PUBLICATION BIAS: THE ACHILLES' HEEL OF SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS?

ABSTRACT:  The term 'publication bias' usually refers to the tendency for a greater proportion of statistically significant positive results of experiments to be published and, conversely, a greater proportion of statistically significant negative or null results not to be published. It is widely accepted in the fields of healthcare and psychological research to be a major threat to the validity of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Some methodological work has previously been undertaken, by the author and others, in the field of educational research to investigate the extent of the problem. This paper describes the problem of publication bias with reference to its history in a number of fields, with special reference to the area of educational research. Informal methods for detecting publication bias in systematic reviews and meta-analyses of controlled trials are outlined and retrospective and prospective methods for dealing with the problem are suggested.     

‘Treat me as a human being—don’t look at me as a woman’: femininities and professional identities in further education

This article draws on case study research in two further education (FE) colleges to explore the ways in which women administrators, lecturers and managers negotiate and construct their (gendered, racialized and classed) identities in the workplace. The context is that of the restructuring of education, the ‘feminization’ of educational management, and debates about the de‐ or re‐professionalization of lecturers. The article illustrates how discourses of femininity are drawn upon in the construction of professional identities, and are used to both perform and resist new worker identities and gendered power relations. Despite optimistic discourses about a ‘female future’, the restructuring of further education does not, as yet, appear to have resulted in any notable challenge to the gendered, racialized and classed FE labour market.     

Development of Knowledge about the Role of Inference in Text Comprehension

The goal of this research was to learn when children recognize that they make inferences to understand text, and how this knowledge affects their ability to revise text and to monitor its informativeness. In 4 experiments, first-, second-, and third-grade children (6-10 years) were presented with brief stories in which the physical cause of a target event was described explicitly, implied, or not mentioned in the text. In the first 3 experiments, children judged whether they had inferred the cause or if it had been explicitly mentioned in either the original or a revised version of the story. The results showed that for stories with implicit causes, first- and second-grade children tended to report that the causes had been explicitly mentioned, while third graders correctly reported that the causes were inferred. In the fourth experiment, children were asked to judge the difficulty of inferring the cause from problematic and ambiguous versions of the stories. Older children were more likely to report difficulties in inferring the target information. Third graders were also more likely to revise the texts to include additional information about the causes of the target events. The results show that younger children tend to attribute inferred information of the text, while older children clearly distinguish inferred and explicit text information.     

Beyond sensation seeking: affect regulation as a framework for predicting risk-taking behaviors in high-risk sport

Sensation seeking has been widely studied when investigating individual differences in the propensity for taking risks. However, risk taking can serve many different goals beyond the simple management of physiological arousal. The present study is an investigation of affect self-regulation as a predictor of risk-taking behaviors in high-risk sport. Risk-taking behaviors, negative affectivity, escape self-awareness strategy, and sensation seeking data were obtained from 265 high-risk sportsmen. Moderated hierarchical regression analysis revealed significant main and interaction effects of negative affectivity and escape self-awareness strategy in predicting risk-taking behaviors: high-risk sportsmen's negative affectivity leads them to adopt risk-taking behaviors only if they also use escape self-awareness strategy. Furthermore, the affective model remained significant when controlling for sensation seeking. The present study contributes to an in-depth understanding of risk taking in high-risk sport.     

The Effect of Test Translation on the Performance of Second Grade English Learners on the KeyMath‐3

This study was conducted to determine whether Spanish‐enhanced administration of a standardized math assessment would result in improved scores for English Learners who used Spanish as a heritage language. Twenty‐one typically developing second‐graders (English Learners) were administered the traditional KeyMath‐3. If the child made an error on an item, a Spanish version of the item was presented. Difference scores were calculated to determine whether the Spanish‐enhanced version resulted in improved scores. Data were analyzed using paired t‐tests and simple regression. The data results showed that all children significantly benefited from the Spanish‐enhanced administration of items answered incorrectly in English. The amount of benefit was predicted by a child's degree of Spanish dominance. It was concluded that standardized math tests that do not accommodate second‐language learners may be inadvertently testing language skills in addition to math skills. Implications for assessment and interpretations of assessments are discussed.     

Papers,presentations, projects,and performances: A history day potpourri

Participation in the National History Day program can be especially good for gifted students in grades six through twelve as it provides multiple opportunities for gifted behavior to emerge, can fit a variety of service delivery systems, and emphasizes student involvement with real problems.