Mary, the mother of Jesus and Joseph, her husband-protector. Whitney focuses, finally, the full design. The cycle has come again to be lived. His role is to be abeyant, to be forever aware of the sexual mortality of the girl in his charge but to be forever abeyant
Assessing the Relationship Between IQ Scores and the Rate of Acquisition and Retention of a Simple Learning Task
21 leaves. Advisor: W. Scott WoodThe problem. The concept of intelligence has never
been precisely defined, yet standardized intelligence tests frequently are employed in the public school system to predict academic performance and to place students accordingly.
The underlying assumption seems to be that IQ scores measure intelligence and that intelligence affects learning, or that intelligence somehow is the ability to learn. This study will measure the performance of elementary school students in a standardized operant discrimination task and assess the relationship of their IQ scores to such performance measures.
Procedure. Five first-grade students, each with
differing IQ classifications, were given a novel labeling task. This consisted of a one-to-one instructional period followed by a session post-test to assess the number of labels learned during the session. Token reinforcement was
administered for each correct response during the post-tests. A comparison was made between the number of trials to mastery of the task and IQ level. The subjects were retested after a three-month time lapse to determine how much
of the learning was retained.
Findings. The results indicated that there was a
slight positive relationship between IQ level and rate of acquisition. However, a detailed analysis of each child's performance revealed differing patterns of learning which should not be disregarded. There was no correlation between
IQ level and retention.
Conclusions. The relationship between IQ and learning is not as straightforward as might be assumed. Thus, caution should be exercised regarding its sole use as a predictor of
academic success.
Recommendations. Further research on this issue incorporating a larger sample of subjects and more sensitive measures of learning is suggested in an attempt to provide more illuminating information
A Comparison and Analysis of Theory and Practice in Regard to Inner-City Art Programs
74 leaves. Advisor: John HicksThe problem. A. Numerous articles and theoretical
essays have been written since 1965 regarding art programs for inner-city populations. B. Funds from various agencies have been alloted for art programs in large cities. In public school settings and outside of the public school
domain art programs have been implemented.
Although single program outcomes appear in literature, no major compilation of data has been made, which provides insight or an overview of the entire scope of art programming within a given location or comparing art programming of one
city to another.
Procedure. Correspondence was made to cities selected for this study as well as to Federal and state institutions for information regarding art programs and curricula.
Findings. The findings are based on responses to two questions: 1. How do art programs in the Des Moines area compare with art programs that exist in some major cities across the U.S.? 2. Based upon research and recent literature, do art
programs in the Des Moines area and across the country meet the needs of inner-city children?
It was found that art programs in Des Moines do compare favorably with inner-city programs in some major cities. It also was found that most art programs in Des Moines and other major cities, have a distinct weakness in meeting the needs of inner-city children.
Conclusion. It was concluded that the strengths of
art programs warrant some merit, but the weaknesses, based upon a lack of change, present a cause for major concern.
Recommendations. Three alternatives were recommended: (I) the establishment of a Black Art and Culture Center in Des Moines, Iowa, (2) the adoption of an Art Action Center in the Des Moines Public Schools, and (3) the development in the Des Moines inner-city schools of a new approach to
teaching inner-city children through a coordinated art curriculum
Primary Causes of Divorce in Teenage Marriages
43 leaves. Advisor: Dr. Stuart TiedemanThe problem. Teenage marriages are the least
permanent of any in this society according to government information. What are the causes of the high level of dissolution among teenage marriages? This study sought to discover the primary causes of divorce in teenage marriages.
Procedure. A questionnaire was administered to individuals married as teens and either (1) still married or (2) divorced. The results were compared and contrasted between the two groupings. The results were presented by
means of a descriptive analysis.
Findings. The divorced persons differed in their answers to some questions, not all. They showed a lower level of communication, less commitment to their marriage, and less ability or desire to solve their marriage problems than did those who remained married.
Conclusions. There were three major causes of
divorce indicated in this study: (1) immaturity, (2) lack of communication, and (3) inability to solve financial problems.
Recommendations. A follow-up study should be done which increases the number of participants
Characteristics of Political Ambition of Iowa State Representatives
79 leaves. Advisor: William AngrickMy thesis is that the politically ambitious state representative is well-educated, urban and young. An attempt was also made to define other characteristics of ambition.
The 100 state representatives were interviewed.
Information on their backgrounds and how they operate as legislators were crosstabulated with answers on whether they are interested in seeking statewide or congressional office.
Much of the statistical analysis was done by computer. The findings supported the thesis. In addition, the findings indicate that single persons and liberals are likely to be more ambitious than married persons and conservatives; that by occupational group farmers appear to be the least ambitious; that ambitious state representatives are more likely than non-ambitious representatives to vote for the statewide interest over the interest of their own legislative districts; that ambitious representatives are more likely to hold a legislative leadership position than
are non-ambitious representatives; and other results of a less conclusive nature