The assessment of reasoning skills in nursing student selection – Test development and psychometric testing

The purpose of this three-phased study was I) to identify reasoning skills to be assessed in nursing student selection, II) to develop and psychometrically test a Reasoning Skills (ReSki) test for undergraduate nursing student selection, and III) to assess nursing applicants’ reasoning skills and factors related to them. The aim was to develop a valid and objective ReSki test for national use in nursing student selection. The ultimate goal was to develop the undergraduate nursing student selection and thus the selection of applicants who are in the future able to make sound decisions thus promoting good nursing care and patient safety. In phase I, a scoping review (24 original studies) and focus group interviews (16 nursing students and 9 experts) were conducted. Charting, collating, summarising, and inductive content analysis were used to analyse the review data. Deductive and inductive content analysis were used to analyse the focus group data. In phase II, an electronic ReSki test (version 2) was developed (including a pilot-study and expert panels) and psychometrically (including a usability evaluation) tested with a methodological cross-sectional study with 1,056 nursing applicants. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics, correlations, Item Response Theory (IRT) and usability analysis. In phase III, the data (n=1,056) from the psychometric testing (phase II) were used. Descriptive statistics, correlations, and analysis of covariance with Tukey’s test in post-hoc multiple group comparisons were used to analyse the data. The assessment of nursing applicants’ reasoning skills involved skills in collecting information, processing information, and identifying the problem and establishing goals. The ReSki test was a valid, usable, and objective assessment method, but the IRT-analysis indicated further improvement to the distractor items is needed for the desired adjustment of the difficulty level. Applicants succeeded best in collecting and processing the information and worst in identifying the problem and establishing goals. Age, gender, previous education, and work experience (only in identifying the problem and establishing goals) were statistically significantly related to the applicants’ reasoning skills. The results have implications especially for nursing education and its research.Päätöksentekotaitojen arviointi sairaanhoitajakoulutuksen opiskelijavalinnassa – Testin kehittäminen ja psykometrinen testaus Tämän kolmivaiheisen tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli I) tunnistaa sairaanhoitajakoulutuksen opiskelijavalinnassa arvioitavat päätöksentekotaidot, II) kehittää sairaanhoitajakoulutuksen hakijoiden päätöksentekotaitoja arvioiva Reasoning Skills (ReSki)-testi ja arvioida sen psykometrisia ominaisuuksia, sekä III) arvioida hakijoiden päätöksentekotaitoja ja niihin yhteydessä olevia tekijöitä. Tavoitteena oli kehittää luotettava ja objektiivinen ReSki-testi kansalliseen käyttöön. Lopullinen päämäärä oli kehittää sairaanhoitajakoulutuksen opiskelijavalintaa, mikä edistäisi hyvää hoitoa ja potilasturvallisuutta. Vaiheessa I toteutettiin kartoittava katsaus (scoping review) (24 tutkimusta) ja fokusryhmähaastattelut (16 sairaanhoitajaopiskelijaa ja 9 asiantuntijaa). Katsausaineisto analysoitiin taulukoimalla, kokoamalla, tiivistämällä ja induktiivisella sisällönanalyysilla, ja fokusryhmäaineisto deduktiivisella ja induktiivisella sisällönanalyysilla. Vaiheessa II kehitettiin sähköinen ReSki-testi (versio 2) (vaihe sisälsi pilottitutkimuksen ja asiantuntijapaneelit). Psykometrinen testaus toteutettiin (sisältäen käytettävyysarvioinnin) poikkileikkaustutkimuksen avulla (1056 sairaanhoitajakoulutuksen hakijaa). Aineisto analysoitiin kuvailevin menetelmin, korrelaatioilla, osiovaste- ja käytettävyysanalyysilla. Vaiheessa III käytettiin samaa aineistoa kuin vaiheessa II (n=1056). Aineisto analysoitiin kuvailevin menetelmin, korrelaatioilla ja kovarianssianalyysilla (Tukeyn testi). Päätöksentekotaitojen arviointi koostui tiedon keräämisen, tiedon prosessoinnin sekä ongelman tunnistamisen ja tavoitteiden asettamisen taitojen arvioimisesta. ReSki-testi oli luotettava, käytettävä ja objektiivinen arviointimenetelmä, mutta osiovasteanalyysin perusteella harhauttajaväittämiä tulisi muokata testin vaikeustason optimoimiseksi. Parhaiten hakijat menestyivät tiedon keräämisessä ja prosessoinnissa, ja heikoiten ongelman tunnistamisessa ja tavoitteiden asettamisessa. Päätöksentekotaitoja selittivät pääosin ikä, sukupuoli ja koulutustausta sekä osittain työkokemus. Tuloksia voidaan hyödyntää erityisesti hoitotyön koulutuksessa ja sen tutkimuksessa

The Perceptions of Standardized Tests, Academic Self-Efficacy, and Academic Performance of African American Graduate Students: A Correlational and Comparative Analysis

The academic performance of African American students continues to be a concern for educators, researchers, and most importantly their community. This issue is particularly prevalent in the standardized test scores of African American students where they score on average one or more standard deviations below their Caucasian and Asian American counterparts, which may hinder their college enrollment, academic achievement, and educational attainment (Diaz, 1999; Walpole et al., 2005). This issue has been examined by numerous studies and many researchers have attributed their underachievement to factors such as lower academic self-efficacy, stereotype threat, cultural test bias, and institutionalized racism (Kellow & Jones, 2008; Rosner, 2001; Steele, 1997). Despite the numerous studies that examined this issue, the academic performance of many African American students on standardized tests (i.e. SAT and GRE) remains poor (College Examination Board, 2012; ETS, 2001). This study examined the perceptions of standardized tests, standardized tests scores, academic self-efficacy, and academic performance of 247 African American graduate students, utilizing a correlational and comparative non-experimental research design. Findings from the study revealed that academic self-efficacy is a predictor of academic performance for African American graduate students. However, perceptions of standardized tests were found to not predict academic performance. In addition, standardized test scores (GRE) were not significantly related to academic performance; however, GRE scores were related and predicted academic self-efficacy. Further statistical analysis found that there was a statistically significant difference in the academic performance between African American graduate students who had either higher or lower academic self-efficacy. However, there was no statistically significant difference in the academic self-efficacy between African American graduate students with negative and positive perceptions of standardized test

Psychometric Testing of the Malaria Critical Thinking Test

Accrediting bodies of baccalaureate nursing programs require quantified assessment of critical thinking in students. The current literature indicates two types of critical thinking assessments: (a) standardized, psychometrically sound, and non-nursing specific, and (b) nursing specific, but lacking the established psychometric properties. Therefore, a nursing-specific critical thinking test with established psychometric properties would help nurse educators understand the unique critical thinking ability of baccalaureate nursing students. With information from a quantitative critical thinking ability assessment tool, instructional methods could be revised to target student characteristics that correlate with critical thinking ability. Additionally, nurse educators could use the information from a nursing-specific critical thinking ability assessment to implement program interventions to ensure student success. Ultimately, a nursing-specific critical thinking ability assessment might be used to predict how students perform on other exams, for example, the NCLEX-RN examination. Tropical and infectious diseases are topics that are often insufficiently covered in most baccalaureate programs, yet these diseases have implications for global health. One specific disease over half of the world’s population is at risk for contracting is malaria. Assessing nursing student critical thinking ability about malaria, a topic less prevalent in the United States, may change the approach to teaching and learning strategies that promote critical thinking in nursing education. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to develop a reliable and valid critical thinking test that can be implemented in baccalaureate curricula to assess students’ critical thinking abilities regarding malaria. Specific Aims The two specific aims of this study were to (a) test the Malaria Critical Thinking Test’s (MCTT) content validity and (b) test the MCTT’s construct validity and reliability. Methods A cross-sectional survey research design was used to test the MCTT’s psychometric properties. Content validity was tested with a critical thinking expert panel review. Construct validity and reliability were tested with a convenience sample of undergraduate baccalaureate nursing students at a Midwest university. Results Acceptable content validity for the MCTT was established with three stages of an expert panel’s review. Construct validity and internal consistency reliability for the MCTT were tested and deemed not acceptable. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) indicated that there were four MCTT items with acceptable factor loading values (\u3e 0.32). Results from the EFA indicated that a confirmatory factor analysis of the MCTT is not appropriate at this time. Conclusions This study’s results provide an initial start to establish the psychometric properties of the MCTT. Future MCTT enhancement should employ multiple strategies for item development to establish acceptable MCTT content validity, reliability, and construct validity through EFA and confirmatory factor analysis

Measurement of attitude toward educational use of the Internet in an English composition course with a comparison of traditional -aged and non-traditional-aged students

Attitude is tied to behavior, and writing behaviors seem to be affected by using a computer. Technological advances have forever changed the way educators view the process of writing, including the way students learn, how they feel about the way they are learning, and their subsequent behaviors. Numerous studies have indicated that using computers to write changes the way students write, what they write, and the quantity and quality of that writing. However, studies disagreed about how these changes occur, whether they are positive or negative (or neither), and what psychological dynamics, such as attitude, are involved, to what degree, and how they relate to each other. Affect in general and specifically toward computers has been studied, with several computer attitude scales developed during the 1980s and 1990s. However, these scales did not measure attitude nor subsequent behaviors toward complex computer applications, such as the Internet; moreover, none existed for use in English composition. This study measured attitudes toward educational use of the Internet (ATEUI), along with selected behavioral correlates, among English composition students to examine the relationships between attitude and behavior, age, sex, and academic rank. Further, the students were categorized by age to determine any differences between those who were traditional aged (\u3c25) and those who were non-traditional aged (≥25)

Understanding and Improving the Non-Cognitive Factors that Affect First-Year Engineering Performance

To maintain America’s status as a global technological leader, there has been a longstanding effort to increase the quality and quantity of engineers in the workforce. Previous research and government reports have called on the education system at all levels to increase enrollment and persistence in college engineering programs. Additionally, engineering employers continue to be dissatisfied with the skills obtained by those students who do persist to graduation, in part because those students that may become the best engineers are leaving engineering. In order to effectively recruit and retain the best engineering students, the factors that affect engineering student success need to be better understood. In addition, we need to understand how to improve these factors in students to guide them to becoming successful in engineering However, in engineering undergraduate programs, where many students are matriculating with exceptional academic credentials, cognitive factors such as high school GPA and standardized test scores are poor predictors of student success. Therefore, in order to gain a better understanding of the drivers of academic success for first-year engineering students, additional non-cognitive and demographic factors must be considered. The initial goal of this research was to determine the cognitive, non-cognitive, and demographic factors that affect the academic performance of first-year engineering undergraduates. To accomplish this, a 41-item non-cognitive and demographic survey was administered to 375 first-year engineering students to measure a collection of non-cognitive, and demographic factors. An exploratory factor analysis was performed on the non-cognitive survey items to determine the underlying factors present in the data, and these factors were included alongside traditional cognitive and demographic factors in a step-wise linear regression model. Finally, a structural equation model was created to better understand the direct and indirect effects of the cognitive, non-cognitive, and demographic variables on first year engineers’ academic performance. The subsequent goal was to recruit students for an intervention intended to improve a subset of those non-cognitive factors. Initially, students were recruited for an academic coaching intervention with the intention of improving their study habits, time management, and test anxiety. An additional set of students was then recruited for a second round of interventions, where academic coaches were given the quantitative results so they could better prepare for and target their sessions to individual students. The results of this research show that the inclusion of non-cognitive and demographic factors creates a much better model for predicting engineering students’ first year performance. For instance, with this sample of students, test anxiety had a significant negative relationship with cumulative first year GPA, while high school GPA was a non-significant predictor. In addition, academic coaching interventions were found, both quantitatively and qualitative, to improve students’ study skills, time management, and test anxiety. All students mentioned that they thought academic coaching would improve their academic performance, and on average students’ test anxiety and study skill survey results improved. This research shows how engineering students’ academic success can be better modeled with a more holistic collection of factors, and that a subset of these factors can be improved with the goal of improving academic performance. These results can be used by faculty and academic advisors to better understand why students may be struggling and can be used to more effectively recruit students for interventions. The academic coaching system can also use these results to create more effective and personalized interventions. Ultimately, this research can be used in numerous ways to better understand students and guide them towards academic success

Predicting Working Memory and Fluid Intelligence from Measures of Musicality

The relationship between musicality and cognitive abilities has been a popular topic in the media and among researchers over the last 25 years. Research has been inconsistent on whether musicality influences performance on non-musical complex tasks, such as measures of working memory and fluid intelligence. Inconsistencies regarding results between studies have arisen partly due to differences in sample and task selection, in addition to conflicting interpretations of results. Consequently, we conducted an individual differences investigation on the prediction of working memory (tonal, verbal, and visuospatial) and fluid intelligence by measures of musicality (formal years of musicality training, musical sophistication, melodic memory, and beat perception). Using correlational and regression approaches, the results showed that individual measures of musicality did not predict performance on each complex cognitive measure uniformly. These results suggest that relationships between musicality and cognitive abilities can be potentially influenced by measurement selection, and musical experiences and abilities underlie cognitive abilities differentially. Further exploration is needed to understand how and why these relationships occurred