Investigating sample bias in student evaluations of teaching

Student evaluations of teaching have increased in importance to universities in Australia over recent years due to changes in government policy. There has been significant debate in the literature as to the validity and usefulness of such evaluations and as to whether students who respond to the evaluations are indeed representative of the student population. A potential invalidating issue is self selection in the evaluation process. In this paper, we consider student evaluations of a large first year business statistics subject that had 1073 eligible students enrolled across four campuses at the time of the evaluation. The study is based on the 373 students (34.8%) who responded to the survey, and their final results. The evaluations were open for a period of six weeks leading up to and just after the final exam. The study looks in detail at the student population identifying such attributes as gender; home campus; course of study; domestic/international; Commonwealth Supported Place/full fee paying, etc. and then mapping these results to those of the students who responded to the survey.

Comparative analysis of study orientations on on campus and offshore students

Understanding how students learn is fundamental in the quest for improving learning outcomes of students who are becoming increasingly diverse and mobile. Using a revised SPQ2F instrument (Biggs & Leung, 2001), this study undertakes a comparative analysis of the study approaches of on campus and offshore students and their perceptions of their learning strategies related to a marketing unit in an Australian university. The results indicate that the majority of students seem to adopt deep learning rather than surface learning approaches, though on campus students appear to have deep learning orientations compared with off shore campus students.

Are aspects of study design associated with the reported prevalence of female sexual difficulties?

Objective: To investigate associations between the prevalence of sexual  difficulties reported in published studies and design features of those studies to determine if differences in design contribute to variation in prevalence estimates.
Design: Systematic review, multivariate analysis.
Setting: Studies published internationally in English.
Patient(s): Not applicable.
Intervention(s): None.
Main Outcome Measure(s): Prevalence estimates of difficulty with desire, arousal, orgasm, and sexual pain reported in published studies.
Result(s): Our systematic literature search identified 1,380 publications. Fifty-five studies met our inclusion criteria (reporting prevalence, sample size and response rate, sample size greater than 100, not clinic based). Reported prevalence of sexual difficulty varied across studies (up to tenfold). Eleven aspects of research conduct in these studies were included in our multivariate analysis as explanatory variables. Five aspects of study design and conduct (data collection procedures, inclusion criteria, duration of sexual difficulty recorded, sample size, and response rate) were associated with the reported prevalence of at least one type of sexual difficulty independently of likely predictors of true variation in prevalence: study location, study year, and age range of participants.
Conclusion(s): This review provides evidence that study design may influence reported prevalence estimates of female sexual difficulties and contribute to the wide variation in published estimates.

The impact of study design on prevalence estimates of female sexual dysfunction

Introduction, objectives Despite increasing research, the true prevalence of Female Sexual Dysfunction (FSD) remains a contentious issue. Previous research suggests that aspects of study design affect the reported prevalence of FSD. We compare commonly used instruments for assessing FSD. Methods A random sample of 240 Australian women aged 20-70 participated in this population based, cross-sectional study. A questionnaire mailed to women across Australia included four instruments for assessing FSD. The Sexual Function Questionnaire combined with the Female Sexual Distress Scale (SFQ-FSDS) was employed as a standard, validated instrument. Alternative instruments were the SFQ alone and two modified versions of a set of questions originally developed by Laumann et al. Results When assessed by the SFQ-FSDS, prevalence estimates (and 95% confidence intervals) of Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder, Female Sexual Arousal Disorder (genital subtype), Female Orgasmic Disorder, and Dysparunia were 16%(11-20%), 8%(4-11%), 9%(6-13%), 2%(0.1-3%) respectively. The prevalence estimates of these same disorders obtained using alternative instruments were 32-55%, 17-35%, 17-33% and 3-25% respectively. The sensitivity of alternative instruments varied widely (0 to 1.0). Specificities ranged from 0.51 to 0.99. Positive predictive values ranged from 0 to 0.57. Negative predictive values were all above 0.90. Changing the time span for recalling sexual experiences in an instrument altered the prevalence estimates, sensitivity and specificity. 32% of women with low desire, 31% with low genital arousal, 36% with orgasm difficulty and 57% with sexual pain were sexually distressed. Conclusion Over a third of women who were classified as suffering FSD by alternative instruments did not have FSD when assessed by SFQ-FSDS. Alternative instruments produced substantially higher prevalence estimates of FSD and identified different groups of women. Consequently, the instruments researchers choose to assess FSD may affect both the prevalence estimates and risk factors they report.

Prevention of a chronic progressive form of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis by an antibody against mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule-1, given early in the course of disease progression.

A role for α4 and β7 integrins in mediating leucocyte entry into the central nervous system in the multiple sclerosis (MS)-like disease experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) has been demonstrated. However, the individual contributions of their respective ligands mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule-1 (MAdCAM-1), vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) and E-cadherin expressed on the blood-brain barrier has not been determined. In the present paper, it is shown that an antibody directed against MAdCAM-1, the preferential ligand for α4β7, effectively prevented the development of a progressive, non-remitting, form of EAE, actively induced by injection of myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein peptide (MOG(_35-55)) autoantigen. Combinational treatment with both anti-MAdCAM-1, VCAM-1, and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) (ligand for integrin lymphocyte function-associated antigen (LFA)-1) mAbs led to more rapid remission than that obtained with anti-MAdCAM-1 antibody alone. However, neither MAdCAM-1 monotherapy, nor combinational antibody blockade was preventative when administered late in the course of disease progression. In conclusion, MAdCAM-1 plays a major contributory role in the progression of chronic EAE and is a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of MS. Critically, antivascular addressin therapy must be given eaA role for alpha4 and beta7 integrins in mediating leucocyte entry into the central nervous system in the multiple sclerosis (MS)-like disease experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) has been demonstrated. However, the individual contributions of their respective ligands mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule-1 (MAdCAM-1), vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) and E-cadherin expressed on the blood-brain barrier has not been determined. In the present paper, it is shown that an antibody directed against MAdCAM-1, the preferential ligand for alpha4beta7, effectively prevented the development of a progressive, non-remitting, form of EAE, actively induced by injection of myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein peptide (MOG(35-55)) autoantigen. Combinational treatment with both anti-MAdCAM-1, VCAM-1, and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) (ligand for integrin lymphocyte function-associated antigen (LFA)-1) mAbs led to more rapid remission than that obtained with anti-MAdCAM-1 antibody alone. However, neither MAdCAM-1 monotherapy, nor combinational antibody blockade was preventative when administered late in the course of disease progression. In conclusion, MAdCAM-1 plays a major contributory role in the progression of chronic EAE and is a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of MS. Critically, antivascular addressin therapy must be given early in the course of disease prior to the establishment of irreversible damage if it is to be effective, as a single treatment modality.

Exploring the development and assessment of work-readiness using reflective practice in construction education.

It is well known that the construction industry is characterized by the need for practical knowledge and skill. However, this creates special challenges for universities in the development of work readiness in graduates. This research investigates the attitudes of students towards a course which was designed to develop work-readiness skills in construction management. The paper focuses on the distinctive issues associated with Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) using a formally assessed industry-mentored course of study. Past research shows that university degrees should promote reflective thinking since, in construction, it is necessary to make reflective judgements which deal with ill-defined problems. This is a generic capability that is needed by all graduates in knowledge-based occupations. The study utilized reflective practice to examine the perceptions of construction management students towards the development of attributes which were known to improve work skills. The students were asked to capture their reflections on their experiences in the form of reflective diaries, which were prepared weekly throughout the course. The results showed that the students expressed very positive views about their learning experiences. This occurred in spite of the challenges caused by the formal assessment processes that were undertaken as part of the course. This paper compares the student perceptions with the teachers’ reflections on the ability of traditional assessment methods to measure graduate attributes and work-readiness. The research explores the issues associated with assessing work-readiness skills in higher education. The findings suggest that student reflection is a necessary precondition to the development of effective work-readiness. In addition, the research concludes that more nontraditional assessment approaches are needed in construction programmes in order to develop the type of graduate required by the industry.

Student use of an assessed online discussion space

The dataset contains quantitative information concerning university students' usage of online discussion areas and the impact of the students' participation on their final results.

The data includes the following categories of information:
• student age (whole years at the end of semester);
• student gender (male or female);
• student normal mode of study (on-campus or off-campus);
• student course of study (BTech, BE or other);
• student prior general academic performance (measured at Deakin University by the weighted average mark [WAM]);
• the total number of discussion messages read (or at least opened) by the student;
• the total number of new/initial discussion postings made by the student;
• the total number of follow-up/reply discussion postings made by the student; and
• the final unit mark obtained by the student.