An exploratory investigation of the effects of a cultural orientation programme on the psychological well-being of international university students

Culture shock has been identified as a psychological reaction to a change in cultural environment. The main symptoms of culture shock are reported to be psychological disturbance, a negative reaction to the new surroundings and a longing for a more familiar environment. Research has identified culture shock as a component in the difficulties that international students face when studying in another country. One way that institutions of higher education have responded to these difficulties is to provide initial cultural orientation. In the study reported here, a group of post-graduate students who had participated in a study skills and cultural orientation course at a British university were compared with a group who had not. Contrary to the research hypothesis, the group that took part in the orientation course were significantly more homesick and reported more psychological difficulties. The overall findings cast doubt on the received view of culture shock as it affects international students. They suggest that culture shock is exacerbated by personal and social factors and this has implications for the way that international students may be helped through the experience.     

Phil Dowe And Paul Noordhof * Cause and Chance: Causation in an Indeterministic World

1 Summaries

2 Reflections

     

Repeating the first grade: How the decision is made

Although there has been a great deal of debate about whether or not children should repeat a grade in school, a more interesting question is which children are retained. This study addresses the question of what kind of children were retained in the first grade as compared to the norm, and as compared to a group of promoted children who were classroom peers yet who educators in the middle of the year considered to be possible nonpromotion candidates. Teachers from 6 school districts identified in March 146 children as candidates to repeat the first grade. By September, 84 had been retained, 62 promoted. In the Spring before the decision was made, we tested all children with a variety of measures of immaturity: intellectual, social, emotional, and physical. Promoted candidates differed from nonpromoted first graders with respect to academic achievement, cognitive development, and adaptation to school. All candidates, both promoted and retained, scored below average in reading achievement, visual-motor integration, and adaptation, but scored in the average range with respect to IQ, height and weight, and social adjustment. A cluster analysis on cases for the retained children further revealed three subgroups of retained children: One group had low scores on all measures of immaturity, especially self-concept; a second group had high or medium scores on all measures; and a third group had low math skills, but good social skills. These results may be interpreted as indicating that some children are appropriately retained and some are not.     

Light's retention scale does not predict success in first-grade retainees

Light's Retention Scale totals, along with measures of reading achievement, mathematics achievement, and self-concept taken at the time first grade nonpromotion was being considered, were used to predict nine separate outcome measures of academic, emotional, and social status at the end of the repeated first grade. In none of the stepwise regressions did the Light total add to the prediction of outcome in the children repeating the first grade. This result, added to earlier studies, suggests that Light's Retention Scale is neither reliable nor valid as a psychometric device.     

Detecting potential hucksterism in meta-analysis using a follow-up fail-safe test

Meta-analysis is an analysis of analyses. It is a technique widely used by researchers and practitioners to aggregate and summarize statistically reported empirical educational research. In 10 years, meta-analysis appeared more than 600 times in research journals and dissertation abstracts. Although most meta-analyses were reported as significant, few of the findings determined how many unpublished “no-effect” studies, if sampled, would have invalidated significance. If significant meta-analysis results are over represented through selective sampling, hucksterism in the form of sampling bias exists. An explanation for using a follow-up test called the fail-safe N is provided with tables constructed to assist researchers and practitioners to estimate, without calculation, the relative stability of meta-analysis results. The implication is that failsafe N should routinely be used and reported in meta-analysis research.     

The retrograde motion of planets and children: Interpreting percentile rank

A common method used to interpret raw scores is to convert them into percentile rank. The broad application of percentile rank in almost all norm-referenced tests, and the exclusive use in some tests, requires the conversion of raw scores. Because percentile rank is not a linear transformation of raw scores, percentile-rank transformation in the lower and upper part of the raw-score distribution relates percentile rank and raw scores differently than in the center of the raw-score distribution. This paper describes the popularity of using percentile rank and offers an interpretation of the use of percentile rank with normal and skewed score distributions.     

Comprehensive school-linked services: Implications for school psychologists

This article reviews the primary concepts underlying the current movement toward the provision of comprehensive school-linked services for children and families in low-income communities and the implications of this movement for school psychologists. The development of collaborative partnerships involving schools, public, and community-based agencies is an attempt to increase the availability and accessibility of needed services to children and families. The adoption of collaborative governance and a case management system is intended to offer an alternative to the proliferation of separate categorical programs and the associated lack of coordination among programs. The hope is to emphasize prevention and efficient early intervention. Collaborative efforts can provide an opportunity for role expansion among school psychologists. This possibility is discussed within a consultation model of service delivery that is consistent with the collaborative nature of school-linked services and with the preventive stance that orginated them. School psychologists are in a position to contribute to team consultation, case management, and needs assessment. Implications for training are drawn.     

Sprint running kinematics and kinetics in pre-peak-height-velocity male children on a non-motorised treadmill: reliability and normative data

The purpose of this study was to quantify the reliability of kinematic and kinetic variables using a sample of pre-peak-height-velocity (PHV) male athletes sprinting on a non-motorised treadmill. Following variables were measured and their normative data presented, average and peak velocity, average and peak power, average and peak horizontal force, average and peak vertical force, average step frequency, average step length, average work. Twenty-five participants performed three 5-s all-out sprints from a standing split start on a non-motorised treadmill on three separate occasions. Per cent change in the means (-3.66 to 3.35%) and coefficients of variation (0.56–7.81%) were thought reliable for all variables. However, average step rate, average horizontal force and average vertical force did not meet the standards (≥0.70) set for acceptable intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). Due to the homogeneous group, it was expected to receive low ICC values. Therefore, youth sprinting performance can be tested reliably on a non-motorised treadmill, especially if the per cent change in the mean and CV are deemed the important reliability measures. Normative data are given for the participant’s age as well as their maturity level for kinematic and kinetic variables.