The combined effect of personalized appeal and precoding of personal data on questionnaire returns

This study investigated the combined effect on return rates of personalizing the cover letter and including precoded personal information on a mail questionnaire. The 2 × 2 factorial design allowed for the testing of an interaction effect as well as for main effects. The study found no interactive effect between the kind of cover letter sent and whether or not subjects were given the option of removing the precoded data. In addition, neither of the main effects was significant. The finding that the inclusion of precoded personal data on a questionnaire does not impair return rates may be welcome news to investigators in higher education conducting studies in which they have prior knowledge of respondent characteristics.An earlier version of this paper was given at the 1986 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association held in San Francisco.     

Interleaving Helps Students Distinguish among Similar Concepts

When students encounter a set of concepts (or terms or principles) that are similar in some way, they often confuse one with another. For instance, they might mistake one word for another word with a similar spelling (e.g., allusion instead of illusion) or choose the wrong strategy for a mathematics problem because it resembles a different kind of problem. By one proposition explored in this review, these kinds of errors occur more frequently when all exposures to one of the concepts are grouped together. For instance, in most middle school science texts, the questions in each assignment are devoted to the same concept, and this blocking of exposures ensures that students need not learn to distinguish between two similar concepts. In an alternative approach described in this review, exposures to each concept are interleaved with exposures to other concepts, so that a question on one concept is followed by a question on a different concept. In a number of experiments that have compared interleaving and blocking, interleaving produced better scores on final tests of learning. The evidence is limited, though, and ecologically valid studies are needed. Still, a prudent reading of the data suggests that at least a portion of the exposures should be interleaved.     

A rapid evidence‐based service by librarians provided information to answer primary care clinical questions

Background: A librarian consultation service was offered to 88 primary care clinicians during office hours. This included a streamlined evidence‐based process to answer questions in fewer than 20 min. This included a contact centre accessed through a Web‐based platform and using hand‐held devices and computers with Web access. Librarians were given technical training in evidence‐based medicine, including how to summarise evidence. Objectives: To describe the process and lessons learned from developing and operating a rapid response librarian consultation service for primary care clinicians. Methods: Evaluation included librarian interviews and a clinician exit satisfaction survey. Results: Clinicians were positive about its impact on their clinical practice and decision making. The project revealed some important ‘lessons learned’ in the clinical use of hand‐held devices, knowledge translation and training for clinicians and librarians. Conclusions: The Just‐in‐Time Librarian Consultation Service showed that it was possible to provide evidence‐based answers to clinical questions in 15 min or less. The project overcame a number of barriers using innovative solutions. There are many opportunities to build on this experience for future joint projects of librarians and healthcare providers.     

An examination of the jump-and-lift factors influencing the time to reach peak catch height during a Rugby Union lineout

The goal of an offensive Rugby Union lineout is to throw the ball in a manner that allows your team to maintain possession. Typically, the player catching the ball jumps and is lifted upwards by two teammates, reaching above the opposing player who is competing for the ball also. Despite various beliefs regarding the importance of the jumper’s mass and attempted jump height, and lifters’ magnitude and point of force application, there is negligible published data on the topic. The squeeze technique is one lifting method commonly employed by New Zealand teams during lineout plays, whereby the jumper initiates the jump quickly and the lifters provide assistance only once the jumper reaches 20–30 cm. While this strategy may reduce cues to the opposition, it might also constrain the jumper and lifters. We developed a model to explore how changes in the jumper’s body mass and attempted jump height, and lifters’ magnitude and point of force application influence the time to reach peak catch height. The magnitude of the lift force impacted the time-to-reach peak catch height the most; followed by the jumper’s (attempted) jump height and body mass; and lastly, the point of lift force application.     

The house that Hugh built: the Adelaide history department during the Stretton era, 1954–1966

In 1954, Hugh Stretton took charge of a threadbare history department at the University of Adelaide. By the end of his tenure as department chair in 1966, staff numbers had increased fivefold and the department was recognised as one of the best of its kind in Australia. Stretton wanted his department to ‘teach history interestingly’, which was his overriding criterion in making new appointments. He also ran a democratic department that went against prevailing notions of ‘God-Professor’ departmental governance. As well as highlighting the singular features of the Adelaide department, the present paper places the growth and the character of ‘The House that Hugh Built’ within wider Australian and global contexts. The ‘Stretton era’ straddled a period of rapid expansion of the university sector both locally and internationally, which entailed a move from a generalist to a more specialised curriculum, with a greater emphasis on research and publication, and a less male-dominated faculty.     

The Consortium and the Commissioner: A Grass Roots Tale of Fighting High Stakes Graduation Testing in New York

The following paper provides a case study of the resistance of the New York Performance Standards Consortium to the state’s unitary high stakes testing policy from 1998 to 2006. After detailing the history of the grass roots actions undertaken by the group of alternative high schools called ‘The Consortium’, the analysis seeks to apply sociological and philosophical theory of, among others, John Rawls and Charles Willie to explain: (1) the success of the subdominant people of power in fighting the implementation of the battery of high stakes graduation tests; and (2) the failures of the dominant state authority to uniformly enforce its policy, with particular regard to the decisions of New York’s Commissioner of Education. Implications of the case are then discussed to place this little known educational struggle in a broader social, political and historical context.

New Media

WIRED CITIES: SHAPING THE FUTURE OF COMMUNICATIONS edited by William H. Dutton, et al. (Boston: G.K. Hall, 1987—$45.00, with a paperback also available)

TOMORROW'S TVs: A REVIEW OF NEW TV SET TECHNOLOGY, RELATED VIDEO EQUIPMENT AND POTENTIAL MARKET IMPACTS, 1987–1995 by Gary H. Arlen (National Association of Broadcasters, 1771 N. St NW, Washington, DC 20036—$49.95 but $24.95 to NAB and BEA members, paper)

THE VIDEOTEX AND TELETEXT HANDBOOK: HOME AND OFFICE COMMUNICATIONS USING MICROCOMPUTERS AND TERMINALS by Paul Hurly, et al . (New York: Harper & Row, 1985—$21.95, paper)

TELEGUIDE: A HANDBOOK ON VIDEO-TELECONFERENCING by Doug Widner (Public Service Satellite Consortium, 600 Maryland Ave. SW, Suite 220, Washington, DC 20024—$49.95, paper; half that to PSSC members)

COMPUTERS IN VIDEO PRODUCTION by Lon McQuillin (White Plains, NY: Knowledge Industry Publications, 1986—$39.95)     

Survey Says…?: Assessing Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery Use and Awareness for Responsive Service Delivery

Abstract

The object of this study is to assess Texas A&M University (TAMU) students/faculty/staff members’ use and awareness of the Libraries’ free document delivery and interlibrary loan service, branded as “Get It For Me.” Since 2010, we have continued to see a decline in new user registrations each year. Previous Get It For Me user surveys conducted in 2003 and 2011 indicated that the overall satisfaction of registered users was high and customer feedback gleaned from these surveys was used to initiate a number of service improvements. But what about the large percentage of the campus community who do not use the Get It For Me service? Are they aware of what this service has to offer? If so, why might they choose not to use it? If they are not aware of the service, might they use it if they knew more about how it can assist them in their scholarly endeavors? Instead of only surveying those customers who have used this service, we invited everyone on TAMU College Station campus to participate in the survey. Promoting the service is a vital component of service delivery.     

Kirkpatrick plus: Evaluation and continuous improvement with a community focus

For almost 40 years, Donald Kirkpatrick's framework for evaluation has been used as a basic model for the identification and targeting of training-specific interventions in business, government, military, and industry alike. By approaching evaluation from four different perspectives—reaction, learning, behavior, and results—the model has provided a solid basis for the examination of training's impact on the organization. Despite the current practice of measuring one's success according to the success of one's clients, proposed changes in the model have not been frequently adopted. It is therefore likely time for professionals to reevaluate the utility and responsiveness of the Kirk-patrick framework to meet the value-added requirements of today's organizations. This article identifies tools and concepts for being responsive to the new organizational realities not originally addressed by the Kirkpatrick model.