Assessing and Controlling Acquiescent Responding When Acquiescence and Content Are Related: A Comprehensive Factor-Analytic Approach

This article proposes procedures for assessing and controlling acquiescence in personality scales when acquiescence is related to the content that the scale intends to measure. Our proposal is comprehensive in that it can be applied to different item response formats fitted with response models that can be parameterized as factor-analytic models. In the calibration stage, our proposal makes joint use of a balanced scale and a set of markers for acquiescence, and consists of 2 sequential procedures: a direct semirestricted solution, and a restricted solution with minimal identification constraints. In the scoring stage, we discuss how the information given by the acquiescence–content relation can be used to obtain Bayes expected a posteriori scores. The robustness of the direct procedure is assessed both analytically and by simulation. A free, user-friendly program that implements the procedures proposed is made available. Practical issues of use and interpretation are discussed and illustrated with an empirical application.     

A Structural Equation Model at the Individual and Group Level for Assessing Faking-Related Change

This article proposes a comprehensive approach based on structural equation modeling for assessing the amount of trait-level change derived from faking-motivating situations. The model is intended for a mixed 2-wave 2-group design, and assesses change at both the group and the individual level. Theoretically the model adopts an integrative approach that relates the 2 main current conceptualizations of faking, and models the amount of trait change as an individual-differences variable. The model and procedures are used in an empirical study based on 512 participants. Some of the results are interesting and warrant further research. Overall, the methodology that is proposed provides new resources for the theoretical and applied assessment of faking. In particular, it provides the practitioner with new tools for clearly assessing faking at the individual level.     

Multidimensional Factor-Analysis-Based Procedures for Assessing Scalability in Personality Measurement

Most personality tests are made up of Likert-type items and analyzed by means of factor analysis (FA). In this type of application, the fit of the model at the level of individual respondents is almost never assessed. This article proposes procedures for assessing individual fit (scalability). The procedures are intended for the analysis of multitrait personality questionnaires, and based on the multiple FA model. A general assessment procedure is described, and 2 multidimensional scalability indexes that use the chi-square and normal distribution are proposed. These indexes are derived both as residual measures and as likelihood-based person-fit measures, and their relations with some item-response, theory-based measures is discussed. The indexes are proposed mainly as first-step exploratory devices, and procedures for obtaining further information about the possible causes of misfit are also discussed. The behavior of the indexes is assessed in simulation studies, and the general procedure is illustrated by means of an empirical example.     

Combining IRT and SEM: A Hybrid Model for Fitting Responses and Response Certainties

This article proposes a model-based procedure, intended for personality measures, for exploiting the auxiliary information provided by the certainty with which individuals answer every item (response certainty). This information is used to (a) obtain more accurate estimates of individual trait levels, and (b) provide a more detailed assessment of the consistency with which the individual responds to the test. The basis model consists of 2 submodels: an item response theory submodel for the responses, and a linear-in-the-coefficients submodel that describes the response certainties. The latter is based on the distance-difficulty hypothesis, and is parameterized as a factor-analytic model. Procedures for (a) estimating the structural parameters, (b) assessing model–data fit, (c) estimating the individual parameters, and (d) assessing individual fit are discussed. The proposal was used in an empirical study. Model–data fit was acceptable and estimates were meaningful. Furthermore, the precision of the individual trait estimates and the assessment of the individual consistency improved noticeably.     

Antoni Quintana-Marí (1907–1998): A Pioneer of the Use of History of Science in Science Education

In the early 1930s, the young Antoni Quintana-Marí undertook some research on Antoni de Martí i Franquès, one of the most prominent Catalan scientists of the Enlightenment. This scientist worked in Tarragona, where Quintana-Marí lived. Quintana-Marí learnt about Martí i Franquès from Josep Estalella, his teacher of physics and chemistry at the secondary school. It was while researching on Martí i Franquès that Quintana-Marí became a true historian of science. He subsequently collaborated with other Spanish and foreign historians of science in the early years of this discipline. Quintana-Marí never forgot that his passion for history of science had been aroused by his school teacher.     

Enzyme activity and myoglobin concentration in rat myocardium and skeletal muscles after passive intermittent simulated altitude exposure

Abstract

We studied the effect of intermittent hypobaric hypoxia exposure on lactate dehydrogenase and citrate synthase activities, together with myoglobin content, of rat myocardium, tibialis anterior, and diaphragm muscles. The intermittent hypoxia exposure programme consisted of daily 4-h sessions in a hypobaric chamber (5000 m) over a period of 22 days. Samples were taken at the end of the programme, and 20 and 40 days later, and compared with those of control animals. In myocardium, lactate dehydrogenase activity was significantly depressed in animals 20 days post-exposure (314.6 ± 15.3 IU · g^?1) compared with control animals (400 ± 14.3 IU · g^?1), while citrate synthase activity and myoglobin concentration showed a significant stepwise increase from control animals (88.2 ± 3.6 IU · g^?1 and 4.38 ± 0.13 μm · mg^?1) to animals 20 days (104.7 ± 3.7 IU · g^?1 and 5.01 ± 0.17 μm · mg^?1) and 40 days post-exposure (108.8 ± 6.5 IU · g^?1 and 5.11 ± 0.22 μm · mg^?1). In contrast, no differences were found in diaphragm and tibialis anterior muscles. Our results show that intermittent hypobaric hypoxia exposure increased the oxidative character of myocardium even 20 days after the hypoxic stimulus has ceased, and that this effect lasts for more than 40 days for citrate synthase activity and myoglobin concentration. These findings support our previous results on skeletal and cardiac muscle capillarization after passive intermittent simulated altitude exposure, thus providing morphofunctional and biochemical evidence for increased cardiac aerobic efficiency.     

A General Factor-Analytic Procedure for Assessing Response Bias in Questionnaire Measures

This article proposes procedures for simultaneously assessing and controlling acquiescence and social desirability in questionnaire items. The procedures are based on a semirestricted factor-analytic tridimensional model, and can be used with binary, graded-response, or more continuous items. We discuss procedures for fitting the model (item calibration) and for estimating the individual factor scores. We also show how the results can be used and interpreted in applied research. The procedures are illustrated with 2 empirical applications in the personality domain.     

Transformar conflictos en educación física en primaria a través del juego. Aplicación del índice de conflictividad

Resumen

En este artículo se propone utilizar el concepto de índice de conflictividad (ICf) como herramienta pedagógica al servicio del profesorado para transformar los conflictos motores (CM) en educación física (EF) en primaria. La revisión de la literatura y la aplicación de los fundamentos de la praxiología motriz permiten identificar cada juego como un laboratorio de relaciones sociales y también localizar el tipo de conductas conflictivas que protagoniza el alumnado en cada familia de juegos (dominios de acción motriz). El estudio adoptó un diseño de caso único, con un grupo de 43 alumnos de educación primaria, de corte longitudinal (un curso escolar). Se analizaron 746 CM surgidos en 255 juegos motores realizados en 42 clases de EF. Los resultados indicaron que el grupo era muy conflictivo (ICf predominante de nivel alto) y que los CM variaron en función de la familia de juegos. Se concluye que el ICf puede ser una herramienta clave para diagnosticar y posteriormente transformar los conflictos motores.