Human Rights Education as a Field of Practice and of Theoretical Reflection

International Review of Education -     

Students' Acceptance of Tablet PCs in the Classroom

In recent years digital technologies, such as tablet personal computers (TPCs), have become an integral part of a school's infrastructure and are seen as a promising way to facilitate students' learning processes. This study empirically tested a theoretical model derived from the technology acceptance model containing key constructs developed in previous research on the acceptance of technological innovations. On the basis of the research model, it was hypothesized that students' acceptance of tablet PCs could be explained by key constructs and could be distinguished in organizational, individual, and technological factors. The survey research was conducted in three German middle schools, involving a total of 120 students. Overall, participants' attitude toward the TPC positively predicted their behavioral intention to use the TPC and as such had the strongest direct influence. The findings emphasize the importance of understanding factors affecting students' attitudes in order to manage and influence the integration of TPCs in schools.     

Reporting effect size estimates in school psychology research

This article reviews the arguments for reporting effect size estimates as part of the statistical results in empirical studies. Following this review, formulas are presented for the calculation of major mean‐difference and association‐based effect size measures for t tests, one‐way ANOVA, zero order correlation, simple regression, multiple regression, and chi‐square. The emphasis is on the presentation formulas that make the calculation of effect size measures as easy as possible. In most cases, the formula components are readily available and easily recognizable on the output from most major statistical software. Examples of effect size reporting with guidelines for design and analytic variations are provided. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 43: 653–672, 2006.     

The effectiveness of subsidies revisited: Accounting for wage and employment effects in business R&D

The present paper investigates the effectiveness of public subsidies on business enterprise research in a panel of OECD countries. We contribute to the literature by explicitly distinguishing between the effects of a subsidy on R&D employment and expenditure, thereby accounting for a potential increase in scientists’ wages. We employ instrumental variable regressions to address endogeneity problems of the subsidization. The results indicate that subsidies are effective in generating additional research expenditure. Expenditure for business research increases by roughly 20% more than employment. We take this as evidence that subsidies may raise scientists’ wages given standard production functions.     

(N)Olympia in Germany? An analysis of the referendum against Munich 2022

In November 2013, local citizens of Munich and the surrounding districts voted in a referendum against a city’s bid for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. Since this is but one example of such a failed referendum—others being the ones in Poland, Switzerland and Austria—it is astonishing that it seems to become common practice to conduct public polls regarding the bid for a mega sport event. The city of Hamburg, for instance, will be the next German city to hold a referendum on its bid for the 2024 Olympic Games in November 2015. Against this backdrop, we introduce the ‘Arenatheoretical Model’ into mega event research and conduct a qualitative content analysis of the media coverage on the Munich referendum. Three nationwide German newspapers were analysed as the model suggests that this coverage has a profound influence on the public opinion in other parts of the country. The aim was to identify arguments brought forward to explain the outcome of the referendum. Besides a number of other issues, such as concerns regarding event legacy and regional matters, major findings stress the significance of a damaged brand image of international sport organisations and ‘their’ events. Based on these insights, a number of implications can be derived for other cities/nations and sport organisations that depend on a favourable public opinion in their efforts to stage a mega sport event.