Validating the Digital Games Motivation Scale for Comparative Research Between Countries

Researchers interested in motives for playing digital games can draw on a variety of measurement instruments. When the aim is to compare between groups, however, instruments need to show certain psychometric properties. Specifically, an instrument needs to be invariant. Without such properties, comparisons between groups run the danger of yielding invalid results. The current study investigates to what extent the Digital Games Motivation Scale (DGMS) can be used to compare motivations between cultures by testing it in four different countries. Results indicate configural, metric, and partial scalar invariance for the cross-cultural comparisons. In conclusion, this study presents a psychometrically sound measurement instrument that can be used in cross-cultural settings.     

Development of Inhibited Children''s Coping with Unfamiliarity

In a longitudinal study, 87 children were observed in dyadic free-play sessions with unfamiliar peers at 4, 6, and 8 years of age and were judged by their parents for inhibition. Correlational analyses showed that observed inhibited behavior as well as parental judgments of inhibition became increasingly associated with solitary-passive activity and lost an initial negative correlation with parallel play. Extreme group analyses of the time structure of the behavior of continuously inhibited and control children indicated that with increasing age, many inhibited children spend longer periods in solitary-passive activity, whereas many controls spend longer periods in social behavior. These findings suggest that dispositional inhibition toward strangers becomes increasingly associated with unsociable behavior, which makes it difficult to distinguish between the dispositions of inhibition and unsociability at the empirical level.     

High intensity and reduced volume training attenuates stress and recovery levels in elite swimmers

This study investigated the effect of increased high-intensity interval training (HIT) at the expense of total training volume on the stress and recovery levels of elite swimmers. Forty-one elite swimmers participated in the study and were randomly assigned to either a HIT or a control group (CON). Eleven swimmers did not complete the questionnaires. For 12 weeks both groups trained ~12 h per week. The amount of HIT was ~5 h vs. 1 h, and total distance was ~17 km vs. ~35 km per week for HIT and CON, respectively. HIT was performed as 6–10 × 10–30 s maximal effort interspersed by 2–4 min of rest. The Recovery Stress Questionnaire – Sport was used to measure the swimmers’ stress and recovery levels. After the 12 week intervention, the general stress level was 16.6% (2.6–30.7%; mean and 95% CI) lower and the general recovery level was 6.5% (0.7–12.4%) higher in HIT compared to the CON, after adjusting for baseline values. No significant effects could be observed in sports-specific stress or sports-specific recovery. The results indicate that increasing training intensity and reducing training volume for 12 weeks can reduce general stress and increase general recovery levels in competitive swimmers.     

Frictions Between Formal Education Policy and Actual School Choice: Case Studies in an International Comparative Perspective

This contribution is based on comparative case studies of secondary schools in England, the Netherlands and Scotland. The authors conclude that although opportunities for school choice are offered in a formal sense in each of the locations studied, in certain cases choice is not particularly encouraged. In order to explain this disparity between formal education policy and actual school choice, they identified seven areas of friction which determine school choice. This approach allowed a more detailed and accurate view of the operation of school choice on a local, day-to-day basis. Active or passive discouragement of choice became apparent in factors such as availability of transport and information; bureaucratic procedures; strictly enforced admission criteria; and lack of educational diversity.     

The Selfie Study: Archetypes and Motivations in Modern Self-Photography

Photographic self-portraits have existed since the mid-19th century, but the emergence of digital photography and social media as tools that facilitate rapid visual communication have contributed to a surge of self-photographs, or selfies, and the practice has become a ubiquitous part of today's culture. This exploratory research employed a Q-method analysis to quantitatively and qualitatively identify what archetypal motivations exist among individuals who take and share selfies. The findings largely validated past scholarship on the uses and gratifications of photography, new media, and visual rhetoric individually, but also identified that the motivation to take and share selfies is a complex balance of preservation, communication, and entertainment for most individuals who engage in the practice.     

Enhancing non-technical skills by a multidisciplinary engineering summer school

In general engineering studies focus on the technical skills in their own discipline. However, in their subsequent industrial careers, a significant portion of their time needs to be devoted to non-technical skills. In addition, in an increasingly globalised world collaboration in teams across cultures and disciplines is paramount to the creation of new and innovative products. In order to enhance the non-technical skills for groups of engineering students a series of innovation courses has been arranged and delivered in close collaboration with an industrial company (Bang & Olufsen). These courses have been organised as summer schools called ‘Conceptual Design and Development of Innovative Products’ (CD-DIP) and delivered outside the usual educational environment. In order to explore the impact of this single course, we have conducted a study among the students participating from 2007 to 2013. This has been carried out both qualitatively using interviews with selected students as well as quantitatively using a survey. The results are outstanding in demonstrating that the non-technical skills obtained in this single course have been of high value for a large portion of the students' subsequent professional life.     

Activity profile and physiological demands of top-class soccer assistant refereeing in relation to training status

To determine the movement patterns and physiological demands of top-class soccer assistant referees, we performed computerized time-motion analysis and measured heart rate and blood lactate concentration in 15 assistant referees during 22 competitive matches in the top Danish league. To relate match performance to the physical capability of the assistant referees, they performed a 3 x 30 m sprint protocol before and after matches and a laboratory treadmill test within 3 weeks of the games. The mean total distance covered by the top-class assistant referees was 7.28 (range 5.78-8.16) km, of which 1.15 (0.86-1.44) km was high-intensity running and 1.16 (0.12-2.34) km was sideways running. The amount of high-intensity running during a game was correlated with performance of repeated sprints (r = 0.80, P < 0.05). Mean heart rate was 137 (117-159) beats x min(-1), corresponding to 73% (60-88%) of maximal heart rate and 65% (53-80%) of maximal oxygen uptake. Blood lactate concentration was 4.7 (1.6-11.0) and 4.8 (1.1-13.7) mmol x 1(-1) after the first and second half, respectively. Sprinting performance was poorer (P < 0.05) after than before the games. The peak distance to the offside line was greater (P < 0.05) in the second than the first half (7 +/- 1 vs 5 +/- 0 m). Our results show that: (1) top-class assistant soccer refereeing is characterized by brief intense bouts of forward and sideways running interspersed with long periods of low activity; (2) top-class soccer assistant referees have moderate aerobic energy production during games with episodes of high aerobic and anaerobic energy turnover; (3) assistant referees' performance of repeated sprints correlates with the amount of high-intensity running performed in a game; and (4) sprint performance decreases towards the end of a game, which appears to affect assistant referees' ability to keep up with play.     

Teachers’ reflections of professional change during a literacy-reform initiative

Policymakers recently have targeted teacher quality, and school systems have increased their attention to instructional reform through professional development. The purpose of this study was to examine teachers’ views about the change process and professional development that supports change. Semi-structured focus-group data were gathered from 41 primary-grades teachers (students ages 5–9) across five schools in a high-poverty urban district that participated in a 2-year literacy-reform initiative. Results indicated that teachers viewed the change process from two stances: as learners and as change agents. Three conditions supported their professional growth: professional development embedded in school and classroom contexts, professional development focused on limited and clearly defined learning goals, and on-demand access to time and resources. Changes that occurred did so in three phases: movement from curriculum-centered to student-centered practices, increased collaboration, and requests for policy changes via teacher autonomy and advocacy for students.     

Question formulation skills training using a novel rubric with first-year medical students

Objective:The authors used an assessment rubric to measure medical students'' improvement in question formulation skills following a brief evidence-based practice (EBP) training session conducted by a health sciences librarian.Method:In a quasi-experimental designed study, students were assessed using a rubric on their pre-instructional skills in formulating answerable EBP questions, based on a clinical scenario. Following their training, they were assessed using the same scenario and rubric. Student pre- and post-test scores were compared using a paired t-test.Results:Students demonstrated statistically significant improvement in their question formulation skills on their post-instructional assessments. The average score for students on the pre-test was 45.5 (SD 11.1) and the average score on the post-test was 65.6 (SD 5.4) with an average increase of 20.1 points on the 70-point scale, p<0.001.Conclusion:The brief instructional session aided by the rubric improved students'' performance in question formulation skills.