Understanding Your Critics: An Outsider’s Analysis of a Core Criticism of the Church Growth Movement

A call to proclamation evangelism rather than persuasion evangelism

Understanding Your Critics: An Outsider’s Analysis of a Core Criticism of the Church Growth Movement

A call to proclamation evangelism rather than persuasion evangelism

Dordt Convocation Address: Spring 2007

This address was presented by Dr. Duane Litfin at the 2007 Spring Convocation of Dordt College

The Effects of Gender Grouping on Female Students’ Participation in Physical Education

The purpose of this action research was to determine if female participation would increase in a single-gendered versus a co-educational (co-ed) setting during seventh and eighth grade physical education. The action research project was completed in the Barnum Secondary School with 70 seventh and eighth grade females during competitive contact activities. All 70 females were given a participation questionnaire and 40 random females were observed during four weeks of activity. Data was collected using a participation questionnaire, a participation tally sheet, a video observation checklist, and a participation rubric. The results showed female participation increased in the single-gendered setting in competitive contact activities. Competitive contact activities should be offered in a single-gendered setting to allow females in seventh and eighth grade the opportunity to enhance their participation in a physical education setting. We will continue to monitor both co-ed and single-gendered activities to gauge participation outcomes

The Choice of Color, Topic and Toys: An Empirical Study of Gender Roles

Typically, toy manufacturers use the color pink for girls’ toys and the color blue for boys. They also design gender-related theme worlds for girls and boys based on gender-based stereotypes, justified by different playing preferences of the two sexes. Socially-oriented toys such as dolls are meant for girls and non-social toys such as trucks are attributed to boys. In toy shops, early-stage shaping of the gender profile is thus achieved by color and theme design. This early-stage reinforcement and reproduction of gender stereotypes has been criticized because stereotyping can limit further child development and learning. The goal of this article is to examine the contribution of the color-setting and theme design to the perception of toys, the gender-related assignment as well as the preferences for playing with toys. For this purpose, the use of the eye-tracking technology is combined with a questionnaire. In an experiment six pairs of “LEGO®” models, which have been systematically varied in color and theme, are shown to 74 four- and five-year-old children. The results reveal that the original gender-stereotyped “LEGO®” models attract more attention among children than the varied gender-incongruent models. The original “LEGO®” models are clearly assigned to gender. In the case of the varied models, the color is more distinctive than the theme for gender classification and the interest in playing with the models. This work is licensed under a&nbsp;Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.</p

User-Friendly Website Design: A Combined Eye-Tracking Study

A simple and intuitive operation – the so-called usability analysis of websites – is indispensable in modern times. In particular, drop-out rates can be applied as an indicator of existing usability problems. Eye-tracking is a proven method for the evaluation of the usability of websites. The aim of the study was to improve the usability of the website of an educational institute for trainees in the region as the target group. For this purpose, the use of an eye-tracking technology was combined with a survey of 30 trainees. The eye-tracking study was task-oriented: subjects were asked to inform themselves of particular course offers, and to register for the relevant courses. This procedure and the subsequent survey provided tangible indications of the search and surfing behaviour of the target group as well as their assessment of the usability of the website. This combination of methods allows the development of recommendations for optimizing the website with regard to its orientation, structure and level of comprehensibility. This work is licensed under a&nbsp;Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.</p

Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting - a Stakeholder`s Perspective Approach

Background: International financial reporting standards have constantly been facing fast-growing significant development. This has mainly been driven by the aim of better serving the needs of the investors. Awareness that corporate financial reporting provides short-sighted information and measures has been rising among politicians, in the society and on the financial markets. Therefore, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting as a form of non-financial reporting has made it to limelight. Various reporting types developed, but the type of reporting is hardly codified. Objective: The goal of this paper is to identify the superior CSR reporting type from a stakeholder\u27s perspective. After identifying and analyzing central guidelines on CSR reporting and presenting different approaches, the authors will apply a positive-empirical methodology. Methods/Approach: In this first innovative joint attempt, eye-tracking technology is combined with a questionnaire for approaching CSR quality. Results: This study demonstrates the validity of the used methodology for the analysis of search and information browsing behavior in various types of sustainability reports. Conclusions: Overall our findings indicate that the reporting type "reference sustainability report" may not be advisable from a stakeholder’s perspective