Sex,Drugs, and Kinesiology: A Useful Partnership for Sport’s Most Pressing Issues

From the gender controversy of South African runner Caster Semenya to the doping practices of disgraced American cyclist Lance Armstrong, recent sporting issues highlight kinesiology’s important role and responsibility to sport. Increasingly, sport organizations, such as the International Olympic Committee, the World Anti-Doping Agency, and international federations, have turned to academics to help navigate their sport science issues. Such complex, cross-disciplinary problems require researchers versed in kinesiology’s sub-disciplines and familiar with problem-based inquiry. Though such cross-disciplinary practices are familiar to kinesiologists, their familiarity only indicates kinesiology’s potential impact on the major issues sport is currently addressing. Kinesiology must be a field comprised of scholars equally comfortable with empirical and humanistic research while at the same time applying their cross-disciplinary knowledge to some of sport’s most pressing issues. Kinesiology ought to consider more collaborative venues for scholars from across its sub-disciplines to work together on complex, cross-disciplinary research.     

Globalizing Christian Higher Education: Reflections from Delhi and Kampala

We are currently experiencing a global revolution in Christian higher education. As chronicled in Carpenter, Glanzer, and Lantinga's 2014 Carpenter, J., Glanzer, P., & Lantinga, N. (2014). Christian higher education: A global reconnaissance. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. [Google Scholar] volume titled Christian Higher Education: A Global Reconnaissance, Christian universities are expanding rapidly around the globe. My institution, Cornerstone University, has been involved in this phenomenon by developing international partnerships and expanding our educational presence in Asia. Our involvement has led me to participate in two recent international educational ventures, one a faculty/staff workshop on faith integration at Uganda Christian University, and the other a one-week course in church history for pastors and Christian professionals in Delhi, India.     

Why do information gaps persist in African smallholder agriculture? Perspectives from farmers lacking exposure to conservation agriculture

Purpose: To explore why substantial agricultural information gaps persist in African smallholder farming communities and how to reduce them.

Design/methodology/approach: Using conservation agriculture (CA) as a case study, we deeply explore with 29 smallholder farmers why they are yet to obtain sufficient information to enable practice evaluation.

Findings: Respondents asserted that their lack of information on CA was not reflective of a lack of interest in obtaining it, but of the unavailability and inaccessibility of learning opportunities. A deeper analysis revealed an underlying passive approach to seeking information and culture of financial expectancy.

Practical implications: If extension systems are to catalyse broader sustainable intensification, we find the need for emphasis on (1) more inclusive extension mechanisms; (2) education of farmers about demand-driven extension; and (3) revision of direct input provision to lead farmers.

Theoretical implications: While not contesting the value of farmer-to-farmer (F2F) extension systems for those socially connected to lead farmers, we find four research questions for further exploration regarding the practical application of F2F mechanisms that may impede their broader effectiveness, namely (1) Is extension coverage sufficient? (2) Do farmers understand demand-driven extension systems? (3) Do current incentive structures complicate farmer information seeking behaviour? and (4) Do current mechanisms encourage social stratification?

Originality/Value: To date, adoption studies have largely utilised quantitative, econometric lenses that generally assume farmers are sufficiently aware of the technologies in question. Due to our in-depth qualitative analysis, we provide novel insights into how to close informational gaps that hamper efforts to increase the food and livelihood security of African smallholder farmers.     

Whites Aren’t Bad,Asian Americans Are Just Better: Asymmetrical Attributions for the White–Asian American Achievement Gap

Previous research has shown that people often engage in cultural-deficit thinking when reasoning about racial/ethnic achievement gaps. However, it is unclear whether culture-blaming explanations are best thought of as group-level internal attributions, expressions of prejudice against a lower status group, or self-serving bias. In this study, White and Latino participants (N = 328) responded to items that were written to express either a White-critical or pro–Asian American perspective on the White–Asian American achievement gap. Results indicated that Latinos were more likely to engage in pro-Asian than White-critical culture blaming, whereas expressions of culture blaming did not vary across frames among White participants.     

Quality,reliability, and productivity education: America's hope for enhanced competitive position

In the aftermath of World War II, Japan was left with little choice but to rebuild from the rubble of a shattered economy. Led by American statistical quality control disciples, Dr. W. Edwards Deming and J. M. Juran, Japan rapidly succeeded in transforming the phrase made in Japan from a synonym for junk to a hallmark for quality. Keyed by an emphasis on quality, reliability and productivity Japan has, like the mythical Phoenix, ascended from the ashes. The impact on America has been a significant decline in key world markets. Universities must accept leadership in the competitive challenge facing America.Rick L. Edgeman received the Ph.D. degree in statistics and operations research from the University of Wyoming where he received the W. Edwards Deming Excellence Award in Statistics. Currently he is an associate professor of quality science at Colorado State University. He has also held faculty positions at Bradley University, in the Center for Quality Applied Statistics at the Rochester Institute of Technology, and at North Texas State University where was responsible for the development of M.B.A. and Ph.D. programs in Quality and Reliability Management. He was the first fellow of the Caterpillar Tractor Company Research Foundation and serves on the Quality and Productivity Committee of the American and Statistical Association. His publications have appeared in numerous journals including theReliability Review, Quality Progress, Technology Transfer Advocate, The American Statistician, Mathematics and Computer Education, and theBrazilian Journal of Probability and Statistics.     

Legitimizing subjectivity: Meritorious performance and the professionalization of teacher and principal evaluation

An earlier version of this article was a paper presented at the 1988 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans     

Single,double, and triple minorities and the evaluations of persuasive arguments

The study examines the relationship between positional minorities, social minorities (i.e., African‐Americans and women) and the evaluations of persuasive arguments within the context of hypothetical small groups. Specifically, the study predicted that positional majority arguments would be evaluated most positively when identified with social minorities and that positional minority arguments would be evaluated least positively when identified with social minorities. Results demonstrated that when majority arguments were attributed to an African‐American spokesperson, they were evaluated more favorably than when the spokesperson was European‐American. However, spokesperson race did not influence evaluations of minority arguments. Spokesperson gender also did not influence argument evaluations for either position.