Collusion among Accounting Students: Data Visualization and Topic Modeling of Student Interviews

Although classroom cheating violates academic standards of behavior, it occurs frequently. Although the research on cheating is extensive, few researchers have interviewed students directly involved in cheating behaviors. We explore interview responses gathered from a cohort of graduate accounting students, some of whom colluded on an assignment, whereas others did not. We use Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), a powerful text mining algorithm, as our primary tool to explore the underlying topical structure of the interviews and to demarcate subtle differences among students’ reactions to and explanations of their experience. Because LDA does not impose or require a priori theories, we use it to provide ideas for future research rather than to test extant theories about classroom collusion. We identify five primary topics that emerged from the accounting students’ reflections: (1) general course context (including honor code), (2) the rigor of the assignment, (3) student teams as support mechanisms, (4) the perceived repercussions of cheating (colluding), and (5) personality differences between the tax and audit track students. We find subtle language differences between colluders and noncolluders. Colluders considered the nature of the assignment and the difference between tax and audit majors more significant than noncolluders did. Additionally, the role of teams and the general institutional context were somewhat less relevant for colluders than for noncolluders. We conclude by exploring ethical and pedagogical implications of structuring courses as heavily team based for teaching and future research purposes.     

Sustainable Procurement: Integrating Classroom Learning with University Sustainability Programs

Organizations are facing increased pressure from various stakeholders to address issues of sustainability, resulting in a growing demand for sustainability education and training. Procurement groups remain the key drivers of many sustainability‐related strategies, placing pressure on universities to integrate sustainability concepts into the business curriculum. This article describes a replicable educational model that allows students to learn about sustainable procurement while concurrently promoting sustainability within the university community.     

Human Affection Exchange: VIII. Further Evidence of the Benefits of Expressed Affection

Affection exchange theory speaks to the benefits that affectionate communication elicits, not only when it is received but also when it is communicated to others. Previous research has provided evidence for the individual and relational benefits of having a high trait affection level, yet these benefits may partially be accounted for by the affectionate behavior one elicits from others by being affectionate in the first place. We addressed the validity of this alternative hypothesis in this project, first by re-analyzing data in which we compared correlations between trait affection level and various benefits with the same correlations after controlling for received affection. Next, in three studies involving a total sample of 1,144 people, we further investigated the benefits of expressed affection, both on its own and when received affection is covaried out. Results indicated that affection expressed to others is associated with numerous individual and relational benefits, including increased happiness and self esteem, decreased fear of intimacy and susceptibility to depression, and higher relationship satisfaction. Many of these effects are attenuated—and some are intensified—when affection received from others is held constant.     

Using Primary Language Support via Computer to Improve Reading Comprehension Skills of First-Grade English Language Learners

Through this exploratory study the authors investigated the effects of primary language support delivered via computer on the English reading comprehension skills of English language learners. Participants were 28 First-grade students identified as Limited English Proficient. The primary language of all participants was Spanish. Students were assigned to two groups for an 8-week intervention period. Treatment Group 1 used a computer-based literacy program with English oral language instructions. Treatment Group 2 used a computer-based literacy program with Spanish oral language instructions. Data indicated that all participants experienced significant growth in fluency, word reading, and passage comprehension. Results revealed no significant difference between the two groups in the areas of fluency or word reading. However, the students who received Spanish language support via the computer had significantly higher scores in the area of reading comprehension.     

Creating Leaders Through the Teacher Learning and Leadership Program

Leadership is a skill that can be learned through professional development, mentoring, and leadership development programs. In Ontario, the Teacher Learning and Leadership Program (TLLP) helps educators develop their leadership skills through a Ministry of Education–funded project that addresses student learning needs in their classrooms. This article examines how the TLLP built the foundation for a teacher to lead beyond his classroom and continues to develop leadership skills in others across the province.     

When neighbours matter most: innovation,diffusion and state policy adoption in tertiary education

We now have ample evidence that public policies diffuse across the American states; that is, policy adoption is due at least in part to the emulation of policies enacted in nearby states. But, policy adoption is the result of a complex process, a process that often takes years and sometimes decades to complete. According to the ‘stage’ or ‘step’ approach, the lawmaking process begins with the identification of a public problem for which redress by governments is sought and ends when programmes are implemented and effects are evaluated. Using the tertiary education system in the USA as a case, this study considers at what stage(s) in the policymaking process pressures created from neighbouring states are brought to bear. Analysis of data from state policymakers reveals that the experiences of neighbours are most pronounced during the agenda‐setting and proposal formulation stages and least during adoption.     

Books reviews

J. Neils (ed.), Goddess and Polis: The Panathenaic Festival in Ancient Athens (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993). Pp. 227, 24 colour plates, 170 b&w illus. $49.50 (£37.50) cloth; $19.95 (£13.95) paper. ISBN 0–691–03612–8 (cloth); 0–691–00223–1 (paper).

Steven H. Lonsdale, Dance and Ritual Play in Greek Religion (Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993). Pp. xxi + 352. Illustrations, bibliography, indexes. $39.95. ISBN 0–8018–4594–7.

Ramachandra Guha, Spin and Other Turns: Indian Cricket's Coming of Age (London: Penguin Books, 1994). Pp. xii + 158. Rs 100. ISBN 0–14–024720–3.

Robert Mechikoff and Steven Estes, A History and Philosophy of Sport and Physical Education: From the Ancient Greeks to the Present (Dubuque, Iowa: William C. Brown, 1993). Pp. 391. $29.50. ISBN 0–697–12159–3. Elliot J. Gorn and Warren Goldstein, A Brief History of American Sports (New York: Hill and Wang — Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1993). ISBN 0–8090–1561–7. Pp. 290. $11.95.

Richard O. Davies, America's Obsession: Sports and Soceity since 1945 (Orlando, Florida: Harcourt Brace, 1994). Pp. 274. $16.00. ISBN 0–03–073332–4.

Ted Vincent, The Rise and Fall of American Sport: Mudville's Revenge (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994). Pp. 358. ISBN 0–8032–9613–4.

Leonard Koppett, Sports Illusion, Sports Reality: A Reporter's View of Sports, Journalism and Society (Urbana and Chicago: University of Ilinois Press, 1994) paperback reprint of book originally published in 1981. Pp. xiv + 296. ISBN 0–252–06415–1.

Gilbert Andrieu, Force et beauté. Histoire de l'esthétique en éducation physique (Bordeaux: Presses Universitaires de Bordeaux, 1992). Pp. 252. FF150. ISBN 2–86781–125–2.

Charles Fountain, Sportswriter: The Life and Times of Grantland Rice (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993). Pp. 327. $25.00. ISBN 0–19–506176–4.

Peter Levine, Ellis Island to Ebbets Field: Sport and the American Jewish Experience (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992).

Charles S. Prebish. Religion and Sport: The Meeting of Sacred and Profane (Westport, Ct.: Greenwood Press, 1993). Pp. xix + 243. ISBN 0–313–28729–5.

Tom Derderian, Boston Marathon: The History of the World's Premier Running Event (Champaign: Human Kinetics Publishers, 1994). Pp. xxvi + 606. $21.95 (paperback). ISBN 0–87322–491–4.

Kevin McAleer, Dueling, The Cult of Honor in Fin‐de‐Siècle Germany (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994). Pp. 268. $24.95. ISBN 0–691–03462–1.     

Biomechanical analysis of the different classifications of the Functional Movement Screen deep squat test

The purpose of this study is to examine the peak sagittal plane joint angles and joint moments of the lower extremity during the deep squat (DS) movement of the Functional Movement Screen (FMS) to assess differences between the classifications (1,2,3). Twenty-eight participants volunteered for the study and were screened to assess their FMS score on the DS task. All participants underwent a quantitative movement analysis performing the FMS DS movement at a self-selected speed. The participants in Group 3 exhibited greater dorsiflexion excursion compared to those in Group 1. Participants in Group 3 had greater peak knee flexion and knee flexion excursion than those in Group 2 who exhibited more than the participants in Group 1. Group 3 also exhibited a greater peak knee extension moment compared to Group 1. At the hip, Groups 3 and 2 exhibited greater peak hip flexion, hip flexion excursion and peak hip extension moment compared to Group 1. Thus, it appears that individuals who score differently on the deep squat as determined by the FMS exhibit differences in mechanics that may be beneficial in assessing strategies for interventions. Future research should assess how fundamental changes in mobility and stability independently affect DS performance.     

Governing knowledge in the scientific community: Exploring the role of retractions in biomedicine

Although the validity of knowledge is critical to scientific progress, substantial concerns exist regarding the governance of knowledge production. While research errors are as relevant to the knowledge economy as defects are to the manufacturing economy, mechanisms to identify and signal “defective” or false knowledge are poorly understood. In this paper, we investigate one such institution - the system of scientific retractions. We analyze the universe of peer-reviewed scientific articles retracted from the biomedical literature between 1972-2006 and comparing with a matched control sample in order to identify the correlates, timing, and causal impact of scientific retractions. This effort provides insight into the workings of a distributed, peer-based system for the governance of validity in scientific knowledge. Our findings suggest that attention is a key predictor of retraction - retracted articles arise most frequently among highly-cited articles. The retraction system is expeditious in uncovering knowledge that is ever determined to be false (the mean time to retraction is less than two years) and democratic (retraction is not systematically affected by author prominence). Lastly, retraction causes an immediate, severe, and long-lived decline in future citations. Conditional on the obvious limitation that we cannot measure the absolute amount of false science in circulation, these results support the view that distributed governance systems can be designed to uncover false knowledge relatively swiftly and to mitigate the costs that false knowledge for future generations of producers.