A Quantitative Methodology for Assessment of Wheelchair Controllability

Author(s):  
Jui-Feng Lin ◽  
Colin G. Drury ◽  
Victor Paquet
2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sami Chedhli Nighaoui

That standardized tests do not accurately assess the true competencies of minority test takers is a widely shared claim among conservative educationists. The opt-out-of-testing community has lately grown unprecedentedly vocal in several states, questioning even more seriously the accountability of the testing system altogether. This paper adopts a Critical Race Theory perspective to investigate the conceptual underpinnings of conservative criticism as well as the interpretations made popular using quantitative methodology. The key premise of this paper is that a colorblind approach to testing understates the importance of a range of unquantifiable variables, mainly the linguitic and cultural backgrounds of the test takers, in determining assessment outcome. It attempts to demonstrate where specifically standardized tests may not be used as a reliable feedback mechanism and suggests that a more flexible assessment paradigm be considered, one that engages learning quality followup to keep cultural bias to a strict minimum.          


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (13) ◽  
pp. 5999
Author(s):  
Diego A. Camacho-Hernández ◽  
Victor E. Nieto-Caballero ◽  
José E. León-Burguete ◽  
Julio A. Freyre-González

Identifying groups that share common features among datasets through clustering analysis is a typical problem in many fields of science, particularly in post-omics and systems biology research. In respect of this, quantifying how a measure can cluster or organize intrinsic groups is important since currently there is no statistical evaluation of how ordered is, or how much noise is embedded in the resulting clustered vector. Much of the literature focuses on how well the clustering algorithm orders the data, with several measures regarding external and internal statistical validation; but no score has been developed to quantify statistically the noise in an arranged vector posterior to a clustering algorithm, i.e., how much of the clustering is due to randomness. Here, we present a quantitative methodology, based on autocorrelation, in order to assess this problem.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 4442
Author(s):  
Marcos Cabezas-González ◽  
Sonia Casillas-Martín ◽  
Ana García-Valcárcel Muñoz-Repiso

The global public health crisis unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic has made it clear that digital competence in education is no longer an option, but a necessity. Online communication with friends using social networks is an activity in which young people very frequently and at increasingly early ages engage. This article presents the results of a study analyses digital-competence levels in the area of communication of Spanish basic-education students (aged 12–16) and establishes whether online communication with friends and the use of social media impact it. A quantitative methodology with a descriptive and cross-sectional design was used. The sample comprised 807 students, and data collection was based on a problem-solving test. Findings show that students who use online communication with their friends very often and that those who use social networks a lot have lower levels of digital competence. Education centres should reflect on this in order to implement curricular programs that may strengthen this type of competence.


Author(s):  
Álvaro Borrallo-Riego ◽  
Eleonora Magni ◽  
Juan Antonio Jiménez-Álvarez ◽  
Vicente Fernández-Rodríguez ◽  
María Dolores Guerra-Martín

The supervision of clinical placements is essential to achieving a positive learning experience in the clinical setting and which supports the professional training of those being supervised. The aim of this study was to explore health sciences students’ perceptions of the role of the supervisor in the supervision of clinical placements. A quantitative methodology was used, administering a previously validated questionnaire, by means of an expert panel and a pre-test, to 134 students from the Faculty of Nursing, Physiotherapy and Podiatry at the University of Seville (Spain). The analysis of variables was carried out by means of a data matrix. The results revealed a statistically significant difference in the perception of placement supervision depending on the degree, with Nursing producing the highest degree of affirmation in the variables studied and the greatest satisfaction with placement supervision; in contrast, Physiotherapy produced the greatest dissatisfaction and the lowest degree of affirmation. The study and analysis of these perceptions facilitates the collection of relevant information in order to formulate actions that help to improve the supervision experience during placements. They also allow a greater understanding of what factors most influence the experience of supervision during clinical placements.


2020 ◽  
pp. 002190962097244
Author(s):  
Oluwayemisi Mary Onyenankeya ◽  
Kevin Onyenankeya ◽  
Oluyinka Osunkunle

There is a perception that soap operas are progressively infusing dominant social values and ideas while constructing and positioning indigenous cultures as peripheral and inconsistent with modernity. This article aims at ascertaining audience perceptions of and attitudes toward the construction and representation of indigenous cultures in Generations: The Legacy within the framework of indigeneity and audience reception theories. Using quantitative methodology, 350 questionnaires were distributed to a randomly selected sample. Findings showed the majority of the audience felt the soap represents indigenous cultures as the ‘insignificant other’ and perpetuates stereotypes about traditional indigenous groups. This process creates cultural tensions.


Author(s):  
Esteban Vázquez-Cano ◽  
Santiago Mengual-Andrés ◽  
Eloy López-Meneses

AbstractThe objective of this article is to analyze the didactic functionality of a chatbot to improve the results of the students of the National University of Distance Education (UNED / Spain) in accessing the university in the subject of Spanish Language. For this, a quasi-experimental experiment was designed, and a quantitative methodology was used through pretest and posttest in a control and experimental group in which the effectiveness of two teaching models was compared, one more traditional based on exercises written on paper and another based on interaction with a chatbot. Subsequently, the perception of the experimental group in an academic forum about the educational use of the chatbot was analyzed through text mining with tests of Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), pairwise distance matrix and bigrams. The quantitative results showed that the students in the experimental group substantially improved the results compared to the students with a more traditional methodology (experimental group / mean: 32.1346 / control group / mean: 28.4706). Punctuation correctness has been improved mainly in the usage of comma, colon and periods in different syntactic patterns. Furthermore, the perception of the students in the experimental group showed that they positively value chatbots in their teaching–learning process in three dimensions: greater “support” and companionship in the learning process, as they perceive greater interactivity due to their conversational nature; greater “feedback” and interaction compared to the more traditional methodology and, lastly, they especially value the ease of use and the possibility of interacting and learning anywhere and anytime.


Economies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 94
Author(s):  
Rui Silva ◽  
Margarida Simões ◽  
Ana Paula Monteiro ◽  
António Dias

This research aims to adapt the Leymann Inventory of Psychological Terror and its use on Portuguese Accounting Professionals. Leymann scale was applied in a final sample of 478 accountants aged between 28 and 68, of which 47.5% were men and 52.5% women. We used a quantitative methodology by applying a questionnaire survey whose results were, in the following research phase, analyzed using the statistical packages SPSS 26 and AMOS 27. We used SPSS 26 for the Descriptive Statistical Analysis and AMOS 27 to estimate the structural equation model that validated the scale. After the scale had been adapted and changed, it was validated in psychometric terms to be applied to and used in studies involving this type of professionals. The Accountants Leymann Inventory of Psychological Terror that resulted from adapting the original model was tested using structural equation modelling. Thus, the new scale produced significant results similar to those of the original scale, which means that it is valid and can be applied to other contexts. The validity and statistical reliability of the new scale made it possible to measure mobbing problems among accounting professionals reliably and robustly. The present research is an important contribution to the literature. Although it has been applied in several contexts, it is the first time it is being developed, adapted, and validated for accounting professionals who work in this area of management.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 126
Author(s):  
José María Álvarez Martínez-Iglesias ◽  
Pedro Miralles Martínez ◽  
Jesús Molina Saorín ◽  
Francisco Javier Trigueros Cano

The aim of this study is to find out the relevance of the competences worked on in the area of social science, specifically in the subjects of geography and history, through the perceptions of pupils in the 4th year of compulsory secondary education (ESO). In order to carry out the survey, a purposive sampling was carried out in which more than 1400 4th year ESO students (in Spain) participated. In addition, using a Likert-type scale of our own creation called Evaluation of the Perception of Social Science Competences (EPECOCISO) and following a design of quantitative methodology, an exploratory factor analysis was carried out with the analysis software SPSS through the descriptive process, which allowed us to select the three factors that make up the study. Subsequently, correlations were established between factors through Pearson’s test, and between the different variables that make up each one of them with the socio-demographic variables (distinguishing between ordinal and nominal variables) through the chi-square test of independence and Cramer’s V test (nominal), as well as the linearity test, Goodman’s gamma test, and the Kruskal (ordinal) test. Finally, one of the most important conclusions of this study is that the difficulties encountered by students in the acquisition of competences is conditioned by the development of the assessment processes that are carried out.


Author(s):  
María Cascales Mira

AbstractThis article deals with the development of a new model for measuring job quality based on the intrinsic components of work, an European Intrinsic Job Quality Index. The objective is measure job quality on the basis of the characteristics inherent to the labour activity itself, and not from its financial rewards. First, we review the existing literature on current measurement models and justify the need for an index of this nature. Secondly, we explain the fundamental methodological decisions adopted for the construction of the index, and present the descriptive model, the indicators that make up each dimension, and the empirical model. Finally, we present the index scores by European Union countries within the framework of institutional theories. In this work, we have used a quantitative methodology, based on social indicator systems, and it has been carried out mainly with data from the European Working Conditions Survey (2015). The fundamental contribution of this article is the construction of a new model for measuring the quality of work, robust, valid and reliable, which will allow us to monitor the intrinsic job quality of the member countries, and thus provide relevant information that contributes to the framework of public policies.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document