Nonparametric goodness-of-fit

This paper develops an approach to testing the adequacy of both classical and Bayesian models given sample data. An important feature of the approach is that we are able to test the practical scientific hypothesis of whether the true underlying model is close to some hypothesized model. The notion of closeness is based on measurement precision and requires the introduction of a metric for which we consider the Kolmogorov distance. The approach is nonparametric in the sense that the model under the alternative hypothesis is a Dirichlet process.     

When they call me cripple: a group of South African adolescents with cerebral palsy attending a special needs school talk about being disabled

Central to the experience of disability are social and political forces and discourses which position people in particular ways. Little is known about the experiences of individuals with disabilities living in low-income and middle-income countries. We investigate the lived experience of a group of South African adolescents with cerebral palsy. In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 adolescents with cerebral palsy. Data were analysed using interpretive phenomenological analysis. The participants position themselves between the medical and social models of disability, in a liminal space between ‘normal’ and ‘disabled’, but do not identify with either group. They describe a ‘hierarchy of disability’ and position themselves in-between more serious sensory impairments and less serious emotional and learning disabilities. Being disabled is associated with being taken care of, infantilised and being powerless. Consequently they aspire to achieve independence and autonomy, and face danger, which are seen as signifiers that they are not disabled.     

Estimation of the Magnitude of Victory in One-day Cricket RMIT University, Mayo Clinic Rochester and Simon Fraser University

The Duckworth–Lewis method is steadily becoming the standard approach for resetting targets in interrupted one-day cricket matches. In this paper we show that a modification of the Duckworth–Lewis resource table can be used to quantify the magnitude of a victory in one-day matches. This simple and direct application is particularly useful in breaking ties in tournament standings and in quantifying team strength.     

Toward a model of NGO media diplomacy in the Internet age: Case study of Washington Profile

This qualitative study explores values, perceived effectiveness and factors that affect effectiveness of the public diplomacy-oriented international news services by a U.S.-based non-governmental, not-for-profit organization. In-depth, semi-structured interviews are conducted with the staff of the organization. Results show that the key values that guide the operations include independence from government, journalistic objectivity and balance as well as reader education. The perceived effectiveness of NGO international news service is much higher than government-sponsored news programs in terms of reaching audiences, affecting elite groups and return of investment. The factors that affect the effectiveness include use of local journalists and editors as decision-makers, the Internet, censorship by governments of the target region, vision of the NGO leaders, dialogue approach, non-governmental funding, and target elite niche audience.     

Theorizing fields

Field analysis, inspired largely from the work of Pierre Bourdieu, is becoming widely used in sociology today. In A Theory of Fields Neil Fligstein and Doug McAdam elaborate selectively on Bourdieu’s thinking to offer a conceptual framework for better understanding the creation, institutionalization, and transformation of “mesolevel social spaces” where actors compete, often through cooperation and coordination, for material and status rewards. In lieu of calling those spaces markets, organizations, networks, systems, or institutions, as is commonly done in the specialized subfields of social movements, political sociology, organizations, and institutional work in political science, FM propose the language of “strategic action field.” They argue that their strategic action field perspective can link agency to structured social spaces and serve as an integrative conceptual umbrella for these fragmented subfields of scholarly specialization. This review presents and evaluates this intellectual field strategy to provide a common and integrative conceptual framework, while calling attention to its key strengths and weaknesses.     

Optimally and computations for relative surprise inferences

Relative surprise inferences are based on how beliefs change from a priori to a posteriori. As they are based on the posterior distribution of the integrated likelihood, inferences of this type are invariant under relabellings of the parameter of interest. The authors demonstrate that these inferences possess a certain optimality property. Further, they develop computational techniques for implementing them, provided that algorithms are available to sample from the prior and posterior distributions.     

Bayesian Analysis of Ordinal Survey Data Using the Dirichlet Process to Account for Respondent Personality Traits

This article presents a Bayesian latent variable model used to analyze ordinal response survey data by taking into account the characteristics of respondents. The ordinal response data are viewed as multivariate responses arising from continuous latent variables with known cut-points. Each respondent is characterized by two parameters that have a Dirichlet process as their joint prior distribution. The proposed mechanism adjusts for classes of personalities. The model is applied to student survey data in course evaluations. Goodness-of-fit (GoF) procedures are developed for assessing the validity of the model. The proposed GoF procedures are simple, intuitive, and do not seem to be a part of current Bayesian practice.     

Comparisons of imputation methods with application to assess factors associated with self efficacy of physical activity in breast cancer survivors

ABSTRACT

Missing data are commonly encountered in self-reported measurements and questionnaires. It is crucial to treat missing values using appropriate method to avoid bias and reduction of power. Various types of imputation methods exist, but it is not always clear which method is preferred for imputation of data with non-normal variables. In this paper, we compared four imputation methods: mean imputation, quantile imputation, multiple imputation, and quantile regression multiple imputation (QRMI), using both simulated and real data investigating factors affecting self-efficacy in breast cancer survivors. The results displayed an advantage of using multiple imputation, especially QRMI when data are not normal.     

‘Your Mind is the Battlefield’: South African Trainee Health Workers Engage with the Past

A key problematic in any post‐conflict society is how to account for the injustices of the past, while at the same time making a space for the development of a shared future. In South Africa, there is an increasing demand for health and social service workers, who are required to address the impact of an unjust past upon individuals and communities. Educators of health and social service workers are thus faced with the complexities of finding pedagogical practices that would allow students to recognize these past injustices and their impact on present problems. This article looks at data taken from a teaching project across two South African universities, where students from three professions engaged in online discussions about their personal, social and future professional identities. During some of these discussions, students spontaneously entered into disagreements about the relevance or irrelevance of the past in modern‐day South Africa. The data indicates considerable reluctance on the part of some students to talk about the past and its relevance to the present. The authors suggest that while talking about the past is both difficult and potentially painful for students, it is nevertheless the responsibility of educators to facilitate such discussions among trainee professionals.     

Improving School Achievement and Inter‐group Relations for Children Placed at Risk: the Roots and Wings program

Roots and Wings is a comprehensive elementary‐school program designed to ensure that all children achieve world class standards in reading, writing and language arts, mathematics, science, history and geography; and can apply their knowledge to solve real‐world problems. Critical to these goals is increasing the achievement of students placed at‐risk as a consequence of poverty, disabilities, language problems, or other factors. Roots and Wings extensively employs cooperative learning to promote student motivation, socialization, appreciation of diversity, and academic achievement. Although cooperative learning offers a variety of potential benefits, it can be challenging to use for teachers and students more accustomed to traditional methods. This paper presents research in inner‐city elementary schools using the Roots and Wings design and identifies several factors that facilitate the change process and quality of cooperative classroom activities.