title: Applying Rasch Methodology to Examine and Enhance Precision of the Baby Care Questionnaire

authors: Truong, Quoc Cuong

abstract: The Baby Care Questionnaire (BCQ) is an established ordinal measure of parenting beliefs about infant care, which includes structure and attunement scales. Rasch analysis is a powerful method to examine and improve psychometric properties of ordinal scales. This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties and improve precision of the structure and attunement scales of the BCQ using Rasch methodology. A Partial Credit Rasch model was applied to a sample of 450 mothers from the United Kingdom (n = 225) and New Zealand (n = 225) who completed the BCQ. Initial analyses indicated acceptable reliability of the structure and attunement scales of the BCQ, but some items showed misfit to the Rasch model associated with local dependency issues in both scales. After combining locally dependent items into testlets, both scales of the BCQ met expectations of the unidimensional Rasch model and demonstrated adequate and strong reliability and invariance across countries and person factors such as participants’ age and their baby’s sex. This permitted the generation of conversion algorithms to transform ordinal scores into interval data to enhance the precision of both scales of the BCQ. In conclusion, using Rasch methodology, this study demonstrated robust psychometric properties of the structure and attunement scales of the BCQ after minor modifications. The ordinal-to-interval conversion tables published here can be used to further enhance the precision of the structure and attunement scales of the BCQ without changing their original response format. These findings contribute to the enhancement of precision in measuring parenting beliefs about infant care.

text: Applying Rasch Methodology to Examine and Enhance Precision of the Baby Care Questionnaire The Baby Care Questionnaire (BCQ) is an established ordinal measure of parenting beliefs about infant care, which includes structure and attunement scales. Rasch analysis is a powerful method to examine and improve psychometric properties of ordinal scales. This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties and improve precision of the structure and attunement scales of the BCQ using Rasch methodology. A Partial Credit Rasch model was applied to a sample of 450 mothers from the United Kingdom (n = 225) and New Zealand (n = 225) who completed the BCQ. Initial analyses indicated acceptable reliability of the structure and attunement scales of the BCQ, but some items showed misfit to the Rasch model associated with local dependency issues in both scales. After combining locally dependent items into testlets, both scales of the BCQ met expectations of the unidimensional Rasch model and demonstrated adequate and strong reliability and invariance across countries and person factors such as participants’ age and their baby’s sex. This permitted the generation of conversion algorithms to transform ordinal scores into interval data to enhance the precision of both scales of the BCQ. In conclusion, using Rasch methodology, this study demonstrated robust psychometric properties of the structure and attunement scales of the BCQ after minor modifications. The ordinal-to-interval conversion tables published here can be used to further enhance the precision of the structure and attunement scales of the BCQ without changing their original response format. These findings contribute to the enhancement of precision in measuring parenting beliefs about infant care.

year: 2024-01-12

title: Gains and losses in C and N stocks of New Zealand pasture soils depend on land use

authors: Schipper, Louis A.

subjects: soil carbon

abstract: Previous re-sampling of 31 New Zealand pasture soil profiles to 1 m depth found large and significant losses of C and N over 2–3 decades. These profiles were predominantly on intensively grazed flat land. We have extended re-sampling to 83 profiles, to investigate whether changes in soil C and N stocks were related to land use. Over an average of 27 years, soils (0–30 cm) in flat dairy pastures lost 0.73 ± 0.16 Mg C ha⁻¹ y⁻¹ and 57 ± 16 kg N ha⁻¹ y⁻¹ but we observed no significant change in soil C or N in flat pasture grazed by “dry stock” (e.g., sheep, beef), or in grazed tussock grasslands. Grazed hill country soils (0–30 cm) gained 0.52 ± 0.18 Mg C ha⁻¹ y⁻¹and 66 ± 18 kg N ha⁻¹y⁻¹. The losses of C and N were strongly correlated, and C:N declined significantly. Further, results reported to 60 and 90 cm show that the pattern of losses and gains extend beyond the IPCC accounting depth of 30 cm. Specific causes for the soil C and N changes are unknown, but appear to be related to land use. In general, the losses under dairying correspond to systems with greater stocking rates, fertiliser inputs and removal of C and N in exported products. Gains in hill country pastures may be due to long-term recovery from erosion and disturbance following land clearance. The unexpected and contrary changes of C and N in different pasture systems (initially thought to be at steady state) demonstrates the need for global and national-scale collection of robust data investigating soil biogeochemical changes, not only for grasslands but also for other land uses. Re-sampling of soils can constrain the directions and magnitude of soil C and N change associated with land use and management to underpin C and N inventories and correctly identify mitigation options.

text: Gains and losses in C and N stocks of New Zealand pasture soils depend on land use Previous re-sampling of 31 New Zealand pasture soil profiles to 1 m depth found large and significant losses of C and N over 2–3 decades. These profiles were predominantly on intensively grazed flat land. We have extended re-sampling to 83 profiles, to investigate whether changes in soil C and N stocks were related to land use. Over an average of 27 years, soils (0–30 cm) in flat dairy pastures lost 0.73 ± 0.16 Mg C ha⁻¹ y⁻¹ and 57 ± 16 kg N ha⁻¹ y⁻¹ but we observed no significant change in soil C or N in flat pasture grazed by “dry stock” (e.g., sheep, beef), or in grazed tussock grasslands. Grazed hill country soils (0–30 cm) gained 0.52 ± 0.18 Mg C ha⁻¹ y⁻¹and 66 ± 18 kg N ha⁻¹y⁻¹. The losses of C and N were strongly correlated, and C:N declined significantly. Further, results reported to 60 and 90 cm show that the pattern of losses and gains extend beyond the IPCC accounting depth of 30 cm. Specific causes for the soil C and N changes are unknown, but appear to be related to land use. In general, the losses under dairying correspond to systems with greater stocking rates, fertiliser inputs and removal of C and N in exported products. Gains in hill country pastures may be due to long-term recovery from erosion and disturbance following land clearance. The unexpected and contrary changes of C and N in different pasture systems (initially thought to be at steady state) demonstrates the need for global and national-scale collection of robust data investigating soil biogeochemical changes, not only for grasslands but also for other land uses. Re-sampling of soils can constrain the directions and magnitude of soil C and N change associated with land use and management to underpin C and N inventories and correctly identify mitigation options.

year: 2010

title: Foresight in hindsight: Visions of the future from Julius Vogel, Āpirana Ngata, Truby King, and Ettie Rout, 1889-1923

authors: Lemberg, Nicola Johanna

subjects: history

abstract: This thesis examines seven future-focused texts authored by four New Zealanders: Julius Vogel, Āpirana Ngata, Truby King, and Ettie Rout. ‘The future’ is a neglected lens for historical research and this thesis explores the value of such an approach, using New Zealand society from the 1880s and to the 1920s as a case study. A methodological combination of textual analysis, biography, and historical contexts, including consideration of print culture, allows for nuanced examination of depictions of the future, and suggests such connections are vital to fully understanding histories of the future. This research serves as a framework to inform further exploration of historical future imaginings, either in New Zealand or in other geographic or temporal contexts.

From Vogel’s novel Anno Domini 2000 (1889) to Ngata’s 1892 essay The Past and Future of the Maori to King’s and Rout’s twentieth-century guidebooks on the care of babies and the use of contraception, the four authors utilize various textual forms to communicate their imagined future, and commonly frame their ideas within concepts of utopia and dystopia. This thesis compares the futures depicted by male and female authors, and those emerging from Māori and Pākehā cultural contexts. It examines futures envisioned by politicians, community leaders, and ostracized individuals. Shaped by preoccupations with empire, gender, and identity, these future-focused texts highlight relationships between national and global spaces. This in turn allows for a fresh exploration of New Zealand’s past, and especially the country’s colonial histories.

text: Foresight in hindsight: Visions of the future from Julius Vogel, Āpirana Ngata, Truby King, and Ettie Rout, 1889-1923 This thesis examines seven future-focused texts authored by four New Zealanders: Julius Vogel, Āpirana Ngata, Truby King, and Ettie Rout. ‘The future’ is a neglected lens for historical research and this thesis explores the value of such an approach, using New Zealand society from the 1880s and to the 1920s as a case study. A methodological combination of textual analysis, biography, and historical contexts, including consideration of print culture, allows for nuanced examination of depictions of the future, and suggests such connections are vital to fully understanding histories of the future. This research serves as a framework to inform further exploration of historical future imaginings, either in New Zealand or in other geographic or temporal contexts.

From Vogel’s novel Anno Domini 2000 (1889) to Ngata’s 1892 essay The Past and Future of the Maori to King’s and Rout’s twentieth-century guidebooks on the care of babies and the use of contraception, the four authors utilize various textual forms to communicate their imagined future, and commonly frame their ideas within concepts of utopia and dystopia. This thesis compares the futures depicted by male and female authors, and those emerging from Māori and Pākehā cultural contexts. It examines futures envisioned by politicians, community leaders, and ostracized individuals. Shaped by preoccupations with empire, gender, and identity, these future-focused texts highlight relationships between national and global spaces. This in turn allows for a fresh exploration of New Zealand’s past, and especially the country’s colonial histories.

year: 2024