Exploring attribution theory and bias

Courses: This activity can be used in a wide range of classes, including interpersonal communication, introduction to communication, and small group communication

Objectives: After completing this activity, students should be able to: (1) define attribution theory, personality attribution, situational attribution, and attribution bias; (2) provide examples of both personality and situational attributions; and (3) recognize why and when each type of attribution is used. This activity provides students an opportunity to explore attribution theory and attribution bias in a low-stakes setting, where the ultimate goal is a deeper understanding of the theory itself. Therefore, this activity is typically not treated as a graded assignment, but rather an opportunity for exploration and discussion.     

A Comparison of Three Approaches to Electronic Media Diaries

This project compared the richness of reporting and reflection of three approaches to electronic media diaries. For 1 week, 145 students were randomly assigned to keep daily diaries about their media use and perceptions of media content using one of three methods: (a) a traditional daily journaling approach conducted online, (b) an experience sampling method (ESM) approach that combined daily journaling with multiple daily message prompts, and (c) an approach that combined online peer-group discussion with online daily journaling. The goal was to determine if the supplementary diary activities yielded more detailed, emotive, and cognitive responses. Diary content was analyzed using traditional manual content analysis and linguistic software. Results indicated that the ESM condition elicited less cognitive- and affective-oriented language than the other conditions. The group discussion condition evidenced some advantage over the diary-only group in terms of number of media channels and specific content mentioned.     

A Unified Measure of Media Brand Personality: Developing A Media Brand Personality Scale for Multiple Media

The macro versus micro debate in the brand personality literature has yielded a variety of micro approach brand personality scales for different media, with both differences and parallels in personality dimensions uncovered. The observed parallels in media brand personality dimensions and the varying media contexts under which empirical tests of selective exposure theories have been conducted suggest some common ground in the way that media product brands of different formats are perceived by individuals prior to selection and that the optimal method of measuring brand personality for media products may be neither broad macro inventories nor highly context-specific micro measures but somewhere in between. This article discusses the construction of a unified scale of media brand personality that can measure the personality of movie, TV show, pop song, news, and video game brands. The results of a two-step study consisting of free-association task (N = 1,440) and factor structure formation survey of selected items (N = 4,967) suggest a three-factor structure consisting of aggression, heroism, and warmth. Communication, media management, and marketing ramifications of this scale and potential directions of future research are discussed.     

寻觅知音

从前,有一位老师和他的一个学生。一天,他们躺在一大片草地旁的一棵大树下。忽然,学生问老师:"老师,我很困惑,我们怎样才能找到知音?您能告诉我吗?"老师沉默了片刻,然后回答:"嗯,这是个既难又简单的问题。"     

A study of student participation and nonparticipation in prelecture electronic surveys

Student nonparticipation in electronic surveys represents a challenge to educators as it may impact significantly on the implementation or evaluation of the associated teaching activities. We here study the student evaluation of a pedagogical project consisting of prelecture online polling followed by linked revision lectures. This investigation involves studying the responses from 43 undergraduate students following a course in accounting at a British university. With regard to the students' views on the use of prelecture polling, our study shows that there are no statistically significant differences between those who did not participate in the online polling and those who did. Both groups of students were generally positive about the use of (1) polling results in structuring the revision lecture, (2) online survey in helping them prepare for the examination and (3) online polling as a teaching platform in other courses. Our findings therefore suggest that prelecture electronic surveys can help engage students with follow‐up lectures, including those who did not participate in the prelecture survey.     

Research report

The primary purpose was to investigate the efficacy of a full year of single‐sex (SS) teaching of science. The secondary aims were to locate any differentiation by set and gender, and to relate these to more proximal variables. Participants were 13 year olds. Higher set girls gave evidence of clear benefits overall, and higher set boys also, except in biology. Lower set pupils performed at or below expectations. Analyses of additional questionnaire and interview data pointed to further reasons for avoiding the making of unqualified generalizations about SS teaching. Pupil preferences for SS teaching were relevant, as were gender differences in attitudes to biology and physics. Qualitative data suggested higher set girls benefited from more learningrelated classroom interaction and less interference and exploitation of girls by boys in SS classes. Lower set pupils complained that SS teaching deprived them of social interaction with the other sex. The concluding suggestion was that SS teaching offers affordances of benefits when mixed‐sex teaching has specifiable disadvantages.     

The explanation of practice: Why Chinese students copy assignments

Empirical research on copying and cheating in high school and university has typically employed quantitative survey methods. While these methods tell us about the conditions under which it is more and less likely to occur, they tell us less about the reasoning that leads students to copy the work of others. An alternative problem-based methodology (PBM) is presented which treats copying as a student'ssolution to the problem of how to complete an assignment, and investigates it by inquiry into the problem-solving processes that give rise to it. The methodology is employed in a study of copying among a small sample of Chinese university students. Intensive probing of their reasoning revealed the beliefs, motives and contextual conditions that led them to copy. Copying was a habitual strategy of both strong and weak students and was motivated by a wish to obtain the desired grade in the most efficient manner possible. The findings are discussed in terms of explanatory adequacy and implications for intervention.     

Adult education and critical identity development: from a deficiency orientation towards a competency orientation

The translation of this paper has been made possible with the financial help of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences)

In this paper the authors criticise the growing tendency to conceive of adult education as a qualification oriented field of practice. Especially with respect to disadvantaged groups in society this orientation could have a stigmatizing effect. Various agents of education consider them as deficient and hence describe their identity in negative terms. Contrary to this, the authors develop a more positive orientation towards identity development and outline a new understanding of adult education. Their approach is inspired by insights developed in an area of cultural studies.