Perceived Control of Academic Events in Turkish and English Adolescents: Comparing Classical Test Theory and Item Response Theory to Detect Item Biases Across Cultures

Perceived control was investigated in secondary school adolescents from secular Turkish and British schools. Five published questionnaires were used. Perceived control was measured mainly with the Control beliefs, Means-Ends beliefs, and Agency Scale (CAMI - Skinner, Baltes, Chapman, 1988) As supplementary measures, Nowicki and Strickland's (1973) Internal-External Locus of Control for Children Scale (CNSIE) and Palenzuela's (1988) Multiple Academic Specific Locus of Control Scale (MASLOC) were also used. Two other questionnaires, measuring social antecedents, were included in the study. These were the Religiosity in Youth Scale (Rothbough & Jessor, 1976) and the F-Scale (Adorno, 1950; Christie, 1991). In order to detect item biases within and between cultures, two procedures were followed: a) The questionnaires were translated from English to Turkish, and then both versions were completed by a bilingual Turkish sample. Translation fidelity was tested using three different approaches: Generalizability theory (Cronbach et al., 1972; Shavelson & Webb, 1991), Classical Item Analysis (Nunnally, 1978) and Item Response Theory (Lord, 1980; Hambleton et al., 1990). The results are discussed in terms of consistency and the cost of the procedure. b) The Turkish and English versions of the questionnaires were completed by unilingual Turkish and English samples in their own language. The purpose here was to detect similar (etic) and different (emic) functioning of the items across cultures using Classical and Modem item analysis. The questionnaires were found to be functioning similarly in the two cultures. But CNSIE was found to be a poor scale in both cultures and was not used in the next stage. In the final part of the thesis perceived control was investigated as a function of culture, religion, religiosity, authoritarianism, age and gender. The perceived control scale showed significant cultural differences on 3 out of 10 subscales of CAM!. Agency beliefs and MASLOC showed significant effects of religion, religiosity, authoritarianism and gender. Generally, the Turkish sample was more Internal, more religious, and authoritarian. The gender differences were more inconsistent in terms of the direction of the relationship, with boys more internal on attribute while girls were more internal on unknown factors and effort

Flow the wu-wei way: A thematic analysis of charity runners’ experience of wu-wei in enhancing wellbeing and flourishing

There is increasing interest and research into non-Western perspectives on wellbeing and ways of flourishing in different cultures. This study builds on this by investigating the Taoist concept of wu-wei, translated from Chinese as ‘non-action’ or ‘actionless action’, through the experiences of ten runners (age 40 to 63; four identifying as male and six as female) who run for charitable causes and how this contributes towards their wellbeing. Semi-structured interviews were conducted then transcribed, and four core themes and eight subthemes identified using thematic analysis. Analysis showed that the four core themes for participants to achieve wu-wei were experience of suffering or adversity, being fully focused on the present (with an element of mindfulness), having a shared experience with the running community, and adopting a broader perspective on life (including in meaning or purpose). By accepting their experiences of suffering or adversity and pursuing pro-social activities, such as running for charitable causes, participants used mindfulness through running to develop a broader perspective on life and attain wellbeing. The findings indicate that the Taoist concept of wu-wei can be applied in positive psychology when manifested as a key facet of running as a positive psychology intervention suggesting its relevance to the wellbeing literature. This study highlights the importance of embracing cross-cultural approaches to wellbeing by looking at non-Western perspectives and their application to the global population

The impact of gender on primary teachers' evaluations of children's difficulties in school

Background. More boys than girls receive provision to meet special educational needs. It has been suggested that teachers' evaluations of children's difficulties in school may be subject to gender bias. But the evidence is inconsistent, and the methodology of some work that reported bias has been criticised because the type of rating task that was used may have encouraged stereotypic thinking (Langfeldt, 1993).Aims. This study investigated whether gender of child would still have an influence on teacher's judgments ifa fuller context was provided for the stimulus and there was a more realistic rating task.Samples. The sample comprised 523 teachers in 79 primary schools in London, the home counties and the North-West of England.Methods, Participants completed questionnaires on what action might be required in their school for children with difficulties who were described in short vignettes. The children's gender was varied systematically. The construct of 'seriousness', which had generally been left vague in earlier research, was given a concrete definition.Results, It was found that, when the experimental task was contextualised in this way, the gender-of-child effect disappeared. Teacher characteristics such as gender did not influence the results.Conclusions, These findings should be treated with some caution as they relate to the small and restricted range of types of difficulty that were included in the study and to a sample of primary schools in one society. However, they give support to an emphasis on 'realism' in the method of investigation that is used for exploring teachers' judgments

Teaching diversity to medical undergraduates: curriculum development, delivery and assessment. AMEE GUIDE No. 103

The aim of this Guide is to support teacher with the responsibility of designing, delivering and/or assessing diversity education. Although, the focus is on medical education, the guidance is relevant to all healthcare professionals. The Guide begins by providing an overview of the definitions used and the principles that underpin the teaching of diversity as advocated by Diversity and Medicine in Health (DIMAH). Following an outline of these principles we highlight the difference between equality and diversity education. The Guide then covers diversity education throughout the educational process from the philosophical stance of educators and how this influences the approaches used through to curriculum development, delivery and assessment. Appendices contain practical examples from across the UK, covering lesson plans and specific exercises to deliver teaching. Although, diversity education remains variable and fragmented there is now some momentum to ensure that the principles of good educational practice are applied to diversity education. The nature of this topic means that there are a range of different professions and medical disciplines involved which leads to a great necessity for greater collaboration and sharing of effective practice