The quality of data collected online: An investigation of careless responding in a crowdsourced sample

Despite recent concerns about data quality, various academic fields rely increasingly on crowdsourced samples. Thus, the goal of this study was to systematically assess carelessness in a crowdsourced sample (N = 394) by applying various measures and detection methods. A Latent Profile Analysis revealed that 45.9% of the participants showed some form of careless behavior. Excluding these participants increased the effect size in an experiment included in the survey. Based on our findings, several recommendations of easy to apply measures for assessing data quality are given

Modeling mit MetaLog in der Praxisausbildung – Vermitteln von Expertise in Anwesenheit von Schülerinnen und Schülern, Teams oder Eltern

Der Beitrag skizziert die besonderen Herausforderungen für das zeitsynchrone Lernen in der Praxis von personenbezogenen Berufen, verweist auf die theoretischen Bezugssysteme, beschreibt die experimentelle Entwicklung der Ausbildungsmethode «Modeling mit MetaLog» und berichtet über eine erste Wirkungsstudie im Lehrberuf. Mit der Kommentierung des eigenen beruflichen Denkens und Handelns durch die Lehrperson in der Situation erhalten die nicht teilnehmend beobachtenden Studierenden bereits in der Praxissituation zeiteffizient für sie relevante Informationen. Für die nonverbale und die verbale Kommunikation während des Modelings mit MetaLog sowie für die räumlich-körperliche Inszenierung der Beobachtenden ließen sich in Experimenten kontrollierbare Variablen identifizieren. Diese sind entscheidend für die Qualität der Ausbildungssituation und für die Akzeptanz aller Beteiligten. Die Ausbildung von Lehrpersonen könnte durch den Einsatz von Modeling mit MetaLog in der Praxisausbildung eine deutliche Intensivierung und Vertiefung erfahren. Voraussetzung dafür sind gut ausgebildete Praxislehrpersonen mit hoher Fähigkeit zur Selbstreflexion des eigenen Tuns in der Berufssituation

Game On? Smoking Cessation Through the Gamification of mHealth: A Longitudinal Qualitative Study

BACKGROUND: Finding ways to increase and sustain engagement with mHealth interventions has become a challenge during application development. While gamification shows promise and has proven effective in many fields, critical questions remain concerning how to use gamification to modify health behavior. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to investigate how the gamification of mHealth interventions leads to a change in health behavior, specifically with respect to smoking cessation. METHODS: We conducted a qualitative longitudinal study using a sample of 16 smokers divided into 2 cohorts (one used a gamified intervention and the other used a nongamified intervention). Each participant underwent 4 semistructured interviews over a period of 5 weeks. Semistructured interviews were also conducted with 4 experts in gamification, mHealth, and smoking cessation. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematic analysis undertaken. RESULTS: Results indicated perceived behavioral control and intrinsic motivation acted as positive drivers to game engagement and consequently positive health behavior. Importantly, external social influences exerted a negative effect. We identified 3 critical factors, whose presence was necessary for game engagement: purpose (explicit purpose known by the user), user alignment (congruency of game and user objectives), and functional utility (a well-designed game). We summarize these findings in a framework to guide the future development of gamified mHealth interventions. CONCLUSIONS: Gamification holds the potential for a low-cost, highly effective mHealth solution that may replace or supplement the behavioral support component found in current smoking cessation programs. The framework reported here has been built on evidence specific to smoking cessation, however it can be adapted to health interventions in other disease categories. Future research is required to evaluate the generalizability and effectiveness of the framework, directly against current behavioral support therapy interventions in smoking cessation and beyond

Topical NSAIDs for chronic musculoskeletal pain: systematic review and meta-analysis

A previous systematic review reported that topical NSAIDs were effective in relieving pain in chronic conditions like osteoarthritis and tendinitis. More trials, a better understanding of trial quality and bias, and a reclassification of certain drugs necessitate a new review. Studies were identified by searching electronic databases, and writing to manufacturers. We identified randomised, double blind trials comparing topical NSAID with either placebo or another active treatment, in adults with chronic pain. The primary outcome was a reduction in pain of approximately 50% at two weeks, and secondary outcomes were local and systemic adverse events and adverse event-related withdrawals. Relative benefit and number-needed-to-treat (NNT), and relative harm and number-needed-to-harm (NNH) were calculated, and the effects of trial quality, validity and size, outcome reported, and condition treated, were examined by sensitivity analyses. Twelve new trials were added to 13 trials from a previous review. Fourteen double blind placebo-controlled trials had information from almost 1,500 patients. Topical NSAID was significantly better than placebo with relative benefit 1.9 (95% confidence interval 1.7 to 2.2), NNT 4.6 (95% confidence interval 3.8 to 5.9). Results were not affected by trial quality, validity or size, outcome reported, or condition treated. Three trials with 764 patients comparing a topical with an oral NSAID found no difference in efficacy. Local adverse events (6%), systemic adverse events (3%), or the numbers withdrawing due to an adverse event were the same for topical NSAID and placebo. Topical NSAIDs were effective and safe in treating chronic musculoskeletal conditions for two weeks. Larger and longer trials are necessary to fully elucidate the place of topical NSAIDs in clinical practice

Crowdsourcing hypothesis tests: Making transparent how design choices shape research results

To what extent are research results influenced by subjective decisions that scientists make as they design studies? Fifteen research teams independently designed studies to answer fiveoriginal research questions related to moral judgments, negotiations, and implicit cognition. Participants from two separate large samples (total N > 15,000) were then randomly assigned to complete one version of each study. Effect sizes varied dramatically across different sets of materials designed to test the same hypothesis: materials from different teams renderedstatistically significant effects in opposite directions for four out of five hypotheses, with the narrowest range in estimates being d = -0.37 to +0.26. Meta-analysis and a Bayesian perspective on the results revealed overall support for two hypotheses, and a lack of support for three hypotheses. Overall, practically none of the variability in effect sizes was attributable to the skill of the research team in designing materials, while considerable variability was attributable to the hypothesis being tested. In a forecasting survey, predictions of other scientists were significantly correlated with study results, both across and within hypotheses. Crowdsourced testing of research hypotheses helps reveal the true consistency of empirical support for a scientific claim.</div

Modeling with MetaLog in practical teacher training – Imparting expertise in the presence of pupils, teams, or parents

Der Beitrag skizziert die besonderen Herausforderungen für das zeitsynchrone Lernen in der Praxis von personenbezogenen Berufen, verweist auf die theoretischen Bezugssysteme, beschreibt die experimentelle Entwicklung der Ausbildungsmethode «Modeling mit MetaLog» und berichtet über eine erste Wirkungsstudie im Lehrberuf. Mit der Kommentierung des eigenen beruflichen Denkens und Handelns durch die Lehrperson in der Situation erhalten die nicht teilnehmend beobachtenden Studierenden bereits in der Praxissituation zeiteffizient für sie relevante Informationen. Für die nonverbale und die verbale Kommunikation während des Modelings mit MetaLog sowie für die räumlich-körperliche Inszenierung der Beobachtenden ließen sich in Experimenten kontrollierbare Variablen identifizieren. Diese sind entscheidend für die Qualität der Ausbildungssituation und für die Akzeptanz aller Beteiligten. Die Ausbildung von Lehrpersonen könnte durch den Einsatz von Modeling mit MetaLog in der Praxisausbildung eine deutliche Intensivierung und Vertiefung erfahren. Voraussetzung dafür sind gut ausgebildete Praxislehrpersonen mit hoher Fähigkeit zur Selbstreflexion des eigenen Tuns in der Berufssituation. (DIPF/Orig.)The article outlines the particular challenges for time-synchronous learning in the practice of person-centered professions, refers to the theoretical reference systems, describes the experimental development of the method «Modeling with MetaLog», and presents results from a first impact study on this approach in the context of the teaching profession. Through their nonparticipating observation and the ongoing commentary by the teacher, student teachers receive information that is relevant to them in an efficient way. In the areas of non-verbal and verbal communication as well as spatial-physical staging, controllable variables could be identified in experimental settings. These variables are crucial to the quality of the professional activities and to the acceptance by all participants. The practical training of teachers in schools could be further intensified and deepened in this way. This, however, requires professionally acting mentor teachers with a high ability in terms of situation-related reflection

Evaluation of a Novel Artificial Intelligence System to Monitor and Assess Energy and Macronutrient Intake in Hospitalised Older Patients

Malnutrition is common, especially among older, hospitalised patients, and is associated with higher mortality, longer hospitalisation stays, infections, and loss of muscle mass. It is therefore of utmost importance to employ a proper method for dietary assessment that can be used for the identification and management of malnourished hospitalised patients. In this study, we propose an automated Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based system that receives input images of the meals before and after their consumption and is able to estimate the patient's energy, carbohydrate, protein, fat, and fatty acids intake. The system jointly segments the images into the different food components and plate types, estimates the volume of each component before and after consumption, and calculates the energy and macronutrient intake for every meal, based on the kitchen's menu database. Data acquired from an acute geriatric hospital as well as from our previous study were used for the fine-tuning and evaluation of the system. The results from both our system and the hospital's standard procedure were compared to the estimations of experts. Agreement was better with the system, suggesting that it has the potential to replace standard clinical procedures with a positive impact on time spent directly with the patients

TrustDiff: Development and Validation of a Semantic Differential for User Trust on the Web

Trust is an essential factor in many social interactions involving uncertainty. In the context of online services and websites, the problems of anonymity and lack of control make trust a vital element for successful e-commerce. Despite trust having received sustained attention, there is a need for validated questionnaires that can be readily applied in different contexts and for various products. We, therefore, report the development and validation of the TrustDiff scale, a semantic differential that measures user trust on three dimensions. Compared to Likert-type scales, semantic differentials have advantages when it comes to measuring multidimensional constructs in different contexts. Using 10 items, the TrustDiff semantic differential measures user perceptions of the Benevolence, Integrity, and Competence of an online vendor. The scale was investigated in three independent studies with over 1,000 participants and shows good structural validity, high reliability, and correlates expectedly with related scales. As a test of criterion validity, the TrustDiff scale showed significant differences on all subscales in a study involving a manipulated website