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- Member of: ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
- Member of: Technical Communication Graduate Applied Projects
The primary goal of this research was to identify the elements of members' website usage stories (including plot points and story scope), and which brand principles of Free Range CrossFit, like personal development (among others), can be identified in those storytelling elements. To accomplish this, I designed the interview questions to uncover these patterns in the various plot points of their journey as users, and developed a coding manual with the elements of "Brand" and "User Story" to code the transcripts. I then coded the transcribed results using Atlas.ti program, and identified occurrences and co-occurrences between the two concepts. The results showed that the website is being used to track members' personal development, which aligns with Brand principles from mainstream CrossFit, and the gym's mission and value statements. The data also suggests that members identified their usage stories through various scopes. While the beginning of story outlined by members was clear, the data suggests that there is room for improvement towards the end of the members' journey as users of the website, and recommendations are provided.
The purpose of this applied project was to research and recommend to Phoenix Children’s Hospital (PCH) improvements to their website in order to provide parents whose child has been newly diagnosed with cancer the most clear and appropriate health information. I conducted a study in order to analyze and evaluate the health information content currently provided to parents at PCH. This was done by through qualitative coding methods on both printed documents provided by The Emily Center Library, as well as interviews conducted with three Hematology/Oncology nurses at PCH. Additionally, I researched the current literature surrounding this topic in order to provide a background of information. Based on the results, I recommended that PCH offer parents a comprehensive cancer database in which all provided information would be searchable via their website. This database would also allow them to expand on their two topic focuses: home care and emotional support. Additionally, I recommended that parents are provided information on how to identify credible and non- credible sources on the Internet so that they can find information that is truly medically valuable when searching for information on their own. Lastly, I offered future recommendations that will require continued research so that PCH’s provided health information can continue to grow and improve.
First, a theoretically grounded analytical framework was developed using both higher education and community development literatures to build two ideal-typical approaches to community practice characterized by power-over versus power-with. Within power-over, the institution exclusively holds authority, control, and legitimacy. Power-with is built through partnerships that share these elements with communities. Second, the resulting theoretical framework was developed further through a multi-stage deductive-inductive content analysis of written data readily available from university websites about their community partnerships. This process operationalized the framework by identifying and clarifying specific indicators within the power-over and power-with ideal-types.
The analytical framework was then compared to the aspirational community empowerment goals found in materials about the Carnegie elective classification for Community Engagement and materials from both the Anchor Initiatives Task Force and Anchor Initiatives Dashboard Learning Cohort. This comparative analysis found that while these initiatives aspire to transform power dynamics between universities and communities, they are vague on the meaning of these practices and their antitheses. This gap in clarity hinders these initiatives from distinguishing transformative work from the status quo, potentially inadvertently allowing the perpetuation of power-over dynamics in university-community partnerships.
The more robust analytical framework developed herein will enable these initiatives to better assess the quality of university-community partnerships against the aspirations of equity, social justice, democratic practice, mutual respect, shared authority, and co-creation. Such assessment will enable more effective knowledge-building toward transformational practice.
University-community partnerships (UCPs) are often positioned as a departure from the extractive, paternalistic practices that have long characterized higher education’s engagement with communities outside the university. While the field increasingly invokes language of relational ethics—reciprocity, mutual respect, and shared authority—it has yet to fully define these principles or offer comprehensive frameworks for assessing whether partnerships uphold them. Without a clearly articulated and validated set of relational principles, the field lacks the tools to critically assess or strengthen the ethical foundations of its practice.This study addresses that gap through an iterative, mixed qualitative design that combined a systematic scoping review of publications on UCP relationships with qualitative content analysis and participatory validation. I extracted and inductively coded text segments to identify principles from literature and facilitated reflective storytelling sessions with community and academic partners to ground, refine, and operationalize them. This process resulted in a set of thirteen relational principles that offer a comprehensive and field-informed framework for the assessment of UCPs.
The resulting principles are shared power and decision-making, aligned purpose and approach, accessing and sharing resources, reflective practice, critical awareness / justice orientation, accountability, trust, respect, mutuality/reciprocity, communication, commitment, flexibility, and interpersonal qualities.
In addition to identifying and defining these principles, this study analyzes key insights and tensions between scholarly discourse and practitioner experience. While some principles are inconsistently conceptualized or applied, practitioner insights reveal where theory falls short and what is needed to uphold relational ethics in practice.
The dissertation concludes with broader implications and a call to action for academic partners, institutions, and community collaborators to meaningfully integrate these principles into both the rhetoric and practice of UCPs. Only through sustained attention to relational ethics can partnerships fulfill their transformative potential and move beyond the legacies from which they seek to depart.