The dimensionality of attitude scales: a widely misunderstood idea

Summated rating scales to measure attitudes (and other human characteristics) commonly consist of numerous items whose scores are summed to yield a total score. A central assumption underlying the use of this technique is that the items in the scale reflect a common construct. If this assumption is not met, the scoring procedure produces largely meaningless, uninterpretable data. Although this important psychometric principle has been known for a long time, numerous studies in the research literature demonstrate a neglect of this principle. Some studies make no attempt at all to conceptualise the construct to be measured; others conceptualise the construct but then ignore the possibility that it may be multi‐dimensional; still others actually contain evidence which indicates that the construct is multi‐dimensional and then proceed to ignore that evidence. A possible contributor to the confusion is the widespread misunderstanding about the related yet distinct concepts of internal consistency and uni‐dimensionality. This paper presents case studies of poor and good instrument design, in the (forlorn?) hope that clarification of the issues might make a difference in the future.     

略论我国司法解释的问题及对策

司法解释对于弥补法律规范本身存在的缺漏 ,保证法律的正确实施 ,具有重要的作用。目前我国法律实践中的司法解释还存在不少问题 ;对法律的实施产生了消极影响 ,只有采取针对性的措施解决这些问题 ,才能提高司法解释的质量 ,保证法律实施的准确和公正     

Addition and multiplication: Problem-solving and interpretation of relevant data

This study constitutes a first step towards the elaboration of a method for intervening in the processes of solving concrete mathematical problems, based on the processing of expressions often included in the statement of addition and multiplication problems presented to second-cycle elementary students (ages 9 to 12). Forty-eight students took part in the experiment: the 29 subjects of the experimental group were divided into small groups of about 5 subjects in each and had to perform various learning exercises. The aim of these exercises was essentially to improve skills in analyzing and processing certain expressions frequently included in the statements of addition and multiplication problems. The effect of these learning exercises on problem-solving was evaluated by a problem-solving pre-test and post-test presented to the subjects in both groups. The learning exercises helped significantly to improve the problem-solving performance of subjects in the experimental group. Analysis of the verbal productions of the subjects in this group during the learning exercises revealed certain factors related to the effectiveness of the method of intervention proposed in this research.     

Measuring school engagement for child welfare involved youth: Assessing the dimensionality of the Drug Free School Scale

BackgroundResearch using data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW) have consistently used the scale developed from the Drug Free Schools and Communities Act (DFSCA) to examine school engagement. Although the DFSCA is widely used, no study has examined the factor structure to determine if the scale is best used as a summative score of all items or as a three-factor variable distinguishing behavioral, emotional, and cognitive school engagement.ObjectiveThe primary goal of this study was to evaluate the hypothesized factor structure of the DFSCA scale by testing models previously supported in the literature.MethodsUsing NSCAW-I data, we performed confirmatory factor analysis in a structural equation modeling (SEM) framework.ParticipantThe study sample included 2429 children and adolescents who were between 6 and 15 years of age who had recently been investigated by child protective services due to a maltreatment report.ResultsResults indicated that school engagement is a multidimensional concept measuring behavioral, emotional, and cognitive-behavioral dimensions. This model has not been used in studies using NSCAW data, to date. These findings highlight the importance of exploring and understanding the factor structure of instruments before using an instrument in studies.     

The availability of difference: Clifford Geertz on problems of ethnographic research and interpretation

This paper focuses on the production of ethnographic texts. It explores how claims to authority and authenticity are contested within the ethnographic enterprise and help to shape the finished written product. The paper draws upon fieldwork in an elite occupational setting and argues that in such settings the crafting of ethnographic texts may be particularly problematic. The paper explores the parallels between ethnographic writing and fiction and attempts to make sense of the texts researchers create and the status these texts carry. The paper concludes that the right of the author to construct versions of social reality cannot be divorced from the rights of the researched to impose their own definitions of reality.     

Teaching the design and interpretation of graphs through computer-aided graphical data analysis

Graphs are one of the primary means of exploration and communication in the practice of science, but students in science laboratories are customarily taught only the low-level mechanics of constructing a single kind of graph when given a table of information. The use of a microcomputer can relieve the drudgery of plotting, allowing students to pursue higher-level issues in the design and interpretation of graphs through repeated “thought experiments.” We introduced computer-assisted graphical data analysis to inner-city high school students with weak math and science backgrounds, emphasizing the dynamic manipulation of various kinds of graphs to answer specific questions. Drawing on extensive recordings and classroom observations, we describe examples of the performance of these students on open-ended problem-solving tasks in which graphs can be used to arrive at meaningful answers to applied data analysis problems.     

The development of data use,data skills,and positive attitude towards data use in a data team intervention for teacher educators

This study focuses on understanding how a participation in a data team develops data skills and data use in individual teacher educators. Five teacher educators collaborated in a data team that used data to solve the problem of student teachers dropping out during their course of study. This study aimed at understanding how teacher educators learn from their participation in the data team. We collected data through interviews, surveys, and a knowledge test, and gained insight into the development of data skills, attitude towards data use, and the teacher educators' data use in daily practice. The results show that the data team members’ data skills and attitudes towards data use changed in different ways during the data team intervention depending on their initial situation, and that overall, their data use for school development increased.     

Normative data and reliability estimates for eight dimensions of reading attitude

The Survey of Reading Attitudes was administered to a sample of 159 fifth graders and 156 sixth graders enrolled in a middle school in rural Northeastern Ohio. The 92 attitudinal items comprising the Survey were read aloud by the teacher while the students followed along reading silently from their booklets. Statistical analysis consisted of computing means, standard deviations, standard errors of measurement, and coefficient alpha reliability estimates for the eight dimensions of reading attitude included in the Survey. The reliability estimates ranged from .89 for Reading as Enjoyment and .88 for Expressed Reading Difficulty to .74 for Reading Group and .76 for Reading as Direct Reinforcement. The reliability estimates for the other four dimensions were as follows: Alternative Learning Modes, .79; Reading Anxiety, .78; Silent vs. Oral Reading, .78; and Comics, .77.     

Solving story-based arithmetic problems: achievement of children with hearing impairment and their interpretation of meaning

This article considers how a sample of Norwegian school children, ages 6 through 10 with hearing impairment, master three different types of elementary arithmetic problems presented in a nonreading format. The article outlines the effect of task-specific factors on the level of difficulty, as well as the children's understanding of problem structures. The results showed that semantic structure of the problems affected the level of difficulty. The problems were not solved significantly better by students from grade 4 than students from grade 1. Qualitative analyses revealed that the children interpreted the meaning of the imposed problems in three different ways: (1) as numbers and procedures, (2) as take-away situations, and (3) as part-part-whole relations.     

Matthew effects in reading and mathematics: Examining developmental patterns in population data

This study examined whether Matthew effects were evident in developmental patterns of reading and mathematics skills from middle childhood to adolescence. We obtained standardized reading and mathematics scores at Grades 3, 5, 7 and 9 for full cohorts of students in two Australian states, NSW (N = 88,958, 48% female) and Victoria (N = 65,984, 49% female). Latent growth curve models were used to identify the best-fitting longitudinal trajectories of reading and mathematics, and to examine whether cumulative (i.e. a Matthew effect), compensatory, or stable interindividual differences characterized development in each domain. For both reading and mathematics, and in both samples, growth decelerated as grade levels increased, with latent basis models fitting the data better than linear models. Negative intercept-slope covariances, and decreasing variances at increasing grades in both domains indicated compensatory growth patterns, rather than cumulative patterns or Matthew effects. These results indicate that students with below average achievement at Grade 3 make greater gains to Grade 9 than their initially higher-achieving peers. Modeling growth trajectories in two longitudinal population datasets allows strong tests of theorized growth patterns for both reading and mathematics, and presents insights about developmental change in academic skills from middle childhood to adolescence.     

Curriculum-Based Measurement progress data: Effects of graph pattern on ease of interpretation

Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) is a system for monitoring the progress of and evaluating instructional program effectiveness for students with learning difficulties. Although a large amount of research has been conducted on CBM, little has focused on the interpretation and use of the data for instructional decision-making, despite the fact that it is data use that leads to performance gains. In this study, we examine factors affecting the interpretation of CBM data. Specifically, we examine the effect of CBM graph patterns on ease of graph interpretation. Thirty college/university students completed a two-part study in which they viewed various slope-to-goal and slope-to-slope patterns of CBM-graphed data and answered decision-making questions. Response times and accuracy were measured. Results revealed that graph patterns differed in terms of ease of interpretation. Differences depended on the type of question. Implications for interpretation and use of CBM data for decision-making are discussed.     

本体诠释学体系的建立:本体诠释与诠释本体

本体诠释(自本体的诠释)与诠释本体(对本体的诠释)的同源性与同基性,表明了对本体的认知与诠释活动的互参与互含,与中国传统哲学中的"体用相即"相互印证.本体诠释与诠释本体所构成的本体诠释圆圜,代表了人的存在的内在性与外在性的相合之道,也代表了人与天地万物、宇宙历史与未来的互动与交融.     

高等职业教育规模扩张的国家战略和潜在危机

1999-2003年期间高等职业教育的规模扩张,一方面为高等职业教育的跨越发展带来了空前绝后的重大机遇,另一方面也给高等职业教育后来的内涵发展制造了史无前例的巨大危机。客观地说,那个时期为了生存和发展,一些高职院校不得已用学历文凭吸引生源,用学科教育模式开展高等职业教育的教学工作;导致了那个特殊时期教师教不会学生应当掌握的知识和技能,学生听不懂教师的授课内容,毕业生就业与所学专业严重偏离的后果,对后来高等职业教育的内涵发展带来了诸多需要较长时间才能克服的潜在危机。     

十九世纪中期的人口问题与农民起义

本文以人口问题为着眼点 ,论述了 19世纪中期 ,在人口的压力下 ,满清社会政治、经济所受到的影响 ,尤其是人口的剧增 ,加速了农民的贫困化过程 ,激化了社会的固有矛盾 ,导致农民运动的频繁发生 ,人口数量的大量下降     

中国东盟合作背景下的英语口译质量评估所面临的问题与对策

本文围绕中国东盟合作背景下的英语口译质量评估展开讨论,从英语语言,背景知识和用人单位三个方面提出了现行英语口译质量评估所面临的问题,加以分析后提出相应对策,旨在促进西部地区口译和口译教学的发展。     

On understanding variability in data: a study of graph interpretation in an advanced experimental biology laboratory

Data analysis is constitutive of the discovery sciences. Few studies in mathematics education, however, investigate how people deal with (statistical) variability and statistical variance in the data to be interpreted. And even fewer, if any, focus on the uncertainties with which scientists wrestle before they are confident in the data they produce. The purpose of this study is to exhibit the work of coping with variability in one advanced research laboratory, as exemplified in a typical data analysis session. The study shows that when the scientists are confronted with novel data, their understanding of the variability does not arise in straightforward fashion, and a lot of normally invisible (interactional) work is required to constitute understanding. Tentative conclusions are provided for the implication to mathematics education.     

The heterogeneity of new entrants and the selectivity of higher education institutions: Some results using data from the CHEERS project

This paper attempts to test whether there stillexist differences in selectivity between highereducation institutions. Data from the CHEERS(Careers after Higher Education: a EuropeanResearch Survey) project enables us to describethe differences in institutional selectivity ineach country across different fields. We askthe question: how selective are institutionstoday, particularly in the case of Europe andJapan?. In order to describe the selectivity ofhigher education institutions for each field ineach country, we use the entry grade given byeach graduate in the CHEERS data. Despite thedifferences in the grading references in thedifferent countries, these data can be used toassess the heterogeneity of the selectivity ofeach institution within the fields in eachcountry. To do so, we computed a mean for eachinstitution/department (using all graduatesfrom each institution in the sample). We thencomputed a mean for all the institutions/departmentsand the dispersion coefficient(which was multiplied by a hundred). Countrieswith a low dispersion coefficient appear to behomogeneous in terms of selection across thedifferent institutions, whereas those with ahigh one have institutions clearly moreselective than others. Using the example ofBusiness studies, it can be shown that theselection process of higher educationinstitutions is more or less heterogeneousaccording to countries. Differences betweentypes of institution also explain thedifferences in selectivity between institutionsin some countries but not in others.