Differential Item Functioning Analysis for Accommodated Versus Nonaccommodated Students

The No Child Left Behind act resulted in an increased reliance on large-scale standardized tests to assess the progress of individual students as well as schools. In addition, emphasis was placed on including all students in the testing programs as well as those with disabilities. As a result, the role of testing accommodations has become more central in discussions about test fairness and accessibility as well as evidence of validity. This study seeks to examine whether there exists differential item functioning for math and language items between special education examinees receiving accommodations and those not receiving accommodations.     

Unexpectedly Poor Spelling and Phonological-Processing Skill

This study investigated the phonological skills of university students who were unexpectedly poor spellers relative to their word reading accuracy. Compared with good spellers, unexpectedly poor spellers showed no deficits in phonological memory, selection of appropriate graphemes for phonemes in word misspellings and nonword spellings, and phoneme awareness. In contrast, poor readers–poor spellers performed worse than the other groups at all but the last of these tasks. Although unexpectedly poor spellers misread nonwords more often than good spellers and took longer to begin pronouncing long, difficult-to-spell words, they took no longer to begin pronouncing shorter words and the names of corresponding pictures. The difficulty with reading nonwords and long words was thus interpreted as arising at the stage of identifying and parsing the orthographic input rather than phonological retrieval. The findings indicate that unexpectedly poor spellers of the type studied here do not have a mild phonological deficit.     

Theory and practice in sport psychology and motor behaviour needs to be constrained by integrative modelling of brain and behaviour

Because of advances in technology, the non-invasive study of the human brain has enhanced the knowledge base within the neurosciences, resulting in an increased impact on the psychological study of human behaviour. We argue that application of this knowledge base should be considered in theoretical modelling within sport psychology and motor behaviour alongside existing ideas. We propose that interventions founded on current theoretical and empirical understanding in both psychology and the neurosciences may ultimately lead to greater benefits for athletes during practice and performance. As vehicles for exploring the arguments of a greater integration of psychology and neurosciences research, imagery and perception–action within the sport psychology and motor behaviour domains will serve as exemplars. Current neuroscience evidence will be discussed in relation to theoretical developments; the implications for sport scientists will be considered.     

Electroencephalographic functional equivalence during observation of action

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the variability in cortical activation during physical air-rifle shooting and three different observation conditions. Elite air-rifle shooters performed a 40 shot individual match. Electroencephalograms were recorded from 11 active sites across the cortex during the final 6 s (3 × 2 s epochs) before shot release. Data collection was repeated while shooters watched a large-screen video of their worst shot performance from an internal-visual perspective when seated, standing and standing holding their rifle. The hypothesized differences between the three observation conditions and the physical shooting profile were not shown except at the left anterior temporal site, T5. This finding suggests that observation of performance cannot be differentiated clearly by posture or modified through kinetic and haptic afference, and that visual percepts predominate in observational functional equivalence. However, more functionally equivalent observation reduced the observation/execution variability over the temporal areas. Performer debriefs also identified different perceptions of physiological, psychological and behavioural functional equivalence associated with the different observation conditions. We conclude that elite performers' brains are accessed equally effectively during different observation conditions irrespective of some of the physical factors ascribed to the conditions. However, they may require more functionally matched conditions to attain greater equivalence in temporal areas.     

Empty Templates: The Ethical Habits of Empty State Pages

This article examines how empty state pages (ESPs) constrain user-generated communication through the ethical lens of Bourdieu’s habitus. The authors define ESPs as interactive instructional templates that prompt users to input information to participate in an online network. Through a case study analyzing ~450,000 online comments from The New York Times, the authors find a direct connection between ESP elements, such as the character limit for comments, and online writers’ cultivated habitus.     

Beyond citation analysis: a model for assessment of research impact

Question:

Is there a means of assessing research impact beyond citation analysis?

Setting:

The case study took place at the Washington University School of Medicine Becker Medical Library.

Method:

This case study analyzed the research study process to identify indicators beyond citation count that demonstrate research impact.

Main Results:

The authors discovered a number of indicators that can be documented for assessment of research impact, as well as resources to locate evidence of impact. As a result of the project, the authors developed a model for assessment of research impact, the Becker Medical Library Model for Assessment of Research.

Conclusion:

Assessment of research impact using traditional citation analysis alone is not a sufficient tool for assessing the impact of research findings, and it is not predictive of subsequent clinical applications resulting in meaningful health outcomes. The Becker Model can be used by both researchers and librarians to document research impact to supplement citation analysis.