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The Activities of Disaster Relief Organizations During the Permanent Housing Phase of Recovery: a Case Study Analysis
This study investigates the recovery efforts provided for low income and ethnic minority populations by organizations during the permanent housing phase of recovery in Watsonville, California, following the Loma Prieta earthquake of October 17, 1989. The case study format is used to discover what activities were performed and why each organization chose to perform them. Dynes and Quarantelli's (1968) typology of organization is used to explain how and why established, expanding, extending and emergent organizations participated in the recovery efforts. The findings indicate that the type of organization dictated the kind of tasks each organization performed. Organizations maintained activities during recovery for which they had experience, expertise and proficiency.
Adult Christian Education for Baby Boomers: a Descriptive Case Study of Three American Churches
American churches seeking to assimilate baby boomers are struggling to meet the adult educational needs of this group. To determine what models of church-based adult education are used to meet the educational needs of this group, three large, growing American churches known for attracting boomers were identified as sites for research. A qualitative case study research design was used and results were compared using cross-case analysis. Initial data collection included a three-day visit at each church. Data were collected in three phases: Phase One consisted of personal interviews with staff and lay leaders; Phase Two focused on observation of adult education events which took place during the visitation period; Phase Three involved gathering materials that described adult education programs. To optimize the reliability and accuracy of the findings data were subjected to examination by peers, collection methods were applied consistently in each research phase, follow-up contacts were made with each church to verify observations and findings, and case records were created for each site. Eleven categories were selected and the data were presented by category. Within each category, data were delineated and organized into three areas: trends among the churches, noteworthy comments about individual programs, and comparison to the literature in the adult education field.
A Comparison of Cognitive Moral Development of Accounting Students at a Catholic University with Secular University Accounting Students
Previous research has shown that accountants may be inadequate moral reasoners. Concern over this trend caused the Treadway Commission (1987) and the Accounting Education Change Commission (1990) to call for greater integration of ethics into the student's training. Ponemon and Glazer (1990) found a difference in cognitive moral development (CMD) between accounting students at a public university and a private university with a liberal arts emphasis. This study expands Ponemon and Glazer's research by examining two liberal arts universities, one a private, secular institution and one a Catholic institution. The primary research question asks if Catholic university accounting students manifest greater CMD growth than secular university accounting students. Additionally, this study examines and compares the priority that accounting students from the different institutions place on ethical values versus economic values. It was expected that Catholic university accounting students would manifest both greater CMD growth and a greater concern for ethical values over economic values when compared with non-Catholic university accounting students. The study utilized a two-phase approach. In the first phase, an organizational study of two institutions was made to determine how each strives to integrate moral development into their accounting students' education. In the second phase, lower-division and senior accounting students were given three ethical and values related tasks to complete which propose to measure differences in ethical and economic values.
A Critique of Kellehear's Transcendent Society
Article responding to Allen Kellehear's cultural analysis based on nine Mormon near-death experiences (NDEs) did not reflect the diversity of near-death visions from other cultures. It suggests that these Mormon NDEs were neither as utopian as Kellehear assumed nor representative of contemporary NDE reports, and that a more complete analysis would reveal a variety of NDEs and otherworld visions reflecting the experiencers' sociocultural background.
Describing the Light: Attribution Theory as an Explanation of the Near-Death Experience
Article exploring near-death experiences and attribution theory, which focuses on how information is used to create causal inferences and answer causal questions. The finding that near-death experiencers (NDErs) rarely describe unknown events, characters, or objects suggests that NDErs make attributions to answer why these experiences occurred. Examining various descriptions of NDEs demonstrates how attribution theory explains individuals' descriptions of their NDEs.
Distressing Near-Death Experiences as Photographic Negatives
Article presenting various interpretative frameworks for painful near-death experiences (NDEs).
Homer's Odysseus as an Ecstatic Voyager
Article examining the events of Homer's Odyssey chronologically, identifying and analyzing specific instances where Homer's imagery suggests such a multifaceted relationship. In accounting for this relationship, the article introduces a psychospiritual evolutionary theory of symbolism and inspiration based upon the higher dimensional existence of the supernatural.
Lucid Dreams as One Method of Replicating Components of the Near-Death Experience in a Laboratory Setting
Article exploring a large phenomenological overlap among lucid dreams, out-of-body experiences, and near-death experiences, which suggests the possibility of developing a methodology of replicating components of the near-death experience using newly developed methods of inducing lucid dreams.
The Meaning and Intensity of the Near-Death Experience
Article exploring the hypothesis that near-death experiencers (NDErs) assign the meaning of the NDE by using causal (effect) and semantic (affect) attributions. To test this hypothesis, 32 spontaneous verbal accounts of NDEs were analyzed.
Motifs of Passage into Worlds Imaginary and Fantastic
Article matching phenomena associated with the passage into otherworlds as reported during out-of-body and near-death experiences, with imagery associated with the passage into otherworlds as depicted in classic modern fantasies and fairy tales.
Near-Death Experiences, Shamanism, and the Scientific Method
Article discussing the overlap between shamanism and near-death experiences (NDEs) and suggesting that the study of shamanism would be helpful in more fully understanding this phenomena and beginning the development of an applied methodology. Although it may be difficult to verify subjective accounts of NDEs and shamanic journeys, from a clinical standpoint it may not be necessary to do so in order to develop a technique that passes the test of scientific scrutiny.
Near-Death Utopias: Now or Later?
Article suggesting that researchers look first for indications of ideal social order in near-death narratives, and only later compare them with types of utopias.
The Phenomenology of Near-Death Consciousness in Past-Life Regression Therapy: A Pilot Study
Article reporting the results of a pilot study exploring similarities between the phenomenology of post-death awareness reported by regressed subjects and the phenomenology of near-death experiences (NDE), as far as the therapeutic modality normally accommodates post-death phenomena. Similarities and differences between NDEs and post-death regression phenomena suggest new avenues of research.
Physically Transcendent Awareness: A Comparison of the Phenomenology of Consciousness Before Birth and After Death
Article discussing veridical evidence of a physically transcendent source of consciousness, which comes from both extremes of the life span when central nervous system functioning is compromised, suggesting that some form of personhood can exist independently of known cellular processes associated with the body.
A Projective Geometry for Separation Experiences
Article presenting a projective geometry for out-of-body "separation experiences," built up out of a series of higher space analogies and resulting diagrams.
Response to the Twemlow Paper
Article responding to Stuart Twemlow's discussion of UFO abduction experiences paralleled with near-death experiences.
Six Studies of Out-of-Body Experiences
Article reviewing six studies of a basic component of the near-death experience (NDE), the out-of body experience (OBE).
The Vivarium Program: An Ethnographic Video Documentary Exploring the Role of the Visual Anthropologist and the Subject at the Open School in Los Angeles
This is a reflexive documentary on the Open School in Los Angeles, an elementary school which is a field research site for Apple Computer, Inc. This videotape explores filmmaker/subject relationships, media perception by children, and issues of representation. An accompanying production book describes the grantwriting process, the pre-production, production, and post-production stages, as well as theoretical implications of the documentary.
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