Using tri-reference point theory to evaluate risk attitude and the effects of financial incentives in a gamified crowdsourcing task

Crowdsourcing has rapidly developed as a mechanism to accomplish tasks that are easy for humans to accomplish but are challenging for machines. However, unlike machines, humans need to be cajoled to perform tasks, usually through some type of incentive. Since participants from the crowd are typically anonymous and have no expectation of an ongoing work relationship with a task requester, the types of incentives offered to workers are usually short-term monetary bonuses, which have had an inconclusive impact on crowdsourcing worker quality. In this paper, we explore the notion that the risk attitude of crowdsourcing workers may play an important role in the effectiveness of incentives on task accuracy. Traditional utility theories, such as prospect theory, depend on decisions made relative to a singular reference point, whereas the tri-reference point (TRP) theory (Wang and Johnson, J Exp Psychol Gen 141:743–756, 2012) holds that three reference points impact decision making. Using the TRP theory as a guide, we develop a game that provides workers with three reference points and subsequently explores the role of multiple reference points on worker risk aversion and task accuracy.     

Perceptions of Effectiveness of Responses to Sexual Harassment in the US Military, 1988 and 1995

This analysis compares patterns of response to the harassment experiences that had the greatest effect on the respondents to the ‘1988 Department of Defense (DoD) Survey of Sex Roles in the Active‐Duty Military’ and Form A of the ‘1995 Armed Forces Sexual Harassment Survey’. We analyse the respondents’ perceptions about effectiveness of their responses, and respondents’ opinions about the efforts of senior military leadership, and their own immediate supervisors’ efforts to ‘make honest and reasonable efforts to stop sexual harassment in the active‐duty military’ ( DoD, 1988 ; Bastian et al., 1996 ). Results indicate that while the military has been somewhat successful in attempts to lower actual incidence of sexual harassment, the percentage of those experiencing such uninvited and unwanted behaviours remains high. Similar patterns of responses in both years, with most employing personal solutions and few filing complaints with officials, may reflect the fact that official DoD policy focuses on individual behaviour and does not address the masculine environmental context that promotes such behaviours (see also Harrell and Miller, 1997 ). Findings also suggest that the ‘no tolerance’ policies adopted by the military may concentrate on the military image but ignore the wishes of the complainants who fear reprisals. If the rights and wishes of all parties involved are not taken into account, policies are unlikely to be successful (see, for example, Rowe, 1996 ).     

The fiducial argument and hacking's principle of irrelevance

In a searching analysis of the fiducial argument Hacking (1965) proposed the Principle of Irrelevance as a condition under which the argument is valid. His statement of the Principle was essentially non-mathematical and this paper presents a mathematical development of the Principle. The relationship with likelihood inference is explored and some of the proposed counter-examples to fiducial theory are considered. It is shown that even with the Principle of Irrelevance examples of non-uniqueness of fiducial distributions exist.     

Large scale communication networks—Design and analysis

The paper discusses the problem of design and analysis of large scale communication systems. An iterative process, composed of a minimum cost network design algorithm and a network performance algorithm, is presented for the solution of these problems. Computational considerations, using these algorithms, are discussed.     

Survival Analysis For A Sequenced Clinical Trial With Covariates

In this paper we discuss the survival analysis for a clinical trial in which treatment categories and general prognostic data are realised at different stages during a patient's survival time. In the light of possible strategies for the parsimonious modelling of such data, a corresponding sequence of illustrative analyses is presented. Detailed results are given for a weighted least squares analysis and these generally agree with those obtained by maximum likelihood.     

INTERVENTION PLANNING FOR THE FAMILY OF THE AUTISTIC CHILD: A MULTILEVEL ASSESSMENT OF THE FAMILY SYSTEM*

The clinician working with the family of an autistic child may need to assess the family at several levels. The first level requires an assessment of the behavioral deficits and excesses of the child. The next level examines the family in terms of their behavioral skills and the impediments that occur when they implement behavior change programs. The third level involves assessing the family unit to identify obstacles to change. While many well-functioning families may be stressed by the crises that arise in raising an autistic child, other families are predisposed to dysfunction regardless of the presence of the child.