The use of evaluation models for decision making: Application to the community anti-crime program

Evaluations are typically designed to provide useful information, including measures of program effectiveness. Although this information is intended to be useful, the general literature on evaluations suggests that instances in which evaluations are explicitly used for decision making are rare. This article discusses the use of decision-theoretic evaluation models, and their applicability in practice as well as in principle. A case study is presented from the evaluation of LEAA's Community Anti-Crime Program, in which a decision analysis based on a decision-theoretic evaluation model influenced a programmatic decision which arose during the conduct of the evaluation.     

论美国421条款对中国的影响

随着我国正式加入WTO,即签订并应遵守《中国加入WTO议定书》的所有条款,也包括规定为“特定产品过渡性保障机制”的第16条。16条是针对我国的一个歧视性条款,使我国在保障措施方面处于相当不利的地位。部分WTO成员据此纷纷对我国的出口贸易进行发难。如美国利用421条款审理对中国的“特殊保障措施第一案”。作为发展中国家和经济转型国家,为了长远利益,我们虽然接受了这一不合理条款,但为了保护现阶段我国的合法利益,我们一定要加快对WTO规则及国外相关措施的研究以维护我国特定的国内公共政策目标。     

Improving ability measurement in surveys by following the principles of IRT: The Wordsum vocabulary test in the General Social Survey

Survey researchers often administer batteries of questions to measure respondents’ abilities, but these batteries are not always designed in keeping with the principles of optimal test construction. This paper illustrates one instance in which following these principles can improve a measurement tool used widely in the social and behavioral sciences: the GSS’s vocabulary test called “Wordsum”. This ten-item test is composed of very difficult items and very easy items, and item response theory (IRT) suggests that the omission of moderately difficult items is likely to have handicapped Wordsum’s effectiveness. Analyses of data from national samples of thousands of American adults show that after adding four moderately difficult items to create a 14-item battery, “Wordsumplus” (1) outperformed the original battery in terms of quality indicators suggested by classical test theory; (2) reduced the standard error of IRT ability estimates in the middle of the latent ability dimension; and (3) exhibited higher concurrent validity. These findings show how to improve Wordsum and suggest that analysts should use a score based on all 14 items instead of using the summary score provided by the GSS, which is based on only the original 10 items. These results also show more generally how surveys measuring abilities (and other constructs) can benefit from careful application of insights from the contemporary educational testing literature.     

一般自我效能感量表(NGSES)信、效度研究

对Chen G,Gully M,Eden D在2001年新编制的一般自我效能感量表(NGSES)进行翻译和信效度研究,为后续研究提供一个信效度较好的工具。根据量表的修订方法,在互联网上发放问卷,对407人进行测试,对数据进行项目分析、探索性因素分析和验证性因素分析。结果表明,量表的项目分析结果:8个题目与总量表的相关系数分布在0.668～0.805,项目的高低分组T检验显著差异;量表的内部一致性系数为0.872,斯皮尔曼—布朗校正后的分半信度系数为0.811;探索性因素分析:提取出1个特征根大于1的因素,累计解释方差变异量为53%,各题在维度上的贡献率在0.65～0.817之间;验证性因素分析,X2检验值为0.028,X2/df=1.683,PNFI=0.659,GFI=0.960,NFI=0.941,CFI=0.975,TLI=0.965,RMS-ER为0.057,数据支持Chen G等的理论假设。翻译过来的自我效能量表区分度和信效度均达到了心理测量学的要求,可在相关研究和实践领域使用。     

基于CAT大学英语学业测试语料库建设的探讨

计算机在教学领域的广泛应用,极大地促进着外语教学与测试的研究。建立基于计算机的校本大学英语学业测试语料库,已成为改革测试模式、提高教学质量的重要组成部分。文章在探讨有关测试理论的基础上,提出了创建基于计算机适应性学业测试语料库的主要原则和实际做法,同时设计了该库的计算机适应性运行与管理系统。     

Using item response theory to optimize measurement of chronic stress in pregnancy

ObjectiveUtilize Rasch analysis to develop an optimized self-reported measure of stress in pregnancy and examine the association with patient demographics and biologic measures of stress.Study designMeasured self-reported stress in pregnant women using 12 existing scales. Collected blood for biologic measures of stress (Epstein Barr Virus [EBV], C-Reactive Protein [CRP], Corticotropin Reactive Hormone [pCRH], and Adenocorticotropin Hormone [ACTH]). Used multidimensional scaling and Rasch analysis to produce an item reduced self-report measure.ResultsEnrolled 112 women. Survey items reduced to two factors: perceived stressors and buffers of stress. Women with a domestic partner had lower perceived stress (p = 0.003). Caucasian women reported higher buffers of stress (p = 0.045), as did women with private insurance (p < 0.001), a planned pregnancy (p < 0.01), and a domestic partner (p < 0.001). Women with higher buffers of stress had lower levels of pCRH (adjusted p = 0.01).ConclusionItem reduced, optimized measures of stress were associated with significant differences in patient demographics and biologic measures of stress.     

Cross‐community comparability of attitude questions: An application of item response theory

The use of attitude questions is very common in comparative surveys as it allows researchers to gauge the perspectives of respondents toward social issues and explain cross‐country differentials in attitudes. Comparative studies implicitly assume that equivalently worded items are measuring the same construct in different settings. However, the results of these studies might be questionable if the measurement invariant assumption is violated and different groups of respondents do not have a shared understanding of the attitude items. This paper uses item response theory to compare the measurement of items and to test whether equivalently worded attitude questions about family dissolution are understood in the same way across various communities in India, Malaysia, Pakistan and the Philippines. The paper also examines the interaction between the respondent’s gender, the sex of the spouse leaving the marriage and the responses to the attitude questions about acceptability of family dissolution.     

Survey item nonresponse and its treatment

Summary One of the most salient data problems empirical researchers face is the lack of informative responses in survey data. This contribution briefly surveys the literature on item nonresponse behavior and its determinants before it describes four approaches to address item nonresponse problems: Casewise deletion of observations, weighting, imputation, and model-based procedures. We describe the basic approaches, their strengths and weaknesses and illustrate some of their effects using a simulation study. The paper concludes with some recommendations for the applied researcher. We are grateful to an anonymous referee who provided helpful comments. Also we like to thank Donald B. Rubin for helpful comments and always motivating discussions as well as Ralf Münnich for inspiring discussions about raking procedures.     

高职教育“工学结合”人才培养模式改革探析

在我国经济转型的关键时期，高职教育要承担服务经济发展方式转变和现代产业体系建设的时代责任，培养高端技能型专门人才，高等职业教育教学改革着力点就要围绕工学结合的人才培养模式进行改革与创新，以专业（群）人才培养方案的制定为核心，以任务驱动、项目导向的课程开发为抓手，以校内外实训基地的建设为支撑，以双师结构的师资队伍建设为关键，全面提升专业人才培养的质量和水平。     

浅析现代房地产的前营销策略

目前,我国房地产楼盘空置率居高不下,这并非产品绝对过剩,而是由供需矛盾和企业营销策略不当造成的.在房地产企业营销中,开发商往往更注重广告覆盖等促销手段,而忽略了产品营销中起决定作用的一个重要环节--前营销.笔者试图从市场调研、项目定位、产品规划这三个前营销的主要环节入手对其进行研究.