Award Date

12-1-2016

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Public Policy and Leadership

First Committee Member

Christopher Stream

Second Committee Member

Helen Neill

Third Committee Member

Jaewon Lim

Fourth Committee Member

Stephen P. Brown

Number of Pages

186

Abstract

Designed as a three-article style dissertation, this study was developed to first assess literature and data related to veteran outcomes following active duty service. Secondly, this dissertation sought to determine the best approach for measuring changes in veteran outcomes as a function of the policy process, which resulted in the development of a new methodological approach, Event Outcome Analysis based on Event History Analysis. Finally, veteran outcomes in employment and educational degree attainment were measured using Event Outcome Analysis to determine the relative impact of the 2008 GI Bill on Post-9/11 veterans. Study findings included statistically significant 2008 GI Bill impacts on educational degree attainment rates among Post- 9/11 veterans using 11-years of American Community Survey-Public Use Microdata Sample (ACS-PUMS) annual cross-sectional data. Additionally, these results provide a successful application of Event Outcome Analysis with a discussion of future applications of the new methodological approach. The three articles, chapters 2 through 4, were developed to be standalone publications in an iterative design with each article informing subsequent work. As a cumulative work, this dissertation adds substantive data strategies for studying veteran outcomes using nationally available data, a new methodological approach for policy and program evaluation using cross-sectional data, and an initial beta-test of the developed methodology with significant findings about veteran life after service for Post-9/11 veterans.

Keywords

Event Outcome Analysis; Policy Evaluation; Pooled Cross-sectional Data; Veterans Transition

Disciplines

Defense and Security Studies | Public Policy

File Format

pdf

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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