External examining: fit for purpose?

In a context of international concern about academic standards, the practice of external examining is widely admired for its role in defending standards. Yet a contradiction exists between this faith in examining and continuing concerns about standards. This article argues that external examining rests on assumptions about standards which are significantly open to challenge. Six assumptions relating to the conceptual context, the operation and the nature of examiners themselves are analysed drawing on a review of the available evidence. The analysis challenges the notion of a consensus on standards and the potential to vest in individuals the ability to represent that consensus when judging the comparability of academic standards in a stable and appropriate way. The issues raised have relevance to the UK and to other national systems using external examiners or seeking to guarantee academic standards by, in some cases, adopting quality assurance approaches developed in the UK

Re-examining inequality persistence

Although it is not a new phenomenon, in recent years inequality has moved to the top of the political agenda given the concern that will result in political instability and social resentment. Persistence in inequality can further undermine economic growth and development by hindering educational opportunities, human capital formation, and intergenerational mobility. The persistent nature of inequality stands as one of the most serious challenges for the global economy. This paper analyses inequality persistence for a sample of 60 countries from 1984 to 2015. The authors conclude that inequality is persistent and government redistribution polices through taxes and transfers did not significantly reduce inequality persistence

Method of examining microcircuit patterns

Examination of microstructures of LSI and VLSI devices is facilitated by employing a method in which the device is photographed through a darkfield illumination optical microscope and the resulting negative subjected to inverse processing to form a positive on a photographic film. The film is then developed to form photographic prints or transparencies which clearly illustrate the structure of the device. The entire structure of a device may be examined by alternately photographing the device and selectively etching layers of the device in order to expose underlying layers

Examining the ‘Cosmetics Placebo Effect’

Previous studies have found a positive effect of cosmetics on certain behavioral measures, such as the tip given to waitresses by male patrons. These studies have employed confederates who usually wear cosmetics. We therefore sought to examine whether the positive effect found in these studies could, in part, be explained by a change in behavior. In order to test the possibility of a ‘cosmetics placebo effect’, we employed a confederate to solicit donations from passersby. On some days our confederate would not have any cosmetics applied to her face (i.e., no cosmetics condition), on some days cosmetics were pretended to be applied to her face (i.e., placebo cosmetics condition), and on other days cosmetics were actually applied to her face (i.e., cosmetics condition). In line with previous research, we found that across conditions men donated significantly more than women to our female solicitor, providing support for the ‘showoff hypothesis’, in which male generosity serves as a mating tactic. When investigating men’s donations in more detail, we found that the highest percentage of donations came in the cosmetics condition, followed by the placebo cosmetics condition, and then by no cosmetics condition. The effect of condition on donation rates, however, was not statistically significant. Our study was limited to one solicitor and one dependent variable (i.e., percentage of people approached who donated) and therefore future research would benefit from using more confederates as well as examining other behavioral measures. Given the influence of cosmetics use on so many real-world outcomes, we believe that further exploration into a possible ‘cosmetics placebo effect’ would be valuable

Skills Training Works: Examining the Evidence

In spite of public consensus that education and training lead to economic advancement, recent federal policies have made it harder for low-income Americans to get the education and training they need to succeed in today's economy. A number of recent federal policies, like the 1996 law that established the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) welfare program, have in different ways adopted a "work first" approach that encourages or requires low-income adults to find employment immediately, rather than allowing them first to develop skills that might lead to better jobs with family-sustaining wages and benefits, and opportunities for steady work and advancement. This policy shift away from skills training and toward work first strategies has come about, in part, from a misconception that "training does not work." Many policymakers have heard that government-sponsored research -- such as the National Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) Study, the Greater Avenues to Independence (GAIN) Evaluation and the National Evaluation of Welfare-to-Work Strategies (NEWWS) -- shows that low-income adults who receive training do no better in the job market than people who do not receive such services, or who receive only the less expensive job search assistance typical of many work first strategies. In fact, a more comprehensive look at the existing research reveals the documented effectiveness of skills training

Examining of the Effects of Employees on Work Stress, Role Conflict and Job Insecurity on Organizational Culture

Perceived work stress, It is stated that employees are psychologically disturbed and intensely threatening their health at their busy working tempo. Employees with a high degree of stress in the face of excessive workloads may experience burnout and intention to quit. Employees experiencing job insecurity cannot show their real performance and cannot get the efficiency they want from employees because they do not see themselves permanently in their organizations. However, they cannot achieve the desired efficiency due to the fact that employees who have a role conflict must fulfill more than one workload. Employees who are satisfied with their organizations are able to adopt organizational culture and develop their organizational skills such as planning and problem solving. Within the scope of the aim of the research, a survey was conducted with 350 employees. Some of the analyzes were performed using SPSS 25 Program and some of them were performed with AMOS program. Factor analysis and reliability analysis were applied to the questions using Likert scale. The results of factor analysis were checked by confirmatory factor analysis in AMOS. Correlation analysis was used to examine the relationships between variables, and regression analysis was used to test hypotheses

The importance of ideas: an a priori critical juncture framework

This paper sets out an improved framework for examining critical junctures. This framework, while rigorous and broadly applicable and an advance on the frameworks currently employed, primarily seeks to incorporate an a priori element. Until now the frameworks utilized in examining critical junctures were entirely postdictive. Adding a predictive element to the concept will constitute a significant advance. The new framework, and its predictive element, termed the “differentiating factor,” is tested here in examining macro-economic crises and subsequent changes in macro-economic policy, in America and Sweden