Discrete Choice Modeling in Education: An Innovative Method to Assess Teaching Practices

Self‐reported measures are an easy, time‐efficient, and low‐cost way to collect research data compared to other assessment methods. They are, however, characterized by several limitations regarding the quality and the clarity of the data they produce, especially when they are implemented in education. The main purpose of the current study was to use a method called discrete choice modeling (DCM) in education, in order to develop a self‐reported instrument that will reduce the bias for socially desirable responses and to assess teachers’ practices in physical activity. DCM method has the ability to overcome the respondents’ tendency to answer in a socially desirable way. A nationally representative sample of 531 Greek early educators participated in this study and were administered a self‐assessment questionnaire based on DCM. Results showed that the DCM based newly developed instrument manages to assess effectively educators’ practices and provided evidence of the applicability of the method in education. Further implications and future recommendations regarding the effective application of DCM in education are discussed.     

Comparing cumulative index and factor analytic approaches to measuring maltreatment in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health

Child maltreatment is a complex and multifaceted construct in need of advanced statistical techniques to improve its measurement. The current study compared the predictive utility of a cumulative index to a factor analytic approach for constructing a measure of maltreatment. Data were from Waves III and IV of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Wave III: n = 14,800; Wave IV: n = 12,288). As adults, participants retrospectively reported on their childhood experiences of physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, physical neglect, supervisory neglect, and social services investigations. Both the cumulative index and a two-factor solution showed evidence of convergent validity, predicting lifetime incidence of homelessness, being paid for sex, and various measures of running away or living apart from biological parents, and prospectively predicting depression, substance use, and criminal behavior. The latent variables, derived from a factor analytic approach, had greater explanatory power for many outcomes compared to the cumulative index, even when controlling for sociodemographic variables. Results suggest that factor analysis is a better methodology than a cumulative index for measuring maltreatment in large datasets when explanatory power for external outcomes is of greatest concern.     

Digital Module 05: Diagnostic Measurement—The G‐DINA Framework https://ncme.elevate.commpartners.com

In this ITEMS module, we introduce the generalized deterministic inputs, noisy “and” gate (G‐DINA) model, which is a general framework for specifying, estimating, and evaluating a wide variety of cognitive diagnosis models. The module contains a nontechnical introduction to diagnostic measurement, an introductory overview of the G‐DINA model, as well as common special cases, and a review of model‐data fit evaluation practices within this framework. We use the flexible GDINA R package, which is available for free within the R environment and provides a user‐friendly graphical interface in addition to the code‐driven layer. The digital module also contains videos of worked examples, solutions to data activity questions, curated resources, a glossary, and quizzes with diagnostic feedback.     

小学体育兴趣化游戏教学的多维性探索

随着新一轮教改工作在我国全国范围内的深入开展,体育已经成为各地小学素质教育工作中的重点内容。就目前来看,为进一步提高小学体育教学效率,兴趣化游戏教学已经逐步被引入实际教学工作中,该教学模式可以冲破传统教条主义教学思维的拘束,进一步提高学生对学习的兴趣,使被动学习转变为主动学习,从而更好地实现当今时代小学体育教学工作目标。     

跨国企业集团面临的汇率风险及其规避

入世后，我国的市场适步向国际开放，我国企业也在不断走向国际市场。国际交易的频繁发生，不可避免地会对跨国企业集团产生一些影响。其中，汇率风险对任何跨国企业来说，都是一个不可避免的问题。那么，就目前而言，跨国企业面临的风险有哪些，如何去规避或降低这些风险，笔者就此作一些简单的分析，供大家参考。     

金融衍生工具在利率风险管理中的应用

本文研究了金融衍生工具的信息特性与套期保值功能在利率风险管理中的应用。全文分为四部分,第一部分界定了金融衍生工具的概念。第二部分分析了金融衍生工具的信息特性及其在利率走势预测中的作用。第三部分分析了套期保值功能在利率风险管理中的作用。第四部分为金融衍生市场风险分析及对不同保值方案的定量分析。     

信息不对称与信贷市场风险

本文从信息经济学的角度探讨信息不对称条件下的信贷风险的形成机理。首先,对信贷活动中信息不对称所产生的逆向选择与道德风险及由此产生的信贷风险进行了一般理论分析;其次,结合我国信贷市场现状,分析了我国信贷市场各活动主体之间,在信贷活动中由于信息不对称而产生的信贷风险的各种表现形式;最后,文章对加强我国商业银行信贷风险管理,改善信息不对称状况提出了若干建议。     

企业投资风险的成因及其防范

在市场经济条件下，投资活动是企业财务活动中重要的环节，投资的正确与否决定着企业的生存与发展。企业投资后，由于内外部诸多不确定因素的存在，投入资金的实际使用效果很可能偏离预期的结果。分散投资风险是防范控制资金使用风险的主要途径之一，能使企业把资金投向收益高、回收快、风险小的项目上去，对企业的生存和发展至关重要。