Brady et al.'s (2005) service evaluation models: A replication and extension in China

The research described in this study replicates and extends the Brady et al., [Brady, M. K., Knight, G. A., Cronin Jr. J. Toma, G., Hult, M. and Keillor, B. D. (2005), emoving the Contextual Lens: A Multinational, Mult-setting Comparison of Service Evaluation Models, Journal of Retailing, 81(3), pp. 215-230] study suggestion that future research in service evaluations should focus on emerging service economies such as China. The intent of the research was to examine the suitability of the models suggested by Brady and colleagues in the Chinese market. The replication somewhat successfully duplicated their finding as to the superiority of the comprehensive service evaluation model. Additionally, we also sought to examine as to whether the service evaluation model is gender invariant. Our findings indicate that there are significant differences between gender. These findings are discussed relative to the limitations associated with the study.

Brady et al.'s (2005) service evaluation models: A replication and extension in China

The research described in this study replicates and extends the Brady et al., [Brady, M. K., Knight, G. A., Cronin Jr. J. Toma, G., Hult, M. and Keillor, B. D. (2005), emoving the Contextual Lens: A Multinational, Mult-setting Comparison of Service Evaluation Models, Journal of Retailing, 81(3), pp. 215-230] study suggestion that future research in service evaluations should focus on emerging service economies such as China. The intent of the research was to examine the suitability of the models suggested by Brady and colleagues in the Chinese market. The replication somewhat successfully duplicated their finding as to the superiority of the comprehensive service evaluation model. Additionally, we also sought to examine as to whether the service evaluation model is gender invariant. Our findings indicate that there are significant differences between gender. These findings are discussed relative to the limitations associated with the study.

Effects of pharmaceutical marketing:a re-analysis of the study of Windmeijer et al

Despite a growing body of scientific research, there is still much uncertainty about the effects of marketing expenditures on the demand for pharmaceuticals. Recently it was found that higher marketing expenditures for a brand may reduce the price elasticity of demand, and hence allow firms to charge higher prices (Windmeijer et al [1]). In this study we reconsider the study by Windmeijer et al. We find that their econometric models are based on an incorrect assumption of homogeneous parameters across brands. As a consequence, our conclusions concerning the effects of pharmaceutical marketing are different from theirs.

Truthiness and falsiness of trivia claims depend on judgmental contexts

When people rapidly judge the truth of claims presented with or without related but nonprobative photos, the photos tend to inflate the subjective truth of those claims-a "truthiness" effect (Newman et al., 2012). For example, people more often judged the claim "Macadamia nuts are in the same evolutionary family as peaches" to be true when the claim appeared with a photo of a bowl of macadamia nuts than when it appeared alone. We report several replications of that effect and 3 qualitatively new findings: (a) in a within-subjects design, when people judged claims paired with a mix of related, unrelated, or no photos, related photos produced truthiness but unrelated photos had no significant effect relative to no photos; (b) in a mixed design, when people judged claims paired with related (or unrelated) and no photos, related photos produced truthiness and unrelated photos produced "falseness;" and © in a fully between design, when people judged claims paired with either related, unrelated, or no photos, neither truthiness nor falsiness occurred. Our results suggest that photos influence people's judgments when a discrepancy arises in the expected ease of processing, and also support a mechanism in which-against a backdrop of an expected standard-related photos help people generate pseudoevidence to support claims. (PsycINFO Database Record)

DSM-5 Autism Spectrum Disorder:in search of essential behaviours for diagnosis

Background: Despite initial concerns about the sensitivity of the proposed diagnostic criteria for DSM-5 Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD; e.g. Gibbs et al., 2012; McPartland et al., 2012), evidence is growing that the DSM-5 criteria provides an inclusive description with both good sensitivity and specificity (e.g. Frazier et al., 2012; Kent, Carrington et al., 2013). The capacity of the criteria to provide high levels of sensitivity and specificity comparable with DSM-IV-TR however relies on careful measurement to ensure that appropriate items from diagnostic instruments map onto the new DSM-5 descriptions.Objectives: To use an existing DSM-5 diagnostic algorithm (Kent, Carrington et .al., 2013) to identify a set of ‘essential��� behaviors sufficient to make a reliable and accurate diagnosis of DSM-5 Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) across age and ability level. Methods: Specific behaviors were identified and tested from the recently published DSM-5 algorithm for the Diagnostic Interview for Social and Communication Disorders (DISCO). Analyses were run on existing DISCO datasets, with a total participant sample size of 335. Three studies provided step-by-step development towards identification of a minimum set of items. Study 1 identified the most highly discriminating items (p<.0001). Study 2 used a lower selection threshold than in Study 1 (p<.05) to facilitate better representation of the full DSM-5 ASD profile. Study 3 included additional items previously reported as significantly more frequent in individuals with higher ability. The discriminant validity of all three item sets was tested using Receiver Operating Characteristic curves. Finally, sensitivity across age and ability was investigated in a subset of individuals with ASD (n=190).Results: Study 1 identified an item set (14 items) with good discriminant validity, but which predominantly measured social-communication behaviors (11/14). The Study 2 item set (48 items) better represented the DSM-5 ASD and had good discriminant validity, but the item set lacked sensitivity for individuals with higher ability. The final Study 3 adjusted item set (54 items) improved sensitivity for individuals with higher ability and performance and was comparable to the published DISCO DSM-5 algorithm.Conclusions: This work represents a first attempt to derive a reduced set of behaviors for DSM-5 directly from an existing standardized ASD developmental history interview. Further work involving existing ASD diagnostic tools with community-based and well characterized research samples will be required to replicate these findings and exploit their potential to contribute to a more efficient and focused ASD diagnostic process.

Can psychometric testing be used to explain, predict and measure behavioural competences and the funding resource orchestration of the entrepreneur?

Financing is a critical entrepreneurial activity (Shane et al. 2003) and within the study of entrepreneurship, behaviour has been identified as an area requiring further exploration (Bird et al. 2012). Since 2008 supply side conditions for SMEs have been severe and increasingly entrepreneurs have to bundle or ‘orchestrate’ funding from a variety of sources in order to successfully finance the firm (Wright and Stigliani 2013: p.15). This longitudinal study uses psychometric testing to measure the behavioural competences of a panel of sixty entrepreneurs in the Creative Industries sector. Interviews were conducted over a 3 year period to identify finance finding behaviour. The research takes a pragmatic realism perspective to examine process and the different behavioural competences of entrepreneurs. The predictive qualities of this behaviour are explored in a funding context. The research confirmed a strong behavioural characteristic as validated through interviews and psychometric testing, was an orientation towards engagement and working with other organisations. In a funding context, this manifested itself in entrepreneurs using networks, seeking advice and sharing equity to fund growth. These co-operative, collaborative characteristics are different to the classic image of the entrepreneur as a risk-taker or extrovert. Leadership and achievement orientation were amongst the lowest scores. Three distinctive groups were identified and also shown by subsequent analysis to be a positive contribution to how entrepreneurial behavioural competences can be considered. Belonging to one of these three clusters is a strong predictive indicator of entrepreneurial behaviour – in this context, how entrepreneurs access finance. These Clusters were also proven to have different characteristics in relation to funding outcomes. The study seeks to make a contribution through the development of a methodology for entrepreneurs, policy makers and financial institutions to identify competencies in finding finance and overcome problems in information asymmetry.

Fourth-root summation of contrast over area:no end in sight when spatially inhomogeneous sensitivity is compensated by a witch's hat

Measurements of area summation for luminance-modulated stimuli are typically confounded by variations in sensitivity across the retina. Recently we conducted a detailed analysis of sensitivity across the visual field (Baldwin et al, 2012) and found it to be well-described by a bilinear “witch’s hat” function: sensitivity declines rapidly over the first 8 cycles or so, more gently thereafter. Here we multiplied luminance-modulated stimuli (4 c/deg gratings and “Swiss cheeses”) by the inverse of the witch’s hat function to compensate for the inhomogeneity. This revealed summation functions that were straight lines (on double log axes) with a slope of -1/4 extending to ≥33 cycles, demonstrating fourth-root summation of contrast over a wider area than has previously been reported for the central retina. Fourth-root summation is typically attributed to probability summation, but recent studies have rejected that interpretation in favour of a noisy energy model that performs local square-law transduction of the signal, adds noise at each location of the target and then sums over signal area. Modelling shows our results to be consistent with a wide field application of such a contrast integrator. We reject a probability summation model, a quadratic model and a matched template model of our results under the assumptions of signal detection theory. We also reject the high threshold theory of contrast detection under the assumption of probability summation over area.

A template model predicts detection of sparse stimul

Contemporary models of contrast integration across space assume that pooling operates uniformly over the target region. For sparse stimuli, where high contrast regions are separated by areas containing no signal, this strategy may be sub-optimal because it pools more noise than signal as area increases. Little is known about the behaviour of human observers for detecting such stimuli. We performed an experiment in which three observers detected regular textures of various areas, and six levels of sparseness. Stimuli were regular grids of horizontal grating micropatches, each 1 cycle wide. We varied the ratio of signals (marks) to gaps (spaces), with mark:space ratios ranging from 1 : 0 (a dense texture with no spaces) to 1 : 24. To compensate for the decline in sensitivity with increasing distance from fixation, we adjusted the stimulus contrast as a function of eccentricity based on previous measurements [Baldwin, Meese & Baker, 2012, J Vis, 12(11):23]. We used the resulting area summation functions and psychometric slopes to test several filter-based models of signal combination. A MAX model failed to predict the thresholds, but did a good job on the slopes. Blanket summation of stimulus energy improved the threshold fit, but did not predict an observed slope increase with mark:space ratio. Our best model used a template matched to the sparseness of the stimulus, and pooled the squared contrast signal over space. Templates for regular patterns have also recently been proposed to explain the regular appearance of slightly irregular textures (Morgan et al, 2012, Proc R Soc B, 279, 2754–2760)

‘Let’s talk about feedback’:an exploration of academic feedback practices in pharmacy education

Feedback is considered one of the most effective mechanisms to aid learning and achievement (Hattie and Timperley, 2007). However, in past UK National Student Surveys, perceptions of academic feedback have been consistently rated lower by final year undergraduate students than other aspects of the student experience (Williams and Kane, 2009). For pharmacy students in particular, Hall and colleagues recently reported that almost a third of students surveyed were dissatisfied with feedback and perceived feedback practice to be inconsistent (Hall et al, 2012). Aims of the Workshop: This workshop has been designed to explore current academic feedback practices in pharmacy education across a variety of settings and cultures as well as to create a toolkit for pharmacy academics to guide their approach to feedback. Learning Objectives: 1. Discuss and characterise academic feedback practices provided by pharmacy academics to pharmacy students in a variety of settings and cultures. 2. Develop academic feedback strategies for a variety of scenarios. 3. Evaluate and categorise feedback strategies with use of a feedback matrix. Description of Workshop Activities: Introduction to workshop and feedback on pre-reading exercise (5 minutes). Activity 1: A short presentation on theoretical models of academic feedback. Evidence of feedback in pharmacy education (10 minutes). Activity 2: Discussion of feedback approaches in participants’ organisations for differing educational modalities. Consideration of the following factors will be undertaken: experiential v. theoretical education, formative v. summative assessment, form of assessment and the effect of culture (20 minutes, large group discussion). Activity 3: Introduction of a feedback matrix (5 minutes). Activity 4: Development of an academic feedback toolkit for pharmacy education. Participants will be divided into 4 groups and will discuss how to provide effective feedback for 2 scenarios. Feedback strategies will be categorised with the feedback matrix. Results will be presented back to the workshop group (20 minutes, small group discussion, 20 minutes, large group presentation). Summary (10 minutes). Additional Information: Pre-reading: Participants will be provided with a list of definitions for academic feedback and will be asked to rank the definitions in order of perceived relevance to pharmacy education. References Archer, J. C. (2010). State of the science in health professional education: effective feedback. Medical education, 44(1), 101-108. Hall, M., Hanna, L. A., & Quinn, S. (2012). Pharmacy Students’ Views of Faculty Feedback on Academic Performance. American journal of pharmaceutical education, 76(1). Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of educational research, 77(1), 81-112. Medina, M. S. (2007). Providing feedback to enhance pharmacy students’ performance. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 64(24), 2542-2545.