108 research outputs found
Interviewer-Respondent Interaction and Rapport in PIAAC
Purpose: The paper investigates small-scale, qualitative observations of interviewerrespondent interaction in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Developmentâs Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). Design/methodology/approach: The paper employs video-ethnographic methods to document talk and gesture in assessment in Slovenian household settings. It presents an indepth case study of interaction in a single testing situation. Findings: Observing interaction in assessment captures data on assessment performance that is not available in quantitative analysis of assessment response processes. The character of interviewer-respondent interaction and rapport is shaped by the cognitive demands of assessment and the distinctive ecological setting of the household. Research limitations/implications: Observational data on assessment response processes and interaction in real-life assessments can be integrated into and synthesized with other sources of âprocess data.â Practical implications: Assessment programs such as PIAAC should consider the significance of the household setting on assessment quality and observations of interaction in assessment as a valid source of paradata. Social implications: There is a place for small-scale observational studies of assessment to inform public understanding of assessment quality and validity. Originality/value: The paper provides qualitative insights into the significance of interaction and âinterviewer effectsâ in household assessment setting
Talk and Gesture as Process Data
This paper examines the topic of talk and gesture in computer-based tests, and what it can tell us about assessment performance. The paper describes a micro-analytic approach, and uses video-ethnographic methods to investigate data that is not captured by conventional assessment scores or by computer-generated log files. The paper presents transcripts from assessment events in the OECD Adult Skills Survey (PIAAC) in Slovenia. The transcripts describe a three-way interaction between interviewer, respondent and computer. They enable a comparison of the roles of the computer and interviewer in the management of assessment quality and engagement. The paper demonstrates the ways that interaction in testing situations influences test performance, and how respondents make cognitive-affective decisions about their engagement. In conclusion, the paper considers how process data on talk and gesture can inform validation practice
On the Motivations of a Skeptic, and Her Practice
The aim of Pyrrhonism is deceptively simple: to achieve a state of ataraxia, of tranquility and relief from perturbation. But what is the extent of the ataraxia envisioned? Must the Skeptic admit a hard distinction between disturbances apparently related to belief and thereÂfore subject to suspension of judgement, and extra-doxastic disturbancÂes (e.g. everyday anxiety and frustration, or even hunger and fear) that are beyond the scope of the Skeptical method? In this paper I examine passages from Sextusâs Outlines of Pyrrhonism that indicate that such a distinction may not stand up to Skeptical scrutiny and that the SkeptiÂcal method does not only apply to âphilosophicalâ speculative dogma or to âintellectualâ perturbation, contra Barnesâs claim that the person who perceives the fewest anomalies may make âthe perfect Pyrrhonistâ. But I also, following Massieâs critique of unwarranted causal inferences regarding the relation between equipollence and ataraxia, distinguish cases where tarache (disturbance) presents itself as anomalous and thus lends itself to inquiry from cases where it presents itself with an apparÂent cause and does not provoke inquiry. Thus, though an apparently extra-doxastic disturbance may actually be rooted in unconsciously-held dogma, the Skeptic cannot demarcate a special class of potentially doxastic disturbances without employing a dogmatic psychology of her own. She must instead suspend judgment regarding the entire scope of her method, entertaining the possibility that any disturbance could be relieved through the Skeptical method. In the process, ataraxia is divested of definite parameters and the Skeptical method becomes effectively endless
Re-defining Post-Literacy in a Changing World
Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,
Process and product in computer-based assessments: Clearing the ground for a holistic validity framework
There is no consensus among assessment researchers about many of the central problems of response process data, including what is it and what is it comprised of. The Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (American Educational Research Association et al., 2014) locate process data within their five sources of validity evidence. However, we rarely see a conceptualization of response processes; rather, the focus is on the techniques and methods of assembling response process indices or statistical models. The method often overrides clear definitions, and, as a field, we may therefore conflate method and methodology â much like we have conflated validity and validation (Zumbo, 2007). In this paper, we aim to clear the conceptual ground to explore the scope of a holistic framework for the validation of process and product. We review prominent conceptualizations of response processes and their sources and explore some fundamental questions: Should we make a theoretical and practical distinction between response processes and response data? To what extent do the uses of process data reflect the principles of deliberate, educational, and psychological measurement? To answer these questions, we consider the case of item response times and the potential for variation associated with disability and neurodiversity
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Stratosphere-troposphere transport in a numerical simulation of midlatitude convection
The transport of stratospheric air deep into the troposphere via convection is
investigated numerically using the UK Met Office Unified Model. A convective system
that formed on 27 June 2004 near southeast England, in the vicinity an upper level
potential vorticity anomaly and a lowered tropopause, provides the basis for analysis.
Transport is diagnosed using a stratospheric tracer that can either be passed through or
withheld from the modelâs convective parameterization scheme. Three simulations are
performed at increasingly finer resolutions, with horizontal grid lengths of 12, 4, and 1 km.
In the 12 and 4 km simulations, tracer is transported deeply into the troposphere by the
parameterized convection. In the 1 km simulation, for which the convective
parameterization is disengaged, deep transport is still accomplished but with a much
smaller magnitude. However, the 1 km simulation resolves stirring along the tropopause
that does not exist in the coarser simulations. In all three simulations, the concentration of
the deeply transported tracer is small, three orders of magnitude less than that of the
shallow transport near the tropopause, most likely because of the efficient dilution of
parcels in the lower troposphere
Globalising assessment: an ethnography of literacy assessment, camels and fast food in the Mongolian Gobi
What happens when standardised literacy assessments travel globally? The paper presents an ethnographic account of adult literacy assessment events in rural Mongolia. It examines the dynamics of literacy assessment in terms of the movement and re-contextualisation of test items as they travel globally and are received locally by Mongolian respondents. The analysis of literacy assessment events is informed by Goodwinâs âparticipation frameworkâ on language as embodied and situated interactive phenomena and by Actor Network Theory. Actor Network Theory (ANT) is applied to examine literacy assessment events as processes of translation shaped by an âassemblageâ of human and non-human actors (including the assessment texts)
The Value of Literacy Practices
The concepts of literacy events and practices have received considerable attention in educational research and policy. In comparison, the question of value, that is, âwhich literacy practices do people most value?â has been neglected. With the current trend of cross-cultural adult literacy assessment, it is increasingly important to recognise locally valued literacy practices. In this paper we argue that measuring preferences and weighting of literacy practices provides an empirical and democratic basis for decisions in literacy assessment and curriculum development and could inform rapid educational adaptation to changes in the literacy environment. The paper examines the methodological basis for investigating literacy values and its potential to inform cross-cultural literacy assessments. The argument is illustrated with primary data from Mozambique. The correlation between individual values and respondentsâ socio-economic and demographic characteristics is explored
The Host Galaxy and Redshift of the Repeating Fast Radio Burst FRB 121102
The precise localization of the repeating fast radio burst (FRB 121102) has
provided the first unambiguous association (chance coincidence probability
) of an FRB with an optical and persistent radio
counterpart. We report on optical imaging and spectroscopy of the counterpart
and find that it is an extended ()
object displaying prominent Balmer and [OIII] emission lines. Based on the
spectrum and emission line ratios, we classify the counterpart as a
low-metallicity, star-forming, AB mag dwarf galaxy at a
redshift of , corresponding to a luminosity distance of 972 Mpc.
From the angular size, the redshift, and luminosity, we estimate the host
galaxy to have a diameter kpc and a stellar mass of
, assuming a mass-to-light ratio between 2 to
3. Based on the H flux, we estimate the star
formation rate of the host to be and a
substantial host dispersion measure depth .
The net dispersion measure contribution of the host galaxy to FRB 121102 is
likely to be lower than this value depending on geometrical factors. We show
that the persistent radio source at FRB 121102's location reported by Marcote
et al (2017) is offset from the galaxy's center of light by 200 mas and
the host galaxy does not show optical signatures for AGN activity. If FRB
121102 is typical of the wider FRB population and if future interferometric
localizations preferentially find them in dwarf galaxies with low metallicities
and prominent emission lines, they would share such a preference with long
gamma ray bursts and superluminous supernovae.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, Published in ApJ Letters. V2: Corrected mistake
in author lis
The XMMâNEWTON ⊠Project: I. The X-ray luminosity â temperature relation at z>0.4
We describe XMM-Newton Guaranteed Time observations of a sample of eight high redshift (0.45 < z < rvirial) bolometric luminosities, performed ÎČ-model fits to the radial surface profiles and made spectral fits to a single temperature isothermal model. We describe data analysis techniques that pay particular attention to background mitigation. We have also estimated temperatures and luminosities for two known clusters (Abell 2246 and RXJ1325.0-3814), and one new high redshift cluste r candidate (XMMU J084701.8 +345117), that were detected o ff-axis. Characterizing the L x â Tx relation as L x = L 6 ( T 6keV ) α , we find L 6 = 15 . 9 + 7 . 6 â 5 . 2 Ă 1044erg s â 1 and α =2.7 ±0.4 for an ⊠Π= 0 . 0 , ⊠M = 1 .0, H0 = 50 km s â 1 Mpc â 1 cosmology at a typical redshift z ⌠0 .55. Comparing with the low redshift study by Markevitch, 1998, we find α to be in agreement, and assuming L x â Tx to evolve as (1 + z ) A , we find A =0.68 ±0.26 for the same cosmology and A = 1 .52 + 0 .26 â 0 .27 for an ⊠Π= 0 . 7 , ⊠M = 0 . 3 cosmology. Our A values are very similar to those found previously by Vikhlinin et al., 2002 using a compilation of Chandra observations of 0 .39 < z < 1 .26 clusters. We conclude that there is now evidence from both XMM-Newton and Chandra for an evolutionary trend in the L x â Tx relation. This evolution is significantly below the level expected from the predictions of the self-similar model for an ⊠Π= 0 . 0 , ⊠M = 1 .0, cosmology, but consistent with self-similar model in an ⊠Π= 0 . 7 , ⊠M = 0 . 3 cosmology. Our observations lend support to the robustness and completeness of the SHARC and 160SD surveys
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