Extending validity evidence for multidimensional measures of coaching competency

This study extended validity evidence for multidimensional measures of coaching competency derived from the Coaching Competency Scale (CCS; Myers, Feltz, Maier, Wolfe, & Reckase, 2006) by examining use of the original rating scale structure and testing how measures related to satisfaction with the head coach within teams and between teams. Motivation, game strategy, technique, and character building comprised the dimensions of coaching competency. Data were collected from athletes (N = 585) nested within intercollegiate men's (g = 8) and women's (g = 13) soccer and women's ice hockey (g = 11) teams (G = 32). Validity concerns were observed for the original rating scale structure and the predicted positive relationship between motivation competency and satisfaction with the coach between teams. Validity evidence was offered for a condensed post hoc rating scale and the predicted relationship between motivation competency and satisfaction with the coach within teams.     

Free-Living Comparison of Physical Activity and Sleep Data from Fitbit Activity Trackers Worn on the Dominant and Nondominant Wrists

Despite proprietary algorithms to account for differences, output from activity trackers worn on different wrists may not be comparable because individuals vary in their reliance on each hand during free-living activities.

Participants (n = 48) wore Fitbit Flex or Flex2 monitors on each wrist for three days. T tests, equivalence tests, and correlations were used to compare steps, Calories, distance, active minutes, and sleep duration recorded by dominant and nondominant wrist-worn monitors and effect sizes and mean absolute and percent difference were calculated.

The nondominant Flex2 monitor was not equivalent to the dominant wrist-worn monitor and recorded significantly more steps/day (absolute difference = 708), miles/day (0.3), and active minutes/day (7.9) than the dominant Flex2 monitor. For all variables, nondominant and dominant output was correlated (r>0.75).

Nondominant and dominant Flex2 monitors are significantly different, but there were small differences for Flex monitors. Research should investigate effects on behavior and replicate findings using other monitors.     

Utility value interventions in a college biology lab: The impact on motivation

Science writing, such as lab reports, allows students to form a meaningful understanding of scientific concepts. However, students often view scientific writing as unimportant and utilize surface level approaches when completing writing assignments. The current study implemented three experimental interventions (directly-communicated, self-generated, and hybrid) aligned with prior literature and designed to improve the utility value of lab reports in college settings. Participants (n = 1,002) were recruited from 43 lab sections of an introductory biology course at a large southeastern university. Measures of subjective task value (utility value, attainment value, cost, and intrinsic value) were collected pre-, mid-, and post-intervention. The self-generated and hybrid groups exhibited higher self-reported utility value by posttest compared to the control group. Requiring students to generate their own utility value toward a task, followed by a written reflection, increases students' maintained and situational interest for biology laboratory reports.     

Leadership and the Profession of Counseling: Beliefs and Practices

Thirty‐one individuals who have provided leadership to the counseling profession completed 3 Q‐sorts. These individuals sorted 39 statements about leadership according to 3 phases: when a leadership effort is getting started, when work is progressing, and when a leadership effort is coming to a close. The authors present perspectives on leadership that emerged from the study, during each of the 3 phases, and attempt to present their findings in a way that honors multiple voices about leadership.     

Socialization and pre-career development of public relations professionals via the undergraduate curriculum

We interviewed racially/ethnically diverse, early career public relations practitioners. By asking participants to reflect on their collegiate social and educational development, we unearth contributing factors to these individuals’ success both in college and in their professions to date. Respondents desired much more in-school training and technical skill acquisition than they were provided. Respondents also alluded to ways that the female/male composition of the undergraduate classroom affected their educational environment and student learning experiences. Findings are used to address the extent to which the educational/prepare-students-for-industry dialectic should be addressed by communication faculty and administrators.     

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.