Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Assessing Proxies Of Knowledge And Difficultywith Rubric-Based Instruments, Ben O. Smith, Jadrian J. Wooten

Economics Faculty Publications

The fields of psychometrics, economic education, and education have developed statistically-valid methods of assessing knowledge and learning. These methods include item response theory, value-added learning models, and disaggregated learning. These methods, however, focus on multiple-choice or single response assessments. Faculty and administrators routinely assess knowledge through papers, thesis presentations, or other demonstrations of knowledge assessed with rubric rows. This paper presents a statistical approach to estimating a proxy for student ability and rubric row difficulty. Moreover, we have developed software so that practitioners can more easily apply this method to their instruments. This approach can be used in researching education …

Scoring Divergent Thinking Tests: A Review And Systematic Framework, Roni Reiter-Palmon, Boris Forthmann, Baptiste Barbot

Psychology Faculty Publications

Divergent thinking tests are often used in creativity research as measures of creative potential. However, measurement approaches across studies vary to a great extent. One facet of divergent thinking measurement that contributes strongly to differences across studies is the scoring of participants’ responses. Most commonly, responses are scored for fluency, flexibility, and originality. However, even with respect to only one dimension (e.g., originality), scoring decisions vary extensively. In the current work, a systematic framework for practical scoring decisions was developed. Scoring dimensions, instruction-scoring fit, adequacy of responses, objectivity (vs. subjectivity), level of scoring (response vs. ideational pool level), and the …

Drug Overdose Prevention: Needs Of Healthcare Professionals And First Responders, Jessica Groeneweg, Lynn Castrianno, Gaylene Armstrong, Jeanette Harder, Rachel Lubischer, Dawne Frain

Reports

Purpose and Background
The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) partnered with Support and Training for the Evaluation of Programs (STEPs) at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Grace Abbott School of Social Work, to complete a statewide needs assessment between October 2018 and April 2019. The purpose of this needs assessment was to gauge the capacity of statewide systems in Nebraska to respond to surges or clusters of intentional, unintentional, and unknown drug overdoses, especially in high-burden areas and with a focus on opioids. The hope of the results from this needs assessment is to inform DHHS …

Drug Overdose Prevention: Promising Practices, Dawne Frain, Rachel Lubischer, Jessica Groeneweg, Lynn Castrianno, Jeanette Harder, Gaylene Armstrong

Reports

This report on best practices informs a needs assessment on the capacity of Nebraska systems to respond to surges or clusters of intentional, unintentional, and unknown drug overdoses, especially in high burden areas and with a focus on opioids.

Sailing Into Metrics: Rethinking And Implementing Metrics And Assessment In Archives, Amy C. Schindler

Criss Library Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

In 2014, SAA and RBMS appointed joint task forces to address the challenges that archival repositories face related to metrics and assessment. The task forces are drafting proposed metrics and standards, but calls for how to implement data gathering continue. This session will share case studies on the implementation of data gathering from the ground up, metrics and assessment in instruction and reference, and identifying the best and most efficient ways to quantify resources for assessment and decision making. The session will also address the transition from manual data gathering to tools like Aeon and LibInsight and the administrative outcomes …

Alumni Survey Fall 2015, Uno Office Of Institutional Effectiveness

Community Engagement

The alumni survey provides the university information on the lives of students one or more years after graduation and their opinions about various topics concerning their time at UNO and beyond. In the past, UNO used an external vendor, ACT, to conduct the alumni survey. The survey was long, the cost was high, the response rate was extremely low, and, ultimately, the vendor discontinued the survey. UNO decided the best route was to create and administer their own alumni survey.

Alumni from 2010 and 2012 were surveyed by UNO in Fall 2015 in an effort to learn which cohort would …

A Comparison Of The Use Of The Antisocial And Borderline Personality Disorder Scales In The Mcmi-Iii And Personality Assessment Inventory With A Criminal Justice Population, Christine Chasek, Thomas Maxson, Brittany Schmidt, Julie A. Dinsmore, Douglas R. Tillman, David D. Hof

Counseling Faculty Publications

The present study compared outcome measurements on the Antisocial and Borderline scales of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) with those on the Milion Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-III) when both were used with a criminal justice population. Significant positive correlations were found between the Antisocial scales on the PAI and MCMI-III, as well as between the Borderline scales of both assessments, indicating that in an evaluation process it would be sufficient to use only one assessment. It is suggested that the MCMI-III is the better option to save costs and time while preserving the clinical accuracy of the testing protocol for …

Flipping, Collaborating, Assessing: Adopting New Modes Of Library Instruction, Katie Bishop

Criss Library Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

After determining that current assessment techniques were no longer yielding data of practical value, the Research Services Unit at the University of Nebraska Omaha Criss Library changed both their teaching and assessment models for Composition II library sessions. The unit adopted a partially flipped model by combining out-of-class tutorials with in-class active learning exercises. Rather than conduct the multiple choice assessments used in the past, the team worked with Comp II instructors to adapt a rubric for use in analyzing a representative sample of student papers. While many libraries are using rubrics to assess various aspects of information literacy instruction, …

Assessing Youth Early In The Juvenile Justice System, Anne M. Hobbs, Timbre Wulf-Ludden, Jenna Strawhun

Academic Publications

Unnecessary involvement in the juvenile justice system generally results in negative long-term outcomes (Annie E. Casey Foundation Website, 2008). The problem lies in determining when involvement is unnecessary and when it is necessary. A juvenile’s path to detention often begins years prior. Research indicates that unnecessary court involvement may contribute to worse outcomes, which can ultimately culminate in detention (Holman & Ziedenberg, 2006). Youth who are formally processed through court are more likely to be under closer supervision, which, in turn, increases their chances of being caught violating curfew, missing school, or committing another technical violation. To test the effect …

Assessing Creativity With Self-Report Scales : A Review And Empirical Evaluation, Paul J. Silvia, Benjamin Wigert, Roni Reiter-Palmon, James C. Kaufman

Psychology Faculty Publications

This article reviews recent developments in the assessment of creativity using self-report scales. We focus on four new and promising scales: the Creative Achievement Questionnaire, the Biographical Inventory of Creative Behaviors, the revised Creative Behavior Inventory, and the Creative Domain Questionnaire. For each scale, we review evidence for reliability, validity, and structure, and we discuss important methodological features for users to consider. We then present new analyses of each scale based on a large, diverse sample. We evaluate each scale's item-level and scale-level psychometric features, using both classical test theory and item response theory, and we examine how the scales …

Brief Assessment Of Schizotypy: Developing Short Forms Of The Wisconsin Schizotypy Scales, Beate P. Winterstein, Paul J. Silvia, Thomas R. Kwapil, James C. Kaufman, Roni Reiter-Palmon, Benjamin Wigert

Psychology Faculty Publications

The Wisconsin Schizotypy Scales—the Perceptual Aberration, Magical Ideation, Physical Anhedonia, and Revised Social Anhedonia Scales—have been used extensively since their development in the 1970s and 1980s. Based on psychometric analyses using item response theory, the present work presents 15-item short forms of each scale. In addition to being briefer, the short forms omit items with high differential item functioning. Based on data from a sample of young adults (n = 1144), the short forms have strong internal consistency, and they mirror effects found for the longer scales. They thus appear to be a good option for researchers interested in …

The Midlands Lgbt Needs Assessment Community Report, Christopher M. Fisher, Jay A. Irwin, Jason D. Coleman, Molly Mccarthy, Jessica Chavez

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Health disparities research seeks to understand specific health-related needs and outcomes for groups of people, particularly minority groups. In 2011, the Institutes of Medicine (IOM) released a report commissioned by the National Institutes of Health entitled The Health of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) People: Building a Foundation for Understanding. For the first time, research on the health and well-being of LGBT persons has been prioritized by research funders at the highest levels.

A Systematic, Reliable Approach To Play Assessment In Preschoolers, Lisa Kelly-Vance, Bridget O. Ryalls

Psychology Faculty Publications

Play assessment is gaining attention as a measure of the developing skills of young children. The procedures and methods of coding child behaviours vary considerably across researchers and practitioners. Because of this, definitive statements about the use of play assessment cannot be made without further research. The present study is an attempt to report a set of standardized procedures for play assessment along with an empirically based coding scheme (PIECES). The reliability of this system of play assessment is also investigated. High inter-observer reliability was found along with moderate test–retest correlations for both the typically developing (r = 0.48) and …

Enhancing Student Development In Service-Learning With Performance-Based Assessment Rubrics, Paula M. Vaughn

Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship

This study examined issues regarding the educational development of students in service-learning programs using sets of performance-based assessment rubrics and other assessment techniques. In particular, this study employed the Service-Learning Assessment Toolkit (SLAT). a compilation of instruments, measures, and guidelines developed by the researcher. The SLAT captured students' educational development through a variety of data sources and measured development across six target constructs: career exploration, civic participation, and academic, ethical, personal and social growth.

The researcher used a naturalistic inquiry and data was collected and analyzed based on a two-group scenario, instructor and student. The research data identified whether the …

Shumer's Self-Assessment For Service Learning, Robert D. Shumer, Pat Duttweiler, Andrew Furco, Madeleine S. Hengel, Gwen Willems

Service Learning, General

The Shumer Self-Assessment for Service-Learning (SSASL) is designed as a self-reflective system for professionals in the service-learning and experiential learning fields. What follows is a series of instruments and analysis worksheets arranged to help individuals evaluate their current service-learning initiatives to improve and strengthen them.