Using Personal Statements in College Admissions: An Investigation of Gender Bias and the Effects of Increased Structure

Mapping Intimacies ◽

10.31234/osf.io/wj3uy ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Susan Niessen ◽

Marvin Neumann

Keyword(s):

Gender Bias ◽

Language Use ◽

College Admissions ◽

Writing Skills ◽

Reliability And Validity ◽

Adverse Impact ◽

First Year ◽

Personal Statement ◽

Undergraduate Psychology ◽

Structured Approach

Personal statements are among the most commonly used instruments in college admissions procedures. Yet, little research on their reliability, validity, and fairness exists. The first aim of this paper was to investigate hypotheses about adverse impact and underprediction for female applicants, which could result from lower tendencies to use agentic language compared to male applicants. Second, we examined if rating personal statements in a more structured manner would increase reliability and validity. Using personal statements (250 words) from a large cohort of applicants to an undergraduate psychology program at a Dutch University, we found no evidence for adverse impact for female applicants or more agentic language use by male applicants, and no relationship between agentic language use and personal statement ratings. In contrast, we found that personal statements of female applicants were rated slightly more positively than those of males. Exploratory analyses suggest that female applicants’ better writing skills might explain this difference. A more structured approach to rating personal statements yielded higher, but still only ‘moderate’ inter-rater reliability, and virtually identical, negligible predictive validity for first year GPA and dropout.

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Reliability and Validity of a Simulation-based Acute Care Skills Assessment for Medical Students and Residents

Anesthesiology ◽

10.1097/00000542-200312000-00007 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 99 (6) ◽

pp. 1270-1280 ◽

Cited By ~ 124

Author(s):

John R. Boulet ◽

David Murray ◽

Joe Kras ◽

Julie Woodhouse ◽

John McAllister ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Acute Care ◽

Reliability And Validity ◽

Faculty Members ◽

First Year ◽

Clinical Experiences ◽

Critical Events ◽

Simulation Based ◽

Broad Domain ◽

Simulation Exercises

Background Medical students and residents are expected to be able to manage a variety of critical events after training, but many of these individuals have limited clinical experiences in the diagnosis and treatment of these conditions. Life-sized mannequins that model critical events can be used to evaluate the skills required to manage and treat acute medical conditions. The purpose of this study was to develop and test simulation exercises and associated scoring methods that could be used to evaluate the acute care skills of final-year medical students and first-year residents. Methods The authors developed and tested 10 simulated acute care situations that clinical faculty at a major medical school expects graduating physicians to be able to recognize and treat at the conclusion of training. Forty medical students and residents participated in the evaluation of the exercises. Four faculty members scored the students/residents. Results The reliability of the simulation scores was moderate and was most strongly influenced by the choice and number of simulated encounters. The validity of the simulation scores was supported through comparisons of students'/residents' performances in relation to their clinical backgrounds and experience. Conclusion Acute care skills can be validly and reliably measured using a simulation technology. However, multiple simulated encounters, covering a broad domain, are needed to effectively and accurately estimate student/resident abilities in acute care settings.

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KONTRIBUSI PENGUASAAN KALIMAT EFEKTIF TERHADAP KETERAMPILAN MENULIS TEKS EKSPOSISI SISWA KELAS X SMK NEGERI 2 PADANG

Pendidikan Bahasa Indonesia ◽

10.24036/107463-019883 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (3) ◽

pp. 78

Author(s):

Diana Citra ◽

Afnita Afnita

Keyword(s):

Random Sampling ◽

Writing Skills ◽

Sampling Technique ◽

First Year ◽

Performance Tests ◽

First Year Students ◽

Correlational Design ◽

Writing Skill ◽

And Performance ◽

Descriptive Method

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was categorized into three. First, to describe the effective sentence mastery of the first year students at SMK Negeri 2 Padang. Second, to describe the writing skills of a exposition of the first year students at SMK Negeri 2 Padang. Third, to describe the contribution of the effective sentence mastery into the writing skills of a exposition text made by the first year students at SMK Negeri 2 Padang. The design of this research was quantitative with a descriptive method. Then, this study also was a correlational design. The population of this study was the first year students at SMK Negeri 2 Padang for about 498 students. The sample of this study was taken by using a proportional random sampling technique (15%), which was 70 students. The data of this study were the results of effective sentence mastery and the results of the writing skill of a exposition text. The instrument of this study was an objective test to measure effective sentence mastery and performance tests to measure expositon text. There were several results of this study. First, the effective sentence mastery of the first year students at SMK Negeri 2 Padang was in Good qualifications (B). Second, the writing skills of a exposition of the first year students at SMK Negeri 2 Padang was in a Good qualification (B). Third, describe the effective sentence mastery contributed 82,00% to the exposition text writing skills of the first year students of SMK Negeri 2 Padang. Kata Kunci: kontribusi, penguasaan kalimat efektif, keterampilan menulis teks eksposisi

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Systems Engineering Design Projects in Freshmen Engineering Courses

Volume 3: 11th International Conference on Design Theory and Methodology ◽

10.1115/detc99/dtm-8784 ◽

1999 ◽

Author(s):

Peter R. Frise

Keyword(s):

Systems Engineering ◽

Writing Skills ◽

Engineering Practice ◽

First Year ◽

Engineering System ◽

High Failure Rate ◽

Design Problems ◽

Engineering Programs ◽

Freshmen Students ◽

System Solution

Abstract The first year of most engineering programs: does not normally include much material in engineering practice or design, nor are professionalism, human factors or the concept of an engineering system solution to design problems emphasized. This lack of engineering content has been found to be a factor in the relatively high failure rate in the first year due to students not becoming interested in, and energized by, their studies. The author has developed a number of open-ended design problems which have been successful in teaching the engineering method to freshmen students while at the same time not over-taxing their relatively undeveloped engineering analysis skills. The projects are described and examples are available upon request from the author to allow interested readers to use them in their own programs. The other benefit of these projects has been in identifying students who have difficulty with written communications. Using the design project reports as a diagnostic tool we have been able to refer these students to assistance with their writing skills from the on-campus writing tutorial service.

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Language and Its Everyday Revolutionary Potential

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190204204.013.38 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Christine Mallinson

Keyword(s):

Gender Bias ◽

Cultural Change ◽

English Language ◽

Language Use ◽

Reform Movement ◽

Language Reform ◽

Gender Neutral ◽

Third Gender ◽

Linguistic Practices ◽

Naming Practices

Centering on the English language reform movement, this chapter describes three main strategies through which feminists have targeted language, both as an object to reform and a platform for revolution. First, it describes the strategy of challenging man-made language forms, exemplified in debates over masculine generics. Second, it discusses the strategy of creating and institutionalizing egalitarian naming practices in order to reclaim the power to name and define. By tracing such forms as Ms., it becomes evident that even small shifts in language use can contribute to cultural change. Third, it describes the strategy of linguistic disruption, illustrated through such neologisms as herstory and womyn, gender-neutral forms such as singular they, and third-gender forms such as zie and zir. By using language creatively and sometimes radically to reject patriarchal language, respond to gender bias, and empower women, feminist activists and everyday speakers alike can employ linguistic practices to promote equality.

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Alternative Techniques for Teaching Writing

10.18326/rgt.v8i2.597 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 163

Author(s):

Sihindun Arumi

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Language Learners ◽

Language Use ◽

Writing Skills ◽

Teaching Writing ◽

Target Language ◽

Foreign Language Learners ◽

Writing Class ◽

Alternative Techniques ◽

Readable Text

Writing as one of language skill is often considered very difficult. It is due to the fact that writing needs to produce and organize ideas using appropriate vocabulary, language use, paragraph organization, and mechanism. It also needs to turn the ideas into a readable text and for foreign language learners, they should also transfer ideas from their native language into target language (foreign language). It raises any problems for them to create a good text. Moreover, the situation in the class does not always supportthem in which the techniques of the teacher in teaching writing is boring and monotonous, do not give enough attention to help students explore their writing skills. So that they attend the writing class only for procedural formality.Thus, it is considered important to elaborate various techniques to build nice classroom atmosphere as well as to improve students’ writing skills.

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Prescription Writing Skills of Pre-Clinical Medical and Dental Undergraduate Students

Journal of Nepal Medical Association ◽

10.31729/jnma.157 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 47 (172) ◽

Author(s):

GP Rauniyar ◽

RK Roy ◽

BP Das ◽

G Bhandari ◽

SK Bhattacharya

Keyword(s):

Prospective Study ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Writing Skills ◽

First Year ◽

Limited Extent ◽

Dental Examination ◽

Preclinical Phase ◽

Rational Prescribing ◽

Second Year ◽

Prescription Writing

Objective of this prospective study was to assess the acquisition of prescribing skill of preclinicalmedical and dental undergraduate students. Prescription writing skills of 258 students of both firstand second year of MBBS and BDS students were analyzed through an objective structured practicalexamination. MBBS student of second year scored 85.01% and 92.82% respectively in physician anddrug related component whereas first year MBBS students scored 89.9% and 83.4%. BDS studentof first year scored 91.96% and 86.33% in physician and drug related components which is betterthan second year that scored 83.33% and 77.94% respectively. This study revealed that the studentsof both courses acquire prescribing skills to a limited extent during preclinical phase. Prescribingerrors were found both in physician and drug related components. To minimize the different form ofprescribing errors vigorous training in the internship period will help to minimize prescribing errorsand improve rational prescribing too.Key words: dental, examination, medical, objective, prescription, student

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Innovation in linking and thinking: Critical thinking and writing skills of first-year engineering students in a learning community

2008 38th Annual Frontiers in Education Conference ◽

10.1109/fie.2008.4720651 ◽

2008 ◽

Author(s):

Rebecca L. Damron ◽

Karen A. High

Keyword(s):

Critical Thinking ◽

Learning Community ◽

Engineering Students ◽

Writing Skills ◽

First Year

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Gender bias in standardized tests: evidence from a centralized college admissions system

Empirical Economics ◽

10.1007/s00181-019-01662-z ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 59 (2) ◽

pp. 1037-1065 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Perihan O. Saygin

Keyword(s):

Standardized Tests ◽

Gender Bias ◽

College Admissions

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An Experimental Study on the Influence That Failure Number, Specialization, and Controls Have on Confidence in Predicting System Failures1

Journal of Mechanical Design ◽

10.1115/1.4034789 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 139 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Somaiah Thimmaiah ◽

Keith Phelan ◽

Joshua D. Summers

Keyword(s):

Experimental Study ◽

Engineering Students ◽

Failure Modes ◽

P Value ◽

First Year ◽

Psychology Class ◽

Design Activities ◽

Undergraduate Psychology ◽

Domain Familiarity ◽

The Impact

Design reviews are typically used for three types of design activities: (1) identifying errors, (2) assessing the impact of the errors, and (3) suggesting solutions for the errors. This experimental study focuses on understanding the second issue as it relates to the number of errors considered, the existence of controls, and the level of domain familiarity of the assessor. A set of design failures and associated controls developed for a completed industry sponsored project is used as the experimental design problem. Nondomain generalists (students from an undergraduate psychology class), domain generalists (first year engineering students), and domain specialists (graduate mechanical engineering students) are provided a set of failure modes and asked to provide their own opinion or confidence on whether the system would still successfully achieve the stated objectives. The confidence level for all domain populations decreased significantly as the number of design errors increased (largest p-value = 0.0793), and this decrease in confidence is more significant as the number of design errors increases. The impact on confidence is lower when solutions (controls) are provided to prevent the errors (largest p-value = 0.0334) as the confidence decreased faster for domain general engineers as compared to domain specialists (p = < 0.0001). The domain specialists showed higher confidence in making decisions than domain generalists and nondomain generalists as the design errors increase.

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