Public Administration Directed Research
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10877/17200
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Browsing Public Administration Directed Research by Author "Amaya, Ismael"
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Item An Evaluation of the Impact of the NFL’s Super Bowl event on the Host Cities’ Crime Rates(2014-12) Pena, Alejandra Iraide; Tajalli, Hassan; Farmer, Jayce; Amaya, IsmaelThis study evaluates the impact of the National Football League’s Super Bowl event on the crime rates of the host city. A review of the literature suggests that there is a positive relationship between sporting events and crime. The Routine Activities Theory operates under the idea that when there is the presence of a motivated offender, a suitable target, and the absence of a capable guardian, crime has the opportunity to occur. Large sporting events provide the opportunity for these three elements to take place. The analysis for this research has been executed utilizing existing data from the Federal Bureau of Investigations on the following 8 crimes: murder, force rape, robbery, aggravated assault, simple assault, burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft. The trends before the event, after the event and during the month of the event were measured for each of the 8 crimes of several host cities ranging from years 1990 and 2012. An interrupted time series design was used to test the hypotheses. The findings of this study suggest that the Super Bowl event does not have a significant impact on the crime rate of the host city.Item Companero o Adversario: Texas State Students’ Attitudes Toward Immigration(2011-10) Perdomo, Patricia C.; Longoria, Thomas; DeSoto, William H.; Amaya, IsmaelPurpose: The purpose of this research study is to explore the most prominent factors impacting students' attitudes toward immigration. Previous research has linked economic status, perception of the economy, race, age, and political ideology as factors that influence immigration attitudes. Methodology: To test the strength of the relationships existent between each of the independent variables (economic status, perception of the economy, race, age, and political ideology) and the dependent variable of immigration attitudes, an online questionnaire with close-ended questions was sent to a sample of students across various majors at Texas State University. Results: The bivariate analysis, descriptive statistics and chi square tests demonstrated that that most students have slightly more liberal attitudes. It demonstrated that there is an association between the independent variables and attitudes toward immigration.Item Dimensions of Innovative Teaching: A Survey of Public Administration Faculty(2015-05) MacIntyre, Caitlin M. R.; Shields, Patricia M.; DeSoto, William; Amaya, IsmaelPurpose: The purpose of this research is to describe the dimensions of innovative teaching in Master of Public Administration (MPA) programs. To separate itself from the learning styles of undergraduate education, graduate programs must take students into the next level of the cognitive domain because students entering public service careers need information and skills. This higher level of learning can be achieved by using appropriate innovative techniques. This research uses the literature to develop a conceptual framework that organizes dimensions of innovative teaching into the following categories: class activities, course projects, instructor characteristics, and environment. Method: This research uses a survey, developed from the conceptual framework, to describe the extent to which MPA faculty use and value techniques identified by the literature. The survey was distributed to leadership from the top 170 MPA programs in the United States. These points of contact were used to distribute the survey to faculty members. Total of 217 faculty responded. Findings: In general, faculty frequently used the innovative techniques that they considered important. Highly endorsed techniques included skill building, collaborative learning, and instructor characteristics such as encouragement and facilitation. Techniques with low endorsement included role play and Blended Learning Distance Education (BLDE). Respondents alluded to the possibility that not all techniques are applicable to all subjects. Additionally, respondents questioned the state of “innovation.”Item Exploring Achievement: Factors affecting Native American College Student Success(2011-04) Crosby, Heather; Longoria, Thomas; Rangarajan, Nandhini; Amaya, IsmaelPurpose: The purpose of this research is to explore factors that affect Native American student success in post-secondary education. The literature suggests that five factors affect 1) previous academic performance; 2) financial aid; 3) familial support; 4) feeling connected; and 5) campus involvement. Methods: Semi-structured phone interviews with Native American college graduates were conducted to ascertain the factors they believe affected their college success. Students were asked to list the factors they believe affected their success and then asked questions based on the working hypotheses developed through the literature. Findings: This research found that each of the factors predicted by the literature were supported by information collected from the interviews, although at varying levels. Familial support and financial aid were found to be the most important factors in student success while high school GPA and involvement in a first-year group were found to have the least impact.Item Exploring Success Factors of Government-Nonprofit Collaborations from the Nonprofit Perspective(2012-05) Donley, Lori; Shields, Patricia M.; Balanoff-Jones, Emily; Amaya, IsmaelPurpose: Our society faces challenging and multifaceted issues that require the attention of the public and private sectors working together. Because of the significant advantages government and nonprofits stand to gain from collaborating, it is important to identify factors that contribute to successful collaboration. Nonprofit leaders play a central role in the success of government-nonprofit collaboration, and their perspectives on which aspects of collaboration lead to success, as well as which do not, are essential to improving cross-sector collaboration. Much of the literature on government-nonprofit collaboration neglects to systematically study the nonprofit perspective. This research begins to fill that gap. The purpose of this applied research project is to explore factors that contribute to the success of government-nonprofit collaboration from the perspective of nonprofit practitioners. Methodology: Russell Linden's (2002) four stages of collaboration were used to construct four broad pillar questions: (1) Courtship, (2) Getting Serious, (3) Commitment, (4) and Leaving a Legacy. Furthermore, eight potential factors of successful government-nonprofit collaboration were identified in the scholarly literature: (1) communication and information sharing, (2) mission and goal setting, (3) trust and positive relationships, (4) leaders and authority, (5) flexibility, (6) clear guidelines and funding procedures, (7) accountability systems, and (8) honest feedback. These factors operationalized the broad pillar questions, forming the basis of sub-questions that guided the construction of an interview questionnaire. This questionnaire facilitated structured, in-depth, open-ended interviews of ten nonprofit leaders in Texas. Findings: According to the interviewees, four of the eight factors identified in the literature were determined to be success factors for government-collaboration: (1) communication and information sharing, (2) trust and positive relationships, (3) leaders and authority, and (4) accountability systems. Whether or not the remaining four factors are important to the success of government-nonprofit collaboration remains unclear from findings of this applied research project.Item Factors Influencing the Percent of Non-Certified Teachers in Texas School Districts(2011-04) Varela, Daniella G.; Longoria, Thomas; Rahm, Dianne; Amaya, IsmaelThe purpose of this study is to explain which factors influence the percent of noncertified teachers in Texas school districts. Research indicates that the hiring of unqualified teachers is generally a result of distributional inequities, rather than overall shortages of qualified individuals (Darling-Hammond and Sykes 2003, Ingersoll 2001). Scholarly literature supports four factors that correlate with high percentages of non-certified teachers in schools: percentage of economically disadvantaged students, teacher salaries, population of minority students, and identification as major urban schools. To determine how these factors influence Texas school districts, a multiple regression was run with data from the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS), State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) Interactive Reports, and the Texas Education Agency Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS) for the 2009-2010 academic year. Findings indicate that percent minority and average teacher salaries influence the percent of non-certified teachers. Percent economically disadvantaged students negatively influenced the percent of non-certified teachers thereby rejecting the projected direction of the hypothesis.Item The Business of War: A Content Analysis of Private Military Companies' Websites(2010-10) Gainer, John; Shields, Patricia M.; Ruger, William P.; Amaya, IsmaelPurpose: The purpose of this research is to describe the different services offered on websites by a high profile sample of private military companies. An examination of literature related to the private military industry illustrates the history of non-state actors as well as factors that contributed to the post-Cold War growth of the industry. The main factors discussed are the corporatization of service providers and growing trends of privatization during the Cold War. Method: Through the use of a conceptual framework, three descriptive categories were developed. Each descriptive category is comprised of sub-categories that identify a type of service offered in the industry. The descriptive categories are drawn from P.W. Singer's book Corporate Warriors: The rise of the privatized military industry. They are used to connect to website analysis of existing PMCs. The population studied is drawn using members of a private military trade association called the International Peace Operations Association. Using content analysis, a keyword search was conducted of member websites to identify the percentage of companies offering a given service. Findings: The data shows that each descriptive category has one service provided by at least half of the companies in the sample and that more than half of the firms examined provided services in at least two descriptive categories. The overall results indicate that PMCs are equipped to deliver a multitude of services. Additionally, the results show how private military companies have equipped themselves to target market niches with wide-ranging contract specifications.