Exploring attribution theory and bias

Courses: This activity can be used in a wide range of classes, including interpersonal communication, introduction to communication, and small group communication

Objectives: After completing this activity, students should be able to: (1) define attribution theory, personality attribution, situational attribution, and attribution bias; (2) provide examples of both personality and situational attributions; and (3) recognize why and when each type of attribution is used. This activity provides students an opportunity to explore attribution theory and attribution bias in a low-stakes setting, where the ultimate goal is a deeper understanding of the theory itself. Therefore, this activity is typically not treated as a graded assignment, but rather an opportunity for exploration and discussion.     

It Takes an Academic Village: The Library’s Role in Supporting Interprofessional Communication through a Book Club

Book clubs offer a unique opportunity to support interprofessional learning on academic campuses. The purpose of this article is to discuss how a health sciences library partnered with the Center for Interprofessional Healthcare Education to develop a book club that fosters interprofessional communication. The article includes a discussion of the opportunities, approach, results, and challenges.     

How Young,Uninsured Americans Respond to News Coverage of Obamacare: An Experimental Test of an Affective Mediation Model

This experiment integrated theory from multiple domains to examine how aspects of news coverage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and differences in participants’ cognitive and emotional contingent conditions interact to shape attitudes and behavioral intentions toward health care legislation. Using a sample of uninsured young adults (N = 1,056), we tested an affective mediation model, which assessed the mechanisms through which media frames, exemplar case studies, and individual predispositions affect this type of news consumer. Results demonstrate the complicated pathways through which emotions mediate the effects of news coverage of ACA based on political predispositions, the need for orientation toward the health care issue, and the influence of equivalency framing in the form of example cases. These findings contribute to a more nuanced explanation of the causal mechanisms underpinning framing effects of public policy news coverage on an understudied population. The need for further examination of emotion along with cognition when investigating framing effects of public policy news is discussed, and the importance of exemplar cases as a significant manifestation of the effects equivalence framing is highlighted.     

Case report: the impact of a resubmission intervention on level 1 distance learning students

Student retention and success are key performance indicators within higher education. One of the key opportunities to address both of these lies with the support offered to students who fail a module but are entitled to resubmit. This study investigates the value of implementing a resubmission intervention to improve the quantity and quality of student resubmissions on a level 1 distance learning module. The intervention consisted of an online synchronous tutorial session and a supporting asynchronous forum. The effectiveness of the intervention was measured by comparing the resubmission and pass rates to a previous presentation with no intervention. It was found that resubmission and pass rates were higher where the intervention was used suggesting that a resubmission intervention can increase the quality and quantity of submissions. Whilst, these findings are useful, it is important to acknowledge that there are additional factors that can impact the quantity and quality of resubmissions.     

How changes in work structure influence employees’ perceptions of CSR: millionaire managers and locked-out laborers

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is widely understood as the various activities corporations engage in to meet stakeholder demands and demonstrate fit in society. Often employees are positioned as the beneficiaries of corporate largesse and worker recruitment and retention are offered as rationale for CSR activities. The voice of the employee, however, is noticeably missing from the CSR literature. This study uses a case study approach to explore how locked-out union workers define CSR. We conducted 51 semi-structured interviews and analyzed 27 secondary data sources. The results suggest that workers fuse together economic and ethical responsibilities to develop a portrait of their employer's CSR. Workers defined CSR as an economic/ethical responsibility that is intimately tied to a set of explicitly and implicitly communicated values. Our analysis exposed four additional dimensions that informed employees’ understanding of CSR: reciprocity, fair treatment, economic justice, and organizational structure. Propositions for future research and practical implications are offered based on the findings.     

Media Violence and Adolescents’ ADHD-Related Behaviors: The Role of Parental Mediation

We examined the role of parental media mediation in the relationship between media violence and adolescents’ ADHD-related behaviors. Survey data from 1,017 adolescents (10–14 years) show that parents can play an important role in this relationship, depending on the media mediation strategies that they use (i.e., restrictive or active mediation) and how they apply these strategies (i.e., in a controlling, inconsistent, or autonomy-supportive way). Our findings support the notion that contextual factors are critical in understanding media effects, and provide directions for how parents can manage their adolescents’ violent media use, and possibly by extension, their ADHD-related behaviors.     

Examination of Cataloging Assessment Values Using the Q Sort Method

The intent of this project was to identify whether there is a gap between catalogers’ personal values related to cataloging assessment and their perceptions of their institutions’ values. This article uses Q methodology to contrast those perspectives. The Q-statements for this study were based on the discourse represented in a literature review of articles related to cataloging assessment. A factor analysis of Q-sorts was used to identify themes in participant perceptions. The patterns identified support the research question, while also suggesting that consensus may be built around the ideas of usability, service, and access.     

Perspectives of students with autism on their participation in a peer-mediated intervention

The article describes research into the perspectives of students with autism regarding their participation as the target participants in a peer-mediated social communication intervention. Questionnaires were administered to four elementary-aged students with autism before and after their involvement in the intervention. The students' parents and teachers also completed questionnaires about the students' participation in the intervention. Through the use of these questionnaires, we gained an insight into students' experiences with the intervention, which elements of the intervention they found most enjoyable and most effective, and the perceived impacts of the intervention on their social communication behaviours. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the questionnaire data revealed that all four students with autism enjoyed participating in the peer-mediated intervention sessions, felt that their social communication behaviours had improved as a result of their involvement, and would like to be involved in similar sessions in the future. Implications for parents and educators who support the social communication of children with autism are explored.     

Relationship of Online Teacher Professional Development to Seventh-Grade Teachers' and Students' Knowledge and Practices in English Language Arts

Online professional development (OPD) has potential to improve teacher quality by improving teachers' knowledge and instructional practices. These changes, in turn, have potential to improve student achievement. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of scientific research on the effects of OPD on teachers and, more importantly, on students. This article presents the results of a randomized controlled trial exploring the effects of a series of three learning-community model OPD workshops on teachers' content knowledge, teachers' instructional practices, students' content knowledge, and students' practices in the context of seventh-grade English language arts. There were statistically significant effects on teachers' vocabulary and overall English language arts content knowledge and on vocabulary and writing practices. The effect sizes of these changes ranged from small to medium. There were statistically significant effects on students' reading comprehension practices.     

A new beginning? German medical and political traditions in the aftermath of the second world war

After 1945, the German medical community underwent a period of self-examination. The profession’s experience during the Nazi period raised profound questions concerning its ethical integrity and political allegiances. This paper considers the advent of medical nationalism, and shows how, in Berlin and in the Soviet zone of Germany, narratives were constructed to show a new and positive picture of German medicine.