This study explores the factors that affect parents' decisions to give their kids smart phones and focuses on if/how parents manage their children's cell phone use. This study also focuses on parent's decisions to allow or prohibit social media use, their process for determining the right age for cell phones and social media, the consequences they adopt for misuse, and attitudes and awareness around the positive and negative effects of cell phone use for kids. 

Participants: Three groups of parents will be recruited based on the age of their kids, including a group with kids in grades K-3 (most kids do not have phones yet); a group with kids in grades 4th – 6th (some kids have phones; some do not); and a group of parents with kids in 7th-9th grade (most kids have cell phones by this time). The goal is to recruit a minimum of 40 parents. 

Method: We will conduct an exploratory survey for smart phone use, beliefs/attitudes about smart phones, and parenting styles. The survey will be used to develop questions for in-depth interviews and focus groups. Focus groups and in-depth interviews will be conducted for the main data for the study. Grounded Theory, or theory derived from the data, will be used to establish common themes related to smart phone decisions by parents. 

If you choose to work on this study, you will gain experience with IRB approval for research on human subjects. You will learn how to conduct qualitative research, i.e. focus groups and in-depth interviews, and you will learn how to analyze qualitative data. It will also give you the opportunity to explore and contribute knowledge to the evolving societal conversation around technology, social media regulation, mental health, and the impact smart phones have on young people and society. 

Students will learn how to grasp complex social phenomena by exploring how people perceive and experience their world, focusing on the meanings, experiences, and processes rather than numerical data. Students will foster their data collection skills, specifically how to gather rich detailed data through methods like interviews and focus groups. This allows for the development of interviewing skills, learning how to develop good questions, and build rapport with participants, as well as the PI.

Ultimately, this allows students to develop analytical skills through the analysis of the qualitative data, using coding methods to categorize and interpret data. Finally, this process allows for the development of critical thinking and encourages students to reflect on how their own biases and experiences might influence interpretation, which is a life skill they can apply to any career choice. 

First, we will develop a literature review for the study. Next, we will apply for the IRB. During the IRB approval process, we will finalize the introduction, literature review, and method section. We will also work on preparing for the interviews with practice sessions and we will extensively explore how to conduct interviews and focus groups. After IRB approval, we will begin our focus groups and in-depth interviews with 40 participants. After the interviews are completed, we will begin to code the data. After the coding process, we will write the analysis section and prepare for spring research symposium. Finally, we will submit to a national conference and begin preparing a manuscript for publication. 

Hybrid

Dr. Mackenzie Cato, mcato8@kennesaw.edu

Documentary production is a powerful medium for exploring and capturing the uniqueness of human life through creative audiovisual expressions. This short documentary project focuses on the lives of Korean American elderly individuals, highlighting how they use various forms of art to preserve and share their rich cultural heritage. The documentary showcases traditional Korean art forms such as dance and music, interwoven with the unique immigration stories of these elders. Students participating in this project will be involved in every stage, from pre-production to post-production, applying and enhancing their creative skills. The project mentor will guide and support the students through workshops and group mentoring.

Students involved in this project will also have the opportunity to research professional film festivals and participate in the Kennesaw Film Festival on campus. The documentary, produced under the guidance of a faculty mentor, will be screened at this festival, giving students a comprehensive experience of the filmmaking process, from production to public screening. Additionally, participating in the festival will help students understand its structure and expand their networks by connecting with fellow student filmmakers.

Students will acquire essential skills in documentary production, covering every stage from pre-production to post-production. They will use media equipment provided by the School of Communication and Media, gaining hands-on experience under the supervision of a faculty mentor. During post-production, students will focus on crafting narratives that deliver compelling messages to audiences. By reading relevant texts and analyzing diverse documentaries, they will gain an understanding of Aristotle's three-act story structure, which serves as a strong foundation for creative media production and storytelling.

Additionally, students will grasp the importance of film publication and audience engagement while researching and participating in a film festival. They will learn to manage their schedules effectively and appreciate the value of professional communication when collaborating with filmmakers.

Students will participate in this project in a hybrid environment, with weekly virtual meetings and an in-person gathering once a month. Throughout the project, they will take on various responsibilities, including researching documentary topics and film festivals, analyzing documentary styles, filming raw footage, editing, and preparing for the film festival. When planning field trips to film raw footage, we may visit Korean cultural centers in Gwinnett County, depending on students' transportation options.

Hybrid

Prof. Sangsun Choi, schoi36@kennesaw.edu

In this project, I seek to take the oral histories I have collected of Atlanta Student Movement veterans (housed in SOAR kennesaw.edu/handle/11360/2384) and create a custom, public GPT that we will train to use only the data from the collection as resources. What I envision is bringing the words of the Movement elders from 1960 to an interactive educational space that is accessible to the public.

In addition to cultivating and articulating the relevance of Humanities research in the field of generative AI, students will also take away the following skills:

1. Digital Literacy: Students will develop skills in using advanced AI tools and technologies, particularly in training and utilizing custom GPT models.
2. Historical Understanding: Students will gain a deep understanding of the Atlanta Student Movement and its significance in the civil rights era through firsthand accounts.
3. Research Skills: Students will enhance their ability to conduct primary source research, including collecting, analyzing, and curating oral histories.
4. Public Engagement: Students will learn to create educational resources that make historical information accessible and engaging to the public, fostering broader community knowledge and appreciation.

The following is a  list of activities that are necessary for the project and in which the student will assist over the course of the project.

1. Transcribing Oral Histories: Listen to and accurately transcribe the oral history recordings of the Atlanta Student Movement veterans.
2. Data Annotation: Annotate the transcriptions with relevant metadata, including key themes, events, and individuals mentioned.
3. Training the GPT Model: Assist in training the custom GPT by feeding it the annotated oral histories and refining its responses.
4. Content Review: Regularly review and verify the accuracy of the GPT-generated content against the original oral histories.
5. Outreach and Engagement: Develop materials and strategies to promote the interactive educational tool, including social media posts, educational resources, and community presentations.

Hybrid

Dr. Jeanne Law, jlaw29@kennesaw.edu

This project focuses on a long-term analysis of the environmental depiction in the artwork across the Atlanta BeltLine which is multi-billion dollar investment. It involves contributing to the development of a photographic census of artwork along with geospatial mapping. Students will photograph and analyze the artwork along the BeltLine according to different environmental attributes and themes. It will teach students both qualitative and quantitative skills. The results will be used to prepare research posters to present at a conference. While contributing to longitudinal research, students will get to strengthen their resume with strong research skills and a conference presentation. This project will also train students in conducting interdisciplinary research. 

This project will provide industry training to students in conducting ecological analysis with the help of photography, mapping, and geospatial technologies. 

• Students will learn how to collect location specific data on artwork. 
• Students will learn how to process the above data for creating maps and geospatial models. 
• Students will learn how to extract meaningful quantitative information for the combination of photographic ecological census and maps.  
• Students will learn how to make a conference presentation summarizing the project and their findings. 
• Above all, students will develop an intimate familiarity with the Atlanta BeltLine. 

Students will regularly meet with the mentor each week. They will photograph artwork along the Atlanta BeltLine and record attributes of each artwork. They will then manage and organize their photographic data according to different themes including the location attributes. They will also map the location of each artwork. It will be followed by a quantitative analysis of the data to generate a meaningful conference presentation. The results will be used to present research posters at a conference. 

Face-to-Face

Dr. Ranbir Kang, rkang4@kennesaw.edu

The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately impacted working mothers across all sectors and industries. In a multi-year study, our research team documented the experiences of mothers working in the higher education since the onset of the pandemic within the U.S. It has expanded into a national data collection effort and advocacy campaign focused on women faculty who are mothers. As a result of this body of work, we have coined the term the COVID Shift, whereby we outline the conceptual model for this phenomenon (see Purcell et al., 2022).  

Data collected from 22 in-depth interviews, 5 interactive workshops, and 5 community forums revealed the pandemic served as a punctuated equilibrium by which conditions were conducive for transformative change. Specifically, we noted the opportunity for working mothers to reevaluate their identity in relation to their work as they struggled to balance the demands of career and home. The COVID Shift integrates Kegan’s Theory of Self-Authorship and theorist Scharmer’s Theory U to propose a model of individual and organizational transformation that may result from the pandemic’s disruption of work-life identities. The shift to engage in the “U” journey occurs when employees might otherwise disengage or leave their university. The degree to which the COVID Shift results in positive impacts is dependent upon an individual’s commitment to thoughtfully and intentionally engaging in critical self-reflection and examine their subjectivity against current situations and future desired states. Likewise, within institutions, the COVID Shift requires leaders and supervisors to commit to tailored interventions that support employee learning and development.  

This project will examine the continued impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic among women faculty. Preliminary data indicate temporary solutions intended to address the increased pressure on working mothers that were adopted by universities were not institutionalized. Consequently, these temporary efforts to re-engage faculty have proved inadequate in the absence of long-term solutions. Some institutions have sustained implementation of innovative practices, yet their impact on employees’ career progression and wellbeing remains unknown. In response to this gap, our study examines the following: 

(1) the extent to which the COVID-Shift impacted women faculty and their careers, including sustained changes in their professional identities, perceptions of work-life balance, and well-being practices; (2) how formal interventions and informal leadership practices have impacted career progression and wellbeing; and (3) how perceptions of barriers to career progression vary among impacted faculty and senior academic leaders. 

Students will learn basic qualitative research design and execution in the social sciences, including but not limited to, positionality, conducting a literature review, developing an interview protocol, survey design, sampling techniques, in-person data collection protocols, qualitative data analysis, and reporting findings. 

Students will meet as a group with the PI on a weekly basis in-person and virtually when necessary due to conference travel. We will introduce research concepts/skill for review and discussion with examples from previous phases of the current study, and we will apply concepts together (e.g. identifying peer-reviewed resources, summarizing research articles, identifying themes and sub-themes) to ensure understanding and answer any questions.

The students may then work collaboratively or independently on research assignments for the week. Each week, we will review independent work prior to discussing the next concept/skill and related research assignment. A significant portion of time will be dedicated to the literature review in the fall semester, with the focus shifting to in-person data collection and data analysis in the spring semester. 

Hybrid

Dr. Jennifer Purcell, jwpurcell@kennesaw.edu

Dr. Darlene Rodriguez, darlene.rodriguez@kennesaw.edu

Social justice movements have occurred in the U.S. as methods for social groups to bring awareness to and address inequities in the country. Psychological research has spent a lot of time understanding how social justice movements impact society and its members. In the US, the Black Lives Matter movement focuses on racial injustice and forces Americans to consider how they view and approach prejudice towards racial minorities. Industrial and Organizational Psychology has also examined how identities outside of a company (e.g., race, gender) impact people's behaviors towards and within a company. Little research has specifically focused on how people respond to companies when they respond to social justice movements or current events. The goal of this research is to assess factors that impact perceptions of diversity statements from companies and how these perceptions may impact people’s engagement with the companies and social movements themselves. 

Students will learn how to review academic articles, create study materials, program surveys into Qualtrics, analyze data, and write up research results. Students will also present at the Symposium of Student Scholars and be allowed to present at other academic research conferences.

Students will meet with faculty weekly. They will also be scheduled to work in the research space to program study materials and read/locate academic articles related to the topic. The faculty also hosts weekly research lab meetings that allow students to network with each other and learn new career readiness skills.

Face-to-Face

Dr. Danica Kulibert, dkuliber@kennesaw.edu

Adding a child to a family via adoption involves significant planning for the associated expenses. While previous research has examined the psychological factors associated with adoption, studies have yet to examine the monetary elements within the adoption process or the decisions made regarding these costs. Our goal is to investigate how families prepare financially for adoption, focusing on the various financial requirements and contributions across different adoption methods. Additionally, we aim to explore the sociocultural connection between adopting individuals' attitudes and preferences towards various forms of adoption funding methods associated with the adoption process. 

The financial implications of adoption can create many difficult hurdles when starting the process. Many families tend to pursue a variety of monetary approaches as they begin their journey (Khun & Lahiri, 2017). These can include savings, income, and utilizing tax incentives, grants, and other forms of public fundraising. This study examined the financial decisions families made when going through the adoption process of their first adopted child. This study explored how families financially prepared to adopt a child and how they subsidized their expenses. Utilizing a sociocultural perspective, we will investigate which families are more or less likely to utilize various adoption and funding methods and how comfortable they feel with the process, acknowledging that their choices may have be influenced by their motivations or attitudes towards seeking additional assistance (Tybejee, 2003). Expanding the study beyond the borders of the United States allows for diverse responses and opinions regarding the decision to utilize additional forms of public fundraising. This data will support researchers in making further connections between adoption fundraising attitudes and sociocultural factors.  

A primary goal of this study is to identify families’ total adoption expenses and identify if this varied by type of adoption. A secondary goal of this research is to examine the ways in which families received financial support toward adoption expenses. Specifically, we will look at the reasons and methods in which families received monetary aid and what their viewpoints are surrounding various financial assistance methods, including fundraising to support adoption costs. Additionally, previous literature does not discuss how one’s religiosity impacts families’ choices surrounding receiving financial aid with the adoption process; therefore, we will examine adoption methods, payment methods, and participant’s feelings towards monetary help alongside based on one’s level of religiosity. 

Students who participate in this project will:

• Gain foundational knowledge in the area of Developmental Psychology and adoption-related research.
• Receive training on research ethics with human subjects, specifically families and children. 
• Read, discuss, and apply seminal papers in the area of adoption and fostering. 
• Learn the skill set of participant recruitment using via online modalities. 
• Collect data using online surveying.
• Analyze and interpret survey data via statistical analysis.
• Communicate findings in both written and oral presentations.
• Present research at KSU’s Symposium of student scholars.

Scholars participating in this project will be involved in all aspects of the research process. Though the work will vary throughout, below is a general description of the types of duties scholars can expect:

• Attend scheduled meetings with principal investigator (PI) and research assistants and actively participate in discussions. 
• Engage in trainings focused on ethics, and those related to the research topic. 
• Conduct, review, compile, and analyze literature related to the outlined project.
• Assist in recruitment of participants.
• Assist in data collection and analysis.
• Create and present oral presentations and/or poster presentations for conferences.
• Engage in professional development activities, such as writing a resume/CV, practicing interview skills, learning about graduate school/careers.

Face-to-Face

Dr. Nicole Martin, nmarti40@kennesaw.edu

Recent research has found that moral injury after traumatic events can impact an individuals ability to adapt appropriately following the event (Wisco et al., 2017). In this context, moral injury refers to a distinct “injury,” or extreme emotional impact, to an individual’s moral foundation resulting from an act or situation where they perceive an extreme moral transgression has occurred due to their or others' behaviors. Although it is widely accepted that moral injury can affect identity, these claims are rarely specified, let alone investigated empirically. Among scholars of moral injury, an emerging explanation is that moral injury leads to a loss of identity (Litz, 2023). However, social psychologists studying the relationship between identity and trauma argue that some traumatic experiences can reaffirm a person’s identity, leading to the maintenance of identity, which helps the person make sense of their traumatic experience and be resilient to traumatic stress disorders (Muldoon et al., 2019). Thus far, no concerted efforts have been made to evaluate these theories in tandem or frame them as outcomes that stem from factors for resilience. 

The current project proposes these two possible processes – identity loss and identity maintenance – in the case of military moral injury. As such, this project will evaluate the mechanisms for these two outcomes. Moreover, it seeks to validate an adapted Bicultural Identity Integration Scale (BIIS-2; Huynh et al., 2010) with recently separated United States veterans. Self-identified US veterans will be recruited via the Prolific research platform, where they will answer a series of questions related to moral injury, identity, mental health, and transitioning to civilian life. In addition, basic demographics will be collected along with service-related questions specific to their time in the military. This data is expected to 1) validate the adapted BII-2 in a veteran population and 2) support elements of the extant literature through observed associations between identity dissonance, moral injury, and downstream mental health outcomes. 

DOI References:

Huynh, Q.-L., Benet-Martínez, V., & Nguyen, A.-M. D. (2018). https://doi.org/10.1037/t67887-000 

Litz, B. T. (2023). https://doi.org/10.3138/jmvfh.9.2.ed

Muldoon, O. T., Haslam, S. A., Haslam, C., Cruwys, T., Kearns, M., & Jetten, J. (2019). https://doi.org/10.1080/10463283.2020.1711628 

Wisco, B. E., Marx, B. P., May, C. L., Martini, B., Krystal, J. H., Southwick, S. M., & Pietrzak, R. H. (2017). https://doi.org/10.1002/da.22614 

First year scholars (FYS) will have a meaningful opportunity to evaluate theory critically, develop surveys using previously validated measures, collect and screen data, clean data, analyze results, and present findings.

Students will be given opportunities to learn how to systematically critique theory and develop the skill of analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of research, its applicability to current research, and its impact on real-world situations. Part of this training will include identifying biases and inconsistencies in logic, determining unfilled gaps in the literature, and contrasting competing theories to evaluate theory critically. 

The process will also encourage students to master survey development. They will develop skills related to identifying reliable and validated measures that align with their research goals and related theoretical constructs. Moreover, FYS will be taught survey best practices that increase response rates, reduce the likelihood of missing data, and maintain methodological rigor to ensure the survey structure does not influence interpretations. Students will learn data collection techniques and associated best practices related to screening data comprehensively, identifying issues within the data, detecting outliers, etc. This will also include appropriately cleaning data, which involves familiarizing with statistical software such as Excel, SPSS, and JASP. Overall, they will be provided with opportunities to determine whether or not the data is prepared for subsequent analysis. 

Related, students will be taught basic statistical techniques relevant to the project. They will be provided opportunities to interpret results independently under the guidance of the faculty researcher. Part of this process includes developing skills related to conducting the analysis and meaningfully synthesizing data in relation to hypotheses. 

Last, students will have ample opportunity to present their findings. Students will, of course, present findings to a local audience during the Symposium of student scholars, but I will also encourage students to attend NCUR as well as other national conferences, such as the Society for Personality and Social Psychologies annual conference. As appropriate, I intend to work with students to develop publications. Particularly for those students wishing to pursue graduate work. As such, specific skills related to manuscript development will be an outcome of the project. 

Students will be expected to:

• Review the relevant research within the context of the theoretical framework and provide insights that could guide creation of data instruments, inform research aims, and explore alternative explanations for our evidence. 
• Take an active role in building study surveys or experimental designs on an online platform such as Qualtrics. 
• Learn data cleaning techniques and assist in getting data ready for analysis. 
• Assist in analyzing data, learning the fundamentals of rigorous data analysis. 
• Assist in the inevitable write up of results to be published. 
• Design posters and PowerPoint presentations to be presented at conferences. 

Weekly duties will change depending on the specific stage of the research process. However, general expectations are that students will meet with the faculty researcher and other experienced researchers (such as postdoctoral fellows), at minimum, once a week to ensure the students are on track and receiving the mentorship they need. 

Hybrid

Dr. Tyler Collette, tcollet1@kennesaw.edu

Sex trafficking is an existing world crisis, and it is a multi-billion dollar, illegal business (Dank et al., 2014) that preys on vulnerable individuals. Sex trafficking has long-lasting negative effects on these victims. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 established resources for prevention, victim protection and support, and the prosecution of those who facilitate trafficking (Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, 22 U.S.C. § 7101, et seq. 2000). This act criminalized human trafficking and defined it as a crime involving the exploitation of an adult by compelling them to perform labor or a commercial sex act using tactics such as force, fraud, or coercion. However, when a person has not reached 18 years of age and is induced to perform a commercial sex act in exchange for something of value, it is a crime in the United States regardless of whether any of these tactics are used. Reports from Polaris’ National Human Trafficking Hotline (2024) indicated that 84% of human trafficking cases were sex trafficking, and of these, most victims identified as female (85%) and 26% were minors.

General expectations, beliefs, and stereotypes about victims based on their demographic characteristics and traits are known to influence juror decision-making (Golding et al., 2020). More specifically, we know that perceptions of individuals who have been sex trafficked are often based on myths and can lead to victim blaming (Winks et al., 2022). As such, prosecuting these cases and getting guilty verdicts can be difficult when victims may be reluctant due to a variety of factors and potential jurors do not understand the crime or the influence of trauma on victim behaviors. T

Thus, the purpose of this study is to increase our understanding of what victim attributes (i.e. age, race, gender, etc.) and behavioral characteristics may be predictors of verdict, witness believability, credibility, and victim blame. Likewise, understanding how juror characteristics interact with victim attributes will also be examined.  
During the first semester, First-Year Scholars, will review the literature and help develop the experimental materials to be used for the study. They will learn how to ethically carry out the study.  In the second semester, they will collect, analyze, and report on the data.

At the end of this project, first-year scholars will gain skills, experience, and practice in:

• Building literature research skills linked to effective library research
• Identifying, describing, summarizing, and integrating published research about sex trafficking and juror decision-making
• Completing human-subject research CITI IRB training
• Describing ethical practices in psychological research
• Applying research methods to study materials and procedures to collect, code, analyze, and interpret data
•  Working effectively as part of a team
• Describing how their research experience contributes to career readiness
• Presenting research at the KSU Symposium of Student Scholars and the Southeastern Psychological Association Conference

First-year scholars participating in this project will be involved in the full research cycle the tasks which differ from week to week.

An overview of the types of duties scholars can expect includes:

• Participating in weekly lab meetings
• Communicating effectively with the team and mentor
• Attending meetings with their project mentor
• Working with other lab members on this project
• Reading articles and completing trainings
• Participating in discussions on study topics
• Assisting with study materials, participant recruitment, and data management and analysis
• Engaging in professional development activities, such as writing a resume/CV, practicing interview skills, learning about graduate school/careers

Hybrid

Dr. Dorothy Marsil, dmarsil@kennesaw.edu