A Psychometric Review of Measures Assessing Discrimination Against Sexual Minorities

ABSTRACT

Discrimination against sexual minorities is widespread and has deleterious consequences on victims’ psychological and physical wellbeing. However, a review of the psychometric properties of instruments measuring lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) discrimination has not been conducted. The results of this review, which involved evaluating 162 articles, reveal that most have suboptimal psychometric properties. Specifically, myriad scales possess questionable content validity as (1) items are not created in collaboration with sexual minorities; (2) measures possess a small number of items and, thus, may not sufficiently represent the domain of interest; and (3) scales are “adapted” from measures designed to examine race- and gender-based discrimination. Additional limitations include (1) summed scores are computed, often in the absence of scale score reliability metrics; (2) summed scores operate from the questionable assumption that diverse forms of discrimination are necessarily interrelated; (3) the dimensionality of instruments presumed to consist of subscales is seldom tested; (4) tests of criterion-related validity are routinely omitted; and (5) formal tests of measures’ construct validity are seldom provided, necessitating that one infer validity based on the results obtained. The absence of “gold standard” measures, the attendant difficulty in formulating a coherent picture of this body of research, and suggestions for psychometric improvements are noted.     

美国《双语教育法》颁布的社会背景研究——基于霍姆斯的四模式分析框架

在美国的中小学校除英语之外讲各种语言的学生,或者说那些不会讲英语的学生,他们的教育需求长期得不到妥善的解决。1968年颁布的《双语教育法》表明,美国联邦政府承认了美国学校体制中长期存在的只能使用英语教学的单语教学问题,如何使教学语言多样性是一个亟待解决的核心问题。以霍姆斯的四模式为分析框架,把颁布《双语教育法》时纷繁复杂的社会背景置于规范模式、组织制度模式、精神状态模式和自然环境模式中进行分析,结果显示:(1)移民人口剧增并逐步扩展到新的区域,给美国公立学校造成了巨大压力;(2)司法判例对所实施的隔离但平等原则的彻底否定催生了新的希望;(3)少数族裔群体谴责主流社会的不公平,他们要求身份认同和获得更多权利的呼声愈来愈大;(4)联邦政府对保障国防安全、消除贫困现象等多重利益的考量,促成了《双语教育法》的颁布。     

A new metamodel-based method for solving semi-expensive simulation optimization problems

In this article, a new algorithm for rather expensive simulation problems is presented, which consists of two phases. In the first phase, as a model-based algorithm, the simulation output is used directly in the optimization stage. In the second phase, the simulation model is replaced by a valid metamodel. In addition, a new optimization algorithm is presented. To evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm, it is applied to the (s,S) inventory problem as well as to five test functions. Numerical results show that the proposed algorithm leads to better solutions with less computational time than the corresponding metamodel-based algorithm.     

空间批评视角下的《生日》

从空间批评视角看,文本中的空间不再是静止的＂容器＂,而是一种蕴含多维文化信息的指涉系统,注重文本中空间的社会、文化属性。在美国华裔作家雷祖威的短篇小说《生日》中,与华裔青年华莱士·王的爱情故事相关的几个空间场景不仅再现了华裔的现实生活世界,更充分展示了他们居于社会边缘的处境与内心疏离的痛苦。     

老龄社会背景下我国城市的政治传播研究

在我国的城市已经进入老龄化社会的大背景下,老年人群体在城市的社会稳定和经济发展中的重要性日益体现出来了.要想充分发挥城市老年人在这两个方面的积极作用,不但要确保这一群体思想政治状况的稳定,而且要切实提高他们社会参与的积极性和主动性.无疑,政治传播在这方面应当承担起不可推卸的责任和义务.鉴于城市老年人群体基本上是在社区的范围内生活和活动,就必须做好社区政治传播在社区层面的工作,促使城市老年人以积极健康的心态融入到社会之中,这也有助于提升他们的生活质量.     

试论民族地区建立“环境侵权责任社会分担机制”的必要性

环境侵权责任社会分担是一种将因环境侵权行为所造成的损失转移到社会,由侵权行为人以外的主体完全或部分分担损失金额的侵权赔偿责任机制。社会连带理论为其提供了正当性基础。从伦理学、经济学、政治学和社会学角度均能证明民族地区建立环境侵权责任社会分担机制的必要性。     

我国网络课程建设存在的问题及对策

分析指出了我国网络课程建设存在着重申报、轻建设、不持续、更新少、共享难、效果差等问题,提出了课程建设要以学生为主体、课程质量要以学生满意为最终标准,对于目前开展的资源共享课和视频公开课建设,教育行政部门要有顶层设计,要做到网络课程的真正共享,需要从政策层面规范各学科或专业的教学计划、规定学生可以以网络课程完成的科目和学分,学生在规定的教学计划内自由选修网络课程,学分不受地域和学校限制,跨校选修,全国认可;为此网络课程应给与学生自主空间,具有学习过程网络监控、课程考核和学分认证等功能。     

Characterization of singular balanced fractional sm factorial designs derivable from balanced arrays with maximum number of constraints

An upper bound on the maximum number of constraints for s-symbol balanced arrays is derived. It is shown that balanced fractional s^m factorial designs derived from some balanced arrays with the maximum possible number of constraints become singular.     

居民发展能力评估与差异比较——以甘肃省张掖市、甘南自治州为例

阿玛帝业森的能力理论是有关人类文化发展、福利经济学、社会政策研究的哲学论述,是有关个体福利和生活质量评估、社会整顿、政策制定和社会改革等的标准分析框架。本文在简要介绍阿玛帝亚森能力分析的概念和评估方法之后,采用社会学研究方法,通过问卷调查,以黑河流域张掖市与甘南自治州城市居民的能力分析测定为例,尝试在国内开展能力分析的定量研究,并比较影响两地区居民能力的主要因素,分析了提升个体能力,开展能力分析研究的重要意义。     

Sequential estimation problems for negative exponential populations

The literature on sequential estimation problems for negative exponential populations has been reviewed here, We attempt to bring in all the published and unpublished materials known to us in a fairly coherent fashion. Both the concepts and theoretical findings are discussed.