Measuring the economic impact of institutions of higher education

Frequently institutions of higher education commission formal studies to measure their short-term economic impact on the surrounding regions. The purpose of this paper is to identify and discuss several of the methodological considerations which arise in the design and use of economic impact studies, as well as to present new evidence regarding the effectiveness of alternative survey methods for collecting the personal expenditure data frequently used in such studies. The survey results suggest that mail surveys may yield more accurate responses regarding important personal financial information than more costly telephone interviews. This paper also offers some guidance in the design of economic impact studies and points out some of the increasing pressures to integrate studies of short-term economic impacts with analysis of higher education's impact on long-term regional economic development.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the meetings of the Western Economic Association, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, July 1987.     

A cross-disciplinary approach to teaching data literacy and proportionality

The Thinking with Data project (TWD) expands on current notions of data literacy by (1) focusing on proportional reasoning as key to data literacy and (2) leveraging the non-mathematics disciplines to engage students in deep thinking about the context of data and the application of proportionality. A set of four 2-week, sequential modules for cross-disciplinary implementation in seventh-grade classrooms was designed and evaluated. Using a quasi-experimental approach, we found that student data literacy was increased through the focused integration of social studies, mathematics, science, and English language arts. In this article, we describe our theoretical approach to designing and implementing the modules, report on student learning gains in mathematics, and describe teacher reactions to the materials. In sum, our study provides evidence that the TWD approach has the potential to build data literacy while also allowing students to learn core discipline-based content standards.     

Perspectives of elders in thriving marriages on why their marriages thrive

Lengthy lifespans prompt research on how aging adults thrive in their marriages. This qualitative research study explored the perspectives of 14 elder couples nominated as thriving in their marriages. The 28 participants, living in the United States, ranged in age from 70 to 89. Twelve couples were in first marriages that ranged from 43–67 years. Two couples were in second marriages for 27 and 29 years. The participant group was diverse in race, ethnicity, religion, and birthplace but not in socio-economic-status and formal education level. Together the two researchers, also over 70, conducted two interviews with each couple, also together, in the two-year study. The in-depth, semi-structured interviews were the major source of data; secondary sources were a values-ranking inventory, a self-anchoring scale activity, an exercise on findings from other studies, and two small focus group discussions. The findings were: a) thriving couples experienced significant and pervasive in-depth love, b) shared extensive commonalities, c) teamed mutually, d) solved problems and confronted challenges well, d) welcomed caring gestures and expressions of appreciation, and e) valued physical affection and sexual intimacy. The insights and advice shared could benefit not only married elder couples, but also single elders in their social relationships, couples considering marriage, and those who work with elders in hospitals, healthcare facilities, and counseling services.     

Pigeons’ memory for event duration: Differences between visual and auditory signals

In Experiment 1, pigeons were trained to discriminate short (2 sec) and long (8 sec) durations of tone by responding to red and green comparison stimuli. During delay testing, a systematic response bias to the comparison stimulus correct for the long duration occurred. Tests of responding without the tone reduced accuracy on long-sample trials but not on short-sample trials suggesting that the pigeons were attending to the tone and not simply timing the total trial duration. The pigeons were then trained to match short (2 sec) and long (8 sec) durations of light to blue/yellow comparisons. During delay testing, “choose-long errors” occurred following tone durations, but “choose-short errors” occurred following light durations. In Experiment 2, accuracy was assessed on test trials in which the tone and the light signals were simultaneously presented for the same duration or for different durations. Pigeons responded accurately to durations of light, but were unable to accurately respond to durations of tone simultaneously presented with the light. The data from Experiment 1 suggest that there are important differences between light and tone signals with respect to the events that control the termination of timing. The data from Experiment 2 indicate that pigeons cannot simultaneously time visual and auditory signals independently and without interference. Consequently, they are inconsistent with the idea that there is a single internal clock that times both tone and light durations.     

基于事件分析法的国家创新政策对高新技术产业的影响分析

选取在深圳中小板上市的高新技术企业为样本,运用事件分析法分析了我国2006年以来创新政策中的税收优惠政策的颁布对公司市场价值的影响。与考察单个事件影响原理不同,此次研究的税收优惠政策为＂间断发生的同类事件＂,故通过对该类事件发生作用的事件窗口内的＂异常波动＂来衡量事件的影响作用。实证研究结果表明：税收优惠政策的颁布给深圳中小板上市的高新技术企业市场价值带来了正向影响。此外,以传统的石化产业和新兴的生物医药产业为例,研究创新政策对不同产业公司的影响差异。结果表明：税收优惠政策的颁布对不同产业的平均超常收益率和累积平均超常收益率影响趋势基本相同,均呈现出增长趋势;但相比而言,对新兴的高新技术产业影响更为显著。     

Restless teachers and institutional support for change 1

For the past 12 years the Panel on Research and Development of Instructional Resources of the Committee on Instructional Cooperation (CIC) has published an annual compendium of selected instructional/curricular changes in the Big Ten universities. A content analysis of 398 project summaries is the basis for the interpretive evaluations given in this article. College teaching is more varied than in former years and the discipline teacher generally needs professional assistance in the design of a project and in working out the procedures for evaluation. The position is taken that the resource structure of the university is more out of line with the demands of the time than is the reward structure.