bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
On the Functional Value of Attitudes: The Influence of Accessible Attitudes on the Ease and Quality of Decision Making
Authors: Fazio Russell H. , Blascovich Jim , Driscoll Denise M.
Published: March 2007

A series of experiments relevant to the functional value of accessible attitudes is reported. Experiment 1 established that diastolic blood pressure was sensitive to the task demands involved in subjects' expression of a preference between pairs of abstract paintings. In Experiments 2 and 3, subjects who had developed and rehearsed attitudes toward the individual paintings displayed a smaller elevation in diastolic blood pressure while performing this pairwise preference task than control subjects, suggesting that attitudes can ease decision making. Experiment 4 provided converging evidence for this hypothesis in that faster decision latencies were observed during the pairwise preference task when subjects had previously developed accessible attitudes toward the individual paintings. Evidence was also obtained suggesting that accessible attitudes enhanced the quality of the decisions made during the pairwise preference task.
"Your Mother Would Like Me": Self-Presentation in the Personals Ads of Heterosexual and Homosexual Men and Women
Authors: Gonzales Marti Hope , Meyers Sarah A.
Published: March 2007

This study examined self-presentation strategies in the personals ads of heterosexual and homosexual men and women. Ads were coded for physical descriptors and offers of and appeals for attractiveness, financial security, expressiveness, instrumentality, sincerity, and sexual activities. The interaction of gender and sexual orientation was often the best predictor of ad contents. Specifically, (a) gay men emphasized physical characteristics most and lesbians least; (b) heterosexual women mentioned attractiveness more than lesbians did; (c) women solicited more expressive traits and offered more instrumental traits than men; (d) gay men mentioned sexuality more than other advertisers; and (e) heterosexuals were more likely than homosexuals to pursue long-term relationships and to mention sincerity and financial security. The advantages of using personals ads as a source of data about self-presentation, societal definitions of attractiveness, and changing social forces are discussed.
Rethinking Sex Differences in Aggression: Aggressive Behavior in the Absence of Social Roles
Authors: Lightdale Jenifer R. , Prentice Deborah A.
Published: March 2007

Two studies investigated the influence of social roles on sex differences in aggression, the first focusing on expectations and the second on behavior In both studies, deindividuation was used to remove the influence of social roles. In Study 1, implicit theories about sex differences in aggression were examined by asking people to predict aggression by males and females in individuated and deindividuated conditions. People expected men to be more aggressive than women but did not show an appreciation of the disinhibiting effects of deindividuation. In Study 2, deindividuation was manipulated in the laboratory to assess its effects in an aggression-eliciting situation. As predicted, men aggressed more than women in the individuated condition, but this difference was eliminated in the deindividuated condition. Subjects' perceptions of their behavior were more consistent with the implicit theories documented in Study I than with how they actually behaved.
The Positive Impact of Creative Activity: Effects of Creative Task Engagement and Motivational Focus on College Students' Learning
Authors: Conti Regina , Amabile Teresa M. , Pollak Sara
Published: March 2007

This study assessed the effectiveness of engaging students in a creative activity on a topic as a means of encouraging an active cognitive set toward learning that topic area. This technique was examined in three motivational contexts. Before reading a short instructional passage, subjects completed either, a creative or a noncreative pretask and heard one of three sets of directions: task focused (emphasizing intrinsic involvement), test focused (emphasizing external evaluation), or task/test focused (previous two combined). After reading the passage, subjects answered questions assessing immediate retention, wrote a creative essay, and responded to a questionnaire assessing intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Long-term retention was assessed 5 days later with a phone quiz. Creative task engagement was found to be an effective means of enhancing creativity (in the absence of evaluation expectation), intrinsic motivation, and long-term retention.
Double Relative Deprivation: Combining the Personal and Political
Authors: Foster Mndi D. , Matheson Kimberly
Published: March 2007

Double relative deprivation, which has been virtually ignored in research on relative deprivation, was expected to predict women s collective action over and above egoistic and collective deprivation. The role of sociopolitical resources in perceiving deprivation and participation in action was also investigated. Female students (N = 164) completed a questionnaire designed to assess their perceptions of egoistic, collective, and double relative deprivation (defined as the interaction between egoistic and collective deprivation), and resource availability and participation in collective action. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that double relative deprivation predicted collective action over and above egoistic and collective relative deprivation, and that resource availability also uniquely predicted action. Implications for expanding conceptual and operational definitions of these constructs are discussed.
Effects of Self-Presentation Strategies on Personality Profiles and their Structure
Authors: Paulhus Delroy L. , Bruce M. Nadine , Trapnell Paul D.
Published: March 2007

To examine the claim that self presentation distorts the structure of personality dimensions, 370 subjects were asked to respond as job applicants to a measure of the Big Five personality traits and two measures of socially desirable responding (SDR): Self-Deceptive Enhancement and Impression Management. They were randomly assigned to respond using one of seven strategies: fake the best possible candidate, fake good without arousing suspicion, play up your good points, respond honestly, be modest, fake bad without arousing suspicion, fake worst. The SDR scales and the Big Five were highly intercorrelated under all strategies except honest responding. Further analyses suggested that the high intercorrelations were due to outliers, not to a true convergence of dimensions. It was concluded that self presentation can either inflate or deflate intercorrelations among evaluative scales. Self presentation in individuals was best diagnosed by the Impression Management and Conscientiousness scales.
Judgments of Vulnerability to Pregnancy: The Role of Risk Factors and Individual Differences
Authors: Gerrard Meg , Luus C. A. Elizabeth
Published: March 2007

This study explored women's integration of information in making judgments about vulnerability to pregnancy and examined the influence of personality characteristics on these judgments. Female participants made judgments of the likelihood of pregnancy for each of 24 scenarios created by within-subjects factorial manipulation of three variables: frequency of intercourse, method of contraception, and target (self vs. the average woman their age). Their judgments reflected knowledge of the effect of frequency of intercourse and efficacy of birth control on the likelihood of pregnancy and an understanding of the interaction of these two factors. The results also indicate that two personality characteristics, erotophobia and locus of control, moderate judgments of the likelihood of pregnancy.
Gender Differences in Nonverbal Correlates of Social Status
Authors: Coats Erik J. , Feldman Robert S.
Published: March 2007

Previous attempts to find the theoretically predicted association between nonverbal communication skills and social status have been inconsistent, especially among adults. It was hypothesized that these inconsistencies were produced by a failure of earlier research to differentiate the two genders and different emotions. Hypothesizing that various emotions may be differentially important in male and female friendships, the current study investigated the ability of 146 men and women to nonverbally communicate (encode) three emotions. Results showed that women are better able to encode happiness and that men are better able to encode anger. Additionally, ability to encode happiness is correlated with the sociometric status of women, whereas ability to encode anger is correlated with the sociometric status of men. Together, these results suggest that happiness and anger play different roles in the social lives of men and women.
"Some of My Best Friends" Intergroup Contact, Concealable Stigma, and Heterosexuals' Attitudes Toward Gay Men and Lesbians
Authors: Herek Gregory M. , Capitanio John P.
Published: March 2007

In a two-wave national telephone survey, a probability sample of English-speaking adults indicated their attitudes toward gay men at Wave 1 (1990-91; n = 538) and toward both gay men and lesbians approximately 1 year later (n = 382 at Wave 2). At Wave 1, heterosexuals reporting interpersonal contact (31.3%) manifested more positive attitudes toward gay men than those without contact. Their attitudes were more favorable to the extent that they reported more relationships, closer relationships, and receiving direct disclosure about another's homosexuality. At Wave 2, these findings were generally replicated for attitudes toward lesbians as well as gay men. Cross-wave analyses suggest a reciprocal relationship between contact and attitudes. Theoretical and policy implications of the results are discussed, with special attention to the role of interpersonal disclosure in reducing stigma based on a concealable status.
The Patterned Inconsistency of Traits: Mapping the Differential Effects of Social Roles on Self-Perceptions of the Big Five
Authors: Donahue Eileen M. , Harary Keith
Published: March 2007

Role-related differences in self-perceptions on the Big Five are evaluated for 262 participants who described their general self-image and several role identities on the Big Five Inventory (BFI). As expected, considerable Correlational consistency among the self-perceptions coexisted with normative mean-level differences between the general self-image and the role identities on all five BEI scales. Several normative differences in self-description were predicted from four broad features of roles: the number of interactants involved in a role, the ease with which role relationships may be terminated, the presence of a legitimized chain of authority, and the level of intimacy typically expressed in the role.
The Joint Effects of Target and Purpose Goals on Intrinsic Motivation: A Mediational Analysis
Authors: Haradkiewicz Judith M. , Elliot Andrew J.
Published: March 2007

To test Harackiewicz and Sansone's prediction that task-specific target goals would enhance intrinsic motivation when they were congruent with higher order purpose goals, we varied performance and mastery-oriented target goals in neutral and performance-oriented purpose goal contexts and included a no-goals control group. Results provided strong support across three measures of intrinsic motivation, indicating that performance target goals undermined interest relative to mastery target goals in a neutral context but that performance target goals enhanced intrinsic motivation relative to mastery target goals in performance purpose goal contexts. Process analyses revealed that competence valuation and task involvement mediated these effects.
Coefficients for Tests from a Decision Theoretic Point of View
Authors: van der Linden Wim J. , Mellenbergh Gideon J.
Published: March 2007

From a decision theoretic point of view a general coefficient for tests, d, is derived. The coefficient is applied to three kinds of decision situations. First, the situation is considered in which a true score is estimated by a function of the observed score of a subject on a test (point estimation). Using the squared error loss function and Kelley's formula for estimating the true score, it is shown that d equals the reliability coefficient from classical test theory. Second, the situation is considered in which the ob served scores are split into more than two cate gories and different decisions are made for the categories (multiple decision). The general form of the coefficient is derived, and two loss functions suited to multiple decision situations are described. It is shown that for the loss function specifying con stant losses for the various combinations of cate gories on the true and on the observed scores, the coefficient can be computed under the assumptions of the beta-binomial model. Third, the situation is considered in which the observed scores are split into only two categories and different decisions are made for each category (dichotomous decisions). Using a loss function that specifies constant losses for combinations of categories on the true and ob served score and the assumption of an increasing regression function of t on x, it is shown that coeffi cient d equals Loevinger's coefficient H between true and observed scores. The coefficient can be com puted under the assumption of the beta-binomial model. Finally, it is shown that for a linear loss function and Kelley's formula for the regression of the true score on the observed score, the coefficient equals the reliability coefficient of classical test theory.
Ordering Power of Separate versus Grouped True-False Tests: Interaction of Type of Test with Knowledge Levels of Examinees
Authors: Hsu Louis M.
Published: March 2007

The ordering power of an objective test was de fined in terms of the probability that this test led to the correct ranking of examinees. A comparison of the relative ordering power of separate and grouped-items true-false (T-F) tests indicated that neither type of test was uniformly superior to the other across all levels of knowledge of examinees. Instead, separate-items T-F tests were found to be superior in discriminating among examinees with medium and high levels of knowledge, and grouped-items T-F tests with two and three items per cluster were found to be superior for dis criminating among examinees with low levels of knowledge. These findings do not support blanket recommendations such as Ebel's (1978) that "test constructors should avoid constructing items in multiple-choice form which are essentially col lections of T-F statements" (p. 43) or that, in gen eral, "it is better to present such statements as in dependent T-F items" (p. 43). Rather, they are similar to Lord's (1977) findings concerning the relative efficiency of multiple-choice tests with dif ferent numbers of options per question for examinees of differing ability levels.
Non-Gramian and Singular Matrices in Maximum Likelihood Factor Analysis
Authors: Dong Hei-Ki
Published: March 2007

In some cases, a correlation matrix may be singular because of the multicollinearity in data, and it may become non-Gramian because of computational inac curacies. In such cases, popular methods of factor ex traction, such as maximum likelihood factor analysis, image factor analysis, and canonical factor analysis, cannot be used because of computational difficulties. This article provides a simple heuristic procedure for converting such a matrix into a proper matrix, so that maximum likelihood factor analysis may be per formed.
Estimation Problems in the Block-Diagonal Model of the Multitrait-Multimethod Matrix
Authors: Brannick Michael T. , Spector Paul E.
Published: March 2007

The most popular method used to analyze the multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) matrix has been confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The block-diagonal model, in which trait effects, trait correlations, method effects, and method correlations are simultaneously estimated is examined in detail. Analysis of published data from 18 correlation matrices showed estimation problems in all but one case. Simulations were used to show how identification and specification difficulties may account for these problems. Even trivial misspecification of a single parameter can prevent program convergence. These problems render the CFA block-diagonal approach to analyzing MTMM data less useful than has generally been thought. Index terms:
Testing the Equality of Scale Values and Discriminal Dispersions in Paired Comparisons
Authors: Davison Mark L. , McGuire Dennis P. , Chen Tsuey-Hwa , Anderson Ronald O.
Published: March 2007

General normal ogive and logistic multiple-group models for paired comparisons data are described. In these models, scale value and discriminal dispersion parameters are allowed to vary across stimuli and re spondent populations. Submodels can be fit to choice proportions by nonlinearly regressing sample estimates of choice proportions onto a complex design matrix. By fitting various submodels and by appropriate coding of parameter effects, selected hypotheses about the equality of scale value and dispersion parameters across groups can be tested. Model fitting and hypothesis testing are illustrated using health care coverage data collected in two age groups.
An Investigation of the Likelihood Ratio Test For Detection of Differential Item Functioning
Authors: Cohen Allan S. , Kim Seock-Ho , Wollack James A.
Published: March 2007

Type I error rates for the likelihood ratio test for de tecting differential item functioning (DIF) were investi gated using monte carlo simulations. Two- and three-parameter item response theory (IRT) models were used to generate 100 datasets of a 50-item test for samples of 250 and 1,000 simulated examinees for each IRT model. Item parameters were estimated by marginal maximum likelihood for three IRT models: the three-parameter model, the three-parameter model with a fixed guessing parameter, and the two-parameter model. All DIF comparisons were simulated by ran domly pairing two samples from each sample size and IRT model condition so that, for each sample size and IRT model condition, there were 50 pairs of reference and focal groups. Type I error rates for the two-param eter model were within theoretically expected values at each of the α levels considered. Type I error rates for the three-parameter and three-parameter model with a fixed guessing parameter, however, were different from the theoretically expected values at the α levels considered.
An Investigation of Linking Methods Under the Graded Response Model
Authors: Cohen Allan S. , Kim Seock-Ho
Published: March 2007

Linking tests from different calibrations under item response theory requires calculation of the slope and intercept of the appropriate linear transformation. Results from five linking methods under the graded response model were investigated using simulated datasets: the characteristic curve method, the minimum x2 method, and three mean and a methods. Examples are presented for horizontal (matched 0) and vertical (unmatched 0) linking situations. Fifty replications of the data were generated for each combination of two underlying ability distributions, two sample sizes, and four lengths of common-item links. Item parameter estimates were placed onto the underlying metric using each of the linking methods. The results indicate that differences in the linking coefficients were small. Root mean square differences and mean Euclidean distances from underlying parameters were very small under most conditions. The results are consistent with previous research on dichotomous models. The five linking methods yielded similar results for longer common-item links with large sample sizes, and when the distribution of item location parameters matched the underlying trait distribution.
Biotechnology Clusters as Regional, Sectoral Innovation Systems
Authors: Cooke Philip
Published: March 2007

Today, knowledge economies are a key asset for global competitiveness. Biotechnology is a knowledge-driven sector because it consists of knowledge working on knowledge to create value, decoding in genomics and proteomics being paradigmatic knowledge-based economic activity. Like many other new economy industries such as information and communications technology, new media, and advanced finance, firms cluster in proximity to knowledge sources. In the case of biotechnology, universities are key magnets. But to transfer science from the laboratory bench to the market involves complex, interactive chains of transactions among scientists, entrepreneurs, and various intermediaries. Chief among the latter are investors and lawyers. Proximity to such services and, in biotechnology, research hospitals for clinical trials creates an innovation system. This is best analyzed regionally and locally. This article anatomizes the functioning of regional sectoral innovation systems in Germany, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Cambridge, U.K.
Land Use and Land Cover Change in Forest Frontiers: The Role of Household Life Cycles
Authors: Walker Robert , Perz Stephen , Caldas Marcellus , Silva Luiz Guilherme Teixeira
Published: March 2007

Tropical deforestation remains a critical issue given its present rate and a widespread consensus regarding its implications for the global carbon cycle and biodiversity. Nowhere is the problem more pronounced than in the Amazon basin, home to the world’s largest intact, tropical forest. This article addresses land cover change processes at household level in the Amazon basin, and to this end adapts a concept of domestic life cycle to the current institutional environment of tropical frontiers. In particular, it poses a risk minimization model that integrates demography with market-based factors such as transportation costs and accessibility. In essence, the article merges the theory of Chayanov with the household economy framework, in which markets exist for inputs (including labor), outputs, and capital. The risk model is specified and estimated, using survey data for 261 small producers along the Transamazon Highway in the eastern sector of the Brazilian Amazon.
Metropolitan Decentralization and City-Suburb Wage Differentials
Authors: Moffitt Robert
Published: March 2007

DATA ON CENTRAL COUNTIES AND SUBURBAN COUNTIES OF 29 NON-SOUTHERN STANDARD METROPOLITAN STATISTICAL AREAS FROM 1959 TO 1970 SHOW THAT, ON NET, THE RELATIVE CITY/SUBURBS WAGE DID NOT FALL, EVEN INCREASING SLIGHTLY FOR THE MANUFACTURING SECTOR. AT LEAST FOR MANUFACTURING, THE INCREASE IN THE CITY/SUBURB WAGE IN THE FACE OF SUBSTANTIAL FIRM DECENTRALIZATION APPEARED TO BE THE RESULT OF A LARGE POPULATION SUBURBANIZATION (ESPECIALLY THAT OF WHITES) WHICH PUT UPWARD PRESSURE ON THE CITY/ SUBURBS MANUFACTURING WAGE. THUS, THERE DOES NOT APPEAR TO HAVE BEEN ANY RELATIVE WORSENING IN CITY WAGES DURING THE 1960's.
A Regional Export-Weighted Dollar: An Examination of the Regional Impact of Exchange Rate Change
Authors: Hervey Jack L. , Strauss William A.
Published: March 2007

Midwest manufacturing has experienced a resurgence in its competitiveness in export markets during the last decade. There is a widely held view that this increased competitiveness is importantly attributable to the depreciation in the foreign exchange value of the dollar. This article questions this view, in particular with regard to selected geographical regions of the United States. Based on the development of real regional export-weighted aggregate exchange rate indexes, this study finds that since 1988 Midwest exporters of manufactured goods, in the aggregate, have faced an appreciating (not depreciating) dollar.
Has the Study of Philosophy at Dutch Universities Changed under Economic and Political Pressures?
Authors: Van der Meulen Barend , Leydesdorff Loet
Published: March 2007

From 1980 until 1985, the Dutch Faculties of Philosophy went through a period of transition. First, in 1982 the national government introduced a new system of financing research at the universities. This was essentially based on the natural sciences and did not match philosophers' work organization. In 1983 a drastic reduction in the budget for philosophy was proposed within the framework of a policy of introducing savings by distributing tasks among the universities. Recently, a visiting committee reported on the weak and strong areas of Dutch philosophy and proposed a policy to strengthen Dutch philosophy. This study explores the effects of the institutional reorganizations on the study of philosophy at the faculties, using scientometric methods. In addition to presenting empirical results, some methodological questions concerning the application of scientometric methods to a field of the humanities will be discussed. The number of publications went up as funding was cut back and different subfields made different kinds of changes in orientation. The results show the relevance of publication-based data in research evaluation.
Technology and the Modern World-System: Some Reflections
Authors: Smith David A.
Published: March 2007

This article represents a preliminary attempt to conceptualize the relationship between technology and global inequality, using a political economy of the world-system perspective. Despite the crucial role that technical innovation and adaptation play in the process of international development, many macroanalyses of social change focus little explicit attention on technology. Only neoevolutionary theory discusses its role in long-term social change, and then in ways that miss some key dimensions. The author argues that technology is a social product designed to fit the needs of the rich and powerful. In the contemporary world, it is usually produced by a highly organized (and expansive) research and development (R&D) industry, often explicitly linked to military- industrial complexes. Rhetoric about increased globalization notwithstanding, technology is a key resource in the present capitalist world-economy that is very unevenly dtstributed, with the advanced industrial "core" states (and their giant transnational corporations) controlling technological innovation and dissemination. Even newly industrializing countries (NICs) like South Korea, which many consider technologically sophisticated, experience profound technological dependence, limiting their prospects for truly autonomous economic growth. Differential control of technology and techno logical innovation is a defining trait of global inequality in the late twentieth century.
World Science: Globalization of Institutions and Participation
Authors: Schott Thomas
Published: March 2007

Science is atypical because it is cultivated with communal participation from throughout the world. This global formation has evolved recently. It originates in the institutionalization of a cosmopolitan tradition in Europe. The cosmopolitan orientation and the perceived usefulness of the European tradition promoted its adoption and institutionalization in the non-Western civilizations. A global institutional frame, including a global science policy regime, sustains communal participation in world science. Participation is described in terms of individual, national, and global communalformations.
Democracy, Technocracy, and the Secret State of Medicines Control: Expert and Nonexpert Perspectives
Authors: Abraham John , Sheppard Julie
Published: March 2007

This article explores the social frameworks guiding expert and nonexpert perspectives on medicines safety in the U.K. Scientific experts from the Committee on the Safety of Medicines and the Medicines Commission were interviewed, and three nonexpertgroups, including patients and health professionals, were studied by the administration of questionnaires and focused group discussions. The research examined to what extent these groups subscribed to technocratic or democratic approaches to medicines regula tion and how this might be related to values toward technological risk. The results reveal that there is substantial divergence between expert and nonexpert perspectives on medicines regulation, and that this derives as much from value differences as from any informational deficits. However, there seems to be some scope for shared values between some experts and some nonexperts, especially as regards state secrecy. The article concludes by discussing how those values could be used to foster a new "social contract of expertise" in which scientists are more democratically accountable and patients take more responsibility in governing medical risks.
Scientists and the Acid Rain Policy in Canada and the United States
Authors: Alm Leslie R.
Published: March 2007

The acid rain issue came into prominence because scientists kept telling the world of acid rain's potential devastating effects. Yet, the acid rain debate was marked by mistrust between American and Canadian scientists. The signing of the Air Quality Accord in 1991 appears to have quelled this divisiveness and promises to bring about a new era of scientific cooperation. Using surveys of acid rain scientists in the United States and Canada across three time periods, this study finds both similarities and differences between how Canadian and American scientists view many of the issues surrounding the acid rain debate.
Individualizing Treatment Decisions
Authors: Straus Sharon E
Published: March 2007

Clinical decision making cannot rely on evidence alone. Although significant advances have occurred in the development of high-quality evidence, similar efforts must be made to develop and evaluate tools that can be used at the bedside to individualize treatment decisions and to facilitate the incorporation of our patients’ unique values and circumstances into the decision-making process. These tools should express the helpful and harmful effects of treatment, and it must be possible to modify these statements using patients’ values. Finally, this process should be accomplished in real time in a busy clinical practice. In this article, the author outlines some of these decision support tools, describes an attempt to meet some of the challenges inherent in the goal of achieving effective shared decision making, and proposes a patient-centered measure of the likelihood of being helped and harmed by an intervention and discusses its derivation and an evaluation of its usefulness.
Implementing Preventive and Environmental Community Interventions
Authors: Jason Leonard A.
Published: March 2007

Community-oriented professionals have much to offer in amelioring pressing, widespread health problems. Interventive ap proaches having the most potential might be those whose goals are directed toward building in strengths and competencies in individuals and groups to prevent onset of disorders, and modifying environmental irritants predisposing to pathology while strengthening environmental components conducing toward health. The present article reviews these projects which illustrate these approaches. The programs focus on preventing the onset of smoking m high school youngsters, reducing smoking behaviors in public settings, and decreasing dog droppings on public pathways. Several guiding principles in implementing these preventive interventions are delineated.
Anxiety and Stereotyped Beliefs About Statistics
Authors: Wolfe Mary L.
Published: March 2007

Measures of anxiety toward statistics and belief in selected negative stereotypes about statistics were administered to a sample of graduate students in nursing and education at the beginning and end of a semester course in statistics. Factor analysis showed three dimensions of negative perceptions about statistics, corresponding to age and sex role stereotypes, and belief that quantitative skills must be innate and cannot be learned later on. Mean anxiety scores decreased significantly from beginning to end of term, and there was, in addition, a significant shift toward greater disagreement with the belief that statistical skills cannot be learned. Implications for curriculum evaluation in the health and social service professions were explored.
Student Perceptions of Instruction
Authors: Albanese Mark A. , Schroeder Judy , Barnes Verdain
Published: March 2007

With the increase in specialization occur ring in all professions, the use of multiple instructor courses appears to be a future trend in professional and graduate schools. This study describes a method of obtaining student perceptions of the instruction received in 333 lectures given by 175 instructors in an Introduction to Clinical Medicine course. An 87% response rate was obtained from the 199 students—a 36% increase over that obtained from the same students using a more common method. The experimental method proved to be administratively parsimonious. Suggestions for improving the student response rate and for promoting a more careful consideration by the students of their ratings are reported.
The Evaluation of Competence
Authors: McGaghie William C.
Published: March 2007

Problems regarding the validity of competence evaluation in the health professions are widespread and dif ficult to resolve. This article begins by describing the origins and purpose of health professions competence evaluation, and proceeds to offer definitions of the terms competence and validity. Factors affecting the validity of competence evaluation in the health professions, including characteristics of the decision situation and the type of information customarily used to reach competence decisions, are discussed. Subsequently, an alternative model is described that holds promise for in creasing the validity of competence evaluation. The article concludes with a call for greater conceptual clarity when competence evaluation in the health professions is planned and conducted.
The Differential Effectiveness of Oversight Mechanisms
Authors: Beinecke Richard H.
Published: March 2007

This article assesses the effectiveness of a wide variety of oversight mechanisms through a literature review, a survey of state and federal administrators, and a survey of members of the American Orthopsychiatric Association. The literature and respondents generally agreed on which mechanisms were most effective. The strengths and weaknesses of the differing methods are brought out. The usefulness of looking at oversight in a broad manner becomes apparent.
Identification of the Facets of Self-Health Management
Authors: Green Kathy E.
Published: March 2007

This article reviews conceptualizations of self-health management, or self-care, from three perspectives. Positions held (pro and con) on self-care, theoretical or definitional papers, and empirical usage of self-care were examined to isolate commonalities and differences in ideas about what sel-health management or self-care are. This resulted in identification of both facets of self-health management and research perspectives taken in working with the construct. It is suggested that researchers need to reach a consensus about what self-health management is and then need to invest effort in reliable, valid measures of the construct before a profitable research program can be undertaken.
Confirmatory Factor Analysis of House Office Candidate Appraisals
Authors: Friedman Charles P. , Trier William C. , Forsythe George B.
Published: March 2007

This article illustrates an application of confirmatory factor analysis, using the LISREL program, to retrospective analysis of rating data common in health professions education. We begin with specification of a causal model reflecting the multitraitmultimethod design of a surgical houseofficer ranking system. The model is then tested using data provided by rating system functioning over two successive years. The results suggest that although most rating measures do cluster around latent traits as hypothesized, there is more method variance in the data set than trait variance. The trait and methodfactors are also found to be highly intercorrelated. Practical implications of these results include specific modifications in the rating system, potentially leading to improvement of the system.
Evaluating an Antismoking Program
Authors: Chen Huey T. , Quane James , Garland T. Neal , Marcin Philip
Published: March 2007

This study reports the results of an evaluation of an antismoking message aimed at seventhand tenth-grade students. The message was delivered in the form of a comic book developed specifically for this program. In order to avoid the pitfalls of the traditional black-box evaluation, this study examines both the relative effectiveness of various treatment modalities and the intervening processes of the program. Findings showed that none of the treatment modalities had any significant effect on teenagers 'smoking attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors. However, analysis of the effects of the different modalities did show that the more intensive the treatment modality, the more times students read the comic and the more they learned about the story and the characters in the conhic. The information on diagnosing the causal mechanism underlying the program leads to several useful suggestions for future program improvements.
Evaluation of a Medical Faculty Development Program
Authors: Skeff Kelley M. , Stratos Georgetite A. , Bergen Merlynn R.
Published: March 2007

Pre- and postintervention self-assessments are commonly used to evaluate educational interventions. However, when training influences participants'criteria for their self-ratings (response shift), the validity of the traditional prefpost comparisons is suspect. We assessed the influence of this phenomenon in a national faculty development program for clinical teachers. We compared changes in traditional pre/post self-assessment ratings with changes in retrospective pre/post self-assessment ratings. Data included prelpost intervention faculty self-assessments and evaluations of faculty by housestaff and students. On dimensions addressed in the training program, retrospective pre/post comparisons revealed more significant changes in teaching performance and attitudes than traditional pre/post comparisons. Housestaff and student evaluations were more consistent with thefaculty 's retrospective pre/post than with traditional prelpost comparisons. We conclude that, compared to traditional prelpost self-assessment; retrospective pre/post ratings may provide a more sensitive and more valid measure of the effects offaculty development.
Life in the Fast Lane
Authors: Clark Mary Jo
Published: March 2007

The Pew Health Commission on professional education has recommended innovative educational programs to promote career mobility among nurses. To assure continued quality of nursing education in the face of innovation, the Philip Y Hahn School of Nursing conducted a comprehensive evaluation of its accelerated RN-MSN program. Designed to enhance career advancement in the profession, the program was evaluated after itsfourth year of operation using the Discrepancy Evaluation Model (DEM). Based on comparison with both relative and absolute standards, the program shortened the time required to obtain BSN and MSN degrees and appeared to reverse declining enrollments in the baccalaureate nursing program Accelerated students were as successful as other masters nursing students in specific courses and in the program in general. Adverse program effects included declining enrollments in some undergraduate courses and the increased complexity of advising.
Scheduling: the last creative act in television?
Authors: Ellis John
Published: March 2007

Scheduling is television's key management tool, defining the nature of broadcast output. Yet it has scarcely been studied. Using examples from British television, this article argues that scheduling is the key mechanism by which the structures of television reproduce themselves afresh, day after day. It is the point where the perceived habits and preferences of past viewing audiences govern the arrangement of future television, providing the basic pattern of broadcasting, interpreting and shaping the habits and actions of its viewers and non-viewers. It specifies what programmes are to be made and defines the character or `brand' of each channel and thus the character of each national television universe. As such, it has provided a powerful bulwark against globalization.
The American press and political community: reporting in Detroit 1865-1920
Authors: Kaplan Richard
Published: March 2007

This paper argues that the tripartite model of society — economy, state, civil society — offers possibilities for the comparative analysis of news media in democratic countries. Ideally, the press is embedded in civil society's `public sphere' with its participatory and deliberative norms. However the media is also dependent upon the instrumental functions of the economy and the polity. The shifting public posture of the daily press of Detroit in 1865-1920 illustrates two alternative forms of the press under this typology. Journalism of the late 1800s was subordinated to formal political society and thoroughly partisan. In the early 1900s, the media rebelled against this alignment. Declaring itself independent, the press dispensed with its open, emphatic advocacy and migrated to the realm of civil society. However, under the influence of technocratic and professional ideologies, it did not incorporate civil society's broader political dialogues. Instead, it presented an ostensibly apolitical, factual account of the day's most important events and the words of only the most legitimate speakers from the formal polity.
From cultural defence to political culture: media, politics and collective identity in the European Union
Authors: Schlesinger Philip
Published: March 2007

This paper takes recent EU policy concerning audiovisual media as its initial point of focus, placing it in the context both of the market negotiations of the GATT talks and the various notions of `European cultural identity' to be found in official EU statements and documents. Exploring a number of slippages and tensions, it maps the shifting ground of media and cultural policy in the mid-1990s, particularly in relation to questions of cultural protection, cultural identity and pluralism. Having critically reviewed the current dominance of technological and industrial perspectives and the particular articulation of economy, culture and polity which follows from this, it makes the case both for placing issues of political culture more firmly on the EU agenda and for recognizing the importance of the media in political as well as cultural development.
Regulatory change and performance in TV production
Authors: Saundry Richard , Nolan Peter
Published: March 2007

The last ten years of re-regulation and rapid technological change have had a significant impact on organizational structure and employment within television in the UK. While this may have resulted in one-off productivity gains, it has also seen progressive casualization of employment. The fragmentation of employment is rooted in both specific regulatory provisions and also the structure of commissioning in the independent sector. We argue that this not only threatens to undermine the skills base of the industry but also has generally negative performance attributes. Therefore, re-regulation has removed one source of x-inefficiency but created another with damaging long-term consequences for the industry. In order to sustain those efficiency gains that have been made, actors within the industry must, within regulatory constraints, attempt to continue to move towards stable organizational structures and long-term contracting relations that will provide the necessary continuity of employment.
Television under construction: American television and the problem of distribution, 1926-62
Authors: Sterne Jonathan
Published: March 2007

This article constructs a history of the wiring of the USA for live, simultaneous broadcasting. Though infrastructure is an important issue in television history, few writers have considered it at any length. By examining the growth of television infrastructure, this article denaturalizes the technological and institutional form of broadcast television distribution and considers it instead as a product of liberal ideology, corporate strategy, postwar economics and audience desires. Through an examination of industry discourses, maps, congressional hearings and critical appraisals, the author combines economic, geographic and cultural approaches to argue for a critical-historical attention to the spatial organization of media. This attention to spatiality helps denaturalize the shape of communications media by foregrounding power relationships, epistemologies and histories underlying their organization that are often taken for granted.
Caregiver Involvement Following Institutionalization:
Authors: Gaugler Joseph E. , Leitsch Sara A. , Zarit Steven H. , Pearlin Leonard I.
Published: March 2007

Family members face a variety of challenges when placing a cognitively impaired relative in a nursing home. However, few studies have determined how stressors and psychological well-being prior to placement influence the institutionalization experience for caregivers. In this article, the authors hypothesize that stress and negative mental health before institutionalization will have a significant effect on variables that reflect caregivers’postplacement involvement, including satisfaction with the nursing home environment, weekly visits, and problems with staff. Primary caregivers ( N = 185) were assessed prior to and after the institutionalization of a cognitively impaired elderly relative. A multivariate regression found that several preplacement stressors (behavior problems, activities of daily living dependencies, role captivity), depression, and socioemotional support were predictive of nursing home involvement. As these results suggest, the stress process has important implications for caregivers throughout the nursing home transition.
Health-Related Quality of Life of Older Native American Primary Care Patients
Authors: McFall Stephanie L. , Solomon Teshia G. Arambula , Smith David W.
Published: March 2007

The Dartmouth Primary Care COOP Charts are used to characterize the health-related quality of life of patients in five clinics operated by the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. A profile of COOP scores for older Native American patients is presented, as well as the relationships of COOP scores with selected health-related and sociodemographic variables, a partial assessment of construct validity. Data are from a nonprobability sample of adult patients surveyed in 1995 and 1997. This article reports on 157 patients age 55 to 87. More limitations were reported in relation to physical function, bodily pain, and health perceptions. Fewer limitations were reported in social activities and social support. Correlations among COOP dimensions were similar to other studies of chronic disease patients. There was substantial, although partial, agreement between expected and observed relationships, particularly for the health variables. The easily administered COOP charts can improve communication across barriers of class, race, and generation to encourage better quality of care and quality of life for older Native American patients.
Housing the Elderly
Authors: Lawton M. Powell
Published: March 2007

Data from over 12,000 elderly-headed households interviewed for the Annual Housing Survey are analyzed in terms of (a) identifying subgroups of the elderly in need of housing-related services, (b) specifying the elements of housing quality and neighborhood attributes most salient to residential satisfaction, and (c) exploring more general questions in the study of person-environment relationships. Results indicated that the black aged, rural-area residents, and renters had greatest housing need. While subjective housing quality was related to objective quality indicators, the two aspects of environment were quite disparate. Evidence was found that residential satisfaction is incremental, depending on a large number of possible contributors to perceived quality, few of which are overwhelmingly stronger than others. Adequacy of heating was somewhat more important than other housing indicators and fear of crime somewhat more important than other neighborhood attributes (particularly in high-risk subgroups).