Fehlende Werte in sportwissenschaftlichen Untersuchungen

Missing values are a serious statistical problem in empirical studies which tends not to be considered in sport scientific studies. The methods usually applied such as listwise and pairwise deletion, mean and regression imputation do not constitute satisfactory solutions. New methods such as Maximum Likelihood Estimation (ML) and Multiple Imputation (MI) have not yet been widely implemented. The aim of this article is to change this situation. For this purpose, this article provides an overview of the missing data theory stated by Rubin (1976). Based on this approach, different methods for dealing with the problem of missing data will be presented and discussed. Special emphasis is put on new methods, in particular MI. In the past, the application of MI required special software. Since the implementation of MI in SPSS 17 (SPSS 2009) there is no obstacle for a routine usage of this method to handle missing data problems. The implementation of MI will be illustrated with an empirical study with a missing data mechanism typical for sport scientific studies. Using this example, advantages of MI as well as current limitations and practical difficulties will be discussed.     

Risikokonstellationen in der frühen Kindheit: Auswirkungen biologischer und psychologischer Vulnerabilitäten sowie psychosozialer Stressoren auf kindliche Entwicklungsverläufe

Risk factors in early childhood have short as well as long term effects on child development. Researchers distinguish between vulnerabilities, which are biological predispositions and psychological characteristics of the child, and stressors, which are psychosocial circumstances in the environment. Crucial vulnerabilities and stressors are described and evaluated in the following essay. The number of influencing risk factors seems to be the best predictor to evaluate the impact on the developmental outcome. Thus, a combination of cumulative long lasting risk factors has the most negative impact on child development. The qualities of parent-child interactions and the enrichment of the (home) environment are the only factors which have a direct impact on child development. Therefore, interventions to minimize the influence of risk constellations should begin early, be long lasting and should focus on assuring a secure relationship for the child, in or outside the family.     

Upper Secondary Schools and Sparsity: The Case of Northern Sweden

Governmental reforms since the early 1990s have acted as a push factor for starting new schools in Sweden and have created options for pupils to choose a school irrespective of municipal borders. This study highlights the upper secondary school system in small municipalities in northern Sweden since the late 1990s. The analysis shows that the reforms led to more schools, and thereby also to more competition in recruiting pupils both within and across municipal borders. When the cohorts started declining, the vulnerability of the school structure became obvious. The competition generated higher costs per capita and fewer available programs in small municipalities. Furthermore, it was noted that fewer pupils attending schools in small municipalities completed their education compared to those in larger municipalities.     

Promoting Compliance in Children Referred to Child Protective Services: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Early experiences of maltreatment have long-term negative effects on children's compliance. This randomized clinical trial examined whether a brief preventative intervention (Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up; ABC) was effective in enhancing compliance in children who had been referred to Child Protective Services. Participants included 101 parent–child dyads who received either ABC or a control intervention when children were infants (M = 9.4 months old, SD = 6.1). When children were approximately 36 months old (M = 38.5, SD = 3.0), ABC children demonstrated significantly better compliance than control children. Further, parent sensitivity, measured 1 month post intervention when children were, on average, 18.4 months old (SD = 6.9) partially mediated the effect of ABC on child compliance at 36 months old.     

Just us,just discussing: imagined homogeneities in the Gender Studies classroom

This article explores practices of othering through formations of normative sameness in discussion-based seminar classrooms. It takes literary scholar Stanley Fish's question, ‘Is there a text in this class, or is it just us?’, back into the classroom to explore the formation of a ‘just us,’ an imagined homogeneous interpretive community which, I argue, has discriminatory effects by normalising some voices and practices. It draws on feminist and anti-oppressive theory to discuss ways to pedagogically trouble the enactment of homogeneous interpretive communities in the Gender Studies classroom. As the Gender Studies teacher, I devised pedagogical practices based on the allocation of specific roles as a way to work towards an anti-discriminatory classroom by de-mystifying academic practice and framing seminar practice as a social genre. The article critically reflects on students' subsequent reluctance to take on roles and their preference for free-flowing discussions, doing what comes naturally, a ‘doing' of academia which, I suggest, is linked to social privilege.     

Challenging Students’ Intuitions—the Influence of a Tangible Model of Virus Assembly on Students’ Conceptual Reasoning About the Process of Self-Assembly

A well-ordered biological complex can be formed by the random motion of its components, i.e. self-assemble. This is a concept that incorporates issues that may contradict students’ everyday experiences and intuitions. In previous studies, we have shown that a tangible model of virus self-assembly, used in a group exercise, helps students to grasp the process of self-assembly and in particular the facet “random molecular collision”. The present study investigates how and why the model and the group exercise facilitate students’ learning of this particular facet. The data analysed consist of audio recordings of six group exercises (n?=?35 university students) and individual semi-structured interviews (n?=?5 university students). The analysis is based on constructivist perspectives of learning, a combination of conceptual change theory and learning with external representations. Qualitative analysis indicates that perceived counterintuitive aspects of the process created a cognitive conflict within learners. The tangible model used in the group exercises facilitated a conceptual change in their understanding of the process. In particular, the tangible model appeared to provide cues and possible explanations and functioned as an “eye-opener” and a “thinking tool”. Lastly, the results show signs of emotions also being important elements for successful accommodation.     

Gender,Behaviour and Achievement: A preliminary study of pupil perceptions and attitudes

This article reports on one element of a project undertaken in Leeds Local Education Authority (LEA) during the academic year 1995/96. The article makes some preliminary observations based on questionnaire data gathered in one of the project's schools. The data provide some useful insights into boys' and girls' attitudes towards their academic work, their behaviour, their perceptions of the relationship between the two and gender-related differences in these areas. The data also provide evidence of changes in these perceptions and attitudes with age. The analysis of the results and subsequent discussion suggests 'affective factors' which may be useful both in terms of helping to explain individual differences in performance and in the continued search for strategies which improve boys' and girls' performance.     

Attitudes towards Science Learning among 10th‐Grade Students: A qualitative look

The twenty‐first century is characterized by multiple, frequent and remarkable scientific advancements, which have a major effect on the decisions that govern everyday life. It is therefore vital to give proper comprehensive scientific education to the population and provide it with the right tools for decision‐making. This in turn requires that we foster a positive attitude among students towards science studies and encourage them to choose sciences as their major subjects. The following study examines 10th‐grade high school students in an attempt to understand and document the influential factors underlying their attitudes towards science studies. The study is conducted through a qualitative research methodology, gathering data based on interviews. This methodology exposes the students’ feelings, views and beliefs, and explores the characteristics of the factors influencing students’ attitudes. Of these factors, we found the most significant for high school students to be interpersonal interaction between teacher and student, the relevance and authenticity of the topics being studied, and the diversity of the teaching methods. We therefore suggest that these three elements should be given particular emphasis by teachers and teacher educators.     

Employee information processing behaviors before and after a corporate downsizing

The World Wide Web possesses unique characteristics that distinguish it in important ways from traditional commercial communications environments. Because the Web presents a fundamentally different environment for marketing activities than traditional media, conventional marketing activities are becoming transformed, as they are often difficult to implement in their present form. In this article, we discuss the idea that these changes portend an evolution in the ''marketing concept'' and argue that in order for marketing efforts to be successful in this new medium, a new business paradigm is required. In this new approach, the marketing function must be reconstructed to facilitate electronic commerce in the emerging electronic society underlying the Web.