Online field experiments

ABSTRACT

Changes in information communication technology across the Asian region have altered our field substantively and methodologically. The rapid growth of digitized communications allows us to find new purchase in examining questions fundamental to our understanding of communication theories, norms, and practices across Asia. While methods such as text mining and user analytics are increasingly popular among computational scholars, here, we focus on online field experiments, an approach to studying communication that has the potential to overcome many existing obstacles to social scientific inquiry but one that has been used relatively rarely in Asia. In this paper, we discuss what online field experiments are and how they differ from traditional experiments as well as online lab and survey experiments. We show how researchers can go about designing and implementing online field experiments, focusing on issues where online field experiments differ from their traditional counterparts – legal and ethical considerations, construct validity, randomization and spillover, and statistical analyses. Finally we discuss how online field experiments can advance our understanding of communication in Asia by helping researchers to gain insight and make causal inferences on attitudes, behaviors, and interactions that were previously unobservable ?.     

肖克奎拉奥朝圣之旅——秘鲁神秘的印加遗迹

在秘鲁安第斯山脉的崇山峻岭中有一座神秘的古城。西班牙人在长达300年的殖民统治期间对它一无所知,秘鲁独立后的100年间也无人涉足。400多年的时光,只有翱翔的山鹰得以一睹古城的雄姿,它就是马丘比丘印加遗址。作为马丘比丘的"姐妹城",肖克奎拉奥可谓是寂寂无名,但却有着马丘比丘无可比拟的孤独与安静。本文作者向我们介绍了在肖克奎拉奥的徒步探险经历,巨石垒筑的残垣断壁正向我们讲述着当年的故事.我们还会感受到怀古的幽思、逝去的光华,以及领略这座古城记载着的印加人无与伦比的智慧。     

Infant Attachment Security and Early Childhood Behavioral Inhibition Interact to Predict Adolescent Social Anxiety Symptoms

Insecure attachment and behavioral inhibition (BI) increase risk for internalizing problems, but few longitudinal studies have examined their interaction in predicting adolescent anxiety. This study included 165 adolescents (ages 14–17 years) selected based on their reactivity to novelty at 4 months. Infant attachment was assessed with the Strange Situation. Multimethod BI assessments were conducted across childhood. Adolescents and their parents independently reported on anxiety. The interaction of attachment and BI significantly predicted adolescent anxiety symptoms, such that BI and anxiety were only associated among adolescents with histories of insecure attachment. Exploratory analyses revealed that this effect was driven by insecure‐resistant attachment and that the association between BI and social anxiety was significant only for insecure males. Clinical implications are discussed.     

They do not buy it: exploring the extent to which entering first-year students view themselves as customers

While a number of scholars have discussed the pervasiveness of the conceptualization of students as customers, to date there has been limited reliable research examining the extent to which students actually view themselves as customers. Using a survey that was administered to a census of entering first-year students at a large public research university (59.8% response rate), this study shows that students do not agree with many of the educational beliefs and planned behaviors associated with a customer orientation. Results of exploratory factor analysis suggested only 28.9% of respondents expressed a customer orientation. These results show that contrary to what has become common sense in postsecondary education, most students at this public university do not express a customer orientation towards their education. Such findings should make scholars and practitioners rethink some of their embedded assumptions with regards to the goals, motivations, and general educational orientations of today's college students.     

INTERNAL FACTOR STRUCTURE AND CONVERGENT VALIDITY EVIDENCE: THE SELF‐REPORT VERSION OF SELF‐REGULATION STRATEGY INVENTORY

Using a sample of 348 middle school students, we gathered evidence regarding the internal consistency of scores, as well as the internal factor structure and convergent validity evidence for inferences from a self‐report questionnaire called the Self‐Regulation Strategy Inventory–Self Report. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the fit indexes for a hierarchical model (composite, three factors) and a single‐level, three‐factor model were highly similar but mixed. Respecification of the hierarchical model based on conceptual overlap of items led to substantial improvement in the overall fit of the model, as indicated by the root mean square error of approximation, chi‐square/df, and the comparative fit index. Correlational analyses also provided strong convergent validity evidence, as the three subscales exhibited statistically significant relations with four motivation beliefs (i.e., self‐efficacy, perceived instrumentality, task interest, perceived responsibility) and two distinct markers of regulation‐related behaviors (i.e., teacher ratings, office discipline referrals).     

Reducing Risk for Substance Use by Economically Disadvantaged Young Men: Positive Family Environments and Pathways to Educational Attainment

Using prospective, longitudinal data spanning 10 years (age = 10–20) from a study of 295 economically disadvantaged males, the current investigation evaluated a developmental model that links early family environment and later educational aspirations, extracurricular activities, and educational attainment to substance use in early adulthood. The results indicate that a positive family environment during adolescence (low family conflict, high family warmth, and effective child management) predicted educational involvements during adolescence that promoted educational attainment during early adulthood. Finally, higher levels of educational attainment were associated with less substance use in early adulthood, even after controlling for adolescent substance use. These findings suggest that positive parenting promotes educational achievements that increase resilience to substance use for economically disadvantaged males.     

General University Requirements at Hong Kong Polytechnic University: evaluation findings based on student focus groups

Under the new four-year undergraduate programme, a general education framework titled ‘General University Requirements’ (GUR) has been developed and implemented since 2012/2013 at Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). To evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of the GUR in its first year, focus group interviews with students were carried out. In 13 focus groups, 62 first-year students from eight faculties/schools who took GUR subjects in 2012/2013 academic year were interviewed by trained researchers. Results showed that students generally had good perceptions of the GUR in terms of the subject content, teaching methods and the overall effectiveness of the subjects. The interactive teaching and learning initiatives adopted in GUR subjects were particularly appreciated, although students expressed minor concerns on the administration of GUR subjects. The results suggest that the first-year implementation of the GUR at PolyU was generally smooth and successful from the perspectives of the students.     

The medicalization of current educational research and its effects on education policy and school reforms

This paper starts from the assumption of the emergence of an educationalized culture over the last 200 years according to which perceived social problems are translated into educational challenges. As a result, both educational institutions and educational research grew, and educational policy resulted from negotiations between professionals, researchers, and policy makers. The paper argues that specific experiences in the Second World War triggered a fundamental shift in the social and cultural role of academia, leading up to a technocratic culture characterized by confidence in experts rather than in practicing professionals (i.e., teachers and administrators). In this technocratic shift, first a technological system of reasoning emerged, and it was then replaced by a medical “paradigm.” The new paradigm led to a medicalization of social research, in which a particular organistic understanding of the social reality is taken for granted and research is conducted under the mostly undiscussed premises of this particular understanding. The result is that despite the increased importance of research in general, this expertocratic and medical shift of social research led to a massive reduction in reform opportunities by depriving the reform stakeholders of a broad range of education research, professional experience, common sense, and political deliberation.