Journal Editorial Policies Regarding Statistical Significance Tests: Heat Is to Fire as p Is to Importance

The present paper responds to defenses of statistical significance testing offered by Levin and Robinson. First, some inaccurate perceptions of contemporary criticisms of statistical tests are noted. Second, areas of disagreement are explored. For example, it is noted that all nine empirical studies of reporting practices since 1994 show that encouraging (per the 1994 APA style manual) authors to report effect sizes has not worked; two reasons for this failure are explored. Finally, two important areas of agreement regarding needed improvements in contemporary practices are noted.     

Association between self-reported health and physical and/or sexual abuse experienced before age 18

OBJECTIVE: The present study evaluated the association between women's health and physical and sexual abuse suffered before age 18. METHODS: A total of 3,568 randomly sampled insured women ages 18-64 completed a telephone interview to assess history of physical only, sexual only, or both physical and sexual abuse before age 18 (Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System); and current health (Short Form-36, Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression, Presence of Symptoms surveys). Adjusted analyses compared the health of women with physical abuse only, sexual abuse only, or physical and sexual abuse to the health of women without these abuse histories. RESULTS: Poorest health status was observed in women with a history of both physical and sexual child abuse compared to women without these abuse histories. In models that adjusted for age and income, women with both abuse types had increased prevalence of depression (prevalence ratio, 2.16), severe depression (PR, 2.84), physical symptoms (PR range, 1.33 for joint pain to 2.78 for nausea/vomiting), fair/poor health (PR, 1.84), and lower SF-36 scores (3.15-5.40 points lower). Women with physical abuse only or sexual abuse only also had higher prevalence of symptoms and lower SF-36 scores but the associations were not as strong. CONCLUSIONS: This study adds to the literature showing a graded association between multiple adverse events in childhood and adult health.     

Living and learning as an international postgraduate student at a Midlands university

This paper investigates the views of 20 full-time international postgraduate students, many of whom were Chinese, on living, learning and becoming successful students at one university in a multicultural city in the Midlands of England. The qualitative study built on findings from the International Students’ Barometer (ISB) survey for the university, in that it seeks to understand how students’ experience of context (living) interacted with their experience of learning in building their identities as successful learners. Student participants were sampled opportunistically within a purposive framework. Data was collected through audio-recorded individual semi-structured interviews, using as a stimulus participant-constructed concept maps of their perceptions of learning in the university and living in the city. Interview data were transcribed and analysed thematically. The main findings showed that participants enjoyed living in a city with an international culture, although some found it strange initially because they encountered different styles of life and food, albeit including some that they enjoyed at home. They welcomed studying at a university with high international prestige, a wide range of excellent facilities and generally approachable tutors but were shocked by having to undertake unfamiliar styles of independent learning with brief teaching hours. They perceived culture shock as transitional, which declined as they made friends, often with co-linguists, and became familiar with life in the city, work in the university and the extensive support of tutors.     

Opportunity structures and educational marginality: the post-16 transitions of young people outside education and employment

This paper reports on findings from a three-year ethnographic study of 24 young people in northern England who were classified as not in education, employment or training (NEET), or at risk of becoming so. Drawing on conceptions of opportunity structure and educational marginality, the paper discusses the processes leading to young people becoming NEET after leaving school. It presents findings concerning the family backgrounds, school experiences, and educational attainment of participants, and traces their initial post-16 destinations and their pathways to NEET status. Although most participants did not become NEET immediately after leaving school, restricted labour market opportunities and a lack of high-quality education and training for middle- and low-attaining young people exacerbated social and educational disadvantage. Over time, participants became increasingly restricted to marginal forms of learning. The paper argues that a focus on opportunity structures provides a powerful way of understanding these processes, and that alongside sustained NEET status, educational marginality should be of equal concern to policy makers.     

Racial Identity Theory and Peace Education: Tools for the Teacher In All of Us

As people develop a meaningful understanding of racism, they also experience shifts in their appraisals of self and others as members of an unfairly stratified society. Consistent with the premises of Helms' (1995) racial identity theory, these shifts can be explained as transformational processes that have relevance to matters of morality and peace advancement. Individuals who operate at advanced levels of racial identity development overcome the confinements inherent in a racism Zeitgeist and in so doing, learn to accept themselves and others more authentically. This theory can prove crucial to peace promotion in children because it espouses to nurture the integration of self within the broader spectrum of humanity. Educators who transform their selves can also transform their educational practices by disrupting cycles of socialization that adversely influence children's identity formation. They can also contribute to the creation of new structures of socialization. In this paper, I describe this theory and how it applies to peace education.     

Motivation and study habits

The first part of the article reviews the literature (mainly British) on the relationships between academic performance in higher education and motivation and study habits. The distinction between goal-orientated and intrinsic motivation is used to clarify the meaning of previous studies. Among the investigations of study habits, the dimension of syllabus-boundness/syllabus-freedom helps to relate psychiatric work on study difficulties to research using self-report inventories.The weakness of the questionnaire approach in explaining the relationships observed led to the use of semi-structured interviews. In the second part of the article the students' explanations of their reactions to higher education demonstrate, in particular, that fear of failure and hope for success present alternative motivations towards academic success.     

Tertiary pedagogy encounters the technological imperative

In one of the most challenging periods to confront tertiary education, we examine the impact that technology is having on the experience of one open and distance education university: Deakin University in Victoria, Australia. This paper considers how the espoused pedagogical views that were expressed by the academics interviewed, individually and collectively impacted on their attitudes to information technologies and to their reactions to exposure to and experience with various technologies. The first part of the paper explicitly considers the interview as a research method and situates the interviews we undertook within current scholarship. The focus of the interviews was to seek perceptions of what constituted good teaching as well as the relevance of technology for teaching: as each academic defined it; the discipline concerned and the mode of delivery (i.e. on and/or off‐campus). The research did not provide definitive answers but suggested themes and implications which are considered in the Conclusion. Although restricted to the perceptions of five academics at one university, the extent to which each of the ‘case studies' resonates with the reader's experience takes it beyond the experience of the one tertiary institution.     

Staff Self‐Appraisal at the Departmental Level: A Case Study

The introduction of academic staff appraisal in higher education institutions in Australia will require a considerable expansion in staff development facilities. An important issue will be the relative emphasis to be placed upon central staff development units as against structures at the faculty or departmental level. This case study, conducted at Macquarie University and aimed at improving teaching in higher education, explores the Self‐Appraisal Workshop as one such structure and suggests that it provides a very useful format at the faculty or departmental level because it brings together people teaching similar course units. As a result it is easier to integrate aspects such as curriculum design, assessment policies, academic content and teaching methods, than it is at the central level where staff development workshops usually have a cross‐faculty mix. An evaluation, based upon student ratings of teaching, interviews and staff reflection on the process, suggests that the Self‐Appraisal Workshop is a valuable technique for staff appraisal and development.     

Faculty behavior in low-paradigm versus high-paradigm disciplines: A case study

The notion of academic disciplines being characterized as high- or low-paradigm technologies was developed by Lodahl and Gordon from Kuhn's concept of a paradigm. Using this concept, the voting pattern of high-paradigm faculty (chemistry, physics, mathematics, and engineering) was compared to low-paradigm faculty (sociology, political science, history, and education) concerning a controversial campus issue to liberalize curriculum choices for students. It was found that high-paradigm faculty were not willing to grant students more latitude to select courses for degree requirements, while low-paradigm faculty members were in favor of giving students more latitude to select academic courses for degree requirements. The unique aspect of this study is that faculty behavior, as described in an actual case study, corresponds to theoretical positions supported by questionnaire data.