The current state of Bayesian methods in nonclinical pharmaceutical statistics: Survey results and recommendations from the DIA / ASA‐BIOP Nonclinical Bayesian Working Group

Purpose Assessment activities in academic libraries continue to grow as libraries explore assessment endeavors. Ranging from basic stats gathering and reporting to surveys, focus groups, and usability studies and beyond. Many practitioners are finding it necessary to create new processes and programs, with little guidance. The purpose of this paper is to paint a broad picture of assessment activities in Association of Research Libraries (ARL) university libraries with the goal of creating a resource for libraries developing or improving their assessment programs. Design/methodology/approach A survey was developed that asked questions about assessment personnel, activities, mission, and website. A total of 113 surveys were sent to academic library members of ARL. Survey results were analyzed to compile a list of recommended good practices for assessment and working with assessment committees in academic libraries. Findings The investigators had a response rate of 43 percent. The open-ended nature of the survey questions allowed for the respondents to specifically narrow down the problems and opportunities inherent in library assessment committees. Originality/value This study takes the temperature of the current state of assessment programs in ARL libraries, demonstrating the growth of assessment programs. It begins to document the practices of these libraries, particularly in regards to the sometimes informal and hard to track use of committees and other in-house collaborations, as a first step toward developing best practices for the field. The results illuminate productive areas for further study, including investigating how to measure a culture of assessment and maximizing impact of assessment information presented on assessment websites.

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Attitude toward second opinions in Germany – a survey of the general population

BMC Health Services Research ◽

10.1186/s12913-021-07422-z ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 22 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Nadja Könsgen ◽

Barbara Prediger ◽

Anna Schlimbach ◽

Ana-Mihaela Bora ◽

Simone Hess ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Knee Pain ◽

Treatment Recommendation ◽

Federal States ◽

Future Design ◽

Online Portal ◽

Current State ◽

Stratified Sample ◽

Survey Results ◽

Informed Treatment ◽

State Of Research

Abstract Background Second medical opinions (SOs) can assist patients in making informed treatment decisions and improve the understanding of their diagnosis. In Germany, there are different approaches to obtain a structured SO procedure: SO programs by health insurers and SOs according to the SO Directive. Through a direct survey of the population, we aimed to assess how structured SOs should be provided to fulfil patients’ needs. Methods A stratified sample of 9990 adults (≥18 years) living in the federal states of Berlin and Brandenburg (Germany) were initially contacted by post in April and sent a reminder in May 2020. The survey results were analyzed descriptively. Results Among 1349 participants (response rate 14%), 56% were female and the median age was 58 years (interquartile range (IQR) 44–69). Participants wanted to be informed directly and personally about the possibility of obtaining an SO (89%; 1201/1349). They preferred to be informed by their physician (93%; 1249/1349). A majority of participants would consider it important to obtain an SO for oncological indications (78%; 1049/1349). Only a subset of the participants would seek an SO via their health insurer or via an online portal (43%; 577/1349 and 16%; 221/1349). A personally delivered SO was the preferred route of SO delivery, as 97% (1305/1349) would (tend to) consider this way of obtaining an SO. Participants were asked to imagine having moderate knee pain for years, resulting in a treatment recommendation for knee joint replacement. They were requested to rate potential qualification criteria for a physician providing the SO. The criteria rated to be most important were experience with the recommended diagnosis/treatment (criterion (very) important for 93%; 1257/1349) and knowledge of the current state of research (criterion (very) important for 86%; 1158/1349). Participants were willing to travel 60 min (median; IQR 60–120) and wait 4 weeks (median; IQR 2–4) for their SO in the hypothetical case of knee pain. Conclusion In general, SOs were viewed positively. We found that participants have clear preferences regarding SOs. We propose that these preferences should be taken into account in the future design and development of SO programs.

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Strategic tourism marketing of C.E.I. countries - basic framework

Tourism and hospitality management ◽

10.20867/thm.2.1.1 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 1-13

Author(s):

Vinka Cetinski ◽

Sanda Weber

Keyword(s):

Natural Resources ◽

Marketing Strategy ◽

Research Methodology ◽

Working Group ◽

European Countries ◽

Central European ◽

Tourism Marketing ◽

Regional Association ◽

Basic Framework ◽

Survey Results

Political changes in Europe at the end of the 80's have resulted in the establishment of the Central European Initiative as an international regional association. Interests in cooperation in the field of tourism can be explained by the fact that the majority of Central European countries have significant cultural, historical and natural resources which are not sufficiently used. The Working Group for Tourism, which has been led by Croatia since 1993, made a decision to conduct research with the main aim of determining basic tourism indicators as a basis for developing a common tourism marketing strategy. This paper presents the research methodology and discusses the main survey results.

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The IAU Working Group on Reference Systems

Symposium - International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s0074180900086150 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 141 ◽

pp. 47-50 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

James A. Hughes

Keyword(s):

Working Group ◽

Joint Commission ◽

General Assembly ◽

Reference Systems ◽

Current State ◽

Background Material ◽

State Of Affairs ◽

Short Presentation ◽

The Joint Commission

The IAU Working Group on Reference Systems (WG) was founded by a Commission Resolution passed at the XXth General Assembly in Baltimore in 1988. Since most, if not all, participants in this meeting are familiar with that resolution, it will not be discussed here. Background material may be found, for example, in Highlights of Astronomy, XX General Assembly (1988, Ed. D. McNally). Particular attention is called to the reports by B. Morando, R. Duncombe and J.A. Hughes (pp. 482-500) which were given as part of the Joint Commission Meeting, Towards Milliarcsecond Accuracy, chaired by P.K. Seidelmann. This short presentation will provide a description of the current state of affairs of the WG, which is chaired by the speaker.

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Education and Training in Forensic Anthropology

Forensic Anthropology ◽

10.5744/fa.2020.1013 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 65-74

Author(s):

Nicholas Passalacqua ◽

Marin Pilloud

Keyword(s):

Forensic Anthropology ◽

Working Group ◽

Education And Training ◽

Electronic Survey ◽

Training Requirements ◽

Adequate Knowledge ◽

Survey Results ◽

And Training

The qualifications for a discipline are composed of the education and/or training requirements considered necessary to provide individuals with adequate knowledge to perform discipline-related tasks, including certification or licensing (Passalacqua & Pilloud 2018). Currently there are few available guidelines and no standards for the qualifications of a forensic anthropologist. To examine the qualifications of current practicing forensic anthropologists and to generate consensus-based criteria for the development of standards for qualifications for forensic anthropology, the authors generated an electronic survey. Results demonstrate that the qualifications of practicing forensic anthropologists are varied and do not always align with the qualifications currently outlined by the Scientific Working Group for Forensic Anthropology or the American Board of Forensic Anthropology. These findings do not mean these individuals are unqualified to practice forensic anthropology, but rather that there is currently little oversight or assistance for those individuals who do not fit the current models of perceived qualification, and no means of determining who does or does not have the adequate knowledge to perform forensic anthropological analyses. As forensic anthropology grows as a discipline, the standardization of qualifications will become increasingly important, both in terms of setting requirements for education and training and for the certification of practitioners. Further, there need to be clearer standards for education and training, which are currently lacking in the discipline.

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Research on usage of the balanced scorecard in business practice of Czech and Slovak companies

New Trends and Issues Proceedings on Humanities and Social Sciences ◽

10.18844/prosoc.v4i10.3097 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 4 (10) ◽

pp. 317-326

Author(s):

Rastislav Rajnoha

Keyword(s):

Balanced Scorecard ◽

Research Methodology ◽

Basic Research ◽

Business Practice ◽

The Balanced Scorecard ◽

Current State ◽

Fundamental Part ◽

Survey Results ◽

State Of Affairs ◽

A Company

Nowadays, the balanced scorecard (BSC) concept is considered to be a strategic tool for measuring and managing the performance of a company. For this reason, this paper focuses on the presentation of selected research results related to usage of the BSC concept carried out in Czech and Slovak enterprises during the period 2006–2015. A theoretical part of the paper provides a detailed characterisation of the current state of affairs regarding the investigated BSC issue. The following part of the paper defines the basic research methodology and the expected contributions of the study. The fundamental part of the paper provides a presentation of the BSC usage results in Czech and Slovak enterprises. The aim of this paper is also to analyse and synthesise findings regarding the link between the BSC concept and the reward and remuneration system in the companies researched. In the final part of the paper, the survey results are introduced and confronted with those arising from professional studies carried out especially in Germany, Austria and the U.S.A. Keywords: Balanced scorecard, performance mangement, performance measurement.

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The Long Way From α-Error Control to Validity Proper

Perspectives on Psychological Science ◽

10.1177/1745691612462587 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 7 (6) ◽

pp. 661-669 ◽

Cited By ~ 93

Author(s):

Klaus Fiedler ◽

Florian Kutzner ◽

Joachim I. Krueger

Keyword(s):

Error Control ◽

Behavioral Science ◽

Statistical Tests ◽

Inductive Reasoning ◽

Empirical Science ◽

Scientific Culture ◽

Current State ◽

Alternative Hypotheses ◽

Survey Results ◽

State Of Affairs

Several influential publications have sensitized the community of behavioral scientists to the dangers of inflated effects and false-positive errors leading to the unwarranted publication of nonreplicable findings. This issue has been related to prominent cases of data fabrication and survey results pointing to bad practices in empirical science. Although we concur with the motives behind these critical arguments, we note that an isolated debate of false positives may itself be misleading and counter-productive. Instead, we argue that, given the current state of affairs in behavioral science, false negatives often constitute a more serious problem. Referring to Wason’s (1960) seminal work on inductive reasoning, we show that the failure to assertively generate and test alternative hypotheses can lead to dramatic theoretical mistakes, which cannot be corrected by any kind of rigor applied to statistical tests of the focal hypotheses. We conclude that a scientific culture rewarding strong inference (Platt, 1964) is more likely to see progress than a culture preoccupied with tightening its standards for the mere publication of original findings.

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