Vocational pathways in the early part of a career: An Australian study

The vocational pathways of a representative national sample of Australian school students (N = 1,201) were examined over a 7-year period after the students left school. Results indicated that there was a disparity between the students' initial vocational interests and their occupations at the beginning of their careers. Only 21% of the students were in identical high-point interest areas at initial assessment and 7 years later. The results suggested that there was a period of career exploration that was followed by adjustment to the labor market

The Background, Psychometric Qualities and Clinical Application of the Visual Analog Mood Scales: A Review and Evaluation

The purpose of this report is to evaluate the published version of the Visual Analog Mood Scales. These scales were published in 1997 and assess eight clinically relevant unipolar dimensions: afraid, confused, sad, angry, energetic, tired, happy, tense. From a search of the literature in PsycINFO, 24 empirical studies (including reliability and validity) were located on the application of the scales. The use of the scales for diagnosis, treatment and experimentation is described and published data on the test-retest reliability and validity of the scales is summarized. The reported test-retest correlations ranged from .43 to .87 and were considered too low for high stakes decisions. From nine studies, the concurrent validity coefficients across the eight scales ranged from a low of .12 to as high as .82. It is concluded that the scales have clinical utility for a quasi-non-verbal or pictorial assessment of mood states but there are limitations in the interpretation of the results. This is due to the shortcomings in the standardization samples as well as concerns for the psychometric quality in terms of validity and reliability

JOB STRESSORS AND SLOW MEDICINE IN HEALTH CARE: A SCOPING REVIEW

This paper provides a framework for addressing the stressors in modern medical health care, especially those that relate to psychology and psychiatry. Despite its advances, organized medicine is beset with inefficiencies and imperfections. The extent of burnout and stress for health professionals is documented in this scoping review. The impact on mental health is described and an approach based on a slower medicine is advocated

Analysing the Expert Judgment of a Rehabilitation Counsellor: A Case Study

This case study analysed the expert judgments of a rehabilitation counsellor. The counsellor was given 37 accident victims' self-ratings of health, energy, daily activities, self-esteem, personal relations, financial resources and living conditions. The accident victims also rated their own overall quality of life as poor or good. The expert was required to make judgments about whether the quality of life was poor or good in each case and matched the ratings of the accident victims in 64.8% of cases. The results suggest that under conditions of uncertainty and complexity an expert may be more accurate than chance but still fail to use the properties of information to their maximum advantag

Probability of Responding: A Return to the Original Brunswik

This paper traces the conceptual foundations of the Brunswik based Social Judgment Theory. The historical transition from measurement through probability of responding (i.e., a constancy ratio) to measurement via correlations is documented. It is shown that there are substantive limitations with the correlation approach for the idiographic analysis of human perception or decision-making. Instead, the constancy ratio developed originally by Brunswik as well as the measurement of the probability of accuracy in responding are better suited to the analysis of human responding under conditions of uncertainty and complexity. These measures are relevant for the development of psychological laws of individual responding. It was concluded that focusing on the probability of individual responses to situations through analysing the pattern of responding intensively is more consistent with the original approach of Brunswik

Male and female differences in self-report cheating

Cheating is an important area for educational research, not only because it reduces the consequential validity of assessment results, but also because it is anathema to widely held public principles of equity and truthfulness (see Cizek, 1999 for a comprehensive review of the topic). Moreover, modern education is centered on numerous situations that really depend upon a student’s honesty. The purpose of this paper is to review the extent of academic cheating and to describe any gender differences in self-reports. Accessed 66,268 times on https://pareonline.net from May 18, 2002 to December 31, 2019. For downloads from January 1, 2020 forward, please click on the PlumX Metrics link to the right

Which components of instruction influence student interest?

This study investigated how subject interest is related to components of instruction, the nature of the subject and/or student factors. Students (N=524) from over 30 technical and further education colleges completed a survey on aspects of teaching and their interest in a subject. Student ratings of the 12 components of instruction and subject interest were uniformly positive. The overall average of the 12 questions on different aspects of teaching was 3.3 (ratings ranged from I to 4). This correlated 0.46 with the rating of subject interest. There was no significant effect of age, gender, being in the first or later years of a course or whether attending full time or part time on the level of interest in the subject. A significantly high and positive correlation with the level of subject interest was observed for those subjects which were rated highly in terms of preparing people for a career (r= 0.55; p \u3c.0.01). The most important instructional factors were: the ability to explain concepts clearly, helping students to understand and demonstrating the relevance of the subject

Judgements as a basis for informal workplace learning - preliminary research findings

Informal learning can be broadly characterised as learning found in everyday opportunities where learners interact with the world around them. It can be distinguished from formal learning where the purpose, structure and content for learning are imposed on the learner. When informal learning occurs in the context of work or organised settings, factors such as performance, practice, sociocultural dynamics and situational context influence its nature and quality. Previous research by Beckett, Hager and Halliday (Beckett, 1996; Beckett & Hager, 2000, 2002; Hager, 2001; Halliday & Hager, 2002) asserts that productive informal learning is better characterised as a growing capacity to make contextual-sensitive judgements - a discretionary and discriminating process that involves holistic and embodied knowing. Our paper reports on progress in an Australian Research Council funded Discovery project designed to test this judgement-as-learning approach. Detailed case studies of critical incidents in a range of workplaces are being constructed and the learning or otherwise by key players involved in these incidents is being elucidated and analysed. This empirical investigation provides a means of analysing significant workplace events in order to develop a model of informal learning and an associated theory of practice. The paper outlines the overall project rationale and discusses findings from one initial case study. Additional findings from other case studies developed after submission of this paper, will be presented and discussed at the conference