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Dissertation_Staples2019 v4 (submission).pdf (997.7 KB)
ETD Abstract Container
Abstract Header
Making Sense of Worldview Diversity at Public Universities: An Exploration of Student Encounters using Critical Sensemaking
Author Info
Staples, Beth Ashley
Permalink:
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1557129817183753
Abstract Details
Year and Degree
2019, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Educational Studies.
Abstract
This study advances our understanding of how students are making sense of their encounters across worldview differences related to religion, spirituality, faith, and values at public higher education institutions. Critical sensemaking (CSM) was used as a conceptual framework to understand the in-the-moment process of individual sensemaking and how individual and organizational sensemaking is influenced by the formative, structural, and discursive contexts of higher education (Helms Mills, Thurlow, & Mills, 2010). The study employed content analysis methodology (Mayring, 2000) and a two-tiered structural and concept coding analysis strategy (Saldaña, 2011) to explore secondary focus group data from five public institutions from a qualitative case study dataset created through the longitudinal, mixed-methods Interfaith Diversity Experiences and Attitudes Longitudinal Survey (IDEALS) project. The key findings of this study are: 1) students use sensemaking as an opportunity to shed old ways of being and knowing; 2) student sensemaking is highly social and students often make sense of their encounters with worldview diversity through the lens of perceived social norms; and, 3) students perceive the university as sensegiving about worldview through funding allocations, space reservation priorities, staff member availability, and in comparison with other social identity work. These results are relevant to research because they extend the use of CSM to college students as actors, focus groups as data, and diversity as a topic for examination. They also show that two properties of CSM, social and extracted cues, are particularly important to student sensemakers and highlight the relevance of formative, structural, and discursive contexts of higher education influence sensemaking about worldview diversity. Additionally, these results provide guidance for practitioners and faculty who want to help students engage with and across worldviews, indicate that institutions of higher education should more specifically communicate how they support worldview development and difference, and confirm that worldview is a relevant part of student identity at public institutions. Taken together, the knowledge gained through this study about the student sensemaking process can be used to maximize student development related to worldview diversity.
Committee
Matthew Mayhew, Ph.D. (Advisor)
Tatiana Suspitsyna, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Noelle Arnold, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Pages
246 p.
Subject Headings
Higher Education
Keywords
critical sensemaking
;
worldview diversity
;
religion
;
interfaith
;
college students
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Citations
Staples, B. A. (2019).
Making Sense of Worldview Diversity at Public Universities: An Exploration of Student Encounters using Critical Sensemaking
[Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1557129817183753
APA Style (7th edition)
Staples, Beth.
Making Sense of Worldview Diversity at Public Universities: An Exploration of Student Encounters using Critical Sensemaking.
2019. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation.
OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center
, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1557129817183753.
MLA Style (8th edition)
Staples, Beth. "Making Sense of Worldview Diversity at Public Universities: An Exploration of Student Encounters using Critical Sensemaking." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1557129817183753
Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)
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Document number:
osu1557129817183753
Download Count:
1,450
Copyright Info
© 2019, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.