Validity of the overclaiming technique as a method to account for response bias in self-assessment questions : analysis on the basis of the PISA 2012 data

The presented work is devoted to study the validity of overclaiming technique (OCT) as a measure of response (positivity) bias. Three main aims of the analyses performed were: a) assess methods' utility to enhance predictive validity of self-report by accounting for response biases, b) investigate proposed mechanisms of overclaiming, c) expand nomological network of the method by presenting a wide set of both individual-level and cluster-level (school) correlates. The obtained results pointed that OCT can be used in order to account for response biases in self-report data. Important differences regarding use and interpretation of the different OCT scoring systems were found and commented. Two systems, one based of signal detection theory (SDT), other on item response theory model (IRT), were proposed as viable scorings of OCT. Choice between them is not trivial as it influences results' interpretation and model specification. Three possible mechanisms of overclaiming were tested: a) motivated response bias (self-favouring bias, socially desirable responding), b) memory bias (overgeneralised knowledge or faulty memory control) and c) response styles and careless responding. The results pointed that all three mechanisms are probable and that overclaiming is most probably a heterogenous phenomenon of multiple causes. However, the analyses pointed out that one of the memory bias hypotheses, the overgeneralised knowledge account, does not hold and that there is much more evidence for the competitive metacognitive account. It is to said that overclaiming is at least partially attributable to insufficient monitoring of one's knowledge. Evidence for a relation between careless responding and overclaiming was also obtained, indicating that at least some of the overclaimed responses can be attributed due to inattentive responding. Obtained results on the relations between response styles and overclaiming were complicated; they warrant further studies as the results here probably greatly depend on the technical details of analysis, e.g. response style definition and coding adopted. The analysed cluster-level covariates demonstrated that only very limited portion of OCT variance can be ascribed to the school-level of analysis. Gender, socio-economic status and locus of control proved to be significantly related to overclaiming among the individual-level correlates assessed. Boys yielded higher overclaiming bias than girls and students of external locus of control were more biased in their self-reports in comparison to students of internal locus of control. The work comprises also analysis of the PISA's OCT latent structure. The results evidenced bifactor structure of the scale, with the general factor interpreted as math ability while the two specific factors were given a tentative explanation concentrated around item difficulty (one specific factor emerged for easy items, one for hard items). These findings point to a multi-dimensional character of OCT and a large role played by domain ability in OCT responding. Moreover, latent class analysis (LCA) performed identified an "overclaiming" group among the participants which was characterised by high overclaiming and unwarrantedly high self-report profile regarding math-related abilities and social life. However, this group counted only around 9% of the total sample. Implications of these findings are commented in the work, along with theoretical integration and ideas for future studies with the use of OCT

Hiperpoligloci – anomalia czy rezultat ciężkiej pracy, czyli o tym, co wyróżnia językowych geniuszy

Hyperpolyglotes – Anomality or Effect of Hard Work – What Makes Language Geniuses so Unique?What are the characteristic features and capabilities of hyperglots – people who speak more than six languages – that allow them to learn dozens of new languages so quickly and efficiently? Methods of learning, personality traits as well as possible neural correlates of multilingualism are compared and discussed. The main subjects of the analysis are fi ve polyglots whose biographies are fairly well-known: Jean-Francois Champollion (1790–1832), Heinrich Schliemann (1822–1890), Emil Krebs (1867–1930), Andrzej Gawronski (1885–1927) and Robert Stiller (born 1928)

Can overclaiming technique improve self-assessment tools for digital competence? The case of DigCompSat

Digital competence is crucial for living, working and participating in current societies. Despite its huge importance, objective measurement tools for it are scarce due to its developmental difficulty. Self-assessment of digital competence seems a promising proxy of objective tests, and it additionally offers the possibility for surveying otherwise unmeasurable constructs such as attitudes and beliefs. However, self-assessment tools are burdened with validity problems, most notably response biases such as overly positive descriptions, overclaiming or careless and insufficient effort responding. In this paper, we investigate how these problems can be mitigated by using the overclaiming technique, a technique that identifies and corrects the bias variance in self-assessments. Our main result was that the use of the overclaiming technique can lead to higher reliability and validity of digital competence self-assessment tools, especially for short scales. Moreover, it allows for correcting additional spurious variance in comparison with careless responding indexes, which allows the use of both these techniques in parallel to increase the quality of data. Our results are important in providing advances in enhanced information on digital competence that can result in better lifelong learning decisions when used at the individual level and in better policy-making decisions when used at the aggregate level

Individual differences and attitudes towards the government's remembrance policy

The paper presents results of the experimental study on the government’s remembrance policy, attitudes towards it, and the influence of remembrance narratives. it discusses individual differences of participants on three different grounds: (1) interest in history or politics, and level of historical knowledge, (2) features of cognitive motivation measured by the need for closure questionnaire: preference of order, desire for predictability, discomfort with ambiguity, closed mindedness and decisiveness, and (3) response to the presented narrative, including inspired emotions and an assessment of a story. Collected data and research observations offer an interesting and valuable insight into relationships between various factors and citizen’s support for the remembrance policy. They also lead the team to formulate three conclusions which may be used to develop theoretical understandings of this aspect of politics within political science and related disciplines

"Sunny side is up", but is the cloudy side down? : significance of vertical dimension in conceptualisation of emotions

One of the key research areas in the embodied cognition field is role of metaphors in creating abstract notions. One of such metaphors is vertical dimension (UP-DOWN) used e.g. for conceptualising positive and/or negative emotions. Its importance has been confirmed by many empirical findings, but some of them arouse methodological concerns regarding the stimuli selection and the level to which observed patterns are universal. The main goal of the present study was to replicate findings of one of the most influential experiments in the field. Its results pointed that positive stimuli are processed faster when presented on the top of the screen while negative ones are processed faster when presented on the bottom. The results of our study yielded a slightly different pattern: positive stimuli were indeed processed faster on top of the screen, but we did not replicate faster processing of negative stimuli on the bottom of the screen. Possible explanations of such a pattern of results were discussed, along with ideas for follow up studies

„Sunny side is up“, but is the cloudy side down? Znaczenie wymiaru wertykalnego w konceptualizacji emocji

One of the key research areas in the embodied cognition field is role of metaphors in creating abstract notions. One of such metaphors is vertical dimension (UP-DOWN) used e.g. for conceptualising positive and/or negative emotions. Its importance has been confirmed by many empirical findings, but some of them arouse methodological concerns regarding the stimuli selection and the level to which observed patterns are universal. The main goal of the present study was to replicate findings of one of the most influential experiments in the field. Its results pointed that positive stimuli are processed faster when presented on the top of the screen while negative ones are processed faster when presented on the bottom. The results of our study yielded a slightly different pattern: positive stimuli were indeed processed faster on top of the screen, but we did not replicate faster processing of negative stimuli on the bottom of the screen. Possible explanations of such a pattern of results were discussed, along with ideas for follow up studies

Rocznik Lubuski (t. 31, cz.1): Muzea i ochrona dziedzictwa kulturowego na Środkowym Nadodrzu

Muzea i Ochrona Dziedzictwa Kulturowego na Środkowym Nadodrzu

Hyperpolyglotes : anomality or effect of hard work - what makes language geniuses so unique?

What are the characteristic features and capabilities of hyperglots - people who speak more than six languages - that allow them to learn dozens of new languages so quickly and efficiently? Methods of learning, personality traits as well as possible neural correlates of multilingualism are compared and discussed. The main subjects of the analysis are fi ve polyglots whose biographies are fairly well-known: Jean-Francois Champollion (1790-1832), Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890), Emil Krebs (1867-1930), Andrzej Gawronski (1885-1927) and Robert Stiller (born 1928)

Fasetowane ziarna granatów z pstrego piaskowca monokliny przedsudeckiej okolicy Głogowa (SW Polska) Faceted garnets from the sandstones of the Buntsandstein on the Fore-Sudetic Monocline (Głogów area, SW Poland) /

Tyt. z nagłówka.Bibliogr. s.66-68.Dostępny również w formie drukowanej.STRESZCZENIE: Przeprowadzono badania (mikroskopia optyczna, SEM/EDS, XRD, IR) tzw. fasetowanych ziarn granatów, napotkanych we frakcjach minerałów ciężkich wydzielonych z piaskowców pstrego piaskowca monokliny przedsudeckiej. Stwierdzono, że reprezentują one człony szeregu almandyn-pirop o przewadze cząsteczki almandynowej i zawierają na ogół podrzędną domieszkę cząsteczki grossularowej, natomiast pozbawione są spessartynowej. Obszarem alimentacyjnym dla tych minerałów były zapewne Sudety, gdzie w obecnie odsłoniętych skałach metamorficznych facji eklogitowej i granulitowej stwierdzono granaty o zbliżonym chemizmie. Przyjęto, zgodnie z przeważającymi aktualnie poglądami, że "fasetowane" ziarna granatów (współwystępujące z obtoczonymi ziarnami cyrkonu, turmalinu, rutylu, apatytu, a nawet blaszkami mik), ukształtowały się w wyniku diagenetycznego wyługowania przez roztwory porowe. Proces ten przebiegał przypuszczalnie powoli, w alkalicznym lub ewentualnie obojętnym środowisku (świadectwem obecność niewyługowanego apatytu oraz dominacja smektytów w spoiwie piaskowców), w warunkach bliskich chemicznej równowagi między granatami a roztworami porowymi. SŁOWA KLUCZOWE: fasetowane granaty, minerały ciężkie, pstry piaskowiec, monoklina przedsudecka, Polska. ABSTRACT: The authors studied (optical microscopy, SEM/EDS, XRD, IR) the so-called faceted garnets found in heavy mineral fractions, separated out from the sandstones of the Buntsandstein on the Fore-Sudetic Monocline. The garnets represent almandine members of the almandine-pyrope series (almandine prevails over pyrope) and usually contain a subordinate admixture of the grossular member, whereas are devoid of the spessartine member. An alimentation area of these minerals was probably situated in the Sudetes, where garnets with a similar composition occur in some exposed rocks of the eclogite and granulite facies. The authors agree with currently prevailing opinions that the faceted garnets (co-occurring with rounded grains of zircon, tourmaline, rutile, apatite, and even mica flakes) were formed due to their selective diagenetic leaching by porous solutions. The process must have proceeded slowly in an alkaline or, possibly, neutral environment (it is proved by the presence of unleached apatite and domination of smectites in the bounding mass of the sandstones), under conditions approaching chemical equilibrium between garnets and the porous solutions. KEYWORDS: faced garnets, heavy minerals, buntsandstein, fore-sudetic monocline, Poland