Potential for Meta-Scientific Inquiry to Improve the Usefulness of HRD Research Outcomes for Practice

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 409-420
Author(s):  
David L. Passmore ◽  
Chungil Chae

The Problem Meta-science, that is, science about science, is an application of scientific method to explain and control the methods and enterprise of science. The field of inquiry of meta-science emerged originally in reaction to problems with reproducibility and replicability of seemingly settled science. These same problems could affect research evidence conducted by human resource development (HRD) researchers and, as a result, could limit the applicability of HRD research outcomes to HRD practice. The Solution Discussed in this article are examples of meta-scientific issues and solutions that ultimately affect the transition of knowledge derived through research to practice in the field of HRD. Problems with the reproducibility and replication of research conducted in the field are detailed as are meta-scientific issues involved in judging the quality of scientific work, methodology-agnostic applications of meta-scientific inquiry, requirements for sharing data and code, and the need to let theory guide research. The Stakeholders Researchers would benefit from the considerations of meta-scientific concerns in the design, conduct, and reporting of research to improve the replicability and reproducibility of research outcomes. Knowledge of meta-scientific principles and cautions by adopters of research outcomes would inject healthy skepticism into decisions about whether research outcomes are worthy for application in practice or to guide future research.

Author(s):  
Qinghua Zhu ◽  
Linghe Huang ◽  
Jia Tina Du ◽  
Hua Liu

Wiki is a typical representative of the User-Generated Content. Its appearance greatly promotes the creation, organization, management, and sharing of knowledge on the Internet. As articles grow rapidly in Wikis, the quality of the articles has aroused many people’s concerns. The topics on how to assess and control the quality of articles have attracted many researchers. However, few studies have been conducted to investigate the status of this research topic. This chapter explores the current research status and trends of wikis' quality and governance. The authors selected papers from the databases of ISI, EI, IEEE, and other widely used databases. They reported the trends and research of wikis’ quality and governance using bibliometric analysis and content analysis of a total of 99 relevant papers. The results show that although the research topics in the field have experienced a very rapid development, they are still at an early age that lacks theories to support them. The discipline of Library and Information Science was found to play a very active role in this new area. Future research agenda and directions are also discussed.


Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 2990
Author(s):  
Lei Sun ◽  
Jing Wang ◽  
Haifeng Zhang ◽  
Min Xu

Haizhou Bay is an open bay located in northern Jiangsu Province, China. This study analyzes the changes in the coastline, coastal development, and water quality of Haizhou Bay between 2006 and 2016. The box model method and numerical simulation are adopted to calculate the environmental capacities of Haizhou Bay in 2006 and 2016, analyze changes to environmental capacity features, and assess the influencing factors over this period. The scenario analysis method is used to discuss the influencing mechanism and degree of influence of factors (e.g., the water quality difference inside and outside the bay, and sea reclamation) on the environmental capacity and calculate the contribution of each influencing factor. The changes in terrain triggered by sea reclamation and water quality from 2006 to 2016 reduced the total environmental capacity of Haizhou Bay, with an influencing ratio of 0.198:0.802. In other words, poorer water quality inside the bay reduces the environmental capacity by a degree of 4.05 times that of sea reclamation. This study can offer guidance on related future research aiming to protect the marine environment of Haizhou Bay and control the total amount of pollutants discharged into the sea.


Author(s):  
Kai Wang ◽  
Yuanlu Niu

Lookism issues have been studied in the fields of economics, social science, physiology, and business. Studies have shown that physical appearance affects employers' judgment about the quality of an employee. The purpose of this chapter is to explore the effects of lookism on career development in organizations. In addition, this chapter discusses the strategies for reducing lookism in the workplace from a human resource development perspective and provides four strategies for reducing lookism. First, legislation should include and address issues of physical attractiveness. Second, diversity education and training should be provided to students, employees, and employers. Third, diversity management should be practiced in the workplace. Fourth, appropriate employment processes should be adopted. Future research should study lookism over a wider range of occupations across different cultures. In addition, future studies should develop theories and conceptual frameworks to support and explain current issues of lookism in the workplace.


2022 ◽  
pp. 1904-1921
Author(s):  
Kai Wang ◽  
Yuanlu Niu

Lookism issues have been studied in the fields of economics, social science, physiology, and business. Studies have shown that physical appearance affects employers' judgment about the quality of an employee. The purpose of this chapter is to explore the effects of lookism on career development in organizations. In addition, this chapter discusses the strategies for reducing lookism in the workplace from a human resource development perspective and provides four strategies for reducing lookism. First, legislation should include and address issues of physical attractiveness. Second, diversity education and training should be provided to students, employees, and employers. Third, diversity management should be practiced in the workplace. Fourth, appropriate employment processes should be adopted. Future research should study lookism over a wider range of occupations across different cultures. In addition, future studies should develop theories and conceptual frameworks to support and explain current issues of lookism in the workplace.


Author(s):  
Enrique Alba ◽  
Javier Ferrer ◽  
Ignacio Villalobos

This work aims at giving an updated vision on the successful combination between Metaheuristics and Software Engineering (SE). Mostly during the 90s, varied groups of researchers dealing with search, optimization, and learning (SOL) met SE researchers, all of them looking for a quantified manner of modeling and solving problems in the software field. This paper will discuss on the construction, assessment, and exploitation tasks that help in making software programs a scientific object, subject to automatic study and control. We also want to show with several case studies how the quantification of software features and the automatic search for bugs can improve the software quality process, which eases compliance to ISO/IEEE standards. In short, we want to build intelligent automatic tools that will upgrade the quality of software products and services. Since we approach this new field as a cross-fertilization between two research domains, we then need to talk not only on metaheuristics for SE (well known by now), but also on SE for metaheuristics (not so well known nowadays). In summary, we will discuss here with three time horizons in mind: the old times [before the term search-based SE (SBSE) was used for this], the recent years on SBSE, and the many avenues for future research/development. A new body of knowledge in SOL and SE exists internationally, which is resulting in a new class of researchers able of building intelligent techniques for the benefit of software, that is, of modern societies.


Author(s):  
Ruby Grymonpre ◽  
Cornelia (Kristel) Van Ineveld ◽  
Michelle Nelson ◽  
Fiona Jensen ◽  
Amy De Jaeger ◽  
...  

Background: The primary goal of the Interprofessional Education in Geriatric Care (IEGC) project was to design, deliver, and evaluate interprofessional (IP) clinical placements for pre-licensure learners in geriatric day hospitals.Methods: Project evaluation was guided by the modified Kirkpatrick's Model of Educational Outcomes. Using a controlled before-after design, the Attitudes Toward Health Care Teams Scale (ATHCTS), Team Skills Scale (TSS), and Knowledge Questionnaire were administered to intervention and control learners pre-, post-, and 6 months post clinical placements. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive and multivariate statistics. Qualitative data collected through journals and questionnaires were analyzed using content analysis.Findings: Eleven IP clinical placements occurred at 3 test sites involving 32 intervention and 11 control learner participants. There was no significant change, over time, in the ATHCTS quality of care and physician centrality scores for the combined group (i.e., intervention and control) and between intervention and control groups. Time effects were noted in the quality of care scores for the intervention group after controlling for prior IPE (p = .031). The Knowledge scores were higher for the intervention group compared with controls over time (p = .004). Both intervention and control groups demonstrated significant improvements in their TSS scores over time (p = .000), although there was no significant difference in the magnitude of the change between groups (p = .112). Themes observed through qualitative analysis of learners' journals and post-program reflective questionnaires supported the quantitative findings.Conclusions: The IEGC experience was valuable to senior pre-licensure learners in helping them understand collaborative patient-centred practice and team skills. Future research should strive for larger sample sizes through multi-site projects to allow for comparisons within and between clinical sites.


2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 551-562 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Mills ◽  
Matthew Fuller-Tyszkiewicz ◽  
Millicent Holmes

To date, there has been limited empirical scrutiny of the correlates and consequences of day-to-day state body dissatisfaction fluctuations within naturalistic contexts. We used ecological momentary assessment (a form of naturalistic observation) to evaluate whether state body dissatisfaction was concurrently and/or prospectively associated with occurrence and quality of social interactions. Women ( N = 121), aged 18 to 40, completed a brief trait-based survey and then nominated a 7-day period within which to receive seven text messages daily, at random intervals, prompting them to complete measures of body dissatisfaction at that moment. If they were currently or had recently engaged in social interactions, they were also asked to fill out questions rating the quality of these interactions (operationalized in terms of enjoyment of, and control in, the interaction). Findings suggest that the relationship between state body dissatisfaction and aspects of social interactions is complex and may vary over time. Cross-sectionally, state body dissatisfaction and social interaction quality were negatively associated. Prospectively, however, body dissatisfaction predicted subsequent avoidance of social interactions. Interestingly, when women chose to avoid social interactions, their body dissatisfaction worsened, yet when they did engage in social interactions, they reported improved body satisfaction. Importantly, the links between state body dissatisfaction and social interactions may be moderated by body mass index and trait body satisfaction levels. Potential mechanisms underlying the association between state body dissatisfaction and quality and quantity of social interactions are discussed, and future research avenues are proposed to further understand their inter-relation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lotte H. J. M. Lemmens ◽  
Robert J. DeRubeis ◽  
Tony Z. Tang ◽  
Julia C. C. Schulte-Strathaus ◽  
Marcus J. H. Huibers

Background: The frequency and clinical impact of Sudden Gains—large symptom improvements during a single between-session interval—in psychotherapy for depression have been well established. However, there have been relatively few efforts to identify the processes that lead to sudden gains.Aim: To explore therapy processes associated with sudden gains in cognitive therapy for depression by examining changes in the sessions surrounding the gains, and the session preceding the gain in particular.Methods: Using ratings of video-recordings (n = 36), we assessed the content, frequency and magnitude of within-session cognitive-, behavioral-, and interpersonal change, as well as the quality of the therapeutic alliance in the session prior to the gain (pre-gain session), the session after the gain (post-gain session) and a control session. After that, we contrasted scores in the pre-gain session with those in the control session. In addition, we examined changes that occurred between the pre- and post-gain session (between-session changes) and explored patients' attributions of change.Results: Although not statistically significant, within-session changes were more frequent and stronger in the pre-gain session compared to the control session. The largest difference between the pre-gain and control session was found in the behavioral domain, and reached the level of trend-significance. There were more, and more impactful between-session changes in the interval during which the gain occurred as compared to a control interval. Exploratory analysis of attributions of change revealed eight subcategories, all corresponding with the cognitive-, behavioral- and interpersonal- domain. The quality of the therapeutic alliance was high and almost identical in all sessions.Conclusion: In spite of its small sample size, our study provides relevant descriptive information about potential precipitants of, themes related to, and attributions given for sudden gains. Furthermore, our study provides clear suggestions for future research. A better understanding of session content in the sessions surrounding sudden gains may provide insight into the mechanisms of change in psychotherapy, hereby suggesting treatment-enhancing strategies. We encourage researchers to conduct research that could clarify the nature of these mechanisms, and believe the methods used in this study could serve as a framework for further work in this area.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-9
Author(s):  
Sandra Dircinha Teixeira de Araújo Moraes

In the health area, research is designed to develop reliable data on problems and needs that are important to the individual/community, with a particular focus on guiding practitioners. Today, due to innumerable innovations in health, health decision-making needs to be based on scientific principles, which is a daily process that is integral to the rhythm of life, product and reason for social interests in confrontation based on learning, not summarized to mere reproduction. In this context, when considering that the quality of the research is directly linked to the presentation of the results, it is important to note the importance of the construction of research protocols that present the step-by-step techniques of organization and analysis of the data, understanding that the researcher, when in possession of collected data, must be sure that when they work respecting the chosen technique, they will indicate the evidences of the study, with possibilities to achieve a new knowledge with the minimum of bias that can happen. Thus, it is understood the importance of emphasizing the scientific method as a way for the development of scientific research in order to achieve the objectives set, increasing the rigor of the research to give visibility to information that enables the professional practices conscious and within of criteria that contribute to decision making on care based on validated scientific information.  


2012 ◽  
Vol 75 (12) ◽  
pp. 2251-2273 ◽  
Author(s):  
LINDA J. HARRIS ◽  
JEFF BENDER ◽  
ELIZABETH A. BIHN ◽  
TYANN BLESSINGTON ◽  
MICHELLE D. DANYLUK ◽  
...  

Agricultural water may contact fresh produce during irrigation and/or when crop protection sprays (e.g., cooling to prevent sunburn, frost protection, and agrochemical mixtures) are applied. This document provides a framework for designing research studies that would add to our understanding of preharvest microbial food safety hazards and control measures pertaining to agricultural water. Researchers will be able to use this document to design studies, to anticipate the scope and detail of data required, and to evaluate previously published work. This document should also be useful for evaluating the strength of existing data and thus should aid in identifying future research needs. Use of this document by the research community may lead to greater consistency or comparability than currently exists among research studies, which may ultimately facilitate direct comparison of hazards and efficacy of controls among different commodities, conditions, and practices.


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