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This thesis is an investigation into the accounting practices by which British and American expatriates make sense of Western involvement in the Middle East. Based on the analysis of an audio-taped archive of some sixty hours of face-to-face interview material recorded in Kuwait during a ten-month period in the year immediately following the Persian Gulf Conflict of 1990-91, this project explores the interactional work by which speakers situate their conversational contributions in dialogic anticipation of a range of competing but mutually co-implicative demands for accountability which they take their talk and their participation in the circumstances of that talk to entail. Specifically, speakers are seen to manage the productive tension between the competing demands for accountability to conflicting assumptions about the nature of prejudice on the one hand, and the awareness of and/or sensitivity to cultural difference on the other, in and while attending to the situated concerns for their warrant in making the claims that they do and the degree to which they are implicated in those claims in and through the activity of their production. In this way, conflicting assumptions are show to be constitutive of the social practices whereby speakers account for Western involvement abroad.

This study examined the leadership attributes perceived to be possessed by the presidents in South Carolina's Technical College System. The participants consisted of 16 presidents and 80 subordinates that were selected by the presidents. All participants were asked to complete the "Leader Attribute Inventory." Additionally, each participant was requested to identify and rank attributes needed for future leadership at their institution. Demographic data were also gathered about the participants and summarized. The survey responses were collected via United States Postal Service, transposed into spreadsheets and analyzed to determine what relationships existed between the presidents' self perception and the subordinates observed perception of the presidents possessed leader attributes. Descriptive statistics and t-tests were computed to examine and analyze the data. The findings from the study indicated that no significant differences exist between the self perception and observed perception of leader attributes possessed by SC Technical College presidents. When clustered into groups, presidents and subordinate observers both perceived that the presidents possessed attributes highest in the Personal Skills group and least in the Managerial Skills. Comparing the identification and ranking of future needed leaders attributes of college presidents, the president and subordinate observers agreed that Ethical, Visionary and Personal Integrity are common attributes needed by future leadership. Overall, the data suggested that the self perceptions held by the presidents were supported by similar perceptions of those in observational roles as subordinates. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

This project explores the relationship between freedom and well being. Through reviewing the literature of positive psychology and existential psychology, clearer pictures of well being and freedom emerge, allowing for statistical analysis. By adopting Seligman’s well being theory as a model that incorporates hedonic and eudaimonic elements of well being and self determination theory’s conceptualization of autonomy as a proxy for freedom in existential psychology, this study explores the relationship between these constructs and their theorized factors through correlational analysis. A potential measurement model for an overall well being measure incorporating freedom as a factor is proposed and tested using confirmatory factor analyses. The effects of demographic factors on well being and freedom are also explored through analyses of variance. The results of this project suggest a moderate positive correlation between well being and freedom, although the hypothesized measurement model fails to achieve good fit when tested using confirmatory factor analysis. Through model modifications, an acceptable fitting model emerges that reflects the relationship between freedom and well being described in the literature review and bolstered by the data. This model, however, requires further study and verification due to the nature of its emergence. Certain identity and demographic factors are also identified as having effects on well being and autonomy. These results are discussed, along with the limitations of this study. Future directions for research and theoretical investigation are highlighted, including revisiting the measures used in this study through exploratory factor analyses or exploratory structural equation modeling. Clinical implications are identified and discussed, with suggestions for clinical practice also included, such as the need for clinicians to assess a person’s level freedom and well being as an element of motivation to change. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu/) and Ohio Link ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu/etd).