Publication Type: Symposium Paper
Abstract: Paper Three-“Better Students Produce Better Cabbages” introduces Case Study Two’s institution and describes Booker T. Washington’s rich contributions to its history thorough his mentorship and writings, specifically, “A Commencement Oration on Cabbages.”

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The 1990s represented a sea change in the way federal and state governments interacted to protect the environment. The language of devolution and reinventing government contributed to attempts by federal agencies to rethink federal-state working relationships in environmental programs. This study explores two strategies adopted by two federal agencies, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Office of Surface Mining (OSM), in an attempt to redirect federal oversight of state environmental activities. The EPA’s strategy was the National Environmental Performance Partnership System (NEPPS); the OSM’s strategy is its REG 8 Directive. The study suggests the difficulty in making significant changes to federal-state working relationships, especially when such changes occur in complex bureaucratic systems, cover multiple programs and depart from long-standing existing agency cultures.

Publication Type: Proceeding
Abstract: Adam Smith is almost certainly history’s most famous advocate of commercial society, but he frankly admits that the relentless pursuit of wealth is a major obstacle to tranquility and contentment and hence that, at first glance, the higher living standards that people “enjoy” in commercial society seem to come only at the cost of their happiness. I argue that the solution to this apparent paradox can be found in Smith’s account of the positive political effects of commerce: dependence and insecurity are the chief obstacles to happiness and have been the hallmarks of most of human history, and so the alleviation of these ills in commercial society constitutes a great step forward. Money really cannot buy happiness, but the liberty and security that commercial societies tend to provide help to assuage the greatest sources of misery.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Valid and reliable measures are fundamental to advancing social science. Phrase completion scales were designed to provide enhanced psychometrics compared to Likert scales by more closely conforming to foundational measurement and statistical assumptions. This paper reports the first direct comparison of the two types of scales. Responses to Likert formatted items and comparable phrase completions items were elicited from 134 graduate students. An examination of written comments, Cronbach’s alphas, inter-item correlations, factor scores, and SEM coefficients indicate that items constructed in the phrase completion format yield higher levels of validity and reliability relative to Likert constructed items. The advantages of phrase completion scales may be particularly pronounced when measuring attitudes that fall at all points along the underlying continuum.