Predicting Score Change: An Empirical Investigation of Cheating on Unproctored Employment Tests

Unproctored internet testing (UIT) is used widely to administer employment tests (Fallaw, Solomonson, & McClelland, 2009), although cognitively loaded tests delivered by UIT are suspected to offer test takers greater opportunities to cheat and increase the risk of test taker cheating (Chapman & Webster, 2003; Tippins et al., 2006; Tippins, 2009). Despite the wide use and suspected cheating concerns, there is a dearth of research investigating cheating on cognitively loaded UITs (Naglieri et al., 2004; Beaty et al., 2011). Based on the lack of theoretically-grounded empirical studies, the current study had two goals: (1) identify which cheating methods are used by test takers to effectively raise test scores and (2) investigate the roles of general cognitive ability and effective cheating methods in raising test scores. To test the specific hypotheses, 340 adult participants recruited from Amazon MTurk completed a UIT used for employee selection first under honest conditions and then under cheating conditions. Results indicated that not all test takers were able to increase their scores by cheating; cheating effectiveness depended upon the interaction between cognitive ability and the use of effective cheating methods. These results suggest that increased cognitive ability may lead to increased cheating effectiveness on selection tests, but that score change is contingent on applicant awareness of appropriate cheating methods for those tests

Individual Differences and Usage of Learner Control

Past learner control research has shown discrepant findings for hypothesized learning outcomes. In order to shed light on these inconsistent findings, this study investigated adult learners\u27 use of learner control features in an online training program, and examined the usage in relation to individual differences. A sample of participants recruited from a crowd sourcing website was given a high level of learner control, and their progress was tracked as they completed an online Microsoft Excel training program. It was hypothesized that learner behavior during training partially mediated the relationship between individual differences and learning outcomes in a high learner control training environment. Results indicated that the relationship between cognitive ability and learning outcomes was partially mediated by the usage of learner control features. Hypotheses regarding other individual differences were generally unsupported, possibly due to the context of the study: a voluntary training program completed by adults who were compensated with a relatively small amount of money. Future research on learner control should be conducted on employee samples or in-person

The effect of service excellence training: Examining providers\u27 patient experience scores

Previous research and applied work has shown that communication-based training has the potential to impact important outcomes for healthcare organizations. Our institution developed and deployed Service Excellence, a communications-focused training, in our large academic cancer-focused healthcare system. In this study, we investigated whether patient experience improved for those with care providers who completed Service Excellence, as measured by Press Ganey Provider Experience surveys, and whether the effect of Service Excellence training depends on employee engagement. Results indicated that participating in Service Excellence training positively impacts perceptions of patient experience, and that the impact of the training is stronger for providers with low engagement as compared to providers with high engagement. Findings suggest that communications-based training can be an effective mitigation strategy to assist even those low engaged physicians with displaying the expected behaviors for positive patient interactions. Implications for healthcare organizations are discussed, including the rationale for motivating providers to attend such training. Experience Framework This article is associated with the Policy & Measurement lens of The Beryl Institute Experience Framework. (https://www.theberylinstitute.org/ExperienceFramework). Access other PXJ articles related to this lens. Access other resources related to this lens

Central amygdala activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1 and age-dependent changes in inflammatory pain sensitivity in mice

Aging populations are more sensitive to noxious stimuli as a result of altered somatosensory systems. In these experiments, we examined pain-like behaviors in young, middle-aged, and old mice during peripheral inflammation to determine if the same sensitivity exists in preclinical animal models. Immediately following injury, middle-aged and old mice exhibited more spontaneous pain-like behaviors than young mice, matching pain prevalence in clinical populations. Middle-aged and old mice also developed persistent mechanical hypersensitivity in the injured paw. Furthermore, old mice developed mechanical hypersensitivity in the noninjured paw suggesting age-dependent changes in central nociceptive systems. To address this end, pain-related protein expression was examined in the central nucleus of the amygdala, a limbic brain region that modulates somatic pain. Following injury, increased phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1, a protein with known nociceptive functions, was observed in the right central nucleus of the amygdala of old mice and not middle-aged or young animals. These findings suggest that age-dependent changes in supraspinal nociceptive systems may account for increased pain-like behaviors in aging populations

Discovery of Sigma-2 Ligands and Prioritization of Marine Cyanobacteria Extracts for TNBC Drug Discovery

The role of natural products in drug development is well established. In recent years, marine cyanobacteria have been regarded as a major source of biologically active metabolites with chemical and Figure 5 pharmacological diversity. These cyanobacterial natural products serve as a promising source of drug A. leads for the discovery of therapeutic agents used in the treatment of many diseases of interest, such as CNS disorders, pain, and cancer. We have generated a library of 409 fractions from 37 field collected cyanobacterial samples and screened these fractions against a panel of CNS receptors using radiolabeled ligand competitive-binding assays. Upon analysis of the binding activity, we found that a significant amount of hits from our cyanobacterial samples were at the sigma 2 receptor. Sigma 2 has been known to be involved in CNS disorders and pain, as well as being upregulated in certain types of breast cancer, specifically, Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC). For these reasons, certain cyanobacterial fractions with sigma 2 binding activity were prioritized and studied further using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography, Mass Spectrometry, and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. Additionally, we found that fractions with a high affinity for sigma 2 had a significant cytotoxic effect on TNBC cell lines. The goal of this poster is to summarize our current analysis and results of cyanobacterial extracts with sigma 2 and TNBC cytotoxicity

An Examination of Burnout Predictors: Understanding the Influence of Job Attitudes and Environment

Burnout amongst healthcare employees is considered an epidemic; prior research indicates a host of associated negative consequences, though more research is needed to understand the predictors of burnout across healthcare employees. All employees in a cancer-focused academic healthcare institution were invited to participate in a bi-annual online confidential employee survey. A 72% response rate yielded 9979 complete responses. Participants completed demographic items, a validated single-item measure of burnout, and items measuring eight employee job attitudes toward their jobs and organization (agility, development, alignment, leadership, trust, resources, safety, and teamwork). Department-level characteristics, turnover, and vacancy were calculated for group level analyses. A univariate F test revealed differences in burnout level by department type (F (3, 9827) = 54.35, p < 0.05) and post hoc Scheffe’s tests showed employees in clinical departments reported more burnout than other departments. Hierarchical multiple regression revealed that employee demographic and job-related variables (including department type) explained 8% of the variance of burnout (F (19, 7880) = 37.95, p < 0.001), and employee job attitudes explained an additional 27% of the variance of burnout (F (8, 7872) = 393.18, p < 0.001). Relative weights analysis at the group level showed that, of the constructs measured, alignment is the strongest predictor of burnout, followed by trust and leadership. The relationships are inverse in nature, such that more alignment is related to less burnout. Turnover and vacancy rates did not predict group level burnout. The results reported here provide evidence supporting a shift in the focus of research and practice from detection to prevention of employee burnout and from individual-focused interventions to organization-wide interventions to prevent burnout