Digital Commons Network^™

Measuring Measuring: Toward A Theory Of Proficiency With The Constructing Measures Framework, Brent M. Duckor, K Draney, M Wilson

Faculty Publications

This paper is relevant to measurement educators who are interested in the variability of understanding and use of the four building blocks in the Constructing Measures framework (Wilson, 2005). It proposes a uni-dimensional structure for understanding Wilson’s framework, and explores the evidence for and against this conceptualization. Constructed and fixed choice response items are utilized to collect responses from 72 participants who range in experience and expertise with constructing measures. The data was scored by two raters and was analyzed with the Rasch partial credit model using ConQuest (1998). Guided by the 1999 Testing Standards, analyses of validity and reliability …

El Análisis De La Consigna Argumentativa En La Calidad Del Discurso Y En El Aprendizaje De Las Ciencias Naturales, Sandra Gilabert Medina, Merce Garcia-Mila Palaudarias, Mark Felton

Faculty Publications

En los últimos años nuestras aulas de ciencias han incorporado la argumentación como una herramienta para promover la construcción de conocimiento. Un aspecto generalmente olvidado en dichas intervenciones, así como en las investigaciones de las cuales derivan, es el análisis del impacto que el objetivo de la argumentación tiene en la actividad argumentativa desplegada en las aulas. En el discurso argumentativo distinguimos dos tipos de actividad: la oposición y la deliberación. En la actividad de oposición el objetivo es mantener el punto de vista y debilitar las alternativas, mientras que en la actividad de deliberación el objetivo es consensuar un …

The Surplus Woman: Unmarried Women In Imperial Germany, Catherine L. Dollard

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Birthright: The State, Parentage, And The Rights Of Newborn Persons, James G. Dwyer

Faculty Publications

State parentage laws, dictating who a newborn child's first legal parents will be, have been the subject of constitutional challenges in several U.S. Supreme Court and many lower court decisions. All of those decisions, however, have focused on constitutional rights of adults (especially unwed biological fathers) who wish to become, or to avoid becoming, legal parents. Neither courts nor legal scholars have considered whether the children have any constitutional rights that constrain legislatures and courts in deciding which adults will be their legal parents. If a state enacted a parentage law that said, for example, that any child born to …

Leveraged Liquidity: Bear Raids And Junk Loans In The New Credit Market, Jose M. Gabilondo

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

From Queen Bees And Wannabes To Worker Bees: Why Gender Considerations Should Inform The Emerging Law Of Workplace Bullying, Kerri Lynn Stone

Faculty Publications

This Article submits that the documented phenomenon of workplace bullying operates to stymie the retention and advancement of women in the workplace Research documented in books like Queen Bees and Wannabes shows that as early as the schoolyard, males and females tend to socialize differently, engage in and resolve conflict with peers differently, and absorb bullying behavior differently. Girls often believe or are taught to believe that direct conflict or confrontation is unpalatable and tend to employ more passive aggressive means of engagement with foes. They often internalize and repress feelings that boys are more likely to express. Viewing the …

Unconscious Bias And The Limits Of Director Independence, Antony Page

Faculty Publications

Corporate directors make difficult decisions: How much should we pay our CEO? Should we permit a lawsuit against a fellow director? Should we sell the company? Directors are legally obligated to decide in good faith based on the business merits of the issue rather than extraneous considerations and influences. Naturally, some directors may have preferences, or even biases: Our CEO, my colleague and friend, deserves a lot; The company should not sue my fellow board member; We should not sell, because after all, I would like to remain a board member. But the courts presume that independent directors either do …

Personal Epistemologies And The Learning Paradox In Teacher Education: A Neglected Dilemma, Elana Joram, Carmen Montecinos

Faculty Publications

In this chapter, we discuss the role that personal epistemologies play in teacher education, particularly with respect to the potential problems and roadblocks they may present. We suggest that epistemological beliefs govern the kind of knowledge that preservice teachers consider to be legitimate and worthwhile learning in their programs, regulate the ways in which they make choices among competing knowledge claims and justify their own choices. A body of research has examined epistemic cognition as a dimension of the cognitive growth that occurs during the college years (e.g., Baxter- Magolda, 2002; King & Kitchener, 2002; Perry, 1970), and recently, the …

A Working Conference On Students With Disabilities In Stem Coursework And Careers, Audrey C. Rule, Greg P. Stefanich, Charlotte W. Haselhuhn, Belinda Peiffer

Faculty Publications

Background: Few teachers and special education specialists are aware of the materials and resources available to support science; technology; engineering; and mathematics instruction for the scattered and isolated 3000 students with sensory and motor disabilities in Iowa's K-12 schools. Additionally; faculty at many community colleges and regent institutions are not aware of possible accommodations for their students with disabilities who have interests in pursuing STEM careers. Unfortunately; this often leads to discouragement and lack of success for students with motor or sensory disabilities. This conference brings together experts and conference attendees involved in instruction; support; or transitions for these students …

Giles V. California: Avoiding Serious Damage To Crawford's Limited Revolution, Robert P. Mosteller

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Measuring Marital Satisfaction: A Comparison Of The Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale And The Satisfaction With Married Life Scale, Peter J. Ward, Neil R. Lundberg, Ramon Zabriskie, Kristen Berrett

Faculty Publications

Marital satisfaction has been psychometrically measured using many different instruments not soundly based on theory. The Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale (RDAS), consisting of 14 items, is commonly accepted by researchers and practitioners tomeasure marital satisfaction but was not specifically designed to measuremarital satisfaction. The Satisfaction with Married Life Scale (SWML), consisting of five items, is a short scale specifically targeted toward measuring marital satisfaction. An online sample collected from 1,187 couples throughout the United States was used to compare these instruments’ correlation (r¼.782), factor structures, reliability (SWML, a¼.958; RDAS, a¼.943), theoretical foundation, and validity. These instruments are on parity with …

Reducing The Complexity Costs Of 401(K) Participation Through Quick Enrollment, James J. Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian

Faculty Publications

Previous research has shown that 401(k) participation increases dramatically when companies switch from an opt-in to an opt-out (or automatic) enrollment regime (Madrian and Shea 2001; Choi et al. 2004; Choi et al. 2006). Although automatic enrollment has been widely touted as an effective tool for encouraging saving, it has its detractors. Some libertarians dislike automatic enrollment because they view it as coercing individuals into the company-chosen default contribution rate and asset allocation. Indeed, the vast majority of automatically enrolled employees passively accept all of the defaults in the short run, and many remain at those defaults for years (Choi …

Nps' Perceptions Of Disaster Preparedness Education: Quantitative Survey Research, Milada Tichy, A. Elaine Bond, Renea L. Beckstrand, Barbara Heise

Faculty Publications

Nurse practitioners need to be effective in responding to large-scale natural and man-made disasters. However, disaster core competencies for NPs are largely nonexistent. The purpose of this study was to assess NPs' level of disaster preparedness and determine how NPs acquired knowledge about disaster preparation. Findings suggest that a consistent national NP curriculum for disaster preparedness, including communication with other disaster agencies, is needed. With proper education, NPs can play a major role in disaster management.

Using The Fourteenth Amendment To Protect The Integrity Of Kinship Foster Families, Jennifer Baum, Teresa J. Grogan

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

As children’s advocates, we know well the value of an extended family to a dependency case. Living with a family member is often considered by children removed from their parents to be the “second best.” Such arrangements are often more comforting, less socially stigmatizing, and more capable at facilitating children’s normal daily routines, including school, medical care, and religious training, than stranger foster care. The social and psychological benefits of kinship care are well documented. One recent retrospective study concluded that children in kinship foster care have fewer behavioral problems three years after placement than do children who were …

The Need For Ecumenical, Denominational And Empirically-Supported Christian Psychotherapy Approaches In Public Settings, P. Scott Richards

Faculty Publications

James Skillen has written an important and broad- ranging article about the place of Christian counseling in public settings. I will focus my brief comments on what I regard as some of the implications of the following statement: "You ought to be able to conduct your counseling and psychiatric practices in a thoroughly Christian manner within a public or semi-public accrediting system that provides public-legal protection and equal access for a diverse range of professional and disciplinary approaches. You should not have to stuff your practice into a private box if it is distinctively Christian any more than another professional …

Ethical Challenges And Opportunities At The Edge: Incorporating Spirituality And Religion Into Psychotherapy, John C. Gonsiorek, P. Scott Richards, Kenneth I. Pargament, Mark R. Mcminn

Faculty Publications

Incorporating spirituality and religion into psychotherapy has been controversial, but recent contri- butions have argued the importance and provided foundations for doing so. Discussions of ethical challenges in this process are emerging, and this contribution discusses several preliminary issues, relying on the Resolution on Religious, Religion-Based and/or Religion-Derived Prejudice adopted by the American Psychological Association in 2007, as guidance when used with the American Psychological Association’s (2002) Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. Specifically, this discussion of preliminary challenges addresses competence, bias, maintaining traditions and standards of psychology, and integrity in labeling services for reimbursement. Commentators deepen the …

Relationship Found Between Parenting Styles And Sibling Relationships In Families Raising A Child With A Disability, Corinne Jackman, Barbara L. Mandleco

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to examine parental perceptions of parenting styles and sibling relationships according to parent gender, sibling gender, and type of disability. Additionally, the purpose was to determine if there is a linkage between parenting styles and sibling relationships.

Synthesizing Correlated Rss News Articles Based On A Fuzzy Equivalence Relation, Yiu-Kai D. Ng, Maria Soledad Pera

Faculty Publications

Tens of thousands of news articles are posted on-line each day, covering topics from politics to science to current events. To better cope with this overwhelming volume of information, RSS (news) feeds are used to categorize newly posted articles. Nonetheless, most RSS users must filter through many articles within the same or different RSS feeds to locate articles pertaining to their particular interests. Due to the large number of news articles in individual RSS feeds, there is a need for further organizing articles to aid users in locating non-redundant, informative, and related articles of interest quickly. In this paper, we …

The Short-Term Effect Of Whole Body Vibration Training On Sprint Start Performance In Collegiate Athletes, J. Brent Feland, J. Ty Hopkins, Iain Hunter, Brad Roberts

Faculty Publications

Whole body vibration (WBV) is characterized by a vibratory stimulus emitted throughout the body through the use of a vibrating platform on which the subject stands. Studies have shown over 30% increases in maximal explosive strength such as maximal speed biceps curl as well as increases in maximum dynamic force such as maximal sitting bench pull as the result of vibration. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of short term whole-body vibration on sprint starts among collegiate track athletes. On the first day eleven subjects were randomly assigned to either a non-vibration or vibration group for …

Engaging Students In Writing Labs: An Empirical Study Of Reading And Commenting On Student Papers, Joyce Adams

Faculty Publications

Writing Center literature fails to come to a consensus on whether students or tutors should read student papers during tutorials. This empirical study sought to discover whether the choice of reader and the timing of the tutors’ comments affected the engagement of the student in the tutorial. The study explored six patterns of reading and commenting styles with 30 trials of each. Both students and tutors completed evaluation forms following each tutorial; the results include a summary of the quantitative outcome, as well as insightful comments that were included on the evaluation forms. Both students and tutors believe that it …

Cultural Competence: Developing And Assessing Multicultural Proficiency For Teachers And School Personnel In Hawaii, Caryl H. Hitchcock, Mary Anne Prater, Chuan Chang

Faculty Publications

Teachers were recruited from the mainland of the United States to work in rural areas in the State of Hawaii to meet the high demand for personnel. But often there is a mismatch between the culture of the island residents and that of the new teachers. To alleviate this mismatch, a workshop was developed to promote multicultural proficiency of school personnel focusing on Asian/Pacific cultures. One hundred teachers, administrators and staff (including custodians and cafeteria workers) from four rural elementary schools participated in a three hour workshop. The workshop consisted of three activities: (a) self-awareness, (b) awareness of Asian/Pacific Island …

Investigating The Effects Of Marriage And Relationship Education On Couples' Communication Skills: A Meta-Analytic Study, Victoria L. Blanchard, Alan J. Hawkins, Scott A. Baldwin, Elizabeth B. Fawcett

Faculty Publications

This meta-analysis probes into previous research substantiating the positive effects of marriage and relationship education (MRE) on couples' communication skills. We reviewed 97 MRE research reports that yielded 143 distinct evaluation studies. We found modest evidence that MRE functions both as a universal prevention and as a selective or indicated prevention. That is, MRE demonstrates program effects at longer term follow-ups for more distressed couples. In addition, we found that observational assessments produced larger effects than self-report assessments, although interpreting the meaning of this difference is difficult.

Changing Patterns Of Family Care In Uganda: Father Absence And Patrilineal Neglect In The Face Of Hiv/Aids, Jini Roby, Stacey Shaw, Elinor Wanyama Chemonges, Cole D. Hooley

Faculty Publications

In this study, 162 HIV-positive mothers in Uganda were interviewed about the involvement of fathers and paternal kin, regarding current support they provide to children and as child placement options in the event of the mother’s death. More than half of the children had fathers who were already deceased. Another one third had fathers who were alive but did not live with the children. Only 16% of the children were living with and being supported by their fathers. Mothers indicated a strong preference for placement with maternal kin, in contrast to traditional expectations of paternal kin care. Patterns of change …

Estimating Dysphonia Severity In Continuous Speech: Application Of A Multi-Parameter Spectral/Cepstral Model, Christopher Dromey, Shaheen N. Awan, Nelson Roy

Faculty Publications

The purpose of the study was to identify a sub-set of spectral/cepstral-based analysis methods that would most effectively predict dysphonia severity (as estimated via auditory-perceptual analysis) in samples of continuous speech. Acoustic estimates of dysphonia severity were used as an objective treatment outcomes measure in a set of pre- vs post-treatment speech samples. Pre- and post-treatment continuous speech samples from 104 females with primary muscle tension dysphonia (MTD) were rated by listeners using a 100 point visual analogue scale (VAS) and analysed acoustically with spectral/cepstral-based measures. Stepwise linear regression produced a three-factor model consisting of the cepstral peak prominence (CPP); …

Multiple Pathways To Functional Impairment In Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder, Scott A. Baldwin, Yeraz Markarian, Michale J. Larson, Mirela A. Aldea, Daniel Good, Arjan Berkeljon, Tanya K. Murphy, Eric A. Storch, Dean Mckay

Faculty Publications

Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is a chronic and debilitating condition that is relatively common in both children and adults, and it is associated with a wide range of functional impairments. Mental health researchers and practitioners have placed considerable attention on OCD over the past two decades, with the goal of advancing treatment and understanding its etiology. Until recently, it was unknown to what extent this disorder was associated with functional impairment. However, recent research shows that the condition has significant social and occupational liabilities. This article discusses etiology, common symptom presentations (including comorbid and ancillary symptoms), basic OCD subtypes, neuropsychological functioning, …

On The Contribution Of Perceptual Fluency And Priming To Recognition Memory, M. A. Conroy, Ramona O. Hopkins, L. R. Squire

Faculty Publications

Repetition priming has been shown to be independent of recognition memory. Thus, the severely amnesic patient E.P. has demonstrated intact stem completion priming and perceptual identification priming, despite at-chance performance on recognition memory tasks. It has also been shown that perceptual fluency can influence feelings of familiarity, in the sense that items perceived more quickly tend to be identified as familiar. If studied items are identified more fluently, due to perceptual priming, and fluency leads to familiarity, why do severely amnesic patients perform no better than chance on recognition memory tasks? One possibility is that severely amnesic patients do not …

The Potential Of Asynchronous Video In Online Education, Michael E. Griffiths, Charles R. Graham

Faculty Publications

There are differences in the benefits that are afforded by the two extremes of face-to-face and distance education. University campus courses are based on the assumption that the student community and interaction between learners and an expert teacher in the same physical location is essential to the learning process. In comparison, distance education provides a learner with flexibility, individualized learning, lower costs, and self-determination in the learning process. Much research has been invested into modern approaches that may be able to harness key benefits from both face-to-face and distance education. One recent breakthrough has come in the use of asynchronous …

Diagramming Tpack In Practice: Using An Elaborated Model Of The Tpack Framework To Analyze And Depict Teacher Knowledge, Suzy Cox, Charles R. Graham

Faculty Publications

The introduction of the TPACK model by Mishra and Koehler (2006) has had a profound impact on the field of educational technology. It has inspired teachers, teacher educators, and educational technologists to reevaluate their knowledge and use of technology in the classroom. While Koehler, Mishra, and others have attempted to define and measure TPACK, the framework is not yet fully understood (Angeli & Valanides, 2009). Thus far, the explanations of technological pedagogical content knowledge and its associated constructs that have been provided are not clear enough for researchers to agree on what is and is not an example of each …

Factors Contributing To Improved Teaching Performance, Whitney Ransom Mcgowan, Charles R. Graham

Faculty Publications

This article focuses upon the quality and scholarship of teaching as it pertains to educational and faculty development. We outline what more than 200 faculty members at one institution have done over a 3-year period to make significant and sustained improvements in their teaching, surprisingly with minimal effort. The top three factors leading to improvement were active/practical learning, teacher/student interactions, and clear expectations/learning outcomes. We provide practical applications for change and suggestions for future research.

The Balanced Scorecard As A Strategy-Evaluation Tool: The Effects Of Implementation Involvement And A Causal-Chain Focus, William B. Tayler

Faculty Publications

This paper uses an experiment to examine whether involvement in scorecard implementation can mitigate the effects of motivated reasoning that occur when the scorecard is framed as a causal chain rather than merely as a balanced set of measures. Psychological research on motivated reasoning suggests that managers will evaluate and interpret data in ways consistent with their preferences, increasing their tendency to arrive at conclusions that are consistent with their desired conclusions (Kunda 1990). Consistent with that research, results of my study show that managers who are involved in selecting strategic initiatives perceive those initiatives as having been more successful …