Sample Attrition and Cronbach Alpha: A Five-Year Longitudinal Study

1998 ◽  
Vol 82 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1223-1231
Author(s):  
Richard A. Bernardi
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Geographic Location ◽  
Defining Issues Test ◽  
Initial Sample ◽  
Field Sample ◽  
Cronbach Alpha ◽  
Sample Attrition ◽  
Big Six

Conventional wisdom indicates that as attrition in a field sample occurs, the remaining sample becomes more similar, e.g., homogeneous. This narrowing of the differences in the sample will cause a decrease in reliability as measured by Cronbach alpha. The current research is a 5-yr. longitudinal study that involved a group of auditors from five Big Six firms. The initial sample (Bernardi, 1994a) of 494 auditors was followed for a period of five years to assess the effect of attrition on Cronbach alpha for the Defining Issues Test (Rest, 1979a). At the beginning of the research, alpha was .348; however, by the end of Year five, alpha had decreased to .309. When the sample was stratified by sex and geographic location, the data indicate that, while alpha increased for the majority of the sample, it dramatically decreased for women in the New York City Metropolitan area. This study should assist other researchers who are examining data on a longitudinal basis when the sample is presumed to become more similar over time.

Building tolerance through human rights education: The missing link

2020 ◽  
pp. 174619792097729
Author(s):  
Marlana Salmon-Letelier ◽  
S. Garnett Russell
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
York City ◽  
Human Rights Education ◽  
Classroom Observations ◽  
Public High Schools ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Rights Issues

Human rights education (HRE) is an emerging practice across formal and informal educational sectors worldwide. However, most literature and theory on HRE emphasize the importance of imparting knowledge about human rights. In this paper, we argue that increasing tolerance among students is a vital but understudied aspect of HRE. This paper is based on the results of a mixed methods longitudinal study conducted in three classrooms across two New York City public high schools. Our methods include a pre-/post- survey, classroom observations, and semi-structured individual and group interviews. The findings indicate that merely teaching about human rights issues is necessary but not sufficient to shift deeply embedded attitudes that contribute to the transformative nature of the human rights framework. We present tolerance as a necessary precursor to positive social change and sustainable human rights implementation.

scholarly journals Introducing a Longitudinal Study of Community Gardeners and Gardens in New York City

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Erika S. Svendsen ◽  
Lindsay K. Campbell ◽  
Nancy Falxa-Raymound ◽  
Jessica Northridge ◽  
Edie Stone ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
York City

Narratives of Fracture

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ylce Irizarry
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Puerto Rican ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Puerto Ricans ◽  
Geographic Location ◽  
Family Values ◽  
Ethnic Populations ◽  
Large Populations

This chapter illustrates how one's cultural identity is defined just as much by geographic location, gender, class, and political ideology than by perceived race or ethnic self-identification. It studies two texts by Puerto Rican authors to show how individuals challenge rigid notions of ethnonationalism: Judith Ortiz Cofer's The Latin Deli: Telling the Lives of Barrio Women (1993) and Ernesto Quiñonez's Bodega Dreams (2000). Set in the proximate urban Northeastern cities—Paterson, New Jersey, and New York City, respectively—with large populations of Puerto Ricans, other kinds of Latinas/os, and other underrepresented ethnic populations, the books challenge persistent definitions of puertorriqueñidad—the essence of one's Puerto Rican identity. Ortiz Cofer portrays the confinement women experience due to patriarchal Puerto Rican family values while Quiñonez portrays the confinement Puerto Rican men experience due to their ethnonational loyalties.

scholarly journals Relationship between body mass index and adiposity in prepubertal children: ethnic and geographic comparisons between New York City and Jinan City (China)

2009 ◽  
Vol 107 (2) ◽  
pp. 488-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khursheed P. Navder ◽  
Qing He ◽  
Xiaojing Zhang ◽  
Suyuan He ◽  
Luxia Gong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Mass Index ◽  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Multiple Regression ◽  
Body Fat ◽  
York City ◽  
Geographic Location ◽  
Percent Body Fat ◽  
Prepubertal Children

Body mass index (BMI) is often used as a surrogate estimate of percent body fat in epidemiological studies. This study tested the hypothesis that BMI is representative of body fatness independent of age, sex, ethnicity, and geographic location in prepubertal children. The study sample included a total of 605 prepubertal children (275 girls and 330 boys) of which 247 were Chinese from Jinan, Shandong, Mainland China, and 358 children were from various ethnic backgrounds in New York City (NYC): 121 Caucasians, 94 African Americans, and 143 Asians (Chinese and Korean). In this cross-sectional study, dual energy X-ray absorptiometry was used to quantify total body fat (TBF) and percent body fat (PBF). Prepubertal status was assessed by the criteria of Tanner. Multiple regression models were developed with TBF and PBF as the dependent variables and BMI, age, sex, and ethnicity as independent variables. Multiple regression analysis showed that BMI alone explained 85% and 69% of between-subject variance for TBF and PBF, respectively. Sex was a significant contributor to the models ( P < 0.001) with girls having higher TBF and PBF than boys. Ethnicity and geographic location were significant contributors to the model ( P < 0.0001) with Asians (Jinan and NYC Asians) having higher PBF than all non-Asian groups ( P < 0.0001), and Jinan Asians having higher TBF and PBF than NYC-Asians. Among prepubertal children, for the same BMI, Asians have significantly higher PBF compared with African Americans and Caucasians. Caution is warranted when applying BMI across sex and ethnic prepubertal groups.

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