Team-Referent Attributions Among Sport Performers

Abstract

The aim of this study was to develop and validate a team-referent attribution scale. Conducted over three studies, Study 1 modified items from McAuley, Duncan, and Russell's (1992) Causal Dimension Scale II by rewording items to reflect team attributions and adding one item per factor. This led to the development of a 16-item scale (Causal Dimension Scale-T, CDS-T). Study 2 tested competing models of attribution theory among a sample of 433 team sport players. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated strongest support for a four-factor model (robust comparative fit index = .961; root mean squared error of approximation = .054). Study 3 tested the predictive validity of the scale among a sample of 201 team players. Results indicated that winners reported more internal and stable attributions than losers. Further, performances perceived as successful were associated with stable attributions. The results of the study, therefore, suggest that the CDS-T provides a valid measure of team-referent attributions in sport.     

Aerobic exercise and type a behaviour

The Type A behaviour pattern is a well‐documented, if controversial, risk factor for coronary heart disease. Surprisingly, relatively little work has been reported on ways of modifying this behaviour pattern. Aerobic exercise, with its demonstrated benefits for both cardiovascular reactivity and psychological ‘well‐being’, is a promising treatment. The literature is reviewed and recommendations are made for practical applications and future research.     

Health-inclusive higher education: listening to students with disabilities or chronic illnesses

This paper reports on a small-scale project undertaken with tertiary students who identified as having an impairment either at enrolment or by registering with the university's Disability Support Unit (DSU). The aim of the study was to explore with these students ways in which the university was currently meeting their academic support needs and the ways in which these needs might be better met. Consistent with the definition of disability within the Australian Disability Discrimination Act, it became apparent that a significant number of students who identified with that definition, or sought help from disability services, also presented with needs arising from chronic illness. The majority of participants cited an emotional or psychological illness, rather than a physical, intellectual or sensory one, as a possible precursor to difficulties in engagement with the university. We conclude by considering whether commonly used institutional categories are apposite to an understanding of the ways in which students perceive themselves and, importantly, their engagement with the university and success within it.     

An evaluation of APT: an Animated Program Tracer for novice Prolog programmers

This paper describes an approach to evaluating the usefulness of an Animated Program Tracer (APT) in communicating run-time information to novice Prolo programmers. The method used in the evaluation consists of a set of programs which have been specially designed to elicit how novices think Prolog programs are executed, and thus to reveal how accurate their model of program execution is. Two experiments are reported. The first determines the misconceptions that novices hold about the runtime actions of the Prolog interpreter, and produces six different categories of misconception. The second experiment investigates the ability of APT to communicate run-time information to novice Prolog programmers. A scoring technique was used to interpret subjects' answers, and shows that there was a significant improvement in the scores of the group who saw programs traced by APT when compared with a control group who saw no trace.     

The Development of the Manchester Motor Skills Assessment (MMSA): An initial evaluation

This article is an initial evaluation of a motor skills assessment for primary aged children. The Manchester Motor Skills Assessment (MMSA) is designed to be quick and easy for teaching assistants to complete, with the dual purposes of informing group programme planning and demonstrating an individual child’s progress following a period of intervention. Inter‐rater reliability checks were conducted during initial assessments of 37 children in 11 schools. Focus groups discussed practical relevance of the tool. The evidence from this small‐scale study suggests that a range of assessors can reliably complete the MMSA. The tool also taps into functionally relevant motor skills for primary age children and informs programme planning. The MMSA appears to be a promising tool for supporting primary schools in identifying children with motor skills difficulties. The contribution of EPs to the MMSA’s development and implementation is discussed.     

An Exploratory Study of Factors Influencing Audience's Attitudes Toward Imported Television Programs in Taiwan

The diffusion of international television programs has been an important area of international communication research. In this article, we use theoretical constructs from country-of-origin and cultural proximity literatures and develop a model to explain audience's attitudes toward and willingness to watch imported television programs from China. Our study used a questionnaire survey method to collect data from 553 respondents in Taiwan. We examined television programs imported from China, a country that has tried to invade Taiwan to destroy its democracy in the past decades. Regression analyses found that, whereas cultural proximity was an important predictor, animosity turned out to be a more powerful predictor of Taiwanese audience's attitudes toward television programs from China. The results also demonstrated that if the Taiwanese audience perceived China as holding less animosity and more cultural proximity, they had more positive attitudes and were more willing to watch television programs imported from China.     

Journalism and Critical Engagement: Naiveté, Embarrassment,and Intelligibility

This article explores the possibility of journalists acting as custodians of critical engagement, drawing on Rancière's conception of dissensus as organized disagreement over the conditions of understanding. It begins by assessing the status that worthiness and naiveté have as negative symbolic capital in the journalistic field, before asking whether journalists' ambivalent detachment from the objects of their inquiry hinders their ability to engage critically with experts in other fields. It argues that journalism's role in marshaling dissensus amounts to making clear the limits and absences of intelligibility in journalism and other fields, in distinction to disseminating knowledge as such.     

eResources in Academic Libraries: A Look Ahead

Tim Collins, President and Founder, EBSCO Publishing, presented “eResources in Academic Libraries: A Look Ahead” at the eResource & Emerging Technologies Summit held at Mississippi State University Libraries on August 3, 2012. Collins presented EBSCO's strategy for creating the single search box and the philosophy behind their Discovery Service. He provided information on the different types of content providers and the search capabilities of their Discovery Service. Collins also presented information regarding eBooks on EBSCOhost and what they have done since acquiring NetLibrary.     

A Global Perspective on Technology Integration in Education: Problems and Strategies

Abstract

How to prepare to use the new technologies in education is a challenge to all of us, and in particular how to use PCs. The article looks at these, the curriculum strategies and the problems sometimes faced by conservatism in the instructors, and it concludes with hints for helping with technologies through behaviours.