The development of students critical thinking abilities and dispositions through the concept mapping learning method – A meta-analysis

Our meta-analysis investigates the effectiveness of the concept mapping method compared with the traditional teaching method, for the improvement of critical thinking ability and disposition outcomes. We included studies measuring students' critical thinking through standardised tests, comparing an experimental (concept mapping) group with a control (traditional teaching) one. Effect sizes for critical thinking ability and disposition outcomes were pooled with a random-effects model. We included in our meta-analysis 21 studies (108 comparisons) involving 1695 students. The concept mapping method was more effective than the traditional teaching method at posttest for the improvement of critical thinking ability (g = 0.531, 95% CI 0.279 to 0.783) and disposition (g = 0.648, 95% CI 0.266 to 1.031). Heterogeneity was moderate to high, Egger's test did not indicate any evidence of publication bias; however, both visual inspection of the Funnel plot and Duval and Tweedie's trim and fill method indicated potentially three missing studies for critical thinking ability and two for critical thinking disposition. Additionally, we analysed the potential moderating effect of students' demographic characteristics, educational conditions, concept mapping elaboration methods and allocation type. Allocation type was a significant moderator, having a strong effect on concept mapping for critical thinking abilities in randomised studies (g = 0.739, 95% CI 0.356 to 1.122), but its effect is low in non-randomised studies (g = 0.265, 95% CI 0.014 to 0.517).     

A Meta-Analysis of Research on Inoculation Theory

A meta-analysis of 54 cases testing the effectiveness of inoculation theory at conferring resistance and examining the mechanisms of the theory was conducted. The analyses revealed inoculation messages to be superior to both supportive messages and no-treatment controls at conferring resistance. Additionally, the results revealed refutational same and refutational different preemptions to be equally effective at reducing attitude change. However, the data were not consistent with some predictions made in narrative reviews of inoculation. No significant increase in resistance as a function of threat or involvement was found. Further, instead of a curvilinear effect for delay on resistance, the point estimates from our meta-analysis revealed equivalent resistance between immediate and moderate delays between inoculation and attack, with a decay in resistance after two weeks.     

元分析在词汇习得中的应用研究综述

元分析,作为一种创新的整合定量研究手段,已广泛应用于许多研究领域。然而元分析在二语习得中的应用还处于起步阶段,国内二语研究领域更是很少涉及到这种研究手段。本文综述了元分析在词汇习得方面的应用,并对今后的研究方向做了一定的建议。     

Chewing substances with or without tobacco and risk of cardiovascular disease in Asia: a meta-analysis

Objective  

To assess whether people who ever use any form of chewing substance in Asia are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD).     

国内学业自我概念研究文献的元分析

通过收集和整理国内学业自我概念方面的相关研究成果,以文献的元分析方法,从研究视角、研究方法、研究内容等角度进行分析,概括最新的研究进展,总结研究中存在的问题,展望研究发展趋势,从而提供最新的、最全面的信息。供国内同行参考借鉴。     

A meta-analytic review of interventions to improve children’s attitudes toward their peers with intellectual disabilities

Children’s biases toward their peers with intellectual disabilities tend to have negative developmental and social consequences for those with intellectual disabilities. As a result, researchers developed intervention programs to reduce biases toward children with intellectual disabilities. This meta-analysis is a quantitative summary of 59 studies and 144 hypothesis tests involving intervention programs to change children’s attitudes toward their peers with intellectual disabilities. Results revealed an overall significant effect (d = 0.44): following intervention programs, children’s attitudes toward their peers with intellectual disabilities increased. Moderators indicate that the most effective interventions were those that occurred over multiple sessions, involved active engagement in multiple strategies and social interactions, emphasized equal status contact that was unstructured or indirect, and had little adult guidance. Interventions had no effect on changing children’s perceptions of competence and participants in junior high had more negative attitudes following the interventions. Findings provide guidance for researchers, educators, and counselors who seek methodologies to reduce biases toward children with intellectual disabilities.     

Rethinking the intention to behavior link in information technology use: Critical review and research directions

Extant research on technology acceptance has devoted considerable attention to the relationship between behavioral intention (BI) and system use (SU) over time. However, the empirical results have been mixed—studies have found BI to both influence and not influence SU. Studies that examined the BI→SU relationship have employed different research models and research designs. Prior research models have examined direct effects on SU, indirect effects on SU through BI, the moderator effects on BI→SU, and the mediating role of BI in BI→SU. Studies have employed different types of respondents, information technologies, geographic regions, voluntariness, and measurement designs. This study proposes that such differences in research models and designs contribute to the mixed results for BI→SU, and reports a meta-analysis of findings reported in 113 prior studies along with a critical review of the BI→SU relationship. While no significant differences were found in the results for the BI→SU relationship across various research design characteristics, this study finds that the measurement of SU has been conflated with future and current or past behavior, direct and indirect effects on SU impact BI→SU, BI is modeled to fully and partially mediate the effects of other variables on SU, and moderators for the BI→SU relationship may be necessary. This study identifies several directions for future research and underlines the need to rethink the link between BI and SU.     

进展期胃癌新辅助化疗疗效的Meta分析

针对进展期胃癌新辅助化疗的价值在临床中的应用仍有争论,本文采用Cochrane系统评价方法,查询了国内外有关的英文及中文随机对照试验研究,以对胃癌新辅助化疗的疗效进行Meta分析,为临床决策提供依据.     

对蔡元培高等教育思想与实践研究的元分析

文章采用元分析方法,从研究论文的年度分布、研究主题、发表刊物、研究方法等四个维度分析了1978—2007年30年间公开发表的关于蔡元培高等教育思想与实践的研究论文,梳理了蔡元培高等教育思想与实践研究的现状与存在问题,提出了进一步研究的相关建议。     

Neural correlates of moral sensitivity and moral judgment associated with brain circuitries of selfhood: A meta-analysis

The present study meta-analyzed 45 experiments with 959 subjects and 463 activation foci reported in 43 published articles that investigated the neural mechanism of moral functions by comparing neural activity between the moral task conditions and non-moral task conditions with the Activation Likelihood Estimation method. The present study examined the common activation foci of morality-related task conditions. In addition, the study compared the neural correlates of moral sensitivity with the neural correlates of moral judgment, which are the two functional components in the Neo-Kohlbergian model of moral functioning. The results showed that brain regions associated with the default mode network were significantly more active during morality-related task conditions than during non-morality task conditions. These brain regions were also commonly activated in both moral judgment and moral sensitivity task conditions. In contrast, the right temporoparietal junction and supramarginal gyrus were found to be more active only during conditions of moral judgment. These findings suggest that the neural correlates of moral sensitivity and moral judgment are perhaps commonly associated with brain circuitries of self-related psychological processes, but the neural correlates of those two functional components are distinguishable from each other.