Robustness and Precision: How Data Quality May Influence Key Dependent Variables in Infant Eye‐Tracker Analyses

In recent years, eye‐tracking has become a popular method for drawing conclusions about infant cognition. Relatively little attention has been paid, however, to methodological issues associated with infant eye‐tracking. Here, we consider the possibility that systematic differences in the quality of raw eye‐tracking data obtained from different populations and individuals might create the impression of differences in gaze behavior, without this actually being the case. First, we show that lower quality eye‐tracking data are obtained from populations who are younger and populations who are more fidgety and that data quality declines during the testing session. Second, we assess how these differences in data quality might influence key dependent variables in eye‐tracking analyses. We show that lower precision data can appear to suggest a reduced likelihood to look at the eyes in a face relative to the mouth. We also show that less robust tracking may manifest as slower reaction time latencies (e.g., time to first fixation). Finally, we show that less robust data can manifest as shorter first look/visit duration. We argue that data quality should be reported in all analyses of infant eye‐tracking data and/or that steps should be taken to control for data quality before performing final analyses.     

Santé au travail en Thaïlande: le processus de transition

La Thaïlande a connu une transition économique rapide, de l'agriculture aux secteurs manufacturier et tertiaire, puis vers l'emploi plus formel. Toutefois, la réglementation du marché du travail et la représentation des salariés sont moins affirmées que dans les pays développés, où cette transition s'est effectuée graduellement et plus lentement, il y a plusieurs décennies. Les auteurs examinent le renforcement des politiques et de la législation thaïlandaise sur la sécurité et la santé au travail en réponse aux normes internationales du travail, à l'adoption d'une nouvelle constitution démocratique, à la crainte d'embargos commerciaux étrangers et aux accidents mortels du travail. Ils concluent en identifiant les principaux défis auxquels sont confrontés les décideurs politiques, y compris l'application de la législation et les méthodes pour mesurer les nouveaux risques professionnels sur la santé mentale et physique des travailleurs.     

Understanding the effects of outsourcing: unpacking the total factor productivity variable

Research on why firms should outsource and how they should do it has proliferated in the past two decades, but few consistent findings have emerged concerning the benefits of outsourcing. We argue that this is in part due to the lack of an adequate framework for measuring the effects of outsourcing. To address this, we present such a framework based upon the Cobb–Douglas productivity function. We explain how our framework can be used to unpack one component of the Cobb–Douglas productivity function, the ‘total factor productivity’, which represents the other numerous sub-variables that affect outsourcing productivity, beyond the capital and labour expenditures. We also demonstrate the framework using a simple illustrative example.     

Editorial

The Analysis of Verbal Behavior -