E-Book Readers for Full-Time MBA Students: An Investigation in Manchester

This article is an investigation of the use of e-book readers by MBA students at the Manchester Business School of the University of Manchester. In Summer 2010 we undertook a pilot study with a small number of MBA students in order to gauge the effectiveness of e-book readers as an alternative means of accessing their course readings. The findings of this study are presented in tandem with discussion of the drivers behind the project and an overview of similar developments at other educational institutions globally, concluding with the results of our pilot and wider implications.     

Exploring the communicative nature of corporal punishment

Extensive research in sociology and psychology suggests that corporal punishment of children is a serious problem because it increases the risk of physical and psychological harm. In the present study we utilized a recently developed communication framework to investigate corporal punishment. We derived two hypotheses and conducted a study of 178 college students. Following established procedures, we asked respondents to report about corporal punishment during a period of their youth. Participants rated each parent and themselves on aggressive communication measures. They also rated themselves on assault tendencies, anger, self‐esteem, and intentions to use corporal punishment. Support for our two hypotheses revealed that when participants recalled receiving higher levels of corporal punishment they perceived their parents to be higher in verbal aggressiveness. Furthermore, they reported being higher in assault tendencies, anger, and intentions to use corporal punishment with their children.     

Aggressive communication in the coach‐athlete relationship

This study concerned how coaches’ efforts to solicit better performance from athletes related to male athletes’ perceptions of their coaches’ communication and to athletes’ self‐reports of satisfaction and performance. Data were collected from 192 former male high‐school athletes. Results indicated that when male athletes perceived that their coaches used more aggressive tactics athletes evaluated their coaches communication unfavorably and that when male athletes evaluated their coaches’ communication unfavorably they reported less satisfaction with their coaches, less team success in terms of win‐loss percentage, and less sportsmanship.     

RESEARCH REPORT

Studies exploring school students' views about science have not always distinguished between different branches of science. Here, the views of 1395 secondary school students aged 11–16 about physics and, as a science comparator, biology were determined using a closed‐form questionnaire. Over the period of secondary schooling a decreasing proportion of students expressed a liking for physics, fewer thought it was interesting and more thought it was boring. These changes did not apply to biology. There was an increasing view that the study of physics, but not biology, required mathematical skills. Fewer students thought that physics, compared with biology, could contribute to the solution of medical or environmental problems. Suggestions that physics might offer good employment prospects did not influence students' liking of physics. Factor analysis suggested that the oldest group of students distinguished between physics and biology in terms of their general characteristics – to the detriment of physics.     

Writing and writers: the perceptions of young children and their parents

Over the past three decades early writing research has focused on the processes involved as children learn to write. There is now a powerful evidence base to show that children’s earliest discoveries about written language are learned through active engagement with their social and cultural worlds. In addition, the idea of writing development as an emergent process is well established. The study reported in this paper adopted case study methodology combined with an age-appropriate data collection technique in order to explore children’s perceptions of themselves as writers. A focused task using a hand puppet called Baby Bear was used to elicit children’s perceptions. The children’s parents were interviewed to elicit their perceptions of their children as writers. This small-scale exploratory study found that the children had clear perceptions about themselves as writers. There were important links between parents’ perceptions of their children as writers and the ethos for writing they created in the home. It was found that, overall, more positive parental perceptions were linked with more attention to the meaning of children’s writing. It is concluded that early years settings could usefully identify and compare children’s and parents’ perceptions of writing in order to enhance children’s writing development.     

Verbal aggression in violent and nonviolent marital disputes

Recent research suggests that verbal aggression may function as a catalyst to violence between spouses in marital disputes. Communication skills deficiencies may predispose spouses to rely upon verbal aggression in family conflict situations instead of more constructive forms of communication such as argumentation. This suggests a need to understand better the role of verbal aggression in interspousal violence. A study is presented which compared a sample of nonabused wives to a clinical sample of abused wives in terms of self‐reports of the use of verbal aggression by the husband and wife in their most recent dispute. While there were several differences between the two groups, of the ten types of verbally aggressive messages examined, character attacks most clearly differentiated violent from nonviolent marital disputes. Two hypotheses which predicted the degree of verbal aggression in violent and nonviolent disputes and the relationship between husband and wife usage were supported. Implications are discussed especially in terms of studying interspousal violence from a communication orientation.     

Gymnastics and child abuse: an analysis of former international Portuguese female artistic gymnasts

The growing competitiveness of modern sport means that children, from very early ages, are increasingly submitted to intensive training programmes. These programmes are problematic for young athletes not only because their developing bodies are particularly susceptible to different kinds of injuries, but because athletes are also particularly vulnerable to experiences of different kinds of abuses. Using data collected through semi-structured interviews this study examines the various kinds of abuse that former Portuguese female gymnasts underwent during their sporting careers. Interviewees were asked to reflect on their past experiences and discuss aspects of the gymnastics subculture. Weight control, training/competing with injuries and corporal punishment emerged as key themes. The study therefore shows that the physical and psychological abuse of young athletes occurs even beyond the confines of elite professional sport, and thus that a broader spectrum of athletes learn to consider these forms of exploitation and abuse as normal.     

Talking about contract cheating: facilitating a forum for collaborative development of assessment practices to combat student dishonesty

Contract cheating presents an existential threat to university assessment integrity and, therefore, to the reputations of universities and their graduates. We report on two workshops, with academic development participants who collaboratively addressed assessment identity verification through problem identification and solution creation. As facilitators, we iteratively reflected on the workshop processes to design and refine subsequent offerings. The corresponding research sought to increase sectoral collaboration and evidence student authorship in assessment. This work provides one approach to developing practice-driven resources and insights for academic developers to encourage others to collaboratively address complex problems that are difficult to resolve, like contract cheating.     

The Application of the Microcounseling Paradigm to the Training of Support Personnel in Counseling

The microcounseling paradigm was utilized in 3 4-hour segments to train paraprofessionals in the skills of attending behavior, expression of feeling, and reflection of feeling. Sixteen female subjects served in the project and followed a modified micro-counseling routine in learning each of the skills. Results showed that all trainees evidenced significant learning of all 3 behavioral skills in a short period of time. Significant pre- to post-treatment differences occurred on all criterion measures. Results are discussed with respect to the training of support personnel in counseling via the microcounseling paradigm.