Retention of EBM competencies

This longitudinal follow-up study surveyed the attitudes toward, and skills in, evidence-based medicine (EBM) of medical school graduates who had participated in a formal EBM curriculum during their third-year Internal Medicine (IM) clerkship. The objective was to measure whether competencies were retained over time and to identify the long- term impact on the graduates' attitudes toward, and proficiency in, EBM after graduation. Questionnaire results showed that a group of medical school graduates retained EBM skills and a positive attitude about the importance of applying EBM principles in patient care one to three years after completing an EBM course.     

Assumptions underlying performance‐based budgeting

Abstract

Interest in ‘performance budgeting’ is growing despite a lack of research on its effectiveness. U.S. states have largely used ‘incremental’ and ‘formula’ budgeting processes to fund higher education. However, more than half of them are experimenting with some form of ‘performance budgeting’. There have been similar attempts to reform budget practices in the U.S. in the past, but most of these processes have been largely abandoned. Governmental ‘performance budgeting’ for higher education assumes policy objectives are stable, complex decisions on budget trade‐offs can be made at governmental levels on the basis of data, institutions operate as bureaucracies, resources can be linked to outcomes, outcomes are identifiable and can be agreed upon, accountability can be achieved through budget policies, and current practices create incentives to enrol unqualified students. These assumptions are not realistic. Consequently, ‘performance budgeting’ will not meet proponents expectations and will suffer the fate of past budget fads.     

Examining the Double-Deficit Hypothesis in an Orthographically Consistent Language

As many of you know, this is my final issue as editor of Scientific Studies of Reading. The new editor, Charles Hulme, has the work well in hand and has actually completed the editing of two articles which appeared in Issue 3 of this volume. The journal will be in good hands. I want to thank the many board members, reviewers, and authors for their energy, talents, and enthusiasm in the cause of advancing the journal. It's been a great privilege to be able to work with you and to guide the journal for 5 years. The current issue is a special issue, which had its inception in an idea of Mike Pressley's to have authors assess the present and future of key areas of literacy research. The first three articles in this issue are part of the special issue. The fourth article is a rewritten version of Charles Perfetti's Distinguished Scientific Contribution presentation at the July 2006 SSSR meeting. I append comments about Mike Pressley, written by Joanna Williams, who appropriately was the first editor of Scientific Studies of Reading and who had a hand in this special issue.     

Relationships Among Cortical Thickness,Reading Skill,and Print Exposure in Adults

This study investigated relationships among cortical thickness in the left-hemisphere reading network, and reading skill and experience in adult nonimpaired readers. Given the relationship between print exposure and reading, it is possible that print exposure is related to cortical structure. The pattern of correlations indicated that individuals with higher print exposure had better reading skills and thicker cortices. Furthermore, print exposure accounted for unique variance in cortical thickness in part of the left-hemisphere reading network after accounting for reading skill. This suggests that some of the variation in cortical thickness in adults might be attributable to reading experience, independently of reading skill.     

Training to Improve New Product Sales Performance: The Case of Samsung in China

The authors report a case study conducted with over 8,000 Samsung salespeople in the Chinese market. Using research‐oriented, evidence‐based, and systematic approaches, training professionals contributed to Samsung's business outcomes at multiple levels. The case highlights the valuable impacts of training on salespeople's behaviors and new product sales performance and provides meaningful implications for trainers as they strive to be relevant to their business partners.     

Attracting solutions in crowdsourcing contests: The role of knowledge distance,identity disclosure,and seeker status

We investigate in the context of crowdsourcing how seekers can increase open innovation performance, measured as received solver attention, by making two strategic decisions: selecting innovation tasks that are well suited for crowdsourcing and choosing between the potentials of status signalling through identity disclosure versus enjoying the benefits of anonymity. Drawing on uncertainty reduction theory, we suggest that a well-articulated problem statement reduces uncertainties of potential solvers and increases their willingness to participate. We argue that the ability of seekers to draft high-quality problem statements depends on the distance between the problem domain and their current knowledge stock. An analysis of 637 crowdsourcing projects finds that problem-seeker knowledge distance and received solver attention are curvilinear related such that moderate levels of knowledge distance maximize solver participation. However, high-status seekers who engage in identity-based status signalling are able to benefit from crowdsourcing across all levels of problem-seeker knowledge distance.