Cross-country comparisons of cultural statistics: Issues and good practice

Cross-country comparisons are popular in cultural policy. This paper looks at how cultural statistics are used in the making of such comparisons. Analysts have identified a general ‘sloppiness’ in current cultural statistics comparisons. Some of the major problems in both data production and data presentation are documented, and a ‘checklist’ of good practice is provided. The paper aims to provide guidance and ideas for anyone making cross-country comparisons of cultural statistics.     

浅谈英汉互译中的文化比较与翻译策略

语言是社会文化的产物,同时又是社会文化的一个组成部分;文化是语言活动的一个大环境,它既反映在语言文字中,又存在于使用该语言文字不同民族的知识结构中。该文从语言和文化的关系入手,阐述了文化现象对语言理解与转化的影响和制约,同时就文化比较与翻译策略做了一些浅略的分析,旨在帮助英语学习者能够快速理解并准确掌握英汉互译中的一些翻译技巧。     

Motivations for choosing teaching as a career: An international comparison using the FIT-Choice scale

Motivations for preservice teachers' choice of teaching as a career were investigated using the Factors Influencing Teaching Choice scale (FIT-Choice scale; Watt & Richardson, 2007). This scale was initially developed and validated in the Australian context; our study applied it across international samples from Australia, the United States, Germany, and Norway. Support for strong factorial invariance implied the scale functioned similarly, and could fruitfully be employed in different contexts. Sample comparisons revealed that motivations for teaching were more similar than they were different across these samples; whereas, perceptions about the teaching profession tended to reflect country differences.     

Salary Information Sources for Librarians' Salaries at Small Colleges and Universities

Salary comparisons are important for the profession. They provide information that administrators and others in positions of authority need to make salary decisions. Although there are annually published sources of information on entry level positions, information on middle to senior level or on specialized positions in small colleges and universities is less readily available. There is no single source for comparing these salaries. To make this task easier, the authors review and evaluate sources of comparative salary data in relation to selected criteria that are particularly useful to small college and university librarians.     

Student Conceptions of Ionic Bonding: Patterns of thinking across three European contexts

Previous research has reported that students commonly develop alternative conceptions in the core topic of chemical bonding. Research in England has reported that students there commonly demonstrate an alternative ‘molecular’ conceptual framework for thinking about ionic bonding: in terms of the formation of molecule-like ions pairs through electron transfer, which are internally bonded, but not bonded to other ions. The present study reports the use of translated versions of a diagnostic instrument to elicit the conceptions of bonding in NaCl (commonly used as the teaching example of an ionic compound) from two samples of students setting out on university courses in Greece and Turkey. The study reports that students in these two contexts displayed high levels of support for statements based upon the alternative conceptual framework identified in the English context. Students commonly develop similar alternative conceptions of ionic bonding in these three different educational contexts. The study also found some quite large differences in the specific response patterns across these three contexts, some of which could reflect specific features of the different curriculum contexts. The study reinforces the cross-national nature of the challenge of effectively teaching the abstract models of chemistry at the submicroscopic level. It also provides intriguing suggestions that a close study of the interactions between specific curriculum contexts and specific patterns in students' thinking offers much potential for identifying particular aspects of subject pedagogy that either support or impede the learning of accepted scientific models.     

The Impact of Noninvariant Intercepts in Latent Means Models

Latent means methods such as multiple-indicator multiple-cause (MIMIC) and structured means modeling (SMM) allow researchers to determine whether or not a significant difference exists between groups' factor means. Strong invariance is typically recommended when interpreting latent mean differences. The extent of the impact of noninvariant intercepts on conclusions made when implementing both MIMIC and SMM methods was the main purpose of this study. The impact of intercept noninvariance on Type I error rates, power, and two model fit indices when using MIMIC and SMM approaches under various conditions were examined. Type I error and power were adversely affected by intercept noninvariance. Although the fit indices did not detect small misspecifications in the form of noninvariant intercepts, one did perform more optimally.     

Why We (Usually) Don't Have to Worry About Multiple Comparisons

Abstract

Applied researchers often find themselves making statistical inferences in settings that would seem to require multiple comparisons adjustments. We challenge the Type I error paradigm that underlies these corrections. Moreover we posit that the problem of multiple comparisons can disappear entirely when viewed from a hierarchical Bayesian perspective. We propose building multilevel models in the settings where multiple comparisons arise. Multilevel models perform partial pooling (shifting estimates toward each other), whereas classical procedures typically keep the centers of intervals stationary, adjusting for multiple comparisons by making the intervals wider (or, equivalently, adjusting the p values corresponding to intervals of fixed width). Thus, multilevel models address the multiple comparisons problem and also yield more efficient estimates, especially in settings with low group-level variation, which is where multiple comparisons are a particular concern.     

Gymnastics

Abstract

The aim of our research was to study the relationships between performance variables in a support backward swing (SBS), which was used as a progressive step in the learning procedure for a 1#fr1/4> straddle‐piked front somersault and the swing prior to a 1#fr1/4> straddle‐piked front somersault from support to bent arm support on the parallel bars (5/4S). Mitja Petkov?ek, parallel bars gold medallist at the 2000 EC in Bremen, performed these elements. Kinematic analysis involved CMAS software (Praha, 1993), and the Suskana body segment model that has 17 points and 15 segments. Kinetic variables were estimated using 2D IMGIM software, which has 8 points and 6 segments (Colja and ?uk, 1994). The results indicated that some kinematic aspects of the two types of swings were similar but there were important differences in kinetic aspects of the motion. During the swing for the 5/4S, force and torque were higher than in the SBS.     

手记与对话:诗词中的“故事人生”

古代诗词的阐释包含一个问题,即如何将理论的逻辑性和课堂的生动性融合于一体。笔者以古诗词的故事意境为出发点,通过观照诗词人物的生命经历,结合现实人生的体验,调动学生的情感和想象力,让他们亲近人物、亲近诗词,同时也亲近自己的人生。具体而言,主要通过故事讲述、古今对比和景物描绘三种方式发挥教师的想象力,使得学生迅速进入诗词情境,从而起到陶冶情操、感动心灵的作用。     

Social and Dimensional Comparisons in the Formation of German Students’ Language Self-Concepts

Abstract

This study extended the internal/external reference model to multiple languages including students’ language of instruction, first foreign language, and second foreign language. We examined whether social and dimensional comparisons play similar roles in the formation of students’ self-concept related to different languages and whether dimensional comparisons result in contrast or assimilation effects. All students had German as the language of instruction and English as the first foreign language. Students were divided into a subsample (N?=?487) learning French as a second foreign language and a subsample (N?=?481) learning Latin. Invariance tests demonstrated that the achievement–self-concept relations were similar across the subsamples, but interesting group differences became apparent when analyzing the French and Latin subsamples separately.